I’ve kept these posts brief, because I’m really really tired right now, and I just wanted to get some images posted before I get some desperately needed shut eye.

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.