IT'S ALL WHITE NOW !

After a few teething problems, I've managed to blitz through the rest of the Stormtroopers and now have all 8 finished

Here they are with the character figures as well

and a shot of just the characters together

and lastly a shot of all the hero characters together

This will be my entry for azazelx scenic-squaddie-september as board game figures count, and chess is definitely a board game.
All I've got left now is 8 rebel troopers and the Death Star base, plus the finishing touches like lightsabres and gloss varnish in places, at this rate I might get this project done before my new room, I personally hope it's the other way round ! LOL
That's it for this post, so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

CONTRAST

There's been a lot of talk recently about GW new contrast paints, not to jump on any band wagon, I've been watching reviews on different blogs and review sites, with some very mixed reviews.
With the chess set I've got 8 Stormtroopers to paint so decided to give the Apothecary White Contrast paint a go.
First I laid down an even coat of base white

Then applied a layer of the contrast paint, my first impressions were it's a gloopy form of a wash, and moves a lot like the GW Gem Paints. This means you need to spread the paint a lot more than a wash, but not too much that it doesn't cover the surface.

After this I needed to go back to normal painting to make the armour look clean as you normally see on a stormtrooper

Once I've found my gloss varnish I'll coat all the armour plates to give the shiny feel, and I'll call this one done, only 7 more to go.
Do I feel the contrast paint made a difference ? Not massively as I still had to use normal techniques to finish it off, but then white is one of the harder colours.
That's all for this post, until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

CLEAR THE DECKS !

Many years ago my eldest daughter started a 40K Khornate army, I originally helped her work out her army list, and gave her a load of converted models to start her off, then as she got more of the bits she needed I promptly converted those for her as well.
The painting of the army was to be her responsibility except for a few centre piece models, which I agreed to paint for her.
Recently my daughter moved into a new place with enough space to hold her army, which she picked up the other week, I thought great a bit more space once my new room is finished, until she noticed I hadn't finished painting a few of the pieces for her.

Above is her heavily converted Defiler, this had two extra claw arms added, and multiple custom khorne icons added, then painted in the traditional red and brass colour scheme of the Worldeaters Legion.

Then I finished her dreadnought Kraal the soultaker, the background behind this is at the start of a battle his armour is a blank dark red, then as he claims souls for Khorne they appear as skull across his armour, which are claimed be minions at the end of a battle through dark rituals.

Last is the remaining piece to be finished Angron Demon Prince of the Worldeaters, the model originally started as a Bloodthirster body and the wings came from a Dark Elf Dragon, a lot more greenstuff needed yet but will end up like this at the end

That's all for this post so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

THAT'S NO MOON !

Taking Frank's suggestion to make a better board for the chess set, these are the plans so far

Intending making the lower half of the Death Star out of polystyrene and then covering it in fibreglass and resin for strength then add details with plasticard. Going to use the Star Wars Armada size fighters for both imperial and rebels to add some interest. There will be a base to make it stable as well. The two squares to the right are my plans for the squares of the board, the bottom being the smooth black floor seen in the Death Star, and the top being the grid pattern seen in the carbon freezing chamber.
Have also finished sculpting the rebel trooper, now just need to cast and paint the relevant amount

Planning on doing an experiment with the GW contrast paint white scar, to see if makes painting the stormtroopers easier, will report on this once tried.
That's all for this post, so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

IDLE WORDS !

When I started this thread about the chess set, some of you may recall a conversation with Simon from fantorical blog about how we felt that the pawns from the rebel or good side of the force were clone troopers, and that rebels would have looked better. Well when I was given the set in Xmas 2006 I had only done small conversions, I'd never attempted a complete resculpt, or sculpt from scratch, and had no way to replicate my work short of making every single one individually. Move to now and everything has changed, so I decided that I did indeed want Rebel pawns, and here is the result of the sculpting so far.

Once I'm totally happy I will cast up the required amount and my OCD should be happyish as I didn't bother changing the blaster, but a gun's a gun !! LOL
Next up is General Grievous, I wanted to have a go at this model to test colours as I would like to do Legion, during the clone wars.

Last today is Grievous bodyguard, this model needed the weapon ends cutting off and repositioning due to the bendy nature of the material their cast in.

That's all for today so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SITH !

Todat's post features the four Sith Lords you meet in the first six films of Star Wars.
First is Darth Sidious, he was also known as chancellor Palpatine and the Emperor, now there is a character with an identity crisis ! LOL no WIP shots on these as they were a very simple colour scheme.

Next is Darth Maul, Darth Sidios's first known apprentice, he only lasted one movie after being cut in two by Obi Wan Kenobi, in the expanded universe he actually returned with a mechanical lower half and even appeared in the movie Solo, where he was the head of the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn.

The third is Darth Tyrannus, also known as Count Dooku, he first appeared in episode 2 the Attack of the Clones, but met his demise in episode 3 Revenge of the Sith at the hands of Anakin Skywalker.

The last entry today is probably the most iconic, Darth Vader ! known originally as Anakin Skywalker and the father of Luke and Leia, was manipulated by Dart Sidious to embrace the dark side and become Darth Vader.

That's the lot for this post, so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

FOR FETT SAKE !

Later in this post is the last of the good side of the pieces but I'm going to start with the Dark Side in Jango Fett.
He was only seen in one movie episode 2 The Attack of the Clones where he was a bounty hunter contracted to kill Padme, but was also the DNA template used for the clone troopers. He lost his head in a battle with Mace Windu in the battle for Genosis.

Here you can see the base colour for his undersuit and face markings

Next his armour has been basecoated

The finished version with all the details and highlights.Was pleased with the result and happy I had a chance to finally paint a version of Jango.
Next up is his son Boba Fett, he was actually an unaltered clone of Jango, but raised as his son, he worked a lot for Jabba the Hutt, until being swallowed be the Sarlaac, although anyone who has read the expanded universe knows he survived being digested and emerged back into the universe.

Here is the base colour for his undersuit.

Next is the base colour for some of his armour

Now all the armour plates have been based

Next the pouches have been blocked in

Here is the finished version, with all his weathering added.
Last today is C3PO and R2D2, who have been the longest running characters in the franchise, they have appeared in every episode of the saga, and even make a guest appearence in one of the spin off movies as well, sorry no WIP shots as these were started when I first got the set and just neede finishing

That's it for this post with more Dark Side to come, so until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

WILL SOMEBODY GET THIS WALKING CARPET OUT OF MY WAY !

Painting these larger scale models has shown me that you need to change your style to suit the scale.
Prime example of this was Chewbacca, here are the finished shots of him first

These next three shots are of the way I started which was the way I'd done my 28 mm version but as you can see in the larger scale didn't work at all

Next up is Han Solo, the outfit is from episode 4 A New Hope, Han was a smuggler until the hero inside joined the Rebellion

Here you can see the start of the base colouring

Here he is finished, sorry forgot to take more WIP shots
Last today is Luke Skywalker, the outfit he's in is from episode 6 Return of the Jedi. A farmer from Tatooine who stumbled into the rebellion and became a Jedi Knight.

Didn't really get any WIP shots of this one as it was a very simple colour scheme.
That's it for this post as I need to look at a board for the pieces, as the one that came with the set is too bland, thank's to Frank for getting me to think about this earlier rather than later.
Until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave