Quick Post-Weekend Update

Summer is definitely wrapping up fairly well for me. Granted, I wish I had some full-time, well-paying employment to look forward to, but at least I have some spare time to take care of the nice things in life, one of them being scale model building and 40k.

I've been making some small gains in my work:

Finally settled on a Troops scheme!

I ended up going full District 9 on the way I wanted my generic troops to look. I wanted something fairly easy to replicate, but something more exciting than "make the fatigues this color, make the armor that color, done" method most IG players go. I'm sure I'll drive myself insane with the sheer amount of guardsmen I have left to paint, but I'm having fun for now. I'll leave the loss of sanity for a better time.

Something awesome this way comes...

 I ended up finding some mystery bits I got from a random trade I did up in the capital region last summer. I figured it'd be nice if I could do something different to help distinguish my veteran units from the rank and file of my other troops. With stealth being the primary focus, I'll keep my color palette to a minimum and kit these guys out with lots of extras. It'll be awesome.

Just a little sneak peek

This...well... I honestly don't know what I'm really doing with this piece here. It's a looted tank I got from someone on eBay a few years back, as I was insane back in those days (no surprise there) and wanted to make a secondary Blood Axe army to screw around with. Now that my wallet is running dry, I figured I'd do the right thing and reclaim this tank back into the Imperium.

The reason why there's an Ork head in my hand is because it was glued into the driver's porthole. I managed to finally pop him out using a sculpting tool. I figure it'll make a nice kill trophy. I've got my work cut out for me with this piece though. The entire rear engine block is cut off and will need extensive surgery to look good again. Thank god I have some extra plasticard and milliput to help out with making this tank worthy of my forces.

Anyway, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll have some more progress to show you guys in the near future, especially involving some Grey Knights and a few tanks that I'll try and crank out. We'll be back soon!

A Much-Needed Update

In between job hunting, organization and a few other distractions *cough*TeamFortress2andSleepingDogs*cough* I am finally getting back to work on my 40k stuff. I ended up seeing this tutorial some time ago, and figured I should probably finally paint the random Grey Knight miniature I got some time ago at one of the many random trades I get myself involved with. Here's the fruits of my labor:

Front on shot, sorry for the bad quality on the shot. I need to get my DSLR fixed...

 A bit of a more distant, better shot. I had to deviate from the tutorial a bit.

Side-on shot. Not too bad, if I may say so myself.

Either way, it's always a good motivator when you get a paint job done right the first time like this. It's definitely a motivator with the new projects I have planned for getting geared up for 6th edition.

I completely forget where I saw this tutorial, but I ended up making some custom bases for the small box set of Grey Knights I got a while ago.

Hard to believe, but the only things I used to spruce these babies up were scrap pieces from a Tony's frozen pizza, some leftover granny grating bits, a few cotton swab sticks and a straw from a Capri Sun. Not bad for scrap, right?

I was happy to get my hands on some Cadians through an awesome trade I did through my FLGS. I am horrible when it comes to choosing a paint scheme for my army. Going with the whole rag-tag mercenary theme, I ended up using design aspects from District 9 and Total Recall.

This was the primary inspiration here.

...and after seeing these guys last month on the silver screen last month, it stuck.

A nice WIP shot of a few of them. These are only 4 of a few squads.

I ended up using some of Tamiya's primer to get these guys started. It was my first time using it, and it was very...interesting to say the least. I definitely sprayed a bit too much, but it wasn't anything that ruins the models. They're only a few of my Troops choices. I can't wait to get these guys wrapped up. I just need to figure out what color the fatigues should be.

So yeah, I hope to have a few more updates coming in the near future. My workbench is crowded up with lots of stuff to take care of, and I couldn't be any happier about it!

Utilize the Down-Time!

As much as I wanted to go to Kirwan's (my FLGS) for their charity tourney, I had to stay home to keep an eye on things there, as well as take care of my parent's spastic dog. Either way, it gave me some time to keep plugging away at the GIGANTIC collection of miniatures I've built up for times like these.

This was how it started out this morning...

I only wanted to start plugging away at the random vehicles I have to work on. I wish I took more WIP shots, but I was in the "zone", and realized that I need to redo my freaking Valkyrie. The paint job I was attempting for its interior is rather... lackluster.

 The Rhino kit is something I'm putting together for my Inquisition forces. It's coming along steadily. I'm kinda pissed that I screwed up the rear hatch, but overall, the Rhino-based kits are a blast to put together. They're more friendly than the Chimera kits; that's for sure!

A shot of my first semi-completed vehicle interior

Not my best work, but it's something that'll suffice. I know it's not Golden Demon material, but I just hope I'm improving.

I found this gem of a miniature from Reaper Miniatures. I know it's a bit off-scale from GW's "heroic" repertoire, but I think it'll be a nice Astropath/Primaris Psyker stand-in. That, and having a female model on the table changes things up a bit. Thank god for Liquid Green Stuff. It's interesting to work with.

Cypher!

 I normally HATE anything Chaos related, if my Inquisition-oriented army hasn't displayed. Regardless, ever since I read his fluff in the old Heroes and Villains book, I always thought Cypher was awesome, which is in no way, shape or form also helped along by my disinclination toward the Dark Angels. I thought he had a pretty awesome back-story and that the model itself was well done. Even for the crazy proportions of 3rd Edition models, he was awesome.

Another WIP shot of him. Very Assassin's Creed-ish...

All in all, I hope I can do this model some justice. I don't know how I'd play this guy, but I'm sure I can fit him in somewhere, or at least have him as a stand-in for an Inquisitor or something. We'll see...

I'm starting to have a change of heart for Vallejo paints. I picked up this kit from another hobby shop in the Albany area, and used them today for my interior work for the Rhino. After finally getting my paint-to-thinner ratio correct, these paints really were worth their weight in gold. Vallejo really has been an interesting kind of paint to work with, thought I do wish there was a dealer around here that sold some Reaper paints. I want to give them another shot as well.

...and this is what the table looks like now!

I'm VERY glad the rest of my family isn't home right now. I've cleaned the table up some since this picture was taken, but it's safe to say I think I'll be painting for a while. Thank god I love it! It feels so good to finally have my motivation back to do some hobby work again!

It's About Time...

Well, so much for diligently keeping up on this blog.

So yeah. After a series of random events, I have a LOT more spare time on my hands, and a bunch more modelling opportunities to look forward to. And thanks to getting back together again with a few friends, I can finally say that I have some other friends who game with me. 

That being said, getting back into the swing of things are interesting, to say the least. The people over at my FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store) have been a blast to work with. They're definitely helping me get back into the game, especially with the transition to 6th edition 40k. I've been working hard at getting a list together, and so far, it's almost overwhelming.

Thanks to Allies, I can finally get my Inquisitorial forces back together with my IG!

My pride and joy: The ever-so-colorful Inquisitor!

My Inquisitor is coming along quite nicely, as colorful as he is. I had a bunch of ideas all at once, and it ended up making my paint scheme go all over the place. I'm sure it'll work once I get some washes together.

These are just some action shots of my friends playing a small 2v2 game with each other. A good fight, all around!

Anyway, I hope I can get some more content together, as well as some new stuff involving the very enthusiastic group I game with. Good times all around!