54mm Andrea Teutonic Knight (FP-2) part 3, Stormcast Eternal conversion, Celtic Chieftain bust

54mm Andrea Teutonic Knight (FP-2)

Well I did a bit more fiddling on the green cloak of the knight and got happier with it.  I decided the spear needed a pennant.  I first tried doing it in paper but the paper kept folding after painting, even after being covered in PVA glue.  Next I decided to make one out of green stuff.  After cutting to shape and attaching to the spear I created the folds and let it dry.

Green stuff pennant

The green stuff needs to be supported (I used a plastic bag underneath to avoid the green stuff sticking) otherwise it will sink before drying.  The advantage of green stuff for this kind of work is that you can get it very thin, it holds the shape and when bumped (as happens, esp. with flags/etc) it doesn't break as it's always flexible.  I'm really happy with the contrast work I got on the pennant.  Unfortunately makes the rest of the figure look a bit flat.  Next time..

Green cloak of many coats..

For the ground work I tried two different techniques.  Normally I sculpt the ground with milliput/modelling clay, glue on a sand/rock mix, then add flock/scatter and then static grass tufts, etc.  This time I mixed-up a batch of the usual sand/rock mix and adding the scatter and bits of static grass (the leftover jar from previous flocking jobs with all kinds of bits in it) and mixed it all together and covered all the base with this.

Ground work start

The variation in materials gave a much better ground texture.  Many people just use real dirt, plaster, ground debris for their bases and I see why now.  Another lesson on why you should try new things, esp when many other people are doing it that way.  The second technique was for the static grass.  Rather than just put it on, or use pre-done tufts I used the 'gently blowing on' technique that I first read about from Sheperd Paine.

Finished ground work

You sprinkle the grass on and then blow it from the side.  This blows off the excess but also makes the remaining static grass stand up.  Works a treat.  I also added in some longer grass bits bent over in the direction of the wind that is blowing the cloak and pennant.

The expression "before anyone did anything, Elvis did everything" could be equally said for Sheperd Paine.  The book "Building and Painting Scale Figures" is a fantastic reference and is the book that really turned me from an army painter to a figure painter.

Cut down and wire supports added

I purchased five GW Stormcast Eternals secondhand in Cancon this year as experimental figures.  The second figure I wanted to convert to a chaos corrupted version.  I had a vision of a tentacle arm going through a nose, with the nose being on the chest.

Shaping areas

Then I added some eyes as per the usual "lots of eyes on chaos things".  All very standard and a bit of a throw back to the old school Chaos marines.

Eyes...

For sculpting I'm using a mix of milliput an green stuff in approx. 60/40% mix with a dash of harsh language.

Celtic Cheiftain 1/16 bust

Finally started on the Celtic Chieftain bust.  Starting to get the bronze where I would like it.  Flesh next.  Need to work out the cloak and shirt colours and I'm thinking about using the airbrush on these given the large flat areas.

54mm Andrea Teutonic Knight (FP-2) part 2

Teutonic knight of colours

So lost a weekend to moving the parents.  On the other weekend I got the cloak on the Teutonic Knight sorted out.  Trying green and having limited success.  My main issue is that I seem to have streaks/lines in the paint.  I'm thinking this is from the JS paints being a bit thicker.  However I haven't had this with others so maybe it's just the Pthalo Green?  The cloak colours were

base - Pthalo green + yellow oxide
up - green and yellow ink, with more pthalo green added
down - base + violet mix from the JS Ultramarine Blue and red ink.  Random shades using the base + ultramarine blue for variety.

I did try using white to highlight the green but that (as expected) chalked out the green.  I also found that adding yellow made a much more dynamic highlight over the white.  Really added shine to the green over lightness (aka whiteness).

For the three shadow folds the wife suggested making them each a different height (originally two were roughly the same).  This added greatly to the dynamics of the cloth.

I'm not sold on the green to be honest.  It doesn't sit right to me.  Perhaps it's just too much, or maybe needs some texture on it?

28mm bridge

Second up was adding some flock/scatter to the bridge to make it look a bit more run down.

fix up time

Finally started to fix up a Celtic bust I purchased awhile ago.  The figure came with a left hand instead of a right hand.  So I cut off the fingers and thumb, glued on the hand stump and started to sculpt new fingers/thumb and fix up the sleeve.  For the sculpting I used a mixture of green stuff and standard milliput.

54mm Andrea Teutonic Knight (FP-2)

Andrea Teutonic Knight (FP-2)

So my 1-1 scale terrain project has finished up so I'm now able to get back to some painting finally.  In the queue for some time was a 54mm knight with a spear (Andrea FP-2) that I purchased off eBay.

Although a Teutonic knight I wanted to do something different to the usual white as I've got a few other Teutonic figures in the cupboard.  Sorry Mike Blank.  So after much head scratching I went for a tradition(ish) blue/yellow scheme with purple highlights and green (at this stage) on the cloak.  I also wanted to try using the mixtures of two of the main colours to help shade the third colour.  Ie mix blue/purple and use this mix to shade the yellow.

For the blue I used JS Ultramarine Blue as the base, shaded with VMC Dark Sea Blue and highlighted with white and Cerulean Ink from Liquidtec.  I also added some of the base blue back to the mix to stop is chalking out so much.  It has become rather dull but I think that matches the fabric look I am after.  I may also do some dust/stains on the bottom of the cloth area later.  I did try and use the purple (see later) in the mix but that ended with the blue being too violet.

For yellow I used JS Yellow Oxide shaded with a mixture of the light purple used else where and some VMC armour brown.  Basically a very slight darker orange.  I was trying to use the secondary colours from mixing the primary colours of the figure in the shading to have some colour harmony.  Highlights with white, VMC Light Yellow and VGC amarillo yellow ink added to keep the colour intensity.  Really starting to like using inks in the highlights.

For the purple I make a mix of Liquidtec Dioxazine purple (a very dark purple) with white added to make a light purple.  The horns use this as a base and the horn tabs are this colour neat.

Originally I was going to paint the cloak in the purple but it didn't work.  Instead I swapped to a dark green (complementary to the blue/yellow) which helps the tunic pop some more.  More of that to come.

The armour was just the usually black undercoat and then some very gentle dry brushing in metallics and shading with dark sea blue and violets in the shadow areas.

On the rear of the figure the unpainted tab is some milliput that I added to give the cloak something to rest on and stop is sagging while the glue dries as the original fit wasn't that great.  I do have concerns that during gluing the cloak will sag so may also pin this.

28mm bridge painted with oils

Also painted up a 28mm bridge I purchased some time ago.  I used a technique of using oil paints smeared over a light brown acrylic base to represent a wood pattern.  Now need to add some dressing (plants, etc) and clean up some of the highlights.  Really just and excuse to break out the oil paints.

Terminator Genisys human

Finally finished the two Terminator Genisys figures.

...more humans

Stormcast Eternal vers 1 and prepping new figures

So a bit of a mixed bag over the last two weeks.

Stormcast Eternal

First up was finishing off the Stormcast Eternal I was working on.  I didn't get the bottom of the shield quite right but I'm pretty happy with the hammer and cloud effects around the top of the hammer.

Next was getting back to the ruined house I purchased for Terminator Genisys.  I airbrushed on the majority of the colours.  After I had all the base colours done I then did a smoke overlay over the top of the horse in grey/black to emphasise the battle damage.  That was a bit stark so I used some VGC Bleached Bone and dry brushed top to bottom on the black areas to lighten things up and get a bit of a 'burnt ash' look.  I also added some green mold in the corner of one room and some rank marks just to trial a few techniques that I had read about but not tried.

3 eyed alien

I prepped up a three eyed alien (?) bust that I purchased some time ago off eBay.  Something different to try.  Thinking about doing some kind of ochre colour for the skin.

I got the 54mm knight together and undercoated him.  While thinking about basing him the wife mentioned that he would look good with a horse.  Luckily for me a I have 54mm horse (again, another random eBay purchase).  Not sure if the figures together will work so I'm going to build up the horse (it's lead and needs some work to clean up and put together) and see what they look like together.  The knight is a good standing figure so would fit with a standing the horse which I didn't have any real plans for.

I keep getting distracted by milling machine projects so I'm finding my painting time is going down.  Plus I'm finding it hard to sit and do any painting at the moment.  The desire is there but not the motivation unfortunately.

Stormcast Eternal vers 1

Stormcast Eternal base coats

So got a bit done on the first Stormcast Eternal I have (purchased from Cancon in January).  Sick kids and work did put a damper on things.  After much paint shuffling I went for a turquoise and red/brown mix.  The turquoise is

VGC Falcon Turquoise base
Shaded with VMC Dark Sea Blue
Highlights VMC Light Blue and white

Stormcast Eternal with the turquoise done

The red/brown is

JS Red Oxide/VMC Flat Red base
Shaded with black
Highlights with VMC Flat Red/JS Orange, JS Light Yellow.

For the red/brown rather than using the red oxide as the base I used a lighter mix made from adding Flat Red as the base.  This is because the red oxide is too dark compared to the turquoise.

Colour chart for Stormcast Eternal

Trying to (re)learn a few things I did make a colour chart first.  This did help as it made it obviously that the red oxide was too dark.  Prep work for the win!

Resin fail :(

My second attempt to base coat the spacecraft failed.  The resin is bad/weeping so it went in the bin.  In the picture you can see that half the paint is still glossy (ie not dry) after two days.  Sigh.

Lots of pinning...

I need to have another go at a 54mm figure so started prepping up a knight I got off eBay awhile ago.  A very traditional knight figure.  I was thinking about a head swap (as I find helmeted figures a bit impersonal) but decided to stick with the figure as it is.  Slowly gluing and pinning all the parts together.

Adokul the Monk part 7 - finished. Plus Terminator Genisys and Dungeon Saga bits

Adokul the Monk

Well I mucked up the gluing this week.  I attached the figure to the base with two part epoxy as per usual.  However I had too much glue on the feet of the figure and some glue spread out as I pushed the figure down.  The end result was that some paint from the base got lifted and there are some glue visible.  I repainted the areas where paint was lifted but unfortunately the texture is now different (i.e. quite rough compared to the smooth surface of the plastic card).  Even though I painted over the glue spread around the feet again the texture is different and it shows.  Rather annoyed that I did that to be honest.  A real down result after a long paint.

Other than that there was some little clean ups on the figure and fiddling with some sections.  Nothing major but at some stage you just have to stop.  So I’m calling him done now.  On a side note I have a nice supply of books now for the next diorama.

Most of the rest of the week was allocated to shed work so painting was light on.  I finished the last four terminator figures (including the command figure with scratch built comms backpack).  I also painted up Blaine from the Dungeon Saga kickstarter.  He was one of the exclusive kickstarter figures.  Had an interesting bone helmet on.  I like painting these one off figures as it gives me a chance to experiment at bit with no downside.  If the experiment fails at least there is one less figure to paint.  For Blaine I tried out some new ways of painting brown on both the cloak and the armour.

Blaine from Dungeon Saga

With the cloak I started with VMC Leather Brown and shaded down with blue ink, a touch of green ink and black.  This is because blue is the complementary of orange and brown is dark orange.  For the highlights I used JS Yellow Oxide and then Cadmium Mid yellow and white.  I didn’t get as much contrast as I would have liked so still need to work on that.

For the armour I mixed up a warm black from VMC Flat Red, JS Yellow Oxide and blue ink (I think).  I then highlighted that by adding in more tan to the mixture.  For shadows I adding in purple and black.  I liked the end result as it was something different and gave a much different look.

Terminators

On the side project list up next are the humans for the Terminator Genisys game.  The will probably take a bit longer given they have more to paint than the terminator figures.  Some are in army uniforms, others are more ragtag.  Also lots of ponytails.  Guess barbers are hard to find in the future war environment.

Other candidates for side projects are the orcs from Dungeon Saga and the LotR figures I have.  Not sure I want to start the orcs as there are quite a few to paint.

For the next main figure I will be starting my worm bust.  I’m thinking red currently rather than the standard cooler schemes that worm things have.

Adokul the Monk part 6 - more base, books and scrolls

First up was doing the marble flooring for the new base.  I started with a base colour of JS Indian Red Oxide and VMC Red.  I needed three coats to get an even coverage of the plastic card.  Doing it again I would have airbrushed on the base coat.

Marble flooring

For the marble streaks I used white, grey and red in thin lines across the base all travelling in the same direction.  After I did some lines I would do a thin glaze of the base coat again (usually with more red) and then a layer of satin gloss.  Then I would repeat and do more lines, etc.  I also added in a layer of yellow flecks by flicking paint off the end of a wide brush.  Crucial was using flow aid to keep the paint thin.  I was using approx 50/50 water flow aid added to the paint.

Template used for drilling in the pin holes, much easier this way

I made two darks areas by first painting on VMC Smoke and then cleaning the bush and putting a line of the flow aid mixture on each side of the paint line.  This way the flow aid trapped the paint but softened all the edges.  The result was a dark patch with no hard transition line so I was pretty happy with that.  Once done this was glued onto the base with two part epoxy.

Book of burning spells, toothpick for scale

I painted up a number of books to be used.  Two of them will be the support for the raised foot.  I had made a couple of different thicknesses to I could get the height right.  While doing this I found the other foot to be very uneven.  I filed down the foot a bit, but then found because of the books it was in the air.  I used some green stuff to make a new sole of the boot to fill in the space and that worked well.

Starting work on the scrolls

To hide some of the gaps around the base of the books I made up some scrolls out of thin paper.  I used a small piece of green stuff as the core and then soaked the paper in PVA glue and water and rolled up the paper.  This was then painted with a warm white (Citadel Bleached Bone) and washed with VMC Smoke and VMA Burnt Umber.

Figure with books added and new pin for support

On the figure I redid the eyes again.  Twice.  Lots of deep breathing.  They were looking in the wrong direction so had to be corrected.  I really should have left glueing on the head until the last step.  The figure is quite heavy to hold which made working on the eyes harder than it had to be.  I’m still not sure about the left shoulder pad.  May rework that again.

So up next is gluing the figure onto the base and adding in the scatter books and scrolls.  Then the final touch ups and I’ll call him done.

Adokul the Monk part 5 - bases and books

So this week was more work on the arms of the figures.  I now have both arms pretty much sorted so the figure is starting to come together now.  The sword needs some love next.

Right arm done

For the base I did some samples on some parquet flooring plastic card sheet I had.  I tried three colours of wood - tan, red/brown and dark brown.  Some of them were starting to look ok but none of the colours were really working with the figure.  Then the wife mentioned porphyry marble which is a rich red/purple with white flecks.  The red/purple I think will look quite good with the figure so some experiments with that are next.  Also I will use flow aid medium to get the marble effects like I did with the Violinist marble fountain.

Start of one of the large books

Most of my time this week was spent sculpting books.  Another one of those moments when I catch myself and think “I am really doing this?”  The plan is that the figure’s foot will be on a pile of books and the sword will be driven into the books (maybe with the tentacles as well).  The whole “evil heresy books” theme which fits with the look of the figure.

Sorry, no macro lens shot

I started the books with a core of balsa wood with two pieces of plain plastic card for the covers superglued on.  Then I used my standard Milliput/green stuff mix (70/30) to put a layer of putty around the book that I then sculpted in some pages.  On the covers I added various details made from plastic card, some sections of fence I had and hardened green stuff rolled out flat.  I found the hardened green stuff was the worst to work with as even though very thin it wanted to got back to being flat so was hard to glue.  The plastic card strips were the easiest as I put some glue on the area I wanted to bend, let the glue soften the plastic, then shaped it.  I made up a number of books so i have a selection to choose from.  I might also put a chain around one for some more flair.

Adokul the Monk part 4

Well a bit of two steps forward, one step back this week.  A bit of rework on a couple of bits so not much progress forward.

Head and arms attached

I started on the both arms.  I got the leather gloves, tassels and linen cloth done before gluing the arms in place.  All of these areas are on the underside of the figure so pretty hard to work on once they are on the figure.

For the leather gloves I used the same base as the leather tassels (VMC Leather Brown/VMC Medium Flesh) but I highlighted with more JS Yellow Oxide so they would be a bit different.

Pre-shading started on trim

The arms glued on without issue (pinning the figure before painting always a good idea).  However there were some small gaps on the rear of the figure.  Nothing major so I used some green stuff to fill them in (I didn’t want to use milliput as it can stain).  However while I was moving the putty around I managed to lift off a large chunk of paint on the back.  Sigh.  So a quarter of the back had to be repainted.

Repaired back

I then started work on the left arm shading up the blue and then starting the pre-shading of the gold with some orange/yellow oxide mix.  Lots of tiny details needing to be edge painted so very slow going.

Book all done

Finally I painted up the chain that the book is attached to.  I used some VMA Rust and Gold together to make a weathered looking chain section.  I didn’t want it gold as I’m reserving that for the trim sections.

Looking at the figure on the base the wife bought up the point that the base was a bit big for the figure.  Originally I had made the larger base because of the weight of the figure and all that metal making it quite top heavy.  I did a trial on a smaller base where I had stained the wood a red/brown (Jarrah wood stain) and the blue really worked well with it.  So a made a new smaller base and drilled out the bottom of it.  Then I melted some lead (from old bases, etc) and poured it into the hole to add some weight to the bottom of the base.  Then I used two part epoxy to fill in the rest and to seal in the lead.  I’m going back to an earlier idea of having the figure standing on a stack of books.  So I need to make up some books in milliput.

New sword for figure

Last week I was thinking of not going with the warhammer.  Going through the figure stash I found a large claymore sword that fits with the figure.  I’ll go with the stance of the weapon end being in the ground.  The sword was quite old and made of lead.  While working on it, it broke in two places.  Rather than drill it (parts too small) I used Zap-a-Gap super glue.  Normally I use the cheap and nasty super glue.  Well Zap-a-Gap is worth the extra money.  Works really well and using the kicker helped a lot.  Despite being a very small join area it’s pretty strong.  I then covered the blade in diluted milliput to fill in all the cracks and gaps from the poor casting.

This week more gold arm trim…