WE'RE HALF WAY THERE !

Can't believe we've reached the half way point in the scenery challenge already !  There has been some great entries already from many of the entrants and I will cover this more in the later part of this post.
One of the entries by Dai inspired me to finish this little piece of scenery, part of the set of 3 pieces that included the Marine statue ( really wish I had a second one of those ) and the cracked Aquilla. I've gone for a very rusted look to all the metal , and tarnished the gold and added patina to the crest.

I've also been working on bits for the main entrance of my Chapters monastery, mainly the doors at the moment, the hinges work so the doors will be able to open and close.

As you can see by the model shown with it, you could have a parade of four marines across walk through, or two dreadnoughts side by side. Still got to finish the details on the inside including the pipe work for the hydraulic locking mechanism. Once this is finished will start on the main structure.
ROLL OF HONOUR
Here is the list of participants and what they've been up to so far :

rantingsfromunderthewargamestable Roger has created a mighty fine post apocalyptic pond, complete with creature

 lostdamnedstunted Dai has finished a wide variety of scenery in his latest post.

28mmvictorianwarfare Michael hasn't shown any scenery yet as he has been busy finishing his PBR, which technically we could call it scenery as I said we would include vehicles, but still looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.

caveadsum1471 Iain hasn't posted up any scenery yet, but has a lot of great battle reports that are well worth taking a look at.

Codsticker hasn't posted up any scenery so far, but if you check out his Mordheim blog, you can get a look at the sort of thing we can expect ( Awesome buildings on show !)

warthroughtheages Not only has Harry been working on his Windmill, he's started a whole batch of Wild West buildings as well.

azazelx has been very busy on the scenery front, with pieces useful in 40K, post apocalyptic, and fantasy (my round up may well be a very big post ! LOL)

pmpainting Matt has started a Warhammer cottage, hoping he solves the problems soon, and can get this great piece finished.

smallprojectteam Wouter is on vacation at the moment, but looking forward to seeing what he's up to.

angrypiper Keith has shown some pieces he'd like to do, but has been tempted by Harry's wild west scenery as well.

fantorical Simon has posted up his first scenery for Epic, and he's hoping to finish some more, and hopefully some 40K scenery as well.

tarmor has posted up some mighty fine pillars

ray has posted up a whole camp, including tents and fires and all manner of things.

Even though these next two links haven't signed up for the event, I'm calling them my honourable mentions for their great scenery they've posted recently.

wargaminggirl Tamsin has done a huge amount of scenery for Judge Dredd.

zabadakszombieworld Joe has done some excellent trading stalls.

That's all for this post, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave

DID SOMEONE SAY ZOOT SUIT ?

I must have misheard and thought they said Kroot suit !
Returning to my Kroot army as my wife and children got me another box of plastic Kroot for Father's Day, I decided to use these models to finish units before starting new ones, even though I've got a load of ideas for the Kroot Hound Shaper.
I've so far built all the models, but have four left to finish converting before being painted.

These first two are what was needed to finish the basic Kroot squad in action poses

Have finished the five remaining snipers as well, gone for more of a changing position with this group rather than the fixed position I did for the first five.

And lastly today is the Shaper for the Vulture Kindred, as I've been playing with different tones of blue in the squads so they all weren't exactly the same colour, I decided to do a really pale one to mark the Shaper out as special, plan to do the Hound Shaper as a pure albino as well.
Next time will be back to either Jewel Of July models or scenery, so until next time stay safe and have fun !
Cheers Dave

WHO'S THAT KNOCKING ON THE DOOR !

The answer would be no one if I left the model standard as for some strange reason it doesn't come with a door to fit ! Not being happy with this I've made a suitable door with plasticard and green stuff fitting for my Night Hawks Chapter.

I've also added windows with yellow acetate this time, unfortunately the side windows got a bit messy being so fiddly and now look like they need cleaning !

The gun turret on top was made from spare bits from other kits and a bit of green stuff, it's also movable and removable if I want to change weapon loads or the whole piece at a later point.

Didn't have a ladder for the lower section so used one from my company cut to fit, also the top hatch came off a rhino kit to make it secure.

Kept the weathering to a minimum to show the building is maintained, although it looks like the trainee techmarines might need to repaint the Hawk soon.

Have been working on some new scenery as well and have almost finished a Cyborg charging station, will be making these available through the company as soon as I've got it moulded, the base plate is designed to fit within a standard 25 mm base so models can be placed in the cubicle without any problem.
That's all for this post, hoping to finish some more Jewel of July submissions and more scenery before too long, so until next time stay safe and have fun !
Cheers Dave

THE PINK AND BLACK ATTACK IS BACK

Carrying on with my Jewel of July entries for azazelx challenge, I've finished my Defiler for my Emperors Children army, I built as a support choice for my Lost and the Damned list to support the mutants and traitor guard as they need all the help they can get. Built this not long after the model was released, got the base done within a year, and then picked it up every so often and added some more paint, until finally finishing it now.

Pleased with the overall effect, and considered it to be a focal point for the army. Have also been finishing off a unit of marines

This unit was inspired by the very talented Adrian Smith artwork

Here's the two based off the picture.

these next two are pretty standard models

these last two were made to round off the unit.

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

RUINS

Have finally finished the first piece of scenery for my challenge ( I know not very good seeing I set the challenge ! LOL) being ruins I've gone for a very dirty rusty look, as it's been sat for a while and I've also included blast damage, to represent being in a battlefield.

You may have noticed that I've also included broken windows in some of the frames, this was achieved with clear acetate cut to a ragged shape and fracture lines with a scalpel, I've also stippled on some dirt, as I couldn't imagine anyone getting a window cleaner in.

Here you can see I've added in some chaos graffiti, if you have read the Gaunt's Ghost novels you'll know who the blood pact are.

Here you can see some extra rust details which I've added in selected areas

Last picture has some of my Kroot snipers taking up position to lay down suppressing fire.

Just a quick post today, so until next time stay safe and have fun !
Cheers Dave

SSHH THEY'RE LIBRARIANS

Recently Azazel posted up his 1 st edition librarian model which he painted in legion-of-the-damned I remembered I had the same model, and he suggested if I was going to update it, why not do it for Jewel of July, never being one to shy away from a challenge here he is

The conversion of adding the tabard and jump pack, I did when I first did the model, I did add the purity seals to the weird discs on his leg to make sense of them this time. The only difference to a standard librarian colour scheme is the chest and groin area are painted in standard Night Hawk colours, as they are Night Hawks at their core. I marked the tabard with a codicier symbol, signifying he is a second level librarian, even though GW have removed these classifications, I like them so have kept in my chapter.

While I was doing this I thought I would update my Chief Librarian at the same time, the conversion is from when I did it originally with a couple of tidy ups to make crisper, and then updated the paint including the freehand symbol on the back.

While I was doing this I thought I would check Ebay and GW to see what other librarian models I could find, have to say with the lockdown both sites were very expensive, so had a quick root through the bits box and made this one, have painted it in Epistolary scheme and symbols.
Would like to get some more at a later date, but that will be a tale for another time ! So until next time stay safe and have fun !
Cheers Dave

SCENERY SO FAR

Haven't got as far as I would have liked with my entries for my scenery challenge, with working on my Jewel of July entries and also a large painted order for the business, but here is 3 bits I'm hoping to complete

This first one I had envisioned being the main entrance for my Night Hawk's Chapter, but looking at the size of the door it will be better suited as a side entrance, need to make a door for it (doesn't come with one !) and want a weapon to fill the gap between the wings, which I will make out of spare parts from kits that I have. I intend to add a lot of weathering once the painting is finished.

This ruined building will just be an extra piece of scenery which I can put on a gaming board whenever needed. will need even more weathering than the previous piece.

Last up you may recognise as the Hawk Zord from Mighty Morphing Power Rangers, because that's what it started as, my intention for this is to have it as the chapter symbol over the main entrance for my chapters monastery, have kept the wings movable, so there will be twin quad lascannons to help protect the entrance way. Needs a load of weathering but happy so far.
That's all for this post, so until next time keep painting your scenery, stay safe and have fun !
Cheers Dave

DID SOMEONE SAY BARBECUE !

Spent the last few days trapped in my room while we had heating fitted to the house, nice that we won't have to go through another winter with no heating. Using my time I have finished the dragon to fit on the keep.

scale shot with 28 mm scale model

Have used purple as the base colour for the shaded areas and varied the tone between the body scales and ridge scales, but both in the red spectrum.
The wings were painted with glazes to get a nice transition between the colours and also add veins and markings.
Happy to get this one finished for Jewel of July, got a couple more bits I'd like to finish for this event as well as working on some scenery for my event.
That's all for this post, so until next time stay safe and have fun !
Cheers Dave

BACK TO BASICS

As I progress with my Jewel of July I've decided to finish off the base first, as it will also determine if I need to add extra colours on the Dragon.

Yes there is an interior to the tower as well, but you can only see a little piece of it through the smashed floorboards.
All pretty much basic painting, but I've added some washes on some of the stones, so as to add variation, rather than just being one grey colour, I've also added some moss/lichen colouring to the large outcrop, to add some age to them.
On the base I've used summer blend flock, and some static grass, also a few clumps of grass which I made up with basic strands ( I have 3 different colours in the mix).
SUMMER OF SCENERY UPDATE
While on  the subject of scenery I thought I'd put up a list of all those who have expressed an interest in taking part, especially as we have had the first submission already
azazelx check out his crashed Aquilla lander, that has added bulkheads and transfers to make a great piece
rantingsfromunderthewargamestable Don't know what Roger's planning yet, but looking forward to seeing what develops
lostdamnedstunted Dai has decided to join in, and can't wait to see what he's doing.
28mmvictorianwarfare Michael is joining in, even though he is still working on a massive scenery project, which is amazing.
caveadsum1471  Iain, is joining in and after seeing his Venetian walls and buildings can't wait to see what he does.
Codsticker has joined in, I just need to know which blog he will be posting on, so I can add the link.
warthroughtheages Harry is hoping to finish his awesome windmill, and possibly a couple more bits as well
angrypiper Don't know what Keith is doing yet, but I'm sure it will look awesome
pmpainting Matt's also joining in, he has a diverse set of miniatures so we could be seeing all sorts of scenery
smallprojectteam Wouter has joined in and look forward to seeing what he does.
fantorical Simon has now joined in as well and believe he has some mechanicum buildings he'd like to get finished.
tarmor has decided to join in and has already produced some mighty fine pillars.
I'm putting in a link for Tamsin here as well, even though she hasn't expressed an interest in taking part, but her Judge Dredd scenery really needs to be seen, who knows might give you some inspiration wargaminggirl
Plenty of time to join in if anyone want's to be added to the list, as you've got until the 31 st of August to get your scenery posted.
Now I understand that the participants in the Southern Hemisphere are currently in Mid Winter, so it's more of a NOT SO SUMMER SCENERY CHALLENGE for them !
That's all for today, so until next time stay safe and have fun !
Cheers Dave