Cutter Complete!

So after about 10 hours of work, Panoceania's scariest TAG is finished.

I used a couple of unfamilar techniques in this that will carry onto the rest of my infinity stuff. Non metallic metal of two varieties was a really interesting and enlightening technique for me as I've never used it or considered using it before. I suppose my technique and formula will improve as time goes on. But for a first attempt - I'm happy.

Object source lighting is something I've always loved. I didnt really have the opportunity to use it to its full potential on the cutter, but I think that where I used it, it really had quite an effect. I like a green glow on the red background for its contrast value - the effect is striking.

The base is made with balsa wood and plaster for smoothing. I think that has a really good value for concrete. The rough stuff is just textured brown paint with a couple of washes (nuln oil and secret weapon stone wash). The base fits the theme for my terrain project (the kickstarter one).

Here is the kickstarter link

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/584807271/28mm-city-terrain-tutorials-infinity-40k

Next in line is sculpting cloaks for the dark eldar and moving on with some more infinity stuff - ORC trooper with multi rifle, nisses and hexas with sniper rifle and spitfire respectively.

I hope you all enjoyed this - don't hesitate to ask any questions about it!

"Here's one I prepared earlier" part 4

Here is part 4 of "here's one I prepared earlier"!

The first 2 pictures are of my Warhammer Fantasy Chaos Lord. I didnt really want to go with a standard armour colour for him, so I painted it like bone. You've probably realised by now that I love working with red. The bottom of the cloak however is drybrushed with a dusty dirty brown colour, because no chaos lord (minus a marked of slaanesh) should be squeaky clean.

The final picture is the Vampire Count Konrad Von Carstein. The model was a speed painting effort, but I guess I'm still happy with how he turned out.

Cheers.

Kickstarter link!

Well, my kickstarter project was approved! Here is the link for anyone interested - 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/584807271/28mm-city-terrain-tutorials-infinity-40k

Also worth mentioning - after nearly 10 hours of work, the Panoceania Cutter is almost complete. A few details on the legs plus some work on the base and that beautiful model will be finished. Pictures to come later this afternoon.

Later this week, I'll showcase my Dark Eldar Trueborns. I'm in the process of sculpting cloaks onto them along with my own conversion work of Duke Sliscus with a flayed skin cloak of his own.

Poll Results and Kickstarter

Hey readers!

You may remember I had a poll running. Even though there were only 3 votes, the results were decisive, so the next project will be a nice tightly packed light urban setting complete with all of the tiny details you'd think that would include.

I've already done a lot of the planning, window shopping etc involved in my preliminary phase and I decided that this was going to be a costly project. Knowing that I intend to use this to help people by doing tutorials and reviews on things that I buy, I decided to run a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds for it. My campaign hasn't been approved yet, but once it is, I'll be posting a link so you can all check it out.

So my idea is to create a light urban setting (no high rise, but still tightly packed), complete with advertising boards, restaurants, mechanic's stations and apartment blocks with all of the details. The story behind it is basically that it's the budding population centre of a young colony. I intend to add graffiti, garbage and all sorts of interesting details. One of the kickstarter pledges is actually for me to make customised billboards or graffiti that will certainly be featured on this blog.

So some of the kits that I've factored in so far

-Sci fi building bundle from CNC workshop along with some bins and vending machines etc.

-Warmill's basic MULE system with an elevator to fill it out into a two storey building as perhaps an office space. Warmill also had some interesting random bits and bobs to add detail to buildings. No doubt, I'll be using some of those too.

-Some of Warsenal's buildings including the commanche barracks because I like the aesthetic of it and it also works well as a small apartment or unit. Perhaps also a couple of their modular two storey buildings to add more flavor.

-MicroArt Studio has some great lasercut hdf scenery that I really like. I'll be using a pair of district 5 L shaped buildings and a garage kit to make a taller apartment building. I had considered also the 3 storey apartment building and may still add this to the list. The catwalk kit will also be essential, as stairs are required to traverse levels (obviously).

-For the interior details of the buildings, Spartan Scenics has some fantastic sci-fi flavoured details - mess hall parts, bunks, lockers, an armoury set, medical centre. These will be great for adding a real homely feel to the board I think.

I'll probably be making my own base board out of mdf and wood. I haven't yet decided if the board will be modular, or a whole piece as there are great benefits to both.

I'm really hoping to invest quite a lot of time into this project, and I hope I can find some support.

I'm off to finish sculpting some cloaks onto my Dark Eldar Trueborns.

Update

Progress has been fairly slow this week due to work, but progress has been made.

On the Cutter, I've been finishing off piece by piece, so some parts are nearly completed while others are still only in the beginning stages.

One of my main aims with my infinity miniatures has been to avoid using metallic paints altogether, so I've tried my hand at non-metallic metal for the first time ever as you can see on the Cutter's gun. I like it for a first attempt, but it definitely needs some development.

You can also see some lighting effects on the gauntlet and visor. They arent finished and they need to be taken brighter in my opinion.

Before I go to work today, I'm planning to prime at least half of the bare metal in the first picture.

Review time!

Hey readers!

While working ever so slowly on the Cutter, I thought I'd do a review on a couple of the Panoceanic heavy infantry models - Aquila Guard with multi-rifle and Swiss Guard with rocket launcher.

Both models are fantastic as far as metal models go, and as per the Cutter, I think I'm really going to enjoy painting them. Both models are relatively easy to put together, being monopose and having locking pin type joints for the arms.
As to be expected with metal models, both required a (relatively small, to be honest) amount of cleaning and flash removal.
The Aquila Guard actually required some greenstuff work - the locking pieces on the jacket didnt quite match up, so I decided to fill them in. There were no such troubles on the Swiss Guard.

Rating -

Sculpt - Both models are a 4/5. The level of detail is comfortable and still impressive, while the poses are absolutely fantastic.
Cast quality - Another 4/5. While there was still a small amount of flash and some injection points to clean up, Infinity consistently produces some of the nicest metals I've ever worked with. Really, the only problem I had was the jacket and the head on the Aquila Guard which required some gap filling.

I can't wait to finish the Cutter so I can get to work on these!

Poll!

Readers may or may not have noticed that I'm running a poll right now on what you all think I should develop into a project next.

I really want to get readers involved in my work, so don't be afraid to comment or message me and let me know if you had anything you'd like to see from me.

So far the choices are - blood angels v orks or tyranids diorama, infinity gameboard w/ terrain, a baneblade variant tank or a night lords kill team.

Get involved - let me know what you'd like to see.

Infinity progress update

Slow progress on the cutter - about 5 hours work so far and I reckon it's maybe 30-40% finished.

I'm really liking the colour scheme I've chosen and I think I'll definitely stay with it for painting the rest of my Panoceania force.

Red can be a real pain to highlight, so I opted to wash the red really dark and then highlight starting with an equal parts mix of mephiston red and fiery orange, progressively mixing in yriel yellow on the more extreme edge. It seemed to work on the right arm, so I'll keep it up with the rest.

The grey parts are russ grey, with highlights of russ grey/ ceramite white mixes - obviously with more white being added for the higher edges.

I'm really enjoying painting the cutter. It is quite unlike any model I've ever painted before and I think in that regard, it's testing my skills nicely.

More progress pics coming soon.

"Here's one I prepared earlier" part 3

As promised, a Dark Eldar Wraithknight, raider assault craft and as an added bonus, a picture of my (as yet not quite finished) conversion of Drazhar, Master of blades.

Check in tomorrow for more progress shots of my Infinity project.

"Here's one I prepared earlier" part 2

Hey readers!

Here is part 2 of "heres one I prepared earlier", featuring some of my Dark Eldar models including an Archon with a resculpted head, a unit of Wyches and 2 Kabalite warrior squads.

Yes I realise many of them are not based, I'm saving that little job for when I have another (admittedly quite big) project, involving lots of Infinity terrain. This way, I can keep some coherence between my prime 40k army and the battlefield they'll be playing on.

Stay tuned tomorrow to see a Dark Eldar Wraithknight and a raider transport. 

Today's progress so far

Progress!

First picture is PanO Cutter, followed by a couple of dark elves and then the dark eldar rangers I've been working on.

Work on the Cutter today so far has been a deeper coat of ferrari red mixed with some flat black and then washed with secret weapon's drying blood wash x2 coats. Next step will be successive highlights of mephiston red, consecutively mixing in wild rider red and yriel yellow at the most extreme stage.

"Here's one I prepared earlier" part 1

Hey readers!

Heres one I prepared earlier is a short series I'll be running to showcase some of my older work alongside my works in progress.

First picture is my Execrators chapter chaplain, followed by company command squad and finally a tactical squad.

As always, tutorials can be made on request and I'm more than happy to do a step-by-step for any of my models for any of my readers.

Comments are well appreciated.

Morning's work

Hi!

So, after a long night of cleaning up and building the Panoceanic Cutter, I spent the morning priming and basecoating it, followed by a liberal spray of vallejo satin varnish to keep the basecoat from chipping off the metal.

I use vallejo grey primer and vallejo air ferrari red for the prime and basecoats respectively.

In the first pic, you can see a few of my airbrush works in progress - the dark elf swordsmen from the other day, some eldar rangers (converted to dark eldar aesthetic using greenstuff and dark eldar bits), the hull of a hellhammer tank and a drop pod.

The second pic is the cutter up close.

By the way, I highly recommend airbrushing to everybody who loves a smooth coat. Airbrushes also open up some great techniques and 'looks' that are absolutely impossible to replicate with a conventional paint brush.

More updates to come.

Well what do we have here?

Well. My first infinity model arrived in the mail today - the Panoceania Cutter TAG. I've had a brief look inside, and I can say that I have some cleanup work ahead of me this evening.

Wish me luck :)

Edit : Later on, the PanO starter pack arrived. 

Dark Elves

Hi!

As promised, here are some shots of my finished Dark Elves. The single is of a Master, converted from a High Elven loremaster and finished with some object source lighting. The group picture is of my Shades - converted using High Elf shadow warriors.

If anybody would like a tutorial for object source lighting as per the Master, I would be more than happy to write one! Send me a message or comment on this thread.

In the coming days, I'll be uploading some photos of my Space Marines and of course some of my Dark Eldar.

Thats all for today folks ;)

A Morning Of Cold Primer

Good morning!

Absolutely freezing here in Wollongong!

 I've been thinking about how I might paint my Infinity Panoceania miniatures when the arrive. I've been tossing up a mix between a flat red with black and white details, blue or green lighting effects or some mix there in between. I'll be doing a test run on the cutter when it arrives, as being a bigger model, I think it would be a better test of the colors I want to use. One idea I had was to perhaps use the red and stipple a black camouflage pattern over the top of it? Something I guess I'll test out when I get it.

In other news, Today I'll be priming and base coating a 10 man regiment of Dark Elf swordsmen with a standard bearer and a captain. My color scheme for them is a simple red cloth, black leather and silver armour/weapons. I already have a unit of Shades painted up in this scheme and I'm really happy with it (pictures to come very soon).

Stay tuned for pictures!


                                                       

Greetings and welcome to my blog!

I am a twenty-something year old painter/modeler and I have a passion for what I do. This is something I would just love to share with the world.

Caveat - No I am not the best at what I do, but this is something I love and I am really keen to share this journey with anyone who doesn't mind taking the time to read my blog. I started this blog to record progress in my talent and hopefully give other hobbyists encouragement and ideas. This is something I'm hoping we can share.

I have a few projects I'm working on at the moment, all of which I'm hoping to showcase in turn. In the future, expect to see various Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy Battle projects, as well as some Infinity stuff I'm just starting to get into!

The projects I already have in the works include 3000 points of Dark Eldar, a massive Imperial army built for apocalypse including Space marines of my own home-brew chapter, an Inquisitor's warband and some Death Korps troopers among other various machines etc. For Warhammer Fantasy, I only have one army in the works - 3000 points of Dark Elves, possibly with Empire in the future, although that remains to be seen.

Having been into Warhammer since I was just a kid, Infinity comes as a real novelty to me, having a completely different play style and aesthetic to anything I've ever painted. I have a few Panoceania miniatures on order (hopefully arriving this week!) and I'm super keen to get started on painting them up!

I would also love to mention that I'm open to ideas, and I'll probably hold a few polls on new projects, so if there is anything you'd love to see me sculpt, build or paint - Let me know!

Tomorrow, I plan to take some pictures of some finished works and maybe even some WIP shots. Bear with me while I get this started, I'm new to the blogging game.

Peace out :)