How'd we do? Well, I didn't do something each day - work was a mare. And I definitely bought stuff so that was bad. Maybe using Bandai Gundam pieces from their "Builders' Parts" range was a new technique, but that is fudging it.
But I did complete the challenge - even if it was only 5 models out of squad of 10!
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A few details today, and some experimenting with the Bandai Gundam "radomes" and some hemispherical beads for ankle joints.
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A little bit of work - applying some cables using some Gundam parts.
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I started work on another Knight project; using the spare pieces from the Genestealer Icon Knight and the bits box, behold the Walky-Fixie-Knight!
It will have four legs and manipulative arms where the little shoulder guns are. The idea behind it is that it is a repair / rescue / exploration vehicle - it wanders around (on four legs, because that is more stable) and grabs things with it's hands and looks at them. The head will be full of lenses and scanners, and there will be controlling Magi in the upper command bridge thing who can see things as they are brought up.
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The Genestealer Icon Knight advances apace! We've got to the point where it really can't be worked on any more without the order from Taro Modelmaker arriving . . . and it's stuck in customs!
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Some more work on this - legs now and the body really taking shape!
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Picture, if you will, the Genestealer Cult doing all their cultish shenanigans and infiltrating every institution they can. When they reveal themselves, they have an army formed of a mishmash of military hardware and civilian industrial equipment, all painted in purple and blue and with red 'Stealer cult icons daubed on the side.
But what if they were a bit more organized? Or they had infiltrated a Knight Household?
Would the cult not want to create a giant "living icon" of their star-gods, the Four-Armed Emperor himself? Would this not strike terror into the hearts of anyone who saw it, filling their trousers with the brown fear?
It would indeed.
This idea struck me while discussing #Dreadtober in the MeWe group chat - the original discussion was a lament about the lack of Dreadnoughts in the 'Stealer Cult list, and then I said a Knight with four arms would be an awesome "living icon". The local GSC / 'Nid player was very excited and - like some kind of brain-worm the thing got in my head and I said I would build it ... and, because I had no need for it and wouldn't paint it in anything like a reasonable amount of time, I said I'd just ship it to him when it was done.
Could I find a use for it - over and above a cool model? Sure, I could. It could be part of the Genestealer Cult in Outremer ... but that Cult isn't powerful enough yet and Antak'ya (where it is based) doesn't actually have a Knightly tradition (its "Knight" is T'au technology in the main whereas the other allied realms have genuine Knightly traditions).
But my online GSC / 'Nid buddy will do good work with it, and he will enjoy it, and I will enjoy making the model (which is what I really love to do!)
Above are the first parts of the project - joining two Knight torsos together to make a longer body with four arm sockets.
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A fifth of the Brotherhood is completed (I also based all five of them, but I haven't taken pictures of that). That is a legal squad, so I feel good about myself ... even if I did very little work for some of the last few days!
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Another Brotherhood member finished.
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Busy week at work, and sad personal things on Friday so nothing done! :(
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A couple more of the Brotherhood finished.
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Work done on each day, but the visual progress is slow - it's just new colors and so forth going on. Soon enough they will just "come together".
I did add transfers to them, and a note on the iconography chosen and the riot of colors. I don't like the idea Chaos models are so uniform in their color - "Oh, I follow the god of change so I have to wear blue and yellow!" makes no sense to me. Even Khorne - red for blood, sure, but would you really spend so much time trimming your armor with polished brass?
Chaos should, in my view, influence the mind to be deranged, unpredictable and - well - chaotic. There should be asymmetry and strangeness, inconsistent colors and patterns. We would describe a situation or a place or person as "chaotic" if they were disorganized and random - if they were in uniform colors with a consistent aesthetic (but it was skulls and spikes) we might call them "evil" but that isn't what Chaos is.
In addition, the Brotherhood have been scavenging weapons and armor to keep their equipment working. The models tell this story in terms of random pieces used, but also in terms of the different colors and icons. I am going to scratch them out a bit and paint over them, but allow them to still remain somewhat visible.
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A few colors start to get lain down!
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The white drybrush and the first dabs of Contrast (flesh) put on the Brotherhood of the Wolf.
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... and one of them was white.
We're getting into a couple of really busy days, so not much time to do any hobby. Still, I managed to get three colors down on a banner for Hagia Sophia (to finish her out).
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Started my SLAPCHOP variation which I called SHAMWOW on these guys - pale undercoat (I've used white before, but the spray can messed up so I used tan) and then a wash of brown woodstain (I guess ink or something would work). Later on I will do a white drybrush and then apply Contrast paints.
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Some scratch-built pistons and a few other details ... and a lot of pondering about what I am going to do!
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Back to roleplaying finally! The dragonriders ride again!
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No pictures, but I did some more work on it - mostly, if the truth be told, just holding pieces up to it and seeing how it might all come together.
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First off, I finished off the assembly of a project I've been working on for a long time and keeping on the downlow - some FabGuard (Fabrication Facility Guard) made of Napoleonic minis with spare heads and weapons from Skitarii. I have 3 squads of 8 men (binary!) with a servitor as support, and a command squad - basically, a platoon of Imperial Guard equivalents.
I had the evening to myself and rather than start on painting Elites for #Novelites I was so inspired by the fun I had had with Hagia Sophia that I pulled out the various components I'd gathered to make my centaur-Knight Maximilian, cracked a beer . . .
. . . and began assembly. After a while, I had the basics of the chassis fitted together.
It is entirely possible I may have lowered my modelling inhibitions too much by the imbibing of alcohol (the single beer shown above was followed by several others). The model is insane in many ways. I also ran a poll on the site asking if the Knight needed a schlong cannon. All options were yes, because of course they were.
Yes. Clearly this is the very foundation of the grimdark future of Warhammer.
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After spending a month doing a crazy amount of painting I took it easy today and just did a little bit of work on the background for the Hagia Sophia on WorldAnvil.
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And the model is complete! Second time doing #Dreadtober and a successful model. I say it is "complete" but there are decals that need to be done, some ropes added to the bell ringers, and probably some touchups. But, it is certainly good enough to field on the table!
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