Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Shadowsword painting continues

Barely hanging on to the slender thread of sanity at this point - over 600 rivets later, and the Shadowsword is almost ready for weathering!

Added in the usual occult symbols and XV numeration - The 15th Prosperine Assault Infantry number ties in nicely with the XV legion markings on the Thousand Sons (thereby making it suitable for use in either detachment as needed). Little cleanup required yet, but most of the truly sloppy bits might just get covered up with some weathering!

Quite happy with the Blood and Skulls Industries add-ons, really gives the model some personality. I cannot recommend Tom McBride's add-on kits enough! Supposed to have a couple warm days coming up early next week, hoping to get it finished and sealed soon!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Breacher Squad painted, and Shadowsword in progress

Rather productive of late, as my main entertainment center/general distraction has been in the shop. That means quite a bit of brush time! Trying to update the blog from my phone is proving to be thoroughly aggravating, so the next few posts are likely to be a little brief. First up, the Breacher Siege Squad got a lick of paint:

Pretty straightforward, but I'm not entirely happy with the gradient on the green gems now that I'm reviewing the pics. Definitely need to add a few more intermediate tones to them!

I've been slogging along on the Shadowsword for the Spireguard as well, got all the basic colors laid in, now it's time to start the interminable rivet painting step... Oof!

Heresy Era Mechanicum - Knight Castigator and Dreamforge Leviathan comparison

A bit of a filler post this week I'm afraid - Turns out my new computer may have fatally compromised its machine spirit and I've had to send it in for repair/replacement. Sadly that means it's become rather challenging to upload new pictures, so I've been forced to fall back on some older pics while I wait.

A few weeks back I was tidying up the hobby loft and ran across the Dreamforge Leviathan that I'd stalled out on. I had been disheartened by how much larger than the GW plastic Paladin it ended up being, but I'd been meaning to see how it stacks up against the far larger FW Castigator. Turns out, surprisingly close!

They're virtually the same height, but the Leviathan is far bulkier. Most of the armor plating on the arms and legs are not strictly required, I'm thinking the Mortis variant may be pretty similarly skeletal. While I love the model though the aesthetic is just too different for me to want to add it to the loyalist Mechanicum, though it may find its way into the Dark Mechanicum army I have slowly coalescing in the Closet of Doom...

It sounds like it'll be another week or more before I regain full service. Will be lighting a votive and praying to the Omnissiah for a swift resolution!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Breacher Siege Squad built

Just a quick hit today - With Magnus more or less complete (waiting on a nice day to get him sealed and snap some final pics), all that remains to finish off the army for the LVO are 20 shoulder pads for the tactical squad - unfortunately that too requires a nice day to get them primered. Since it's been cold and unpleasant that means more build time while I wait!

I've been needing more Troops choices for the Thousand Sons, so I dusted off some old models that I'd originally purchased for the Iron Hands way back when but never got around to building. A quick swap of heads (Maxmini) and shields (Scibor), and voila - Thousand Sons breachers!

We're supposed to have some warm-ish days coming up later in the week - finger crossed I can get a whole mess of priming and sealing done in one fell swoop!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Magnus the Red nearly complete

Real Life(tm) has been keeping me pretty busy for the last week but I have managed to spend some time working on the Crimson King and he's juuuuust about done now:

 

All the main colors have been laid in - went with a very ruddy skin tone substituting a carroburg crimson wash in place of the usual reikland fleshshade, and dwarven flesh rather than bronzed flesh. Didn't want to go cartoon red with his skin, figure that's more apt for his ascendant daemon form.

 

At this point its time to figure out the fine detail. While he's certainly table-ready at this point, I think he'd benefit from some arcane symbols on the outside of the cloak, as well as some sort of design around the hem on the inside. Feels a little bland as-is.

Nearly at the finish line though! Working on this model has really got me looking forward to seeing what FW comes up with. If their previous efforts on the primarchs are any indication, Magnus is going to be stunning!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Magnus the Red built

Starting to feel my hobby mojo coming back (as is apparent from the recent upsurge in posts), and I've been feverishly working on finishing off the models intended to go to the LVO coming up next month. With the Spartan and Captain Besenmut complete, at this point all that remains are 20 shoulder pads for the tactical squad, and ol' One Eye himself - Magnus the Red!

  

There have been a couple knock-off Magnusses (Magni?) over the years, and the previous incarnation of the Thousand Sons utilized a different model than I am using this go around - while I love the scale of the old model (Magnus is often described as being a giant among his brother primarchs) the sculpt's proportions were a little wonky, and I have had a hard time sourcing a viable replacement. This alternate model is more on par size-wise with the FW sculpts, which makes him a bit easier to store and transport. It got roughed up a bit in transit to me unfortunately with the fingers from his right hand having snapped off, so I took a run at sculpting on some replacements. I also replaced the oddly short haft that came with his weapon for something a bit more substantial. So far, so good!

...And a scale shot alongside one of the tac marines - just about the right height to match up with other released primarch models. Absolutely cannot wait to see what FW does for the official Magnus model, but in the meantime this should do nicely!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Assault Captain Besenmut painted

More painting completed, on a model that's proving rather difficult to photograph! Assault Captain Besenmut is a Praetor for my Thousand Sons - the additional attacks and WS will come in handy in melee!

  

I wanted to try and get a little artsy with the colors - in an attempt to contrast the hot/cold dichotomy of the crimson armor of the Thousand Sons and the grey of the Vlka Fenryka I went with a hot red/orange fire from the bolt pistol round and some warp green fire from the archaeotech pistol to match up with Besenmut's paragon khopesh. (...and I just noticed I neglegted to finish off the jump pack's exhausts. Argh!)

   

Definitely a fun little centerpiece for the assault squad, though it's going to be hard for him to declare cover in general gameplay. I have a feeling he's going to get shot quite a bit... Hah!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Spartan painting complete!

After leaving the new computer running all night to update and upload, I finally have a wodge of new pics to show! Leading off with what has become the must-have tank of the Heresy, the Spartan has been detailed, weathered and sealed (taking advantage of a narrow window of nice weather we had last week):

  

Added a further rune to the front section, and gave the tracks another layer of washes to give them a bit more dirty and oily look. Once that dried I went in with a sponge and added some charred brown followed by boltgun metal to represent a little battle damage. The extreme edges of the exposed metal was then given an edge highlight in silver. Generally speaking I go with the 'less is more' approach and just add a little weathering here and there. It's always easier to add more later than it is to try and clean up an overzealous application after all!

  

Never fails that once I think I'm done and have the models sealed that I notice that I forgot a step. Generally speaking I give the exhaust stacks on the vehicles a little heat distortion/soot which I'll have to go back in and add. Doh! Nevertheless overall I'm quite happy with how the giant brick of a tank has turned out. In game it'll carry a big ol' squad of Terminators, and likely ol' One Eye himself as well!

40k tech support - have you tried lighting incense?

Well, over the holiday I tried my hand at upgrading my old computer. Suffice it to say the end result was the necessity of purchasing a new computer. Argh.

I've finally managed to reestablish my noospheric connection and am working on getting a backlog of photos uploaded - I've not been idle on the hobby front however! Here's a little sneak peek:

Awwww yeah.