Marines have a name from somebody that can only it the target 5 out of six times

Neophyte.

Not the actual quote but it isn't my quote. A friend of mine served in the USMC for years and he always is annoyed that snip err rd in 40k always seem to be standing on a skull or doing something that would make them less accurate.

He says all snipers should be in the prone position, he doesn't like it when you call it doggy style bottom by the way.

Anyway I converted this sniper in the prone position for him.
A fun project that was a bit challenging.

Let me know what you think.  Also I now know I need to turn off flash on the camera to improve pictures.

Khorne lord on Juggernaut in two parts.

Totally forgot to post updated pics of the Khorne lord.
Steve beat me in the competition.
You can see most of the other entries on his blog.

Below is my finished Khorne lord in our version of 30 for 30

In other news the gift was well received.
The new figure cases from GW are awesome and I can attest to the fact that no models were damaged in the journey from Memphis to Nottingham.

As I said earlier I really pushed to improve painting on this one so any advice is welcome.

It takes a village

To raise a child according to some.

Apparently it takes a small army of friends to bring me a primarch.

Thanks to everybody who helped get me the new Leman russ model so fast.

This is the best forge world model I 've ever purchased in terms of manufacturing. Almost nonexistent mold lines.  No mold shift. Only two air bubbles easily filled.

That is the picture of my Lehman russ.
No cloak yet as I learned from angron.
Also no head as long hair is lame.
More on that later.

Khorne Lord on Juggernaut in three parts. Part one

So i'm in a heated blog-o-tion with Mr. Mini-Soldiers. Painted soldiers are due by the fifteenth of September.  And because that clean shaven, gingery villain has me beat in not only raw talent, but has achieved super speed (he cheats and uses an airbrush), I legit my work cut out.

I'm going to push my self and try to paint my best model to date, my precious being this Angron which I was pretty stoked to get a first cut at the last Memphis Games Day.


I m not very imaginative so I 've decided to emulate the 'Eavy Metal paint scheme pictured here. I love the two different reds.

I've enlisted ace painters Tim and Matt as technical advisors and they've already given me some pretty helpful advice some of which I 'll be sure to use.

I'm painting the model in three parts. First the Juggernaut, second the rider and finally the base.

So without further ado here is the Juggernaut.

I'm still not great at taking pictures so any advice on that front is welcome.

This is the first time I've tried glazing based on Matt's input, not sure about the finished product.  Tim helped with the color selection.

This is the second time I 've attempted zenith highlights and I m not sure it's going to be enough to beat Mr. Mini-Soldiers without a lot more work.

next step is to bring him around and get some feedback about what to improve, once changes are made I will post an update.

Let me know what you think.

Khorne the Betrayer 11 months in the making

Followers of the Eight Fold path love Kharne.

Most people however seem to have very mixed reactions to his
depiction by Adrian Smith.

(I stole this version of the picture from a much better blog The Eternal Hunt)

People with fancy pants art degrees say rude things and use fancy words like perspective, anatomy and some other stuff I don't understand.

Most people say "What an awesome picture. That guy is rad and clearly the most badass guy ever,  I need to find out all about him (If that's what you said and you like to read check out Betrayer if you're more of a listener check out Butcher's Nails or Chosen of Khorne).

I love this picture and have tried to replicate it as a conversion no less than three times unsuccessfully. So many little parts of broken dreams in a box of unfinished hopes.

Then something changed! Eleven months ago GW released the Skullgrinder and I thought "Khaaaaarne!" I knew I'd finally be able to create the Kharne of my dreams.

So after eleven months of working on him on again and off again I finished my homage to Jes Goodwin and Adrian Smith, enjoy!

Parts used: skullgrinder legs and right arm.  Kharne head, backpack, left arm, shoulder pad and wwf belt. CSM torso, back and plasma pistol. Skullcrusher chains and skulls. Grey/red stuff is apoxie sculpt from Aves Studio.

The putty work is a bit rough and not as consistent in thickness/width as I'd like but for my first attempt at this type of trim/arrows I m pretty happy. 

I recently sent some pictures of my work in progress wraithmongers and skullreapers to my buddy Steve from steve's mini soldiers.

He was kind enough to post them and then remind me that I had my own blog which I hadn't updated in months.

He then challenged me to a blog painting challenge, which I immediately accepted, which in hindsight was pretty stupid of me.

While I am much better than Steve at most things in life (growing a beard, being American and getting things off higher shelves to name just a few), Steve is much better than me at the important things in life like painting well, painting fast and being a father. I'd say we're tied on talking poop and making hasty depictions So I may have rushed in a little to fast.

As Steve has recently acknowledged the one true God of toy soldiers we each decided to paint a Khorne model (advantage me). The model needed to be straight from the box with no conversions. In a strange turn of events I selected my model from the Age of Sigmar range Khorne Lord on Juggernaut and Steve picked a classic 40K villian, Kharne The Betrayer.

Painting must be completed by 9/15/16 and we'll post the models on both blogs. I'm not sure how we'll determine the winner or what the prize is going to be but you can check in here over the next month to see how I m doing on my Lord.

Blue ribbon winners

Thanks for everybody's participation and voting for your favorite models.

I m starting with the most important award which is our first time painters, welcome and congratulations on doing these models and yourselves proud. A big internet round of applause to Juha, Brian and Austin.

By popular vote Brian's skink priest is our official winner for best first time painter.

A strong appearance from team UK with the popular vote propelling Dave's witchhunter to the best in show for team UK

Team USA did themselves proud with many participants adding a speed painting element to the challenge. By popular vote (yes a single vote separated them.) Thomas pulled out the win with his painboy.

In the end the winning team was decided by two votes!
Congratulations to each and every member of team UK for pulling through the win by getting the most total votes!

Treasure was mentioned and treasure their shall be.

Each of our winners will indeed receive a blue ribbon.

In fact the best blue ribbon ever.

A Pabst Blue Ribbon

 

Team USA finishers will all receive a 12 oz bottle
Team UK finishers will all receive a pbr fan can.
Individual recognition will rewarded by the ultimate in PBR selection the 40oz

Thanks again for participating I had a ton of fun and a lot of help along the way thanks to Zaki, Steve and Dave for championing this and making it truly international.

Thanks to Andre for his help motivating people to finish for Team USA.

Some people have expressed an interest in doing another international challenge I'll check and see what level interest there is in June.  If you have some ideas on what that challenge might be please post them in the comments below.

I'm thinking conversions specifically Demon Princes could be interesting.

international blue ribbon vote here

For our brave participants a huge thanks and much admiration.
Use the comments or drop me an e-mail to vote.
Vote for one model only.

Don't forget to check out the post for the first time painters as well and vote there as well.


Votes will be counted until Monday March seventh. Winners will be posted on Tuesday
Categories will be
Best New Painter
Best Team
Best Individual UK Entry
Best Individual US Entry

Everybody who finished has an award on the way.  Top finishers can expect a top reward in each catagory!

The models

Blood Angels Chaplain

Painted by Juha

John's favorite model

Skink Star Priest

Painted by Brian

Zaki's favorite model because "its such a unique piece in the range, always wanted to paint one although I never could do the model justice."

Solitare

Painted by Austin

Chris's favorite model because "Space Freakin' Batman; the pose is amazing, super dynamic."

St. Celestine

Painted by Travis

Thomas's favorite model

Bard the Bowman

Painted by Golar

Peter's favorite model

 

Emperor's Champion (dawnstone)

Painted by Andre

Cameron's favorite model

The Necromancer Formally known as Kemmler

Painted by Steve

Ed's favorite model

SM librarian(yellow)

Painted by Daniel

Steve's favorite model

SM Librarian (purple)

Painted by Darcy

Yan's favorite model

Ork Mek

Painted by Cameron

Brian's favorite model

Exalted Hero of Slaanesh formerly Known as Sigvald the Magnificent

Painted by Zaki

Ryan's favorite model

Witch Hunter

Painted by Dave

Travis's favorite model

Dark Elf Sorceress

Painted by Ryan

Andre's favorite model

Eversor Assassin (pink)

Painted by Chris

Scott's favorite model

 

Painboy

Painted by Thomas

Patrick's favorite model

Wight King

Painted by Ed

Derek's favorite model

Inquisitor

Painted by peter

Golar's favorite model

 

Wight King with Black Axe formerly known as Krell

Painted by BJB

Matt's favorite model

 

You may have noticed that your favorite model was pictured.

A number of participants had life happen and weren't able to complete their models for the deadline.

 

As fellow humans we should have compassion for them.  As fellow hobbyists it is our right to mock them for not being able to paint someones favorite model.

A couple of people have said they feel bad they weren't able to finish and are still working hard on doing justice to a fellow hobbyists favorite model and representing their country.  I will post these models as they come through in a separate thread.

 

You can vote in the comments below or send me an email.  Voting is open through Monday March 7th and the winners will be announced on Tuesday March 8th.

 

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did!

International Blue Ribbon Painting Competition background

The International Blue Ribbon Painting Challenge like all good Hobby activity started as a conversation at a bar in which I asked a friend what his favorite model was.
He told me and I was blown away It was a model I didn't have in my collection, hadn't painted and had been over looking since his release about ten years ago.

So I sobered up, selectively remembered parts of the evening and over the next month produced this painted model.

 I went the extra mile because this was my friend's favorite model and I wasn't painting him for a tournament or on a time line but to have fun.

I had such a great time and really loved the experience so I badgered a bunch of friends and got them to bother a bunch of their friends to bring the experience to a wider group.  After a couple weeks everybody got rolling and the next post will have all of the finished models for you to vote on.

Thanks for reading so far.

International Blue Ribbon Painting Contest First Time Painters

Our international painting competition got three brand new painters to the fight!

Welcome to Juha, Brian and Austin. Below are their entries into the competition.

Congratulations guys.  I wish my first, fifteenth or fortieth model could hold a candle to these!

Please vote for one of these entries in the comments below or by dropping me an e-mail.

Eventually this blog will be about toy soldiers specifically conversions. However it was started as a place to post the entries into the first ever international blue ribbon painting contest. Pictures will be posted soon.