Orkalypse Now (8)

@Da Masta Cheef - I think adding the side flashes to the Bolters (or at least the heavy Bolter) would be a bit too much. For the Autocannon I wanted it to kind of "dominate" the other weapons, and the flash has to compete with the Flamthrower, so I wanted to give it the extra "kick" - so to speak :)
Now that I'm nearing completion and painting I'm getting a bit concerned about all the flashes and I hope it isn't over the top.

One thing I still needed for the PONOS were antennae.
For this I heated an old sprue and cerefully pulled it apart.

This creates nice thin strands of plastic - perfect for antennae.

While I was waiting for the last track casts to cure, I added battle damage to the PONOS.

And some Purity Seals.




Then, finally, I had all the tracks that I needed for the second track section.

Done!





With the build phase complete, I assembled the Band of Brothers again.

Hmm, a bit unbalanced...

So I rearranged the squad again, with 3 laser beams on the left, and 2 laser beams on the right. The Flamer and AC on the right, the heavy Bolter on the left - well actually the 3 Bolters pretty centered.

I think this set up is better balanced now.

I took the following images for reference when painting, and planning the colors.

I'm not yet sure, which color my laser beams should have...red or blue? What do you think?


Oh, remember the small bullet impacts I sculpted?
I did remember them :)



I even positioned some on the PONOS (hopefully this will work)

And with this my laundry list was completed - well I didn't make any rifle slings, as they weren't looking as good as I wanted them. With the new helmets I didn't need any goggles, and I refrained from the mine damage of the left track, as this area isn't really visible anyway.

To wrap thing up I quickly did a mold for the left track section.


And then it was time to clean up the desk and get ready for painting :)

The primed pieces.

Ready for painting!


I started off with the base colors - Dencara is a very Mars-like planet, with some near surface lava streams.

Once the base colors were dry I added grime black to the craters and shadows form the PONOS.

Also a shadow from the lowered side ramp.

With some washes I darkened the area on front of the berm and behind the APC some more

The borderline of the lava stream was darkened to simulate grime and then I added some shine from the lava.

To paint the lava I started with Scab Red.

Next color was Blood Red (no transitional color).

Then I added a transitional layer with a mix of Blood Red and Blazing Orange.

Pure Blazing Orange.

Without the desk light the colors already begin to glow :)


After the orange layer, I added a transitional mix of Blazing Orange and Golden Yellow.

Then pure Golden Yellow.

Also the bullet impacts on the surface received some light earth colors (base color was Talarn Flesh I think)

For the lava I continued with Sunburst Yellow.

Finally a mix of Skull White and Sunburst Yellow (mainly on the lava bubbles) and the pile of brass from the heavy Bolter was painted with Dwarfen Bronze and received a wash of Badab Black.

I'm pretty pleased so far.

As you can see there are no real light effects on the landscape yet.
I will do those last.
First I will now paint the soldiers and their muzzle flashes (also without OSL at that time), then the PONOS. And once I have them all painted and arranged on the base, that's when I will do the OSL....at least in theory :)

So now they are all in position and await their paint.

I think I will start with the most "boring" character - the grenade hurler on the left.

So what do you think? Red or blue laser beams?
Any other suggestions before I start painting?

Thanks for your time reading and I hope you enjoed todays rather long (46 images) update.
I look forward to your feedback and suggestions.
Cheers
Klaus

Orkalypse Now (7)

Hey guys,
I hope you all had a good weekend and found a good balance of family and hobby time.

Since my last update I was able to create new battery packs for the Hellguns. They are created out of the standard IG Vox unit.
@cadian127th - hi Courtney, well I was thinking about using the standard IG backpacks too, but then these guys are just disembarking the APC, so I don't think they'd do that with the complete backback on. That would be too cumbersome - actually they'd have to wear the backpacks in the vehicle, and that is definately too cumbersome.
So I wnet for something small :)

Not too big and bulky I think.


All 4 units mounted.

Then I mounted the remaining heads.






Next item on my laundry list were the reamining muzzle flashes.
The first one I addressed was the autocannons flash - while bigger than the standard Bolter flash, it follows the same principle.


Except that it also has two small side flashes from the deflector cuts on the side.

While at it I created the remianing two bolter flashes - and in the background you can see the base for the heavy bolters flash.


Once they were cured I mounted them on the PONOS turret.

:)



The flash on the Bolter,


and on Major Reisman's Bolter.


And finally the heavy Bolters muzzle flash.

Finally?
Well the hardest cincematic effect was still on the list.
The flamethrower.
It took me several attempts, but this is what I ended up with.


Mounted to the model it looks great, doesn't it?




With the muzzle flashes and enffects completed I still had to add some personal equipment.

And I added some Purity Seals.

But now my Band of Brothers is complete!

Well, they still need their shoulder crests.

But other than that they are done.












Well, one effect I forgot so far.
The ejected cartridges from the heavy Bolter.


and a pile of brass :)


While the left track section still needs a few casted tracks, I decided to create a mold for the track sections so I can easily build another PONOS.

The mold looks good.

and actually the cast too :)
There are some bubble issues, but other than that the cast is pretty good.


Well, thanks for your time and I hope you enjoyed todays read.
I look forward to cour comments and feedback.
Cheers
Klaus