I know normally I don't do group shots because I really don't have space to take big pictures like that... but on this one I had to make the exception because everything looks so cool together.

So now that I have finished up this wonderful duo. I can say that I had fun working on them. They were a slight challenge and I really stepped outside my normal comfort zone as to what I normally do on models. The canopies were something that I saw done by a different commission painter and they inspired me to try something different on flyers that I was painting. I learned a good way to do fades using my airbrush and I also learned just how far over spray can travel off of that thing. Then I got to the wings... my client really wanted the wing decals like you see on the back of the box... well they don't come with the Valkyrie. In fact they are a Forge World item. So it was back to the drawing board... or a notebook and a pencil and a few hours of sketching and getting frustrated. Finally a solution presented itself. Stencil made I set about airbrushing and my stencil failed something awful. Keep in mind this was the first time I had ever really done anything like this. So I set about exploring other ideas... finally I figured out that I could just draw the design right onto the models and paint them on by hand. After a few touch ups and crisping up the lines the final result looked pretty good. Now I have since discovered a much easier way to make this work... but for me there is always a learning curve.

The models all finished and I even managed to put markings on their tails. Did a little weathering... finished putting them together and now they are ready to ship as well. The doors do slide open and the heavy bolters do swing out so you can use them as well. If you choose not to, just swing them back in and close the doors.

One more thing... the wings are removable for the purpose of shipping and storage. Also the flight stand is not assembled because we don't want it breaking during shipping when I mail the items back to the client. That is why they are not up on flight stems.

Wings on my Wings...

So I had started out by drawing up a stencil and it would of worked if the wings were flat and didn't have thrusters mounted at the wingtips. Thats right the stencil completely blew out. SO... I drew the design onto the wings in pencil and proceeded to paint them by hand. Between the drawing and the painting as well as the mess up to begin with there is better than 3 hours in 2 sets of wings.

Keep in mind that this is something that is all new to me. Normally I go solid color and move on. So to do something like this is outside the box for me. I am pretty sure I have learned a much better and easier way to do this... but for the first time ever I think they turned out awesome.

So this was inspired by they guy that runs Next Level Painting... and this is my first official attempt on a model. I have practiced it on a scrap of plasticard and it looked okay. On the models I think it looks much better. Now I still have a fair amount of work to do like touch ups and details and weathering. I just wanted to show this off real quick.

Back to airbrushing I go...

The Studio is one step closer to being able to call this Imperial Guard project finished. With that being said I wanted to show off and do a little review of the large oval bases for the Valkyrie and the Vendetta.

I like these bases a lot (but then I am slightly biased). This is another one of those that Mr. Justin knocked out of the park. They are great quality and are flat enough that you are not forced to place the flight stem on just one way, giving you a couple of options for facing. These would even work great for non-flying models that have to go on the large oval. There is a slight difference between this base and the rest of the bases from this line and that is that it doesn't have the little raised areas (like the ones that I have been painting green on the other size bases). Also there is just a touch of a size discrepancy between these and the "official" GW bases... these are just slightly larger. but unless you place them back to back it is really hard to tell just by looking at them.

So now that Snowmageddon of the midwest is finished up I have finally managed to finish up the last of the Veterans with Shotguns for this project. All that I have left on the plate is a Valkyrie and a Vendetta. I am in high hopes that they will be finished up very very soon so I can share them with you.

Here are the lascannon teams that I cracked out over the last couple days. I am hoping to get the next Vet squad done before this nasty winter storm moves into the area over the next couple of days.

These Lascannon teams are on the Flagstone bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures. I really love these bases... the only problem I have with them is that you have to get super creative with one of them because they have steps and it makes it difficult to mount the tripod to the base. But there are ways around that.

I am still working on some of the Imperial Guard for this client and he has me putting all of his models on the beveled edge Flagstone bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures. I showed you some of the 25mm bases that I painted up for the squads... but I haven't shown you the 60mm bases for the heavy weapons teams without the teams on them. Well here you are. This is a set of 3 60mm Flagstone bases from Secret Weapon. And as always they are superior quality, and another reason why I only suggest SWM bases.

I have seen them painted using brown tones but the client asked for them to be painted in greys which I think looks really good. I added the sand bags from the Cadian Heavy Weapons teams since that is what is going to be going on these bases very very soon.

Okay... the other day I was talking about building a Vendetta and I actually got asked how I was going to do the twin linked Lascannons under the wings. So I figured that once I had one of the mounts built I would show you how it looks... its actually not that hard.

I used the Lascannons from the heavy Weapons teams and I cut them down to the length that I liked. Then I built a "box" type mount to fit under the wings. I wanted to go with a real slim look to keep the rest of the ship. I thought that a pair of big bulky mounts under the wings would of looked off. then I just mounted them in the same place that the rockets mount.

Hey gang, took a minor break from the Imperial Guard for a night because of family issues and because it was a little too chilly to do any priming. So I pulled out the referee and the balls from the Dreadball set and gave them a quick paint job. Figured I would post up a couple pictures real quick before I got back to work on some Valkyrie assembly.

This is the last of the stuff for Phase one of the Imperial Guard Project. I will begin on Phase two in the next day or so. I am liking the way that things are turning out and these Flagstone bases really set the whole thing off. I am thinking about using the same bases when I start on a Blood Angels project later on this year.