Bit of a break

Have slowed down on the painting front. Been some stuff going on plus I'm ill again. When I did sit down to do a bit I couldn't get into it. Plus I was getting a bit pissed off with the GW Bleached bone cos the coverage is crap. Need a few coats.
Anyway, hoping to get back into it maybe this weekend.
Keep you posted

Another one bites the dust!

I've completed the Shadewraith!  Pretty happy with this one and was relatively simple.  For all the ships so far I have been following a mixture of the painting guide in the White Dwarf magazine that came out around the same time Dreadfleet did, and also some youtube videos/writeups on the interwebs.  The White Dwarf guide is good but it doesn't seem to explain everything so I'm using interwebs to fill in the gaps.  Plus I'm using a bit of imagination where I can.
This ship was basically GW (Games Workshop) Astonomican Grey all over (first primed with Skull White spray), GW Thraka Green wash all over then layed with the grey apart from the recesses.  This was followed by random patches of a 1:1 mix of Thraka and GW Scorpian Green which kinda gives it a bit of an ectoplasm look.  Finally its edge highlighted with GW Skull White.
The base was done in the same way they all are really, which I failed to explain in my last posts.  Primed with GW Chaos Black spray then covered with GW Regal Blue.  Over the top is a heavy drybrush of Vallejo Magic blue (which is exactly the same colour as the GW Enchanted Blue, I just happened to already have the Vallejo version already).  Then over the top of that is a drybrush of GW Ice Blue, but this is focused more on the crests of the waves.  After this a 1:1 mix of GW Thraka Green and GW Badab Black is washed to give it a more random sea look.  To top it all off the very tips of the waves are drybrushed with GW Skull White.  The White Dwarf guide says to just do this as a watered down highlight, which I tried on the Bloody Reavers base but after I'd tried drybrushing I think it looks better so I'm sticking with it.
So this is what the Shadewraith looks like: 














As with the other ships I've finished I've yet to varnish it.  I think I'm going to wait until I've finished everything then do it all in one go.  I also want to get some gloss varnish to just do the bases so they look shinyer (is that a word? And if it is I've probably spelt it wrong!).
While I'm here I'll do a quick run through of the Black Kraken, which kinda turned out more grey but looks good still in my opinion.  Primed with GW Chaos Black then hull coated with GW Adeptus Battlegrey which is the darkest grey I have at the moment.  Metal based with GW Boltgun Metal.  Although the metal on the insignia was GW Tinbitz I believe.  Hull and metal washed with GW Badab black.  Hull layered with GW Astronomican Grey (I think, having problems remembering without the book in front of me), metal layered with GW Chainmail.  Insignia layered with GW Dwarf Bronze which was possibly mixed with GW Scorched Brown.  Again could be wrong.  Metal highlighted with GW Mithril Silver, hull highlighted with GW Skull White.....Ugh may have to redo some of this lol  But you get the idea :)
Anyway, next on my list is the Skabarus.  Fitting since the captain is a rat :D  Tis all cut out of its sprues and cleaned up, primed with GW Skull white for the main body and GW Chaos Black for the base.  The thinking was its mainly quite a light coloured model but the base, which contains the guts as well is reasonably dark.  Plus I think the blue works better on a black base.
So, I shall update when I've got further with it or when it's finished if I forget to update in the meantime (which is more likely).

Kicked some painting arse

Totally kicked the Black Krakens arse today. Finished the highlighting, did the eyes which look very cool if I do say so myself and have just about finished the base. Just need to do the white caps on the waves. I've got a pic of it before I started the base and I'll take a pic and add it once I've finished :-)

Finished product (minus varnish)

P.S Trying to paint while coughing your lungs up and randomly sneezing is bloody hard!

Been a while! And on to a new project!

After a poke from a fellow blogger and good mate I am updating finally heh.  The models I was previously painting have been left by the wayside a bit.  I think I got a bit disheartened with them when I managed to knock one on to the floor, causing it to fall to pieces and severely fuck up the paint job.  I did glue it back together again but haven't gone back to it since.  Plus I did start the Pureblood Warpwolf which I had ordered from www.firestormgames.co.uk (very awesome shop btw based in Cardiff) but have ended up leaving that alone as well.
I think the reason for the change was another mate who works for Games Workshop pointed me to a limited edition set that was being brought out called Dreadfleet.  I umm'd and arr'd till I finally gave in and bought the set, which was about £70.  But the amount of stuff you get in it is mental!  It's a fully self contained game in essence.  And its freakin' pirates!!! :D  Who doesn't love pirates?  Anyway, you get all the pieces to build and paint, plus the terrain, game pieces etc etc.  Even my dad's got in on the act and asked whether he could help me with it.  He's a complete newbie painter as well, so I was having to teach him a few things from my limited knowledge.  Was kind of fun actually hehe.  So we're set up with our own brushes and we're doing a few ships each.  I think there are 10 in total so plenty to do along with the pieces etc.

Crazy me decided to start on the one I thought looked the coolest....and ended up probably being one of the hardest lol.  It is now 99.99% complete though which I'm quite proud of and everyone I've shown pics to said they're quite impressed so I'm happy.  This is probably not the best photo in the world but it'll do heh 




 

So the Bloody Reaver just needs bodging onto the base (its a bit too wide due to the model not glueing together flush enough) and needs a coat of varnish.  Next to go under the paint brush is the Black Kraken.  I have done a bit on this already, such as the steel parts and the bronze detail but its still got a little way to go.  Hopefully it'll go a lot quicker than the previous one did though.  For one there's not as much of it to paint lol!  Here's a photo of it just with the primer on.



Well, that's the project so far.  I'll try and keep this up to date as I go but you know how life gets in the way etc.  Till next time :)

Bit more

Once I'd got past my headache today and feeling sorry for myself I did another wash on the skin of the Argus's (Argii?).  Forgot to post that I'd already done one wash.  I purchased a couple of pre-made Citadel washes.  The one I've used is Devlan Mud.  Not looking bad now.  I then tackled the green in the armour.  Veeeery fiddly and definitely gonna need to redo some of the gold.  I managed to get the smallest brush I could find and it seems to be helping.
Might have to knock it on the head for a bit again though, headaches coming back :(  Maybe do some more later on.

Pics of work so far.  The green needs another coat or 2.

Sunday Morning

I've managed to slip away for a bit to do some more work on the mini's even though my granparents are still here.  I spend some more time with them later, but the lights really good at the moment so it's a good opportunity to work. 
I've mixed up a kind of fawny colour and drybrushed it down the middle of the fur andon the ends of the tails.  I think it looks ok but I might change my mind.  I think I'm going to fill in the detail on the armour as well.  Will probably black over it first then go over that in green.  The green by itself might not cover very well otherwise.  I'm also going to investigate how to texture the skin.  Could be interesting :D 
I'm still having fun though, that's the main thing.

Work so far