Topic: StraightSilver's Macragge PDF.

[StraightSilver]

Cheers Artcore, just been looking at your ULtras, you've got loads done!!

I must admit to being quite jealous as my Ultras sort of ground to a halt, although the idea behind the Macragge PDF is that I can paint Marines at the same time as I will be batch painting the Guard.

I really love your vehicles, in particular your Land Speeder and your Predator. The weathering is very effective on your tanks.

As for the decals, I am as yet undecided.

I hate decals, and swore never to use them again but on vehicles I prefer the makrkings to be crisp and my Freehanding isn't up to that unfotunately.

I am gonna give it a go though, as I would like the markings to be slightly bigger than they are now, and would also prefer them painted on.

If that doesn't work I may have to make up my own decals using Mico Sol and then do them properly, using Decal solvents, varnish etc.

And yes you're right, I would probably get more things finished if I just left them alone, but my OCD means I have to keep going back and fiddling unfortunately !

[SMVaughn]

Well Chris, I must say you add a motivation to start some IG, and maybe even paint a Ultra force. Your painting has never left anything shy of Awe at your work.

I love the look of your vehicles, and your troops look wicked.

Hope you are having great fun with this as it looks like you are. It shows in your work.

[Semaj_14]

I too feel A hate for those damn decals. I never did get to the whole varnish and whatnot step but when I first started they traumatized me... now I will never go back!

[StraightSilver]

Hi guys, well I have some small progress to show you.

I have spent the last few days putting things together in preperation for painting. IG are always a bit troop heavy to begin with and I need to get my 1 HQ and 2 Troops choices painted early on, but then can just paint tanks!

So I have assembled another Infantry squad with Autocannon and Plasma gun, but as these look exactly like the last lot I just thought I'd show you the sergeant for now:



Nothing too exciting, just the same chest piece modification and a head from the Catachan Command squad (thanks Ian for this you are a star).

Then my Junior Officer and 2 Plasma Gunners. Just need to assemble Auto Cannon team for this unit:




And finally my Peltasts, or Scout unit. These will be "counts as" Penal Troops, and I think the rules for them actually fit Scouts perfectly.

I have to say I was looking forward to making these the most, but am disappointed with the results so far. I will reserve judgement until they are finished, but right now they just don't look right.

I think it may be due to the Catachan Legs being disproportionately short, or maybe I shouldn't have removed so much of the body armour?

I wanted them to be lightly armoured forward observers, but also to be geared up for assault as they have a good chance of rolling this on their special rules.

I used the Marine Scout heads as I love the Night Vision goggles but I wonder if they might be too big?

Also please ignore the Catachan arms for now. These will have rolled up sleeves greenstuffed on soon, and may also need further shaving down to make them look less "Arnie"

It also doesn't help that that the pics are all a bit out of focus, had problem with the camera last night.








I'm hoping these will look better once I get some paint on them, but I'm now wondering if I should have used different legs, maybe Marine Scout legs?

[Guildmage Aech]

Looking good, I liked the hellhound in ultras blue.. looks pretty smart. Not tempted to have sections painted with the lighter colour used on the troop's fatigues?

And not sure what to suggest with the scout troops, it might just be a problem with the older catachans which where all a bit out of proportion with big arms and tiny waists. As you say, try a few with paint on to see if that helps.

[StraightSilver]

Cheers Hymirl,

because this army follows the Codex Astartes I had decided to paint the vehicles up as if they were Marine ones, so therefore solid colour with no camo and Marine markings.

Once I'd started though I too decided that the blue was a bit "full on" on its own, so I may introduce another colour.

My initial plan was to paint all the stowage in the bone colour of the fatigues to break it up a bit, but there isn't too much of that on this particular vehicle.

For my Chimeras I will painting one of the side panels to match the squad they are transporting, so White for Vets, Red for Commander etc.

However this normally changes during execution as I can never make my mind up! :0

And unfortunately I have discovered what it is about the Catachan Legs / Cadian Torsos that isn't quite right.

The Catachan Legs have a belt sculpted onto them, as do the Cadian Torsos.

I thought that if I simply removed the belt from the torso and attached it to the legs that should suffice and would prevent having 2 belts.

However someone on work_in_progress has pointed out that the Catachan belt is positioned low down on the hips, whilst the Cadian one is higher up above the waist.

Therefore by cutting the belt off the torso I have shortened the waist slightly. I should have put in a spacer and sculpted more torso which would have made the proportions better.

Depending on time I may go back and saw them in half and redo them, but I might paint one up first to see if I can get away with it.

Cheers.

[SMVaughn]

I like the dynamic poses of your squads. Very story and epic telling.

Keep up. Look forward to seeing them painted.

[Guardsman Haddock]

As for the decals, I am as yet undecided.

I hate decals, and swore never to use them again but on vehicles I prefer the makrkings to be crisp and my Freehanding isn't up to that unfotunately.

What's all this worry about decals?

Are you concerned about the backing film or is there another issue?  If it is the backing film, just lay on a very smooth coat of gloss varnish (and I mean really glossy... so no air is trapped beneath the decal) on the area where the decal will be applied.  Let it dry, apply the decal(s).  Spray a coat of matte varnish over the entire model and *presto* you should no longer see the backing film.

Otherwise, your PDF is shaping up very nicely. The blue coat on the hellhound is brilliant!  I will be following with interest...

[StraightSilver]

Hi guys, sorry for the lack of updates recently. Unfortunately a combination of bad chest infection and problems with my contact lenses has meant that my painting hasn't been as productive as I would have liked, but I do have something to show you all.

These are my "counts as" Penal Troops. These are based around the idea of IG forward observers / scouts as this fits my fluff better, and I think the rules for Penal Troops back this up perfectly.

I had some real problems with the heads and faces on these guys though so I may have to go back and redo a fair bit to them, but I am happy with the conversion work now that they have some paint on them.

Obviously still very PIP right now though.












And I have done a tiny, weeny bit more to my Hellhound:




I have also base coated 2 more infantry squads but these are looking pretty messy right now so I didn't take any pics of those.

[Artcore]

Unfortunately a combination of bad chest infection and problems with my contact lenses has meant that my painting hasn't been as productive as I would have liked, but I do have something to show you all.

Sorry to hear you got ill; are you back on your feat now?

I had some real problems with the heads and faces on these guys though so I may have to go back and redo a fair bit to them

So... what's not good about their heads and faces? I can't see what could be improved. They look awesome.

The tank is also getting really cool

Can you tell us what mix you use to highlight the Ultramarine Blue areas?

[tryanotherone - smurfernating]

The Hellhound looks great.

Is that the heavy flamer from the Catachan Cmd box?

[Fugitive]

The "scouts" look very cool and is a nice way to use the legioners in your theme. Good to see some progress on the hellhound as well.

Is that the heavy flamer from the Catachan Cmd box?

I believe it's Land Raider Redeemer flamers.

[Only Slightly Crazy]

You sir, deserve a golden daemon. 
The converting is excellent, the painting dandy, although the areas painted brown seam a little plain.

[Artcore]

You sir, deserve a golden daemon. 

I agree

although the areas painted brown seam a little plain.

I think the leather parts are still 'PIP'

[StraightSilver]

Cheers guys,

I have yet to summon up the courage to enter Golden Daemon.

I did place about 18-20 years ago, but the competition was very different then (you had to enter local heats and then if you got through you then got judged by the Golden Daemon judges - I was very young but entered a Rogue Trader Ogryn, the original Jes Goodwin one and  managed to get through the regionals but no further. Did get a cool T-Shirt out of it though that I still have but that doesn't fit! )

I must also admit that I think painting has come a long way since I started, and although I do really enjoy painting and have been doing it for a long time I don't think I'd walk away with a trophy, but I should enter just to see if I place, but more importantly to get some feedback from the judges.

My ambition though is to get an army in White Dwarf. I consider myself to be an army painter and paint better than gaming standard so I would love to get one of my armies featured, hopefully this one if I finish it.

I hope that doesn't sound too pretentious, or a bit sad, but seeing other people's armies in WD is one of my favourite bits of the magazine, and I think my armies would be of interest to people.

That's mainly why I am doing something quite different, as my other armies are pretty much painted as they appear in the Codex (Ultramarines, Black Templars and Cadians) and I was advised that these aren't the sort of armies that get picked for this sort of thing.

It's the armies that stand out and are individual, hence my take on Macragge PDF / Ultramar Defence Force which I hope will be different enough for White Dwarf to take an interest. But if they don't then I don't mind as this project has already proved to be great fun, and I haven't even started on the cool stuff yet!!

OK anyway, enough of my ramblings, I'll try to answer some of the questions.

@ Artcore: I am indeed much better thanks, I seem to have been a bit cursed recently but am now back on track so can hopefully get more modelling and painting done.

As for the Ultramarines blue I have two methods, one for vehicles, one for troops.

Vehicles:

Spray Black Undercoat

Mix 50:50 Regal Blue:Chaos Black and drybrush liberally

Drybrush straight Regal Blue over this

70:30 mix Regal Blue:Ultramarines Blue and drybrush

50:50 mix Regal Blue:Ultramarines Blue and repeat

70:30 mix Ultramarines Blue:Regal Blue and repeat

Gently Drybrush straight Ultramarines Blue over this.

The important key to this is to drybrush more gently on each layer to leave the shading colours beneath, but to also make sure you drybrush in the same direction to keep the shading/highlighting consistent. Also wait for each layer to dry before applying the next one, or the drybrushing can remove the paint as well as put it on.

Once all the drybrushing is finished then edge highlight all the straight surfaces, first with straight Ultramarines blue, and then steadily by adding Skull White to Ultramarines Blue until you have the desired effect. The weird thing is that the blue looks darker once all the edge highlighting is in place.

Troops:

Spray Black undercoat.

Base coat all armour areas in Regal Blue, leaving a tiny bit of black in the recesses.

Paint armour in straight Ultramarins Blue again leaving some of the darker Regal Blue in the recesses.

Then make a glaze of Regal Blue (very thinned down paint) and apply this to the recesses. This tones down the black and neatens up the graduation of the layering.

Reapply some thinned down Ultramarines blue to touch up any areas where the glaze may have ran, and then highlight the edges of the armour by adding Skull White to Ultramarines Blue. Again the armour will look strangely a darker shade of blue once the highlighting is in place.

@ Only Slightly Crazy: Yes you're right, I still have a fair bit to finish off on these guys. The leather areas need to be highlighted up, and then I need to sort out the lasguns, back packs and smaller detailing.

@ Tryanotherone: Fugitive is correct, the Hellhound does indeed use the Flame Storm cannons from the Land Raider Redeemer, I had two spare from my Land raider Crusader. They took quite a bit of cutting to fit the Razorback Turret though, and in hindsight I should have just used one Cannon and mounted the Heavy Stubber on the other side, as it doesn't really work in the driver's turret position, but I would also have been able to make 2 Hellhounds out of one (expensive) Land Raider kit.

Using the Razorback turret though looks cool I think, and allows me to play around with some other cool ideas. My Manticore will use the Whirlwind turret for example, and I have some nice ideas for a Banewolf too.

Cheers guys, should hopefully have more to show you soon.

[StraightSilver]

Hi Guys,

Well I must admit that I have been rather slack once again!

I just can't seem to get in the right mood for painting at the moment, but I finally have my eyes sorted out and have new contact lenses so I have no excuse now!

Whilst not feeling like painting however I have managed to get some of next month's figures assembled.

This is my take on Iron hand Straken (my favourite character in the new Codex)




I really wanted to field Straken, but obviously my army isn't Catachan so couldn't ise the official figure.

Therefore I used the bionic arm and scarred up face from the Cadian Command squad box as I thought this represented him very well. I left the power sword on as it will for all intents and purposes be a Relic Blade as it has exactly the same stats as Strakens bionics but I think looks better.

The shotgun is from the Necromunda weapons sprue (which GW really should re release!) and his plasma pistol is inside the holster making him WYSIWYG! 

The reason this has taken me a while to do though is the green stuffed sash which took ages and more than one attempt. I am still not overly happy with it but have some grenades etc to still add which will cover the bits I really don't like.

I added the sash though to make my Senior Officers look more like the metal Cadian one, which is my favourite IG figure.

It also took several attempts to get the FW Brass etching to stick properly!

And talking of Senior Officers with sashes, I am also working on my version of Ursakaar Creed:





Obviously a very long way to go, but I thought I would show the conversion anyway as I like it principal, although wish my Greenstuff skills were better to pull it off properly.

This one's a tiny bit more involved, but very easy.

Baneblade Tank Commader torso sawn in half with a cadian torso stuck on top. The sah is the again greenstuffed on to make it look like the metal Cadian one.

Adding the sash also bulks up the tank commander legs too, as they are a little bit smaller than the plastic Cadians.

I am just waiting for some Empire Greatsword heads to finish this guy off, and I haven't yet decided what arms to give him. He will also have a pair of holsters to represent his twin hellpistols.

And then there is also this chap, my Company Standard Bearer:



And again I had some problems with the FW Brass Etch, which is why right now it's a tiny bit messy, but I plan to sort this out tonight.

And lastly the special weapons veterans (melta guns) to go with Straken, although again there's a long way to go on these guys:



The plan is to get both Command Sqauds assembled before the weekend, but then get my brushes out and finish my Infantry Platoon Hellhound as I now only have 4 weeks left to get them done!

[tryanotherone - smurfernating]

The minis look great but I bet you have already read that elsewhere.

Just one hint. On the last mini I can see a mold line on the mini's left arm.

[StraightSilver]

Cheers Try, yes the left arm is currently blue tacced on right now as I haven't decided exactly what I am going to do with it.

The plan is to have him holding his melta gun at rest, as the other two in the squad will be firing theirs and I didn't want them all to look the same.

The only reason I haven't done that yet though is that I like to pose the head first, but I don't have the head I want yet (it's on order from ebay right now) so I will sort it out then.

But I must admit I have pretty much run out of original poses with the IG plstic arms now and am starting to think about exploring using green stuff more and rebuilding a few of them (I want my Usarkaar Creed to be resting his hand on the top of his holster for example) but I am scared that my GS skills aren't up to that yet.

[tryanotherone - smurfernating]

For variation I recommand cutting off and re-arranging the legs.

I have done that with converted (but not yet finished) =I= Stormtroopers which are based on the current cadians. The results are rather good and it is not too difficult.

[Sweord]

I must say, these models are fantastic, and an absolute joy to look at. I do have two questions, and if they've already been asked, just tell me, and I'll find them.

• How long does it take you to paint one Guardsmen, approximately?
• How long did it take to paint at this level?

I'm just asking because I want to improve my own painting skills, so any information helps. 

Sweord