Hobby Drought

Been taking care of little things around the house lately...just haven't done much in the way of hobbying.  Most of the stuff I am planning to work on is very 'unglamorous' and not so exciting.  Heres an example.  I painted a large squad of bikes for my Black Dragons army...then I made slight adjustments and turned them in to Black Consuls...well, poor guys.  I bought a bunch of Ravenwing bike bits...front plates, wing poles, and gear packs.

Well, heres some progress on those.  I cut the old plates off...carefully removed the painted bolters and separately painted the Ravenwing plates before attaching the guns.

Here are the bikes BEFORE:

I'm not 'Dreading' this one...

Thats the last of the terrible, terrible dreadnought puns I swear.  So this is one of my leftover dreadnoughts from a Black Reach set that I decided to add some of my newly aquired Dark Angels icon to.  (poor sentence structure)  I filed off the original sarcophagus and added the DA lid.  Filed down the stormbolter and added a flamer.  Sprinkled some icons...and its getting ready for the painting stage!  I've always loved dreadnoughts...it will probably suck, but I think it would look really cool next to the Deathwing dreadnought I finished last week!

Hobby Progress

Had a bunch of free time during the holiday weekend...so got a bunch of stuff done hobby-wise!  Got a bunch of DA & RW icons in a bitz order, so I was looking forward to putting them to use. 

Chopped the fronts off of a bunch of my old bikers...they were already pretty much painted black and finished for my Black Consuls, so it wont be terrible to convert them to Ravenwing!  As an added bonus, I found an old Land speeder I painted in highschool in 96...under a foam insert in an old gun case I used to keep my marines in.  I had to take a pic, because I was actually a really nice job!  I think for the longest time I got worse as a painter before I got better  :)

Felt sad to strip the paint

More Terminator painting

Getting closer to finishing off this group of Deathwing.  Its going a bit slower now that Im working on 3 of them at the same time.  The eye lenses and chest symbols are the only parts that are completely finished.  Otherwise these are just after the point of inking and cleanup.  Up next is lots of highlight buildup and edging.  I think Im going to pickup a box of Deathwing knights to use for the Sgt. torsos.  I don't really like the one from Dark Vengeance, so I've re-purposed the arms to change up a bit of their poses.  (the one on the right is the assault cannon guy with the Sgt arm)

Squad bases!

I had some reservations about these things once I got them in hand.  They felt SO light that I was sure the models would fall over immediately!  I had never used resin bases before so I wasnt sure just what to expect.  After attaching them to the miniatures I actually think they are sturdier and heavier than the normal GW plastic bases.  I was definitely surprised.

They painted up pretty easily...I washed them first and primed them "skeleton bone" from Army Painter.  For some of the models I drilled out holes (in feel and on bases) to pin them on, but I got a bit lazy towards the end and just started super gluing them down when the foot had a nice flat area to rest on.

Actually the part that was a bit disappointing is that the bases are very much 'decorative' at a slight concession towards utility.  Some of the skull piles are so high that its really tough to get a space marine to have a 'realistic' footing on the base.  I'm going to have to get bits out and build the kneeling set of legs to something to fit on one in particular.  Its very likely that some demon or xenos could fit much better, so your mileage my vary.  They definitely give a "Hand me my bolter-holster, its the one that says bad-motherf**ker on it" vibe, so I think I'll be picking another set up.

Some work on the Grand Master

For some reason I really haven't been feeling this model.  I can't figure out the reason but its just been a chore getting to this point.  Its very much a work-in-progress, so maybe It'll grow on me.  Here it is with some areas washed & highlighted...some stuff just base-coated...like I said, my heart just wasnt in it yesterday.

More Grandmaster/Counts-as Azrael

Sat down last night and cleaned a bunch more Tactical marines, so the desk wasn't really setup for painting.  I decided to get some more done with my scratch built leader (that I posted a bit earlier about).  Here he is so far...I decided to use an old 2e power sword (mag locked) on his side.  I just got a bit tired of the usual captain pose/angled sword to the air. 

Instead I dug through my bits to find the pointing powerfist...I felt like it gives a bit more of an authoritarian pose...more expressive in my opinion.  Hes armed with a decorative combi-melta and more purity seals than any model Ive ever done!

Tomorrow, I've got packages from Hoard o bits, Secret Weapon Miniatures, and GW direct coming in...it will be glorious.  I'll be able to finish this model off with a Dark Angels chapter shoulderpad and maybe start painting him soon! 

WIP Grandmaster or Azrael 'counts as'

Got inspired to run through some sprues for a bit of a kitbash.  This will be my Azrael figure if I ever decide to use him.  It always bugged me that his miniature wasn't wearing the Lion Helm...I know its just the designers aesthetic, but anyway I wanted helm on!

Parts are pretty easy to identify:  Have assault marine legs and grenade packs, company champion front torso, captain back with cape & (not pictured) aquilla command shoulderpad, dark vengeance master head with vet sergeant backpack...DA symbol came from command banner sprue I believe. Then I have a combi plasma with lots of purity seals from the tactical box.  Finally I have a couple packs of Dark Angel shouldpads coming from GW.  Still can't decide what sword arm to outfit him with.  The normal captain pose is pretty boring.

Chapter Master on Bike

Heres a very early picture of the Chapter Master on bike I'm working on.  Dark Vengence bike is the base.  Clipped off the rider while leaving the steering arm...and built up the body with the captain sprue.  Hes ready to rock with that powerfist!  I've got a shield to hang off the back of the bike in case I wish to load him up with the relic.  I've found that the 'ravenwing' wings look just fine when painted up gold ala imperial aquilla.

Old Landraider!

Heres a pic of the Landraider I finally dusted off and painted.  Its been primed Ultramarie blue since Cobain was still alive!  Its a bit modded with some old predator sponsons...but finally ready to lay some firepower for the Black Consuls.