This is that piece I built from spare parts that I got in a trade. I have decided that I was going to use him as one of the test models to see if I like the way this red is going to turn out. Well I do like the way it looks but I have one more method that I am wanting to try to get my reds right. This is my first foray into the land of using GW paints since they decided to drop the old line and come out with a completely new one. I went to the GW paint book and looked in the back to see what colors they suggest for painting Blood Angels. Then I made a small change to the list and decided that I would finally give them a try... a real actual shot to see if they might still belong in the studio. I am still on the fence about that and I also want to know what is the deal with the obsession with painting Blood Angels with an orange tint. So I used their "layers" very sparingly as highlights.

Anyway... If I decide that I just want to use a generic Captain in my Blood Angels army it will be this piece. So I would like to introduce everyone to Captain Micah. And with every model in this project he is mounted on one of the Ruined Temple bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures.











So I skipped ahead a project... those of you that were looking forward to seeing the bits model all painted up... don't worry he is still sitting here. I am just waiting for a chance to go to the game store and pick up some different red paints. Cause he is going to serve as a test model to see if the idea that I have in my head is a good idea or not. Well the other day when I was priming models I decided to prime one of my Captain Tychos. Since I am building a Death Company unit around him I figured I would go ahead and paint this one in the Death Company black armor.

And let me tell you painting this model up has really got me wanting to hurry up and kick my Blood Angel project into high gear. Especially since I have mounted him on one of the Ruined Temple bases I posted up the other day. Again I have to give serious kudos to Mr. Justin and the rest of the crew over at Secret Weapon Miniatures... I love these bases. I just want to remind people that when they contact me about painting their models for them to also ask about ordering some kick ass resin bases from Secret Weapon while they are at it. They really do help make models stand out.







So I am just about thinking about making this a monthly special thing here in the studio. It always seems that I get this itch to raid the bits box and build a random model just to say that I can... and what else are these random bits gonna do... collect dust.

So in this episode... (see what I did there) I decided to build a Blood Angel. Now these bits actually didn't come out of my current Space Marine bits box. I actually got a bunch of Sanguinary Guard bits from my Trollkin client. I wanted to wait until those models were all painted and sent back before I messed with the bits. So I decided to finally investigate what all there was in the bits and as it turns out there was enough parts to actually build a whole model. So I am calling this guy a random captain for my upcoming Blood Angels project. He is probably going to serve as a test model for how I am going to paint my Blood Angels.

And he needs a name...




Okay so I know I am always talking about how much I love the bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures. Well here is even more proof of this... I had a little surprise come in the mail the other day (it was a surprise as I was not expecting them yet). I had ordered all of the bases that I needed for my upcoming Blood Angels project... which was a ton of bases.

I had a bit of a tough decision on picking which base I wanted to use. As you know I just finished that commission of the Imperial Guard models where the client wanted the models on the Flagstone bases from Secret Weapon, and I really liked the way that those bases looked. So I managed to narrow my decision down to those and the Ruined Temple bases. Well this decision went back and forth for a couple weeks and finally I gave up and sent an email to Mr. Justin and asked him for a little guidance on which bases he thinks would look better for the Blood Angels, and after a short discussion he helped steer me in the direction of the Ruined Temple bases. I do think that they are the perfect bases since they arrived and I had a good chance to take a really good look at them.

Now that I had that decision made the next hard part was "how am I going to paint these bases to make them look really cool?" So I did a couple test bases to see if I liked the idea that I had swimming around in my skull.

I think I am going to stick with this choice cause it does look really cool. The large areas are painted to look like a grey stone and then lines are painted to look like a red stone. I think that this helps tie the bases in with the Blood Angels theme that I am going for with this whole project.


It has been a long couple of days here in the studio. Had a modelers meeting on Friday night with the local IPMS chapter about a couple of events coming up one of which being the local event Con Air 2013. So I am going to be participating in that as well some other stuff coming up too.

Now... painting... yeah I have been trying to get these Champions finished up so that they will be ready to mail out the first of the week. I am glad to have them all finished up so I can get them sent back to the client. I truly hope he enjoys the work that I have put into the models.














Got kind of a later start in the studio today so I didn't get as much done painting wise as I had wanted to but I am still on my original Schedule for these models. I only have the three Trollkin Champions left and I see them moving very quickly off the table. So on to the picture show...








Man I was busy in the studio today. I managed to finish up the Pyre Troll and I also managed to get Borka Kegslayer finished up. I think next up I am going to tackle Doomshaper and then the Trollkin Champions. Just have to wait and see... but for now... pictures of Borka.








So I managed to catch an early start in the studio today so I finished up the Pyre Troll and I am now about to start on another troll... though I am not sure which one I want to start yet. All of the trolls are going to have a greyish skin tone cause thats what the client wanted... and really I think it looks pretty good.

Now... the fire... this is another first for me. Normally I prefer to work from dark to light working in layers to build highlights. This one I worked backwards... I started out with coating the areas to be fire using Menoth White Highlight from the P3 range. Then I applied 2 coats of Sunshine wash from Secret Weapon Miniatures (see Justin you get 2 plugs on this one). Then I went through and used some of my Reaper Master Series paints. Starting with Fire Orange, then Phoenix Red, and finally Fire Red. Really to me it doesn't seem natural to work in that order but I like the results.

After all the paint work was competed I mounted him on one of those Rocky Bluff Bases that I showed in that last post.










I just want to throw out a thank you to Mr. Justin for coming out with such awesome products. Keep up the great work sir.