Snow diorama

This was an experiment to see just how wintry I could make a diorama :-) It presented many challenges. The foliage, the icicles, the snow pack, all of those were things that had to be figured out. Oh yeah, and there was a miniature on there as well!


The part I liked the least was putting the snow on the foliage. Getting the foliage onto the trees was hard enough, and I got my usual "green thumb", as a huge amount of the foliage was super glued to my hand.

I used some woodland scenics spray glue to try and get the snow flock to stick to the trees. Needless to say, that process was very messy!

All of the rocks were made with white sculpey by pressing a varity of small landscaping rocks into the clay prior to baking.  Some special water effects was used to create the icicles.

Skirmishing Movement trays for skinks stage TWO

Following yesterday's "how to" post about skirmishing movement trays, I have the second stage.. the painting process!  This was the final result...



My first layers had a variety of darker colors.  I had a dark grayish blue, some green, and some dark brown.  I tried to make sure all the deepest crevices were covered, while also varying my colors.  I worked relatively  fast, so that I could do some wet into wet blending on the broken temple parts of the tray.



At this point, I put the skinks onto the tray to compare how light I needed to go to match their bases to the tray.  I experimented with some of the new GW dry paints, which I like to mix with regular paints to create a de-facto foundation paint.



Now it's time for final highlights, and for adding some plants and flock.  I used some of the same Aquarium plats as I had on previous units, and brought out a few kinds of flock and static grass.



Finally, I number all the of skinks, and their places in the tray.  I use the direction of the numbers to tell me how that particular skink should be facing so that it fits on the tray and looks good from a compositional point of view :-)

Slaneesh Chaos 40K Hell Talon (no flying base)

This was a very fun piece that I painted for a buyer who just needed the vehicle itself painted. That's why I don't have pictures of this thing sitting on a flying base :-)  I really enjoyed the freehand designs to give it that Slaneeshy kinda look!

I also have it up on CMON, so all loyal Wappellians can cast their votes here:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/306675



I think this vehicle forced me to develop some new technique that I use on a regular basis today.  I don't know if the photos of some of the metal areas show the variations or not.  It was one of the first times where I used a whole rainbow of grayish colors on my metal surfaces, rather than carrying the same shade all across the piece.

Test figure for the World Eaters and some extras...

This was the miniature that started this entire gigantic World Eaters army that you have been seeing.

Well, get ready to see some more, because two new chaos dreadclaws (or whatever the Forgeworld things are called ) are headed this way.

Skirmishing movement trays for skinks Stage ONE

Here's a little step by step "how to" on movement trays for skirmishers.  In this case, skink skirmishers.

First I cut out a sheet of mattboard, which slides across most surfaces, instead of catching like the plastic GW trays.  No need for the "electric football" effect!



.I space them out one half inch apart, and then place my cork. That will not only look lik ethe base of the miniatures, but it will also hold them in place.



At this stage, I add my magnet pieces.  These are self stick refrigerator magnets.  I also have a piece stuck to the bottom of the miniature



Once all the cork is down, I lay out my pieces of baked sculpey on top of that.  After all those bits are secured, it is time to start getting some rocks and gravel on the tray!  In this instance, I used some red oxide paste.  It is something new that I received as prize support at Adepticon.  I am liking it as a substitute for glue.  It is essentially flex paste with sand.



I work my way around the tray, putting down the paste, and getting down the gravel.



Once this process is done and everything has dried, it is time to knock off all the excess, and get to the painting!  That post later...

Thousand Sons icon bearer

Here is another exercise in using Reaper Amethyst.  That is an amazing color!  It is a bit like the old GW nauseating blue.  When mixed with a space wolves Grey type color, you get a deep blue that is still a middle tone, and a hint of purple.  The color literally transforms itself depending on what you want to do with it.  It can also be incredibly dark if need be, and still have some saturation.

Very cool!  I have not really been able to find something exactly like it.  Most attempted substitutes end up being more on the green side, or to far on the purple end of the spectrum.

Ghost Knight conversions... and magnets (some WIP images)

This squad was a nice opportunity to see just how versatile the new plastic Grey Knight terminators could be.  Form the preivous "regular" units I had assembled in the last few months, I knew right away that you could do a whole lot with these kits!

I had been experimenting with magnetizing all sorts of weapons, trying to make them as interchangeable as possible while staying within the contents of the 5 man box.

I had a lot of success in that endeavour, so it was time to move on to the next challenge, and that was the Ghost Knights.  These pictures show my attempt.  I used pro create on some cloaks, while using green stuff on others.  I did my usual sheet of green stuff/pro create spread onto a sheet of tin foil, positioning the cloak the way I wanted it.  Once that solidified, I used some green stuff (mixed with mostly the yelow part vs the blue hardener), and did the fur.  After the fur was set, I tore away the tin foil, leaving just the green stuff/pro create.

I then added the shields and ropes.  Additional bits like purtity seals and books were glued on after everything was set.





For those of you who may not have seen the original Ghost Knight that needed to be replicated, here he is: