Imperial Fist Thunderfire Cannon and Titan preview

Well, in my last post I kinda came down on GW for not making a TF cannon with good meeting seams on the barrel...well I was wrong. When I put the stabilisers on the barrel, the seams completely disappear. Sorry GW, my bad.

This model was one of my favorite to ever paint; Techmarines are one of my all time favorite sculpts. The models that are considered your typical TM(the one that come with the servitors) have so much going on on there model, but it doesn't look busy. They look like some crazy eccentric mechanical marine. Which is pretty representative.

I only painted the helmet, right shoulder pad and the arms of the servo arms in a Mars red color. I went with mechrite red, put some badab black in any shadowy areas, and did some subtle highlighting with a 50/50 mechrite red/blood red.

I love this damned cannon. Weep in fear horde players!!

Here we go. Mars pattern Titan from my pal Nick(see past posts with Space Wolves projects). My pal Zach started painting it for him and never finished. Can you friggin' well say dust? YES. I'm torn between taking all the paint off and just finishing what Zach started. On another issue with this monstrous project....I have to assemble it. I'm not really looking forward to it. But I am the modelling masochist, so I had better get on it.

Interior detail.

Fight the Power

Well, here's my latest attempt to resist building upon my IF force....failure. I finished this LR just the other day. It's got a bit more white on it than I had originally planned on, but I feel it's an excellent contrast to the yellow and the black.

I kinda went decal crazy with this piece, but you can only build so many of these beasts in your life and this one's mine. I liked the thunderbolt decal so much that the next LR I produce will have a huge thunderbolt going across the entirety of the chassis.

What your staring at in possible puzzlement is the front of a thunderfire cannons' business end. I am currently not pleased with GW, as this paperweight is so poorly moulded that the ends don't match even after I spent half a day trying to reshape it. Frustration.

In other news, my lord and master has assigned me yet another task, this one of "Titan"ic proportions! Get it?! It's a pun and a teaser all in one!! God I'm exhausted. Yellow Paint, out!

"Give us the tools, and we will finish the job." Winston Churchill

It's done. I have at last finished my Imperial Fists army. All 2000 pts of it. Here stands Lysander, exemplar of the Imperial Fists. I used lots of scab red as that's the deepest red I could find. Nearing the end of his construction, his cape was missing something. I decided to free hand a bit of ornamentation onto the interior of his cape, and it really carried the piece.

This is a close up of his massive shield. Came out really clean.

I freehanded a Fists emblem on his right shoulder. Here's also a good view of the base. I didn't want to go bananas on his base, just a good solid sand base. This was my first ever metal piece, I was most concerned about pigment rubbing off due to over-handling, but he performed like a champ!

The Future and Other Things

My time painting my core force is coming to an end. I'm kind of sad. For the last year and more I've dedicated most of my modelling time and painting efforts towards my yellow fellows. I've been toying with the idea of splitting my next extension for my force into a White Scars pure bike force(see above photo....ok, so those are LotD, but I love doing choppers, and those ain't mine btw!). I also want to continue the possibility of converting a Kor'sarro Khan counts as Fist version. What the duece is it with GW not making a KK model on a friggin' bike? My pals want to convert a model of him on foot with a "Terra or Bust" sign. Wait a few days and I'm coming out with my last devastator squad, then comes Big Daddy Pain, Darnath Lysander!

This is a piece of fan art by a deviant art artist whom goes by the name Aerion the Faithful. He's been in the game for quite a while, and his art is phenomenal. He hasn't fallen into that lame-ass trend of looking like so much anime. And he's a fan of the game(obviously). He also does commission work, which is pretty friggin cool.

Ok, this portion of my blog entry is dedicated to fan tattoos. I have two Star Wars tattoos myself. They mean alot to me. I didn't get them on a whim or have them done by craptastic artists. I plan to have my entire right arm be a sleeve for Star Wars, and my left arm is going to be for a Imperial Fists sleeve.

I love tattoos, which is funny because I hate needles. I wouldn't advise just anybody getting ink. You have to think about what you want, why you want it, and where on your body you're going to get your ink set. Most importantly, where you get the work done. Check out your shop, get to know your artist. Don't hesitate to demand things from your artists, they aren't the ones getting a permanent piece of art inserted into their flesh.

Pose like a team, sh*t just got REAL

It's been a year since I started I Love Yellow Paint, and the hits just keep on comin'! My third and final Tactical squad is completed. I had alot of varied poses going on in my squad, both for fun and to break up the monotony.

Here's the backside of the sergeant.

I gave him a head from a Cadian Gaurdsmen, talk about a promotion! The Cadian sprues have lots of gritty faces for anyone looking for alternatives to the usual stuff packed in the Space Marine Kits.

I took a kneeling marine from the sprue and instead of giving him a missile launcher, I have him surveying the terrain ready to pop off some shots at heretics and the like.

Here's a beaky that's lost an arm in the service to the Emperor but still fights on with an augmetic replacement! How better to continue to fight on than with the faithful bolter in one hand and a chainsword in the other? I painted "REX" on one side of the sword and on the other unseen side "IMPERIUS".

Next in my sites are the final Devastator squad, and not long after, Big-Daddy Pain himself, Darnath Lysander!

Predator VS. Land Raider, fight to the death!!

This weekend, I had the pleasure of being sequestered in Gouldsboro Maine, on vacation. Well, just a lovely weekend and a pair of tanks stood between me and perfection.

This is a shield I took off a SM command sprue arm. I couldn't find an adequate stand alone shield so I had to improvise. I'm really pleased with the results.

A couple of decals off the baneblade sheet made for some really interesting kill markings.

This is the finished product commission LR for my pal Nick.

PREDATORS was a rad movie, and the GW kit ain't half bad

Here's my latest work on the Predator tank w/reinforced armor. Let's face it, any tank for the Imperial Fists has gotta be beefy. The reinforced armor gives it that built up look. Like the rest of my Forge World pieces I've ever recieved, the armor required some work to get onto the kit.
This piece is by no means finished. I have the basic vomit brown finish applied and the flesh ink to the recesses as well as boltgun to the metallic portions. I jumped back into painting this weekend because my wife works as a manager for a clothing store. Part of her duties includes helping to open new chain stores in our area. So she headed up to Houlton, Maine(note; this area is north of the portion of Maine that is so poorly populated they aren't named. Unless you consider 'district R6-17' a name for a town). Needless to say there wasn't much to do. So I slung paint all weekend! My efforts did not go unrewarded.

The rock is my niece' pet rock 'Bob'. He doesn't stand a chance against the Imperiums' mightiest sons.

I live.....again...

Well after a two month long hiatus for religious, financial.....and being lazy reasons, I'm back. I've had experiences that would have killed other men, scene sights that would blind the sight impaired....wait, is that possible? Anyways, I started a D&D campaign and dungeon mastered for the first time ever(I loved it, who'd have thunk?). I even passed a urinary stone! Yay?

I'm very close to the end here, my predator tank lies unfinished but promising. One and a half infantry squads left....and I even took several commissions from friends; an entire DE army and a pair of Land Raiders. I'll post some pics tomorrow of ridiculousness.

A Wall Covered In Rhino Skulls

I am finally finished painting all my Rhino/Razorbacks! I am SO glad I will never have to work with a Forge World rhino door ever again. You would think they never size these things before creating molds for them; awesome detail? check, interesting/obscure design? check, fits right onto the model it's meant for? well....

I worked in a different stripe design for each Rhino Hatch. The barber pole stripes look pretty good and they catch the eye well. If you look at all my work I have done you can see a healthy dose of assymetry to my pieces. It's an aesthetic choice. I think that the lack of consistency in design makes an observer peruse the whole piece and find all the differences, thereby they really study and appreciate the work you put in.

Guess what I'm doing next?

The Last Dreadnought

Thar she blows, gents! The last dreadnought I have to paint for my IF force. This one took me only about a week, going quite well with my plan to finish this army by the end of may. Ambitious aren't I?

I've made his arms interchangeable, because that's just economical. I've dubbed him "Isardi", partially because of a well written Star Wars character who was a cold-hearted b*tch, and partly because it sounds very Gallic.

I actually had to repaint the Mechanicus symbol because I hadn't realized that I had mixed it up and switched it around so the black side was right and the white side was left(which is opposite from my two other dreadnoughts. so I'm compulsive? it would bother me to see the symbols not uniform).

Awww, family picture time! From left to right- Malatesta the Ironclad Dreadnought, Isardi the multi-purpose Dreadnought, and Cataphract the Mortis pattern Dreadnought. I can't wait to toss these guys onto the battle field!

Next....next, next, next....hmmm. Maybe my last Razorback? I still have a tac squad and a half dev squad to do, plus my predator and Lysander...

Imperial Fist Rhino, On The Rampage!

Here's my second Rhino for my Imperial Fists. The yellow came out WAY better than my last Rhino, and I fixed the problem with the strange film that accumulated on my last by adding less detergent to the ink mix(the detergent helps break the surface tension so I don't get pooling).

The yellow was the legendary discontinued Citadel yellow ink. I also changed the paint scheme for the Fist emblem to just a straight Chaos Black with built up Skull White highlights.

I made all the hatches and the weapon turret interchangeable with a generic top hatch so I could economize on use, the Razorback transforms into a Rhino! Waste not, want not!

Here's one of the Forge World hatches I got months and months ago, immortalized on this here Razorback. My last paintjob on a Razorback had the hatch itself as black, the ring in red, and the fist in black. I much prefer this rendition, it's brighter and it follows the actual color scheme of the real Fist emblem.

And because I've always thought it's good to get a hot chick to model your work, this is my niece Faith! What a cute kid!

Dark Angels Players Are Laughing At Us

This right here is the "contents" of the Ravenwing Battleforce Box (retail 90$ US). The 6 bikes even out the price, individually selling for 45$ per 3 biker box. Then you get a landspeeder, 35$, and an attack bike, 25$! That alone would make this kit a valuable resource for folks making a Ravenwing force, White Scars, or a counts-as Korsarro Khan flanker force. The real killer is the large 10"x 8" sprue FULL of Dark Angels army upgrades! 3 OF THEM! They've got x2 big assault cannons, multiple swordarms(hello conversions), and some very different looking heads, in amongst the DA only pieces(hooded angel icons, winged swords and etc.).



My point being is that you can never be certain where you might find value when you deal with Citadel. The battleforces have always been hit and miss in particular. The lovely IG battalion used to come with a Leman russ...now it comes with the underwhelming sentinel. The 'Nids got a bit screwed for their value with their new launch cutting the number and quality in their Battalion box. And the inclusion of certain units can be baffling; why must we always have scouts pushed on us in every Battalion box of Space Marines? My best suggestion for anyone just starting out with Space Marines(or Orks)----> Assault on BlackReach.



I love AoBR. LOVE IT. The models are excellent, there are tons of them, and the rules book, the green templates, and the subtley violence-promoting "whippy-sticks"(we have all hit each other with them. few have not tasted the Wrath of the Whippy-stick) make for an awesome set. This is a product that demands it's purchasing by all. Even if you play as neither Orks or Space Marines, you can keep the books and the tools and then trade or sell the models! I gave my pal the orks from my box 'cause I owed him a favor.

Modelling Commandments

They said it couldn't be done, but as everyone knows, through the Lord and the appropriate application of military arms, anything is possible! Roll that beautiful bean footage!

THOU SHALT TAKE A BREAK FROM THE HOBBY! *THUNDER*

Every once in a while you can feel yourself getting bogged down by creating too much work for yourself. Everyone takes vacations from their jobs, and if you have painted yourself into a corner with the hobby.....take a break!

It's important for all of us to come up for air on occasion. If you spend too much time on a single project it can become tedious, and that lack of enthusiasm will spread throughout your work likea virus. Why bother finishing that last bit of highlighting on your sergeant? You're the only one whom may notice! And forget about that gap filler on your latest vehicle project, it looks good even with that gap. Taking a break frees up your mind and allows you to roam free.

I've taken the past week off, myself. I haven't picked up a paint brush or anything. It has reenergised me and made me itch to start painting again! I even managed to work out why I haven't been so motivated lately; my space marines lack the dynamic poses that I love so much. So what does that mean? Well, when I start my last tactical squad I plan to incorporate lots of modding for each figure. I even intend to make the bases themselves much less bland than the typical "walnut shavings covered in PVA and sand". I'm expanding the armies look to make it appear as though this next squad has advanced into a desert village, and the scenery will have them reacting in tons of interesting and compelling poses. I have already made mock-ups on paper, and this next step promises to be rad!

Hitting the wall

Well I've run into an obstacle while composing my Fists; I've gotten frustrated and tired. So tired that I have delayed and delayed my friends request to paint his Space Wolf Venerable Dreadnought. Even claiming victory in Marchs' Painting Competition yesterday hasn't kicked my butt into gear. I've gotten this way every once in a while. How does everyone else deal with this slump? I think that after I finish the dreadnought I might take a 2 week break.

It's a hazard that faces people whom choose to specialize in painting a certain restricted paint scheme, you get bored!

I'm excited to see the Blood Angels Codex at my FLGS. The big draw for me was the new minis for the Angels, particularly the Sanguinor and Lemartes reboot.

Yuck.

Yay!

I have always felt the old lemartes model looked goofy as hell. The redesign is far more subtle, and frankly, beautiful!

Sanguinor? Thank you, Games Workshop. Thank You.

Imperial Fist Squad Robs Bank!

Another Tactical Squad hits the table! These guys were quite a job...they seem to take forever! I guess that's all part and parcel of being a painting masochist. All credit goes to Wil Davies across the pond in England, his beautiful techniques for painting yellow make my boys shine! Bling, bling! Oh yeah, I went there.

These are some alternate poses I worked out with my models.

Here's a flamer wielder True Grittin' his fire spitter, getting ready to share a grenade with some close friends. Sharing is caring!

This is a beaky reloading his bolter. Easy enough conversion, I just cut off the magazine of a bolter and placed it in the open hand of a standard marine.

Funk dat. This yellow fellow has adopted the wisdom of that old adage "Only a heretic would bring a knife to a boltgun fight." Well, ok, it's not an old adage. And that's not an accurate qoute of the real deal. But you get the point. This guys battle-plan consists of two parts; shoot-shoot-shoot, stabby-stab-stab. Simple, elegant, violent. Just like all the best plans.

This is the sergeants leg, in close up detail. In the lower left hand box is his company/squad designation, above is a laurel of valor. Tucked into the upper right is a small tactical squad symbol. Since he didn't have a kneecap to paint on, I opted to paint half of his lower leg in panoply. See other photos for a detail on the kneecap squad designation.

Like this one here! I only included this detailing on the left leg of the squad members. I like assymetry on my miniatures, they appear alot more dynamic that way.

The rear of the right shoulder pad, company designation.

Front side, squad designation.

Please note the free-handed aquila on the side of his helmet. I like to think of the Fists as having lots of ex-gangers. And if there is one thing gangers love, it's tattoos!

I grabbed a Cadian head off the Cadian Command squad sprue for a more characterful face for my sergeant. I hit him with some LOVELY bleach blond hair. I tend to like it alot more than the standard fare of "bald guy with scowl."

Did my best here to give my heavy weapons operator an ace marking over his eye, maybe you can tell, maybe you can't, but I did my best!