Dark Angel Commission – Ravenwing Template

Ravenwing Attack BikeRavenwing Attack Bike

This bike came out really well. I love the way black looks glossed, but I think this is a little too much. I intended to only place a satin varnish on it and used the gloss accidentally. I’ll touch it up with a 2/1 matt/satin varnish via airbrush here once the original coat is dried (I can still smell it).

Now that I have the template hammered out, I can focus on fine-tuning my method so I can replicate it efficiently. I have 12 bikes, 3 more attack bikes, and a Master of the Ravenwing to do for this phase of the commission.

Shawn G.

Daemons and Resin bases – Why do you hate me so?

Well I’m still trying to pin down what I want to do next. I wanted to do daemons. Not because they are really good ATM, I don’t bandwagon armies. In fact I have a full Tzeentch Daemon horde for fantasy that I could just use in 40K if I wanted to bandwagon. No, I wanted to paint a whole new daemon army using all the new sexy plastics. I even picked up some new resin bases from Dragon Forge to mount them on. Those plans may be dashed…

Daemonic troops, as a whole, have delicate little ankles and pinning them is difficult to say the least. If you are not careful you can end up drilling through the leg or, if using a dremel, melting the plastic from friction. Even if you get them mounted, the ever-present fear of breakages is a serious concern. When the do break, they will break above the pin section leaving the whole leg, ankle and some of the shin still attached to the resin base. So irritating!

While I try to figure out what to do with my commission payment (2000pts of Tzeentch Daemons), I dug up some of my old CSM from my Iron Warrior days and started to kick around the idea of painting CSM again with a new scheme. I have not abandoned the Tzeentch daemos, but the idea of mounting 30+ horrors that I know are going to break and piss me off just seems unwise. If this army takes root, and it looks like it will, I’ll splice the daemons in via allies and still get to paint some of the new stuff.

Dragon Forge Bases

First up, here are the bases I got from Dragon Forge. They are from Jeff’s Desecrated Lands line and they are sexy as hell. I first tried painting them black with a orange glow, but that ended up looking like crap. These are airbrushed using the same colors I used for Dave’s Vet Contemptor (Deathwing colors) and the cracks are filled with Tamiya gore. I’ll post a tutorial on this technique later. I gave the bases a black trim to accentuate the detail.

CSM Template WiPCSM Template WiP

Here’s my template model. This guy kind of painted himself on Saturday. I especially like how the eyes turned out. I’ll have to experiment more with that look. This scheme looks good but needed polish. That’s where the 2nd marine came in.

CSM ChosenCSM ChosenCSM Chosen

This is the same scheme with more bone color and red as a contrast. The red is highlighted strangely (elf flesh) and I love it! Looks good on the base as well. And easy to pin…

I’ll be working on these as well while I work on Dave’s Dark Angel commission; I think the next two will be a sorcerer and a dark apostle.

Shawn G. (SoI)

Dark Angel Commission – Vet Contemptor Dread Done

Vet ContemptorVet ContemptorVet ContemptorVet ContemptorVet Contemptor

The first major component of my Dark Angel commission for Dave is done. Since I had no experience painting DA let alone Deathwing models, I had to turn to the internet for guidance. And I have to say, I like the results.

Moving forward I’ll have to make some modifications to this method to match my visual requirements. I’m not too happy with the results of the oil-washes. I will need some more practice to get it to behave as it should.

Time to hammer out some bikers!

Shawn G. (SoI)