What I've been doing recently, a painting and modelling log...

[Raven Morpheus]

Seconds out, round 3!

So, didn't get a lot of sleep last night (read "I fell asleep about 10:00 yesterday, got woken up by phone calls at 16:00, fell asleep again at about 17:00, woke again at 22:00, and got 1 hours rest/sleep about 05:00 this AM!)...

Due to not feeling my best I feel I shouldn't push on yet with the Librarian, lest I make a hash of it. However this morning I had an urge to satisfy my curiosity...

I tried again, on my current paint mule, to achieve the blue look I was aiming for on the Librarian -

Yesterday, very early morning, I made a couple of dungeon bases using Green Stuff and the GSW flagstone roller -

Citadel Teclis blue over Caledor sky is definitely closer to the shade of Citadel enchanted blue I'm familiar with (from the 00s to '12), which was renamed Caledor sky, but still doesn't "pop" like that Garfy guy's example. I'm sure it's down to either the paints not being the same shade now, camera setup/lighting, something that he does that I don't, or more likely all three.

To the mk1 eyeball the blue on the Librarian "pops" better than in the photos and the blue on the other guy is obviously brighter, perhaps my digital point and shoot (with "black" background) will fare better when I take final photos of the Librarian.

I'm going to give up on it though and just carry on with the Librarian as he is - I could be forever trying to work out how to get that blue look!


The bases came out OK for a first attempt. I need to work out a way of securing the bases so they don't move (I don't think White Tack would be sufficient, or keep the bases level), and also how to get the roller/on off a base in a smooth way, I found plonking it in the middle of the base and rolling it back/forth wasn't ideal, nor was starting at one edge of the base.

I know I can roll the green stuff out on a flat surface, but I have nothing to uniformly cut it at the moment, and I don't think it's as easy to achieve an even depth. I know GSW sell blank rollers and silicone rings to go round their rollers, and cutters to cut the green stuff. I may invest in those at some point in the future.


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Ben_S]

Citadel Teclis blue over Caledor sky is definitely closer to the shade of Citadel enchanted blue I'm familiar with (from the 00s to '12) but still doesn't "pop" like that Garfy guy's example. I'm sure it's down to either the paints not being the same shade now, camera setup/lighting, something that he does that I don't, or more likely all three.

Obvious suggestion is obvious, but have you considered the primer/undercoat?

You're doing it over black, but perhaps he used white (as was more common back in the day).

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Doubt it's that. In the article I linked to under the first photo, he lists black undercoat spray as being needed...

Like I said, I'm giving up on it, there's just too many variables, including Citadel Hoeth and Macragge blues not being the same shade now as they were before 2012 also.

The Librarian is already looking better than he did when I started him in 2019, so I can just chalk his blue armour up to experience...

 

[Ben_S]

Ah, sorry. I looked at the step by step pictures you posted, but didn't read the linked article.

 

[Mr. M]

Other options besides the GSW blank roller are an old drinking glass with smooth sides, or check in craft stores (they usually sell things like blank acrylic rollers in the clay sculpting section). When I was experimenting with the texture rollers and trying to get a more even application, @Unslain had the very good suggestion of using runners or rails to act as a guide for the roller. I ended up using the tongue-depressor-sized craft sticks to build them up to the right height - worked well and made for an even roll.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Spent much time today finishing off the Librarian...

I think I overdid the "area highlights" (?) a bit in places, like on the left wrist/forearm armour, but hey ho, I was making it up as I went. The staff got a quick highlight down it's length which is a bit rough - because I had forgotten it and had tidied stuff away...

Overall though I'm happy with him, certainly better than my first go at him (which never got finished) back in 2019...



Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Ben_S]

I'm now wondering whether he should be in librarian colours or Deathwing colours, but it's a good blue anyway.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

So, mother is being discharged from hospital today. Oh joy!



Anyhow I spent a couple of hours or so this morning at the table...


I put some base/undercoats on 3 of the grave guard. I got bored with them however - too many hard to reach areas making them no fun to paint. The green is done though, I did that with Contrast paint, for reasons -

I struggled with working out how to highlight The skirts/kilts/whatever on the first of the grave guard I did weeks ago, so those same areas on these grave guard were done with Citadel Contrast paint Warp Lightning mixed 2:1 with Citadel Contrast Black Templar, thinned 50:50 with Citadel Contrast medium, and given 3 layers.


I also made an attempt at something approaching the classic dark green skin on the Black Orcs -

For reference (mostly my own) - The Black Orc's skin was done with Citadel Abaddon Black undercoat, Citadel Caliban Green base layer, with a rough highlight of Citadel Warpstone Glow. I then gave that a layer of 50:50 mixed Contrast Warp Lightning and Black Templar, thinned 50:50 with Contrast medium.


The Black Orc's skin turned out OK, considering I generally have no clue where to place highlights, bar the obvious top/upwards facing surfaces and certain obvious areas on the face, on such a model, and these are typical of the '95ish era of GW plastics and have had a grey undercoat prior to reaching me, so that doesn't help me any either (references of other people's attempts at the same model aren't always helpful to me either)...

However I feel could probably do with slightly brightening up some of the highlights in places, such as on the face and hands, probably by mixing Citadel Skarsnik Green into the Warpstone glow.



Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

So, I have to admit to being a little bored with stuff at the moment...

Concentrating on Catacombs of Terror means after I've finished the grave guard (and of course the Black Orcs, which aren't CoT related), I have to source quite a few models, including a Necromancer to represent Gunther Larenscheld, I could buy the OG model (I've seen a few knocking around), then something to represent a hunchback, and the Grimoire Necris, along with 9 Zombies, 6 Ghouls and 36 Skeletons.

That's quite a lot of monsters to plough through!

So I thought I'd change things up a bit...


One "project" I've recently been wanting to do is use current models and make a trio of Centaurs for Warhammer Quest '95 (level 1 monster table entry, but I'll make a card for them)...

So, the other day I bought 3 horse shaped objects and riders from the Chaos Marauder Horsemen box set, from a bits seller (bitzbox.co.uk), and this afternoon those parts fell through the letterbox.

I've done a quick test assembly and a quick/rough photochop colouring in job to show how they'll kind of look -

The rules for Centaurs in WHQ '95 state they are archers, but I opted to have them carrying javelins, because, reasons. They'll just have to "count as"...

You'll note that I've whited out the tips on the saddle, I'll be cutting/sanding those down (along with the ridges that extend down the side of the saddle), but I'll be leaving the saddle (somewhat smoothed out) and painting it steel - it's a piece of armour.

That's as far as I've got with the plan, I need to work out how to secure the human body to the horse shaped object and make it look nice (there's a bit of a hole where the horse shaped object's head/neck was), I know it will involve green stuff. I have no proper sculpting tools though...

The human body does look a little comically small to me...



Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Ben_S]

I did centaurs years ago, using chaos marauders and wood elf horses. I think I have them ogre-style gutplates to help cover the join.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Unfortunately the Wood Elves with horses were squatted quite a while ago...

 

[Ben_S]

Yeah - I'm talking almost ten years ago now I guess.

To be honest, the wood elf horses were a bit too slender for my liking, but they did avoid the problem of saddles.

 

[trollmeat]

The human body does look a little comically small to me...

Yeah, you may need to extend the abdomen/torso so he sits taller. I kept looking at making some Centigors but none of the bits seemed to fit. edit to add that there are some good examples of “centaur proportions” if you do an image search this one in particular - smaller horse or bigger body

ps: The Librarian looks amazing, really came together - I had to hit the Love button rather than Like

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Thanks @trollmeat, it wasn't exactly what I wanted but yeah it turned out OK.


I made some progress on the green stuff work on the Centaurs.


Did a quick colouring in job in Photochop of one photo. He's nearly done, just needs a bit more green stuff work. I had to leave it overnight for the green stuff to harden, as I kept squishing it all about when I put the human body on top, and I'm leaving it some more today so it hardens, before trying to fill/smooth a couple of gaps. The brown on the equine back armour, the javelin's blade and his helmet and the rest of the armour will end up being Steel of some sort. He looks a bit too multi-coloured for my liking in this edited photo, so I'm having second thoughts about the flaming tail, fetlocks and beard, or maybe I just need to use a darker red/brown on the blanket...

Unfortunately I think they're always going to look like I've just plopped a human body on top of a blob of green stuff on top of a horse shaped object.

Same guy from the front -

Photos of the other two so far, sorry about the blur, I'll carry on with these tomorrow as the green stuff needs to harden, so I don't squish it all around like I was with the other one yesterday evening -

I don't much like the idea of an Ogre gut shield piece on the front, and I've considered adding a plastic tabard to the front (from the Chaos Terminator Lord kit for example), but I don't think that'd do much to detract from the human body plopped on top of a blob of green stuff look.

I am thinking about trying to use 10/20thou plasticard (because it's quite flexible) to make a "skirt"/armour plates coming off the belt at the waist of the human body, kind of like on a Chaos Dwarf Bull Centaur, but I'm not sure I could make that look right either...


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Styrene is a wonderful medium for scratchbuilding and hiding crimes...

I sat at the table this afternoon for a short period, knowing I had some 10 or 20thou styrene sheet, some styrene strips and styrene rods. I intended to have a play around with them to try to make an armour skirt/belt/pelmet/valance/whatever to disguise the join between the human body and the equine body on the Centaurs...

...whilst I was doing that I watched Adam Savage build a KiwiCo articulated lamp. I could do with an extra lamp, and that one'd be great, unfortunately they're not available in the UK at this time!

Here's what I came up with, an armour plate hanging off each side of the belt (there's two studs on each side of the belt that the plates could be hanging from), and a solid tabard hanging off the front of the belt (presumably secured behind the skull), the armour plate on his left side was awkward to place due to the left arm/shield, I won't have that issue on the other two -

The other two got almost final green stuff added, I may still want to build it up in more of a hump behind the human body backs -

The added styrene is basic and chunky (the rod I used is the thinnest I've got), but it'll do. Should cure some of that overhang look on the other two also. It also handily covers up the join seam between the body halves at the front. A couple of the "studs" need shaving/sanding down a bit, I'm hoping they don't just fall off - had that problem when I did the OG Mk1 Land Raider rebuild/conversion...

I'll add the same styrene bits to the other two Centaurs tomorrow when the green stuff work I did on them today has fully cured.



Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Didn't feel like doing any painting/model stuff at the weekend, for reasons, so I didn't push on with anything. I did spend an hour today however finishing off the build of the Centaurs...

I added a bit of detail to the "tabard" on the first Centaur I built, just a simple half round strip down the middle -

I then added the styrene bits to the other two -

Unfortunately there's quite a big gap in the styrene "armour" on this one, not sure why that gap happened, but I smoothed out the green stuff showing as best as I could -

Group shot -

Some of the styrene rod "studs" on the added styrene still need sanding shorter, but I'm still concerned about them falling off during the process, so I may leave them as they are.

Turned out OK so far though, will be interesting to see how my green stuff efforts look after having paint applied...



Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Very quickly this afternoon I detailed the bases for the Centaurs using green stuff...

I came across this video a week or so ago -

I borrowed his idea for making something to raise the height of the level to roll the pin on. I'm sure there's many ways to skin that cat, including @Mr. M's tongue-depressor-sized craft sticks method - I was going to use 1mm thick card strips myself, before I stumbled on that video.


Out of 6" of green stuff I've been able to make eight 25mm bases (although I chucked one because it turned out bad), and these three for the Centaurs, I did run out slightly of green stuff on the third one (probably because I used too much on the first and second). I feel I used too much green stuff on 5 of the 25mm bases also as they look a bit thick. I'll have to buy some more green stuff now, and try to use less per base...


Quick photo of the Centaur bases, the green stuff has not yet hardened and needs tidying up around the edges of the bases when it has cured -

Nowhere near as perfect looking as the one's by that guy in the video, but they'll do.


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[trollmeat]

They don’t need to be “perfect” to work well.

You can hide anything you aren’t happy with by adding tufts and a bit of sand/rocks here and there.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

They don’t need to be “perfect” to work well.

You can hide anything you aren’t happy with by adding tufts and a bit of sand/rocks here and there.

That's true, sadly I don't have any such materials. Anyhow I've trimmed them up and undercoated them and the bases for the Centaurs look OK, although I need to work out a better way of trimming them as, using my 9mm bladed craft knife, I kept taking chunks out of the plastic bases, and I couldn't quite get some areas nicely tidied up so they're flush. I don't think trimming after the green stuff has had 24hrs to harden is the best way of doing it, but doing it once it's had a few hours to harden is just as bad, and doing it immediately risks squishing all the details up...


So, late last night I was, for want of a better term, wired. And knew I wouldn't get to sleep easily, so I sat at the table watching some episodes of Macgyver (not the reboot) and some recent videos by Adam Savage, until about 01:00...

I'm finished with the Grave Guard, and I also almost finished one of the Black Orcs.


Photos of the Grave Guard, as you can see my early attempts at green stuff bases are rather chunky and not very well trimmed -

Walk like an Egyptian -

I really lost enthusiasm for these very quickly (I haven't bothered with putting any verdigris on the bronze, nor any varnishes on), too many areas that even Heineken wouldn't reach, and I probably didn't help myself by putting the arms on. Plus complicated kilts/skirts/whatever when it comes to working out how to highlight them (hence why I resorted to using Contrast paint on those areas). Suffice to say these aren't my best efforts, but at least they're done enough.



I sat at the table for a short period this afternoon and I undercoated the green stuff bases (you can see the one's I've painted for the Grave Guard above), and also the Centaurs, the green stuff on the Centaurs looks adequate to me now that it's got an undercoat on it, will see how it looks as painting progresses, I had to put the Centaurs on temporary bases due to their final bases having work done on them.

I took these photos on my "final photo" background using my digital point and shoot camera (instead of my mobile), because, I had it out for the Grave Guard -

And the Black Orc, I took these photos using my mobile on my usual "WIP photo" cutting mat (because I forgot to take photos whilst I had my other "setup" out), there's a couple of bits I still want to do, highlight on the axe handle, paint "metal" the studs on his left boot sole, and paint his fingernails and, if I can be bothered, dot with red his eyes. Apologies as always for the blur in the photos -

Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Ben_S]

Have you tried mixing Milliput in with the GS? Never tried it myself, but some people recommend it. (Besides being cheaper, I believe the end product is harder and can be sanded down.)