Lt. Commander Psigoras Complete!

With the OSL effects complete, Lt. Commander Psigoras is done!  Notice he is "Lt. Commander" - because on the table-top the model will flex between using either a Lieutenant or Captain datasheet depending on the list.

This model is a classic Jes Goodwin (070268/6 from the 1992 Citadel Catalogue) and I bought him new a very long time ago.  Actually 2 of them came in the blister pack! (What am I going to do with the second one?)

So I had a very long time to think about what I wanted him to look like.  It was clear that the armor had an elaborate breastplate with a planish metal finish (also known as hammered metal) that should probably be gold, but otherwise there is a lot going on.  Along time ago it was just too much to parse so I think it was intentional that I avoided working on this miniature until I knew what I was doing and what I wanted.

In the end, well today rather, I had a much better sense: I wanted it to have the same color scheme as the battleline tactical squad troops (rather than my elites).  This is because he wears standard power armor (albeit a bit more fancy) as opposed to Terminator Armor, so it makes sense to wear similar colors.  Also, now that I have Lt. Aurelius, I wanted them to match a bit.  This time however, with the hammered metal I was going to use metallic gold instead of golden yellow.

Just to be sure I did a few internet searches to see what other people had done with him.  I stumbled across about 7 different ones.  4 were valent attempts by hobbiests and 40k enthusiasts, and while I wont show them (mainly because I am not sure who to give credit to), my main critique (skill level aside since I'm not a pro either) was that they were all riots of color.  Just way too much going on.  The 3 I will show I believe to all be professional jobs by Games Workshop 'eavy Metal staff (so credit to them).

None of these schemes look good to me.  

The first one is a blue and silver theme (probably to mirror the blue and white of the Ultramarines) and perhaps came before it was established more firmly that yellow/gold was the Ultramarine secondary color (and that the white of the Ultra Iconography was mostly just reserved for the icon and is more of a tertiary color).  It looks like it comes from 'eavy Metal in White Dwarf.  Overall it seems very dark, but I give credit for keeping the color scheme fairly simple.  I don't like the green chest laurels (which seems to be a staple in every example), but you've gotta love the classic goblin green base.  This pro did an incredible job with the plume and the checkering on the knees. (edit: found references: Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition Rulebook, pg. 64)

Next is what I think is probably the best and closest to what I ended up with.  I think this was probably painted late 1st or early 2nd edition and it matches the scheme of the time (and therefore also my scheme).  I think this also came from a White Dwarf, but again not sure who the artist was (edit: found reference: Codex: Ultramarines 2nd edition pg 29 or 87).  Notice the red weapons and the inclusion of a lot of gold and yellow.  There's too much going on color wise though - 3 different colors of leather?  Why do we insist on the green laurels?  The red and white plume was cool though, I kinda wish I had tried that.  Interesting that this one and the next one didn't have the cape.

The last one I found that I'm going to show looks like a modern recreation of number 2, but with a few twists.  I think they did a great job, but still too much color for me.  I think this one might have been by a private painter, but pro or near pro level.  If it's yours or know whos it is, let me know so I can give credit.

So with the reference examples, it was pretty clear what I didn't want, and so a lot easier for me to zero in on what I did want.  Gold hammered metal (and gold laurels), matching leather, and otherwise the same scheme as my battle line: Blue, Yellow, Red, and White.  So a red cape (to match Lt Aurelius), brown leathers of the yellow tone, white for the plume and iconography, and finally matching power sword and plasma pistol effects that I had done previously (though amped up a bit I hope).  Also, a bit of color theory here - the yellows and reds seem to be a good split complimentary pair to the blue, and so I think this scheme works so well for that reason, but really 3 should be the limit.

This angle really shows the OSL effect and the subtitle reflection on the side of the helmet.

I'm really happy with the result.  Not a riot of color, elevated but still related to the main battle line and the core color schemes of my army.  Let me know what you think!

PS: "Psigoras" is a nod to one of my dad's gaming callsigns.  He introduced me to making models at an early age and would take me to hobby stores.  He always encouraged my model making hobby and helped a lot with tools and such.  Thanks dad!

OSL Fun times

The final stage for my Captain was the OSL step for the plasma pistol.  My army seems to have hydrogen or nitrogen plasma (there was a reddit post about it awhile back and there's cool info and images here) so I make sure they all glow with a pink color (Screamer Pink).  In hindsight I wish I had picked something that didn't look like Pepto, but I was trying to differentiate the effect from everything else, and purple/pink was basically the only available tone.

My older models didn't really achieve any OSL effect, but looking back at them you can imagine them as either warming or as not in 'plasma overcharge' mode.  Recently I decided to go for it on my Mk 5 Sergeant and it turned out pretty good.  This time I wanted to also add the effect to the front vents and nozzle/barrel as well.

Also, last time I pretty much winged it, so this time I wanted to follow someone's process.  I went with Juan Hidalgo's plasma tutorial which was pretty good and basically followed what I had seen before.

I converted his colors to mine (which was Volupus Pink Contrast instead of Blood Angels Red Contrast, and then various mixes of Screamer Pink and Vallejo White going from pure Screamer, then 50/50, up to 80 White + 20 Screamer) and then set at it.

The first step was to undercoat the coils white.

Then paint on contrast.

Next was the coils, vents, and nozzle 

Then the OSL glow effect as a glaze on raised areas around the coils and vents, and by the adjacent surface.  Its really important to be subtle.

It wasn't quite right when I went to bed and I realized that I didn't have a proper wash consistency on the 3rd step to flood the coils and get the capillary action into the recesses of the coils so I had to go back this morning and really bring it up a notch.  I also gave a bit more of the metallic 'concentrated' reflection to the side of the helmet which really improved the effect.  The lighting for the final shot was a bit brighter than the in process pictures (sorry), but I'm pretty happy that it does look like it is glowing now.

So moral of the story is, be sure to have a wash/glaze consistency to flood into the recesses, and you can always go back and fix things.

Chappy ‘n Chappy (WIP) Update 6

 Almost there! Arms and cape attached, bases based.  Left to do is matte seal, highlight metallic areas, the OSL effect for the plasma pistol, and a bit of ‘ard coat to shine up the lenses and jewels.

But the weather outside is frightful, erm a bit too cold to spray the sealer so might have to wait a bit.

Pewter is Hard (to pin)

 I love my retro 40k army, an army that I mostly collected ~25 years ago but only was able to paint to my standards in recent years.  I love the classic beakie armor and the bit of wimsy some of the sculpts bring to the grimdark.  I love the Rogue Trader era.  I love that almost every model in my army is entirely or largely metal, and I got them back when they still made them that way.  I like the heft, they feel sturdy.  (They say that people tend to associate weight with value.)

I HATE trying to drill into pewter though.  Its super hard and takes forever.  I was dreading it and dreading it, and sure enough, it was a pain.

I got through it, but not without problems.

This is another drill bit that was ruined.  The other end is still stuck in Chappy's armpit, probably to remain there for a long, long time.  To be honest, these drill bits have always had problems (maybe they were made for wood or plastic?)  And they also seem too long for their diameter.  I'd really like to improve this skill and gain the right info/tools, especially since I have a bunch of classic Grey Knight Terminators with a bunch of tiny metal weapons/arms to assemble.  I think the bit was only 0.5 or 0.6mm.

So anyway, the hole I was drilling probably didnt need to be so deep, and even after I broke off the drill bit, there was still some hole depth that I could use to pin the arm with.  I do worry that it is much weaker now, but not sure how to fix it.

Then on the other side I went with a bit that was much larger, and that came with the Army Painter kit that the pins came from.  Seems at the larger diameter it would be less likely to break, and I was also hoping that maybe also it was for sure designed to be able to drill metal miniatures.  I think I went with the 1.2mm bit.  Anyway, it worked, but it seemed like I was drilling a crater by comparison.  And it was really, really, really hard.  Pewter is hard, and I was trying to be as gentle as possible to be careful with the paint etc.   The real lesson is to drill everything before painting.  I guess that didn't occur to me because I wanted to paint disassembled, but of course I could have at least drilled and maybe even prepped and saved off the pin somewhere to glue later.  Welp thats why I'm here right?  Write down these lessons so that I do it right next time.

Anyway, Chappy here is almost done, and since he is all about reciting litanies of hate, it seems appropriate that I recited some too while putting him together, ha!

Color Tone Study

 As I mentioned in the last Chappy 'n Cappy update, I realized that I had used cool tones Dark Reaper and Vallejo Gray Blue for the armor edge highlights.  The recipe I blindly followed was Giovanni Di Lena's presumably famous guide for black power armor.  It was funny because in the back of my mind I was thinking I was supposed to use a modified formula, but I thought I had already modified it in my plan.

Turned out I hadn't.  So when I got looking at my miniature, it looked off.  From Jeremie Teboul's book I knew exactly the problem - color tones.  At first I thought that maybe the cool tones of the armor and the warmer tones of everything else would be an ok effect to emphasize the difference between materials.

But, it kept bugging me.  It looked off and it kept me up at night.  So finally I decided I'd do something, but I didn't want to redo the most difficult edge highlighting stages, so I wanted to try contrast paint.  On a hidden area where the arms are to connect, I tried several colors to try and tint the existing highlights.  Boy did that not work!  I mean, if I wanted a sickly green effect, or muddy rust effect then it would have been great, but none of the tinting effects were anywhere near the look I was trying to achieve.

So rather than agonize further, I just re-did it all with warmer colors.  Specifically Vallejo Olive Brown instead of Dark Reaper, and a 50/50 mix of Vallejo Sky Gray and Vallejo Basalt Gray (because I should have a perfect medium gray in my palette but I don't) instead of Vallejo Gray Blue.  The Olive Brown is definitely warm, and the gray is neutral, but definitely warmer than Dark Reaper and Gray Blue which are both cool tones.

Even though I made some errors and had to fix a few spots, it was worth the extra 4 hours.  I have some before and after pictures that I've tried my best to match lighting and you can see the difference (I think), though in person it is very striking.

So it was inadvertent, but a really good lesson on color tone theory.  I kinda wish I didn't practice it on this miniature, but I'm glad it turned out well and it now looks great!

PS: I changed how I did the highlights on the 'toes' which aren't straightforward.  I saw how the reference GW model was done so changed it to try to match and they look better too.  I think overall I did about the same job, some areas ended up a bit better other areas ended up not as good.

Using Crusade Manager to track my Army

For as long as I have been collecting my miniatures I have been writing my own data sheets and creating army lists, even though it took decades to actually play a game!

As cool as it is to have some modern tools to generate army lists, it seems that none of the tools do a good job of tracking custom information about your miniatures, such as photos, or their battle history, etc.  The bad news is that some community generated tools might be forced out while 'official' tools have even less functionality!  (I hope this trend is reversed.)

So, years ago I had the foresight to capture as much information as I could about each game I played so that some day I could come back and compile it into a tool, if it were to ever come about.

Some day is today!

(Now Faustus has a cool datasheet, just like the 90s!)

It isn't a perfect solution, but a tool that is used for Crusade Narrative style games might have enough of the features.  I discovered Crusade Manager and it allows you to enter custom names, descriptions, and even portraits of your units/characters.  Additionally, while it was designed for Crusade games, its a bit of fun to use the built in experience points and rank trackers to 'estimate' what my characters overall experience would be (as if every game is part of my own 'personal' crusade).  Obviously I can't apply any crusade type bonuses to the battle-forged matched play type games or anything, but it's just fun to add my own narration to any random game I play in the future.

Maybe someday a better tool will come along for this, but for now this seems really great. The tool is free, though you do have to plug in data from your own codices (so that they don't get in trouble), but it seems ok.  I'm plugging them just so that maybe others reading this might benefit or tell me if they have better ideas.  Maybe the creators will add more features if more people use it this way?  I dunno, but its fun.

By the way, I had already created the "Battle of Sigmatus" personal campaign for myself (which I won! Sigmatus was Saved!) but maybe some day I'll play an actual real crusade.  I could even imagine playing a single narrative style game set in my 'personal crusade' and just allow the other player to pick some matching bonuses to 'catch up'.  The possibilities are endless, and the company under Leo Faustus of the Ultramarines is Legendary.

Theodesius is close to rank up!

Chappy 'n Cappy (WIP) Update 5

Edge highlights!  Now starting in on highlight washes for the bone areas (still work to do).

I've found that taking pictures that I can study and zoom in helps me find areas where blending/highlights/shading isn't quite right and I can go back and fix. For example, the Chaplain's right cheek bone needs to be a bit brighter.

A few weeks back I got "Figopedia: Light & Colour - Theory & Practice" by Jeremie Bonamant Teboul (all the way from France!) It's a great resource and I've only scratched the surface.  I'm still trying to get the very basics down.  The bone, scrolls, and purity seals on the Chaplain are all warm tones and the armor will be cooler tones (in the highlight colors).  At first I thought this might be violating the theory, but it seems that he does have a technique where you can do that to create contrast, so lets say yes I did that intentionally!  Anyway, looking forward to learning and applying more as I go.