Touching Up the Space Marine Elite
I have been going through some of the earlier models and conversion for my Crimson Minotaur custom chapter that I showcased a few months ago on my blog. Mainly I have been working on the jump pack engines and power weapons - areas I didn't have the stamina to complete at the time and was not entirely sure how I wanted to do them anyway.
Since then I have been working diligently to raise them all to a higher standard including my kit bashed characters that I am particularly fond of. In case you missed them I built them from a variety of different Games Workshop and Forgeworld bits and kits as well as alternative parts from companies like Puppetswar and Anvil Industries.
This post is about showcasing my Vanguard Veterans, Chaplain Kanatikos & Chapter Master Alcaeus. I'll probably take some more individual photos of the characters as I am currently writing their back story for the character series section of my website.
Take a look at these links if you are interested in further photos as well as the parts used to convert these handsome chaps:
Vanguard Squad Showcase & Parts
Chapter Master Alcaeus Conversion & Parts
First Chaplain Kanatikos Showcase
First Chaplain Kanatikos Parts & Build
Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!
Looking really good there. Blue jump pack flames have always been my favorite color, and it adds another spot of color to accompany your green, not to mention green and blue go great together.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the jump pack scheme, I am doing the exact same as you: metal on the "bars" and gold skulls. I don't have any Mk IV/BA style mono-jet packs yet so can't comment on those. Just thought you might be interested in some other "official" possibilities that I have seen:
- When 'Eavy Metal redid their space marines for the new C:SM launch, they also changed their Ultramarine scheme. The new 'Eavy Metal jump packs have metal bars and also the horizontal connector bar with a rivet on each end in the middle of the two verticle pipes and right above the skull emblem is also silver.
- An older style is to paint the heatsink/radiator block with the cooling fins that is at the top of the pack in between the bars and paint that whole thing silver. I think you can see this on the jump chaplain model.
- Some paint schemes leave the vertical bars painted in the armor color.
Also I can't remember where I saw it, but I think either GW or FW have an optional marking where the rim of the front exhaust vents are painted in a different color. E.g. you could paint the two front exhaust ports/vents surrounded by a black or gold trim, and rest of the pack red. It could be an interesting way to add variety or denote rank when you don't have any other way to do so such as molded iconography or alternate jump pack sculpts. It also fits perfectly with your scheme as your vehicles already utilize the black detailing two-tone which looks great and helps break up the sea of red.
That is an interesting bit of detail mate. I had not really thought too deeply into the specific scheme on the jump packs and what they denote. I had just carried on my scheme from the rest of the armour.
DeleteWhat I have been considering is painting the two cylindrical jet sections on my veterans in black to denote their 1st company status. As you pointed out, it works well to break up the mass of red with areas of black and I am very happy with how it worked out on the stormtalons and rhinos. I'll have to do a test to see if it works out.
Excellent choice with the contrasting colors for the power weapons and jump packs. It really pulls them out on the models and helps pull them together.
ReplyDeleteI also especially like the posing work. Very dynamic.