Deathwatch 008: Contemptor Ucuetis Complete

My Deathwatch Contemptor for the September Hobby Challenge is complete!

I decided to name the Iron Hands veteran interred within this weapon of the Emperor's fury Ucuetis. I googled forge god names and decided I liked this one.

Sculpting the arm was challenging, I've said before. Taking it on was what this month was all about, and I'm happy to have been up to it.

Here are all my completed Deathwatch minis so far. Once I get Kill Team Cassius painted, I'll start in on the minis from Death Masque.

Next up for me though is DREADTOBER!

Cheers,

CJ

Deathwatch 007: Contemptor Update

Just a quick midweek update here. I've been trying to paint a little every night this week. I've got all the silver metallic laid in so far. Tonight I plan to tackle the gold metallics. Once they're done it'll be all about the details and finishing up.

And coming right on the heels of this project is DREADTOBER! It's good to have a community that pushes one another to excell.

Cheers,

CJ

Deathwatch 006: Ready for Paint

This conversion is ready for a basecoat.

With the left over putty from the text tutorial, I sculpted a purity seal over the thin spot on the pauldron text. Then I set the arm aside and moved on to the body.

I mentioned before this the BaC Contepmtor was an ideal candidate since it has the ornamentation similar to the Relic Contempor. My all Techmarine army uses Iron Hands chapter tactics on the rare occasions it sees the table top. Deciding that this Contemptor could be an Iron Hands Deathwatch veteran, I took a look at the Iron Hands Contemptor on FW to see what I might add and decided on the bonding studs. I marked out a pattern, drilled and countersunk holes, and used steel sewing pins. The right pauldron got ten studs and an Iron Hands sigil.

With a little deconstructing a train wreck of a base was converted to one that works really well.

I am good at fixing gaps in models and sculpting purity seals. This whole arm was definitely a challenge. I'm glad I decided to try, and am pleased with the results overall. I look forward to trying my hand at more new things in future projects.

Cheers,

CJ

Deathwatch 005: Sculping Text

MasterSlowPoke asked me in the comments to the last installment of the Deathwatch Contemptor how I go about sculpting the text in the greenstuff. Here is a brief tutorial on how I went about the process for the single line of text on the Contemptor forearm.

First I marked out where I wanted the text to go. Using a sharp blade and a file I carefully removed a channel about 1/32" deep and 1/16" wide.

Once the channel was ready I mixed a bit of greenstuff and rolled it into a tube, then worked it into the channel. Using the edge of the blade on my sculpting tool I marked out the blocks for individual letters. Next I used a pick to make indents in the blocks. If you squint it says +ORDOXENOS. My tools for this are pictured above, the standard GW sculpting tool and a dental pick.

For the lines of text on the shoulder pad I performed basically the same process. I ended up with what looks like lines of text.

I hope this helps anyone who has a Deathwatch conversion, or Astartes army for that matter, in mind.

Cheers,

CJ

Deathwatch 004: Dreadnought Conversion

As I stated previously, I'm participating in the September Hobby Challenge as presented on fourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.com. Ive been meaning to post my progress sooner this week but it's been a tumultuous one. Enough about that, though.

First thing I did was put a piece of floral wire in place to mount the arms. Now I can put it together and look at it, instead of having to hold everything in place while I ponder hobby philosophy ;)

The most distinctive feature of the Deathwatch is, after the black and silver power armour, the left arm and especially the shoulder pauldron. The BaC Contemptor comes with some ornamentation to it, so I focused on the arms. I made the pauldron's gardbrace and the couter out of .020 sheet styrene. The cog tooth pattern on the right arm was made from a stick of .030x.060 styrene stock and careful trimming.

Then I broke out the green stuff and very carefully set to creating the pattern of lines of text on the pauldron. I did my best, and I think it will pass the all important three foot test. I'll build up the text one face of the shoulder at a time then come in with successive layers to finish the Deathwatch insignia. I'll also sculpt the skull and starburst on the couter.

Paint hides a multitude of sins XD

Cheers,

CJ

Deathwatch 002: Overkill Ultramarines Completed

I got Chaplain Cassius and Vael Donatus finished up and based over the weekend. It was a lot of fun getting these guys painted up and I look forward to getting the next couple done.

I kept a picture of the GW studio model up for each of these characters and stayed pretty true to the design. I did go with a red casing on the Stalker pattern bolter and bolt pistol. Next up will be Drenn Redblade, the teleport homer, and servo skull (I think). After that I plan to work on these in pairs, except for the terminator and biker.

Here is everything I've painted so far this year. Ave Imperator!

Cheers,

CJ

Deathwatch 001: Killteam Reminiscence

I've been a fan of the Deathwatch ever since they were featured in a White Dwarf battle report, allied with the Steel Legion. They looked so cool and  the way the battle report was set up they were just awesome. Back then it wasn't very difficult to find back issues of WD so I tracked down the ones I needed that had the Deathwatch rules and Index Astartes entry. I decided after looking to the rules that I wanted to put together a unit of Deathwatch. I'm excited to see the Resurgence of these guys now, I mean it's about 14-15 years after the fact for me. The Deathwatch was the ordo militant that rumor had firmly ensconced with the lost Codex: Alienhunters. Death Masque game looks to be fun, and the Deathwatch Marines in there look great. The Killteam included with Overkill are also some really characterful miniatures.

Now back then Games Workshop had just two options for Deathwatch conversion. There was a head sprue that included two heads and then there was the a stalker boltgun and shoulder pad sprue. I picked up 10 or 11 of the latter from Mail Order, and then I bought 5 blisters Dark Angels tactical marines, for the robed bodies. I end up getting a Dremel at the same time-my first one-because it made it so much easier to grind off the Dark Angels iconography on those miniatures. I picked up a couple of heavy Bolter Marines since heavy bolters with suspensors are badass (18" frag missile that doesn't scatter? OKAY!).  And I loved to run these guys, they were so much fun back in the day... this was 3rd edition, and it was a few years til 4th still. I had a lightning claw, two power fists, a couple power weapons, and the force sword wielding Librarian. My Deathwatch Killteam was ready to go. 

I even built a dedicated Rhino for them- painted the interior, very carefully replaced the bolter moulded on the bulkhead with one of the stalker pattern, and gave the driver a Deathwatch shoulderpad. When 4th edition came out with it came the new Space Marine commander box. The bits from that box allowed me to update my Deathwatch Killteam and I even got started painting the models. I never got around to getting good pictures of them, mores the pity.

So with that in mind and the Leman Russ project kind of stalled I've moved on to my Deathwatch Overkill Marines, and decided to start with Chaplain Cassius and Vael Donatus. I'll get those guys painted up and then move on. I have no idea what order I'll get the rest painted in.

I gave these guys my usual basecoat of Testors Model Master flat black acrylic, followed by drybrush layers of Codex Grey and Administratum Grey. My plan is to give them a few coats of Nuln Oil and see how it turns out... hopefully what I've got in mind works.

Cheers,

CJ

Spotted: Corvus Blackstar Painting Video

I'll just leave this here...

It's a private video now, shame that.

We're live again XD