Sons of Modinel Update

[rev]

these are top notch. I want to do an army in this style - there's a few about and they look great. How did you paint the metals on the heavy bolters, I want to know how you achieved the effect on the drum cartridge on the guy standing to the right of the Sgt in the unit pic.

Top work, very happy to have spent time looking at these

Rev

[neovo]

I loved the ogres and this is another great army

[hwd]

Good god man... Can you do nothing but churn out fantastic models to make the rest of us feel bad...

Awesome work as usual Lew!

[Dr Zoidberg]

@Lew_b81: Thanks for the tute. Really clear. I'll certainly be experimenting with that. Cheers!

[BrotherTearz]

This dark coluer would be perfect for my custom chapter idea, how did you get to it?

[Azrial14]

Wow, just wow they are fantastic, and I was a little worried what I read at first about you wanting to re base them :/ but seing that snow on the same bases is really effective
I just have one question/request how do you do that snow and do a tutorial on that snow, it would be amazing

[Lew_b81]

Thanks again to everyone for the positive feedback!

Petay: Thanks! This was during my Graveyard Earth/Catachan Green stage, where everything was as dull and natural as can be!

Siph: Pah! No thanks! Conversion beamers are good (the FW one isn't the nicest looking thing though), but I really like the short ranged fire power that the servo-harness gives. I've used the Master of the Forge to single handedly take out small units holding objectives. No one quite expects it see?

Mysweetshadow: Yeah can do. I have one new infantryman (a Terminator) to add to the force, so I'll do a complete step by step of him. The short of it though is:
Red: Scab Red, Scab Red/Blood Red, Scab Red/Blood Red/Bleached Bone, Baal Red. All a few coats to highlight/shade. Not too tricky.
Beige: Do you mean like the Scouts' fatigues? In which case it's Graveyard Earth/Chaos Black, Graveyard Earth, Graveyard Earth/Bleached Bone, Devlan Mud.

Nomrana Est: Thanks! Feel free to nick the idea, I'm sure I'm not the first person to come up with it!

Jonahmaul: Yeah, I think I was a little vague there, apologies! I do like the original bases, but they just didn't fit with my snow board, so... compromise!

MZ: Cheers!

BrotherTearz: You managed to ask the question I've been dreading. In all honesty I don't know the exact mix for the green any more. I mixed up a whole pot of it while painting the army, and then finished it. It's one of the reasons the army isn't any bigger! From what I remember, it's a mix of Catachan Green, Dark Angels Green, Chaos Black, and Scab Red for the base, with more Catachan Green and some Bleached Bone mixed to highlight. The shading is actually very thin glazes of Scab Red. I'll figure out some exact quantities when I do a step by step.

Rev: Thanks very much! I'm a big fan of your work, so that's high praise!
I mentioned doing a step by step soon, so I'll go into a little more detail about the metals then. For now, it's just a case of painting metal how you usually would (Boltgun, Chainmail, washes), but mixing in Graveyard Earth at every stage, and then giving a few glazes of Graveyard Earth and Graveyard Earth/Chaos Black when it's done. After that a nice Badab Black wash to get back into the cracks.

Neovo: Thanks! These guys are a fair bit simpler in execution than the Ogres!

Hwd: Ohhh I haven't delved back into the depths of my hobby history. There are a few shockers back there, don't you worry!

Dr Zoidberg: No worries, glad to help.

Azrial: Yep, I'll get a snow tutorial going soon too. Probably with the next unit. It's the same mix that I use on my Ogres, and there's a little tutorial there (it's not very good though because the Ogre basing is purposefully incredibly simple) if you can't wait.

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Right, I have to be a little quick about this update, as I've gotta dash out. Busy night tonight: trampolining and then open mic night. I'm pretty nervous because it's only our second time, and we're doing all new songs! Eep!

Hopefully you all came by for some more photos. If so, you're in luck!
I've just finished the two Scout squads, giving me an entirely painted army! Woo! Just rearming, repainting, and rebasing to do then...

Today we have the first of the Scout squads, I'll post up the second tomorrow.



There they are in all their sneaky glory.

Some individual shots:



Because obviously no Scout leaves the house without his trusty servo-arm.






That's it! I decided not to take individual shots of all of them, because to be honest, there's not actually that much to show. They have camo bits, they have shiny bits... that's about it! I've got some more individual shots of the other unit, but if there are any you desperately want to see more of, just say and I'll sort that out for you.

Right, see you all tomorrow for more Scouty goodness!

[BrotherTearz]

Love them

[punkfish]

I echo his comments. I'm a great fan of the camo - how'd you do it?

[tancrede]

Very nice army, man : cool conversions, good painting and unique look !
Keep us showing such good work !

[aghast]

Supa Cool!
I Love them

[mysweetshadow]

Thanks for the tut Ill try this for my Tech.
Scouts look nice but they look like paradise birds compared with your remaining army. Guess scope lense in green and yellow visor is too much with the blue in the camo .... but thats just my opinion. Perhaps theyy will fit fine (decent hint to do some more pictures )

[Lew_b81]

BrotherTearz: Thanks!

Punkfish: And thanks to you! The camo took a little while, but it's not too hard. Just trying to get the effect I wanted. It's Astronomican Grey mixed up to Skull White all over, then shapes painted in Ice Blue and Fortress Grey, then Chaos Black for the dots (in clusters of three). Then the whole thing is washed with a mix of Badab Black/Asurmen Blue a couple of times (concentrating on the cracks and the blue shapes), and then after that's dry, a wash of Gryphonne Sepia over the whole thing. I wanted a dirty ice/dusty camo, as all my buildings are blue/grey, the snow is white, and the bases are otherwise brown.

Tancrede: Thank you! More coming as soon as I get it done!

Aghast: Cheers!

MySweetShadow: Yeah they are a little brighter than the rest, but the other miniatures have their shiny bits too. All lenses and things are picked out on the other miniatures. And the visors I painted in the same way as the eyes on the Marines' helmets. More pictures will come so you can see!

__________________________________________________ ___________

Today we have the remaining Scouts! Straight to it I think.




I'm really happy with the painting on the Sergeant's combat blade. The pictures don't really show it very well though...





That's them!

Oh and finally, a big group shot with them all mixed in together.



"But Lewis, apart from one or two, they have no discernible squad markings. However would you tell them apart?"

Well, that's my little secret. If you know, answers on a stamped addressed envelope.

Right, tune in tomorrow for some Tactical to Sternguard action!

[SDKFZ]

Looking great, like the whole army ! Awesome conversions and painted to match.
Just want to see more...........

/ SDKFZ

[Ithor]

Dig the scouts a lot Lewis. Can you give us a recipe for the lenses please mate?

[mysweetshadow]

Scouts look pretty.
You're right with the visors, theyre just much bigger than marine eyes so they stand more out.
Is there a chance to get a close up from the helbrecht conversion?

Greetings

[Solun Decius]

The scouts look so excellent and the lenses are spot on as many have stated. i can't see any special squad markings, but very curious
The detail you put into the bases and the smooth blends on the weapons are just top notch. This is a thread to watch!

[Lew_b81]

SDKFZ: Thanks! Luckily you don't have to wait to see more until I paint more - they're all pretty much done already! This is a painting log that has quick results.

Ithor: Sure thing, the green ones or the yellow? Or the red or the blue? Ahh Heck, I'll do all four, they're pretty easy.
Green: Dark Angels Green base, Skull White mixed in to highlight in four stages.
Yellow: Graveyard Earth base, Sunburst Yellow mixed in to highlight in one stage (around 50/50), then Skull White in with that mix for three more stages.
Red: Scab Red, Blood Red, Blazing Orange, Sunburst Yellow. Easy.
Blue: Enchanted Blue/Chaos Black (80/20), Enchanted Blue, then Enchanted Blue/Skull White in two more stages.
Four coats for each colour, concentrating highlights along the bottom right of the lenses, and then finished off with a small dot of Skull White in the top left, and a coat of gloss varnish.

Mysweetshadow: Yeah, they do stand out a fair bit. The Scouts will spend games hidden in buildings though, so the enemy won't even notice! I can get you a close up on the Helbrecht conversion when he's done, because I forgot to take some before shots (stupid Lewis) and I've already started working on him. Sorry!

Solun Decius: Thanks very much! And you may not be able to see squad markings, but you've unintentionally hit the nail on the head!

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No other guesses on how I distinguish which Scouts are which? How about when I show which ones belong to which squad?



Keep guessing!

Also, I have a new squad for y'all.

This is the first Sternguard squad. They were originally just a Tactical squad, but when six-man squads stopped being able to take flamers, I decided they needed a little upgrade to Sternguard with a heavy flamer.

This is the before shot:



And here they are after:



New helmet colours (first company to match the Terminators), new shoulder pad designations, and importantly new boltgun clips.

And now some individual shots:



This was actually the first Marine I made for the army. He's got an osmotic gill rebreather, as his armour is a relic from the original Raptors.



Following the theme, this is the second Marine I made! He also has a rebreather, and a few extras. His bolter is taken from the Command squad, and painted a lovely gold. We do like relics in this army.



I originally just wanted a different looking flamer, and I'm very glad I went ahead with it, because it works equally well (maybe even better) as a heavy flamer. More ornate power armour on this Marine.



You'll notice I have a fair few lefties in my army. Marines are ambidextrous, but they only ever seem to shoot right-handed. I figure they'd fire with whatever hand was most appropriate to the situation, so I scattered a few southpaws in there. The legs and body here are taken from the Iron Warriors Warsmith to make a nice partly pre-heresy design. These guys love their ancient relics. Even though the Chapter is a recently founded one, their close links with the Adeptus Mechanicus mean that they are awarded older designs of armour that have been salvaged on Mars.



This guy is the only Power armoured Marine to use the standard Tactical legs. I don't really like the squatting pose - it makes them look so much shorter. When I first made the army, true scale Marines were just becoming super popular, but I'm still of the mind that the regular Marine models are scaled fine, it's just that none of them stand up straight. This guy is taking aim and bracing to fire though, and the regular legs just seemed to work with the pose.
He's finished his second term of Techmarine training, and as such is more than welcome to a suit of Terminator armour. I imagine he's opting for Power armour to get more familiar with his Razorback transport. Maybe he's intending to go on to be a vehicle operator.



And the Sergeant. The main reason I started this army was that I loved the Techmarine models. They're so cool. This guy is a really easy conversion. I just replaced the arms with regular Marine ones (albeit stretching them a little - that chest piece is huge), and swapped out the servo-harness for a regular backpack with a single servo arm. In game terms he's armed with a powerfist and a combi-flamer.



Which is here!
This little servitor baby is the Sergeant's combi-flamer counter, who gets removed after he's used it. He's pretty much completely scratch built, just using a plastic skull and the cut down flamer. I'd really like to add more servitors and servo-skulls and things to the army. Purely decorative miniatures that are only there to enforce the image that a Space Marine is a walking god, each with a dozen servants following him round to sanctify the ground he walks on and make constant adjustments and repairs to his armour.

So that's the new unit. The bases have some stray snow flock on the edges which only shows up in photos, but it's not stuck or anything, I've gone back and brushed off all the excess, so apologies for that.

I'm going to try to get their transport painted up properly and add some snow to it, so check back again soon for that.

As always, comments and criticisms are welcome and encouraged! I always love to hear what you guys have to say. If you want any more pictures of things you've already seen (particular shoulder pads or anything), just say and I'll do my best to get them. Any units I haven't done close ups of yet will be along just as soon as I get round to editing and uploading them.

Thanks for reading!

[Petay1985]

really stunning work fella, unable to distinguish squad markings with the exception of a squad number (?) on the only visible right shoulderpad in the group pic. there is obviously a trend for opposing stances in the two squads, with each squad being made from the same componenets (more or less) you have one of each pose (roughly) in each squad. I am very curious as to your secret though. it does seem very apt that scouts are not easily identifiable. looking forward to your next update!

[tominator]

love, love, love. fancy a game on saturday at GW??? Please And also do you tell them apart as one squad has red scenery on the bases and the other has metal with verdigris.