Sash and saber ACW horses require some clean-up but they paint up nicely!

A lot More work on my ACW Project

Saturday I finally looked in some of my many unfinished ACW project boxes, Man I have so many projects over half way done! I'm hitting the Canteens on the Sharp Shooters with a nice blue, *(you can see in the background Sash and Saber Zouaves!)

Lining them up along the assembly paint line I start to see a nice unit coming together.

Lining these bad boys up for  a splash of blue on their canteens, and I did get them done! I couldn't help it, I looked in this box of assorted miniatures undone, I had to pull out and start on the Damned Zouaves!
These little guys are the beginning of the 76th Pennsylvania volunteer infantry or better known as the (Keystone Zouaves).

O.k. here we go, here are the skirmishers for the unit.

I like the sky blue trousers with the union blue jackets, as I have said before the 'Sash and Saber' models are sculpted very dynamic, not static and stiff, the casting is less than clean, but the over model is tops!

 Sorry for this crappy camera shots but I think you can get the idea where this unit is going, "To the Front of the line!"

The Zouave large French styled pants makes the light blue "pop" along side of the union blue jackets. I'm thinking these Zouaves will stand out even among numerous other Zouave units on the battlefield.

Sash and Saber poses are the are the best, I have ordered some samples of a few other manufacturers, we will see.

I lined the Keystone Zouaves up to determine where they need to go in the assembly paint line, its touch ups on the  jackets, then on to Blanket rolls. 1st a close inspection of the models that have bee stored for so long.

As I touched up the jackets and re-lined the models up they are already starting to look pretty good and there is still a lot to do on them.

After a few hours the model line for t ouch-ups is winding down, only a few more minor jacket fixes, you know scraps and scratches.

2 1/2 hours later and some Rita's Italian Ice, "Line em' up boys!" the Clothing is done with touch ups, it already has me excited.

Now I had to move on to something that is simple to accomplish in a short time, It's on to the blanket rolls, I think this will also stand out if the color is right.

I like the look already, so its "Forward" on this stage.

Sash and Saber mixes the models up with Blanket rolls on and no blanket rolls, I wish it were more consistent but I supposed you don't want it to be too all or nothing. I could sculpt them on, but its too late for that, I didn't think of it early enough to go that direction, but who knows what may happen later.

Its coming together on this stage.

Last guy to hit on the blankets, but looking at the over all pose and uniform, I don't know how these guys fell in the box of misfit toys!?

This model is one of the guys in the 'Skirmish Zouave' pack, it has awesome poses as well, kneeling loading etc. I wish they had some prone position models.

I think I may have to re-think if I need some of the skirmisher models in the marching ranks.

Conquest Miniatures Norman Cavalry Project

When I attended the Historic Convention I noticed a new miniature manufacturer on the block, Conquest Miniatures. I loved the idea of new Norman models on the market,  so I looked at the display, the first thing I noticed was the dynamic horse sculpts. I love a good Horse model,and this new line looked like it would be a blast to paint. I clipped the model from the sprue and primed it ASAP, it looked great!

I really liked their horse sculpt, its very dynamic and displays nice muscle lines I wish they had made the horse's mane a little more dynamic. A a galloping horse with it's tail raised and flowing but it's mane lying flat in a static position.

This horse model has distinct but simple detail (barding and saddle straps), all of the detail is easily seen and accessed by paint brushes.

I give my horses a good strong base coat, normally not too dark or light, this way I can go any direction in the shading or highlights.

I went with simple Grey highlights for the mane and tale to keep this paint test simple.

I used the GW Badab black wash for this project, normally I use a thin paint wash, but for this test I used the more simple and consistent product.

I gave the model a real liberal coat of the Badab black wash and tried to keep it from pooling excessively or dry up too fast while I applied the wash.

Once the Badab wash was dried the model was already looking good, many gamers would use models at this level of painting for table top quality and it looks pretty good. For me I like my horses to "pop!" so I am going to add some paint layering to bring out the great muscle detail.

I hit the muscles of the model with a thin coat of the original base coat of brown, and as you can see the model is already starting to "Pop".

With a second layer of the base coat of brown inside of the of the previous thin coat, the model shows more depth and the brown looks like I did more work than I actually did. The model displays a more muscular look and it will make the rider look great once its mounted on the horse, strong colors and contrast.

Next stop is the reigns, saddle blanket and straps, and then the rider!

  

Old Ancient models revived

Gripping Beast Viking Fanatics



Old Fashion Block Style with exaggerated highlights

The fun part of painting Gripping Beast models is that the sculpts are pretty simple, not a lot of difficult angles, or excess bits or stuff cluttering up the model. On the other hand their older models can appear mannequin like. Fortunately this model is balanced in pose and sculpted details. I wanted to experiment with exaggerating the muscles using the block style, afterwards I added a little highlight to the blocks to soften the blocks a little, this technique showed promise to be added the ranks. 

My camera phone isn't that good, but I tried to show the block style coupled with some pretty soft but noticeable highlights to soften the blocks. This seems to show up well when viewed on the gaming table from both sides.

 I tried not to do too much to the fur so it wouldn't take away from the guy under it. I like the flesh to pop more than the fur,  and grey helps the flesh really stand out.

 I wanted the face to be dark, sort of faceless under a dark hood.

  

Gripping Beast models lack any muscularity in their sculpts, but its only apparent on the fleshy models, clothed models are sort of generic builds.Here I tried to block the abs and ribs to bring some muscularity to the model, it didn't come out as well as I'd like, but I have since got the hang of it.

 Here is another model I intend to add to create a small unit of fanatics, anatomically correct, but chest hair down to his doodle!? extremely hairy!

 I am not happy with the sculpt on the wolves's fangs, I plan to sharpen them up with a paint brush.

Here is another old fanatic model, I don't like what I did on this model, but I plan to touch him up and try to get him looking more dynamic.

 As you can see he isn't blocked off on his flesh areas, but I will get on it though.

 I'll deepin' the grey shadows to help his face look a little more aggressive.

 I hope to get his chest and stomach highlighted to really bring the flesh out from under that fur.

 I will attempt to block out the larger flesh areas, then add some strong highlights to get this guys flesh to pop!

 Well I got a lot of work to do, so we'll see what comes out of it, stay tuned!



Late night painting at the Hobby Chest

 As I promised, here is Fernando, and hes hot at work on the vehicles in his Imperial Fist Army. Fernando uses a complicated series of colors to get that deep rich yellow tone. He starts with GW Vomit Brown, then he inks it with Game Color Sepia Brown Ink. He uses a mix of 50/50 Vomit Brown and Bleach Bone, then 70/30 Bleach Bone mix with Vomit Brown, then yellow ink them for deep yellow finish.  He picks out the details like rivets eyes, etc. to finish them off.

 Master Painter John Miller AKA "Little John" is fast at work on his AWESOME Medievals!

(With his School & new career, its hard to get him in for a paint night)

Looking at how far John's brush skills have come, and his eye for detail, it amazes me at times. You'll see what I mean a little later in the blog, but I did manage to get some shots of him hard at work, and some shots of his detail work tonight.

                                   
Mike focusing on the detail and consistancy of his 40k models

There was a time when mike seemed uninterested in painting, or maybe didn't have the confidence, but now when he gets focused, he can get kind of determined to the point of demanding too much from his work,  I guess thats good? I imagine his job requires serious focus and thinking from a series of angles, it shows when he gets into a project he wants to complete at a certain level of quality.

                                  
John gets paint everywhere, but the results is model masterful!

Some Results of Hobbychest Late night painting...

This model that John painted really shows how smooth his highlight transitions are, especially in the model's cape, John seems to love blending blues and off whites. Check out the capes red trim, straight and even, its finished off with a cool design in the corner which does set off the look!

                                 
                                                 
One of John's Imperial gaurd project
                                  


Fernando's awsome Imperial Fist Project is awsome!
                                  

I'll get Fernando's photo up here soon, along with input on his and other painters projects! But check out the color choice Fernando put in this veteran Sgt. He definitley looks wicked with all of the decorations on his power armour. Off White sets off the deep yellow tone on his models.

"True grittin' his bolter!" ;^)
                                 
More to come with some of the other painters from this night at the Hobby Chest!


As Promised more of Fernando's project (Imperial Fist)

 Fernando poses and paints so much animation in his models, and the colors flow with one another, finishing it off with the little details like the scrolls with writing on them touches it off well.

Each model has a personality of their own, this just makes his army look unique!

 This Veteran is just Beast!

Fernando is assembling some of my vehicles for my Word Bearers army, I can't wait!!

 Fernando's clean assembly and poses even bring the Dreads to life!

Its the little things that set a model off!

As you can see Fernando brings a different look to the table.
Another great time at the Hobby Chest http://www.hobbychest.com/