Ratlings, Heavy Weapons, and Characters

Well I have finished up some more models.  I completed another 20 Infantry, but you have seen what they look like painted.  I submit to you now, some new material.  First off are my Ratling Snipers.  I painted them in green as it is the traditional color for Rifles.  I was able to complete these thanks to an anonymous contributor.

Crumple Muckstart's Crackshots

Sergeant Crumple Muckstart.

Next we have an Astropath.  I stuck with a very simple color palette.  I wanted him to look more like a Monk than anything else.  I like the way his hollow eye sockets turned out.

Verekar (Astropath Tertius)

Here is one of my Platoon Commanders.  The camera really adds a few pounds.  He looks even fatter than he really is.  Simple head swap got the job done. 

Lieutenant Edward Browne

Here is my other Platoon Commander.  Commissars make great conversions for Praetorian Officers.  I may make him my Company Commander when I find a replacement.  I have used him as Al'Rahem before also.  I like the way his carapace armor came out on top of the red tunic.

Lieutenant Frederick Austin

Here is a Gravis Pattern Heavy Bolter.  At this time I have 5 complete to attach to Platoon Squads.

Wait for it!!!

 Here is what 3 of them look like in a Heavy Weapons Squad

Gatling Battery

That is all for now.  Next on my table is 10 more infantry, Master of Ordnance, and a couple of Commissars.  I hope I have motivated you. 

Praetorian "Speed Painting" Tutorial (pic heavy)

As promised here is the technique I use to paint my Praetorians.  In just over a month I have painted 55 infantry and 12 tanks (4 of them are still waiting washes and clearcoat).  I am working on an Aegis defense line line that should be done Tuesday night.  Without further ado here we go. 

Bare Metal Mini cleaned of mold lines

Mini Primed White

Base Coat Applied (Blood Red, Mordian Blue, Chaos Black, Skull White, Iyandan Dark Sun, Mournfang Brown, Mithril Silver, Elf Flesh/Tallarn Flesh Mix).  I work one color at a time on between 10 to 20 models.  Do not be worried if primer can be seen in the creases.  This will be covered in a later step.

Playground Sand Glued to Base

The Secret to Speed

Do not "Dip" the Mini.  Apply the Floor Stain like you would a wash.  Spread any pooling over the rest of the model and coat the sand.  It does not take long to figure out how to do this .

Model completely covered in floor stain.  This is what the model should look like when done.  Let these models sit at least 24 hours before moving to final step.

I find that Testors Dullcoat works the best.  No cracking or whitening.

Once Dull coat is dry, paint base chaos black, drybrush the sand (vomit brown) and add static grass.  Your model is now complete.

I hope this answers your questions.  I know some people are purists and opponents to the "Dip" method.  I find that it works really well with the color pallette and gives me a good level of detail in a very timely manner.  If you have any specific questions feel free to ask.  I hope this gets you all motivated.

Apologies and Purchase

Hey guys, just wanted to say I am sorry I have not posted pictures yet.  I was going to post them today but I forgot to bring my camera from work to home.  I will have to wait until Sunday night to post. 

On a different note, I just purchased two of these to convert my Hydra Flak Tanks.

They are from BitsPudlo.  For $10 I couldn't pass them up.  I have two old Griffons that I removed the weapons platform from.  I am hoping that they arrive within the next few weeks.  With the prevalence of flyers, I think that 2 Hydras will be worth it.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Just a quick update on my Apocalypse army.  The infantry is nearly complete.  I hope to be putting the final colors on them today.  Then it is just a matter of basing and putting a clear coat on them.  That leaves me with the 9 tanks.  I got all of the Base coats and Drybrushing done on them.  I hope that I am not too overambitious about getting them done. Looking at them, I just need to do the metallics on the tracks and weapons.  It doesn't appear that it will take too long.  If I can get them done by Thursday, then I will have time to wash them and let them dry before clear coat. 

I am in the process of taking pictures of my Work in Progress models.  Several people have asked me how I am getting these models painted so fast.  I plan on doing a blog after this weekend showing how I do it.  Stand by for that one. 

Thanks for all of your comments and support.  Talk to you soon.

Apocalypse Army

Here is the Army I plan to bring to FTW Games on January 19th.

Sorry for the quality, it is the best I could do at my hotel.  The army needs to be 3000-4000 points and follow a normal force org.  This is a little over 3700 points.  It is 1 platoon of 5 squads in chimeras and another platoon of 5 squads on foot.  There is also 3 hellhounds, and 3 squads of 3 leman russes. 

The kicker is it all has to be painted.  So the rush is on.  I have 40 infantry left to paint, including 20 that are about half done.  It is hard to tell from the picture but about 1/2 of my tanks need to be painted.  They only have a base coat on. 

Wish me luck because I really want to participate in this battle.  I have a backup plan if not, but this is the army I want to take.  I will let you all know how it goes.

Conversion Decisions

OK, so here is another question for you all.  Which of these components from Col. Gravis' store should I use to convert my Veterans? 

My original thoughts were the Life Guard Torsos.  Looking at the codex, however, Veterans don't have better armor (unless I make them Grenadiers).  That made me think about using the Hussar Torsos since they would distinguish the Vets but still have the same armor save.  What do you think?  Thanks for the input.

Blogging Resolution

With the start of the New Year comes the resolutions.  I have already laid out a plan to paint a good chunk of my army while I am away from my family.  In addition, I have decided that I will post at least one blog entry a week.  Some of the entries may not be very substantial but hopefully will inspire others to blog more often as well.  I enjoy reading other people's blogs and hope that I will be able to make mine enjoyable for others.  I intend to post pictures often because for me, that is what I enjoy most when surfing the web.  Like they say, a picture speaks a thousand words.  Let me know what type of entries you may want.  Do you want to see WIP shots, painted only, full army, conversions, all of the above, etc....  Thanks to all of you who have commented in the past and inspired me to start this blog to begin with.  I will see you in a week (if not before.)