Varghulf Trio and X-27 Clear Red of Tamiya

I wish I could make a progress report on these models. Instead we have the pictures of finished models and a few insights.

Here are the pics:

The Insights:
Idea:
Firstly, to those who are not familiar with these models, let me clear something out: The unit champion (Vargoyle) has additional wings.
Yes. That's right. They suggest you to put little wings on the shoulders of these horrid looking already winged creatures.

Terrible modeling! Terrible decision!

I know it's high fantasy but who would imagine such illogical additions to well crafted monsters. Every model that I've seen in Warhammer has its consistency about its bodily integrity. This thing has non of it!

And as you could see, I avoided that.
Not to my first monstrous infantry!, I said.
But anyway, to make them legit for the 'WYSIWYG' nonsense, I'll definitely put the wings to the next trio that I'll get. Since I hate the idea I'll adjust the wings accordingly. My plan is to carve the leather in between the joints, reverse them and then stick to the shoulders. This way they'll look like additional limbs, looming towards the enemy. Yes; this, I'll do and you'll see!

Bases:
Look closely to the bases, you'll see 'pack of skulls' set of Citadel Miniatures. What are they? That's right: A bunch of skulls for modeling...
They are old metal cast, and sold by mail order. If you fancy basing and don't have excess parts from a regiment of Skeleton Warriors by your side, this will do the job.
Good old bleached bone + gryphonne sepia combination will give you a cool skull set.

For all of the bases I used PVA glue and little stones to outline the edges and let them dry overnight. Then I painted the recess in the middle with red to create a base for blood pool. After that I decorated the risen outline with rather large 'light brown' stones and some vegetation. Finally I poured water effect and waited for a day.
Last touches were a bit experimental. I used X-27 Clear Red to give out spilled blood effect.

X-27:
This was the first time that I've ever used Tamiya's X-27 Clear Red color. It's a great tool if you ask me; but not your regular red paint.
It says 'acrylic', it looks red and it is fluid; but don't be mistaken, it is something different.

When your regular acrylic paint is exposed to air, it hardens; this one, on the other hand, thickens and turns into a sticky substance.

Handling X-27 needs a little practice like any other paint with other compositions. There are two things I can point out beforehand: The paint can be diluted with water easily, and brushes has to be cleaned regularly.

X-27 is a shining red paint that will gleam among the matte texture of regular acrylic. It is the best for painting fresh blood and newly opened wounds and gashes. Other than that, I don't see any point of using it.



Thanks for reading!

Can Toraman

Blood Knights

Let's not just call them Blood Knights.
Instead let's call them '£60 Knights'
Especially after 8th Edition rulebook I find it hard to squeeze these overly priced guys in my recent army list. After new releases, my attention turned away from them, and now I see them as 'two Terrorgheist' worth of money and half the maneuverability.

Anyway...

Thanks to my fantasy enthusiast wife, I've got them as birthday presents. Painted them as they deserved, coated with satin varnish...
Here we go:

Notes on the Models:

These are 2011 production Finecast's.
Handling the resin is far more easier than the metals, that's true.

As a material there is no downside of the resin, but apparently Citadel Miniatures displayed poor manufacturing techniques on their first productions.
There were too much flash on the sprue and there were yellowish casting residues which penetrated into the actual model, causing awful defects.

Talking as a mechanical engineer and a machine manufacturer: These faults and defects are generally results of converting a company's casting systems to a newer one. New machines or new molds etc... They need some time to calibrate and to perfect. Over time Citadel will get over these initial failings and manufacture better models.

In addition to these, the box had some missing parts.

The standard bearer's horse had no spike on its champron (fancy word for horse helmet).
Fortunately Games Workshop here in Edinburgh employs very nice people and they offered fixing it. They took one of their own Blood Knights from the storage and removed the spike on its pauldron (another fancy word for shoulder armor).

By using some green stuff it was done.
Also there was a missing shield, which one I don't remember but, still the guys in the shop supplied it.

Zombies with Sticky Fluid Effect

Here we have the first few experiments of the Sticky Fluid Effect.

As you can see there are two of them: black mud and red blood.
With black ones I tried to give out the effect of dribbling oily mud under their feet. And with the red ones... well, that doesn't need any explanation.

These are additions to my Swamped Graveyard Tar Pit and each one of them have dark colored water effect under their feet -which may not be visible.

Enjoy =)

About The Effect:

First of all, I was inspired by 'Bigcannon' at Vampirecounts.net.
You can check his awesome modeling at this thread.

Secondly,
I educated myself with this video:

My experience so far;

Controlling that thing is really a tough matter. In my case, things didn't go as smooth as they went in the video.
And I think I made a mistake by using Blood Red of Citadel. Both Bigcannon and the guy in the UHU tutorial used Tamya's X-27 clear red, which seems a thinner kind of paint compared to the Citadel paint.
Blood Red solidified in a matter of seconds and made it so hard to use. (Though I managed!)
If you don't have any restrictions in reaching Tamya Paints, get that one instead of using Citadel Paint.

And I strongly advise on one thing:
Before going on regular models get some L or U shaped sprues, and try the effect on them.


Another thing... If you field your models, keep in mind that this effect is not compatible with gaming. Every time I held these zombies I accidentally broke a string.
I know that in a few games they'll be in ruins, but they are zombies =) I don't really care much.
What I care is larger and prettier models. If I had a Terrorgheist like Bigcannon's, I'd think twice before fielding it.

Thanks!
Can Toraman

How To: Swamped Graveyard Zombie Unit Filler (or SwaGZomUF)

Hia!
Now I will try to tell you how I made the Swamped Graveyard, Zombie Unit Filler. And I will put in some tips regarding the technique.
I am sorry about the blurry images and lacking a proper recording of the whole work; but I'll try to compensate that with detailed explaining.


Here we go,

0. Get a Zombie Box or:
Get an old Zombie regiment box which includes a 5 wide 4 deep green tray. If you can't, buy one of these or get a modular tray set and build a tray with this dimensions.

1. Setup:
First thing is choosing the right parts to cut from the sprue. As I've stated before it's going to be a small group of zombies shambling in a swamped graveyard.
So you should choose free, reaching hands to make it appear like a classic zombie movie style horde.
Unfortunately the box does not provide much right arm, and this makes it hard to put up 10 "reaching zombie" together.
One thing to avoid this problem is getting a weapon wielding right arm, cutting the hilt's both ends, carving out excess parts and then drilling the lumpy looking fist to make it appear like a regular clenched hand.

[
For drilling... Or for any Warhammer related modeling, I strongly recommend Citadel Hobby Drill... That thing is a fantastic tool. Definitely more than its money's worth.
]

The right hand which is holding a ripped off leg will also do the job and blend in the environment. But I didn't prefer it. For me, empty hands are a proof of their hunger.

To make rising/emerging zombies you can use the hanged corpse figure on the sprue. This way, you wouldn't waste any regular zombie torso - and use its awesome chest which is showing some ribs.
But, there is a problem called the slip knot! If the rope wasn't standing upright, it would be a great addition to the corpse horde. But it stands funny when used without a beam on top.
To make it look like a normal neck, I carefully cut the knot and carved the rope out of his neck. I also used a weapon wielding right arm to attach it. His hand is plunged in soil so that it looked like a natural stand. I cut it down the wrist and used that way, leaving his hand in the soil of the grave.

And here's a tip: You can use other models, especially old unused ones to make zombies. I live abroad now, but had many old Bretonnian Archers and old Dark Elf Warriors back at home. I converted many of them to skeleton warriors. They were a bit lousy but some displayed great standing profile.

Lastly: There are several severed heads and hands on the sprue. I used one head and one hand to make two newly emerging zombies. 


2. Gluing Zombie Parts Together:
Why glue beforehand? Because they are easy to paint! You don't need to find the perfect angle to put a bit of paint inside a closed point. They are pretty straightforward. And also, keeping pieces glued makes a tidy workspace.
When connecting parts try to connect the arms parallel to the ground, making them look like reaching monsters.


3. Get the Graveyard Accessories:
There must be 4 tombstones on the zombie sprues. Get them.
I split one into several pieces to make it look like fallen over and broken. I also carved out the skeleton on one of the tombstones to create variety.
With some luck I caught a great terrain bundle deal on ebay, and in that lot there was the Lord of the Rings statue and several weird parts of Citadel Watchtower. When I put these parts back to back, they looked like a shrine-like tombstone. So I went through with that and with some customization they looked awesome.

Moreover I carved a small round tombstone from some spare modeling wood.

The thing about gravestones, you have to dent them or make cracks across their surfaces to make them a bit more realistic. So, get your knife and be done with it.


4. Spray all with white undercoat: 
Why white?
I used to be an all-black-undercoat guy... who didn't know much about painting.
Black is okay.
But white is better; it brings out the colors.
Though I painted the tray back to black, don't let it mistake you.

5. Design the Graveyard:
Put the tombstones and see if you like it.
Down under first two are my early attempts which I didn't like. As you can see on the other pictures, I changed the allocation.
When you are happy with the positions, mark their spots with a pencil.

6: Paint:
There are 10 (+3) zombies and on each one of them I tried a different color scheme for their skin. Some were newly buried and some were rotten with different decomposition complexities. I won't talk about painting zombies, at least not here.

Paint the tray black while making sure the pencil marks are not lost.

The thing about stonework is that you have to paint them in the same color scheme to establish harmony. (IMHO! But if you insist on variety, just make one or two with slightly different colors.)

After spraying with skull white I painted them with old Fenris Grey (new The Fang) and applied a thick dry brush with old Astronomical Grey (new Celestra Grey).

Then I used Tharaka (Biel-Tan) Green to make a slight green hue for the places that I'll add moss.

As a finishing touch I used Badab Black (Nuln Oil) for to diminish too highlighted parts.

I also recommend old Dheneb Stone, Khemri Brown to make a more tanned scheme.


7. Add Moss:
Here is the tricky part!
Get a non-static green flock. Color depth is not important. Just make sure the particles are like tiny spheres or something like dust; not anything like Citadel flock.
Make a sliding surface for them to slide under your control.

Put the stones in front of you and don't touch them till the end of this process.
Put the flock on the desired spots on the stones with the help of this slide.
Put the slide aside and make little position adjustments on the stone with a brush or a needle.
Ready some paper towel strips to the side.

Carefully, drop a little super glue on the flocked places of the stone, and quickly brush the surface of the drop with a paper strip.
Why this? Because when a drop lands on the stone it stays like a water drop unless you brush it with paper strips. (cohesion thingy)
You have to be careful when handling strips. Just a slight brush is enough to smear the drop to the whole stone. If you dip the strip right to the middle of the glue drop, it would momentarily connect with some random place and when you pull it away, you'd probably move the stone and lose all the freely standing flock.

Repeat this process several times to achieve desired moss buildup.
Don't worry about gleaming surface. When you were sure that it's all solidified, use Badab Black (Nuln Oil) to darken the shining parts.
Since the glue surface is smooth, it takes a little longer to reach this effect. (But at least it holds!) 


8. Glue the Tombstones, Statue and the Rising:
Glue the tombstones except for the fallen over and broken parts to the tray.
I made the mistake of trying to put the rising zombies after laying the stone foundation. It wasn't dried yet at the moment, but that didn't stop it from turning into a mess.

After fitting the stones, statue and zombies, lay one millimeter thick PVA glue on the part where you'll make your graveyard soil. On the border of the swamp make it thicker.

There was a "Small Basing Slate Tub" thing on the ebay lot that I've salvaged. At first I didn't know where it came from, then I learned that it belonged to the 40K Basing Kit.
Yeah, get one!
That tub forms the most suitable rocky foundation that I've ever used. (Believe me I've tried a lot of thing) Not talking about graveyard; talking about the regular basing: it is the perfect rock texture.

Anyways, lay this rock on the ground. Put a little more than usual on the thickly laid PVA glue line where it forms the border of the swamp. Use a little plastic knife or any spare sprue to thicken the border, raise it a bit, and make sure that once it solidifies, it will be a suitable border for pouring water effect.

Also put more PVA on to the front of the rearmost zombie and add more gravel there. Try to dig his back a little bit. That will establish a realistic look.

If you have any dusty looking brown flock, add this to the border and around the places where there are rising zombies. Why? Because the soil underneath the surface has always a lighter color.

Mistake: Look at the picture. See the head on the front.
Here is the thing. I should have made humps on the places where his shoulders should be by raising the gravel as I did on the border and on the front of the rearmost zombie.


9. Wait:
Wait till all solidifies.


10. Darken the Gravel:
Put 1:1 water, or more, to some Chaos Black and brush the hell out of this rocky surface. Just be careful when you brush around the rising zombies and tombs.


11. Put the Second Layer of the Ground:
Put 1:1 water to some PVA glue. Mix it well to make a sticky liquid. Carefully put this adhesive on to the ground. Put your other non static flocks on top of this.
Other flocks?
I used a black flock that looked like blackened leaves. Anything will work as long as it is dark. Try some brown maybe, or grey.
Also sprinkle a thin layer of other colors. Any crimson, green, yellow flock will do. Just a tiny bit... Not more... It will build a rich scenery.

Apart from these, spread some of your glue mixture to the place where the swamp will be. Put a little bit flock there, too.

Lastly, use normal PVA on the place where the broken tomb pieces will lie, then rest these parts.

Let it dry!


12.Put the Rest Back:
Get your super glue and put your zombies on the ground. For the one walking in the swamp, I cut its legs from just below of the kneecaps and put like that. Don't worry about the destructive force of the super glue. It ravages some of the paint but you can use black wash to cover such places.


13. The Swamp Botany:
Modeling stores sell reed like bristles. I got mine from another ebay deal (link is at the bottom). If you want, you can try to cut some of the old large brushes, and then paint them to make it look like a bush.
But there is a glitch at these reeds (store bought or home made). It is so hard to keep them together.
Here is my solution: Hold the desired amount of bristles between your fingers like they are emerging from the same point, say root. Put a little super glue on this intersection. Et Voila!
(EDIT: Hold them by their middle so that the intersection will rest in the air. Otherwise, you'll have funny fingers.)

By adjusting their sprouting angle, you can change their standing forms from wider to straiter. You can connect several of these bundles to make them thicker.
So, when you are done, put these on the desired spots by gluing.

I also put some little brown branches to the border, as if they'd been floated to the shore.


14. Water Effect:
Pour till it makes 2 or 3 millimeters thick. Wait for 24 hours, pour another layer.
Don't worry about cloudy appearance. My first layer lost its general cloudy appearance in 4 hours, but it lingered much more around the knees of the swamp dweller. It was past 25 hours when the clouds completely disappeared.
Some say, paint some wash before pouring the second layer. I didn't, but you can try.


15. Admire Your Work:
Do it.



Additional Ideas:
The severed heads on the zombie sprue! You can cut their faces and glue them on the swamp side of the tray. They have this creepy dull look on their faces. That will form a ghastly underwater view.

--

That's it =)

Thanks for reading.
Can Toraman


Get this kit. It's very cheap and has a wide variety. I used many of these flocks/basings here on this project.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELF-ELVES-ELDAR-FOREST-FLOCK-SCATTER-BASING-KIT-MODELS-/170737377267

Swamped Graveyard Zombie Unit Filler

The fog was thick and the unholy light of the yellow moon diffused in the floating droplets like spoiled milk. It was a cursed night, alright. He had already regretted choosing this path, coming here, trying to sneak his way past the Count's land.
He had prayed on the black soil, poured libations to Morr and jugulated a cockerel in his name. He had paid his toll. For that, he was not afraid.
At least, that was what he told himself.
The graveyard was silent. Outlines of tombstones and statues cast eerie shadows on the damp soil. Everything was covered with a velvety layer of dark green moss. He hated this even more. He had a thing for the velvety textures - especially living things with that kind of surface. He held onto his talisman fast, shivering continuously and murmuring prayers. 
Place was near the River Aver and this year it had snowed plenty. With the dawning spring, many of its banks were drenched by overflowing. Here was the prime example. In the early spring, the vast graveyard of the town was soaked, and now, half of it had turned into a black swamp.
He had to be careful. It wasn't just the undead he needed to be cautious about. By an overturned fence or a broken tomb stone - just staggering a step or slipping on the wet marble was enough to send him into the thick swamp. He wouldn't drown outright on the spot, but some of the area had the treacherous mud underneath. If he'd step on such terrain, in a matter of few hours, he'd be one of those who haunt this graveyard.
So he was careful.
...but not fortunate.
The fog revealed the weak brushing sounds first; silhouettes later. Up ahead, a group of weary looking men was standing with their heads down. He knew them. They were not grave diggers...
Not robbers, breaking caskets; not priests, laying the ghosts to rest; not old men, mourning their dead.
They were the dead itself.
He heard more muffled sound coming around but he couldn't make the direction. 
Was it far? Was it close? His left? Or to his right?
His back?
His steps were quiet, but his heart beat loud. They never heard it; however the sweat trickled down his neck carried his smell. 
As they turned their heads slowly, his mouth dried up. He had been impaled with fear. One of them released a hoarse groan, calling the dead to rise, inviting them to the feast.
They started shambling towards his way. 
He had to run.
Or perhaps, swim...

 

First of all, let's confess that this is a neat idea =)
Especially if you field Zombies in 5 wide 50 guys regiments. (Most use this for tarpitting)

It's a half swamped graveyard filled with 10 shambling zombies and 3 just rising, along with 6 tombstones and a memorial statue. Just like a diaroma, but a playable one!

My expat days (sojourn, as some may say) here in Edinburgh - Scotland inspired me to make such a model. To a Mediterranean like me, seeing everything covered with moss is amazing. Especially graveyards are just like this. Black soil, greenish gravestones, statues; and many of the monuments are cracked or broken!
Though the swamped part is not from Edinburgh, it's still related to the UK. There was a well preserved 2000 year old body in British Museum which made me think about swamps.
With some luck I caught a great terrain bundle deal on ebay which included more than I need. (Basics: gravel, water effect, several different colors of flock and the statue model) Oh, I also bought an old zombie box for the half price which included the same sprues as the new box but also that old green tray. (I don't know if the new zombie boxes include old green trays, if so, pardon me)


Speaking game-wise:
In a Vampire Counts army Zombies get wiped off in bulks so that making a 5 wide 4 deep Zombie unit filler would not hinder the game play.
And the great thing is you only use 10 zombie models to make this. You still hold onto that other 10 zombies.

(Let's confess: this idea was also related to prudence. I'm not talking about the space covering swamp or tombstones. I'm talking about using 10 models instead of the whole 20. Of course, if I had a lot of money, I'd build the same tray with a true horde of 30 zombies in the space of 20, but I have not. =) )

But does the game play claim sound wrong?
Let's think about it for a minute.
Say that, you have a 30 zombies to block someone's way. You put in this 20 filler tray and add the remaining 10 to the end. Took a few wounds? just remove from the end.
If you take wounds more than 10, things will get a little complicated, but not much.
Say that, you took 13 wounds including the combat resolution. Just remove the last bunch of 10 and put 3 wound tokens on the back of the tray. Took 15 wounds? Put 5 tokens? Took 20 wounds? Remove the tray, put back your 10 guys back in!

That's it!

Of course, I don't know if anyone would let you play with this in a tournament, but I am sure that in a friendly game, this, as a model, would be a desired thing to be seen on the other side of the table.


Here is the rest of the images for you to inspect:

Down: The regiment of whole 30!

Down: Newly rising Zombie at the back is visible.

Down: I hate flash, but this one enabled the true color of the swamp to be seen. 

Down: See the head and hand rising from the grave.

Down: See the fallen and broken tombstone at the feet of the rearmost zombie.

I am going to post the HOW TO of this model. To check if I did it, just click on the top banner to return to the main page of this blog and look for the article =)


Regards,

Can Toraman
('Can' sounds like John =) )

Hello World.

"Printf ("Hello World")," said the robot dully. It was born into the darkness and felt nothing but the burden of a series of tasks. A quick check on the preliminary systems returned a positive value to the main processor. 
It was living.
Name was, Balinius X12-304... A hunting machine, some say. 
It rose and opened its visors.
The world was not a welcome sight, it thought.

Hello People!
This is Can (John) behind the screen. Welcome to just another Warhammer painting blog. Here you'll find... painting tips, of course!

As a disclaimer:
I am not trying to prove myself to someone or have any claim about 'great painting'. I just share what I know with the people around.

My own miniature and painting photographs are free to use, distribute, edit, chew on... Just add, "Can Toraman" as a photo source to the bottom of whatever you'd used them; or give out a link to here.

Thanks for reading!