Space Hulk: Genestealers

It took a while, but I've finally finished up all the Space Hulk Genestealers and here they are ...

My test model from a few weeks back is in the first shot, three along. The blue for squishy bits and retaining a yellow head make him look unfinished compared to the others but I felt it was nice to keep him there as my reminder of how they started out. Can't recall if I mentioned it previously, but everything was glued to standard round bases to make manipulation of the figure easier, and most importantly add balance and an even surface to the bottom.

Have I mentioned how much fun the bases are? The sculpt is very satisfying to paint, as almost anything you do with them brings out another detail and makes you feel like a king among men. Between the sculpt, and the rust and verdigris special effects, they were a joy.

The Terminator pieces, scattered across bases and held in claws, are painted up as Space Wolves to match (very) WIP Terminators I started converting a few years back. Still a way out from being dusted off, but they'll be consistent when I finally get there. By accident, the Genestealer skull colouring is too similar to the helmets - I may look to revise one of these at a future point, but not for the moment.

Claws, claws, claws. There are something in the region of 400 claws of varying sizes across 22 figures. OH MY GOD, THE TEDIUM. Initial dreams for subtle layering on claws died a horrible death when I realised the magnitude of the task so they're just based in brown, couple of thin coats of bone white then washed.

The end result is very pleasing, but not sure that I would do an entire army in this colour scheme. I'm a messy painter and correcting errors with yellow isn't fun, and takes significantly longer than any other colour. However, it's a problem for another year day as all these fellows are going on the shelf until Space Hulk is next pulled out for the evening.

Final shot of my favourite three from the beautiful bunch.

Super happy with the way this set of figures turned out, but I also had a little sigh of relief at getting to the end. Next project starting shortly ...

Space Hulk: Genestealers (WIP)

Not dead, merely swamped with work, and I'm hoping the light at the end of the tunnel isn't oncoming traffic.

Slow, steady progress being made on Hive Fleet Bob* and the mind numbing block painting is finished and I've started washing and adding base detail. Here's the first pre and post shots of one of the Genestealers.

* It's a holding name, but it's growing on me ... like a fungal infection.

More work to do as I still have highlights, carapace to brighten up a little, bone to work up from the base brown, skin glazes and touch ups to go, but we're moving in the right direction! There was a change of heart from the first test figure - with 22 of them sat in front of me, it was just too yellow and needed breaking up.

I've made the head the same colour as the sinew coming out through the skin to give the figure definition, and that helped considerably.

The original brighter blue I planned for the squishy bits didn't look right against the skin and has been repurposed for the tongue. Now I need to take a moment to talk about the base ...

I mentioned before about picking up a few of the Modelmates effects at Salute, read a few tutorials on YouTube and opted to throw them on the base and see what happened. We started around this point before I thought "oh hello, what's this?" as straight out the bottle it was achieving something in seconds that takes me a lot longer to achieve with normal acrylics and lots of thinned Sick Green then Hawk Turqoise.

From this point on, it went a little bananas as I liberally applied the green verdigris and the rust effect ...

The rust effect is so much science in a bottle, it's basically magic. I don't understand how it works - but it does and is wonderful, wonderful stuff and now I want to put it on everything.

Is it accurately applied to the correct locations? Heck no! That's fine by me, as the effect it generates pleases me greatly at the moment :)

Space Hulk: Objective Marker

Well that escalated quickly. Space Hulk objective marker finished already.

The base is simply a placeholder to put the figure on for a photograph. In-game it won't have a base - or I may use one an industrial bases from the CMON Kickstarter ... whenever they arrive.

Usually I wouldn't bother with a rear shot, but the back of the chair is so wonderfully detailed.

Camera shots magnify all your flaws in the most wonderful way. Obviously I'd swear the red/orange layering was flawless IRL, but patently that's not the case ;)

Still playing with metallics, but feel like I have a little more control of them - although the verdigris did get a little out of hand, but no matter! All the wiring on the termie is dull greys/blacks as the reds and purples were already quite a barrage of colour.

Think I've missed this as a hobby, it has proven exceptionally relaxing over the last two weeks.