Tag: Land Raider Crusader

Categories
Blood Angels Space Marines Finished miniatures Lightbox photos Miniature painting Miniatures Warhammer 40k

Judging Judgment and finding it orange

After fixing the overdone highlights on Squad Adamo, which I did first so I could practice on a smaller canvas, I turned to Judgment. It proved to be a bit different because of the nature of a tank vs. a single figure, so I wound up doing a first pass, comparing Judgment to my Rhino and to its original state (via my photos), and then doing a second pass to really dial it in. Now the lads no longer call it “Orange Thunder.”

If you’d like the “before” photos, they’re in the original Judgment post — but I’ve also included one right up front, since the difference is fun to see. (I finished this retouching job on October 23.)

My takeaway for large Blood Angels vehicles with lots of built-in details and 3-D elements (as opposed to smaller ones like the Rhino, which is by design fairly simple and features unbroken flat surfaces), like the Land Raider, is “the scarlet is the highlight.”

After retouching:

The Land Raider Crusader Judgment, now retouched

Before:

“Orange Thunder”
Front view
Left side view
Rear view
Right side view
Top view
My customary casual shot outside the lightbox, at Judgment‘s golden angle

And that’s it for retreads. On to the final squad in this army, Barakiel!

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Blood Angels Space Marines Finished miniatures Lightbox photos Miniature painting Miniatures Warhammer 40k

My largest painted model to date: the Land Raider Crusader Judgment

I finished my second tank, the mighty Land Raider Crusader Judgment, on August 22. This beast swallowed primer, paint, and varnish alike, and it took me quite some time to get through.

The Land Raider is an iconic model, but what sold me on the Crusader — and on painting one for my first army — was a post somewhere about how utterly intimidating this tank would be in real life when a squad of Terminators come boiling out of it. It’s like a jumbo tank shooting out five smaller tanks!

Light it up, buttercup

The Land Raider is patently too large for my modest little lightbox. No way to hide the seams, no way to make it look like it fits — sorry about that.

Let’s kick off with Judgment‘s golden angle:

Blood Angels Land Raider Crusader Judgment, 1st Company
Front view
Left side

I can’t remember if I ever mentioned it in my assembly post(s) for Judgment, but I bobbed the radio antenna because the original length looked like a pain in the ass to store and use without breaking it.

Rear view
Right side

Unlike the previous shots, this top-down view is kind of like using a light ring: I’m shooting through a hole in the top of my lightbox. It balances the colors a lot better (which a fancier lightbox would do with more light sources).

Top view

Plus a couple natural light/casual shots for good measure:

Pretty happy with how this guy turned out
Rear angle

With Judgment complete, and some sort of minor points update that made Commander Dante 5 points more expensive, my army now stands at 1,581 of 1,996 points painted. I’m getting close!

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Miniature painting Miniatures Warhammer 40k WIP it good

Final Judgment WIP, and starting Squad Adamo in earnest

Because I’ve slowed my posting pace and am queuing posts a bit more sporadically, I’ve actually finished Judgment as I sit here writing this post. But WIP posts are neat (I like them, at least), so I’m wrapping up my photo roll for Judgment and adding in a bit of my Assault Squad for good measure.

Prepping for the multi-stage varnish and glue affair to come
Twin assault cannon turret varnished and glued into place
Right-side sponson Hurricane Bolter assembly varnished and glued
…And the other sponson
Bottom of the tracks varnished — now we let it cure for two days
Squad Adamo primed
Adamo now fully based, with base coats going down on the Marines
Judgment fully glued, ready for writing, decals, and the rest of the varnish

I just updated BattleScribe and checked my totals again, and finishing Judgment will put me over 75% done points-wise. Onwards!

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Blood Angels Space Marines Miniature painting Miniatures Warhammer 40k WIP it good

WIP it good: more Judgment, Squad Adamo

I hit my stride with Judgment in early August, blowing through shading and into layers. That tipping point always feels good.

This WIP post compiles a couple weeks’ work.

Base-coating and touch-ups finally done! This always feels like the stage that takes the longest
Gotta wash the bottom of the treads first
…Then everything else
Ready for layers/highlights
My palette has developed some cute little paint-hills over the past few months
First-layer highlights done!
All of the final highlights done except the orange, which is underway

With Judgment on the back nine, I got out Squad Adamo — already primed — so I could work in parallel.

Primed and ready

I thought a bit about how to handle the ruined stone structures on 3/5 of this squad’s bases, because I wanted them to stand out from the brown/grey stones of Armageddon, and settled on brown. The only brown I have is Mournfang Brown, which looks like poop.

Mmm…poopy

But once the wash is down, it starts to look a lot less like poop — and I had faith in my first layer, 2:1 Kislev Flesh:Mournfang Brown.

I drybrushed on my Ryza Rust this time around, and I like how it turned out
More rusty metal
Basing elements done, ready for texture paint

Assault Squad color guide

Bases are the usual except:

  • Metal: Leadbelcher > Agrax Earthshade > Stormhost Silver drybrush > Ryza Rust drybrush
  • Stone ruins: Mournfang Brown > Agrax Earthshade > 2:1 Kislev Flesh:Mournfang Brown drybrush > light Grey Seer drybrush (dust/weathering)

Ditto the models, except:

  • Helmets: Averland Sunset > Agrax Earthshade > Yriel Yellow as a true layer, nearly full coverage > Flash Gitz Yellow
  • Hazard stripes: alternating bands of Abaddon Black/Averland Sunset > no layers on the black, but on the yellow: Yriel Yellow > Flash Gitz Yellow
  • Eviscerator channel: Leadbelcher > Nuln Oil pin wash

This was my first time drybrushing Ryza Rust rather than spot-painting with it, and I like this approach quite a bit. It’s easier to take a light, subtle touch and make the metal look old and rusty, rather than just rusty. Pure spot-painting seems to work well for something poorly made that’s had a few years to rust — like Ork scrap and vehicle parts — but doing it on these metal elements would be overkill.

Land Raider Crusader color guide

As general Blood Angels or Rhino, except:

  • Wings: Celestra Grey > Drakenhof Nightshade > Ulthuan Grey > White Scar
  • Commander’s helmet: Macragge Blue > Drakenhof Nightshade > Altdorf Guard Blue > Calgar Blue
  • Multi-Melta screen: Moot Green > Agrax Earthshade > Moot Green > Caledor Sky symbols

Finishing order is probably also worth noting for Future Martin’s benefit:

  • Front turret and sponson swivel guns, sensor pieces, and bottom attachments were fully painted while detached
  • Main tank body was fully painted
  • Sponson “wells” and front turret pit were varnished
  • Detached bits were varnished
  • Sponson guns slipped into place
  • Sponsor sensor units glue onto gun swivels
  • Bottom attachments glued into place
  • Varnish touched up on all sponson elements
  • Front turret glued into place
  • Varnish touched up on front turret
  • Rest of tank varnished and allowed to cure in two stages (bottom treads; everything else)

After Judgment, just 15 Space Marines separate me from my first full-fledged finished 40k army (say that five times fast!).

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Miniature painting Miniatures Warhammer 40k WIP it good

WIP it good: Judgment

I started painting my Land Raider Crusader, Judgment, in earnest back in July. Vehicles are fun to paint because they’re such broad canvases, and I get to break out my largest brush — but they also take me some time to finish! Hopefully Judgment will be wrapped up this month.

Testing to see if the pick-and-pluck KR Multicase tray I chose will hold this beast (it does!)

I can’t paint the sponsons and front turret if they’re glued in place, so I started with them and then moved on to the main body.

Side bits base-coated, tank coming along
Another dead soldier: the second bottle of paint to fall to this army, my “liquid talent”
Sponsons and turret washed, now getting highlighted
All the bits in place to dry, and the body coming along (albeit messily)
Trying to stay consistent with my Rhino, so he’s out there as a reference while I work on details

Painting Judgment has me even more excited to tuck into some of the vehicles I have waiting in the wings once my initial army is done. If I had to pick one right now, it’d be down to a Redemptor Dreadnought, Repulsor tank, or the Stormtalon Gunship I’m going to convert to use the sealed cockpit from the Stormhawk.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Blood Angels Space Marines Miniatures Warhammer 40k WIP it good

WIP it good: Turiel and Judgment

I reorganized my pile of 40k kits and my hobby space, and when I was done the simplest option for keeping things tidy seemed to be building the remaining kits for my current 2,000-point Blood Angels army list.

I started with Turiel, a Furioso Dreadnought of the 1st Company. I also built his alternate arm (Furioso Fist and Melter) but forgot to include it in the photo. He got a plain base to differentiate him from Narses, and to give me a blank canvas for creating a little landscape around him.

Narses and Turiel

From there I moved on to my second 40k tank, the Land Raider Crusader Judgment. This thing is huge!

Judgment next to my Rhino, Relentless

Just as I did with my Rhino, I considered painting the interior but decided to seal it up instead. There’s a ton of detail in there and it’s barely visible through the (totally awesome) front doors — plus, sealing it up gave me some cool spare parts for my bits box, like the engine plate below.

The inner frame

One of my favorite details in the Land Raider kit is that every 13th tread plate is the imperial eagle, so this sentient war machine can stamp the mark of the Emperor on every world where it fights.

For the Emperor!
Starting to look like a proper tank now
Testing out the various hull options

In the photo below, Judgment is almost complete. I’m going to leave the foreground items — the pintle-mounted Multi-melta, the twin Assault Cannon, both sponson Hurricane Bolter elements, the lower sponson housings, and the sponson cameras — unglued and paint them as sub-assemblies. I’m not sure yet if I’ll glue the sponson guns or the pintle gun into place, freezing the entire tank into one immobile object, or leave them as moving parts.

Almost there

It took two full evenings just to build Judgment — and I still have decorations and a hull-top choice to make and add to it. Actually painting this beast feels like at least a two-week task.

After Judgment is assembled, though, it’s on to my final squad, some close-combat Terminators (squad name TBD), and then the two resin characters I currently have soaking in soapy water: Commander Dante and my Chaplain, Arrius.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.