First test figure painted

And once again, I’ve changed my mind—but just a tiny bit :D

While I was working, I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to depict the St. Jowen’s Rifles so they could fight on Armageddon—in that toxic atmosphere full of poison that the inhabitants are exposed to.

And then I remembered that there were a few separate gas masks in the old Cadia HQ set!

I liked it right away, even though you can barely see the figures’ faces anymore.

But somehow it fits quite well, and with the familiar shape of the old helmets, it looks much more appealing to me than my previous attempts. Maybe I should have just printed the heads a little bigger; I don’t know.

I also found this picture here, which I really, really liked. I drew a bit of inspiration from it for the color scheme as well. Sadly I don't know the artist's name. If someone knows, please let me know! 

 

In any case, I painted a first figure as a test; you can see the result below. I think I’ll let it sit for a few days and see if I still like it then... This project is pretty tricky in that regard!

 

 

Now the only question left is where to get more supplies. I still have a total of 5 of the respirator masks from my 2015 project, and now another 5. That’s nowhere near enough for an entire army. But it went pretty well with Blue-Stuff this time; let’s see if I stick with it or if I’ll have to model something on the computer after all. But the prospect of modeling, test-printing to see if it fits, making changes, printing again, and making more changes—I’m not too keen on that right now :D

And here's a side by side comparision with the new figure and the ones from some time ago... I definitly prefer the new one. 

 

St. Jowen´s Rifles (for now)

I’ve thrown everything out the window again and will now go ahead with the project using the original Cadian heads after all.

I had reworked the heads again so they’d look exactly like the original Steel Legion heads, but I still wasn’t entirely convinced. I’d rather put a little money aside and get the originals someday when I find a good deal.

I will stick with the color scheme, though. I haven’t quite figured out the background yet—maybe it could be an infantry regiment from St. Jowen’s Dock (perhaps the “St. Jowen’s Rifles” or something like that? Sounds pretty good).

Anyway, with the first test miniatures, I tried to recreate a few poses from the original Steel Legion figures, with varying degrees of success. This project is also really well-suited for practicing a bit more hand sculpting, so in that regard, it’s already been worth it!

I decorated some of the bases with homemade barbed wire and Ork skulls from the GW Skull Set, and a small modification depicts a poor Imperial soldier who also didn’t make it. 

 

Gotrek and Felix ready for painting

Here they are, the biggest heroes of the Empire:

Gotrek and Felix!

I finally manged to do the bases for these two, and print print them at a decent quality. I did a lot of changes to Felix a few weeks ago, like making the sword thicker, and some improvements on the cloth as well. 

Now they will sit at the back of my painting table and will only be painted once I have finished my Austrian army :D I hope this motivation works...

Of course I had to add some skulls to the bases... It's Warhammer after all!

Really looking forward to painting them, so I better start working on the last two Austrian units.

 

All the best

Lucas  

 

And even more Steel Legion!

Yes, I should not have painted them, I know... The Austrians are looking very angry at me from the back of my painting table. But I could not help myself!

I did change quite a lot of things on these models. First of all, the new conversions of course (see my latest post). Painting wise I painted the armour with a mix of 1:1 of black and "Bronzed Green" by Vallejo, that gave enough difference to the lasgun, that's still pure black. But the weapon got a highlight with a dark grey, and the armour the metal flakes as before (but less of it!). 

Also, I painted some freehand Steel Legion emblems on the shoulder armour. 

 

Now I don't have an option but to continue painting the Austrians, as I ran out of models... But more are on the way :D Damn. 

 

All the best

Lucas  

More Steel Legion conversions!

Hey guys, here's a quick update on this project! 

Not too much time right now, but I managed to do some sculpting on these three figures over this week. Pretty rough, but I am pretty happy how they turned out!

I probably should have sculpted the heads myself, as they are not looking 100% steel legion yet... But I am not sure that I should change them now that I have three ready :D

I decided to sculpt the coat a bit longer, now they definitly look different enough from the original cadians. Also, the higher collars help a lot I think.

I also think that I will alter the painting scheme a bit: mixing some green in the black for the armour parts will make it a little different from the weapon, and I also should do less of the metal chips visible... Maybe it was a bit too much on the last figure.

Well that's it for today's update, now back to sculpting more Napoleonic figures!