Friday 4 June 2021

Rogue Trader - Mark VI Techmarine - Fan Sculpt

Welcome back! In this post I bring you my fifth blog post featuring fan sculpts that are either a direct tribute to classic Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader artwork or a have an unmistakable Oldhammer style, this one is an Adeptus Astartes Techmarine in Mark VI Corvus armour, sculpted by the very talented James Sherriff in 2017, it's  a beautifully crisp metal cast and if I get the terminology correct it's either true scale or heroic scale which is more akin with the modern Space Marines some of you paint today, the sculptor has added lots of beautiful little details, the wrist scanner, fuel tank and lump hammer, I was instantly sold when I came across it.

Assembly is simple as it's a single cast, I mounted it on a modern round 40mm base there was no other way really due to the stance, the Techmarine comes without a powerpack and an Oldhammer community member gifted me an resin Mark IV powerpack sculpted by fan sculpt master Drew Williams (who has featured on this blog previously) that sizes up nicely with this miniature.

Now usually I get a lot of messages on FB and Twitter questioning where one get hold of the fan sculpt featured in a post and in this case this miniature is available from Ye Alchemist at a very affordable price, go get one, half the pubs are still closed and it's cheaper than a couple of pints of craft beer :D

Painting I went for the Flesh Tearers scheme that I seem to be painting all my Space Marines in lately, I have tried free hand painting the chapter icon several times and have never been happy with the result so I went eBaying and purchased some Flesh Tearer vinyl sticker decals and some 3D printed curved shoulder icons for my Rogue Trader era Space Marines, in this case I used the vinyl sticker which was very malleable when warm and only required a bit of tidying up with black paint.

Now to the miniature.

Techmarine - front

Techmarine - back
Techmarine with vinyl Flesh Tearer icon
Techmarine - side
Techmarine - side
Techmarine - side
Techmarine comparion to Rogue Trader era Techmarine


Thanks for visiting, I hope you enjoyed this miniature
J

Sunday 30 May 2021

Rogue Trader RT601 Adventurers Space Amazon - Take 2

Hello, for years now I have been mostly painting individual Oldhammer era Citadel miniatures and when I finish a miniature I rarely revisit it let alone paint another copy unless its stripping down one of my awful teenage jobs from the 1980's but today's miniature is one of my all time favourites so I had another go and decided to take my time and put a bit more love into it.

You may of seen my previous attempt back in February 2013 on the Space Amazon - RT601 - Adventurers blog post, I was never happy with this paint job, I had envisioned her as a sci-fi version of Amazon Gothique in an eternal champion type multiverse and not a character in her own right.  Many of you will own the book Ratspike by John Blanche and Ian Miller which was published by Games Workshop in 1989 and will be familiar with John Blanche's painting 'Amazon' that features in the book along with lots other amazing pieces, I have included a picture of the Amazon painting below.  The Amazon in the painting has a real likeness to Siouxsie Sioux of 'Siouxsie and the Banshees' that great British post punk alternative group, I really wanted to try and capture this feel in my latest attempt and pay homage to the painting.  The Space Amazon of the RT601 Adventurers range like Kinky Chaosette/LE15 Chaos Amazon and Lune are other wonderful examples of John Blanche's art in miniature form.

When it came to painting I started by blocking all the colours in very neatly before moving on to multiple washes, some blending then I did some nice highlights and the miniature could passed off as finished but to me it wasn't Blanche's Amazon.  I opened up the Ratspike page and studying it I wondered if I could achieve all that outrageous detail on a miniature, it was time to drop my own painting style and go a bit crazy which I found very technically demanding the characters clothing is so chaotic, embroidered basque, multiple different animal fur types, Zebra, Leopard, Dalmatian, brown/white and black furs, other quirky details like in the painting where she has a stocking on one leg, tights the other, both with different patterns,  it's details like these that really mess my brain up but I got there in the end. 

I hear you say stop waffling and show us the miniature so here go enjoy.


Space Amazon - front

John Blanche's Amazon

Space Amazon - back

Space Amazon - side

New vs old - front

New vs old - back

Thanks for dropping in, I hope you enjoyed this revisit as there are a couple more in the works

J





Tuesday 13 April 2021

C29 Monsters - Giant Carnivorous Bird aka Culchan

Hello, today's post features a fun Oldhammer miniature that I recently painted while having a little break from Rogue Trader Pirates, so without further ado I give you the superb overgrown chicken that is the C29 Monsters - Giant Carnivorous Bird later aka the Culchan.

No real thought went into this paint job I was just messing around with colour with Parrots on my mind, this is the same original miniature I bought in Games Workshop Birmingham in the mid 1980's it has survived many miniature culls and has had several paint jobs and riders.

Released in the Autumn 1985 Citadel Journal and designed by Nick Bibby, I have included a snippets from the Warhammer Fantasy Battle Bestiary of the Culchans stats and illustrations below just to prove that giant chickens were were a Warhammer thing.

Anyway enjoy the photos.

C29 Monsters - Giant Carnivorous Bird - left side


C29 Monsters - Giant Carnivorous Bird - right side


Imagine this running at you
C29 Monsters - Giant Carnivorous Bird - front


C29 Monsters advert from the Citadel Journal

Later C29 Culchan


Illustration from WFB 2nd Edition


Culchan entry from WFB 2nd Edition Bestiary

Illustration from WFB 2nd Edition

Even Orcs rode them!!!

and Ogres!!!



I hope you had as much fun viewing this quirky miniature as I did painting it
thanks for dropping in
J





Thursday 8 April 2021

Rogue Trader RT601 - Pirates - Part 2

Hello, I am over half way through another Oldhammer project, the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates, some of these guy's are so odd I am surprised they didn't end up in the Citadel Miniatures drawer 101 and never come out to see the light of day, some of them are absolute gems but others have had me bemused, now I am no master of photography (or story telling), I take my photos with an iPhone with a LED lightbox and follow the Warhammer Community guide as it seems the most simple, my macro lens camera is rotting in the loft but I can categorically say some of these pirates have no 'Golden Angle', I usually like to photograph the front and especially the back of a miniature as many people would of never seen it but with these guys it's all over the place and I don't think you are getting the full picture of their oddities.

I've gave a bit background and my thoughts on these Pirates back in my first post: Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates - Part 1 go and have a read if you haven't seen my first batch, this post features most of the last miniatures that I consider the rank and file of the range before I move onto the more characterful sculpts like the much loved 'Sensei'. 


My latest batch of RT601 Pirates


I am continuing to use my own reference number system based on the original advert and again I will use these numbers as their identities in these posts. I have again paired them up with their closest sculpt brother or although some are made up from several pirates.


first four
second four

First up we have pirates 17 and 3.  Pirate 17 I gave a big red drinkers nose, he's a great all-rounder who I could use in any game, pirate 3 is an interesting mish mash sculpt based on pirate 17 with pirate 7's right arm and shoulder pad, he has a really cool flight pack, astronauts helmet with tubes coming out of his mouth and is weirdly bent over kissing his chainsword.
RT601 Pirates 17 and 3

RT601 Pirate 3 - front

RT601 Pirate 3 - back

RT601 Pirate 17 - front

RT601 Pirate 17 - back


Next we have pirates 14 and 7, pirate 14 is part bionic with a claw arm which is very Genestealer like (there's a Hybrid conversion in there for someone brave) and lower leg, he has the head of pirate 12, pirate 7 I cut off the original sword blade as it had gone all soft and wiry and replaced it a plastic Warhammer zombies one, a bit of Typhus Corrosion and I think it's hard to spot.
RT601 Pirates 14 and 7
RT601 Pirate 7 - front

RT601 Pirate 7 - back

RT601 Pirate 14 - front

RT601 Pirate 14 - back

RT601 Pirate 14 - side showing bionics


Next we have pirates 9 and 10, nice dynamic poses, both miniatures have that weird half Bolter, half Autogun sculpt with mounted light/scope and strange webbing/bracers that go under their groin, pirate 10 has a breathing apparatus, the pair are decent miniatures to be honest.

RT601 Pirates 9 and 10
RT601 Pirate 9 - front

RT601 Pirate 9 - back

RT601 Pirate 10 - front

RT601 Pirate 10 - back



And finally pirates 20v and 6, not the greatest sculpts, I am going to call this one 'pirate 20v' as I believe he is a uncatalogued variant, the original adverts shows him without a visor and I have seen this visorless miniature about several times and painted by community members, he does have a cool diamond design sculpted into his shoulder pads, pirate 6 has pteruges hanging from his shoulder pads and both have the same weapon a sort of carbine autogun, they have that hunched over pose of the earliest Rogue Trader era miniatures that made them a pain to paint.




RT601 Pirates 20 and 6
RT601 Pirate 6 - front

RT601 Pirate 6 - back

RT601 Pirate 20v - front

RT601 Pirate 20v - back

I managed to get hold of the original Pirate 20 featured in the advert without visor and he'll be getting a paint job soon



Thanks for dropping in, more fan sculpts and RT Pirates on the go so stay tuned, I can't wait for my mate to turn up with all his shining Stargrave miniatures and rulebook for a game and I bring some of these out, I did it with Frostgrave and chaos beastmen, you could see the disgust on his face, he thinks I am only doing it to wind him up :D
cheers
J



Wednesday 7 April 2021

Rogue Trader - Ymgarl Genestealer - Fan Sculpt

Hello and welcome back, this my fourth post in a row featuring Oldhammer fan sculpts, I just love fan sculpts and fancied getting some of these beautiful miniatures finished and put down the Rogue Trader pirates for a couple of weeks. Today's post features the Ymgarl Genestealer, based on the original illustration featured on page 211 of the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader rulebook and sculpted by in 2020 by Drew Day Williams of Satyr Art Studio.

If you don't know the original Genestealer, here's the lore,

"This enigmatic monster originates from one of the moons of Ymgarl, but has spread throughout space and is threatening to become a real menace. In its native state it is blue, has two pairs of clawed arms, a long muscular tail and a tough leech-like body. Its head is a simple tube full of slobbering tendrils and sharp inward-pointing teeth. What makes the Genestealer truly unique is its deadly and extremely rapid reproductive cycle. Genestealer are of a single gender, and are incapable of reproducing amongst themselves. To reproduce they require another creature, any creature will suffice, of any gender. For all the Genestealer requires is the basic genetic material which is contained in every living cell of the mate. A Genestealer implants its own genetic material in the form of an egg capsule, which is forced into the body of the host by an extendible ovipositor normally secreted inside the head. The implantation does not kill the mate immediately, but the implanted egg quickly grows until ready to burst out as an immature Genestealer. Needless to say, this kills the parent/host. Interestingly enough, newly born creatures, although fundamentally Genestealers, will have characteristics inherited from the host parent. Thus a Genestealer/human may have a vaguely humanoid head, or only two arms instead of the usual four, and perhaps its tail will be shortened or missing. A Genestealer of four or more generations consistent of human parentage would pass for a human on cursory inspection, although a closer look would reveal a bluish skin, sharp pointed teeth and rather disturbing stare. On their home world, Genestealers exploit a large leech-like creature called a Csith which is the usual mate. Matings with a Csith always produce natural Genestealers, no matter what its parentage otherwise." 

The build was easy enough the miniature came in 3 parts so I had to glue two of the arms on, there's some room there for pose variations, when it came to painting this miniature I wanted to go for blue as described in the Genestealer lore above but couldn't decide on which one, I felt Ultramarine would just look silly and other pastel shades of blue I had would make it look like a 1980's follower of Slaanesh, I wanted the tone of the sinister Alien in the movies, in the end I decided to go with Vallejo Model Color 'Dark Sea Blue' as a base which I washed with Citadel Contrast Black, drybrushed the base colour again and highlighted a couple times with the base colour with increasing amount white mixed in.  I did the mouth in a light violet washed purple and black claws highlighted with greys/white. The miniature is quite busy, I found there's a lot going on and picking out a detail or two might spoil the feel I was going for so to finish it off I added some white spots as I had seen a image of a leech with them and then gave it a brush coat of Citadel 'ard coat varnish for a slimy effect et voila I had a Csith Genestealer.

I thought I was done but lo and behold there was a problem, this miniature has a lot of deep detail and where the 'ard coat had pooled it had turned cloudy. It seemed no one knew how to rectify this problem when the varnish was brushed on, sprayed on yes, there was a couple of suggestions on FB but I tried develop my own fix.  My final fix involved a tiny 0/5 brush and 100% acetone, I carefully attacked each cloudy pool with a brush dipped in acetone and the pool disappeared detail was restored although back to matt finish, after that I washed the miniature down thoroughly with water and lightly painted 'ard coat back on and hey presto problem fixed.

** Update **
Now I have had a lot of messages on FB and Twitter on about where one could potentially get hold of fan sculpts and I've always been unhappy tagging a person as they might get spammed, anyway I happy to announce that these miniatures are available from Ye Alchemist now do yourself a favour and go buy you will not be disappointed.

Ymgarl Genestealer - right

Ymgarl Genestealer - left

Ymgarl Genestealer - front

If you compare the original illustration to the miniature you can see what a good job Drew did on this sculpt.
Ymgarl Genestealer illustration from the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader rulebook



This miniature is huge look how it scales up to a fan sculpt Protonid.

Which is better? There's only one way to find out: FIGHT!

Size comparison at the annual hive general meeting


I recently received a gift of a  transparent Ymgarl Genestealer from a very nice chap of the Oldhammer community, one of only 20 transparent resin casts made, I feel very honoured, thanks.

I have no idea how to photograph transparent miniatures but I experimented a little below.




++ Beware Brother ++





Right, I'm going back to smaller miniatures for a while this little journey was hard work :D


J