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

[Raven Morpheus]

And the dwarf treasure hunters "glamour" shots -

Thunderer -

Engineer -

Clansmen -

Noble -

I also took some new photos of the Trollslayer that I painted a couple of years ago for Warhammer Quest '95 as he is part of the warband -

Continued into next post due to image limit...


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

...continued from last post...

Group shot -

These aren't my best work, you can definitely see where I got bored and frustrated with them. Some things didn't quite work, some details are not very well moulded and/or I filled them in with paint, and they look better on camera than to my mk1 eyeball.

Overall though I'm happy with them, they'll do for tabletop.


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Punktaku]

I’m surprised you didn’t find the missing cable once you had finished your fix (looks good, by the way). You know, stand up, take a step, get stabbed in the foot by the missing piece.

 

[almic85]

Titan paint schemes really are still the Wild West of GW lore.

As near as I can tell there isn’t anything that is official other than that the banner between their legs is their house banner with extra kill markings.

Everything else is whatever you want it to be.

Also those dwarfs look rad!!!

 

[Stoof]

Always loved that Trollslayer model, and your paint job on it is top notch

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Titan paint schemes really are still the Wild West of GW lore.

As near as I can tell there isn’t anything that is official other than that the banner between their legs is their house banner with extra kill markings.

Everything else is whatever you want it to be.

Yup, that seems very much the case.

There are some examples of honour banners and stuff out there, for a handful of titan legions, such as Legio Astorum (which seems to be a very popular one), Legio Atarus, Legio Crucius and Legio Gryphonicus, but Legio Metalica, besides the decal sheet and two pages, showing 2 titans front on, in the AT Loyalist book, appear to have been largely discarded and/or treated as an afterthought, despite, or perhaps because of, them featuring all the way through 2nd edition Epic!

It is rather frustrating because apart from basic colours I do like to have a ball park to start from.

I am starting to see patterns in terms of placement of decals GW did on the 2nd edition Epic titans, that somewhat correlates with the page in WD #108 though, takes a bit of reading between the lines though.

I also found out, last night, that February 2022's issue of White Dwarf had a 3 or so page article about making Adeptus Titanicus honour banners, with a way oversized template for one. I'm not sure I'm willing to pay £5+ for a magazine I only want 3 or so pages of though.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Not feeling like sitting at the table tonight, so I had a play around in photochop to see if I could make some slightly better looking honour/kill banners for the titans I'm building for Epic Armageddon...

The person I referred to previously, regarding where banners hang on a titan, Larry Vela (who appears to be the founder of BoLS) created several sheets of banners in 2007, in scale for the 40k Armorcast titans, and the Legio Metalica one is available for download here - https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2007/05/legio-metalica-logo-sheet.html

I wasn't going to use that sheet, for a couple or reasons, but mostly because I wasn't sure of his source(s), and he doesn't state them.

I think however I found Larry Vela's source(s), as well as that page from WD #108 with the beetleback diagram, there was a spread in the Codex Titanicus expansion to AT 1988, detailing the War Griffons and some of the markings on their titans (it even tells you what the kill markings (right hand column) on the honour banner represent!), this was later reproduced in Black Library's book Index Imperialis Apocrypha (2016)...

So, actually, after days (or rather nights) of googling, I think I've found something approaching what I was looking for...



So, I took Larry Vela's sheet and cropped it down to the honour banner only, used an image I found via google of an Imperator titan, and cobbled together the image below, it's just Larry Vela's honour banner with his Legio Metalica logo replaced (because I don't like his winged skull logo). I removed the forgeworld name, not realising it's not the name of the titan and I don't need to replace it, so I've put that back but it's not shown below...


Honour banner -

And I managed to get my head around doing a pennant shaped banner for the kill markings banner, I must have been suffering with a dose of "brain fog" the other night -

So, that's some slightly better looking banners for the reaver. Just need to do something to make them slightly different for the Warhounds (when I receive them and have taken measurements when they're assembled-ish).

I'm going to print both versions out (these two and the other two I did the other night) at a later date and see which I prefer. Not sure if I should go with mahoosive banners stretching from groin/weapon to almost the ground, or go smaller, i.e. somewhere in between, I guess it will depend on what print quality I can achieve given how small these will be...




Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

The warhound titans I ordered from Wayland Games arrived yesterday, via Royal Mail, much later than Royal Mail's email suggested, but hey ho.

The battle bling Apocalypse Missile Launcher arrived the other day.

So, I did a quick bit of dry fitting this AM.

Quick photo of the reaver titan carapace mounted Turbo Laser Destroyer vs the warhound's arm mounted version -

As we can see, in terms of size they are only really different in the length of the back end, plus minus a few gubbins making the reaver carapace version a tiny bit chunkier in places.


Battle bling AML -

And the dry fit of the parts to the reaver using white tac, obviously the odd angles will be sorted upon final fitting -

I'm happy with how that looks, the AML looks a bit oversized but interweb chatter seems to suggest it's the same size as the GW part. It will require a bit of fettling to fit though as I don't have the GW connector for the AML to the body, I am currently using the connector for the TLD, which doesn't fit in the hole in the bottom of the AML.

The TLD's are adequate imho. Especially given the option of either having one (the carapace mounted one), none, or shelling out a further £17 on a sprue and trying to use two of the carapace mounted TLDs, which, would be no better looking as they'd be the same length/size as the warhound one's, all bar the back end.

There's a little bit of work to do to make the warhound TLDs fit to the reaver arm pieces, but that's trivial, and obviously I have the cables to go on (I'm hoping they reach a suitable spot, even if they don't quite fit perfectly), I think there's also a piece that fills the back end of the warhound TLDs as there's a bit of a hole there, possibly the cable part, I haven't checked the destructions.

I'm happy with that though, it may have cost me a pair of warhounds and an aftermarket AML, but I can rob further parts from the warhounds to detail the reaver's base and still have 2 wysiwyg warhound titans for Epic Armageddon.



Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

So, a little bit more fettling with the reaver this AM...

Quick photos -

The carapace and shoulder armour is white tac'd on just so I can see how this is looking. I glued on the rear carapce armour as that'll need a tiny bit of filling/sanding to hide the join before painting.

The "arms" and weapons have been CA glued in place, so that if I need/want to I can "snap" them off.

I was right about there being a part to fill the hole on the warhound Turbo Laser Destructors, it's the part that makes the ball joint attachment to the warhound, and they fit the reaver "arm" parts almost perfectly. Always helps if you read the destructions...

I cobbled together some hoses/cables from the warhound weapon hoses/cables and the reaver weapon hoses/cables and glued them to the TLDs at the back end (where they are supposed to go anyway), I left them loose at the body end.

I also made the carapace TLD connector fit better to the Apocalypse Missile Launcher. The AML is not even glued or white tac'd in place at the titan body in the photos above, it's just sitting on the top!


Getting there, after a bit of sanding/filling/scraping, I want to airbrush the "skeleton" before proceeding any further...


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Spent some more time at the table this AM. I seem to be in that part of the cycle I seem to go through where I'm back to "sleeping" at night, awake all day, but getting tired in the afternoon, mother is ticking along, using her carers, leaving me with little to do for her at the moment, and things with her seem to have settled down for the moment, so I'm doing a bit of hobby stuff in the morning instead.

Timber!!

I got the 2 remaining Mordheim buildings that I've had in progress timbered. I wanted to get these done as the next step is airbrush work and I can get the other airbrush work I have lined up done in the same hit - the "outlaws of Stirland forest" need a Vallejo bone white undercoat and, after I've sanded/scraped/filled certain areas, the reaver titan's "skeleton" needs airbrushing also, at least that's the plan...

Quick photos -

I got bored towards the end and, on the 3 storey building, decided to completely glue the floors down, and use off cut coffee stirrers for the upper level's floor rather than full length timbers.

EDIT - I've just noted that I haven't timbered the front edge of the roof parts. Doh!!!


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Well so much for a productive bank holiday weekend! I had a gastric issue on Friday morning, and I've been in limp home recovery mode since, the mild grotty weather isn't helping either, neither is being hopped up on meds for arthritis, and hayfever. Must be that time of year again...

...anyhow I forced myself to sit at the table today and spend an hour trying to do something, despite "brain fog".

I had a go at hanging some test banners on the reaver titan, somewhat unsuccessfully.

Quick photos -

You wouldn't believe how much of a faff trying to put tiny chain into a hole/gap and CA glue it in place is. The chain is also too small to fit rods made from paper clips through the links, so I had to open up the links when fitting the rods I made from a paper clip, that was also a faff.

I can understand why people don't bother with banners at this scale!

And to top off a rubbish afternoon, I've run out of CA glue!


As we can see, the weapon kills banner is an unmitigated disaster, I tried three times and the one time I got the chain glued in properly, it doesn't even hang right, so I've removed it entirely. I may, at some point, revisit that.

The honour banner between the legs is better, but I'm not keen on how it hangs (especially as the leg armour isn't attached), for one thing I seem to have attached it too far back. But it'll do and it's staying, although the paper is temporary as it's a test print.

We can also see that the honour banner prints out quite nicely. I was expecting it to be a blurred mess (my photo makes it look like one).


Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Punktaku]

I know it’s an action pose, but I can’t help but think it’s doing the Hokey Pokey. Or maybe the Time Warp?

 

[Sundown Dreamer]

I also saw your tavern on the first page again and I like your Mordheim buildings and I think the work was totally worth it.

 

[Brendan Flynn]

Those Mordhiem buildings are coming along nicely. It should make for a very sweet board to fight over.

The goose stepping mech looks a bit stiff if I may be so bold. I think the foot that anchors him needs to be tilted forward somwhat so he doesn't look like he is trying to stand straight but still take a big step foward. This would probably mean raising the other leg even more however. I know how hard it is to get a realistic pose with larger models as I really struggled with my original Bjorn Fellhand. I ended up leaving the legs as they were, but tilting the upper body backwards dramatically. This required some filling, and several attempts, but eventually made for a much more dynamic pose.

Its funny I have a giant called the Stomper in almost this exact same pose and at first I thought about altering it but decided to go with it and he looks fine so maybe this just needs finishing and painting to cement the pose. Your doing really well considering the set backs of weather and health.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Spent about 45 minutes at the table just after lunch today, and did some airbrushing. That's about all I can manage at the moment as my head feels "foggy" and sinusy and my asthma is playing up (a small ache due to arthritis in my right thumb didn't help either). I'm sure it's related to the mild rainy weather system we've got in my part of the UK at the moment. I just hate this time of year, and going forwards until autumn/winter again.

Quick photos below.

The two still wip Mordheim buildings got their airbrush paint layers done, and yes I know I still haven't timbered the gable ends, I need CA glue for that and I'm now waiting on some from an ebayer, I seem to be going through CA glue quite a lot at the moment, it's starting to get expensive at £5+ a pop -

And I undercoated the "Outlaws of Stirland Forest" using Vallejo Game Air Bonewhite, because, Citadel contrast paint -

I still don't like how short and weedy Will Scarlet looks, nor how tall not-Maid Marian is (she's as tall as not-Little John), and the squires look even chunkier, but hey ho...

The plan with not-Robin Hood and his merry people, is to go with the traditional "Lincoln green" theme. So their clothes will be predominantly "Lincoln green". I'm probably going to go with Citadel Warpstone glow for that as my base coat/mid-tone.

Not-friar Tuck will be painted in mostly the same colours I painted my Cult of the Possessed guys, seeing as he's meant to be wearing monk's robes.

I may change it up on Will Scarlet also and paint his clothing, predominantly or partly scarlet...

I'll probably cobble together a paint mule or two to test the paint recipe(s) for the "Lincoln green", as I also need to test shading colours...

I'm not sure which way to go with their bases though, I'm leaning towards using static grass and doing a "grassy clearing" type of look (on a base layer of Citadel Stirland mud/battlemire, if I've got any), but that might look out of place in the middle of a residential city area...



Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

 

[Ben_S]

I need CA glue for that and I'm now waiting on some from an ebayer, I seem to be going through CA glue quite a lot at the moment, it's starting to get expensive at £5+ a pop -

What brand are you using? I just use superglue from Poundland. The packs have got smaller, but it's still a lot cheaper than that (though perhaps not as good).

 

[Raven Morpheus]

What brand are you using? I just use superglue from Poundland. The packs have got smaller, but it's still a lot cheaper than that (though perhaps not as good).

Zap-a-gap. I've used cheap stuff from the high street before, and yes, not all CA glues are equal. I need to venture into town in the next couple of days anyway so I may pick some up (if I see any in the shop(s) I go in), just to tide me over.

 

[Punktaku]

I switched from Zap-a-gap to Gorilla Gel. Love the stuff.

 

[Brendan Flynn]

I wondered where this band of merry folk had gone. I am looking forward to seeing what you do with them. My vote would be for Will in scarlet, if for no other reason than that he will add a bold splash of colour to the merry band.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

Midweek madness at the table...

Spent just under 2 hours this afternoon trying some stuff out, not entirely successfully...

First up, a small paint colour/shading test for not-Robin Hood and his merry people.

That's a Vallejo Game Air Bonewhite undercoat, followed by, Vallejo game color sick green (on the left as we look at the front), and Citadel Warpstone glow (on the right as we look at the front), both sides were shaded with Citadel contrast dark angels green. The spear haft got painted a rough 1:1 mix of Citadel steel legion drab and Citadel zandri dust in an attempt to replicate a wood (yew) colour of English longbows.

I put down the two colours because I wanted to see the difference between them. The photos don't really show it but there is a marked difference in the two colours. I'll still go with the Warpstone glow as the main colour, and maybe use the Vallejo sick green as an alternate colour for patches, leggings etc. Contrast dark angels green needs much more thinner than I used...


Second up, is a test for a project I have on the backburner. Also happens to be my first primaris model, he's just one of those easy to build push fit one's, I bought him as a paint mule (and size guide) for the project I have on the backburner, no glue was used in assembly.

That's a black undercoat, followed by brush applied Vallejo metal color silver on one side. I then applied Coat D'Arms enchanted green. I wanted to see how the paint went down on each colour undercoat. It seems to have gone down a little better on the silver painted side.

I then shaded the left side with Vallejo game ink green, and the right side with neat dark angels green contrast, I probably should have thinned the dark angels green quite a lot.

I tried to do a bit of "area shading" on the left side (as we look at the front) in a couple of spots using the Vallejo green ink, to see how it looked.

I also mixed in some Vallejo model air silver into the CDA enchanted green and applied this as rough highlights.

So, that wasn't entirely successful. The overall colour looks OK in the photos, but it's not the colour I want. The CDA enchanted green has terrible coverage (it needed 3-4 layers all over) and I didn't thin it (on purpose because it's an old school metallic paint) so it's a tiny bit thick/rough in places, it's also patchy in places, and may have filled in some details.

But, at least I learned a few things.

I need to do some further tests on this one, after I strip him (or just airbrush over the current paint), before I commit paint to the actual model the colour I'm looking for is going on...


I also got the 2 Mordheim buildings drybrushed on the wall panels. Just the roofs and timbers to paint and a clay wash to do...

Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.