40k Squad Complete

Golden Demon 2010 entry number two is now complete. I finished the movement tray for the squad two nights ago. Although the rules claim that the display base does not get judged, they recommend you have one to ease model transportation. Therefore, I created a modest base that ensured good spacing between the models. Another significant addition to this squad was the addition of Karandras' helmet to the base. My original vision for this model was to show Karandras without his helm. I liked that his tall top-knot-like pony tail could fit rather comfortably inside the tall helmet. However, this aspect would be lost on those not already familiar with the original sculpt of the model. Therefore, I painted and added the helmet to the base to show that he has temporarily taken it off. Below are pictures of the whole squad and then Karandras alone.

Golden Demo 40k Squad

I painted up a squad for the Golden Demon two years ago and did not win (although they earned a finalist pin). The five models I entered took me a painfully long time to paint and I still don't have the energy to try painting up a whole squad again. Instead, I'm going to give this squad a makeover and try again. I believe I made two significant mistakes with the squad the first time. The first mistake was the use of gloss varnish and the second mistake was insufficient "wowness."

I normally spray all of my freshly painted models with gloss varnish to provide a durable protective coating that I then over coat with a less durable but matte, dull coat spray. In the past, this dull coat layer was enough to remove the shiny look but not this time. Successive layers of the dull coat have proven unsuccessful :-( Nevertheless, I have strong plans for fixing the "wowness" issue. If you've heard me rant on this issue before, you can probably guess that I mean more contrast and bolder hardlines. Below is one of the models that received the wowness makeover.
The image on the left is before the makeover. The middle image is after the first round of hard lines and highlights. The hardlines came our really rough, so I spent several more hours on the squad smoothing them out. Additionally, I added more highlights to the greens and painted runes on their forehead. I like the results (minus the irremovable shine).

Hardliner T-shirts for Games Day?

So, I thought it might be cool to finally get Hardliner T-shirts done (with Games Day around the corner). There is a popular online company (Customink.com) that happens to be located 25 min from my house that I plan on ordering from. Below is the color and style that I propose. Nevertheless, I'm open to suggestions. Additionally, since our order number will not be large enough to gain any bulk discounts, we could all get different color schemes and the cost wouldn't change. With shipping, each would cost $23. I've asked if they will give a discount if I pick them up (no response yet).

OSL Fire Prism - Update 7.5

I know that I said that I was completely done painting the tank in the last update, but I just didn't like the way the canopies looked. They seemed too light colored to be believable (image on left). After all, if so little light gets out the canopy that I cannot see the crew inside, then it must be dark. The picture below (on right) shows the second repainting of the canopies. The first repainting just involved shading the current paint job with successive thin layers of black to make it darker. This turned out to be too blah--with the black fading up to a dark gray. The current version fades from black to purple to blue. I like it better.

OSL Fire Prism - Update 7

The tank is completely painted and glued together. I just need to finish adding terrain to the base of the stand and the model will be complete. While waiting for some of the rocks to dry, I went ahead and snapped a few more photos. Below are some new views of the finished version.
Some quick notes with regard to the photos themselves... For most of this series, I left the light studio on the shelf and instead, took advantage of the great natural light that pours into the huge windows in our 15th floor condo. When the photos are taken around noon, the light bouncing around the living room creates a nearly shadow free zone near the center of the room. The spectrum and diffuse lighting has made for the easiest mini picture taking I've ever done. I simply set the camera to macro lens and clicked away multiple shots (I didn't even use a tripod). With the photo studio, I had to carefully direct the lamps and continual tweak the camera's aperture and color settings.

OSL Fire Prism - Update 6

I'd say that I'm about 80% complete with the engine glow effect. There is something that I just don't like, but I don't know what it is yet. A suggestion for those wishing to try something similar: don't glue the two pieces of the lower hull together before painting them. The inside of the engine nozzles would be much easier to reach if they were not already combined and trying to blend the interior or a tube is not easy. I don't really like how it turned out, but I don't think I can make it look much better. The below picture shows the results so far. The top image shows the results of my initial plan, however, something looked missing when I looked into the engine nozzle and couldn't see anything that could be the source of the blue glow. The lower image is my tentative fix. It uses the back half of an Imperial search light casing (from old tank accessory sprue) to represent the engine's flame cone within the nozzle. The problem is that the nozzle casts a shadow on the flame cone and ruins the OSL effect a bit.
Please let me know which version you think looks better. I think I like the lower version.

OSL Fire Prism - Update 5

OK....no OSL in this episode. Using a suggestion from Kenneth (probably 8 years ago) I've used one of the stock decals and hand painted over it. I think it looks pretty good. I'm a little worried about how this hybrid will react to the spray varnish. I've found that the slide on decals hate the spray varnish and shrivel up after being sprayed.

Next phase is making those engines you see in the below picture appear to have an inner blue glow.