Finished - Dark Angel Captain

I finished this mini that has been sitting on my painting table for probably a year.  I do not play Dark Angles now and with no plans to start a force. If I ever do it will be a long long time away.

Green is an amazingly easy color to paint. Maybe I am saying that because red so miserable to paint. It shades nicely with black and to make the highlight all you need to do is add a little white to your base color. It covers well even over a black undercoat.

Dark Angels present a specific problem of needing to paint dark, almost black, armor while still making it green and highlighting it. Dark Angel Green goes on ok over a black undercoat but it looks much better over a lighter one. Knarloc Green goes on great over a black coat and DAG looks great over that. After that you can give a sloppy highlight of Snott Green. A black wash darkens everything down and still retains depth and highlighting.

After this, less is more. the more you monkey with things, the worse it looks. Just a little Snott Green on the hard edges and the barest whisper of Goblin Green makes form awesome green armor.

Finished - Vindicator!

 After almost a year on the table and longer that that sitting on a shelf, The Vindicator is done. I went a little crazy with the weathering and battle damage, but It think it turned out ok. 

The turret is magnetizable so I can swap out any of the Storm Bolter turrets that  already have for my Rhinos. There is an additional magnet on the round dome painted silver for an additional Storm Bolter but I doubt that I'll do that upgrade much. 

The Demolisher Cannon is magnetized for battle damage as well as the dozer blade. 

I am pretty proud of this but mostly I am glad it is done. 

On the table next is a couple of Blood Angles and after that I am going to finish that damn Drop Pod from ages ago. 

Finished - Marines out of Rehab

The Marines from this post have finished their touch ups and are ready for their clear coat. All told, the process took only a little less than painting them from primer. Almost every color had to be retouched and in some cases they had to be repainted entirely. In the end, I am glad I did it. I have two more Sergeants than I did before.

I love the power fist model. I think it is one of the best Sergeants that GW has ever produced. The scars on his face and implacable stance make for a bad ass mini. The best part is the power fist. I wish GW still sold bits because I would buy a dozen of these. I have plans to use it on another Marine for a very different effect.

I am not so keen on the Tyranid hunter model. I got him in a trade for cheep long ago and painted him up for fun. As a Blood Angel player, I can't legally field Tyranid Vets nor have I ever tried. Under 6th Ed rules, anyone can use grenades in close combat with monstrous creatures so these guys effectiveness as a squad is limited. The mini was covered in Ultra Marines iconography and they were impossible to remove. Many of them were changed from omega signs to decorations by clipping off the vertical bars. I also green stuffed over the omega on the right shoulder and turned it into a circle. Long ago I painted it red and did nto change it. This forced me to put a black decal on it rather than the traditional yellow that I've done for all the other Sergeants I could.

Finished - Shrike and two Sargents

On the table now - Rehabing old minis

As one grows as a painter and skills improve, one looks back on the minis of the past and one things to oneself. "Oneself, should we not repaint these minis to better reflect our current skill?" Then one stops talking to oneself and gets down to painting. 

The good news is that these minis are mostly painted. the bad news is that I have to spend more time on minis that are already painted. that last part seems silly to me. I mean these things are done and now I am going to spend time that I could be spending painting new minis on already painted ones. 

That being said, I am actually less likely to use a mini on the table if it is poorly painted. The inverse of that works too. If I paint up a mini and love the way it turned out, I am more likely to use it regardless of how poorly it performs on the table top. 

Fortunately, these guys need some minor touch ups and some repair of dents and dings that were acquired in the move and they should be ready for the table again. 

On a side note, I am getting in the bad habit of starting a lot of new projects and not really finishing anything. I have no fewer than 5 projects on the desk and none of them more than half finished. Gotta clear the table before I start anything new. 

Finished (almost) - 2 Librarians