Super Saturday

So yesterday i had the rarity of a day where i had absolutely no obligations so could dedicate the entire day to whatever i wished.. No errands, no household DIY, no appointments, and think the missus was being her sweet self and took herself off to spend the day with her family so i could have a "me" day. Well not wishing to waste such a gesture and opportunity, duly tried to get as much done as i could... while doing a little bit of exercise to work off the devastator burger from the previous night out with the boys.... 6 patties pulled pork, cheese, gherkins, bacon....a proper heart attack meal. Having said that we all demolished it in short order and was a bit disappointing. Tasty burger but not as undoable as we thought.



Anyway with painting on the agenda decided to try and finish off a few pieces that have been kicking around for a while now as well as start a couple of new ones.

So with that i managed to finish most of the tank crew for my tank companies and a Seraphim, a Tyrannic war vet and started and almost finished a medic for the catachans though the figure actually comes from Black scorpion miniatures that i picked up at salute. On top of this work continues on the wraith knight as unless i finish him i have imposed a ban on myself getting an Imperial Knight..... So plan is to finish him this month so the Knight household can be the next project....well alongside Bleach Eldar... :D


Anyway the Catachan medic girl was also a test piece for lady flesh. Have been seeking out tutorials of late to try and master this skill as have a few female minis
waiting in the wings from random impulse buys and kickstarter pledges to Raging heroes - The toughest girls in the galaxy and the Kingdom Death - Monster project.

The later is the really daunting one as their figures really are exquisite and intimidating to paint. However, they are controversial due to the depiction of their ladies, i.e.minimal clothing, all bewbs and butts everywhere....though you would expect that if the line are called "pin ups" ...not that the non pin ups are well furnished in the clothing department either. So while they do other nice figures that aren't girls, i can't deny what drew me to the line at first was these pin up sculpts. As a firm appreciator of the female form, i do think they are some of the best small scale female sculpts, albeit, a tad unrealistic as they tend towards an idealised fantasy proportioned woman, super emphasised on the things the majority of appreciators of the ladies enjoy the most. But regardless, i likes what i likes. But yes to do them justice would mean much improvement would be needed in my blending techniques, learn how to use washes properly and generally keeping everything smooth....all in all it will be a learning experience.


But taking encouragement from Dai, who's blog i recently discovered as he had been painting up a white speaker from the range, I bit the bullet and gave painting a Kingdom Death figure a go having put it off for so long. To ease me in i had recently picked up one of their 54mm scale figures off ebay. She came pre-built so that was a bit of a shame but was okay, cast itself was mainly fine. A few mould lines, easily scraped off... But herein lies lesson reminder one for me, and my overall weakness.....Patience....and care... having scraped these bits off i really should give the figure a good clean before priming otherwise you end up with dust flecks and ruins all the smoothness that is intended... alas. lesson reminded... and not wanting to strip and start over pushed on regardless... wasn't too bad... So with base coat of Vallejo grey primer then flesh tone set to work on blocking out all that was not lady flesh...i.e the minimal clothing

It was at this point i persuade the head to become unstuck. I was glad it came away with no damage as allowed me to get to the back of the figure. So finishing off the blocking, set to putting a further base tone for the flesh as the other flesh tone was a bit to yellow. as it is that basecoat works great for wraithbone! This was brushed on and made up off some Elf flesh, Vallejo pale flesh and tallarn flesh....still not sure of this as looks a bit too dark....

But we shall see.... maybe with highlights as work up the transitions it will be fine...But this is to be continued as that is only as far as i got.
On the catachan medic seems to be okay but my transitions are still a bit hamfisted...

Themed armies

Painting wise have not been able to finish much, but have been working on some wraithguard and trying to finish off some death company, still working on the wraithknight as well, putting in some magnets for his arms. But this weekend has been about getting some modelling done and putting into action an idea that as been brewing in me brain for a while....

Storm guardians

I have a history of bringing  televisual influences into my hobby. Previous such influences included Sharpe, Lara croft, band of brothers. But having been introduced to the joy of the anime of Bleach by me missus, its influence has gradually taken hold in that it has moved me to try and bring some of the characters into my armies in some form. Ideas like this usually mean theming an army. But not wanting to start from scratch, ideas have been floating around in me head as to where they could fit. Initial thoughts had been an inquisition band but then when i started revisited the Eldar and creating the Mymearan army it kinda made me want to put them in Eldar form especially since they are quite slight in frame. Then it hit me whilst lining up what i had painted in a role call. I could repurpose my armies to represent a couple of central factions of Bleach. Ulthwe being black could represent the "shinigami" or soul reapers and the Mymearans could represent the Quincy - Soul destroyers or something to that effect. This idea was further crystalised by how the armies were set up. The Mymearans i had were mostly employing light based weapons akin to the Quincy spirit bow. While the Ulthwe had a predominance of shuriken...i.e bladed weapons... therefore it fitted nicely. As such, when i continue to expand the armies, will stick to this tenet so that Ulthwe will mainly make use of only bladed, warp and monofilament based weapons, while the Mymearans would be light and speed based weapons.




But what would unite the two and how would the Ichigo, the main protaganist and his friends fit in as belonged to neither....

after pondering a while the answer, was obvious.....Harlequins!!
The rest of the troupe will represent the vizards and still figuring out how to include the other main characters but am sure that will come. but for now just starting to turn the leaders into captains and such..

and here's he first attempt in creating Ichigo. can't get his mask right but will work on it some more.

Freedom & special delivery

A quicky post to say am free from the rigours of revision woooooooooo

Anyway that means one thing,  trying to fit as much hobby time in as work, life and non tiredness allows me!

Warp Hunter markings

So its given me a new impetus to try and complete as many on going projects as possible... or at least progress them. So quick photo update

Wraithseer face

Vanq Tank Commander

Progress on Mr W-Knight

Vanq attack

Valkyrie nose art for "Special delivery"