Updating my imperial guard, reinforcements have arrived!

[Necros]

Working on valkyrie 1 of 2



So far the shading and highlights are mostly done, but the whole thing is still just about half done. I have a lot of weathering and battle damage that I want to do. and I need a non-humid day to go outside and prime the pilots and some other men that I built.

So on my list of new stuff I still have to do:

2nd Valkyrie
paint new command squad
build & paint a melta vet squad
build & paint a Sgt Harker vet squad w/ extra heavy bolter team (waiting for the new Sgt Harker model)
build & paint a unit of lascannon HW teams and use extra bitz for a 2nd unit that will be autocannon teams
paint 3 advisors, 10 ratlings, 2 commissars and a primaris psyker
paint 1 chimera and 1 basilisk
paint my leviathan

guess I got my work cut out for me....... Hope to have valk 1 done over the weekend if all goes well

[WilhelmRochRedDuke]

Wow and I thought my list of crap to do was long... I feel your pain.
The first Valkyrie looks great!

This post has been edited by WilhelmRochRedDuke on Jul 23 2009, 01:27 PM

[Necros]

hehe I'm probably going to get the leviathan done soon. I think I'm just going to use a gray primer and paint on minwax wood stain to shade it, the same stuff I used to dip my tomb kings. It will probably drive me insane if I try and paint all the little details on that thing. And besides it's the size that matters...

but the good news is at least I don't have to buy any models for a long time

[Necros]

Finished my valkyrie here's big pics







and here's a closeup of the nose art and the guys inside


wadaya think?

I still have a 2nd one to paint, but I'm gonna work on some men for a while...

[WilhelmRochRedDuke]

Very nice.. with pin-ups even... We need to discuss your painting style..
actually you need to tell me how you painted it.. I would appreciate it... like airbrush or paintbrushes, sizes... details man, details!!
is there a way to dull down the transfers?

[Necros]

No airbrushes

I used a flat brush I got from AC moore, about 1/4" across. And the usual teeny ones for details. But, the whole thing was primed gray with generic krylon gray primer, then I went over it with Shadow Gray. Then, I washed it with my own mix of black wash. To get the wash it's something like 50% water, 25% chaos black and 25% matte medium. You can get the medium at AC Moore. it kills the shine in the paint for one thing and also it really helps the paint get into the cracks and stay there real good. I mix up a big batch in an old paint pot so I have plenty of it.

So anyway, just paint that all over for the dark dirty gray look. Also before the wash I painted on the red and space wolf gray stripes on the wings.

then I did the decals, then I sprayed it with flat varnish from testors. Then I used fine sandpaper on some of the decals to give them a worn out look. You varnish first so it doesn't just rip the decal.

and that's pretty much it. I think the only way to tone down the brightness of the decals though would be to do the wash over them after the varnish but I wasn't sure how good that would work

[Necros]

Finished a few new men, the officers for my company and platoon command squads and a few melta command vets

Here is my main command squad, lead by Colonel Harris. Formerly a well decorated gunnery sergeant, he has a preference for commanding heavy weapon teams and is often found leading from the rear, providing leadership to heavy weapon squads.



Here he is close up from a few angles



Next up is Major Dickinson, and his squad of veterans. They lead from the front, frying armor and providing leadership to advancing troops and special forces gravchuting out of valkyries



The men in the squad are made from Valkyrie door gunners to represent carapace armor. Tried to get a good shot, but I suck at taking pics




And here are Lieutenant Murray and Lieutenant Smith, each leading their own platoon of 2 infantry squads and 1 heavy weapon squad.



Wadaya think?

[generalmalaise]

really nice work

[Necros]

Adding 2 vet units each with 3 meltaguns and the rest equipped with shotguns. So that means 6 shotguns in each squad for a total of 12. As luck would have it, the marine scouts have 4 shotguns per box, so I ordered the bits for exactly 12

The arms weren't a perfect match and I wanted the cadian arms instead of the marine looking shoulder pads and stuff, so I snipped off the guns from the scout arms and then did some carving on the guard lasgun arm. The left hand holding the gun is also molded on, but it's not quite in the right spot. I had to snip some of the left sleeves to get them all to match up right. I'll add a bit of greenstuff later to make the seam for the lasgun stock and the shotgun to flow together better but here's a pic of how they go together



And here's all 12 shotguns done. I think even though the left hand isn't a perfect match it will still flow good once they're all done and painted



wadaya think?

[WilhelmRochRedDuke]

solid conversion, nice job... The GW metal meltas will be a pain in the butt too, trust me

[Necros]

yeah the metal meltas are a pain. I made 2 of them for my command squad. They're too big in the back and don't fit right against a cadian body. I used the grenade launcher arms for the left arm for those 2, but I think the left arm with the open hand might work better. I already messed up though. Gonna have to pop off one of those shotguns and stick it in a left hand, so I can use my FW demo charge bitz too. I have 1 demo charge that's in a guy's right hand, and another one that's wrapped up like it goes on someone's back.

[WilhelmRochRedDuke]

any extras of the demo charge, or even a casting of one?

[Necros]

I have the 1 demo charge bit thats wrapped up like it goes on someone's back, so I was thinking about trying to make a greenstuff casting of that. If that works I'll definitely be making a bunch so I do some for you if you want em The other demo charge is on an arm and I doubt I'd get that to come out right

[generalmalaise]

the space wolf sprue has a platic imperial meltagun that might be easier to manipulate -- any reason why you don't want to use that one?

[Necros]

Well I needed 5 and GW was selling 5 metal meltas in a bitz pack so I got that. The new IG command box set comes with a melta also but I used the one I got. All the bitz sites seem to be out of meltas or are charging way too much so it was easier to just get the GW ones.