Tyranids and stuff (Finished Mistress of Repentence pics added 20/09/2012)

[verybad]

Love the new schemes. I never thought of it before, but I bet there's plenty of Tyranid Gumbo after they lose a fight

[SilverTabby]

So, I am almost finished with this chap. In fact, pretty much the only things left to do are his tongue and claws. However, this is where I come across a quandry.

I have no idea what colour would look best on his claws.



I thought Red, but it looked too much like he was wearing nail varnish.
I thought blue, but something about it just isn't sitting right, even before I start highlighting. This usually indicates it won't work, but I'm willing to try.
I thought purple, but am unsure about introducing another colour.
Current leanings are towards bone with lots of red spotting, or possibly the orange under the red with red spotting on top. But I don't know if that will detract from the blue too much, and the claws should be orange / blue instead.
So maybe... the primary / top set of talons in orange with blue spotting, then the secondary and lower sets in orange with the red spots?

Gah. Stupid indecision. I may just try with the blue, as it's different enough from the rest of the model to stand out, but once highlighted up should be similar enough to not detract too badly.

Thoughts?

Edit: Sorry, for some reason these pics won't stay the size I posted them at. Stupid Photobucket...

[Inquisitor Lok]

That looks so cool

But i agree that the blue claws dont really look right. Maybe go for a deep brown like in your previous colour test photos? (The 2nd from the left pic of the Termigaunt)

[Ap0k]

http://kuler.adobe.com/ suggests brown, when working with this kind of contrasting colour scheme. I'm inclined to agree.



Adding more primary/secondary colour will just make it look busy, which basically leaves you variations of neutral colours to work with. I think black would draw the eye too much, while grey just wouldn't really work at all. White would suffer the same issue as black. A rich (or possibly pastelly, maybe) brown could work pretty well to give them a bit of pop, but not draw too much attention off the markings, which are the obvious visual bait right now.




Also, that'll teach you to fall into the Teal and Orange trap!

[SilverTabby]

Hmmmm..... Initially I did the claws in Calthan Brown, but they looked wrong so I tried another colour. Maybe I went for the wrong tone of Brown... If I start with Scorched and work up to final line highlight of Blazing or Fiery Orange perhaps, to link them to the carapace markings? I'm not getting any more painting time 'til the weekend, so I can ponder it a bit. Which is a good thing, as Bump is making my brain run out of my ears when it comes to decision making

Oh, and 'Teal and Orange trap'? That bloke really needs to lighten up - virtually every shot he shows is flesh tones, and the person wearing something blue (and often these are tenuous). Maybe he just has a thing against blue clothing? Maybe his favourite orange shirt got ruined by blue colour leeching, and he feels he has to share his pain by finding it everywhere...

----------

Heh, idle Goole-image surfing for the win. To back up ap0k, This Chap has a similar colour scheme to mine (in a loose sense), and brown claws work for him. I may well take the plunge and go with brown for this ravener (at the very least) and see what happens.

I have no problems with taking good advice, and stealing ideas from those who have gone before... :P

[Svartmetall]

Maybe try Charadon Granite as a foundation on the claws and work up from there?

[Evil-Termite]

First off, WOW! The paint scheme looks amazing! Is it practical to have such an intricate scheme? It seems like it would take FOREVER to get an army painted; well, maybe you are faster than I am.

For the claw color, I don't think that dark blue looks as good as it should. I think the scheme needs more red/brown in it so I would try something with a brown base and work in some red into it.

Still, if you keep it the way it is now it looks REALLY good.

[SilverTabby]

It's in no way practical to have this intricate a scheme, this guy's taken me 6+hrs already. Admittedly, he's the first one and a bigger guy, and I should get faster as I go along and find shortcuts. Also, that's about average painting time for me. I used to do this professionally, and so my ability to switch off "Paint Good Not Sh*t" is still malfunctioning. Still, with the smaller guys it should go MUCH quicker as I can cut out the Bleached / White mix layer altogether and just highlight straight with white. There will also be smaller areas to put the carapace designs in.

And I have a LOT of smaller guys to do. I may try and invest in a Bleached Bone-esque Spray, or possibly *shudder* dip or drybrush the smaller guys. But the bigger guys I will always spend more time on, as they are something of centrepieces for the army, and I simply cannot have shoddily painted big things.

Consensus so far seems to be that a rich dark brown, possibly with red undertones / shading will work. I am more than willing to try this. First however, I have a colour scheme to work out for a friend, who may just get all nurgley on me if I don't get a move on with it...

[Durham_red]

Something like this per chance?

DR

[SilverTabby]

Why yes, invisible tyranids for the win!

But I did mean to ask - where did you get your Bleached Bone spray from (I can't remember if you did it by hand or not), and what dip brand did you use for your 'stealers? I may shamelessly steal that idea, then pretty them up...

[SilverTabby]

After an 8hr painting day as a Mothers Day present, I now have 2 finished models! I was initially planning on factory-lining 10 termagants, but decided I wanted one fully painted first, if nothing else to see how I could cut corners on the little guys to make painting them quicker. And here are the results:




Now all I need to do is work out how to mark the squads apart...

[Galorn2]

Easy squad markings would be skulls/ helmets on bases (1 skull, squad 1, two skulls squad two etc.)

[Ap0k]

You could go for unique markings on the tips of their tails, with each marking being copied across one squad, then changed for the next one.

[SilverTabby]

Ooh, that's an idea. I've just noticed the fairly bland collar plate too, that could have a number of spots added to it. I think base ornaments would only really work on the bigger guys - it'd make the little guys bases look too cluttered I think, plus it's not as obvious as a visible marking...

[Evistro]

Just paint a different colored stripe on the side of the base or something. A red stripe for first squad, blue for second, green for thirs and so on and so forth.

[SilverTabby]

Over the weekend I was accused by my husband of being far too fond of sticking big guns on the backs of dinosaurs*. As I am convinced that it is not possible to be too fond of doing that, and I'm nothing if not consistant in my inability to maintain only one project at a time, I present to you the evidence that you can never have too many dinosaurs, or guns, in the same place.

*These used to be the Inducted Guard for my Sisters army. However, with the new GK book having done away with such things I am confident we won't see Inducted Guard in the new Codex. So I've just taken my Iductees, made them into a 1000pt army, and am planning on using them as Straight-up Guard. They will be from the same planet that my Sororitas use to recruit, hence they will bear similar colours and have a scattering of Fleur-de-lys around the place.

One Hydra Flak Tank


One WIP Chimera


Various squad bits




One soon-to-be commander

[281tweaker]

This is so awesome, don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

[Commissar_Jalil]

Ludicrously awesome. A++

[SilverTabby]

Wow, was it really April I last updated this? How time flies when you're changing 10+ nappies a day...

Well, both the sproglets are asleep, so here's the latest little project I've been dabbling in when I have a spare moment. Given I'm really quite enthused about the new WDDex for the Sisters, I've finally added some Repentia to my army. I hate the old models though, so here's some I'm cobbling together myself. The bodies are Dark Eldar Wyches with the spikes and various bits filed off (and in some cases, boobs added), and the left shoulder pad filed down to resemble the Sisters one (it will get GSed to be more like it). It doesn't look like it now, but there's enough flesh showing to make them look virtually unarmoured. The Eviscerators are the chainsword arm that comes with the Canoness, that just so happens to be identical to the ones the Repentia carry so I can get away with calling it such. The heads are from Hasselfree mini's female head Sprue B, and are great

Eventually the girls will have GS hoods, chains and the like, but for now I'm just trying to get the whole squad into a basic "I'm-built" state so I can carry on playing with them. I've also made another Penitent Engine along the lines of the first one:
Pics of that will come later.

[Tronzor]

I'm am so impressed by your work, the tyranids look ridiculous. The free hand work on their carapace is simply stunning. Your dinosaur and SoBs conversions are also very well done. I can't wait to see you throw some paint on them. How do you plan on making your hoods? I had taken a stab at greenstuffing one for some fallen angels, got impatient, went out and bought DA Veterans.

[SilverTabby]

I'll be bulking up the necks, sorting out the collars and shoulders, then making the hoods using very thinly rolled GS, draping it over the top and working it it into some semblance of a realistic hanging shape. It will be similar to how the original models look, with eye holes and rips - no annoying hair to sculpt, as they tend to shave their heads

Eventually I'll have Dragon Rhinos for my whole army - however that will take ages so in the meantime I'm putting together the half dozen normal ones in my cupboard

[Tronzor]

Ah, I think patience is likely my issue there. Also, I'm pretty sure I overlubed the green stuff with vaseline, it didn't harden very well at all. And I thought I had a lot of bits but I only have 1 unbuilt Rhino.

[Dies Irae]

That's nice to see this log again.

The Sisters/Dinos look alright, I didn't know that an Autocanon fited so nicely on a Cold One, do you mind if I steal that idea if I ever start a Renegade Guard Army?

However the Penitent Engine is wierd, maybe the legs are not bulky enough/ the torso is too bulky.

[SilverTabby]

Just a quick addition from my phone, the promised picture of the. Second Penitent Engine.



I am hoping for some painting weekends as a Christmas present, so my Sisters will finally see some more colour on them. I'm aiming for 1000 points painted...

[SilverTabby]

Still alive! Here's the proof!

And so Christmas has come, and I got two full days to paint in, undisturbed! Apart from basing, undercoating and spray-basecoating 15 hormogaunts, 9 stealers and a Broodlord (bless Halfords and their Ford Ivory spray, it's almost a perfect match for bleached bone and cut 3-4hrs off the basecoating time), I discovered that my current painting speed allows me to complete 2 Battle Sisters a day (8 - 10hrs).

So, here's the 4 girls I did (3 are minus their shoulder eagles, I'm going to do the whole squad at once when complete):

Here's Orange Squad (who recieved 1 new girl and are now complete minus the flamer / heavy flamer options):

Here's Red Squad, who recieved 2 new girls and a meltagun and will be the recipients of the next 4 girls:

And the Retributors, Green Squad, who only need a couple of ablative armour girls:


I have a few more painted girls, but they are in what will become my Dominions / 3rd Troops squad (Blue) when I get around to them. All shoulder eagles will get painted once a squad is 'complete'. It's actually less of an intrusive squad marking scheme than I thought it would be.

I also have 1 nearly complete tank to adjust to be a Rhino, a squad of 5 (7) Death Cult Assassins and a stand-in Jacobus. This will take *ages* but I'm finally getting in gear to do it. And when I get bored of Sisters, I can take a break to do Tyranids or my Necromunda gang. Yay painting for fun again!

[[MaGiC]]

I love the scheme, but why do they all have the same tone of hair? No blondes, redheads or blackies?

[SilverTabby]

That was something I did years ago, and made a conscious effort with these 4 new girls to have a lighter hair tone (bestial base, snakebite then bubonic, then brown-washed). When I do the next 4 they will have a different hair tone again, and I'll go back to the older ones (they are over 10 years old) and alter some there too. The only diffrence that currently exists is some are red tinged, but that doesn't show up anywhere over 2" away.

I do also have some plans for the hair on the superiors, maybe giving them white streaks or something, but for now I just want them painted ;-)

I also looked at them and thought "God, they are all carbon copies colour-wise" for the main scheme. However, the shoulder eagles may do something to alleviate that. I may also add in the same colour elsewhere on the models, but again, those sort of details can wait for after the bulk of them are painted. Eventually I need to work something in to tie them to the dinosaur theme - it was going to be shoulder cloths, but now I think I'll settle for scales painted on the vestements somewhere. Again, afterwards ;-)

[Tronzor]

Looks wonderful tabby. I have a place in my heart for the SoBs, and you sure got shafted with your non-codex. These look absolutely great. I really like the colouring on the Meltagunner. Looking forward to the next update!

[SilverTabby]

And just to prove you can never have too many projects on the go at once, I give you:



These are the first three Devotees in my Necromunda Redemptionist gang. Painted in my army colours so if they ever become useable, then they're, well, usable... ;-)

The rest of the gang will be following soon. The two Deacons are almost done, and then it's on to Zealots and my Priest. All are converted Escher figures because I a) love the figures, b) hate the actual Redemptionist ones, and c) love the idea I can combine my favourite figures with an actual skill set I like. For some reason, my subconscious tells me Necro figures are "quick and easy to bash out", so I'm duly 'bashing them out'...

And Tronzor - I didn't get shafted. I think it's the best list we've had so far, for numerous reasons. Hence the painting of my army...

[Tronzor]

Lovely little gangers, the Juve is great I love that pose. I wish there was a Necromunda community still, I sure miss that game. Love to see them finished!

And I meant that more along the lines of white dwarf codex, no new model releases, no new boxes sets, for the most expensive and character filled army. Considering what it costs to play SoB, I wouldn't have been very happy is all.

Keep up the great work Tabby!

[SilverTabby]

And here are those 2 deacons. Though following last weeks game, one is now my leader following a gang reboot...




Next is the GS work to give the Crusaders eyemasks and exterminator cartridges, and then on to the meltaguns... :-D

[Adonis]

Awesome paint job. But for some reason, I have this sudden urge to watch '80s sci-fi movies.

[SilverTabby]

Given the new Tervigon/Tyrranofex kit comes out very soon, I feel I may be getting a new Tervigon and using the spares to make this chap into a tyrannofex. My painting in the near future may well be bug-flavoured again... :-D

[Dimension]

First of, great work all around tabby

I wonder, did you make any progress in painting the penitent engines? I'm really looking forward to seeing a few pictures of those if you have any available!

[SilverTabby]

Soon... 2 kids does not make for a crowded painting schedule ;-)

And we've just hit the start of larping season. Spare time? What's that?

[SilverTabby]

Because I am utterly incapable of finishing one thing at a time (and Svart got me a Lictor for my birthday) here's a little something I've been putting together around preparing my GD entries for this year.



He's going to end up (after a shedload of green) as the Parasite of Mortrex. The wings are from the new Vargheist kit and are a beautiful size match for the warrior kit.

[SilverTabby]

Thank you LastOption, you wonderful chap. For a good few years I have been stumped on how to make my 'nids more than just nicely painted standard 'nids. I do like my armies to have *something* different about them, be it Clan Moulder monstrosities or dino-tanks. And now, due to a conversation and flash of inspiration, I have that idea for my 'nids.

now, when I'm not desperately trying to finish a birthday present before the end of the month or being mind-shatteringly tired, I shall post up sketches, or even a fig or two. But for now, I am just saying so I don't forget ;-)

[SilverTabby]

And after a moment of "AAAARG I have too many unfinished things on my desk!" I have a mostly complete Harpy. She's still minus a head, but given I'm overhauling how every head in my army looks, that's no bad thing. I may add more back ridges, I may tidy up the back left claw joint. I don't know yet.


Also, the Parasite now has two wing joints done, with more to follow. The head is halfway done, and shall get photos when it doesn't look quite so goofy.

[overmind2000]

Really neat work on the Harpy! I like those beefed up balrog (?) wing arms that you've done - a good amount of detailed greenstuff work tehre .

[SilverTabby]

The extended one is a high elf dragon wing, the other a (resin preproduction cast of a) LotR dragon wing. The balrog ones were just too wide: this one will barely fit in a case as it is ;-)

I can recommend the Vargheist wings for warriors though. They need GSing, but are a good fit...

[SilverTabby]

And just to prove I'm still alive, here's a picture of the WiP Harpy head. Deliberately all teeth and no brainspace... More pics to come over the next week or so, around Golden Demon work.

[SilverTabby]

So, working around my main project I am finishing some side projects that have been lingering for just *too* long. It's pure coincidence that they will be both usable, and awesome, in 6th Ed, honest.

First, the first of the transport tanks for my IG. They are nominally Chimeras, but I'm still undecided on that. Guns have yet to be attached, and may become magnetised. As GW frowns on mix 'n matching LotR and 40k figures, the Dragon is getting a new look. A frill and more horns will be forthcoming.



The Harpy is hurtling towards completion, all she needs now is the right side of her head, and a neck to mount it on. Shouldn't take too long...

[Gorb]

I have to say, your skills with Green Stuff (or whatever equivalent you're using) are outstanding.

[SilverTabby]

Thank you *blush* It is just Green Stuff, and I have had about 12 years of practice with it. It takes ages to get anything right though, Svart's better and faster

[SilverTabby]

I will finish a project. I will finish a project. I will finish a project. I will finish a project.

The Harpy is rattling on at a fair old pace. Stage one of the neck is drying, and a few niggling bits have been addressed and finished. The head now has a matching right side. Good god, I may even have her done by next week at this rate... :o

[[MaGiC]]

I see the partnership between you and Svart paid off on the GS work you did
have you thought about using liquid GS for smoother transissions?

[Gorb]

I've had (or rather, I had severe past tense) several years with GS, however I think the limits of my skills would be an approximation of that braincase you crafted (and maybe those underhanging sacs). The teeth, tongue (especially the tongue) and what I think is the neck are all fantastic and beyond my wildest dreams.

Keep on truckin', you're only going to get better!

[Inquisitor Lok]

Pretty much what Gorb said. That looks amazing and i doubt ill ever have half the talent you have with sculpting GS. Cant wait to see it finished (and especially painted up)

One question for you though, is the Harpy going to have eyes? (or am i blind for not seeing them)

[Sig]

Hey guys!
So I'm new to the tabletop game( but not plastic models) and I bought some Tyranids Termagant Brood.
On my weapons tree, there are some larvae looking things. Their bout half an inch long, can anyone give me a identification on these things and if they do anything?
P.S. sorry if I post on the wrong thread, just looking to see what these are called and what they do.

[SilverTabby]

Sig, I think the 'larvae' are probably toxin sacs, go on limbs and make their attacks poisonous.

maGic, I tried using liquid green on the rear legs and some back spines. It's smooth, but hasn't actually covered any lumps and bumps, and I may just go back and fully green them. It's ok for filling seams, but I don't think it's what I need on her. And I must admit, I've been somewhat jealous of how good Svart is and it may just be pushing my competitve buttons He's still a million times faster at it than I am.

Inquisitor lok, no, she has no eyes. I may well be going for this look with much of my big stuff now - huge teeth and no eyes. Depends on how this turns out in the end...