Painting your Great Osprey: The early stages...

Here is the promised stage by stage post on painting the Great Osprey!

For this piece, I primed it white:


Here are some reference pictures that I was working from:





I tried to keep my palette in the pictures, to give you a decent idea of what color I was using.  I started out by working the back of the bird, establishing the warm browns...



Even at this point, I was trying to get some gradations, where the feathers would be a lighter, more yellowish color, moving towards cooler, darker wing tips...


Continuing to fill out the back of the wings, working it darker and darker, with browns and a bit of blue mixed together.



You can also see that I was setting up the alternating light and dark patterns on the tail feathers.



Time to work on the front feathers! 



I was using some tan and purple/grey color to get things started:


Once I had everything covered, I started to lighten some areas, using a yellow white n some places, but a cooler blue/white in others.



I established some more highlights, and began to set up the darker markings on the face and wing edges.



Not to forget the base!  I started with a dark grey with a bit of brown, but used a bright turquoise to lighten it.  The idea is to get some contrast from the warmer colors being used on the bird itself.



These next few images really show the markings develop:




Once all the making and highlights are set up, I will be able to start doing a few glazes and washes to darken it.



I did a little bit of dark lining around the edges of the feathers on the wing interiors, using a few different shades of dark brown.  Some were cooler, and others were more reddish.



OK, stay tuned for the next set of images, where we finish off the bird, and paint the rider!

Callidus assassin

This was my second favorite assassin after the Eversor.  I loved popping up right behind a unit and blowing their minds, so to speak. :-)  A nasty trick to be sure...





Here's the whole gang together!

Vindicare Assassin

This was my least favorite of all the assassins... probably because I could not roll higher than a '1' for any shot that it took :-)  Back in the Demonhunter days, it could not move and shhot, either, so it was pretty easy to avoid!

Assembling your Great Osprey

Now that the Great Osprey is available for purchase on Coolminiornot.com, I figured it was time to do a series of posts on how to build and paint your new miniature!



First, all of the parts need to be washed.  These days I use dish soap in warm water.  Once that is done, it is time to take care of mould lines and other casting byproducts.



Now you can get down to putting it together.  Last year, I started using a technique called "glue/greenstuff/glue" to assemble pieces that may have odd shapes, such as these!  It also works well on small parts, or pieces which you just can't pin.

This image shows that technique.  You can see the ring of green stuff around the area where the wing will go.  There is glue underneath that, and glue on top.  When you press everything together, the glue fills in the gaps, creating a stronger joint.



The same for the other wing:


The wings are finished, so now I pinned the metal feet and got them ready to attach:


I used green stuff in the glue process here as well, to make sure there was no instability.



Once so many of the pieces of the body have been assembled, there is even a greater possibility that gaps will be created.  I made an even thicker green stuff ring to make sure that there would be a solid joint, and that there would not be any gaps.



Now that all the parts are attached and set up, it is time to do the finished green stuff work.  This will make sure that all the feathers  appear to fit seamlessly together.  I started with the "inside" joints, so that I would not smash the soft green stuff as I moved on to the next joint!



I worked my way around the wings and the head, sculpting feather texture where needed.





OK!  All the green stuff work is done!  Time to attach it to the base.  I put this bird on a Warhammer base, using oxide paste to fill out the corner areas.  Cathy discovered that if you use a flat sculpting tool to apply the paste, you can create a slate texture, as opposed to the more natural rough sand.



Lets not forget the rider!  Here are a few images showing the green stuff work:




And a preview of the next set of images... Painting the Great Osprey!

 

Traditional Eversor Assassin

My favorite of the Imperial assassins was by far the Eversor assassin.  Some of you may recall the converted version I made for my own Grey Knight army for Adepticon.  This figure is one I painted years ago that gave me some ideas for my own.



In this year's army, I tried to team mine along with one of my super fighty Inquisitor retinues, packed with Death Cult Assassins, Arco Flagellants, and crusaders.  On the charge, that unit dealt out several dozen high initiative, high weapon skill attacks that could wipe out terminator units.

Culexus assassin

I wonder if these days of 6th edition will make this assassin much nastier.  At least the old Demonhunter version of him was!  I didn't use him all that often, but I recall him having a huge impact in a bigger game, as he prevented one key charge due to a failed leadership test.

Here he is...

Return to the Dragon Shoppe!

Today was our second visit to the Wandering Dragon Shoppe!  As you know, our first scouting mission to the Shoppe last week was a great success.  It was a blast, and we looked forward to going back.

There was a very welcoming work space waiting for me, so I set about getting to the painting.  It was sort of back to the future, as Cathy and I were able to work at the same table, which we haven't been able to do for years. :-)





Today I was working on the Tomb Kings, and especially the Lord of the Rings armies I will need for Bilbo's Bash in November!



One would have expected a little less activity on a typical weekday, but it didn't take long for a beehive of activity to arise.  A large group came in to do some old school AD&D,,,



Hours later, (and lots of dreaded 1's) they were still hard at it!



There was also a lot of Malifaux going on...



I was able to get some serious work done on the Khandish Chariots in between a trip to the Ice cream shop next door and checking out all the nifty games on the shelves!
 

They look a little different than the battle report from the other day, don't they?


It was not anything dramatic, but one of my main tasks was to establish the direction I wanted for the color scheme.I was able to do that, and get things mostly set up for the next stage of dark glazes and shading.





The next time we head over to the Dragon Shoppe, I will be painting the ships for our Battlestar Galactica game.  If possible, we are also hoping to build some terrain boards for the store.  It should be very fun!

Once again, a great atmosphere, and happy vibes!!  We love it.