Terminator Saturday: Before and After

Alright. Saturday was a painting day for me. My wife was out of the house. My in-laws had taken my daughter to an event and I was to be alone for the entire afternoon.

I thought I might get a lot of things done on the paint table but it never quite works out that way, does it? After running a couple of errands and then fielding driving inquiries by various people, along with the typical everyday distractions, six free hours turned into two and a half to three.

As you can see, there is a before picture and an after picture. The primary accomplishment is that I got everything based coated in Blazing Orange and got the helmets and the fingers and a few details in UM Blue despite the hate affair I was having with both my paints and brushes. It's nothing wrong with them specifically (though my paints needed a bit of thinning). It was just a bad day. But painting was done so it wasn't that bad, I guess.

I am going to take a moment and make a gripe. So the Space Hulk Termies that I'm working on look like crap. At first I thought I was doing something wrong but that wasn't it. You see, I have a friend who bought a couple of Space Hulk sets. He didn't really like the termies that came with it so I traded him some older termies for a set of the Space Hulk ones. That's great except for one thing: he spraypainted them all white. And not lightly either. He totally oversprays all his minis in white. so I had to drop them all in Pine-Sol to get as much of the paint off as I could. So now they don't look right when I paint them because some of the finer detail is a little squishy from the stripping becuase they are a different quality of plastic than normal termies and not all the white paint came off so I had to spray over it. When I'm done with them, they'll be OK but they won't be great. What a shame, too. They're not perfect to begin with, but they are nice minis. They could have been so good...

The Project Continues: Desert Highlighting

This post will be anemic, dear readers, primarily because I have no picture for it. So, a couple of days ago, I said I would paint some minis. Well, I lied to you all. I ended up drybrushing a little yellow on to the fortress body. It lightened the dull brown up a bit but I'm not sure if a camera would pick it up. Besides, the camera was away at the time so I didn't get pictures anyway. Sorry, loyal readers. It won't happen again (on purpose).

Saturday is going to be a painting afternoon, I think. I'll have the afternoon to do whatever. Here's the plan. Over the next couple of nights, I'm going to get out the Space Hulk Termies I want to finish and my Rhinos/Predators so I have them all at hand on Saturday. I want to finish the Termies and assemble the vehicles on Saturday. If I have any time left (fat chance!), I'm going to work on the Fortress. Whatever gets done, I promise to take lots of pictures.

Alright, we've got a man (me) and we've got a plan (see above). All we need now is a canal! Panama!!!

The Project Continues: Desert Color

It's been a while, eh? A couple of weeks... Well, life sometimes gets in the way. And part of that life is sometimes not feeling the desire to paint. But the important thing is to get back to it when the urge hits.

I've spent so much time on the tower that I thought it was time to work on the rest of the structure. I want a desert look to the Fortress so that's what I went for. I drybrushed the decking with Boltgun, of course. I started the sides drybrushing on Codex Gray. I didn't like the look of any of the other GW browns (though, maybe I should have taken a look at Citadel Tausept Ochre) so I went out and got a bottle of Reaper Master Series Tanned Leather. Now that I've drybrushed that one, I'm not in love with the look. I think I'll highlight with something a little yellowish or maybe even Bleached Bone. That should do the trick.

For next time, I don't think I'm going to work on the Fortress. I think I'll work on some of the many minis waiting for some tender loving care. In the near future, I think I'm going to have another theme day. A long time back I had a Drednought day. I think soon I will have a Rhino Frame day. I've got at least two Rhinos and two Predators I have never assembled. I think it's time to get thos bad boys together. So what if I already have enough painted? When it comes to 40K, is there really such thing as enough?

Lastly, I'm looking forward to getting a couple Honored Imperium sets. Everybody bitches about the knees on the statue but you know what? They're supposed to be statues! Abstract and artistic representations of something! Not all statues are perfect and not all artists are good. So even with the wierd knees, looks good to me!

Shrine of the Aquila

Loyal readers, I am a weak man.

So when I photographed the parts of this last night, I couldn't help thinking about how I wanted to put it together. So I dropped everything and did it. What do you think? I didn't show pictures of the back. There are several walk ways and room to put minis behind the bottommost level wall under the balcony. Heck, it's as tall as the tower from the Fortress. I'm also thinking about adding a few buttresses and lamps on the front, but other than a few minor things, it's done.

There's no way I'm going to start painting this thing anytime soon. If I get to play with it, it's going to be bare plastic for a while. But when I do, it'll look sweet! Since this is a shrine to eh Undying Emperor or some kind of crap like that, I'm thinking white with gold details. Very striking! But I may change my mind by the time that comes around so we'll wait ad see on that one...

Shrine of the Aquila and Sanctum

So I totally shouldn't have gotten this. Especially since I have the great project still looming. But I've wanted a Shrine of the Aquila for quite a while and when the opportunity came on EBay, I grabbed it. I also envisioned something more complex than just the big walls of the Shrine so I got the parts of a Sanctum, too. I'm going to put them all together to make one big Shrine! I'm envisioning a front made up of the broken sections of the Shrine with a large recessed balcony leading to the steps and door of the Shrine and the entire thing raised by the Sanctum as a lower level.

You know what? I'm so excited I think I'm going to go work on it now! I promise it won't stay me from the Fortress, but I've got to get this thing started!

The Project Continues: sides Two and Three

Nothing major to report. Last night, I got a little time to paint so I painted the cloaks of two more of the angels of death. Nothing stellar or amazing. Just a bunch of blue. I think I'll do their wings next because having three sides mostly done would make me feel much closer to getting done.

Heck, it occurred to me last night that even if I had time every night to paint, I'd still be working on this giant thing. All this time I've been working on the tower and that's it. Hopefully the rest of the Fortress will go much faster, but I'm prepared for this to take months. And, boy, will it look awesome when it's done!

The Project Continues: Wings

Once again, there has been a little bit of fear combined with a lack of time to paint. But I have overcome again!

I decided to get in there and do at least one set of wings so I have an idea how they will look. Simple formula: I painted on Ice Blue, brushed on some Space Wolf Gray and then highlighted with Skull White. I'm happy with how they came out, though I think I will ink the crevices a little. That's not going to come until a liter time, though. I'll finish all the wings on the other three sides before I do that, I think.

I'm also think that I'm going to re-do the halo. I should have undercoated the points with brown or yellow but I tried to paint directly on black and it just doesn't sit right with me. That should be a simple thing to fix. I could do that with a short amount of time. Maybe I'll get to it tomorrow, maybe not. Either way, now that I have one side mostly done, I'm feeling even better about the entire project.

I have one little secret to tell. I picked up a Shrine of the Aquila and most of a Sanctum on EBay. I shouldn't have and, to be honest, I messed up in my bidding and ended up paying a few dollars more than retail. On the other hand, I did get some extra floor tiles out of it all. Scant comfort, but it's better than nothing. When it arrives, I think it will make a lovely Imperial shrine...

The Project Continues: Painting the Fortress

And so it continues...

Tonight, I went on the three other sides and painted the sword and banner and painted part of the halos yellow. I also drybrushed the edge supports and riveted details with boltgun metal. I also decided to paint the knuckle bones with bleached bone. Still on the fence about the wings but I think I have decided to paint the superstructure tan, including the tower. That decision alone will ensure more progress is made, I think.

That's all, really. I think i might get a little more done tomorrow night. But we shall see...

Painting the Fortress

And so, it begins...

Last night I finally said "Enough!" and started painting the fortress. I decided to start with the decorative elements of the tower because that would give me more time to decide what colors I wanted to paint the fortress as a whole. As you can see, I went with Ultramarine Blue for the cloak, Ice Blue for the sash and Mithril Silver for the blade with a touch of Boltgun Metal for the hilt. A little white for highlights should show a little weathering and top it off well. Maybe a motto for the sash, too. Haven't decided on that yet. I might do the wings with Ice Blue and drybrush on Bleached Bone. I might check out how Fantasy players do Pegasus wings and sort of emulate that. Either way, I've got a little time. It'll be a few days before I get the other sides' cloaks, sashes and swords done.

As for the body, I'm leaning towards doing the supports in Boltgun and then doing the sides in some kind of tan like a desert motif. i may even do the non-angel parts of the tower that way, but I think I'll leave it alone. A black tower imposing over the day seems like the kind of imtimidating stuff the Imperium would build. And at night, the big colorful angel of death would be the only thing seen. Yeah, I think I'll leave the tower black...

Even More Fortress of Redemption

Alright, I have to tell you all a secret. I have been pro- crastinating. It isn't an active thing, but I've known for days that I've been doing it. Over the weekend I was afraid it would rain but I was wrong and I totally got this bad boy sprayed. But since then I've been stalled. Why? because I'm still debating how I want to paint it and am a little reticent to start work until I know. This is bad because I could have started on the tower already because I totally know how I'm going to paint it: Ultra Blue for the cloak, silver sword blade, electric blue sash/banner, and wings drybrushed first white then electric blue and then a highlighted with bleached bone and more white. The big debate is how will I do the rest of it? I could go bright and use white walls and electric blue supports. I could go dark and use fortress gray walls and boltgun supports. Just last night, I started thinking about a desert motif with snakebite/bleached bone walls. I just don't quite know and I'm afraid I'll have a little buyer's remorse if I'm not happy with my choice. I guess the moral to this story is to man up, do something and quit dithering about the little stuff. Just do it! I know better than anyone that if I don't like it, I can always paint it again!

And that is my moral for all of you today. Don't think too hard about your paint job or you'll end up paralyzed like me. Paint! The worst that can happen is you have to strip it and paint it again!

More Fortress of Redemption

Isn't it magnificent! It's more awesome than I expected! I can't wait to start painting this old boy!

But I'm going to have to. While I got the main structures completed last night, I didn't have time to get the extra bits done (the lascannons, heavy bolters and other little flourishes). If the weather reports hold as they are supposed to, tomorrow will start a weekend of cold with off and on wet and I'm not taking chances with this lovely building. Besides, it's not like I have a dearth of things to paint. I've got a Terminator squad and a Vanguard squad along with a Black Reach Tac squad sprayed and waiting for work. I could whip up more squads or the Rhinos I have sitting in parts. And then there are the squads and vehicles I still have in their boxes unopened.

Man, sometimes I think to myself "why don't I just say to heck with it and decide to make an entire Chapter?"...

Fortress of Redemption! WOOT!

I went out on my front steps to find a package waiting for me! It arrived a bit earlier than I expected. As you can imagine, I have set the Thunderfire Cannon aside for now. I wanted to get to work on this bad boy so badly, I almost couldn't wait! But wait I did until evening and got to work!

I will admit, even though I saw sprues at game stores and reviews on Youtube, I'm impressed at how detailed this thing is. And freakin' huge, too!

Last night, I only got the far bunker assembled. Tonight I will work on the smaller bunker and the tower. I should be done with assembly tomorrow night but with luck, I may have enough time to get the entire thing done. I hope so because tomorrow is supposed to be a lovely day outside and it would be a great time to spray paint this thing down. It's been so cold and crappy on and off for the last few weeks that I haven't really been able to spraypaint so I haven't been assembling too many things. Here's hoping that I can git' the proverbial "'er" done and quickly before the weather turns again!

Vanguard Veterans

Well, there they are. Those are the three White Blades I made last time, completing a ten man squad. I'm going to work on their Rhino next.

One thing I will mention is that I did something a little different when I based them. I had been using PVA "craft" glue but it was always messy and liquid and a pain in the ass to deal with. So I used a bit of good old Elmer's glue and used an old brush to thin it with a little water and spread it around. And I think those bases look better than any other one I've done.

Hopefully that Rhino will be done soon. I think I'll finally start work on that Thunderfire cannon after. Now that I have some JB Weld, I think it's time...

Finally, I got a Fortress of Redemption! I won it on EBay and it should be winging its way to me as we speak. Can't wait to get my hands on that bad boy!

Vanguard Veterans and Rhino

Now that the move is mostly done, I can get back to doing stuff! And for starters, I give you some Vanguard Veterans I put together tonight, the last of the White Blades that I made last month. I planned in the beginning to make a Rhino specifically for that squad so I finally got off my butt and did it. Some Dark Angel bits with a few other things and voila! Instant veteran Rhino! I'm not quite sure when I'll be able to spraypaint them. The weather hasn't been cooperating lately (yesterday it snowed! That doesn't happen often here) but I'm sure I'll get to it eventually. Besides, I have more than enough sprayed for painting if I have to fill the void in the mean time.

The only other thing I have to report is that, with luck, I'll finally have a Fortress of Redemption soon! The local stores just stopped carrying them and now they're only GW Direct. That sucks because I'd rather give half my money to the local game stores that keep places for people to play and all that good stuff than give all of it to the vile and most foreign GW. Since the local store I most often frequent has been informed that they can't get one by special order until May, EBay it is! Cross your fingers for me. At this point, I'm willing to pay the retail price because the only other option is to wait until May and that's a fail in my book.

Until next time...

Sternguard Veterans

So I finally got down to brass tacks and painted something. At first I thought I did a half-ass job on them. Then I whipped out the other half of the squad that these guys are part of and realized that they're just as good. So I'm not going to worry about that.

As you can see in the background, I have some guys waiting to be done. Those are nine Vanguard Vets with jump packs and and two of my Space Hulk Termies. Alright, so in the greater scheme of things, I haven't gotten much done in the last few days. But I have gotten something done. Even if I feel a little bottlenecked because I have so much stuff staged and have gotten so little of it done, there is progress.

I may do something I haven't done in quite a while. I may paint a Tac squad! I've got one of my Black Reach ones sprayed. All I have to do is get in there and do it. I may try to practice some speed techniques. I mean, it's not like they're valuable minis so the worst I can do is a crappy job and strip them later or something.

Oh, yeah, it turns out that the tax refund coming my way is going to be quite substantial so, once some bills are out of the way, I see a Fortress of Redemption in my near future. But first, I have to move and figure out where I'm going to put my 40K stuff. Since the new place will be half the size of the old place, I may have to get rid of some of my foamcore terrain if I'm going to have room for stuff. Not a happy thought, but I've got duplicates of some things I can live without. Maybe if I pare it down a bit it'll be alright. We'll have a better idea next week, though.

A Bit of Malaise

So I find myself in a strange place right now. I have a lot of stuff on my plate painting wise but I don't want to paint at the moment. I have all ten Space Hulk Termies to paint but at the beginning of December, I pulled out a whole bunch of Black Reach Termies I hadn't painted and did an assembly line job on them, painting 35 Termies over the course of three days. Right now, I am sick to death of Terminators. I did a little with some Sternguard but I haven't felt the desire to work on them. The five Vanguard Vets I made last week have been sprayed. I even put together a squad of Black Reach snap-fit Tac jobbers. But I just don't want to pick up the brush. I've had a couple opportunities to do so in the last few days but I just haven't. Here's hoping that changes and right soon. I've got so much sitting undone!

I was given a gift certificate for my birthday to a local game store and yesterday I picked up a pack of Vanguard Vets (though I immediately gave away the beakie [why does GW have to put a beakie in every set? And why don't I just get a Dremel so I can grind out the beakie head and put in another?]. I just don't like beakies.) and set to work on them. It's also my first time using JB Weld. I put the four of them together last night and then spent an hour trying to get them to stay together. Of course, now that it's done curing, I'm not even sure I'm physically capable of pulling the joins apart. When I finally put together the Thunderfire, I'm whipping it out again (though I think I'll let it thicken up a bit next time).

Hopefully, by next post I'll have something more than cluttered minis to show you!

Vanguard Veterans

So my first new Vets are coming off the line. As you can see, they're Vanguard Veterans with jump packs. Unfortunately, all the jump packs I had immediately on hand are my metal ones. Need to dig out the rest of my plastic ones before I continue. Well, I could assemble five more without backpacks until I find them, but with my luck I'd get impatient, put back packs on them and make them another Vanguard squad on foot.

It's no big loss, anyway. I certainly have enough stuff to work on in them mean time. I think I'm going to try to paint some of my Space Hulk termies over the next couple days. I can't work on these guys because it's been both cold and rainy and I don't want to spray paint them in these conditions. Better to wait a few days for it to get dry and warm up a little bit. We'll see what I have to show you all in the next few days. I may even put together a Rhino for my other Vanguard squad to roll about in. Truth be told, though, they seem like they would roll in a Land Raider. But do I want to get them their own squad specific Land Raider? Even if I could afford it, I'm not sure... Then again, a few months ago, I didn't want to have an entire Terminator Company. I guess we'll see what happens.

Bits & Pieces, Pieces & Parts...

Well, I've been looking through my "bitz" containers and have decided what I'll be working on for the next few days. If all goes well, by the end of the week, I shall turn this big mess of parts into seven painted Terminators (some are half done already) and at least 5 Vanguard Veterans with Jump Packs. I've got 5 old school metal packs at hand right now. I have another 5 or 10 plastic ones stuck back somewhere. Eventually I'll find those but for now I'll concentrate on getting these five done. Besides, once I have five done, I'll want to finish the squad and make it ten. So this is the goal for Sunday. Of course, what I actually get done will be a different matter.

Holy Crap! How Long?

Since September? Geez Louise!

So, yeah, it's been a while. And a lot of things have happened in that time that have kept me away from this but it's not that bad because I'm still managing to paint on occasion so I do have things to show.

For instance, to you left are a new set of Vanguard Veterans I've been working on over the last couple of weeks. These in particular are the White Blades, led by the Chapter Champion in the middle, who are tasked with guarding the Chapter Banner and those who are tasked with carrying it into battle. Once I finish with three more to round out the squad, I'm going to start work on a Vanguard squad with jump packs. I need to acquire a few more Dark Angel robed bodies to do it so it'll probably be a little bit since I don't have money to spend right this moment.

There is another project I'm working on. I've decided to complete a First Company as an all Terminator Company. I managed to get my hands on some more Black Reach Termies and bits to convert them to other types. A buddy of mine who picked up a couple of Space Hulk sets has traded me a set of Termies for appropriately typed normal Termies (regular ones for the regular guys, a lightning claw for the lightning claw, etc.) so I have them to add color to my army. My only problem is that I have too many Black Reach Sergeants and I don't want them all in my army. I may use the gift certificate I got for my birthday (right before my previous entry!) to help cover an Termie Assault squad so I can round out my Thunder Hammers and Lightning Claws at 15 each. I may try to trade the Sergeants for some other Termies but I think I will have what I need soon (within the next couple months) and then I will never buy or even think about buying another Terminator again EVER.

I think I will fill out a Third Company also. I've mentioned it before. I just need a chance to pull out all my stuff again so I can see what I need to fill it out. And hopefully I can get this all done by the beginning of April. It's quite possible. I just have to get off my butt and "git" the proverbial "er" done.