Nesewdjet-Nedjety [2.18.2013 Epic Reaver Update]

[Vaaish]

It's time to do the Servitors for my 40k Techmarine I finished up a couple of weeks a go. Now, I'd not originally planned much in the way of changes to these guys. They came with the set and seemed alright until I actually opened it and had a chance to examine them from different angles. I decided I really didn't like the coveralls look they had going since it left a rather ambiguous waist and really seemed bland. So this last week I set about sculpting on armor plates and converting the coveralls into more of a BDU style tunic. I only did three since the 4th guy has so many tubes and other junk all over him that it really didn't seem like there was any way to change it outside of sanding the model smooth. I don't know how long this will take to paint up, but they are far less complex than the tech marine so I'm hoping it'll only need a week or so to do so I can finally say my 40k army only really needs to have 5 models to do: two contemptors to use as regular dreads, one dread conversion, and two land raiders.

[Vaaish]

These guys are finally done! So much detail that had to be painted; I think ended up with 90% of my paints out for the various bits here and there. I'm not 100% sure I'm finished with these guys yet. Some of the arms seem a bit much with the metal and I might go back through tomorrow evening and paint the casing black to tie into the Techmarine a bit more. I haven't yet because it's more time consuming to paint the metals on these guys than to come back with black and highlight. I was going for something less human looking than typical so I thought a more gray blue for the skin would make these appear more automaton than human and help to show the lack of higher brain functions. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't like the coveralls look so I added the jacket and armor plates on three of them. They turned out alright but I think I could have done much better if I'd had tools that could get in the areas I was sculpting to smooth it out more. My server is temporarily not allowing me to upload the image as they hopefully add in more storage space so in the mean time I've put these up on image shack. Once I'm happy I'll probably put a shot up on Cool Mini and hope for the best so I might be plugging them in the near future to bump over 50 votes again....

[comradegrumpy]

Love the shading on the backpack, in particular. Put them up, I'll vote for them!

[Vaaish]

Thanks, but I wasn't really happy with the result so after letting it sit a day. Talked though some of it with a friend and we came to the conclusion that the skin was far too blue and needed to swing back towards pink. So, in between prepping BR infantry for painting, I went back in and put some washes over the skin and I think I'm much happier with the result although I could probably adjust it a tad more red.

[Brother Wolf]

Naw, they have a necrotic purple tone to them now. I wouldn't take them much farther, if at all. They look good.

[Vaaish]

Thanks. I've gone ahead and stuck these guys up on CMON to see where the chips fall. For any interested parties here's the link: http://www.coolminiornot.com/292316

[Vaaish]

After giving away the warhammer a while back, I had to acquire a replacement for it for my Dragoons Epsilon lance from a friend who gave me a couple to work with. I've also finished up my conversion of the plastic Archer I've got to the Archer Wolf variant. If anyone has any info on this guy I'm curious since I'm putting it in the Wolf's Dragoons lance. Seemed like a safe bet, but I don't know. Last question, on the back side of the Archer's lower center torso, there seems to be a second cockpit. Any idea what that is or if it's just random detail on the model?

If all goes well these should be painted up by the end of next week.





Oh, and I'm vote flogging again... Seems to be stuck at 41. Not asking for any particular score, just enough votes to break 50 for the servitors over on CMON.

[Inquisitor Lok]

Those servitors looked really nice even before your redish change to them

And i think that thing on the back is just random detail?

[Pocktio]

I would sure let that one servitor tweak my nipples. Excellent work!

[Vaaish]

Thanks, I think. I really have no idea what to say to your comment Pocktio. Anyway, I'm back with more epic stuff rather than 40k. This time it's the SC tactical formation for the Blood Ravens. Unfortunately, it ended up as the test detachment so there are some rough edges. I guess it was a bit hopeful that I could convert the procedures for the vehicles directly to the infantry. Anyway, the next detachment should end up better than these. These are a tad purple again because of the black undercoat although I did hit them with a spot of white primer to take the edge off of it. I also could have used a bit more time thinking through the banners rather than just going on the fly.

[Vaaish]

After a grueling two weeks and a total failure on Saturday to get the darker tan to the correct shade because I forgot what I'd used for the undercoat on the earlier lance members for that area, I've finally finished out the last two members of my Wolf's Dragoons Epsilon Company I'm mostly happy with the result outside of the darker tan on the shoulders of the Warhammer. With this complete I'm ready to move on to my first Clan Star. I've been fiddling around a lot with BV in forming these lances and my end goal is to have four Inner Sphere lances of equal BV and two Clan stars each equal in BV to two of the IS lances.

What that means is that facing these two will be this:
Black Hawk S
Black Hawk S
Mad Cat C
Mad Cat C
Daishi Prime

Since I've got the models for that (with some rather severe rebuilding on the mad cats and one black hawk from the citytech stuff.

Following that I plan to do these for the last two IS lances:
Lance 3: Waiting, Black Widows
Rifleman 4D
Warhammer 7A
Marauder 3D
Marauder 3D

Lance 4, Waiting, Eridani Light Horses
Shadow Hawk 2K
Rifleman 4D
Thunderbolt 5Sb
Awesome 9M

And facing off against that is the Clan Prime lance:
Fenris Prime
Ryoken Prime
Vulture Prime
Loki Prime
Warhawk Prime

Basically I just need to purchase the Awesome, Tbolt, Vulture, and Loki to have all the mech's onhand. Anyway, I'm getting pretty far off topic, so here's the pics of the Archer Wolf and Warhammer 7A as well as a full lance shot.

[Inquisitor Lok]

Very nice. Seeing these really makes me want friday to come and be done with (finish exams) so i can just paint my battletech models i ordered not to long ago xD

[Vaaish]

Thanks! I don't think you;ll see me painting much on these BT forces for a bit. I'll be burying myself in the blood ravens commission for the next couple of weeks and then moving on to a lyrian Alliance lance commission in january. After that it's time to think about these and my last dread conversion.

[Brother Wolf]

I love catching up on your BT work Vaaish. DesertFoxx & I both agree your talent knows no bounds. You actually sent me off to Sarna.net the other day when you posted up about doing the Wolf Archer. I ended up skimming through the entire history of Wolf's Dragoons for the afternoon as a refresher. Day job? Who needs that? *grin*

[Vaaish]

Thanks, I like to think I keep pushing myself. Hopefully my aspiration remains farther than my reach Some days I think seriously about turning mini painting into my day job. Then I remember that I'll need to be FAR better than I am for it to be worthwhile. Well off for more epic

[Vaaish]

Well I'm back with what will be the first of quite a few rapid updates if the next week goes as planned. I'd like to finish up 4 dreadnoughts, 8 rhinos, and another 8 stands of infantry if I can before the new year before moving on to some more battletech and 40k.

Anyway, here's the second blood ravens tactical detachment. I am fairly pleased with these outside of my constant problem with contrast. I am how ever about to beat the tar out of something because I can NEVER get my dull varnish to actually, oh, I don't know, BE MATTE. Doesn't matter the temperature, humidity, brand, or time of day the stuff refuses to actually make what I spray it on matte. Makes me want to chuck the can into a bonfire for the heck of it. Anyway, I'm going to give it another go tomorrow and perhaps the fates will align and I'll actually get rid of the glossy finish.

[Vaaish]

Ok, this has been a whirlwind week. I (rather foolishly) decided that I could finish out a ton of epic models in the time I had since I was off work for the holidays. Well, I did get them all done today so I guess that's something However, this was by far the most exhausting paint session I've had in a long while painting up something like 700 points of epic IIRC. I'll be taking a break from the Blood Ravens to do a Battletech commission and another small project. I may actually end up working on the 40k dread conversion after those too.... or BFG.

Anyway, happy new year everyone!

The assault and dev detachments.


The rhinos that go with the previous detachments of tacticals and the dev det here.


Random dreads, they seem a bit drunk from partying for new years....


and here's the entire chunk painted up this week.

[Col Von Barring]

Amazing stuff! Again. Your abilities, both painting quality and the quantity you do, never ceases to amaze me.

Happy New Year. Long may you continue to impress and amaze us.

[Vaaish]

Thanks! Happy new year to you as well! I think I'm going to take a couple of days break before getting cracking on the Battletech stuff

[Civik]

I really like that you made the tac and dev markings on the rhinos in bone on black intead of the other way round. Makes the symbols on the doors really pop. Makes me want to try out epic, but not enough to spend the cash just yet.

[Jianaran]

Civik: for $20 you can get about 40 stands of infantry (each faction has a plastic set with a LOT in it; the cost of an Epic army is basically all in the metal bits). I'd strongly suggest giving it a go

[Civik]

I know, however those who play in my area seem few and far-between. I've also tried to see if we can run attacks in epic to lend some higher tactical reference to Apoc games and usually don't hear back from people... The models are cool, just need to find someone actually interested nearby.

[Vaaish]

After much craziness and lost time (it disappeared I tell you! didn't matter the size or complexity, the white layer took 2 hours on each mech and I've no idea why!) I'm done with the Lyran Guard lance commission. It was a quick commission, more painted to tabletop quality, and it is a cannon scheme. I decided to actually pull out the terrain for these shots just to match the whole battletech thing a bit more for the client. They also need a coat of varnish when the weather clears.

[Irish1983]

Those look great. I hope you just didnt call those paint jobs "table top standard"...because cockpit jeweling is by no means standard to most peeps (maybe to you and I its standard for painting mechs). Also table top standard painting doesn't just take 2 hours to make the white coat that nice haha, and you put more time into them than that.

Recently Painted a reinforced company of Eradani Light Horse for a client so im loving the battletech pics. I have to do 9 Lyran 1st Royal next, but thankfully they use gold and blue instead of smooth white and blue. White always seems to be much more work than you ever plan for it to be. Have you tried using paint chalks to do gradients from very dark to light colors on a battetech mech yet? I have a bunch of WOB mechs to do and I always wanted to try that to get that smooth dark grey to off white transition.

[Vaaish]

Thanks, I did actually. I say that mainly because there was only two layers of highlights and only one blended layer on the mechs and the metal was a basic undecoat, wash, and highlight rather than fully blended. It's also not as fully highlighted and blended on the undersides and on areas that aren't the center of attention. There also aren't any hazard stripes outside of the molded ones on the Hauptmann. Areas that draw more attention, like the cockpits got more time. The client wasn't able to budget in something more in depth like the Victor or the Battlemaster.

I've not delved into chalks, but I've seen a few results from people using them on the WOB schemes. A good portion of them on camospecs use that technique. I think a better option would be to airbrush it though, however that's out of the question right now for me so I'd probably end up having to hand blend.

I've actually got a lance of ELH to do for myself sometime this year. I was hoping to do up one of the Clan stars before hitting it, but I may just end up doing that and my the Black Widow Co. mechs first.

[Irish1983]

The fact you said layering and two highlights in the same paragraph as table top standard made me smile. I would expect that from some with your talent though. I find it harder and harder to not do all the things you mentioned to my own work now. I think plenty of people would kill to be able to paint your version of table top standard Vaaish.

Ya CSO is were I was introduced to the chalk concept. Sadly I myself do not own an air brush yet good ones are pricey. I recently posted my work on those Eradani I mentioned on CSO. I have a few things to fix up but im pleased with how they came out.

[Civik]

That is some awesome work. I love the scheme and the crisp transition.

If you don't mind me asking, how do you get such a clean line of black for the panel lines and such?

[Vaaish]

Normally I'd just go back in with a fine brush and black paint to do the panels. These were a bit different in that I didn't get anything in the panels after I did a black wash on the model at the start of the painting process. There were a couple of touchups, but no work on my part this time.

[Brother Wolf]

Fantastic work as always Vaaish!

@Civik: Akin to what Vaaish said, often it's basecoat, dark wash and then working on the panels. For my personal choice, I find a .005 micron pen is a terrific choice for cleanup work. I simply don't have Vaaish's brush control for that.

DOUBLE POST - 20Jan
@Civik: After I turned 40, I found that my eyes didn't focus close up like they used to. Might be time for bifocals, (definitely time for my Optivisor, that's for sure!)

[Civik]

The Micron pen was going to be my next idea... my eyes are getting crossed and my hands are starting to shake from attempting such small lines! Maybe I just need bifocals?

[Vaaish]

Finishing up some commission work before class hits too hard this semester. Should be the last or next to last class till I finish my masters and I'm free! Anyway, I still have a few more models to go on this series with a gunship model coming later this week and some larger class vehicles as well. These are a new line from Microworld games in 6mm scale. I even pulled out the terrain again. Oddly, for once, it seems that my photography turned out better than my painting since these seem to look better in the shots.



Land transporter


Komodo


Growler


Scarab

[Vaaish]

This guy didn't REALLY take me a week to do by himself, just less painting time this week. Anyway, this is the last of the microworld game TEF models for the time being. It's a pretty funky and cool gunship continuing the camo theme.

[Irish1983]

They look nice. I like that gunship reminds me of a dragon fly.

[Civik]

Nah, it should proxy for a wasp... or whatever the gunship was that had nothing for armor and yet had a gauss rifle in it's nose. It looks excellent! You did a great job on the windows especially.

[Vaaish]

Thanks!

Irish: the gunship called the dragonfly, so looking like one is fitting I guess.

[Vaaish]

I actually finished these up yesterday but I had to get them sealed tonight before I took photos. Unfortunately this ended up being an exercise in my new grass battle mat basically saying I'm sooo awesome I'm glowing radioactive green, pay no mind to the minis you are trying to take pics of. It has now been banished until some tone adjustments can be made. The actual minis look so dark red due to them being underexposed ere the grass blow out entirely.

Basically that means the group shot of the blood ravens preds and whirlwinds is all I'm willing to post until I can retake the shots tomorrow night. So, get your sunglasses and enjoy. You might be able to see them if you squint.

[Civik]

Hah, they're just a little purple because of it. Imagine how neon green the grass would be if the aperture were opened up further for the paint job you did! They still look great regardless

[Vaaish]

Scary is what it would be. I know because I tried shifting the exposure on the RAW files.

[Vaaish]

Ok, more proper pics this time around





Just for fun, here's a pic of the epic scale stuff up against one of my 40k rhinos.

[Bogmire]

I think it's great to show the scale of them every once in a while. It highlights how truly epic your painting efforts are on this project! The detail you've painted into such tiny miniatures is simply mindblowing!

[Vaaish]

Thanks! I'm still a bit sloppier than I'd like to be on the minute details like head lamp position and the black dot on non drilled barrels.

[Civik]

Considering most of the vehicles are about the size of a space marine torso, I'd say you don't have much to worry about. We all hate that one dot that wasn't quite centered. Any further improvement is simply gravy on top of an already amazing skill.

However, if you start painting imperial eagles on grains of rice, we all want to see!

[Vaaish]

So it's been awhile since I've been able to do much painting, but I'm not dead. Most of this has been due to class eating a huge chunk of spare time the last couple of months. I think my total output is something like 12 models since the beginning of February. That means I've accomplished far less than I'd hoped to do and puts me really behind going into the summer for some of my own projects. Anyway, these have be long coming and go with the other set of microworld TEF vehicles I posted a while back.

[Brother Wolf]

Excellent work as always. Glad to see you aren't dead. These have a very Command & Conquer/Red Faction look to them. The subtlety of the camo gives them both a good weathered look as well as being camouflaged. Kudos once again!

[Vaaish]

Thanks. It at least good to paint again. I like these designs better than the others I've done for hte line. Now if I can still get all the other projects finished up this year.

[Kriegsspiel]

Does the creator of these fantastic models sell them by any chance? *Apologies - I clicked the wrong reply button. This post was supposed to be aimed at Vaaish and referring to the Epic scale titans and the macharius tank.*

[Vaaish]

I don't know, I got a few bits for conversion but you'd need to hunt him down and see if he could get you any.

[Vaaish]

And we are back Had a rough semester of grad school which left very little painting time. Thankfully I have very understanding clients. Finishing up the last of the razorbacks for the Blood Ravens this time. They went together a tad dark mainly because my delvan mud wash was a bit thick. Should be fixed now. Next up Blood Raven land speeders.... then back to the strike cruisers and mechs before I disappear to work on something special.

[Vaaish]

I've been slowly working on a 3rd edition plastic thunderbolt mech. Partly because the original was so horrible and I wanted to challenge myself and partly because I'm working with what I've got and that was what I've got. Well, it's finally done sans a bit of filing that has to wait for the GS to harden. Seeing what I started with and what I've got now, I'm pretty happy with the result. This one will be part of my ELH lance but It'll be a while before it gets painted. I still have conversions and patching to do on the other three mechs in the lance and some other projects to get done.

[Irish1983]

Thats well done. Looking forward to the other three in the lance.