Adeptus Titanicus Warhounds WIP - The Bases

Legio Tempestus fought on many worlds, but with the loyalists originating on Mars, I will be painting the bases to match the Red Planet's blasted wastes.  For the two Warhound titans, I thought it might be fun to mix the usual Vallejo Black Lava texture I use with some GW Martian Ironearth technical paint. My vision is to use the Ironearth's cracked texture to represent dry river beds and other desert textures separate from the rocky ground created by the Black Lava.  So I set about laying down the Vallejo Black Lava so there would be places for the Ironearth to go and do its crackling thing.

The first Warhound strides across an ancient river bed.

The second Warhound strides among the parched remains of ancient ponds or lakes. I haven't worked much with this stuff, but I've read that it works best if layered on pretty thickly.  So I used a GW "M Texture" tool to trowel on the stuff in thick glops, spreading it around a bit, but not letting it get too thin in any on place, save perhaps near the edges.

After maybe an hour I was rewarded with some crackling around the edges...

After a couple hours, more crackling appeared...so far so good!  It works! :)

When I closed up for the night (maybe three or four hours later) the crackling continued to spread and the thick gloppy paint continued to dry.  When I woke up in the morning, this is what I saw...

Now with more crackle!  In fact, it crackled so much, a couple bits flaked off.  But I still have them so they'll get glued back down and the whole base will get primed to seal everything down.  The I'll come back in carefully with the airbrush and some washes to color everything carefully so as to not lose the textures.

I'm thrilled with how everything turned out so far.  I was hoping the texture on the plastic bases would hold the paint, and in fact was a bit worried it might effect the crackling.  But not to worry there, as you can see.  I'll be more careful in the future to avoid the flaking.

Up next will be a look at my Imperial Knights for Adeptus Titanicus.  The colors of House Taranis are being laid down and the first banner is coming along quite well so far. And I haven't forgotten the Reavers either.  They will be making an appearance again soon.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

On the Workbench [November] - Titanicus Warhound Titans

Happy Thanksgiving!  It's been busy at home but I still found time for some hobby.  On the workbench this month, I got two Warhounds built for Adeptus Titanicus.  These were fun to build and I very much enjoyed the kits.  I magnetized the waists more for painting convenience than anything else and because the models are cast with sockets ready to take magnets.  The arms are oddly not so accommodating  While I have seen tutorials on this, and it would not be difficult to do, I chose to build these two engines as they are without magnets.  The kit is not very expensive, and if I find myself wishing for other options in games, then I'll be happy to build two more for the Legio Tempestus!  As it is, I am not likely to play more than a game or two, if at all, anytime soon.

The first Warhound is built to harass larger engines, using its speed to out maneuver them and set up for some cheap shots to assist fellow Princepts.

The second Warhound is armed to hunt Imperial Knights with loads of dice from its twin Vulcan Megabolters.  I just love the look!  Maybe all the dice will help collapse a void shield or two in the bargain? Or cripple an already exposed engine.

The models were a joy to build and I already want two more!  And who knows.  I picked up some battle foam trays for the Maniple and its Knight banners and there just happen to be two more open slots for Warhounds...not to mention extra space for a second Warlord and six more Imperial Knights than I had originally planned on.  I have my eyes set on the new Warlord kit and the new Cerastus Knight Lancers too!

As a spoiler, I also got some paint on the first banner of Imperial Knights from House Taranis.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

WIP: Elucidian Starstriders (Rogue Trader) Part 1

Elucidian Starstriders, ready to paint

Greetings.  Today I have a short WIP post on my collection of Elucidian Starstriders from the Kill Team: Rogue Trader boxed set.  I assembled the models stock, but chose to forgo the generic GW plastic bases in favor of a game bundle offered by Secret Weapon Miniatures specifically for the game.

As shown in the title image, I mounted the Starstriders on bourbon corks for painting, then primed them (as well as the bases) using Vallejo Surface Primer Black. Then for fun, I painted the bases using a heavy Vallejo Gunmetal dry brush followed by GW Tin Bitz on any brass portions.  The Tin Bitz was further highlighted with Vallejo Brass before the whole base was shaded with GW Nuln Oil Gloss thinned to a roughly 50/50 mix with GW Lahmian Medium.  The Some GW Athonian Camoshade (also thinned with Lahmian Meduim) was dabbed on in pools here and there while GW Reikland Flesh Shade was dabbed over the brass sections. Once this all dried thoroughly, the bases were given a good covering spray of Model Masters Lusterless Flat Coat to seal them and return everything to a consistent finish.

Double sided tape was used to fix the bases to a common paint stirring stick. A simple effect that was quick to achieve, I'm quite happy with how things turned out.  Once the Starstriders are painted and pinned down, I'll touch things up with some additional shading and highlighting to complete the mood of each piece.

What do you think? This project will sit on the back burner while I get back to my Titanicus titans and Mechanicum kill team. I hope to have a post up here and there with progress on each piece, however.  And at some point, expect to see similar progress on the Gellerpox Infected! Maybe one of these two tams will show up for Squaduary next year...

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

WIP: Legio Tempestus Reavers (Adeptus Titanicus)

I have some progress on the two Adeptus Titanicus Reavers for Legio Tempestus today.  All of the armor panels are attached now and the detail work is starting.  So far, I've been working on the heads and carapace.  No additional work on the weapons yet.  Seeing the announcement about new weapons makes me glad I magnetized these two.

I started with the head by first painting all the optics that would be covered by the armor. This was just a simple base coat of Vallejo Gunmetal followed by a highlight of Vallejo Air Steel.  I used GW White Scar to base coat the lenses and then painted over that with a thinned coat of GW Wild Rider Red.

1st Reaver

2nd Reaver

I then painted the metal trim on the head armor using more Vallejo Gunmetal with some simple Vallejo Air Steel highlights.  Once this was dry, I shaded the armor with GW Nuln Oil thinned about 50:50 with GW Lahmian Medium.

Trim painted

Shading applied

Once the shade dried, it was time to glue the armor to the heads and get on with the trim on the rest of the armor panels.  I painted the metal parts of both carapaces with Vallejo Gunmetal and applied more 50:50 Nuln Oil/Lahmian Medium to shade them as well.  After some basic Vallejo Steel Highlights, i would be able to attache the armor without concern for things that would now be hard to reach.

1st Reaver with head complete

2nd Reaver with head complete

Here are the Reavers with their armor glued down.  I have installed a brass tube in each carapace, socketed into the hip joint so I can assemble the titans, but still separate them when necessary for painting. Once painting is complete I'll glue the carapace onto the legs and that will be that.  The brass tubes will serve as large pins to stabilize the glue joint and prevent them breaking apart later through handling and any accidents.

1st Reaver

 The first Reaver got some additional Vallejo Air Steel painted on its embossed carapace. This was also shaded with the 50:50 Nuln Oil mixture.  I also did some touch up on the camouflage.  The legs still need touch up.

2nd Reaver

While various bits were drying, I painted Vallejo Air Steel on the leg pistons and did some simple highlights with the steel as well around the legs.  There is still tons to do on both titans, but still they advance and are starting to come together.  Life's been busy and I've been fighting off a head cold so production is necessarily down lately.

I'm excited for the new Warlord and Reaver weapons and also looking forward to building the two Warhounds I have. I'm considering a second set so that I can field the maniple with a Reaver and Four Warhounds.  I'd like some options when choosing a game.  I'd also like a few extra Titans for playing with friends who may choose to not buy into the game. Otherwise, I may not get many games of Titanicus in at all.

So that's it for me this week. I'm watching Blackstone Fortress with interest and also the new Titanicus releases coming soon.  I also will get more time in on painting my AdMech Kill Team.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

WIP: Painting Heraldry for Legio Tempestus Reavers (Adeptus Titanicus)

Greetings.  In this post I'll describe my process for applying Legio Tempestus heraldry to my two Adeptus Titanicus Reaver titans.  After priming everything with Vallejo Surface Primer Black, I got to work base coating the panels bearing heraldry with GW Air White Scar.  Some panels will have unique heraldry applied others will get the Tempestus black and white checkers.

I'll start with masking off the panels that will have individual heraldry using patterns of black lines.  One Reaver will use a single black chevron, the other will use a series of diagonal lines, chosen mostly at random and not through any greater understanding of  proper Legio heraldry. :)

I used some blue masking tape that I acquired through Amazon.com.  I forget the specifics but it was a pack of six roles in varying thickness.  Some Tamiya 6mm masking tape was also used just because it was thicker and covered more area for less work.  

Next, some GW Abbadon Black was sprayed over the masked pieces.  I used sticky notes to shield the white pieces to either side from any stray over-spray.  The center knee pad I jut removed since it needed no further spraying at this point.

I let the paint dry 24 hours (possible overkill, but better safe than sorry, right?), then peeled off the tape to see how things came out.

Pretty good? Some minor touch up is needed, but definitely better than anything I'd free hand.  The knee pad was stuck back on so I wouldn't lose it. At this point, I realized I'd put the chevron on the wrong shoulder panel...its a left shoulder panel and the livery will go on the right shoulder.  Ugh.  This was easily fixed by spraying the correct panel and I didn't bother taking photos of the rework.  I mention it here for those with significant attention to detail who will no doubt catch the issue.  

The only down side is that the second Reaver will use shoulder pads without the embossed Collegia Titanica symbol. I could have avoided this by simply repainting the shoulder pads, but at this point one has dazzle camo while (three layers of paint plus primer) and I did not want to add another layer (or two) of white and black. Not to mention going through the whole dazzle thing again on the left shoulder plate.  In the end, I'm likely the only one to notice or care about the difference between the two titans.  I'll use the opportunity to designate seniority between the two titans (the one with more ornate armor clearly being the more senior engine!).

With the individual livery done I moved on to the checkers.  Now there are many ways to achieve checkers and many more sites and videos out there teaching us how.  Having little patience for mastering checkers with a paint brush on such a small scale, I opted for custom decals.  I'm slowly improving my freehand, but there is simply no way I'm going to achieve even, ordered checks that don't look like they were dabbed on by tiny children with tiny crayons.

So after purchasing some Testors clear decal paper and downloading the latest copy of Gimp for Windows, I set to work printing two sheets of black and white checkers at a scale pleasing to these fine titans. That roughly equates to somewhere between 1mm and 2mm per check, I think, but I'm no checker scientist. It's annoying enough that I spent over an hour sorting this out before arriving at two A5 sheets of custom decals.  I didn't print individual shaped decals for each piece (I'm also NOT a graphic artist), I just printed a single A5 sized rectangle filled with a black and white checker pattern.  

After printing, I sprayed the sheets with Model Masters Lusterless Flat Coat to seal the ink, which is otherwise soluble to water when applied to decals sheets.  I forgot this step until applying the first decal and watching my thumb smear away checks as pressed things into place. I had LOTS of fun with this, let me tell you! ;-)

While the flat coat dried, I set about making patterns using tracing paper (spare sheets of wet palette paper in this case).  Once I had the shapes for the decals, I used them as patterns to cut out the actual custom decals form the sheet.  I used some care lining up the patters with the actual checker pattern so that I would get pleasing results on the model. It's worth pointing out that the some pieces like the leg armor are mirror images so it was easy to make one pattern for the left side and then just flip it over to cut out decals for the right.

Printed Decal sheets showing what I cut out for the Reavers

You may notice six leg decals cut out instead of four. This accounts for my mistakes.  The first due to a lack of sealer for the ink and the second due to just plain messing up and getting the fiddly "legs" of the leg decal tangled up enough that I ruined the decal trying to straighten it out. All in a day's work when working with decals, in my experience.  So no stress.  Just soldier on...

  

Here's how things turned out:

Here my pattern didn't quite fill the space and I couldn't muster the will to start over and make a new pattern.  I've carefully inked in the missing black squares (lower right corner) and will paint things in better later.

Looking sharp!  If you don't think so, you just have to trust me that my own free hand would have looked like it was painted during an earthquake with one eye closed...so this is a MAJOR improvement.

The underside of the second launcher.  Very cool.  At this point I was excited with the rewarding results of my labor.  Then I started on the legs...

Here I show the leg decals before they were applied.  These were the most tricky due to the very thin strip down one side of each panel. These strips want to twist and tangle so it took some care to get them onto the armor panel and correctly in place. In the end it all worked out.  Despite a variety of results across the panels, I can clean up anything unsightly. I'll just tidy up the worst with a pen or fine detail paint brush.

Taken in all, I think this worked well and is pretty convincing.  What is most important to the project?  It is a repeatable process.  I have plenty of sheet left for the remaining titans and can print more if needed.  I will get consistent checkered patterns on all the titans as a result, for better or worse.  I'm confident it will all be for the better! :)  I couldn't paint this cleanly, or with this level of consistency across the five (maybe more) engines that I have planned for my Axiom Maniple. 

Here's a look at the Reaver titans with the new heraldry (temporarily) attached.

Reaver 1 Legs

Reaver 1 Body

Reaver 2 Legs

Reaver 2 Body

If you would like more specifics on the custom decal process I used, please leave me a comment below and I'll do my best to answer any questions.  

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

WIP: Painting Dazzle Camouflage for Legio Tempestus Reavers (Adeptus Titanicus)

Greetings!

In this post I describe my process for painting the dazzle camouflage pattern on my two Legio Tempestus Reaver titans for Adeptus Titanicus.  In researching canon for the Legio Tempestus livery, I noticed the camo and how others have painted it.  I'll be using this method from the Titan Owner's Club.

While painting with the airbrush, I used double-sided tape to hold down the various loose armor panels. All parts were primed with Vallejo Surface Primer Black. Once everything was primed and dry, I got out the Vallejo Air Medium Gray(71.114).

In addition, I painted the body panels on the Reavers and armor panels on the weapons. Some white was sprayed on the missile launchers to accommodate the Legio's checker heraldry, but more on that in another post. Here we're focused on the camouflage. Before I moved on to masking the camouflage pattern, I let the Medium Gray dry thoroughly (roughly 24 hours in this case).

To mask the camouflage, I picked up some 6mm Tamiya masking tape from Amazon.com.

It is pretty cheap and comes with a couple refills.  Probably more tape than I will use for quite some time. Next, I moved on to the challenge of cutting small shapes to fix onto the panels to make the camouflage pattern.  I can imagine this was MUCH easier when applied to the full sized Forge World Reaver's armor panels!  I have a lot of pictures of the various stages and it's really too much to share here so I'll focus on the missile launchers as I describe the process I went through.

One launcher will have the top camouflaged, and the other will have the bottom.  This allowed me to vary the black and white checkers so the two titans will look distinct from one another.

I laid strips of tape across a clean cutting mat and cut out random shapes with a new (sharp!) x-acto knife blade.  I then carefully peeled the pieces up and stuck them down to the model using a mix of tweezers and my old fat fingers. :) Here's a quick shot of the armor panels after the first pass of masking was complete.

Next I used the airbrush again to spray a layer of Vallejo Air USAF Light Blue (71.111) over everything. This was also left to dry 24 hours.

Then it was time for another pass of with the masking tape.  The original tape is left in place and new shapes are taped over the old ones.  For this stage, new shapes can cover old shapes as long as they overlap to provide layers to the camouflage colors.  I had reviewed the steps from the Titan Owner's Club how-to page first to plan my strategy.  That said, i really didn't have any idea what I was doing.

Once the second layer of tapes was stuck on, it was time for another pass with the air brush using Vallejo Air Deep Sky (71.090).

After another wait period to be sure everything was good and dry, I carefully began removing all the tape. This process was far more tedious than I expected due to the many, many small bits of tape layered over each other and thoroughly covered in paint.  But with patience, the effect came through in the end.  There were some places where I inadvertently scratched the paint through to bare plastic while removing the tape.  The damage basically fades in with the camouflage, however, and should be easy to touch up with a brush later.

So...on to the grand reveal!

Dazzle Camouflage...mostly.  As I move on to the two Warhound Titans and the Warlord I have planned, I will add more shapes and take more care with the layers and how they interact in the design.  The shapes turned out to be a bit sparse and the pattern is much less dazzling that it could be. That said, once everything is painted up in its entirety, I don't expect to be disappointed by the over all look of the titans.  What we're seeing here is in extreme close up after all.

Here's how the remaining parts turned out.

Armor Panels

Reaver 1 Top

Reaver 1 Bottom

Reaver 2 Top

Reaver 2 Bottom

Laser Blasters

Gatling Blasters

With that done, the camouflage base coat is complete on all parts.  Next up, everything will get touched up and shaded.  Then the balance of the base coating on the rest of the components will commence. I'm pretty excited to move on and complete these (mini) Titans.  I'll close with a view into the future to show how these panels look on the (mostly) assembled titan bodies along side the Legio heraldry...

Reaver 1 Torso and Weapons

Reaver 2 Torso and Weapons

In my next post, I'll discuss how I tackled the Legio Tempestus heraldry.  I hope this post will otherwise prove useful to any other Legio Tempestus enthusiasts out there in the 'Verse who may be looking at their own Titanicus projects.

Special thanks to Col.Hertford and the Titan Owners Club for the how-to post that enabled me to complete a similar project in miniature for Adeptus Titanicus!

Cheers and Happy Gaming!