Dwarfs of Karak-Mingol (Updated September 8th; Siege Artillery WIP)

[FramFramson]

It really is a great model, and well -painted.

[hubbabubba]

Nice work.

I've never been a fan of blue/green schemes, but you've really pulled it off.

Great PJs

[Luigi]

Wow! Thank you everyone, it's really nice getting this kind of feedback and it most certainly helps in staying motivated with the project; especially during the most tedious phases.

I actually started working on the other 6 almost right after.


You can see them here right after the first or second base colour being applied. I learned from my mistake though and did not assemble them yet, and I'm focusing on anything that's not the basecoat one piece at the time.



this picture has actually made me realize that I'm making the same mistake on the gondola as the last time and am leaving the rotors and ropes unpainted. I will be addressing that in the next painting session. Tonight I should also probably start stripping my older gyros I painted years ago.

Like this one.


The picture makes it look worse than it is. the model is painted to a more than acceptable standard but it just doesn't match the rest of the army in terms of colour, what I will try and retain though is the screw flight stand as I think it's particularly fitting for such a model.
These are absolutely my favourite gyrocopters ever: they're tiny, easy to assemble and have a certain charm about them that it's harder to find in more modern sculpts.

[Luigi]

Quick update during my break:






The wooden portion of the gondola is done. I think. I might go back and do a lighter blue (celeste or azzurro) highlight here and there.
I like the vertical grain on the shields, but  I might just invert the shields' colours on the other gondolas.

the browns are still just at the first layer, but they already do work better than grey.
I might push the green further with a yellow highlight, but honestly I like how it looks so far.

unfortunately lately I've been getting very little painting since both my daughter and wife were sick.
all is good now so I'm confident in being able to see some real progress this weekend.

[Luigi]

Another update. It's been a while.
I finally finished ALL the remaining gondolas for the resin gyrocopters.

It's been an extremely tedious work and having to paint the same model over and over with nothing in between wasn't very enjoyable.

The fact that they are also way more detailed than an average infantry miniature definitely took a lot of the enthusiasm away.


left side


right side


front


rear

I am pleased though with how the wood came out, and although I can see a few mistakes or missed areas, I'm calling them done for the time being. 
This should allow me to finish the balloons, rotors, tails and pilots on time for the tournament.

In the background you can also see the 30 or so thunderers and warriors I had started in September. 
I have a newly found appreciation for infantry models now so once I'm done painting for the tournament it should be easy getting back into finishing actual units.

I also went through my pile of metal models looking for a replacement pilot


And I started stripping the 2 harlequin (BTD?) gyrocopters and the BSB model.

[Pattus Magnus]

Great progress! Painting the same thing over and over definitely can become a chore. Can’t argue with the results, though, that will be one impressive swarm of copters for the tournament! Now, just add a Bluetooth speaker playing Flight of the Valkries on a repeating loop and you’re all set!

[Luigi]

Thank you Pattus. I actually have been listening to Ride of the Valkyries (and the rest of Die Walküre) a dangerously high number of times while painting these guys, in ope of getting me motivated to keep going. I fear I mightend up dreaming in German on of these nights if I don't get finished soon.

Quick update before bed.

I actually painted a lot and made a lot of progress since last time I uploaded pictures, but just like last time I did not take any of the actual process.

In any case, the balloons are all finished



but it’s really hard to photograph them since they can’t really stand up on their own.

I also worked on the pilots.



these two are finished



You can see that I “cheated” with them, I only painted what’s actually visible once they’re in the cockpit .
I’m usually the type of person that spends time highlighting the sole of miniatures… but after having to work on these models (and nothing else) I really just want them to be finished.


I’ve now started working on the tail/carriage for the two gyrobombers and will be doing the rotors as well.

I’m hoping to have them finished tomorrow  (or tuesday) as I should have some time to paint.

[Luigi]

All the resin copters are now finished: painted, assembled and based.
but this is not an update for that (that'll come tonight after work).
I stripped the metal gyros and started assembling them.
In the past I remember them constantly coming apart just by looking at them funny so I decide to try a more heavy handed approach.



I used a literal machine screw going through the base (and all those cents I brought over when moving to Canada 15 years ago are finally coming in handy).
The head of the screw was a bit thicker than the base so I had to indent a little alcove with a dremel.


this thing is not going anywhere.



I then screwed directly into the gyrocopter (with a drop of glue).



this was an orginal GW base which isn't hollow, so I had to grind a bit of space for the screw to sit flush


To increase the area of contact for the glue and screw I used one of those size markers found on hangers, hidden with some cork



screwing directly into the second one. This is slightly slanted, but that's not a bad thins as it'll look like the pilot is maneuvering some sort of spin.


I remember the rotor/blade attachment being a particular weak one so I just screwed them in with a tiny screw.



I was very worried about ruining the models but the results came out satisfactory, I even used a tiny brass ring from a base guitar string to have one of them fit a longer screw.

I realized the metal pilot I used into the resin hot air balloon wasn't a spare but now he's stuck in there and one of these gyro's will be without pilot for now.


Look at him sitting snuggly and mocking my miscalculation.

[voltan]

yup, they look sturdy now, just don't decide to take them apart again.

[Luigi]

yup, they look sturdy now, just don't decide to take them apart again.

Oh god Voltan, after this I don't want to see anything more complicated than an arm-chest attachment on a miniature.

Quick add, I found this phone picture from Tuesday, as I figured a late and small update is better than no update.



While this picture shows them mid-painting they are now fully highlighted, drybrushed and assembled.

The BSB is also much further along with just the final highlight and drybrush needing to be applied to his face .

I have a tournament in 2 days and am rushing to complete them.

I'm hoping to be able to post a completed picture of everything before the tournament

[Luigi]

Another day, another update.

I've finally finished the BSB here he is in all his glory.
I really like this model and considering he was originally just a nonGW (BTD?) ironbreaker champion I'd say he got promoted quite a bit.





I am particularly pleased on how his eyes came out; he looks like he will not be easily impressed; which, along with his statuesque pose, is perfect for a battle standard Bearer.



Although now looking at him with the much magnified picture I realize he needs a bit more work on his eyes 


I also found another picture from last week of my recently completed airforce.

[img style="max-width:100%;" src="https://i.imgur.com/x7JsWLC.jpg"]

[Pattus Magnus]

Wow! That’s a great air force. They should add some mobility to your stunties on the battlefield.

I ageee about the standard bearer and how his eyes turned out, he looks great.

Good luck with the tournament!

[modelwarrior]

Loving the colour scheme your using.

[Luigi]

Thank you both!

And Pattus, luck wasn't on my side at the tournament (I ended up winning the "The dice are my enemy award  ) but i had not had this much fun with the game in a long, long time.

I wish I had taken more pictures, and I'm sure more will pop up once everyone starts uploading them to the event page.

In the meanwhile here's a shot of the army at the tournament



ETA: my opponent took better pictures of my army than I did

[Pattus Magnus]

It’s great to hear that you enjoyed the tournament. The dwarves may have died in vain, but I bet they looked glorious doing it!

I’m looking forward to seeing additional units as you add them to the war host.