Blood Angel Terminators---Finished Paint

Greetings once again InterWebs! As the New Year rapidly approaches I managed to get some 'hobby time' in and I managed to finish the painting of my Blood Angel Space Hulk Terminators. Now I have to wait for the weather to warm up a little (we are supposed to have snow today) before I can begin the sealing process. I am quite happy to get this group of miniatures done as their custom bases are waiting for them. Here are a couple of overview shots:

Here are a couple of views of Squad Gideon (the close combat squad):

Here are a couple of views of Squad Lorenzo:

Here are a couple of views of Squad Canto:

Squad Canto includes Brother Scipio who was a bit of a test model throughout the entire process. Here are several closeup views of Brother Scipio and his base:

I am really pleased with how Brother Scipio looks on his custom base (in case you missed the post on how I made this); I think the red is toned down enough by the base's color pallet.

That's it for now. Take care and have a happy and prosperous New Year!

Product Review: Back 2 Bas-ix Paint Racks

Greetings once again InterWebs! It is a busy holiday season here in the Rocky Mountains and we are looking at snow for Christmas Day. I have managed to sneak a little 'hobby-time' in however; my lovely better half recently purchased a paint rack system for me. I have been looking at 'The Rack' system from an Australian Company called Back 2 Bas-ix. I will be the first to admit that my painting area needed some organization and the way I stored my paints was annoying (having to dig through a box to pick out the right color)! Here are a few views of the before:

Not very organized at all! With the help of a straight section and a curved section I set out to bring order to the chaos of the painting desk!

Cost: 
The overall price of 'The Rack' components is not very expensive at all; however the shipping from Australia was NOT cheep. I would be willing to order from them again even knowing the shipping is going to be steep however I would like to find a closer to home alternative.

Packaging:
Both pieces were shipped together in one large padded envelope with some additional 'bubble-wrap' protection. Here is a shot of the packaging:

Here are some shots of the individual packaging of the 2 sections:

Straight Section of 'The Rack':

Curved Section of 'The Rack':

Shipping Issues:
Both items arrived relatively intact, there were 2 problems with the straight section. The first problem was immediately apparent when I open the shipping envelope and several pieces of hardware fell out onto the floor.

It seems that the packaging for the straight section had broken inside the mailing envelope scattering the pieces of assembly hardware. After collecting the scattered pieces I was not sure if I had found everything and therefore was not sure if I had enough hardware to assemble the piece. It turns out that Back 2 Bas-ix had included a few extra pieces so I was safe!

The second problem was discovered next when I went to put the sections together. It seems that in shipping one of the little slot holes had busted. In the end it had little effect on the final assembly and structural integrity of the piece so it was no big deal. This is to be expected when dealing with thin, fiddly bits of MDF I guess.

Assembly: 
It was time to assemble the 2 sections so I looked on the Company's website and was directed to their series of assembly videos on YouTube. I found these to be helpful although assembly of these sections is not hard at all! The only tool that was needed was a simple Philips Head Screwdriver:

While watching some American Football I spent about 10-15 minutes each assembling the 2 sections. Here are some views of the assembled pieces:

Side View showing assembly hardware:

The 2 sections connected together via magnets:

Back 2 Bas-ix was nice enough to include small magnets which are used to 'connect' the sections together. I thought this was a nice touch. Now that the sections were assembled it was time to fill them up with my paints and get started painting again!

Final Thoughts:
I am impressed with these! I wanted to get these sections as a test to see if they would work for me or not. It seems I have found a very good storage/display option and I will have to order another couple of sections to hold the rest of my paints. I might even look into their tool storage options as well!

What I liked:
1) ease of assembly
2) view of the paints
3) magnets to hold them together
4) cost of the sections

What I don't like:
1) cost of shipping

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! Back to painting and holiday cheer! Take care all!

Blood Angels Space Hulk Terminators PiP part 2

Greetings once again InterWebs!!! The Holiday Season is almost here and that means personal time starts to get cut into by Holiday preparations, shopping, cooking, watching football, etc. I did manage to sneak in a bit of hobby time this weekend somehow and got to put some more paint onto the Terminators. Not a huge amount of progress but at this point each additional color seems to bring them that much closer to being finished not to mention the details make the red stand out a little more.

Here is an overview shot:

Here are three views of the 'backsides' of the three squads:

Here are some various close-up views of the different Terminators:

If you have followed my previous posts about these fellows you know that there is a Terminator that had to be built onto his base; I refer to him as my 'testbed' miniature to show me how the rest will look once they go on their custom bases. Here are a few views of Brother Scipio:

Finally, I wanted to try a two-tone cloak on one of the sergeants and I am fairly pleased with how it is coming along so far. What do you think?

At this point I am looking at:
1) A fair amount of black paint to black line the detail areas
2) Boltgun Metal, Gold, and Silver
3) Individual Heraldry on the shoulder shields
4) Power weapon effects
5) Fix any mistakes

Opps....forgot to mention all those blood drops!

Hopefully not to much longer! Thank you for stopping by my little corner of the InterNet. Take care! Comments always welcome!

Blood Angel Space Hulk Terminators---P.I.P

Greetings once again InterWebs! Here in the States we had our Thanksgiving Holiday which meant I had a 4-day weekend! Time off to cook the big dinner on Thursday, shop on 'Black Friday', watch some football (both College and Professional), and PAINT!

On the desk I have the Terminators from the Space Hulk Boardgame and a couple of my own; it was time to get some paint on them! I started off with my standard grey primer which I ensured a smooth coverage overall; next came the Mechrite Red Base Coat. Yes I still use some of the old GW paints; when the company changes paint formulas halfway through a project you have to make do with what you started the project with. Here are some various shots of the Mechrite Red coating:

There is one Terminator that had to have his base built around him so I have to be careful when painting him that I do not ruin the paint on the base. I do like how he acts as a 'test' miniature to see how the paint job will look when the Terminators are put on their custom bases which are waiting for them. Here he is in Mechrite Red:

After two thin coats of Mechrite Red (to ensure even coverage) I used a custom 'Deep Crimson' wash to add some depth to the base coat. Here is the group (including the lone guy on his base) after the 'Deep Crimson' wash:

After waiting an hour to ensure the wash had completely dried I hit the miniatures with the next stage of red which is 'Gory Red'. Here are some shots of the next step:

The next step for me was to hit the upper areas (where the light shines the most) with 'Scar Red'. This is the final highlight for me; here are some shots of the 'Scar Red' step:

The final step for me in painting my Blood Angel Red is a Custom Baal Red/Red Ink Wash that helps 'knock down' any harsh highlights and helps to blend the various different reds together. Here is the bunch with the red all done:

I think the red works for Blood Angels and it is easy to paint (which is important when painting a hundred plus miniatures). At this point the Terminators looked like little lumps of red in dire need of some details to be picked out with other colors. At this point I enlarged the back cover of the Space Hulk Boardgame Rulebook (which has a very nice picture of the Terminators painted up) and hung it on the wall in front of my painting desk. I did this so I could double check on how GW painted theirs while I was painting mine. Here is a shot of it hanging:

With the picture as an aid I started in on the finer details of the paint process. I was getting pressed for time (as errands and housework called) so I decided to stay away from colors that were needed in large amounts on all of the miniatures. I will get to those next! Here are the Terminators as they sit right now on the painting desk:

I do like this shot!

At this point it was time to call it quits in the hobby room but not before I cleaned my brushes! Painting red tends to be a little hard on the paint brushes as they tend to get 'stained' by the various reds and it is important to always clean your brushes especially after painting red!

That is all for now folks, thanks for stopping by my little corner of the InterWebs! Take care!