Karandas the shadowmaster revamp

So there is a super-awesome post on reddit about a re worked Karandas model from halfof1half.

My own model from the 90s does not look anything like this (see below) nor do I think I could even come close now. 

But I want to give it a try as part of the Eldar restoration project. 

 The paint came off super easy compared to the plastic /metal models I've tried before (must be the lead content) one day in the detol bath and he was silver again. I've therefore dumped a trio of Dark Reapers in there who also need a desparate repaint.

In searching for a good colour scheme I ve gone through the usual sources, Google images, Pinterest. Kind of like this one all in green.

While he was sat on my desk waiting his turn to be rebased and primed he just looks so tiny compared to the new minis

So I got one of my spare 40mm bases (still not sure where they came from) and tried a DAS modelling clay sculpted base. I used clay as I didn't want to clip the metal stand so wanted it to slide into something.

 I used Green Stuff to cover up the centre slide. Waking up the next day and putting the grit layer on the base I feel I made a mistake and the feet have been buried into the base too much.

There was a bit of play in the stand still so I tried to wedge some grit under the feet to raise them up a bit.

 I'm kind of pressed for time on this bit as there is a break in the cold weather coming up that will let me prime my next batch of miniatures. The pile of shame is really mounting up. With Christmas on the way I've probably got enough painting to do to last me until June.

 I get the priming done and I do like the way miniatures look when primed. Shame Black and white Noir is not a thing. Maybe I could scheme him more that way... 

Colour scheme wise I went back to traditional green I went with a dark paint and thinned it with water to get some transparency so the brightness from the priming comes through. I wanted to avoid yellow. I've had success with my genestealer army but most other applications it's just gone horribly wrong. I tried using bone for the main helmet look. This would mirror the white of the priming noir. 

The bone came out too white even after a shade with earth's-shade. To bring it down a notch I made a glaze with rhionx hide (brown)and laminium medium and  pushed it into the cracks and pushed it over the shaded surfaces to bring down the tone. 

 For the metallics I went with gold but was a bit worried about the colour pallete particularly on the shurkien pistol of the claw. 

 I therefore adjusted the amount of gold on there by painting more of the gauntlet green amd then blending rakarth flesh into the gold edges to make it look worn. 

The jewels also received more layers to bring them out. 

Sadly the back wasn't looking as good as I'd like. 

Jdj

Jndnf

Space Hulk 40k terrain

After reading the first part of Wolf Time I was inspired to create some Space Hulk corridors that my marines could advance down as per their chapter specialty. Boarding actions.

I've tried to make corridors before but it didn't work well and I ditched the idea. You can see the "ruin" in one of my reports is actually supposed to be a intersection. This time actually drew out the design in CAD and used graphics chipboard rather than cereal box grey cardboard.

 The square part on the left is the intersection and rectangular one on the right is a corridor 

 I'm ignoring the outside of the box for now concentrating on the inside of how the ship corridors will look. 

 Below are in progress shots of how the corridors look with some bits in them

The results aren't perfect its me bodging things again.

 I started out with a couple of corridors and a intersection. The corridors are 150mm long (6") and about 100mm wide with the idea being to be able to put two terminators side by side in a corridor. 

Little details are going to be the key but I want to keep the cost as low as possible. One of my favourite building materials is very much going to be in evidence. SPRUE! 

For starters it's going to go on the inside of every door to give them a more 3D shape

I checked out some videos of what other people had created to get inspiration. This guys space hulk table is awe inspiring. YouTube link.

 He used a lot of GW pipes. This would be too rich for my budget but it gave me an idea. 

 I could get some good looking parts by using DAS air drying clay to take imprints of the pipes control bits. Although backwards these provide nice little details that if you don't look too closely give the right impression. 

 I tried my ideas out in CAD. To fit a whole table I would need 20 corridors and 10 intersections. With each element taking up 2 pieces of card I'd need 60+.  

It would also still be very uniform so I built narrow corridors that used only a single piece of card that would allow more mixed floor plans.

 Next I came up with doors a simple print graphic onto a thin bit of cardboard that slides into the door frames.

I found the door looked a little rough so I added some sprue to the outside to give it some more texture.

Floors needed something 

So grating using a plastic packaging from the premium oranges covering the edges with card. 

With a lick of paint these look good