Nesewdjet-Nedjety [5.25.2013 Epic Crusaders]

[Vaaish]

Thanks all! More progress on the dread today this weekend. I'm hoping to finish up the conversion work tonight or saturday one everything except the arms. I'm posting this because I'm not quite sure on the shin armor. Part of me thinks it makes him feel a little too thick around the ankles so I'm asking for opinions before I finish these up and put the cables back into place.

[W1LL1AM]

maybe a sort of sloping shin armour curving from the ankles? does look a bit thick there

[Keebrev]

perhaps you should round the corners of the plates on the shins, or cut of the corners like you did on the hip plate.

[Blackmain]

IMO that pelvis front plate thingy looks off to me, will you be painting some kind of symbol there? Maybe instead of a steel plate have a cloth front pelvis thing?

[Vaaish]

Thanks for the input, I went ahead and did a combination style plating to give the impression of thicker armor in layers while hopefully keeping the foot size from becoming an issue and filed off some of the mounting point to let the shin plate sit closer to the thigh extension armor since most of the added thickness is in the front. I did an attempt with longer toes and it really came out looking more awkward than effective and I think the current look gives the impression of heavily armored but still mostly the same dread chassis underneath. This brings me to the question of the arms, should I round the edges so the curve matches the curve of the armor or round the shoulder so that from the front it curves to meet the top of the dread. Any thoughts?

The shape on the front of the shin is an adjusted stele shape that will end up with some kind of freehand picture on either side with hieroglyphics running down the center.





Blackmain: I'm going to leave the groin plate for now, I like the shapes it makes and it gives the impression of heavy armor which is what I'm going for with a venerable/ironclad dread. I've been toying with making it into several plates so it looks more capable of bending but I'm undecieded

[Blackmain]

If it is a ven or an ironclad it makes more sense for the extra armor in the pelvic region. For some reason it reminds me of those huge flags they have in between titan legs.

[[MaGiC]]

are you going to add something to the arms aswell? right now they seem so dull in comparrison

[Vaaish]

magic: I'm quoting from my last post "This brings me to the question of the arms, should I round the edges so the curve matches the curve of the armor or round the shoulder so that from the front it curves to meet the top of the dread. Any thoughts?"

[corncobman]

I think you should just round the edges. I'm not sure how making the arms meet around the top of the torso would look.

[kiwiguy]

I think it looks good where it is, i wouldn't add anything to the arms.

[Blackmain]

The multi-melta arm is fine, maybe if you played around with the CC fist. Perhaps giving it claws or a drill? Or maybe even a small shield that is mounted on the forearm?

[juckto]

Definitely round it the same as the frontage (i.e. away from the gun). Doing it the other way (i.e. curves towards the body) would make him look round shouldered, which is universally regarded as a sign of a weakling.

[Vaaish]

I've decided to round it the same way as the front plates and see how it looks. Since hte plastic is too thin, I've filled the cavity with putty and I'm waiting for it to dry. Since this isn't the final loadout for this guy I probably won't do much more than figure out the shoulders.

[Vaaish]

And the final update for now, I've rounded out the shoulder to match the torso armor. I may go back and ad a riveted plate or trim to it but I kind of like the subdued look on the arms. I've also put in another AOBR dread to compare where it started to how it looks now. I'm going to put this aside for the time being to think about color scheme and work up some commissioned epic marine vehicles before looking it over again in a week or so and deciding if the arms are done and doing some final gap filling on the legs. However I have plenty of time to debate the arms since they will be the last bits I paint on the model.

[misterjustin]

Very cool considering his humble beginnings. I think the arms are fine at this point and they don't look off. I likey.

[[MaGiC]]

Vaaish I think you should atleast add some plasticcard to the shoulders to make them a bit wider to match the model with the hight it has gained.. Like the plasticcard you added to the chest perhaps you could do something similar to them?
It would also be cool if you added claws to that fist and a bunch of purity seals to his MM arm

[Vaaish]

Magic: I don't plan on making the shoulders any wider. Part of the problem with the original dread is it's top heavy and the added height puts it back into proper proportions. Wider shoulders will make the top too wide.

[Vaaish]

After a rather lengthy break from epic painting to convert up my first 40k dread, I'm back with a bit more of the commissioned epic marine force. This time it's the last of the razorbacks sporting a slightly different paint scheme and the first of the vindicators.

[misterjustin]

TINY, TINY FREEHAND FOR THE WIN!

[Vaaish]

And the next batch is done:
This finishes out the whirlwinds and hunters leaving me a measly 20 rhino chassis based vehicles to go I'll be taking a break through the holidays to work on painting up the 40k dreadnought I converted before hitting 4 preds and 4 more vindis.

[[MaGiC]]

what kind of tank is the bottom ones?

[redemptor_40k]

A hunter, I believe it is an Anti-Aircraft variant that fires hunter killer missiles to intercept aircraft.

I may be wrong though?

[Vaaish]

That's correct, they are hunters. Kinda oddly designed little beasts IMO but I guess they had to look visibly different from the whirlwinds.

[misterjustin]

Drum mounted missiles? I love it!

Thanks for posting more of the Epic pieces. I really can't get enough of them.

[Vaaish]

Well it looks like I won't be making much in the way of progress on painting with temperatures sub freezing here and no place to prime the models indoors. However I had gotten the lower half of the dread and the base primed before the cold spell hit and I spent my vacation over Christmas painting up at least that much. As soon as it gets warm enough, I'm planning on finishing this guy up, but for the moment here is the teaser for the lower half for your consideration. The hieroglyphics on the front say Sah Nesew khetef ankh djed, ie. the kings son of his flesh, living forever.

[Richter]

Oh my god.

That is excellent.

[misterjustin]

Yup, good looking stuff there. I hope the temps climb sooner instead of later so we can get more updates.

[Vaaish]

thanks, if the weather reports hold true, it'll be next week before it gets into the 50's again and I can basecoat everything.

[Vaaish]

Well the weather held last week and I got a good chunk base coated and ready to go so I'm good for the next week or so. I still have the arms left of this guy and I'm probably going to just leave the multimelta arm as is, though I'm thinking of adjusting the powerfist arm. I also just might leave it off entirely in favor of some forgeworld arms I've ordered (The MM is going to take a leave of absence for the plasma cannon once arrives. Also I'm trying to think what, if anything needs to go on the shin guard sides since my original idea will look funny with them angled as they are.

Prometheus and I have also been working up a set of dreadnoguht shoulder blanks to cast as the basis for custom build autocannon arms and what ever else we might want to build, I'm attaching a shot of the constructions.

[Aquila]

omgomgomg

<3

[Richter]

The Egyptian dreadnought is a damn awesome idea.

[Telliphas]

That is a very impressive looking dreadnought you have there Vaaish, how have you done the heiroglyphics on the front armour? Did you paint them?

[Vaaish]

Thanks. The hierglyphics on the front are painted on, it's really the only way to do it in order to have them say something that makes sense on the dread. For example the cartouche in the center says iret-ka and the stuff on teh sides of the torso (starting at the center) says di nsw htp Wsr neb imnty which is part of a common offertory found in Egyptian tomb decorations. On the outside edge it says he is true of voice in the house of the gods in the horizon of eternity.

[YingYang]

even in death he still serves XD

[Vaaish]

Well a slight break for the dread, but I really had to get this guy done for the bolter and chainsword DIY swap since it had to be finished by the first of february. It's a little rushed and the lettering isn't the best (happens when you paint from 1pm to 2am and only get to the lettering at 1:30am) but he is done before the deadline



I now return to my regularly scheduled epic marine bikes and dreadnought arms.

[Kampvarg]

I love the color and freehand on this guy.

(But, *cough* is that a moldline I see on the outside of his right thigh?)

[Vaaish]

it very possibly is I make no claims to perfection with this one as he was very rushed. However I'm going to call it an armor line since they have to be able to get that upper leg armor on somehow

[ErodedMatt]

Can't wait to see the finished 'naught.

[juckto]

How do you get your plastic card to look so smooth and professional? Especially the rounded parts.

[Vaaish]

On the legs it was pretty simple, just cut the shape of the part and then roll the plasticard around the end of a paintbrush to get a smooth curve after tha just test fit and glue in place. The shoulder is more complicated, but the same principle. With the piece angling back like it does, you leave the plasticard larger than the area and trim it down after it's glued in place. With that I had to pull it tight while gluing it so it came out nice.

[Vaaish]

I've actually done quite a bit of work since my last post, and the dreadnought is 99% complete. I have some final freehand work and scripting to add and finish varnishing the plasma cannon arm and CC arm once the weather warms up enough. I'm not, however, going to post pics of it in it's final state until after I get a chance to paint up this little project:

I've never been fond of the TLAC arm from forgeworld and having some extra IG autocannons laying around I decided to make my own. Unfortunately, the ammo drum on the bottom got slightly off true when I was gluing it and I wasn't able to pop it off. The other bits that might seem off are caused by the perspective distortion on the shoulder as it angles back. They are actually true.

I'm also about half way through painting up some epic marine bikes... and by some I mean 10 stands of three bikes and three attack bikes. I'm hoping for the end of the week with them and I'll post an update when they are done.

[COG]

wow very nice conversion
looks ....oem for lack of better term

[Vaaish]

Thanks COG!

And back to epic with some perfectly wretched photos. I attempted a new method of lighting and editing and I think it failed rather miserably. The bikes themselves I think turned out alright though one closer observation these seem to be the most detailed yet poorly cast models I've worked with especially where it counted on the exhausts and bolter barrels on the front. Next up, predators and the last gun arm for my 40k dread. Cal if you want me to take some better shots, I'll give it a go.

[Vaaish]

I guess we don't like bikes so much Anyhow, I'm back with another update. I finished up the predators today which leave me with 12 Vindicators until I'm officially done with the commission rhino chassis vehicles. In fact I can almost see the bottom of the box everything came in Hopefully this time the pics came out better too!

Enjoy; I'll be spending the rest of today finishing up to GS work on two BFG cruisers, cleaning vindicators and finishing the base coat for the TLAC dreadnought arm I'm working up.

[misterjustin]

I managed to miss the last update - can we get a close-up on one of the bikes? At the distance in the photo I can't make anything out.

The Predators look great and the wee bitty freehand still stands out nicely.

[Vaaish]

sure. I still think the pics came out horrible for the bikes. The Preds are better but I think that at this scale HDR merger is the best way to show detail in the tiny models. it comes out a little too contrasted otherwise.

[misterjustin]

Yeah, the bikes look like they'd be tough to photograph. Is that a Librarian I see on a bike though? Nice work on the pauldron freehand!

I've always wondered why Space Marines would need stowage, especially bedrolls, on their vehicles. Ah well.

[Vaaish]

I'm back with a short break to return to BFG. A friend of mine sent up a couple of these prows he cast as prototypes for me to paint up for him. I used it as a chance to mess with my typical IN scheme while keeping it fitting with my other stuff. I'll add the nameplates after I seal them.

[misterjustin]

Beautiful work all around and incredible tiny freehand lines again. I have to constantly remind myself just how small these things are.

[Vaaish]

I'm back with another update to the IF epic commission, this time with eight more vindicators. Only four more of them to go. However, I'm taking a little bit of a break over the rest of the weekend to hopefully finish up some varnishing and the last weapon arm for my venerable dread I posted the progress on a while back. Then it's back to the Fists with land raiders and the last of the vindicators.