Blood Angels Tactical Marines First Paint

A little lighter than the scouts, but also a little rougher in transitions – mainly as I’m dialling in some new paints. That’s a topic that will likely get its own post, but for now these guys are good enough to play with and I've got some things to work on; for me that's win/win.

I think of this as a “classic” pose – the truth being it’s one of the only decent poses you could get out of the old RTB-01 box :) hence the beaky head, quite pleased with him, though I can see several areas for improvement on future minis, the highlights could be more coherent and the new metallic paints will take some time to develop smoother transitions with. I’m freehanding company and squad markings too so that's going to take a while to dial in.

 

Combat Squad leader, another “old” helmet and legs giving the team an air of a tac squad who have either been operational a while, or who are working on legacy armour. quite like how the back of this guy came out.

this fellow is on one of the cast bases that came out quite well, between the cheeky skull and the dried up water pool look, I’m quite pleased with that. The model is also quite decent, though a model covered with red, yellow and off white was never going to look awesome first time out; the only paints I am not quite settled with are the yellows, the coverage is traditionally poor.

So there we are, these took the better part of a week picking away at them whenever I had a spare hour, and I’m quite pleased; but a whole squad is likely to need a wee bit more time inv4ested to iron out some of the issues. anyway as always I welcome your thoughts.

oh, also, these are meant to represent 3rd squad second company blood angels. just in case anyone was interested in my choice of markings and colours.

Blood Angels Tactical Squad - Build

This really is a lovely kit, lots of options, lovely custom parts, makes them feel very bespoke without much effort, and the fit is lovely too – testament to the quality of GW’s models.

One criticism would be the size, and the scale creep we’ve seen. I still have a couple of older models from the BA range and they are noticeably smaller. not a new phenomenon, but as my collection only includes some very old and some very new BA models, it’s quite struck me.

Anyway, here are the boys I’ve managed to build with the kit, I’m not cure yet which company to use as far as markings goes, so any input on that would be appreciated :) (since time of draft this is settled, I’m going second company, and these boys will be 3rd squad.)

Sergeant, hand flamer and powersword – These guys basically get the old furious charge so against anything but specialist CC squads they should be able to give quite a mauling up close.

Corporal – no significance, except if I combat squad the unit he’ll lead section 2

Heavy flamer. – I went with an army painter brown  primer here to see if that gets me a warmer red- I’m going to go ahead with a scout in grey primer so that I can compare afterward…

Flamer. a good number of beaky helmets in this box, and as I’m nostagiaing while I build them, its good to be able to use some :)

Riflemen

Riflemen – one in “classic” pose ;)

and the last two to complete the unit.

Quite happy with these builds, tho one or two look a tad awkward, its much easier to get natural poses with this set of bits.

Look for initial paint next post!

Making and Casting 32mm Bases for Power Armour Models (Part 2)

In part 1 I went over creating the mold, so let’s have a look at casting, and the results.

So first things first, lets extract the originals from the mold – start by loosening the edges, and then lift and peel back a corner.

It has good tear strength, but this will of course depend on the thickness of the mold, I made this one quite thin, but its still good.

The finished mold.

For casting I always use a board, and make sure I have somewhere level to set it to cure.

Using Sylmasta products again (no, I’m not being paid by them ;) ) Mixing A and B in the specified proportions, and then quickly pouring into the mold.

It needs to be thouroughly mixed, and yet you do have to work with some alacrity.

It takes about 40 seconds to start to cure after I pour, and you can see here the reaction beginning from the centre out.

Full cure in about 30 mins – you can see on the end there one that isn't properly cured in the middle as I had to make another few ml to complete the mold and I mixed it in haste and didn't get a smooth pour. it wont however matter as this is the bottom of the base.

First pull.

And the results, here you see the mold, the originals and the casts.

  

And here you can see a mix of casts and originals. good enough for me.

Hope that was of use to you, happy to answer any questions below.

Making and Casting 32mm Bases for Power Armour Models (Part 1)

I Quite like this change, having got my mitts on a BA tac squad (more on this later), I find I do like the new size. however also having a death company box from quite a while ago, I needed more than I had, so I set to to make some generic bases I could take a mold of and cast up enough for the small army I am making.

So with some bases made – A bit of epoxy clay for surface detail, some gravel and the odd piece of scatter like a skull or cork rock, I set about making a mold.

I had this useful old plastic tray, and you can see here there are some areas ive put crackle medium in for a “desert” feel – these are also sealed with pva, and glued in place on the plastic tray with pva – you can use any suitable receptacle that will give you depth for create the mold.

I use Sylmasta rubbers and resins for this, moulding rubber and catalyst here along with mold release – this is important especially as the gravel gives lots of small undercuts.

we mix up the rubber in the recommended proportions as the packaging stipulates

Add catalyst

Mix. this isnt mixed enough, and wont cure properly or evenly.

This is what you are looking for. dont worry about the bubbles, it de-gasses well, and a long pour will help.

 

If you were really worried about bubbles you could brush some rubber into any difficult areas before you pour, but I didnt bother here.

leave it for 24-36 hours to fully cure, and de-gass.

at which point it looks like this.

In part two we’ll look at the mold and make some casts..

Hopefully this has been helpful, and I’ll answer any questions in the comments below :)

Blood Angel Scouts – Test Paint Part 2

Back to metallic they go!

Excuse the random mid-week post, but these guys spilled over form the weekend and have only just been photographed.

Back on topic – these guys are back in metallic, with an attempt at (/sigh – odd prhase) “True Metallic Metals” trust me, that is what those in the paint forums call “painting metallics without being lazy and shading it properly”

 

It’s harder than it seems actually, because while black for instance blends in well to make a dark, shadowed tone, and while washes work well to further dirty down; the bright points don't react well to white, so the brightest silver you currently have on your shelf is the high point of your highlights. clearly I need new paints :)

(damn that stray blob on his hair, only just saw that.. grrr.. *gets yellow paint out*)

 

Okay so kindof overkill on the pics, but hopefully the point is made, I’m going with this for all these guys then, and hopefully I’ll learn some new things along the way.

Oh, Sarge here has also had that problematic mold line removed, and I'll get to blending in the red next time i have the colours mixed to the shadows.

Feedback welcome!