Tyranid 2nd Edition OOP, Classic Gargoyals

There resides a special place in my heart for these minis, they were some of the first minis i purchased for wargaming back over twelve years ago.  It's an ongoing mission of mine to repaint my old classic tyranid minis in the original colour scheme as found in the second edition Codex.  I started this project just over a year ago when the new Tyranid codex came out, but the project was put on hold as other projects took center stage.  I haven't forgotten about these models, i'm just taking a relaxed approach to them as i doubt they will see the gaming table any time soon.

I painted up two of these models to completion and have ten more in the midst of being painted.  I opted for varying colour schemes between the models as was common during second edition, however the colours are similar enough to bind the unit as visually cohesive.

For the first of the two models i decided to go with a primarily red and blue colour scheme.  The skin is shaded slightly with brown pigments to bring out the richness of the red highlights, The blue contrasts strongly and was achived using a combination of ultramarine blue, space wolf grey and blue washes.  The bone is pretty standard, using off whites with sepia washes as a foundation.

The second of the two models i decided to carry on portions of the blue and bone colour themes found in the first model, although i wanted to saturate this model further with deep purples, fuchsia and light green. The fuchsia is shaded similarly to the red which further brings out the highlights found on the models as well as associating the models to some degree, the purple wings were painted in a single tone of purple and then offered a heavy shading of blue pigment.  the green started as an off white and was further shaded to the colour you see here by adding various amounts of green to the mix.  

As for the rest of them, i'm looking forward to seeing them on display as a cohesive unit.

Nothing Better Than the Real Deal, Classic Fex

This is a homage to the days when I first started playing warhammer 40k. Tyranids were my first army, what inspired me to collect these odd bright red bugs was the unique nature of the models, nothing else in the game was quite like it. When i first perused the old citadel miniatures catalogue i was presented with many models that would seem unrecognizable as Tyranids these days, one of which being the model seen below. Many people call these the "Old Screamer Killer" model, and in all respects under the new rules they're correct, in the old rules, Carnifexs only came one way, it was THE Carnifex, variants asside, it also came stacked with 10 wounds on its profile and an armour save of 3+ that was taken on 2D6, cant go wrong with that.

This model is a piece in a project i'm currently working on for nostalgic and display purposes. The plan is to paint all the second edition (and better part of the third edition) models I own in their original colour scheme as presented in the second edition codex. There are lots of Reds, Purples, Blues, Greens, and Bone colours involved in the colour scheme where almost each unit entry has it's own unique paint scheme using this diverse palette. As an army it looks striking, as each section utilizes a different combat technique while each bares it's own colours. This creates the effect of the army itself looking like a writhing organism over the course of the battle.

For anyone interested in seeing more pictures of the classic Tyranid models painted in the colours they were originally envisioned with, keep checking back for more. There is also a picture of a Hive Tyrant that i had painted on an earlier date on a previous post!

The Trygon at Last

As Requested I've take a photo shoot of my Trygon Model entry for the Warpstone Painting competition. The model took me approximately two hours to assemble, and then 8 hours of painting all done on the release date of this particular miniature (if you can call it miniature). The base is made of an assortment of slate stone fragments, sand, and moss. I was going to go for a water effect base, resembling something like a great serpent writing from a great body of water, however due to time restraints i had to leave out this part of the modeling process. Just for a note, this model was purchased built and painted all in the course of one day, 24 hours.

The Paint Scheme i used for this model was developed over much debate on how exactly i'd like my Trygon to look, after debating on a few colour schemes i chose one that most closely represented the intended effect. Using a colour pallet of soft muted (other than the red) cool colours i would draw out that alien oceanic feel. I love using turquoise, purples and blues in a great deal of my painting, i like how the colours blend and compliment eachother. The red talons were added later after deciding the model needed some contrasting warm colours to really bring out the deadly nature of the beast. In nature this is often exhibited on deadly flora and fauna, so i wanted to embrace the evolutionary qualities in the tyranids with colours that say danger. What better way to do this than with bright red!

The methods used for painting this model include a various number of blending techniques, selective washes and line work. The mucus hanging from the Trygon's mouth is a melted down plastic flying stand, with a light green wash applied.

A note on the tail, the tail was melted slightly in a pot of boiling water to get it to coil around the rock as shown in the above photos. This was done very carefully so not to melt or break any of the spines on the model. To assure this, the bending process was done in several short increments. After the bending was complete the flat underside of the trygon body was re-sculpted using epoxy putty to simulate the beasts muscles propelling itself up the rock.

All in all this was a fun model and a very interesting project considering the time restraints, the model came in a close second place in the final warpstone painting competition judging.

A Blast From The Past, and More DE

Here is just something simple to start off with, a blast from the past. A re-shoot of the classic Hive Tyrant model, this time with a few photo editing lessons under my belt the levels should be just right on this one. I apologize for the burriness in the top right hand side of the image, I've made sure to turn off the time and date settings on the camera so that i no longer need to do messy edits as seen here. It's going to take awhile to get used to using this camera, i just recently found it floating around in my possession, but at 5 mega pixels, it's a little on the lacking side. Maybe i'll have to see if i can snag a digital slr somewhere.

Now on a different note, here is a conceptual paint job that i'm currently using on my Wych Cult army, let me know what you think, lots of purples and blues used in a similar manner as to the warrior squads in the army, with red highlights on the muscle fibre body suits that remind me a great deal of the vlad body armour in the 1990's film version of Dracula. I might even put on a coat of gloss varnish to really bring out the macabre nature. I've based the model on a snow base, I've always wanted to base an army on snow themed bases, just never really followed it all the way through. Somewhere around the second unit or so the bases usually fall out of my grace and i end up changing the whole thing. We'll see how long this lasts. As for the paint job, the metallics are simply mithril silver with blue wash, the suits are painted with midnight blue, worked up to lych purple, then warlock and finally a very bright pink highlight. The hair is painted black, the red is mechrite with blood red highlights, some fenris grey here and there and Talleran Flesh for the skin

I will more than likely be posting a second post today a little later in the day when i finish a little more of the unit that the model from above belongs to.