Bushido Commission WIP

 

A collection of Bushido miniatures painted by Chris Straw. As usual we've er, pushed (yes I think that makes it sound deliberate) the bounds of tabletop level work; we don't let stuff out that we wouldn't be happy to put on a table ourselves. There's another few miniatures to go on this job before I (Maz) finish off the photography and varnishing...

WIP Warhound Titan Diorama (3)

More progress on the Titan. Some cleaning up to do, particularly around the instrument panels, but it's getting there. There will also be pigments adding, but that will be done a bit later on. As ever, you can click the images for larger views.

WIP Warhound Titan Diorama (2)

Some long overdue progress shots of the Warhound diorama. I've been a bit slack with keeping the blog updated (the Facebook page is so much easier!) but I've finally got round to it. As ever you can click the images for larger views. I think I've probably got about 5 weeks work left on the diorama, so it's cutting it fairly close.

GDUK2012 Warhound Diorama 'Hunting Bigger Game'

Ok, this is now on the painting table (and occupying most of another table too). Prospective entry for either Open or Diorama categories at GDUK 2012. Commission piece for a very regular client. I have other pieces to work on as this goes, but this one NEEDS to be done for GDUK.

Probably the most dynamic pose you can squeeze out of a Forgeworld Warhound, and requiring an extreme amount of reinforcement. The entire supporting leg has 2 lengths of 3mm diameter steel rod running through it. However as the rods are parallel in the mid-piece of the leg, the model still exhibits some twisting there in warm conditions (I work in a conservatory studio, where the temperatures can hit 35C). To solve this I found the simplest solution is a barrel lodged under the back toe of the lead foot. You can see it in the image above. It's also easy to remove for short term display. At extreme, over 1 kg of weight is being supported by a 7mm x 12mm piece of resin, set way off from the point of balance. It was... interesting... finding out whether the pose would work.

There is a fully detailed interior (including the FW Titan Techpriest), more of which will be seen in later posts.

The banners are paper, and temporary - the final ones will be painted and curved before mounting.

As ever you can click the images for larger views.

WIP Custom Space Marine helmets and plumes

Along with what seems like a million other sculpt and build-heavy jobs, I've been working on a commission for a set of custom helmets to fit on Games Workshop Space Marines. The client specified a more aggressive, snarling look for the basic helmet, along with Spartan style helmet plumes for Assault Marines.

The plumes at least will be available to buy soon, as will the helmets if I can diverge them from the Space Marine aesthetic a bit more.

WIP Blood Angels Assault Squad (1)

Work on the 15 Assault Marines that form the troops section of the army I'm working on right now. These are based on a relatively fast airbrush-and-glaze technique, and should average out once completed to less than 4 hours per mini. Most of this time saving is from the primer - Vallejo's Polyurethane German Red-Brown Primer. It's brilliant stuff.

The middle marine is the test model, and has been pushed a little further on than the others. The red and yellow on him is pretty much where they'll end up on the others.

As ever, click the images for a larger view.

WIP Death Company and Lemartes

Very little work remains on these; just the foliage on the bases and varnishing. The client's also requested OSL on the jump pack exhausts.
The black on these is achieved with the same method as the Black Templars terminators I did a while back - rough highlights, followed by glazing back. It's a quick technique that results in a fairly smooth look with less effort than a full-on blending method.
Conversions in the squad are mostly simple reposes and kitbashes between normal Space Marine Assault Marines and the Death Company box set.

As ever you can click on any of the images for a larger view.

Lemartes WIP

More work on the large Blood Angels commission I'm working on. Lemartes here is nearly done - a few bits of text to do, before the base foliage and varnish (which I'll do at the same time as the rest of the Death Company). The Death Company squad is also nearly done, so they'll be next up.

As ever, click the image for a larger view.

Dreadfleet Set

On Friday, Chris and George handed over some of the Dreadfleet set they're working on for me to photograph. The pieces shown are finished, but will be rephotographed with the complete set when it's all done. This is what we term extremely high end work, bordering on Competition grade, coming in at around £2500 for the complete set. As you can see though, the quality really is superb.

As ever you can click the images for larger views.