Special Teams

While I certainly need a few more generic Marine with Bolter marines painted, it's more fun to paint the special guys.  The most recent bunch has rounded out my Veteran Squad and Honor Guard in Artificer armor as well as adding to the special and heavy weapon arsenal.

Veterans showing off Terminator Honors

Same veterans from the front

Honor Guard in artificer armor

Lascannon, MultiMelta, MultiMelta, Meltagun

Trooper, Sargeant, Trooper

I'm using my new iPhone4 to take the pictures and I'm really pleased. It's a lot easier to get good closeups with the phone than with my camera.  I'm not sure the quality is quite the same, but for convenience it's really working.

-Adam

http://mentorlegion40k.blogspot.com/

Bragging

I love to brag, and dammit, I am getting great at painting the Ultramarine logo. Check it out.

The flash photo makes the colors all washed out, but I'm proud of those shoulder pads.

The blue-on-white one isn't perfect, but good enough for me.

Veteran Sargeant, Veteran, Veteran (Eagle), and Devatstator with Multi-Melta 

-Adam

Battle Brothers!

I have discovered another Mentor Legion blog and I wasn't even looking for it!

Check out his sweet paint jobs. I'd kill (several Orks) to be able to paint the original Mentor logo this well:

Image used without permission, 'cause that's how I roll. 

I say, well done, sir!

-Adam!!!

Magnificent Magnetics

In my Speeders post I had an unpainted Rogue Trader Space Marine Land Speeder.  Since posting that the speeder has been (mostly) painted, as you'll see.  Also since posting my first package of wee magnets has arrived from Hong Kong. I had never even heard of magnetizing miniatures until just the last few weeks, but now that I've seen what they're like, I can see the appeal. All that and it's pretty darn easy to do.

You can see the magnet  just above the red 'bottle' next to the marine seated on the right.  It's the silver disk. Originally there was a post  that was used to mount the weapon.

This was originally an Attack Bike Multimelta, but I've got lots of them and the  Speeder I bought was missing its weapon. They're the same, except I had to hack the mount off of this, which I wouldn't be using anyway.

I just pop that baby right on there like so...

And there it is.  The "green stuff" that's holding the magnet on the weapon isn't quite dry, so I can't paint it quite yet.

Here are my two speeders together. The one on the right has an old fashioned glued-on weapon.  Yuck!

I have a whole bunch of magnets, and from what I gather, other players go crazy magnetizing almost anything.  I bought three Imperial Guard Sentinels off Ebay and every little thing on them is magnetized. I'll may have to remove some of those for a sturdier model, but then again, maybe not.  It's clearly a great solution for a lot of situations.  I can't wait to find out what else might work.

-Adam!!!

Mentor Legion Scouts

Damn, Space Marine Scout minis are fiddly.  I want to paint 10 of them and even assembly-line style it's taking AGES. Too many pockets, pouches, and do-dads for my taste. The three I've (mostly) painted do look pretty sharp, though.  I'm getting my painting mojo back, finally.  I used to be a lot faster, though.

Sargent, Scout, and Scout with Heavy Bolter.  Scout (middle/back) had to have nose replacement surgery. Not a complete success.

The rest of the squad still needs a LOT of detail work.

-Adam!!!

The Dip

I don't think anyone likes stripping paint off miniatures.  It's a dirty, tedious, process.  Now, it's not without rewards.  When you pull a mini out of the dip (I'm using Simple Green, because I've got a big jug of it handy) and a big chunk of horrid paint job slides right off the thing, revealing clean metal underneath, it's a good feeling. You're bringing a dead miniature back to life, and when it's finished being repainted, it's extra special for the journey.

Ten old-fashioned Grey Knights getting a bath. 

Tonight's dip is a little different, however.  I'm stripping minis that, at least for me, have really good paint jobs. It's just that I have no use for them painted the way they are.  A few I'm selling, and stripped Dark Angels are worth a lot more than Dark Angels painted up in bright green and white (very non-standard colors, nobody would use them like that but me.) A few are being transferred from my Mentor army, where they'll never make it on to the field again, to my Ultramarine army, where they will be go-to units for years to come.  I don't need them green and white, I need them blue.  Into the dip for all.

I was proud of those paint jobs, and for the ones that I'm keeping, I'll be even more proud of their new colors when I'm done.  For the ones that I'm saying goodbye to, their new owner will appreciate them far more than I, but I do hope they get the new paint job they deserve.

-Adam!!!