As I’m putting together this retinue I knew I wanted to keep them unified to some degree by their colour schemes. Most of the retinue will share the colours used by the Inquisitor himself. However, the Eldar Ranger ally I wanted to stand out amongst them as more individual. Because I’m basing all my own miniatures on simple desert themed bases, I figured that the Ranger’s camo-clothes should desert themed. I’m quite happy with the finished paintjob but I’m considering adding a bit more detail to the pattern.

Moving onto the rest of the army, I’ve started work on the Grey Knights, but I think the overall shape of the army will be Stormtrooper based with 2 or 3 Grey Knight squads backing them up. I need to figure out how to make Stormtroopers from existing components with some conversion but still make them unique to me and reflect a strong Inquisitorial character. I haven’t quite figured out how yet, but I’m guessing I’ll end up using Cadians as the base. Whilst I very much like the Death Korps of Kreig Grenadiers, they are hella expensive figures and a shame to chop up.

I may also end up using the IG codex to build this army but with maxed out DH allies, just so I can field Valkyries. Love that new FW Sky Talon model!

I’ve been thinking a bit about this lately and I’m considering producing scaled up components to complement GW’s plastic range (mainly Space Marines obviously). Not complete models in themselves, but lets say legs, chest plate and shoulder pads. You’d still have to purchase their models for the heads, backplates, backpacks, arms, weapons and accessories.

From what I can tell this is perfectly legal, though I’d have to stay clear of iconography. It doesn’t impact on GW’s sales because you’d have to buy their models to build something complete anyway.

As a side note, I’ve started work on a series of Wolf Cavalry, as have many others, and hope to have something to show off in a few weeks time. For now I have to get used to using a new modelling material (Fimo).

The Actual Scale bike is temporarily on hold. I have plans for it, but they will have to wait for the time being.

Most recently I put together this charming little guy, who will be a Pedro Kantor character, painted up in Salamanders chapter colours.

The client asked for a rotary stormbolter on a sort of underslung set up attached to his forearm (like a mini assault cannon), but after playing around with components for a while I couldn’t see a way to do it and not have the model look ridiculously out of proportion. As an alternative I settled for a quad barreled heavy looking storm bolter which fits the “Assault 4″ stats of Pedro’s weapon rather well.
The main body is from one of the standard Space Marine veteran models (one of my faves from the range in fact) with a head swap from the veterans sergeant. The cloak is one of the nicest I’ve done yet. I made an original from a soft clay, and then made a mold (destroying the original after because the mold wasn’t flexible. After applying GS to the inside of the mold (silicon putty) and letting it cure I then had to break the mold to get the GS one out. Came together quite nicely without too many imperfections, although the cloak is a little narrow at the top.

There’s a bit more to do, gaps to fill, iconography to go on the storm bolter, and details to add to the fist as it’s a bit plain at the moment. I’ve got to admit converting Space Marines at this scale has become more difficult for me, now that I’ve gotten comfortable with bigger marines.

Also managed this week to take a few steps backward with the scaled up Land Raider I’ve had for at least 6 months. I ended up literally ripping it in two so I could replace the main doors on the front with wider versions. I’m a bit annoyed with it but the finished thing will be better in the long run. All I know is that I’m not planning on making any more of these. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the new Blood Angels flyer either won’t need scaling up or will be easy to do so.

Gonna try and have some painted stuff to post in the next couple of days.

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A little extra tidbit is this Actual Scale chest eagle I sculpted for someone, based off the one I did for the Grey Knight Chaplain. This is actually the second attempt. I don’t think it’s as good as the first but it’s satisfactory. I’ll be making molds of this to cast chest eagles for some of my future Blood Angels. The torso I sculpted as a base here is actually larger than the torsos I’ve used on most of my Marines to date, but I think I’m going to be moving toward larger chest plates in future. This is also big enough a chest eagle to fit a scaled up Terminator. Note: the gap between the wings is to allow a different things to be added, like a blood drop or skull or whatever, and adds to the amount of possible variety.

I think the hellpistol need a little more work as it doesn’t quite look as golden as his artificer armour, but other than that I’m really happy with his final look. Although I really like the idea of pure Grey Knight forces, I just can’t bear to leave such characterful models out of my army. I’m already thinking about giving this character (who I’ve yet to name) an alternative model (ie: in Terminator armour) using the Hector Rex mini but equipped with psycannon and null rod.

I’ve made a start on my Vindicare Assassin and whilst searching the net for a decent paint scheme for inspiration I found this awesome piece of artwork. I really want to make a Eversor conversion now, one that doesn’t look like he’s trying to take a crap. In fact considering most of the Assassins are a similar points value I may just opt to have one of each, but they will of course all have to be converted.

Only other thing I’ve been thinking of to do with Inquisitors is whether to use the Witch Hunters codex to induct one. The WH seem to have better psychic powers than the daemonhunters, but the DHs bring Mystics to the battlefield. Something to think about while I work on the Grey Knights. I’ve redone the backpack for the Chaplain so it’s not a bodge-job anymore, and started work on 5 Grey Knights in power armour. Will post some pics later today.

First up today, SIlicone Putty!

I’ve mentioned this a few times over the last few months so I figured I’d give an example. As I’m working on a Grey Knights army, I decided to make a mold of a special purity seal for them. In some of the GK artwork they can be seen with really long flowing purity seals, which I think not only look really cool but are especially useful for hiding less than perfect sculpting.
So here I sculpted a long flowing seal onto a piece of plasticard.

The silicone putty comes in two parts, both of which are of, well a putty consistency (obviously).

Take two small equal sized amounts. They are very easily mixed just using fingertips and takes probably no more than 20-30 seconds. It’s not exactly messy, but you’ll want to wash your hands afterwards.

It hardens very quickly, so as soon as it’s mixed into one colour, press it onto whatever it is you are molding, being careful to sort of spread it over the piece so as not to capture air bubbles.

Give it a minute to set, and pull it off. It captures details very nicely (you can see my fingerprints on the putty in the photo above). Whilst normally on larger objects the mold has some flexibility, on small pieces like this there really is none. It’s very easy to cut and will break if you use too much force, but the beauty of this material is that Greenstuff will not stick to it at all, so there’s no need for any kind of release agent.

When making the cast a soft mix is highly recommended (ie: at least twice as much yellow as blue) and you’ll need to press it into the mold with a wet tool, otherwise it’ll stick to the tool and be pulled right out of the mold.

I’ll be using this particular mold to add flowing purity seals to all my Grey Knights, which will certainly add a sense of movement to a fairly static pose that most will have.

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Actual Scale bike.

This is the bike for an Actual Scale Salamanders character (will count as Khan). The rider is currently in bits, but the main structure of the bike is built as you can see. The exhausts might be a little bit flared. The whole thing is about half as long again as a regular bike, hence the need for a custom base. The front of the bike is a little rough but I’ll be sculpting a large imperial eagle on it as soon as I can get some more GS. The plastics are a combination of Ork and Space Marine bikes and I think the exhausts may have come from a Baneblade (I’m not too sure).