Sunday, March 21, 2010

How many days 'til Adepticon?

Only four? Oh my goodness, what am I going to do? In just 96 hours time I'll be sitting at the bar, relaxing with a beer (or a dirty martini), but before then there's still plenty to do!


First up, last post I teased you with a shot of this Pre-Heresy Dreadnaught's legs. Here he is in his semi-complete stage. Inspired by the work of Insaniak (a fellow Aussie converter who posts a lot on Dakka), and the artwork from the Horus Heresy artbooks, I put together this interpretation of Rylanor, the Emperor's Children Dread from Fulgrim and Flight of The Eisenstein. Since this photo was taken I have finished the modeling work and I'm almost finished with the painting. I'll be delivering this piece in person to the client at Adepticon. As it was such a fun project, I figured I'd do a full post on him next week, after the show.


I'm going to be playing in the 40K Championships on Sunday at Adepticon. I always think "Championships" is such a grand title and I feel like a bit of a fraud playing in them. I'm so far from a champion player it's still kind of funny. Anyway, I decided to take some advice and added this Veteran squad to my list. They'll be rocking shotguns, two meltas, a heavy flamer, a demo charge, meltabombs, and the sarge has a plasma pistol and power sword. Although more pricey than I typically go for, I think they'll do me proud. To build them I used the torso/head pieces from the Vraks Renegade Enforcers (from Forgeworld). The skull masks were a lot of fun to paint up! You'll notice some interesting weapons being carried by these vile devotees of the Dark Gods. Stolen directly from a poster on Dakka Dakka, whose name escapes me right now (please post a comment if it was you), the shotguns my boys are carrying are a mix of IG flamer and grenade launcher. I have plenty of both just lying around and when I saw this conversion, I knew I had to try it too. I like it a lot and I think it adds some great bulk and a slightly archaic look.



So, the Veterans need to be delivered to the right place at the right time. I'll be finishing off the Locust in the next few days (I hope) to use as their Vendetta transport. Quite a bit more work to do, but I do enjoy my plasticard work.


And here's a shot of a Wolf Priest I had to paint up for a buddy of mine. When I was out in Phoenix last October for the Battlefoam Wild West Shootout, I made a bet on the outcome of the Broncos/Giants game that was played on Thanksgiving night. Sufficed to say, my boys in blue did not follow through on their promising start to the season and I was left holding the proverbial bag. I hope Jason gets a lot of enjoyment out of this figure.

One last bit. Unfortunately we've had to cancel our Napoleonic game originally planned for Saturday night at Adepticon. That big bugbear of hobbyists everywhere (real life) got in the way of finishing up their units for some of our players so we decided that it would be best to bring it all along next year instead. My apologies to anyone who was really looking forward to seeing it. I might bring my finished units anyway. We'll see if they fit : )

Anyway, take care, and I'll see you all (hopefully) at Adepticon!

Cheers
Dave

17 comments:

  1. Dave you sir are one busy individual. I thought I was cranking with the limited time I had(was painting at the hotel the nights before my wedding even), but you sir have taken it to a new level. The Dred looks awsome, and I shant say I would want one if your interested. Can't wait to see the veterans in person as I tried that too, but just couldn't come up with the money as you are right it is a little spendy. Oo and btw the weapons idea came from the guy who is doing the grenswick.. just can't remember his name either.

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  2. Are those the Enforcers I gave you at the Wild West Shootout?

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  3. Fine work! I'm looking forward to the continuation of that fighter.

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  4. With the skull masks and flame motif the veterans look like they were inspired by the video game, Army of Two.

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  5. Good luck with getting all that done mate, I'm looking forward to seeing the locust finished.

    Perhaps we should call you Dave 'Delivery Man' Taylor from now on because that's all you'll be doing at Adepticon by the looks of it.

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  6. Lookin' good Dave. See you there, I'll be in Friday night.

    Shawn

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  7. Hi guys

    Thanks for the comments! : )

    @RogueValley - I want to do another one for my Death Guard, before I try a third. See you this weekend.

    @Ntvrycreative - Hi Luke, these are some I had kicking around for a while, the ones I got from you are just awaiting another five to become my second Vet squad ; )

    @Phillip - must admit I've never seen that game, but it's completely possible the FW guys who made the masks used to play it.

    @Colonel - I think it'll be the "Mail Man", coz I deliver ; )

    @PsycosisPC - See you then mate!

    Cheers
    Dave

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  8. I know time is short, but if you could show us more about how you built that Dreadnought, I would sincerely appreciate it.

    It's amazing and you've inspired me to try making my own. (World Eaters, though)

    But a few hints to get me started would not be so bad. ;)

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  9. Hi Gospog

    I'll try to do a comprehensive post on him next week, but the best place to start is at the legs. Extending the thighs by 5mm or so and rebuilding that section is the best place, followed by lengthening the shins by about the same amount. It gets a bit tricky after that ; )

    Cheers
    Dave

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  10. Beautiful stuff. The dreadnaught is looking fierce. Not to mention those traitors looking scary and ready to rumble

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  11. Thanks for the tips, Dave! I couldn't tell if you started with standard Dreadnought legs, or legs froma Sentinel (or at least the pelvis from one).

    They're Dreadnought legs, then? (at least to start)?

    Is that head\face area from the venerable Dreadnought or from a ForgeWorld model?

    I can wait for your "expose" if need be, of course. Just excited to start. :)

    Thanks again.

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  12. @Gospog - yep, the legs are all Dread legs plus plasticard, plastic rod, and putty with quite a bit of cutting and repositioning. The feet are scratchbuilt from plasticard and putty.

    The front of the sarcophagus is from the new Ven Dread and the head is the techmarine head from the Dark Angel bike sprue (I think).

    The torso, is really a tale of two halves. You could assemble a regular torso, then start cutting down the sharp edges on the front. I did some considerable hacking. I then packed it with putty, placed the ven dread bit in the right place, and started layering on the brownstuff. The rear of the torso, with the power plant etc, is actually almost identical.

    More next week ; )

    Cheers
    Dave

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  13. Im a big fan of your work. Its almost mythical in its scale. I am, however, not a fan of Rylanor. I realize its based off of a painting of him, but Im not a fan of that painting either. I just finished reading Galaxy in Flames (Im now fully addicted to the Horus Heresy) so the description is still fresh in my mind as being described as: "A blocky outline resolving into a tank like square sarcophagus.." and also being being described as having a vision slit. This screams to me that the drednaught chassis is still pretty much the same as it is in the 41M. Just my opinion though...

    Good luck at adepticon... hope you win the thunderhawk! (^^)b

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  14. Hi Martin

    Aaaahhh! Galaxy in Flames. I was scouring Fulgrim and Flight of the Eisenstein when I was obviously looking in the wrong book.

    I appreciate your point of view about the appearance of Rylanor but (and you knew that it was coming) I try to approach all of the Pre-Heresy stuff I read, look at, and "recreate" as a series of artists working in different media to present their own take on the "reality" of the time. My representation differs again from the painting you mentioned as I felt some of the 2D approaches wouldn't translate as well into miniature form.

    Also remember a chat I had with one of the other HH authors regarding the veracity of Mr Counter's HH work. Mmmm, let's just say...

    I really do appreciate that you posted your thoughts. It is important to remember that the most fun part (in my opinion) is realizing our own visions of a subject, particular when it's building a toy soldier (my favorite part of this hobby.

    Unfortunately I'm not playing in the Gladiator tournament, so I don't have a chance at the Thunderhawk : ( Mind you I'd be happy just to win a game ; )

    Cheers
    Dave

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  15. The horus heresy is like black tar heroin... I.. just... cant... stop.

    I totally agree with artistic liscence. I do it all the time, but I play nids and they are very forgiving when it comes to artistic license.

    Besides... Its not like the GW police will come and lock you up. Im very interested in seeing what it will look like painted :)

    My group missed the bus with all the 40k stuff, and the tables filled up too fast... oh well...

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