Raging Heroes: Kapitan Ivanka Kurganova

This is a small side-commission that I was asked to do at short notice, but it's from a nice model line that I've wanted to paint for a while.

Despite the somewhat comedic name, Ivanka is a very detailed model. The styling is very 40k, although note the dimensions and proportions are not quite: the model line is quite slight, but with ludicrous-sized weapons. The sword is a case in point - but the figure does come with an alternative weapon which is a bit more realistic.

She also comes with a nice gas mask face - this piece could actually be used in a Steel Legion or Death Korp of Krieg army, where her height and proportions would probably be a bit more in-keeping with the rest of the army.

Here's a close-up of the detail on the model. I chose to paint a lightning effect on the sword, and finished that with a layer of gloss varnish. This protects the blade (which might chip easily) as well as making the blade look more dangerous!

The model wears a nicely detailed coat as well, with a heraldic icon the the back. There are still a couple of things I need to do to finish this, actually; I only seem to notice errors after a take photos...!

This piece would make an ideal commissar or perhaps an officer in the right Imperial Guard army!

I'd definitely buy more Raging Heroes miniatures, and look forward to their Kickstarter.

Finished FW Malanthrope

Today I managed to photograph my latest Tyranid creation: a FW Malanthrope.

This is a really nice model, that has a clear parentage line to the Venomthrope, but the maw also harkens back to the alternative Genestealer heads. I of course continued the patterning on the carapace to match the rest of my client's army, and I think that it worked out nicely.

These photos don't really show the head in that much detail, but the mouth feeder-tendrils are in fact much pinker than they appear here - I wanted to differentiate them from the rest of the skin tone.

Note the freckling on the spore chimneys - I chose to do this because the arms are so small, there was little other opportunity to get that detail in!

As it's a FW model, the chimneys also have some nice interior detailing, which I picked out in flesh tones.

The base is painted to differentiate the urban ruins from the encroaching Tyranid bio-carpet (is that even a word!?!). I also added some gloss varnish to the mouth, and to the egg sacs on the base.

More Ravenwing bikers

A break in painting Tyranids allowed me to get another two Dark Vengeance Ravenwing bikers finished today...

This leaves me with the following to paint:

Corvex
Dark Shroud Landspeeder
Typhoon Landspeeders (x2)
Attack bike (x2)
Bikers (x4)

.... so, the end is in sight!

Finished Tyranid Hive Guard

After a frenzied evening of painting, I've finished the first Hive Guard unit!

Some individual shots below - because these are Finecast and only available in one pose, I decided to use different patterning on each to distinguish them.

I tried to make these models a bridge between the larger monstrous creatures (which have fully patterned carapaces) and the smaller foot troops (which have pure blue carapaces). These guys, being between the two, have small carapace areas in blue but heads and backs with patterns. I think that the approach has worked out quite well.

Finished Tyranid Carnifexes

Today I managed to photograph the next two monstrous creatures for the Tyranid project...

Firstly, a Carnifex with two twin-linked devourers...

Note the patterning on the carapace - the Carnifexes have large shell areas ideal for this sort of brushwork!

The first 'fex also had a tail modification, to help distinguish it from the second. Note the freckling on the tail as well; again, lots of empty areas are ideal for this extra work.

Secondly, the (almost finished) "gunslinger" 'fex...

My client decided to go with a different head, to again add variety. This guy reminds me of The Tick, with those big antennae!

I continued the patterning down the back of this model, and also onto the tail.

I'm still trying to source another pair of devourers, which are proving very hard to get hold of. I keep scouring the bits sites, but so far no luck. Ah well, I'll keep searching.

I've also started cleaning up the Malanthrope, as you can see below

Some more work to do on a brood of Hive Guard first though, and the Malanthrope will be a nice break from doing those. The end of the project is in sight now though, and I only have a few models to complete - mostly, I've saved the more interesting painting jobs until last (such as the Flyrant).

On the workbench: Carnifexes and Black Dragons

I've started work on the next two monstrous creatures for the Tyranid project - ranged-weapon carnifexes...

These bad boys will be armed with twin-linked devourers - proper dakka fees - and the parts are assembled beside them. I experimented with different patterning techniques on these guys, and I think that it turned out pretty good. 

Just for a side project, I've also starting assembling a squad of Black Dragons Space Marines (see my review on the excellent Death of Antagonis). 

I highly doubt that I will ever do a full army of these, but they were good fun to assemble - I've used a variety of heads, spikes form various WFB kits, and shoulder pads from Chapterhouse. I just need to find some jump-packs and some time to finish them!

 

An old classic: FW Cadian Medusa

Little progress for painting this week, but I was looking through some of my older tank models and this one is still a favourite of mine...

The FW Medusa is an excellent ingame choice, but more importantly the model is great. Whilst a pain to put together (there are large resin components that don't sit well with the plastic chassis!), the end result is a nice pseudo-real-world tank. I really like this Armageddon version, which comes with a enclosed crew compartment.

I used basic sponge weathering to dab on paint chips and these were then highlighted by hand. The lower track sections were weathered with MIG weathering powders.

The paint scheme was Cadian because at the time I was considering doing a Cadian army. Whilst I bought a few units, the idea never took off. However, since then I've painted up a few Cadian Guard tanks - they work well as "auxiliaries" for most Guard armies.