A Thousand Sons: Pre- and Post-Heresy Log

[Drazhk]

agreed, the scarab is a very nice, yet subtle touch

[Skits]

Thank you! The scarab plate will be gold once I've finished painting everything.

Just another little update today. I've been horribly distracted by Diablo 3 lately. ¬_¬

Moar magnets! 'Cause everyone likes a removable dozer blade, right? ... Right?




Some customisation of the Contemptor. Still legless - I'm trying to decide what to make his base out of. I know what I want to do with it, just... not what sort of material to use. Bleh.


And a little something else I've been working on occasionally. Making those teeny tiny nasal crests gives me hand cramps, aagh. x_x

[Skits]

Another little update, yet more things I'm working on. I'm so easily distracted, sigh.

Still plugging away at the tactical marine squad I got in the paint box set when I don't feel like working on anything else. Need to re-base the guy on the right end at some point, that base is crap.


Bit of a closer look at a couple, still working on 'em both. Also need a bit more white dry-brushing and some water effects on the right marine's base to make it look properly icy. I need to work more on consistency between different models, bleh.


And the main reason I've been distracted from my other projects... SUPERTANK. Mmmm Shadowsword. Turret barrel, armour panels and sponsons are magnetised, mostly just to see if I could. XD Turret isn't glued down yet, gonna see if I can magnetise it so I can also use the transport-capable variants of the Shadowsword. Again, mostly just to see if I can, but also because I'm an indecisive bastard, heh. Six different variants? Yes please!

[Skits]

Just another little update - finally got some stuff to make the Contemptor's base with, and glued the legs in position. Not actually glued to the base yet though, it still needs more work. Not sure how well the stuff I'm using will dry - we'll see how it goes. But at least the legs are now finalised!





Need to make his man-skirt, then I can undercoat and start painting. Getting there, slowly slowly.

[Skits]

Ugh. I hate waiting for greenstuff to dry. Drags out my modding over days, instead of hours. On the other hand, also means I can work on other stuff while I'm waiting. Anyway!

Progress shots of the contemptor's manskirt. Base of the skirt.


Central fold added.


Added more cloth to each side.


Chains and larger ornaments. Just need to add some smaller ornaments... once the greenstuff chains are dry. -_- Then I can finally prime this guy and start painting him!


And some other things!

Some minor detailing for the land raider.


Managed to get two of the 25th Anniversary models, though one was suffering from some pretty bad mold slip and bubbles and crap. That one (on the right) I'm modding up to turn it into another Thousand Sons model, surprise surprise. The other one wasn't so bad, so I'm keeping it as-is and painting up as a proper Crimson Fist.


Had to re-sculpt half the plasma pistol to fix up the mold slip, bleh. Got rid of the the detailing on the left pauldron - bubbles had ruined half of it and I didn't like it anyway. Also got rid of the Crimson Fist-specific markings and replaced 'em with suitable scarab ones.


Finally, random lascannon marine for my tactical squad! Given to me in return for painting lightning effects on my friend's army - he went through eighteen trades over the course of a month to get this guy specifically for me, heh.

[Skits]

Finally finished the detailing on the ornaments. Agh.


Next step - priming!

[Student]

Nice work on the dread, particularly the chain it must have taken a while to get it that neat.

[Skits]

Thank you! The chain itself didn't actually take that long, they're surprisingly easy to make, albeit fairly fiddly. Attaching the smaller ornaments and their connecting bits, however... well, let's just say it's a good thing I'm stubborn, hehehe. Came pretty close to stabbing things a few times there. XD

[RunepriestRidcully]

How did you do that? I'm thinking of getting a Contemptor for my Thousand sons (regular vers 40k ones) especially the ornaments, I'm guessing plasticard, but how did you get them
identical in shape? Whenever I try to do loincloths/smooth fabric/banners it tends to not end well.
Very nice, .can't wait to see him with paint on

[Skits]

@Ridcully: Thank you! Yeah, the ornaments are plasticard. As for their shape - a ruler, a pencil, a stanley knife, tweezers and sandpaper. Basically, I just measured a strip and cut out two and three identical sized rectangles, then used the knife to cut off the corners and shape the top of the larger ornaments, and the sandpaper to even the cut corners out so they were at least vaguely symmetrical. The tweezers were to hold onto the smaller ornaments while sanding and positioning 'em - they're an absolute bugger to hold onto otherwise.

As for the cloth itself - it's much easier to do it in stages. I've got some of progress pics a couple of posts up. Start with just the basic cloth shape, let it dry. Sand it smooth, then add just one fold - in this case, I just added the central fold where it's gathering into the middle from the corners. Let that dry, sand it smooth, add the next fold, and just keep doing that till you've got what you want. Using liquid greenstuff to help fill in any gaps and uneven bits also helps - once that's dry, again, you can sand it down. When sanding, use a rougher sandpaper to start with, to help get rid of bumps and crap, then a really fine-grained sandpaper to smooth and polish it out.

Hope that helps!

[horacus]

Awsome mortis my friend

[Skits]

Hehehe, thank you! I'm looking forward to using him (and his AA rules!) to shoot down all the new flyers coming out.

[RunepriestRidcully]

I wish chaos could get it, been looking at the rules and the chaos contemptors seem a bit lackluster compared to the loyalists..

[Skits]

The chaostempter stats are bout the same, and though they don't get the Mortis variant, they can get their various Marks instead. I quite like the Mark of Tzeentch for the chaostempter - reroll 1s to hit, and AP3 for ALL bolter and flamer weapons? Yes please!

[RunepriestRidcully]

I know, I always thought the rerolls were just in combat and am just annoyed about the targeter and how a havok launcher is equivalent to cyclone missile launcher .

[Skits]

Just a little update today. Done a bit more work on my poor neglected Deimos Rhino. My attention span these days is absolutely balls.

Fenris Grey/Scab Red mix applied...


... and then blended in with straight Scab Red (though only on this half of the tank in these pics, to show the difference.)


Next step - going over it again with Red Gore, then highlighting with Blood Red. Then cleaning up all the white and boltgun areas where I've made a mess. XD Bloody hell, next time I do one of these types of Rhinos, I need to remember to NOT glue on the exhausts and treads and NOT do the white/boltgun areas until AFTER I've finished the red. x_x So painful agh.

[RunepriestRidcully]

Looks nice, though I hate to say it I have now got Christmas songs/carols in my head :P Am now wondering what it owuld look like in post heresy colours, I'll proberly nedd more rhinos in 6th right? :P Impressive white there, nice and crisp.

[Skits]

... gorramit, it does look kinda Christmasy, doesn't it? Ah well, hopefully once it's finished it won't be so bad, hehehe. And thank you! The new Citadel ceramite base white is awesome for coverage.

As for what it'd look like in post-Heresy colours, probably something like this...


Though now I've realised I don't actually have any decent, complete photos of my post-Heresy rhinos. I should rectify this at some point, hm. And you can never have too many Rhinos!

[spincr]

For someone doing these kinds of things for 1,5 years this is amazing. Really, many people don't make mini's like this after years. Great Job!

[Skits]

@spincr: Thank you!

Nothing major today - my camera's been acting up a bit, bleh. Still, have some scenic shots! Was seeing how they look on a field that matches their bases, hehe.

Rhino is still in progress - still needs washes and more detailing. Getting there though! Pondering doing the rivets in gold, hm.


My first five tactical marines are also finally done! I'll get proper pics of them once my camera starts behaving.


Also, I don't actually own any of the scenery, but I did paint the statue. XD