A 40k project log (Easternheretic's Peach Blossom Isle)

[Goat of Yuggoth]

Well, I could say mixing is the key here. Use either Blazing Orange (or similar color) or mix white into Blood red. Both give a different impression, so pick the one that suits you. Orange riches out the red, and makes the eyes more "alive". White, on the other hand, gives the impression of a cold-minded killer, and I think that it would suit you better. Don't mix too much or you'll have pink eyes.

[Putty]

How would you shock highlight the eyes? I'm using blood red for the eyes aalready. Is there a brighter red?

What I do is I basecoat the eyes with white or grey and paint over the basecoat with gore red

I then ink it red to get a real deep red.

You can also basecoat the eyes white and ink it red a few times, you get a bright red but it looks slightly different then the one I mentioned prior.

try both and see which you prefer.

[easternheretic]

I'll give all methods a go and see how they pan out.

Thanks Goat of Yuggoth and Putty!

What ever happens, It looks like I'll be painting eyes for quite a while! LOL.

Cheers

[Cuchulain84]

Wow, I love how you can use such vibrant colours without making the scheme vulgar. Great Work.

[tinfoil]

Wow. Great plog! I followed your sig link to find this, and I'm glad I did. (I really do need to venture into the Xenos thread more often.) I love your conversions, and I particularly appreciate all of the step by step tutorials you offer along the way.

Kudos specifically for the vibrant colors and dynamic posing on the Eldar conversions. Very characterful, very evocative.

[easternheretic]

Wow, I love how you can use such vibrant colours without making the scheme vulgar. Great Work.

Assuming you're talking about the eldar I can't take credit for the scheme as I nicked it from a SOB army I saw on WD. I just ported it over for my army. If it is the nids you are talking about, then thanks much appreciated.!

Wow. Great plog! I followed your sig link to find this, and I'm glad I did. (I really do need to venture into the Xenos thread more often.) I love your conversions, and I particularly appreciate all of the step by step tutorials you offer along the way.

Kudos specifically for the vibrant colors and dynamic posing on the Eldar conversions. Very characterful, very evocative.

Thanks tinfoil! Coming from you, who has converted most if not all of your army. I'm glad you enjoy the step by steps!

I'm planning on taking a hack saw to some of my 2nd ed banshees that I got off ebay. I didn't realise that they would all be in the same pose! I've also got a 3rd ed tyrant that I want to convert to look like the alien queen , the first time we see her.

So there will be more step by steps!

Cheers!

[easternheretic]

Well I'm back again.

Sorry about the lack of updates, but I've stumbled upon a certain computer game called Dragon Age Origins in November, and it has consumed all my spare time until recently.

I've played the game twice through, and have only recently started painting again.

And in just in time for the new nids codex no less!

Anyway, enough of my pointless rambling. On to pictures.

I've finally finished the last of my SH stealers along with the nice bases they came with and here is the last batch of 10 along with some close ups!

Off course by finish, I mean that I still need to glue sand and static grass to the base. Me being my usual lazy self again. *sigh*




I'm including a group shot of all 50 stealers (less the 2 spider on the wall SH stealers) that I have along with the 2 broodlords I now have in the collection.



I've also finished painting the old tyrant guard models that I had. Close up shots will follow in a new post since we are restricted to 4 pics a post.



As usual, C&C most welcome.

All hail the hive mind, and as my local game shop owner likes to call the nids, Om nom nom nom.

[easternheretic]

Forgive the double post.

Here are the close ups to the tyrant guards.



And my current WIP. The new plastic kit Trygon!

I was kind of up in the air as to which variant I wanted to build, and since I was going to continue to shell out alot of cash for new nid models, I've decided to try and modify the kit to alow me to inter change between all 3 variants.

The hardest part I see here is the jaw piece and modifying it to be swapable.

I will be documenting my efforts right here.

Here is how the model stands at the moment.



More to follow shortly, and as usual C&C welcome!

Cheers!

[Putty]

the lower jaw can actually be magnetized.

issue here is the spiny bits on the back of the neck that differentiates the species... if you are going to magnetize the variants, its best to leave the spines on the back out as people tell the difference from the head anyways.

and magnetize the tail too as apparently the different variants have different tails O_o

i will make my trygons/mawlocs modular... head, torso, tail and arms all magnetized for easier storage.

[easternheretic]

Roger that Putty old chap! Sounds like a plan.

In fact, the main reason I'm going for modular is transport as well! It is a major pain in the a** transporting large nid models to and from battle.

Below we have pics of the trygon bits with magnets attached to various places to make the model modular. Some if the parts have been pinned and some have both pins and magnets. The reason being that pinning works better in some instances and some of the limbs attached with magnets only tend to be a bit unstable. It might be because I'm using too small magnets, but I do not have any larger ones and did not want to get new ones anyway.

I have also molded an epoxy putty extrusion for the attachment of torso to tail by simply shoving the to parts together and taking them apart, making sure to lubricate so the do not stick. This makes it quick and easy to take apart the model.

Enough gum flapping! One to the pictures.





Here are the parts assembled in trygon and mawloc variant.



I know, I know, the mawloc is surpose to have the small talons, but I feel the small ones make it look goofy, besides I was plaing to use them on a Tyranid Prime conversion.

Time to paint these puppies, or should I say this puppy (singular) as I only have one trygon!.

As usual C&C welcome. Cheers!

[Putty]

What I did for my Carnifexes and Hive Tyrants was to make the arm ball joints flat (by cutting it flat)... that helped the arms stability because of the flatter surface. I also GS the space around the magnet so the concave area of the arm socket in to torso is flatter... I was too lazy to drill holes in the Carnifex torso back then. xD

You might want to try out just 1 arm to see if that works for you, but then again, what you have done also works tbh!

[easternheretic]

A quick and minor update on my Trygon/Mawloc.

I've managed to squeeze in a pitiful amount of painting time in between spring cleaning for the up coming lunar new year, and yet another Bioware RPG for the PC. This time in the guise of Mass Effect 2.

Uber addictive game just like Dragon Age! Its going to be a tough few months with Mass Effect 2 right now, and the expansion for Dragon Age coming out in March and all that!

Must grab the brush more often.

Any way here's a pic of where my Trygon/Mawloc is at the moment.



I'll be adding a step by step on some bone-swords and a WIP on a Tervigon, a friend my had asked me to help convert, just as soon as I finish cropping and scaling the pictures to a proper size.

I wonder what was GW thinking when they came up with the name Tervigon. This has got to be the dumbest name EVER! A simple Tyranid Brood Mother or Tyranid Brood Progenitor (In the vain of Tyranid Warrior) would have been SO much better. *Sigh* And don't even get me started on Tyranid Shrikes and Sky Slasher!!!! Really idiotic naming conventions!!!

As usual, C+C is most welcome. Cheers!

[Putty]

stop playing games! you get nothing to show for it at the end of the day!! xD

but the trygonmawloc looks good. your colour scheme seem to work really well for the big bugs!

[Tourniquet]

yet another Bioware RPG for the PC. This time in the guise of Mass Effect 2.

Uber addictive game just like Dragon Age!

And the First is why i haven't touched a model in a week or so, the second why i didn't touch them for over a month ~.~

ME2: Infiltrator is the most fun for me so far i think. but i haven't played a full biotic yet
DA: I played a wizard who focused in Blood Magic and i think it was Arcane Warrior? (Where magic stats count as str/dex) and was really broken. But i found fighter types dull to play personally

As to the model, it's looking great so far, and i don't like nids much!
Can't wait to see the finished thing

[easternheretic]

stop playing games! you get nothing to show for it at the end of the day!! xD

Mr black pot paging Mr black kettle, I seem to recall you glued to the PC with Dragon Age as well! Hang on, you actually manage to paint while glued to the PC as well, if I recall. *Sheepishly prying foot out of mouth* What can I say, you da man!

And the First is why i haven't touched a model in a week or so, the second why i didn't touch them for over a month ~.~

ME2: Infiltrator is the most fun for me so far i think. but i haven't played a full biotic yet
DA: I played a wizard who focused in Blood Magic and i think it was Arcane Warrior? (Where magic stats count as str/dex) and was really broken. But i found fighter types dull to play personally

As to the model, it's looking great so far, and i don't like nids much!
Can't wait to see the finished thing

I feel you man. It is a massive struggle to pry myself away from the PC!

I haven't tried the Infiltrator yet. How does this class play?

My orignal Shepard was a goody two shoes Vanguard, and I've decided to continue on that vain. I must say that they have managed to mix it up in terms of squad abilities a lot better this time round.

My main complaint is the lack of really fun banter ala Dragon Age, the other will be the scanning of the planets for the 4 different elements to upgrade stuff. At least it is an improvement other the Mako running around the planet surface hoping to stumble on a cache.

I too did the Arcane warrior and bloodmage combo which was broken, but fun! My second run through is an assasin duelist which is about 3/4 through before Mass Effect effectively put a stop to that!

Back on topic, I'm glad you like the model so far. Much appreciated.

Another quick update. I've finished resizing the pictures of the bone-swords that I've converted for a friend. A very minor and simple step by step.

He too has jumped on the band wagon called: "Mad scramble for bone swords" that seems to have cropped up since the release of the new codex.

I mean for crying out loud, I've even had some "space marines for life" players asking if I had any spare ones lying around. The assumption being that a mad nid collector would have them handy. Which we don't!

Solution? Convert them!

I've seen some nifty work done all over the net for bone sword conversions involving plasti-card, GS and what not.

I approached the problem from a different angle. What mad nid collectors tend to have lying around in abundance are spare bioweopons. I decided to convert them into bone swords.

In fact, I used the very same method to convert scything talons for hormies as well! If you want pictures of them, please let me know, and I'll photgraph them and post them here as well.



1) I started with a spare venom canon.
2) I cut along the red line to remove barrel. I will be using the barrel for the blade soon enough.
3) I cut along the red line to remove spike. I will be using the spike to cover up the ugly cuts soon enough.
4) Using my hand power tool with grinding attachment, I grind and remove excess plastic to thin the barrel into a blade.
5) I glue the newly created blade, back on the arm in the appropriate place, some minor touch ups with the spike to hid the uggly cuts and hey presto! A nice bone sword!



Some more pics of more bone swords, this time using the death spitter from the carnifex box set and adrenal glands from the guant box set. This way, I get lefty and righty swords as well.

Cutting, grinding, gluing, burning! I mean touch up as described above to finish the job.

I hope my approach to bone sword forging was helpful.

As usual C&C welcome.

Cheers

[Tourniquet]

Those Bone Swords look great!
Can't wait to see them on some models

Infiltrator is Fun. But its a careful class. Can't take heaps of shot's, unlike the
When you scope with a sniper rifle, time slows down vastly, so you can head shot 99% of the time. Also when you use the cloak ability (rank 4, assassin cloak) you can 1 shot through 2 levels of protection pretty easy. I know i can clean up Krogans in armour in 1 bullet. But i also run with Miranda for increase weapon damage (from rank 4 Cerberus operative,t he option that gives higher team weapon damage) and Jack cause she is Hilarious. Also i use Warp Ammo from Jacks loyal ability.
I'm playing Renegade. about 60%renegade ranking atm. Eyes go all red and glowey, and the scars get worse and glow. Pretty Awesome.

[easternheretic]

I'll see if I can get photos of my friends nids once he finishes painting them.

I have no plan to convert some for my own at the moment as I more interested in converting all the units that don't have a model.

I'm starting with the awfully named tervigon, once I finish converting one for above same friend.

I've never had any luck using the sniper rifle in ME and ME2. For some strange reason (probably my bad mouse controll) I can't seem to hit anything with it. It is one of the reasons that I ended up playing Vanguard. Get close and shot and then charge in for the kill with the biotic charge ability!

Sounds exactly like the way I play my nids too! But with usually less than spectacular results.

Cheers!

[Putty]

this BS conversion at BOLS is pretty cool too.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/...iors-with.html

are you going to make plasticard blades or putty them bigger?

[WarpWhisperer]

this BS conversion at BOLS is pretty cool too.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/...iors-with.html

are you going to make plasticard blades or putty them bigger?

It's not the size of your bonesword, it's what you do with it

[easternheretic]

Well, as you might have guessed, these swords were converted for Nick, and he's given the thumbs up and has collected them already so I won't be and can't working on them any more.

I will probably get more fancy for my own warriors touting BS. So the plasti card and GS might be mandatory to achieve that!

There's still the barbed strangler to grind, and on second glance, it would make a mighty find BS as well.

I even have some old 2nd ed buck tooth warrior bone swords! Back in the past 2 codex, warriors dont have swords, so I removed them and replaced with rending claws. I guess it 's time to reverse the process!

It's not the size of your bonesword, it's what you do with it

Too true, too true WarpWhisperer! Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers