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!