Here we are, folks, week 13 of my hobby progress! In the spirit of end of the month and end of the quarter, there’ll be a bit of evaluation coming up here for you all to enjoy. Let’s dive in to the progress!
I’d started some Novamarines last week, and felt a little dejected by them after the first blue base coat. Well, I’ve since done a little more work to them, and I do think they’re slowly coming together! Firstly, I’ve worked the blue up through Alaitoc blue to Hoeth blue, which was the plan last week of course, and that looks pretty good, I think. I sometimes think it might be a little too bright – the Novamarines art I’ve seen has more of a blue-grey, Space Wolf-ish look to it, which makes these guys look more like Sons of Guilliman. But in the absence of any official scheme, this is my Novamarines, so yeah! I’ve also painted the purity seals (having done that to all of the Space Marines I have on the go right now, as you’ll see) and base coated the aquilas and belts Abaddon black, shading with Nuln oil. While I had the wash paint out, I also shaded some other areas to help when I come to apply some darker paints, which I’ve noticed have a tendency to go on too brightly when painted over a white primer, hence why some of those bits might look a little weird. I’ve also done a second shade of the white armour, as the earlier shade had dried a bit too grey-ish for me. I’m going to drybrush or overbrush some white over this, so it looks a little messy right now, but won’t be a problem. Oh yeah, and I’ve painted the bases, as I feel it makes them look that much more complete!
Speaking of Novamarines, though, I bought a Dreadnought yesterday to support this three-man squad! This is the first time in a long time where I’ve bought something, built it up and primed it in the same day. It would be even better if I’d have started painting as well, but we can’t have it all. The Novamarines Dreadnought colour scheme is a lot simpler than the Marine scheme, anyway, so I think that’ll be fairly straightforward to get done. Of course, I say this now… I’m looking forward to it though, which is the main thing! I have to say, though, I was surprised at this kit. I’ve only built Venerable Dreadnoughts previously, and those kits are great to work with, but while this is broadly the same thing, it nevertheless feels a lot older and stuff. Not particularly impressed with the quality, unfortunately, so while I do have another one from the Demi Company box, I’m not all that enthused about building it.
My Ultramarines were going absolutely splendidly, until I decided to apply some transfers this morning. I’ve never done transfers on models before, but had the GW video on, so knew what I wanted to do, and went for it – and could have cried! It was awful. Some of them are passable – the ones in the above picture – but the other two are awful. Aside from the fact that each one is at a slightly different point of the shoulder pad, they’ve gone on too bumpy, even with slitting the middle to aid the curve. I’m really unhappy with these, and feel like I’ve ruined an otherwise nice tactical squad! Very sad. I asked for any tips on facebook, and so far all I’ve had suggested is using the sculpted pads from the Ultramarines upgrade kit – which would mean a lot of upgrade kits, given how many tacticals I have to do! Not sure what to do yet – though I’m fairly sure I’ll be attempting to freehand the arrow on the right pad… Stay tuned!
Speaking of Dreadnoughts, I’ve also resurrected this bad boy! I’m not quite sure when it was I built him up now, though this post on instagram would suggest around Christmas/Boxing Day. I’ve merely sprayed the armour Macragge blue, but already it’s looking a lot easier to work with, so looking forward to getting that one done!
And speaking of resurrecting models, I’ve once again returned to these guys! Again looking at instagram, I’m guessing it was about October when I last did anything to them, but have now got them on bases and done the purity seals. The bases are a bit of a nightmare – on reflection, I wish I hadn’t done scenic bases like this, but I’ve kinda shoe-horned them on, and while they look good, the agrellan earth has been really spooned on to help build up around the resin, which in turn makes the cracks too big and it literally cracks off. Might be re-thinking some of these soon, then. But in the meantime, I’ve got them now where I can start to work at getting them finished, so that’s exciting! The most exciting/worrying thing about this is that the sergeant of this little band, who you can see at the back in the above picture, is actually bare-headed – his head is currently stuck to a cork, having had some Reikland fleshshade over some Bugman’s glow. I’m really concerned about my ability to do a good job here, but I guess we’ll just have to see how it goes – practice makes perfect, and so forth! I’m hoping to really get into this faces-painting thing, though, as the other five tactical marines are awaiting paint, one of whom I modeled after Captain Ventris, so he’ll need to look pretty decent!
Finally, I’m about calling the Deathwing finished. There are still some bits and pieces left, such as the decapitated Chaos Marine on the base of that chap on the right, but otherwise, I feel that I’ve done all I can for these now, and I’ve reached the high-point of my skills for the time being. They’re most definitely playable right now, I’d say, so I can look at getting them into a game at some point (once I learn how to play, of course!) and when I come to do some more soon – both normal Deathwing terminators and the Deathwing Knights I build up over Christmas Eve! – I can always return to any bits that need finishing then.
I’m really happy with them, anyway, and have really enjoyed painting them, but this is getting on for three months of slowly chipping away at things now, and there comes a point where you just need to say, I’m done! So, I’m done!
So like I said, we’re at the three month mark here, Q1 of 2016 has now elapsed, and it’s time to take some stock, I think!
I’ve really enjoyed writing these posts for the past three months, because it has really helped to give me a focus in what I’m painting. I know it may not seem that way, because I’ve largely taken something of a scattergun approach and have been working away at a broad range of models, but I think that way is the best way for me, as it keeps me focused on the overall task of painting, rather than risking getting bored with one miniature/squad and just packing up the brushes. So I definitely think I’ll continue in this vein for the time being.
While I’ve not really finished a lot of miniatures in this time, I have managed to get the White Scars done, I’m calling the Deathwing done, and the first five Ultramarines are done except for the transfer mishap. Earlier, I’ve also managed to get a couple of Stormcast miniatures finished. I’ve also recently done a whole lot of basing, applying the finishing touches to several Necrons that had been languishing for an age.
Since looking at the waiting area at the end of February, I feel that it has also helped to focus me on only working on what I have. I only bought one kit in March – the Dracothian Guard; I’m not counting the Deathwatch game as ‘a kit’, really – and haven’t built anything new, but have been working away at the stuff that I’ve had built for weeks or months. Over the last couple of weeks, in fact, I’ve come around to thinking that I really ought to get some of the stuff finished that has been hanging around, such as the aforementioned Necrons.
I’d say this has been an extremely positive few months, where I’ve been doing a little, often. I’ve forever been an up-and-down painter, sometimes going weeks without doing anything, then having a splurge on a dozen models or more, I think this regular thing is much better. I’m really pleased with the progress that has been made, anyway, and I’m especially pleased that I’m feeling confident enough as a painter to try something like the Novamarines scheme! That it currently seems to be working, as well, is even more exciting!
Let’s see how much I can do in the next quarter!
spalanz.com 