Sorck Production Log [Current: Ultramarines 2nd Company]

[Sorck]

Well here we have it... I promised a log and here it is!

I am cataloguing my progress in building, repairing and painting a large bunch of miniatures - some are for my gaming collection, some for my own display and some for my (ex) school gaming club.

Some of the things I hope to do:

• Assemble half of Dark Vengeance
• Paint one half of DA (not necesarily the parts I build as I just took two sprues to build)
• Build & paint my new drop pod
• Paint 6 tactical squads and 3 terminator squads (Probably BA... though possibly UM or DA)
• Finish building and then paint my WoC (15 knights, 10 horsemen, 24 WoC, 1 lord on juggernaut)
• Repair a selection of broken Eldar and chaos models. Includes building a new sword for a GW avatar.

Updates today (no photos yet):
The drop pod is under construction. Though it's really awkward to keep the mould lines and the sprue join points clean on the model though.
I've built the first biker. I found it rather fiddly due to the connector lugs and the squarish connector used by the rider to not fit perfectly... they had to be pushed in at exactly the right angle and orientation.

That's it for today... an update should hopefully follow tomorrow*.
*with photos

[Sorck]

Well I'm good when it comes to project logs aren't I?

I did assemble dark vengeance but I only painted the librarian. I may have a photo somewhere but I'm not entirely sure - I'll have a look at the weekend if I remember.

I only built a small part of the drop pod - the model is quite annoying the file down and remove all the imperfections.

No progress so far on the tactical squads and terminators.

I built a few more WoC but that's it.

Nowhere on the elder either.

I have started at university now and I didn't bring any models or paints with me so I have started from scratch essentially. I considered The Empire, vampire counts, orks and tyranids. Because I haven't played fantasy in so long I thought I would put it off a little longer... I will probably get some eventually - couple of state troops with hochland long rifles and a hellblaster are my main empire ideas; or zombies and corpse carts for vampires. My tyranid idea is a gargoyle centric army - I actually purchased the genestealers from space hulk for a low price to start this army. I also bought some grots to start my orks - along with a box of kanz and stormboys.

I was a little annoyed to not find the old custom forcefield mek on games workshops website - is it out of production?

[Narric]

I'd assume the KFF Mek was taken off becuase you can Bitz Bash one out from the Gork/Morkanaut kits iirc.

Hope you can throw up some pictures in future

[Sorck]

Well I've never been known for my project logging ability...

In my monthly update I have little to report. I have painted two grots so far and built one and a half killa kans (the start of my greenskin armies on parade/combat patrol). I also have some stormboys though I may part exchange them towards something more in keeping with my mek/grot theme.

I'm also considering tyranids at the moment. I have 44 space hulk genestealers to form the core of my army - I'm now sure how I'm going to go about basing them yet (best case scenario I have enough 25mm bases for half of them). For the next step in procurement I'm considering the tyranid swarm - 80 gaunts, 10 gargoyles, 3 rippers and a fex (the latter of which I will try and exchange towards something more useful such as more gargoyles or a hive Tyrant).

C&C regarding tyranid army progression is welcome.

[Sorck]

I've done a little bit of work on a Blood Angel:

It was primed with Halford's red primer, then drybrushed with the new paint range base that's closest to blood red (as I determined whilst looking at pots in the store ). It was then washed with nuln oil. Eyes were picked out in various greens (starting point was the Dark Angels green equivalent I believe) - the other greens were formed by mixing in more yellow into the base green. Finally the eyes had a Thrakka Green wash applied just to smooth the shade and reduce the intensity of the highlight. The gun was painted leadbealcher and a dark grey (black/white mix) and then had nuln oil applied (several coats on the black patch - I made the grey a bit too light). The eagle on the gun is Charadon Granite I believe. The pouches/purity seals are Khemri Brown with a wash of Agrax Earthshade.

Now for some Tyranids... I currently have 46 stealers - 2 normal ones and 44 from Space Hulk. I'm going to be basing a big chunk of the SH ones so that I can use them more easily in 40k. An example of basing is as follows:


As you can see, I've had to cut down the built in base a bit. I will have 16 stealers in this sort of pose in the end (14 SH, 2 classic). I will also be converting some of the other SH ones like this but I think some may be a struggle to look sensible in 40k - even for my armies on parade display it's going to be a challenge to use some of them.

I've also decided that I'm going to have a fair few spore mines - currently I just have 4 Macragge ones (the rest are either damaged beyond repair, missing, or have a gloss varnish on them so can't really be reclaimed). I intend to purchase a few of the new ones that come in the newer Tyranid MC boxes - I just have to wait for bits stores to have them in stock. Here's a sample of what I've done with them so far:

These were sprayed white, had Agrax Earthshade shade applied over the lower part of them (everywhere but the head) and then Fuegan Orange shade applied on the straggly bits. The heads were painted Astronomican Grey and then had an Asurmen Blue wash applied.


And the stealer was my first test with the scheme  - it's a little patchy as I failed to wash everywhere on it, plus it wasn't fully sprayed which made it difficult. It has had orange wash applied in the webby patches on it's arms and had it applied on the thorax to give a little definition. Charadon Granite was used on the claws - I may provide a little bit of a highlight later on.


I also have half of a swarm arriving at some point - 20 hormaguants, 20 termagants, 10 gargoyles and 4/5 rippers. At some point I'll get a HQ choice - probably a Flyrant. And I'm going to attempt to build and paint my swarm half in a day... it can only end badly.

Plus I'm working on my armies on parade ideas - I'm thinking of doing a glacial display - some running water in there (with obligatory swimming rippers), some rocks and the remains of a crashed ship (that's how to fit space hulk components in there .

At some point I'll get some more Ork pictures up - for now here are some old Ork photos.

Sorck.
Sorry about the quality of some of the photos - taking macro shots on a fixed lens camera can be a pain, especially when you are balancing things so that you get enough light to take the photo.

[Narric]

Stuff is looking good so far Sorck

Only painted the one Blood Angel and Genestealer so far as a test model?

[Sorck]

Only painted the one Blood Angel and Genestealer so far as a test model?

The spores are more 'final' though they also test the nid scheme.

I do have a few other blood angels that I've done - they were just different tests for getting the armour colours (and I'm not sure where the others have gone...), plus I've painted one other fully (which is also missing). And I already have 5 assault marines, though they were painted in a more laborious manner - drybrushing reds onto black. The new paint scheme is designed so I can easily paint my 5 tactical squads.

[Jonagon]

Well done, good start.  I like the nid colours.

[Sorck]

Well done, good start.  I like the nid colours.

Thanks.

Grot update... well these grots were done a month or two back but I've only just gotten around to photographing them.


(You may notice that they are labelled grots 1 and 2, they were actually done the other way around but I only just remembered whilst writing this post)

These were painted using only a set of 10 paints - a red, green, yellow, blue, brown, white, black, silver, bronzey colour and nuln oil. (I can't remember which exact colours they were, though the red was near identical to blood red, the green had an Orky name [maybe Warboss green], Iyadeen Yellow perhaps, definitely not an ultramarines blue, no idea on the brown, the white was a layer and is an awful pot of paint - it doesn't properly mix, Abaddon black, Leadbealcher, not sure).
I made up for the lack of paints with a lot of time on my wet palette (it was the first time I had used one). It was nice to be able to work with a mix of paint a few minutes later rather than it drying up after 60 seconds. I would thoroughly recommend one to anyone that likes to mix paints for blending purposes - it will make your life a lot easier. I use a Privateer Press one but there are a lot of guides on how to make your own (basically you need non waxed cartridge paper, a sponge and a plastic container).

I still seem to have forgotten to finish the foot on one of them... I will remember to paint that up at some point.

Captain, another member of the Hive Fleet has been spotted - this one appears to have a short range projectile weapon... and there are thousands of them.

The Spineguant took a surprising amount of time to do - must have been nearly half an hour. I put in a lot more attention to detail than on the Stealer though. It used the same techniques as per the stealer but I decided against using an orange wash on the thorax this time. I also found that the blue wash didn't quite feel the same when I used it this time around - the 'flow' or settling of the wash felt different. This is most likely due to much flatter surfaces on a gant compared to a stealer.

When my modelling snow arrives (which may not happen until Easter due to term time addresses and delayed shipment) I will make some progress on basing the models. However, I may begin working on some similar items before that time such as objective markers or small amounts of scenery.

Sorck

[Sorck]

No more photos today I'm afraid. However, I do have an idea to talk to you about: ice bases.

I have been experimenting with Games Workshop's cracked Earth paint and have been thinking it could be used to form broken ice sheet effect. Basically you apply that paint and let it dry. Then you apply a dark blue coat and drybrush up to a pale blue/white. Some fake snow or water effects could then be applied.

I'm also working out how to make a good ice/glacial board for armies on parade. I'm considering using polystyrene as the base material. Then I will sculpt it using a hot knife. The river part will receive a rocky texture using PVA and some small stones (a few millimetres across), sand and ballast. Then I may even include some rippers or similar glued down. Then I would paint all those bits and finally use water effects to layer up the running water.

Unfortunately I'm going to be unable to work on much for another couple of months but I will try and keep you up to date with any painting that I manage to do (I'm taking grots, maybe a warboss, and probably BA or IG with me this time).

[BigToof]

Great work Sorck!

Keep it up, love to see more.

Best,
-BT

[Sorck]

It's been a while...

I've been busy procuring the miniatures needed for the Ultramarines 2nd Company. So far I have the following (roughly):

• 60 80 90 tactical marines
• 20 devastators
• Librarian on foot
• Assault cannon & CCW dread

I also have the following that might be able to be reclaimed (they're in BA scheme at the moment and might be a pain to change over).

• Rhino
• Dread from AoBR
• 5 10 assault marines

Models I definitely still need:

• 15 10 Assault Marines
• 5 command marines
• Sicarius
• Chaplain (probably with jump pack)

I'm working on the librarian until I manage to obtain some Macragge Blue spray (none available localy and it's quite expensive to ship - may have to wait until I'm next passing a GW store) - I don't fancy painting the blue basecoat by hand.


The librarian has been receiving edge highlights - my normal troops won't be having these as they're quite time consuming. They'll be being drybrushed I'd think.

EDIT: Just updated to include an extra 20 tactical marines I've just purchased off of eBay.
EDIT 2: And now updated to include a further 10 tactical marines and 5 assault marines.

[Sorck]

So it's looking like I'm buying up part of another space marine company before I've finished with buying the 2nd company. I already have 30 tactical marines ready for the next battle company - perhaps they will end up as Sternguard (very bland looking but much cheaper than 'genuine' Sternguard), as members of another battle company, or may end up in a reserve company (e.g. in a tactical reserve company or as the bolter guys in the devastator company).

I've been trying out methods of paint stripping - I've decided to finish stripping down some of my old metal models: Calgar in artificer armour; Techmarine without harness, apothecary, standard bearer. I've tried thinners, ispopropynol and acetone in the past with mixed success. I've now got them soaking in Dettol (disinfectant) and it seems to be working fairly well - most of the paint off of flat surfaces was scrubbed off of Calgar quite easily after a few hours soak. In the morning I'll find out if it's worked well enough to strip the paint down to metal/cellulose spray layer (if the models even used it).

I've also got a 7th edition Space Marine codex on order - a friend has given me a figure of a little over 3000 points so far for my army and my old BA codex brings in 500 extra in special characters. Added to around 4k of IG and I'm well on my way to 10k in Imperial forces.

[Sorck]

My progress on the second company has been somewhat minimal. However, I completed the assembly, painting, and basing of the librarian and I have also done the cleanup and assembly of part of an honour guard squad. And I have also obtained another four space marines with bolters (one was a paint strip of an old one and three are from a 3 smurf sprue).

However, my miniature time is moving towards Tyranids for now. I picked up the current codex (the limited edition version no less) as well as a Tervigon Brood Progenitor box. I'm trialling paint schemes on half a dozen gaunts to get an idea for what will work best. If I find a scheme I like then I'll be building up a core army by expanding up to 30 termagants and adding a Start Nids box - a flyrant, and 10 gargoyles. I don't see the need for the warriors so they'll probably stay on their sprue.