Saturday, May 19, 2012

Khador Winterguard Gas Tank Conversion

Spent some time last night and today converting my Winterguard.  The gas masks I already finished so I worked on adding in their tattered coats on the bottom using Procreate Putty.  After that it was taking guitar string and some pliers to create the tube for the gas mask.  For the backpack tank I used the bit from my Devastator's arm (I wasn't using it).  I really like the tank and will order more bits from PP to create additional gas tanks. 

This process is very time consuming so I'm focusing on converting three Winterguard at a time and will finish painting them too.  This way I'll slowly get painted figs done and will feel like I'm making progress :)

*the reason for gas tanks is because for this Guardsmen pose I wasn't able to connect the tube to anything on his waist, like the pouch on my other too, so I had to find a creative solution.  Also need to do more putty work on the part where the tube connects to the tank and mask.



 

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Khador Juggernaut: Painting Ice Effects

I've been learning some new techniques for painting ice/cold effects so I thought it was time to give my ol' Juggernaut a new paint job.  He was the very first Warmachine miniature that I painted.  You can see that here.

I remember I was really nervous when I painted him that first time.  I was cautious over every stroke because I didn't want to mess up.  I'm still learning a great deal about painting but now I try not to worry so much and have fun with painting.

With the new ice effects for my army I'm really looking forward to doing this same effect for Beast-09 and the Greylords.


Khador eSorscha Painting WIP


   
Painted eSorscha tonight and wanted to try an ice effect with her axe.  She has a spell called Freezing Grip so I wanted to show that.  This painting evolved so that one side of her is cold with light blues and purple and the other side is very warm with oranges and reds.  

I sorta dived into it not knowing how it would turn out but I think it's taking shape.  The ground was a lot of fun to do and my favorite part of that is adding in those highlight accents.  

A little sleepy and I have to wake up in 3 hours to go fishing ><; but next step for this mini is trying to figure out how to do the axe.  With the naked high there isn't  a lot of color variation on the axe so I'll have to think about it a bit.  
 

Friday, May 11, 2012

Khador Winterguard Conversion Painting

Worked on the Unit Leader for my Khador Winterguard Unit.  Did a lot of conversion work on them ranging from their gasmasks and tube to their cloaks which have been extended using epoxy putty.  Still going for the Wasteland look; gritty, dirty, menacing.  Fluff is that this army was on a long and perilous expedition into the Wastelands and now are trying to fight their way back home to the Motherland.

The above mini has most of the color in.  I will most likely start on the next batch of Winterguard and then go back to these original two and add the grime layer of weathering pigments.

The masking tape provides an interesting color juxtaposed with the mini.  Reminds me of snow.  Should I add snow to the base?  I was always sorta against it because usually we play on a green battle mat and I thought snow looked odd but hmmmmm~~

The one thing I wanted to mention was that when I was painting in thin layers; it revealed errors in my sculpting... the putty wasn't smoothed enough and you can tell where the putty was attached to the mini.  So when I work on the rest of the Winterguard I just have to be more careful.

But overall I'm pretty happy with the look of them.  I never thought I would try the red shoulderpads or the greenish tint to their coats but I think it works and looks very "Khador" to me.  One note is that I added a bit of Ogrun Flesh wash to warm up the coat to match the hot climate I think these guys are travelling in.

I also have plans for the Officer and Standard bearer.  I'm thinking to sculpt my own flag and make it a centerpiece for the unit along with some custom sculpting for the Officer.  I'll try to change her pose a bit.

Two down and fourteen more to go! :D (I'm including Joe in this unit and need to get one more rocketeer for the full Winterguard Deathstar)

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Back to the Wasteland

Back after a long hiatus from Warmachine.  Was a little burnt out at the end of last year but I'm happy to say that I'm back.  The smell of paint and the look of weathered rust brought a huge smile to my face as tonight was the first time I've painted in over 3 months.

I thought long and hard about what to paint next and decided on my Winterguard.  Two of them were converted already so I could jump straight into painting.  The figure in the pic above has most of the color put in.  I just have to go back in and add highlights and perhaps add more darks.  Then comes the fun part of adding in all the rust effects and chipped paint; making him look weathered.

Feels good to be back :)