Sunday, July 31, 2011

Good friend, good food, good times

I was invited to the forgemaster's lair today for some food, fun, fluff and talks.

And what a great time i had :)!!!

We kicked off with some hard assed space marine kill team action. I have not played a video game in ages so getting the chance to play a blood angels librarian was SWEET!!!!. Don't even get me started on Jeff's techmarine meltagun...the sound effect for that gun is simply awesome!!

This is how most of the game went...

I am definitely getting an xbox soon so i can get this game and get ready for the september release of the space marine game....drooollllll...
Play online as an angels sanguine assault marine...ohhh crap, i've models to paint for the ghemehaal campaign :(

After clearing the hulk of orks infestation, the forgemaster fired up his grill and cooked burgers for us. I can't describe how good a freshly cooked grilled burger tastes like. It is crazy delicious!! Get yourself invited then you'll know.

Our bellies full, we headed upstairs for some wholesome hobby talk. I am so envious of what this guy has set up for his hobby room. It is like hobby heaven in there :)
Jeff even managed to design the ultra cool new banner for my blog.

Thanks Jeff!! U d man!!!

Lots of hobby stuff talk. Things we want to do for the campaign, things we wanted to do for ourselves, things we wanted to do for Legio Malaysia. It was real fun. And i learned a lot.

My most sincere thanks again to Jeff for having me over. And his lovely wife Lina for letting us get some bros time.

Can't wait for next time :)

And i even managed to get some work done on chapter master sentikan.
Not the most inspired of build i know but i don't want to complicate things at this stage of preparing for the campaign. So which head should i use??

Later guys and SELAMAT MENYAMBUT BULAN RAMADHAN!!!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Squad Odyssues & Orpheus

As scheduled squad Odysseus and Orpheus are done. Can't believe i've finally finished my first troop squads :) Painting marines are fun!!!

Especially when its for a campaign project. These 2 squads will be accompanying Lord Sentikan, Chapter Master of the Angels Sanguine in the final battle for Ghemehaal this coming October. Yes, you heard it right guys....the Chapter Master himself has been tasked by the High Lords of Terra to take overall command of the imperial forces converging on Ghemehaal at this very moment.

Thanks to Jeff for the super cool suggestion :). And thanks for putting another project to my sanguine list....as if i don't have enough already. I'll be using dante as the base for his stats but will make a special Sentikan model. You can be sure he won't be in all gold.

In the meantime, i have already painted 34 jump pack equipped angels sanguine....not bad huh :)

Unfortunately, due to the list changes that had to be made for the Ghemehaal campaign fluff, i still have a lot to do. But i'm a man with a plan ;)

And the plan was to paint up this baby ....

But because Chapter Master Sentikan will now be leading the force, the baal will not be featuring in the list.

Sometimes i think the forgemaster is discreetly trying to sabotage my progress. Case of point....tomorrow should be a full solid day of hobbying for me but instead i've been called to assist the salamanders chapter to clear a drifting hulk of orks infestation :)

Wooooohooooooooo!!!!! Am so looking forward to that!!!

I'll make a post on that tomorrow nite.

The emperor protects!!!! Ave legio!!! For sanguinus & ghemehaal!!!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Applying decals

Not much too update. Just managed to get decals applied on my marines.

As most of u have experienced, gw decals are not the friendliest to work with. Having come from the aircraft modelling hobby, gw's decals leave much to be desired. Their thickness makes applying them on rounded surfaces quite hard.


But i do love those assault marines arrows so here's how i got mine done.


1. Make sure the surface is clean of any dust. Just use a clean cloth to wipe the surface. Sometimes i use cotton buds.





2. I brush on a thin layer of future floor polish to the shoulder pads. I brush the liquid straight on. The gloss finish of the polish is vital to ensure that the decals have a smooth surface to adhere to.




3. You want to make sure the future polish is completely dry and was brushed on as smooth as possible. This is where my small portable desk fan comes in handy. No more hairdryers for me :)

They're relatively cheap. I got this while i was based in Bangkok for around RM15.00 Really helps when i need to dry paint faster than normal.




4. Here's my secret to making the decals conform to the rounded surface nicely.
Firstly, cut the decal sheet as closely as possible to the design.
Then make small cuts in between the arrows. For the skull, just make a small cut on the top.
Sorry that my pics aren't too clear for this shot. But i think u'll understand what i mean.

5. I use Humbrol's Decalfix to apply the decals. Its a 2 in one solution so you don't need 2 separate types of solutions like what microsol used to market. Not sure if they still carry those products where u had to buy 2 different types of chemical solutions for applying decals. This one has worked well for me.

Just apply a thin layer to the surface before applying the decal.

Apply another layer once the decal have been positioned.

Wait for it to dry.

Apply a few more layers if u find the decals need to adhere better.


6. Most of the decals should fit nicely after a few, say 3-4 layers of the decalfix. Remember to let it dry a bit in between layers. Basically the solution helps to soften the decals to adhere better. But since gw decals are a a bit thick, that's where the cuts i made earlier helps to slip and slide them to stick better.









7. If you have air bubbles on the decals after they have dried, use a sharp hobby knife and make small holes in the air bubble area. Be very careful not to tear the decal. Again my picture isn't clear but i pricked 4-5 very small holes on the affected area.
Then simply apply more solution until the decal sticks nicely.

All 15 marines done. My target is to get them completed painted by end of next week so i'm kinda ahead of schedule. Can't wait to paint the next element in my sanguine list. If all goes according to plan then next Saturday i'll start priming.


Have a good and productive week ahead guys!!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Assault marines are up

This pic is mostly for the benefit of my good bro, Ivan, whose currently way down under. Bro, that's the glass cleaner i use to thin down my paints for airbrushing. Jeff got it for me way back ago (maybe even late 2009) and i'm happy using them.
Am sure you can get an equivalent there. Of course getting the proper thinning solution from vallejo as suggested by him is way better.
I'm just a cheapskate. Its also anti-static so u won't get electrocuted while airbrushing :)...cool huh. Safety first even when hobbying. Not sure if the vallejo thinner has that property....


All 15 are up. Next step is to get the decals on, wash, highlight. Then painting details. I'm hoping to get them finished by this weekend so that i can start on a new project next week.

I'm quite happy with how my bases have turned out. Most of my marines are based on only 1 foot so i'm expecting some to be broken off during gameplay. But i do like the look of them. Fits the jump infanrty theme well i think.



Still lots to do with the new change in my list. I'll update u on the changes as i update my blog. Wouldn't want to over-commit/slightly keeping it a secret hehehe.

Any more secret armies out there???

We'll u'll definitely see a spanking new angels sanguine and death korps pf kreigs army come October in the Legio Ghemehaal campaign. That Deathkorp guy is really keeping me on my toes...guy's a hobby/painting monster. Check his blog http://adeptusmalaysia.blogspot.com/

Have a nice weekend everyone :)

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Assault marines progress

My new list now only has 20 assault marines. Since i've already painted 5 earlier i'm now painting up another 15 out of the actual balance of 20 in the previous post. All 15 have been painted on the main colors so tonite its about painting in the details like jump pack straps, joints, weapons etc. I primed them using astro grey and used vellejo's gory red for the uhhh red part. Both of these colors were airbrushed on so that saved a lot of time. The black was handpainted chaos black. I'll try posting progress of my army on a regular basis starting today so expect less babble and more pics from now. Am soooo psyched up for the ghemehaal campaign :)

Saturday, July 16, 2011

20 assault marines on the wall

There's nothing quite like a campaign to get the hobby blood pumping again :)!!!


I've only ever participated in one campaign way back in 2009 and it was a truly awesome experience. Hats off to my fellow Legio officer Azlan for organizing it.

2 years later and the fight for Ghemehaal is drawing to an end (should the disorder win...again).
And so, Legio Malaysia will be organizing the second campaign in the Arenxis storyline this October which should be a hoot!!! We'll be basing our campaign on FOW's Firestorm system and had the basics worked out during hobby night yesterday.

Enter the 8th Company Angels Sanguine to liberate Arenxis from the foul forces of choas led by the diabolical Lord Mithras.

I had earlier built this 1750 Descent of Angels list to be played in our annual year end tourney but this campaign is an even better excuse to get them done up.
Seeing as the Firestorm system puts the germans, in our case the imperials, at a disadvantage from the get go, i'll have to tweek the list a bit.

What started as a 44 jump pack models list will be evolving in the coming weeks so please stay tuned.



That said .......

20 assault marines on the wall, 20 assault marines on the wall.
1 got fully painted and shipped to war, 19 assault marines on the wall :)

ps: i just love my new iwata HP-BP airbrush hehehehe