EVERY STEP YOU TAKE

 Don't worry I wont be watching you ! LOL No I am referring to steps I've made with the Monk, I've sculpted the brain and wiring which I will get painted, I've also made a sphere big enough to hold the brain which I will take a mould off so I can pour colored resin in and when that's dry pour some clear for the remaining section to give the desired effect, but would make for very boring photographs, so instead I have some more Space Marines to show you, today is my first squad of Assault Marines, these are a mix of old metal miniatures and some of the later plastic ones. Why you may be asking have such a variety, well very early on I decided I didn't want a Ultra Marine army, by that I mean I didn't want the whole army wearing exactly the same style and type of armor they needed to look like they used armor from wherever they could find it which would help fit with the background, of being out of touch with the Imperium for a long time.

As you may spot I need to source some jump packs, as several of the other squads are missing multiple ones as well, guess I'm going to be hunting Ebay for a while ! LOL While I've had this momentum on my Marine chapter, I've gone through all my bits boxes and put together what I have to see where I'm at, I can make up another two and a half assault squads, minus the jump packs, another two devastator squads, and a couple of support weapons, which is a bit of a pain, as I need a lot more bits, and as GW have stopped selling a lot of the old marine kits, this is going to make it harder, but I'll find a way some how. That's all for today, so until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

ON TARGET

 Sadly were not talking my forgotten heroes entry, as I've managed no sculpting this week, but I've managed to paint a couple of units for my Night Hawks, so not a total loss. The first unit is a squad of Scout snipers, I've painted them as standard scouts not veterans for this unit. The first five models are all metal miniatures, the two on the right are standard models, the other three are conversions.

The next five are the plastic snipers that GW have now discontinued.

I've also managed to paint a unit of five devastators, that were the old plastic, and metal kit, which can unbalance the models quite easily, I've done them as fifth company but they still need their squad number added.

For fun I thought I would google my chapter and this is what GW has to say:

The Night Hawks is a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter of unknown Founding and origin. Almost nothing is known about this Chapter in Imperial records other than its participation in the Angarius Incursion of the late 41st Millennium.

Chapter History

Notable Campaigns

Angarius Incursion (Unknown Date.M41) - The Night Hawks were part of a joint Imperial strike force that helped to put down a rebellion against the Emperor on the Agri-World of Angarius. The Night Hawks' Strike Cruiser Ebony Talon accompanied this task force. Two regiments of the Imperial Guard's Pyran Dragoons were assigned to subdue the locals and detain several key officials. With an increasingly hostile population to deal with, the Imperials soon became embroiled in a bitter war with the people of Angarius. In one notable incident, several platoons of the Pyran Dragoons' 18th Battalion attempted to capture one of the local leaders but soon found their position encircled by the Angarian rebels, effectively cutting them off from friendly forces. As the Imperials attempted to mount a rescue mission, the Night Hawks flew continuous sorties throughout the night with their Land Speeder Typhoons, pounding the enemy positions mercilessly with deadly salvos of Typhoon missiles. With the assistance of the Night Hawks, the rebels were driven back from the Dragoons' position. The Night Hawks kept up their relentless barrage, which forced the rebels to withdraw their forces in the face of such a furious assault.

Chapter Fleet

Ebony Talon (Strike Cruiser) - The Ebony Talon was the Strike Cruiser of the Night Hawks present in the Angarius Incursion.

Chapter Appearance

Chapter Colours

The Night Hawks' Chapter colours are not listed in current Imperial records.

Chapter Badge

The Night Hawks' Chapter badge is not listed in current Imperial records.

Sources

Epic Armageddon Rulebook, "Space Marine Units", pg. 8

 Do I know why they have included this ? Yes my friend Carl wrote the background text for many of the items in the Epic Armageddon rulebook, and included my chapter, and his own the Sand Jackals, unfortunately someone spotted his and changed it for a more well known chapter, but they missed mine ! LOL They could have just looked up when my army was featured in White Dwarf 231 to fill in some of the blanks ! LOL

I've managed to see a Doctor this week about my hand, and are now starting lots of tests to see if we can get to the route of the problem, he has three possibilities at the moment, a new symptom of Fibromyalgia, nerve damage, or neurological, I'm thinking it's the second one as on one of the reflex tests, it sent shooting pains down from my elbow, right to my fingers, but will have to see what the tests show, and hopefully return to sculpting. That's all for today, so until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

FORGOTTEN HEROES 2025

 So as normal for July it is time for Forgotten Heroes that is hosted by Jez at carrioncrowsbuffet for this year I'm aiming small, well small for me due to still struggling with my hand, I will add to my Star Wars project with the addition of Bo'mar Monk, if you don't know this character, it first appeared in "The Return of the Jedi", as the gate keeper in Jabba's Palace, it later appeared in the series book of Boba Fett, wandering around outside of the palace. this is what wookiepedia says about them :

"Zaril travelled to Tatooine… meeting with the B'omarr monks… members of a mysterious cult that removed their own brains so they could contemplate the mysteries of the universe without the distraction of a physical body."

―Thom Hudd[3]

The B'omarr Order,[4] which consisted of B'omarr monks, was a religious order that believed in isolating themselves from all physical sensation to enhance the power of their minds. To that aim, enlightened monks had their brains transplanted into nutrient-filled jars.[5] Whenever they wanted to move, those bottled-brains used spider-like droid walkers.[1] Older monks used four-legged walkers, but younger monks used a six-legged variant.[6]

The order possessed multiple regeneration gems, which at the time of Jabba the Hutt were stored underground behind triple doors.[7]

Here is what they look like

No doner model for this one, will have to be built from scratch, hopefully I can get this done by the end of the month, so until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

CREATURE FEATURE DOUBLE BILL 40K EDITION

 This will be my last post for this years Monster May(hem), had a few other models I'd hoped to finish but just couldn't get them done in time, and that's okay, as I can always do them at some other point. First up today is a Krootox, you may remember back in January I mentioned I'd like to use the spare parts I had to make a fifth Krootox to bring the unit to a full contingent of five, now as this was one I was building, I could change the pose and make it a bit more dynamic like I'd seen in some of the artwork. So what parts are GW, the head of the Krootox, the Kroot and weapon are all GW plastic except the Kroot's legs, the rest was made from greenstuff and a foam core.

Painting wise I went with my standard palate, and changed some of the tones, here it is with the rest of the Krootox I have, although it does make the standard GW one look like it's trying to compensate for something with all it's bling ! LOL

Next I've finished the Khymerae for my Dark Eldar which I showed earlier in the year.

Here it is with the rest of the squad, still need to make two more, or find some reasonably priced ones on Ebay, to finish this army.

Many thanks to Keith for hosting this years challenge, enjoyed being part of it again. Until next time stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave  

CREATURE FEATURE DOUBLE BILL STAR WARS EDITION

 Today I have two creatures for Monster May(hem), first is the Correlian Hound I showed in progress earlier in the year, I've been struggling with sculpting recently, but will discuss that at the end, let's just say happy to finally get this off the workbench. Painting wise it's mostly white, but glazed some other colors in to match the reference.

For those expecting the Eopie next, it is finished sculpting, but I haven't had chance to take a mould of it as I want a second one with a rider, and don't fancy sculpting another from scratch, so instead have the second Jerba seen outside the cantina in Mos Eisley, it only gets a couple of seconds screen time in the movie, so can easily be missed, this now completes the three creatures from outside the cantina, painting I tried to match the colors from the reference.

As you may or may not know, I have a long time illness, one of the side effects are ghost sensations, for instance, you can feel like you've broken a rib, when you haven't but you get all the symptoms. For the last three months I've been struggling with my right hand, now the ghost sensations, come and go but this one has been there for the whole three months, and causing me to struggle holding the sculpting tool properly, and paint brushes, so why mention this, well it's been holding me back on work for friends and clients, as I always want to give them my best work, whereas my stuff I'm not so worried about, and I've been trying to find ways to compensate, think I'm just about there, and can hopefully get there stuff finished now, sorry to bring the mood down, normal programming will now resume ! LOL Until Next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

SCAR FACE

 No I haven't started gang warfare or mob gaming, but finished my last Great Gnarloc, so why scar face ? I went heavy on the facial scar tissue, to show that this one rushes in, and adds to the running pose, I looked at how Ostriches run, to help with a correct pose, as both are large flightless birds.

Painting wise, I stuck to the normal recipe, with a slight tonal variance. As promised last time, here is a group shot of all six together for the first time.

I think I'm done on these now, and can't see a need to make anymore, so until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

FLOCK'S SAKE

 For my second Monster May(hem) entry I've painted the first of two Great Gnarloc's that I showed the green's of earlier in the year, I have to say I love the pose on this one, and I've photographed it with it's herder for scale.

Painting wise I went a shade or two darker just to keep adding variation to them all, one more to go and then then I'll have a total of six of these fantastic beasts, and I'll try and remember to do a group shot when it's done. That's all for today, so until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

MAY THE 4th BE WITH YOU

 This is becoming a yearly tradition for me, a Star Wars related post on Star Wars day, and even better if I can tie it into Monster May(hem), which this year I have, a Dewback for going outside my cantina project

Used the same color scheme as I did for the Stormtrooper ones I did earlier, with a little variation. The model is a 3D print in resin that my daughter got me as a thank you, which was extremely nice of her.

Earlier in the week I was a little bit slow to reply to comments, and comment on many blogs I follow, unfortunately my PC died, and had to wait for a new one to arrive, still trying to get used to it, and find all the bits I'm looking for, but hopefully I can except the change quicker than normal ! LOL Until next time, stay safe, and have fun!

Cheers Dave

WHEN ONE DOOR OPENS

Been working on several commissions lately, and thought I'd share some doorways I've been doing, the first one is a bulkhead door, effectively this is the outside wall for a hanger bay, I've made the doors moveable as you will see below.

Next is a standard doorway that will be at the ends of corridors and also used as entry points for rooms, the first picture shows without locking and communication points, the second one with. The doors slide up so you can have them open or closed.

After some of my recent posts I was asked if I could show some fleet pictures for my Star Wars ships, so here is the Imperial fleet I've amassed.

Below is my Rebel Ships.

As you can see above, I've had to do a repair on my X-Wing as it got damaged when we moved house, and you will also notice my U-wing is suffering with droop on it's wings, so I will need to take them apart and add some strengthening rods so this wont happen again. That's all for today, so until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave