Thursday, December 31, 2015

WARLORD - Magnets, Drills, and Heads! AND Happy New Year!


After a little holiday break, I'm back at it. Only three months left until the Warlord needs to be in Chicago for AdeptiCon! 


In this episode, I do a bit of drilling with my new 1" Forstner bit. I also drop in some heavy duty magnets, and show off my new acquisition, the Beta-pattern head that is currently only available from Warhammer World : )

Please check out my Patreon page by clicking on the link on the top right of this page.

You can check out the Warlord build on the Weemen blog HERE : )

Happy New Year to you all. I had a great 2015, I hope you did too. This just squeaks in to make the 95th post of the year. I painted almost as many models this year as last, but still more than 10 models per week. Not a bad average considering six of those were super-heavies!

I'm looking forward to seeing what 2016 brings!

Cheers
Dave

Monday, December 28, 2015

INQUISITOR - Barbaretta


Here's the second completed model from the Inquisitor commission - Barbaretta and her faithful/programmed hound. I like working with metals so the hound was pretty straightforward. Barbaretta's black jumpsuit was the fun task on this one. To add a little extra something, I mixed P3 Coal Black into the highlight mix I used. I think it gives it a nice depth, and the greenish tinge works well with the red stripes.




I think I might try Tyrus next.

Cheers
Dave


Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas PLUS a teaser AND a podcast interview : )

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and thank you all for checking out the many meandering posts for 2015. I hope to see you all back again during 2016 (although I think I still have a couple of posts left in me for this year).


I've been slaving away on a few more tables for a client, tables that will end up gracing the pages of an updated rulebook. Pretty cool, eh?

I've been able to use excellent pieces of terrain from a variety of companies (along with scratch-built and hand-sculpted pieces) that include: Ironheart Artisans, Burn In Designs, Impudent Mortal, Secret Weapon Miniatures, and Mantic. On these containers (Ironheart above and Burn In below) I've used Sci-Fi Lettering decals from Fallout Hobbies. The decals themselves are nice and sturdy without being too thick, and the white printing is great, perfectly opaque. They worked out wonderfully for this project.




Speaking of Fallout Hobbies, Ron has just started up a hobby-focused podcast in which he'll be interviewing prolific hobbyists and geeking out about cool techniques and so on. I was fortunate enough to be on his first episode, which is now up on Soundcloud. I'm looking forward to listening to the upcoming guests (apparently Ron already has a wishlist of 20 guests he is keen on talking to).

You can, if you are interested, check it out HERE : )

Cheers
Dave

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

INQUISITOR - Quovandius


I've finished up the first couple of miniatures from the Inquisitor commission. The first one to show off is the mutant Quovandius (and his two-headed rat).


I particularly liked painting up the dismembered doll.



More to come : )

Cheers
Dave

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

WARLORD - The Superstructure




Well, I finally was able to film another video. It's a pretty quick one, not too much to look at. I complete the construction of the superstructure and start on the air intakes and exhausts.

Next time I'll get some more stuff glued onto the torso, and possibly attach some magnets : )

Cheers
Dave

Friday, December 11, 2015

INQUISITOR - The box arrives!


A new, long-term, slow-burn commission has arrived in my bunker. Over the next who-knows-how-many months, I'll be building and painting what appears to be almost the entire range of GW's 2000 release, Inquisitor.

First on the docket are Barbaretta and Quovandius...

Cheers
Dave

Monday, December 7, 2015

WARLORD - Titan Build Part 7 - The Big Guns!


With the legs essentially assembled (apart from the armor plates, of course) I decided to move onto the weapons for the Warlord. I currently have two Volcano Cannons and two carapace-mounted Laser Blasters, and I'm sure that as Forgeworld releases a wider array of weapons that I'll pick up a few of them too (although I'm not that fussed on the Apocalypse Launchers they also have for the carapace mounts).

Anyway, this video covers my thoughts/feelings on the weapons I have been assembling.

Cheers
Dave

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Tanith - And in roll the Volpone Bluebloods


Typically I've worked on a single platoon for this ongoing Tanith commission each year (check out previous posts HERE) but this year my client switched jobs and was able to afford a second installment. Continuing to expand the forces involved, he asked for a platoon from the Volpone 50th, the so-called Bluebloods. General Sturm and Major Gilbear play important roles in the narrative arcs of the Ghosts, that of obstacles to be overcome without resorting to violence.

Initially we discussed working on a 25-man platoon carried in three Taurox transports. I'm not a fan of the Taurox model at all, so I suggested the Crassus Amored Assault Transport. My client checked it out and agreed to pick one up. The Crassus has a transport capacity of 35, so my client added two Cyclops Demolition Vehicles to the docket. Anyway, on to the models : )


Like many of the regiments in Dan Abnett's stories, the descriptions of the Volpone Bluebloods are quite vague. We scoured the books and the Internet and basically found that there was little beyond "grey and gold armor" and "matte-black hellguns" to go on. Sometimes that can be fine, and knowing I'd be working with the Scions kits, I started to develop the scheme.


Major (later Colonel) Gilbear was the adjutant to General Noches Sturm when we first encounter them in the storyline, just as the General orders artillery to shell the retreating Ghosts (in Ghostmaker). He is described as tall and physically imposing, so I really had to use the stormcoat provided in the Scions box to bulk him out. I also added a few millimeters to his legs so he stands taller than all the others in the platoon. Hanging from inside his coat is a fox tail, a nod to the origins of the name Volpone (Italian for sly fox). He sports a red beret, rather than the blue we chose for the troopers to again mark him out as a commander. While the armor and fatigues of all the models in the platoon are nice and clean and neat (rigid Volpone discipline demands it), I decided to paint up his stormcoat as a battered old thing, no doubt once worn in combat by an heroic forebear.


Here are the standard bearer and vox caster for the command squad. It was fun to paint up that big banner (all those details are already sculpted on) although it was a bit tough to scrape away the "Scions" text that comes molded to the scrollwork.


Rounding out the command squad are the plasma gunner and the medic. The pose for the plasma gunner is very cool. Just right for a guy who is preparing to lay down devastating cover fire while his comrades advance. The medic's equipment is very cool, the case is very neat and the narthecium in his left hand completely brutal.


We decide to split the troopers into three initial squads that could be recombined into two larger squads should my client so desire. The first has a sergeant with power fist and two troopers with meltaguns. Tank-hunting is their obvious role.


The second squad features a sergeant with a power sword and plasma pistol, plus two troopers with hot-shot volley guns. This squad can certainly focus on power-armored opponents.


And finally a cheaper generic squad, a sergeant and five troopers with stock weapons. If my client wants to play with larger squads, he can simply split this squad up and insert the members in to the previous two.


On to the Crassus. This beast of a transport vehicle was released a few years ago by Forgeworld and it was the star of quite a few memes in its time, but it has since faded into obscurity. I'm actually a fan of it. I think it looks pretty cool.


If you put the side sponsons on, you can load it up with four weapons from the following list: heavy bolter, heavy flamers, autocannons, or lascannons. Of course my client wanted all four options available to him : )






As you can see, I've kept the weathering to a fairly minimal level, following on from the idea that appearance is incredibly important to the Volpones.


It was interesting to paint the interior before I had fully assembled the model. It added another step that I hadn't initially thought of, but I think it worked out pretty well in the end.

 Finally, we have the Cyclops Demolition Vehicles. These little guys have zero weathering or damage on them, because it's their first time out since they left the factory. When your job is to explode violently on your first time out, you don't get a chance to pick up nicks, dings, and scratches ; )


Their two controllers can also be folded into any of the squads, should my client not want to fields the Cyclops bombs.

I hope you all like them. I will say that the photos have unfortunately knocked out quite a bit of the subtle shading on the grey armor, but that's sometimes how it goes.

Cheers
Dave

Thursday, December 3, 2015

A new video - Mechabrick Upgraded (not Titan-related, but cool mechs instead)

I hadn't planned to do this video, but the "plastic building-brick" robots that I received from a friend recently were too cool not to show off in this fashion.

I'll let you watch and check them out, but you can find out more about the Indiegogo campaign HERE, and check out the Mechabrick website HERE.

All very cool indeed!

Thursday, November 26, 2015

WARLORD - Wrapping up the legs!


It has taken a little while, but I finally have the next video ready to go! In this one I pin the knee and hip joints, glue down the hip rings, and add the hip pistons. There is also more (off-screen) blood spilled for the resin gods ; )

I hope you enjoy this latest installment. If you'd like to see them more often, please consider becoming a patron by visiting my Patreon campaign, HERE.

Cheers
Dave

Monday, November 23, 2015

AdeptiCon Registration opens today!


So, I completely spaced on letting you all know about the classes I'm running at AdeptiCon 2016, but hopefully you'll see this before the cart goes live later today.

I'm running my Liber Metallica class (a revised version of last year's offering) twice on Thursday - 9:30-11:30am and 2:30-4:30pm - as well as Liber Titanicus (about painting Titans, Knights and Lords of War, including the reveal of my Warlord Titan!) at 5:00-7:00pm.

There are plenty of other great hobby classes too, taught by some of the best in the business. Make sure you get in early.

I'm not sure exactly when it all goes live, but check things out HERE for all the details.

See you at the show!

Cheers
Dave

Saturday, November 21, 2015

WARLORD - A slight hiccup...


As many of you will know, when there are few posts on this blog, it generally means I'm incredibly busy with work or Real Life™. Well, that's the current situation. Busy.

I posted this photo on my Instagram account recently, hoping that the following day I'd be able to film a video of me drilling into the "already glued" knee and hip joints to reinforce them with some brass rod I purchased on Tuesday. Well, everything seemed solid enough as I went to bed, but when I descended the stairs to my office/basement I was greeted by a disheartening sight. I must not have mixed the two-part epoxy glue well enough and the hips and one thigh had decided to fall off the model. Last night I decided to start again with this section of the legs. I've glued the thigh back on to the leg and, when I'm sure everything is cured properly, I'll glue the pelvis back in place. Once that's done, I'll shoot the planned video.

Thanks for your patience. It's a slight hiccup, but I'll be back on track soon.

Cheers
Dave

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Mechanicum - The Knights of House Taranis


Continuing my "clearing the decks" approach to my hobby recently, I have finished off another three Imperial Knights to now take my 30K House Taranis Knights up to five (also known as a "Half-Rudge" of Knights*). Just a quick post today, as I have to run soon, but please post any questions you might have in the comments below : )

Above is my Baron Prime - Forge Master Tacitus Agrippa, riding his Knight Gallant, Olympicus Rex. 


Baron Agrippa's bodyguard is Ser Baledin Lange, riding his Cerastus-Knight Lancer, Shield of the Omnissiah.


This is Ser Maarku Radcliff, riding his Knight Crusader, Torrent of Fire.


I have also made the battle cannon of Torrent swappable for a thermal cannon, incase I feel the need for additional close range devastation ; )


In this shot you can see my 30K-era House Taranis crest. I've described the retro-creation of the crest in an earlier post, but can't seem to find it at the moment. I'll link to it when I can find it.


And here's the Torrent's right shoulder markings. Again, the Taranis icon has been retro-fitted for 30K use. These two 30K decals are both custom jobs from Fallout Hobbies. They arrived on Thursday, and I'm very pleased with them indeed (although Ron is probably cursing me a little). Anyway, head on over to the Fallout Hobbies site and check out everything they have to offer!


Here is Ser Vadik Faustino, riding his Knight Paladin Deus Malleus. This was actually the very first Knight I painted for myself : )


And finally, you can see Ser Tanner Malcom, riding his Knight Errant Ignis Mechanica.

I hope you like them : )

Cheers
Dave 

* Paul Rudge was the first person to put together a collection of one of each of the Knight patterns available, caused the Internet to dub such a collection or gathering a "Full Rudge" of Knights. 

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

WARLORD - The Base has arrived!


Last night my base arrived from Ironheart Artisans. Excellent stuff. Alex worked speedily and shipped it out last Friday so that I would have it before my trip to Atlanta this week. I was so excited that I figured I'd put to gather a quick (for me) video about it.


Take a look at the simplicity that will make my life so much easier : )

Cheers
Dave

PS. see you all again on Friday ; )

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

WARLORD - Finally, I put glue on the model!


Well, I was able to get in some construction time on Monday and am now the proud owner of two (mostly constructed) Warlord Titan lower legs!

I'm not sure what was going on with the video set up. The lighting was the same throughout, although it might not appear that way in the video. The camera positions were a little different, but not so much it should have caused those issues. I hope it doesn't detract too much, as it's very difficult to go back and shoot them again ; )


I invite you to check out my Patreon page and consider supporting me so that we can get a few more videos rolling each month. Also, you can find me on Instagram at davetaylorminiatures. Follow me there and you'll get a few sneak peeks of the build as I take shots during the video process.

Again, thanks for sharing this journey with me.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Mad Max Monster Trucks! Final batch painted.


The Client received his package of twelve Monster Trucks yesterday, and he was very pleased (which, of course, makes me very happy). This was a great commission to work on as I was given free rein, allowed to channel my inner George Miller, and create some crazy stuff. A few of the creations have also prompted The Client to adapt the rules for his games at AdeptiCon 2016, which is pretty cool in itself.

Just in case you missed the previous posts, here are some links you might like to check out:
Building the first batch
Painting the first batch
Building the second batch



Included in this batch of trucks are a couple of homages to earlier Mad Max films, but I'll talk about that later.


This farm truck didn't need too much converting, I gave it the flatbed/fighting platform, hand rail, and armor plates on the sides. Once the cultivated rust paint job was added, the armor blended right in.



This truck joined the 'black paintjobs' group, with some scuffing and rusty patches showing through. I chose a desert yellow for the scuffed areas not yet attacked by rust. The rack of spotlights on the top (all originally speakers from the Imperial Guard voxcaster) were painted in a bone/white scheme, and thin cracks were painted across some of the glass fronts with a thinned dark brown.



The old hearse (or coroner's vehicle) just had to get the shiny silver coffin look to it. The doors and hood of this one need to be painted in with thin lines of a very dark grey.



Originally the "Donut Patrol" truck, I wanted to keep this one fairly straightforward, but quite different to the silver car from the first batch (the one with the big pipes). The paintjob turned out to be all important here. The back body (along with the scuffs and streaks all help to accentuate the bright pop of the red and blue lights on the roof of the car.



This car, while not a '59 Chevy BelAir, was the closest we'd come yet to the flashy car from the very first Mad Max film. That meant that adding the fake pipes on the hood, and giving it a red with yellow flames paintjob was pretty much a no brainer. Obviously it's not a copy, but more of an homage to part of Miller's original vision.





The last of the trucks is another homage, a not too subtle nod to the school bus in Mad Max 2 (aka The Road Warrior). All my life I thought that the bus in the film had a front-mounted engine (like this bus does), but when I started my more detailed research I discovered it didn't. The bus in the film has a flat front. So, again, this in an homage ; )

For those of you who have seen the film a ton of times, you might recognize the destination I painted in the front of this bus as the place the "good guys" are headed to, "2,000 miles from here. Fresh water, plenty of sunshine. Nothing to do but breathe!"



And as The Client had been very enthusiastic and generous, I decided to add in this little bonus. I decided to give his trucks a rabbit to chase. It was a simple wheel swap on a smaller muscle car I picked up a while ago, and then a simple but effective paintjob: black with some rusting along the lower panels.



I topped it off with a quick Immortal Joe logo, just so everyone was reminded of who is in charge.



It's about 150 days until AdeptiCon, but only three weeks until the tickets go live. Make sure you mark your calendars for November 23rd. Click HERE for the preliminary event listing : )

Cheers
Dave