My journey into 40k

[Predatorpt]

After years and years of buying assorted 40k models to use in other games, I've finally decided to start playing it. I was influenced by all the new fluff that's coming out from GW and the rumors that there's a a new edition coming around somewhere this summer, with simplified rules like Age of Sigmar 

So I've bought this box:


And also some assorted lots of used miniatures from Ebay.




With the help of Major_Gilbear (my public thanks to him!) I've got a playing list and I'm working on assembling them, starting with the big box.

The Ebay stuff is another matter. They were really badly painted (with lots of coats of paint) and glued with what I think was wood glue. Usually I clean them with brake fluid but in this case I wanted faster results, so I just went with a "bath" of industrial acetone (dipping each part/figure during 15 seconds) and then letting them rest on Isopropyl alcohol for a couple of days. After that I just wash them in warm water with soap and scrub them with an old toothbrush. The final result I got in the figures is similar to this:



The vehicles are a little different, I had to use some different brushes, since the toothbrush wasn't cutting it! I ended using a brass one (for the parts you can't see when gluing the models - the brass brush slightly marks the plastic) and a nylon one


The end result is this:




The only paint that I couldn't remove was the one that came into contact with the glue (don't ask me why). In fact, in some cases, the usual grey plastic is turning white but since there's no noticeable thinning/breakage/warping of the plastic, I'm not worried.

More updates soon - the fluff and some assorted "real" Space Marines, straight from their boxes, no Ebay crap

[Vanvlak]

Good grief, you sure don't do things by half measures! 
Curious to see which chapter you'll go for. 
Interesting to see the cleaning results too, so thanks for posting.

[dijit]

Interesting cleaning technique on the plastic, but with good results!

[Major_Gilbear]

A great start - and you're certainly brave using acetone to strip plastic miniatures!

Look forward to seeing your progress with these, and seeing what chapter you end up painting (perhaps an Ultramarines successor?).

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Good luck, the clean up looks like it is working.

[vodkafan]

That was certainly news to me that one could use acetone on plastic miniatures.

[Predatorpt]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. And yes, you can use acetone to clean the miniatures - I just dip the minis in it, 3 times, 5 second each. Or can just dip it during 15 seconds  More than that and you get this:



With the 15 seconds dip you basically get paint sludging from the minis (have to take pictures of that). If you let them rest in isopropyl alcohol it further breaks down the paint.

Or you can just dip them in acetone, quick dip in water and some vigorous use of a toothbrush, them let them rest in the alcohol. When you take them out (I let them rest for 4 days), just use the water/toothbrush method.

[mellis1644]

For the rules you might want to look at 'in the emperors name' or 'kill team' - the fan created one. I believe they are better rules these days (but they are skirmish level) and overall reflect the fluff and  novels etc better than the actual 40k game rules.

However, I don't play any of these these days so this is from the peanut gallery.

[Major_Gilbear]

Ah yes, Captain Meltyface there is about my experience with plastic models+acetone, that's why I don't do it that way myself (too scared to lose the model).

Anyway, looks like you have lots to keep you busy, heh. 

[Davout]

Welcome to M41! It's a great time to be starting 40k right now. Lots of really great new models, the story is moving forward (Cadia exploded, Magnus and Robute are up and about) and the new rules will hopefully cut the bloat that's seeped into 7th ed.

It's always been a fun system and universe to plan crazy scenarios and have a good time with friends and the word coming out of GW this week is that, much like Age of Sigmar, they will be supporting casual and narrative play with the new rules.

[Predatorpt]

Using the handy Space Marines painter at BolterandChainsword I've tried my hand at scheme for my Chapter:



Greys and blues are easy for my to paint and I have various equivalents between Vallejo Air and Color, so I can paint the vehicles with my airbrush and the figures with a brush. And since I mentioned vehicles, my scheme for them will be similar to this one, found on the Google Image search:



Side/top/back door in blue, same for the front panel.

Fluff incoming in the next days, also some photos of the way I clean my figures

[tomrommel1]

Your color scheme looks very good. Good contrasting colors. The cleaning technique is very interesting. Couldn't you prime your marines in the grey color with your airbrush and get highlights on them with your airbrush too would make painting them all a bit quicker.

[Major_Gilbear]

Looks like a good scheme, and I always liked that "urban" Ultra scheme. Actually, I remember seeing a vehicle variation of it where the grey areas were done in low-contrast angular/splinter camo in various greys, and it looked great against the solid blue panels and white markings. "Practical" yet still heraldic, if you know what I mean?
 
One comment though, and it's purely practical, maybe move the grey from the shoulder pads to the backpack. This way, the white squad markings on the transfers will stand out better against the blue on the pads.

[Elbows]

Nice stuff, and I love seeing people "rescue" miniatures!  Keep it up!

[Predatorpt]

Your color scheme looks very good. Good contrasting colors. The cleaning technique is very interesting. Couldn't you prime your marines in the grey color with your airbrush and get highlights on them with your airbrush too would make painting them all a bit quicker.

I've been thinking about doing the primer/highlight part but to be honest I still haven't enough practice with the airbrush to do something like that. In vehicles and bigger miniatures, yes. But "small" figures not so much. I only painted some Age of Sigmar Chaos guys and I didn't really like the final result (too much red contrast) :\ Maybe I'll try it this time.

Looks like a good scheme, and I always liked that "urban" Ultra scheme. Actually, I remember seeing a vehicle variation of it where the grey areas were done in low-contrast angular/splinter camo in various greys, and it looked great against the solid blue panels and white markings. "Practical" yet still heraldic, if you know what I mean?

My google-fu is failing me, I can only find Xenos vehicles in camo  Or really old Rhinos (with very cool schemes!)





And I found the Raptors Chapter  - http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Raptors . These guys would be way easier to paint, . Unfortunately Forgeworld dropped the line of decals for them :\
 

One comment though, and it's purely practical, maybe move the grey from the shoulder pads to the backpack. This way, the white squad markings on the transfers will stand out better against the blue on the pads.

Duhhh, I totally forgot about the transfers! Thanks for the suggestion, I need to give it a try in the SM painter, but I can already see that it will save me some time, having the main body and pads in blue. I'm thinking about using some of the IG decals as the Chapter symbol - the gate ones, if I can paint over the skull in the middle of it. I don't think there's a problem with that, right?