OLD TO NEW

Have put up some new releases on the company website today, but for long time followers of the blog you will have seen these over the last year in sculpt form, first is the two Zombie victim and feeder sets

Next is the bar room table and chair sets

Also have released a bed and chair for use inside of buildings or spaceship interiors

To add to the bar room furniture I've made a barman, I will be using one as Wuher in my Star Wars cantina

The last piece to show today is something for my Kroot force, now you may be wondering how this fits with today's title, well this model was until recently going to be a Clawed Fiend for my Dark Eldar force, but was only a basic shape, and have now made it into a Warp Kroot. This has all come about from Roger highlighting Monster May on Angry Pipers blog angrypiper  he has also got some great gaming on his blog especially if you like Star Trek.
The idea behind this figure was one that Mark Bedford and I were chatting about when he worked at Specialist Games, when Kroot win a combat they always consolidate so as to recover parts from their kills to eat then or later, the one exception to this was Chaos, as they won't eat tainted meat, we thought it would be cool if a Dark Shaper experimented and tested out the meat on a Kroot to see what would happen to their mutagenic genes, and this is what I came up with

Looking forward to starting to paint this tomorrow and change some of the tones I normally use, unfortunately I don't have any plastic Kroot to make the Dark Shaper and handlers at the moment, so they will have to wait.
That's it for today, so until next time stay safe and have fun !
Cheers Dave

TOTALLY ORGANIC

In one of my recent posts, Frank commented that I had a lot of flying vehicles in several armies, which reminded me I actually had a completely organic army with no vehicles of any kind, my Kroot force.
This army came about as my regular tournament buddy Carl, thought it would be a cool idea if we entered the doubles tournament, as we always went to the tournaments together, aimed for best painted army and had both made finalist more than once, I agreed.
Carl really wanted to do Tau, so I said no problem I'll do Kroot as the Chapter Approved list had come out and had lots of scope for conversions, as Karl had chose the army I got to paint one of mine first, and he would make a colour scheme that worked well with mine.
I started with the Master shaper and then worked from there making all the conversions for the different units.
A couple of months into the project Carl found out that Chapter Approved lists were not allowed at the doubles tournament, and the project stalled, and the figures I'd made got put into a case and forgotten about, until Frank's comment.
So here is what I've finished to date :

Master Shaper and his two hounds, the shaper had a sword swap and the rest is the standard limited edition Games Day model, his two hounds started out as Dark Eldar Warp Beasts, which I then converted to make like the standard Kroot hound, but more of a Bull Mastiff version, rather than the standard Greyhound ones.

Next is a unit of Kroot hounds, there was only 4 versions of this model, so I converted the rest by changing the pose or adding different equipment to their harnesses, I don't have a pack master yet, but have a few ideas to make one.

Next is the two Krootox, these are both standard models, I need a minimum of 1 more possibly 3, so will have to make them to get a different look.

Next is a standard Kroot unit, but I wanted them to look more action posed, and set for close combat, there is only one standard model in this group, which is the metal Shaper model on the left.

Now we get to me in overdrive with conversions, first is the Headhunter Kindred, these are supposed to be able to spit venom, so I added a frill like a Dilophosaurous, to do this I had to lengthen the neck on each model to allow room for the frill, as they were called Headhunters, I gave each a head trophy.

Next is the Vulture Kindred, who have the ability to make short flights, GW did this with Gargoyle wings, but I wanted feathers as they were descended from birds. For the basing I wanted to get some height as if they were perched ready to swoop in for an attack.

Next up is the Hunter Kindred, these are the sharpshooters of the army with their extended range from the Kroot long rifle, All the rifle's had a piece of plastic rod added to increase the length and a sight to the top.

Next we have a Great Knarloc which was made by Forgeworld, I had this as a gift from my inlaws which was never part of the tournament list, but something I wanted to add to make it into a full army. I recently went onto their site to price up the other Great Knarloc's to add to the force, to find they've stopped selling them, guess I'm going to have to make some now !

Forgeworld also used to do Knarloc riders which were a smaller version of the Great Knarloc, they've stopped doing these as well, so here I present my solution to the problem, a great crested knarloc, it started out as a great eagle but a custom sculpted head and then fitted a Kroot rider

Last thing today is the start of my Shaper Krootox, I used a couple of bits I had spare to start it, and the rest will all be Greenstuff to finish.
I've tried to put a bit more background into today's post as I know a lot of the followers and commentators don't know a lot about GW, hope it's helped.
I have one more standard unit to show but haven't finished it yet, so you'll have to wait to see them, so until next time stay safe, have fun and if possible make someone else smile !
Cheers Dave

CHAIN OF COMMAND

Firstly I must apologise for my lack of commenting last week, my illness decided to give me a rough week and I didn't make it to the computer at all, thankfully it has subsided to manageable again and I spent this morning playing catch up, hopefully I didn't miss anyone's blog.
So when I showed my Landspeeder conversions recently I showed the command group for it, inbetween all the other bits I've been showing I've been working on I've been finishing off all the other command groups I have for my marine army.

First is Lord Aquillis and pet cyber hawk Talon, who is equipped with a missile launcher strapped to his back. Talon is an original conversion I made for the army but has had a recent repaint, to bring him up to date, Aquillis started out as a basic plastic marine, which I added all his regalia to make him fitting of a Chapter Master.
Also in the picture is my Master Chaplin Falcos Longbeak, this model also started off as basic plastic parts, but I used some ornate Chaos pieces to add the detail befitting his rank, and sculpted the rest.

Next is the Honour guard which either of the above two can take as a retinue, the models started as Blood Angel honour guard, which I changed the symbols and gave them all custom heads to fit with my chapter.

Next is the first company Captain, Chaplain, and two of the command group, all four models are old metal miniatures, which have had symbols changed. The other three command group w ill have to come at a later date, when the shops open again, as I want to use some Grey Knight models, as the fist company are called the wing knights.

Next is the third company Captain, Chaplain, and command squad these are all standard models with some simple part swaps and added icons.

Next is the fifth company Captain, Chaplain and command group, again standard models, with simple symbol additions and equipment swaps.

Last is the sixth company the scouts also known as fledglings, there is a Captain, Chaplain who are in power armour, and the command group is in scout armour, to represent veteran scouts, I used mostly the Space Wolf scout models for this unit, with some small conversions in here.

I haven't bothered reshowing the fourth company as you've already seen them, and the eagle eyed of you will have noticed the second company is missing, that's due to I haven't decided how to do them yet as they are all going to be mounted on jetbikes.
That's all for this post so until next time stay safe and have fun !
Cheers Dave

RAIDER EVOLUTION

Needed a break from my current palettes of my Night Hawks and Emperor's Children, so have paid some attention to my Dark Eldar army, now before I show what I've been currently working on I need to show some of my other elements from the army to make the colour scheme make sense. There are 3 parts to my force, the Kabal, the Wych cult and the flesh court.
First here is a standard raider from my Kabal

Next is the lords raider which has wider running boards, and Incubi pilot and gunner

Here is a basic raider for the Wych cult, you will notice the colour scheme is a reverse of the Kabal, to make them separate but using the same palette to tie the two forces together.

Next is the lords raider for the cult, this is a WIP shot, you will notice the double fuselage and extra width running boards and extra front panels.

Now we move onto what I'm currently working on the flesh cult, I have three Haemonculous and wanted each raider to be unique to them the first one shown has double running boards, but I changed them round so the wider part is at the front, the front cowling was stuck togetherdifferently as well and mounted the dark lance on the tail fin as well.

Next one has the same style front but on a double fuselage and will have a bit more added to the centre.

Last one today shows the colour scheme that they will be having similar to the Kabal, but plating being red instead of bone.

Will show more on these later when they're finished, unfortunately the silver work will have to wait as I've run out of black wash.
MARBELOUS
Here is the SBS for doing Marble as promised for Dai
Step 1
Once you've got an even base colur apply a simple line of paint

Step 2
Using a clean dry drybrush spread the paint out so you end up with a faded look, you need to work quick as the paint needs to be wet

Step 3
Repeat  step 2 until you have the desired amount across the area, be careful to leave some areas with your base colour showing.

Step 4
Add some fracture lines with the colour you have applied to drybrush in the areas of pure base colour.

Step 5
Now add some fracture lines in the base colour through the drybrushed areas.

Step 6
Gloss varnish over the whole piece, you now have a marble look to your piece, would suggest practising this on a scrap flat area before trying trickier shapes. You can do this for any colour, so reverse the colours for white marble, or you could do alien marble with red or green, the choices are endless.
That's all for this post, so until next time stay safe and have fun !
Cheers Dave