Betrayal at Calth Comptemptor Assembly

Hobbits are done, and now on to my next project, the Horus Heresy, Betrayal at Calth.  I decided to start by assembling the Contemptor and I think I'll try to do all of the Word Bearers first before moving onto the Ultra marines.  I'm hoping to airbrush them, so I'll be doing some sub assembly first before applying the main colours.  Hopefully I can come up with an efficient process.  I'm thinking of leaving their backpacks and shoulder pads off, but I'm not sure about their weapons.

As for the Contemptor, I think I'll make a few cuts and rotate the arms and torso.  It looks pretty static and maybe a little modification will go a long way.

Some hobbits battling it out on my desk:

Ready to dig into the Contemptor sprue:

Assembly done, needs some magnets:

Last Hobbit dwarfs done

I've got the last dwarfs done as well as Bilbo for my Smaug model.  All that's left to call my hobbit box done is the one goblin scribe.  For some reason I didn't do him with the rest of the goblins.  He's been base coated and washed, so its just some final highlights for him.  I can't believe how long this project has been unfinished... it appears I did an unboxing December 2012, so 3 years.  Yikes, how hobby time gets away from you.

Its been a while, but I'm back

After a long hiatus I'm back.  The summer and fall have been pretty busy, so the hobby has taken a back seat.  I was evicted from my hobby room, but I'm setting up show in my basement and rethinking my hobby objectives.

Here's part of my new desk:

Hobbit Dwalin

Here's another painting tutorial for one of the Hobbit dwarves from Escape from Goblin Town.  Again, following the painting tutorial over at tale of painters.

Hobbit Ori Video and pics

I've been a little absent from this lately... sorry, but I've been enjoying the outdoors as winter here in Canada is wrapping up.

Anyway, here's the latest dwarf tutorial from the Hobbit.  Again following the basics from the series over at http://taleofpainters.blogspot.ca/

Hobbit Scenery WIP

Here's some pics of the Hobbit Scenery from the box set.  I'm using some of the basic guide from the December White Dwarf.  Nothing too special with the colours, just lots of drybrushing.  Once the wood is done I'll probably give some glazes like I've done with the Skaven to make the planks slightly different colours (green, grey, red, etc).  The bone bits will be done with typical bone colours once the wood is finished.

Bombur the Dwarf (tutorial and pics)

Another guy from the hobbit box set.  I took a break to do some Ogres and now I want to finish these guys off.  I've really sped up the process and can get a guy done in about an hour.  Most of the slow down had to do with filming, but I've improved some of that.

I've used the tutorial from Tale of Painters as a guide (again), so here's the link to that article:
http://taleofpainters.blogspot.ca/2013/01/tutorial-how-to-paint-bombur-dwarf-from.html

Anyway, trying out a different setup for this guy to see if it makes it easier to paint.  I think it helps, but I have some other ideas to make sure the figure stays in focus and in frame.

How to Paint Bilbo

Another Hobbit character, and depending on the hits, maybe the last in this format.  These guys do paint up fast, but filming the whole process is a little tedious.  I'll probably do Radagast in this format then switch over to the regular photos for the rest of the guys.  They will be quite similar, so there's no point in doing them separately.

Anyway, like the other ones, I used the tutorial from Tale of Painters as my inspiration.  With each one I'm deviating a little more, but the basic process is similar.

http://taleofpainters.blogspot.ca/2012/12/tutorial-how-to-paint-bilbo-baggins.html

How to Paint Gandalf

Here's the painting tutorial and finished pics of the Gandalf model from Escape from Goblin town.  A pretty straight forward paint job, but a little variation in the grey by using some blue greys.  Same sort of tutorial I've been doing with the explanation then 4x speed video of each step.

Got the inspiration again from Tale of Painters:
http://taleofpainters.blogspot.ca/2012/12/tutorial-how-to-paint-gandalf-from.html

Hope you like it.

Thorin Oakenshield Finished (and tutorial)

Here we go with the first from the forces of good from Escape from Goblin Town.  As mentioned over on youtube, I've used the painting guide published over at Tale of Painters.  I like the way they've done a bunch of their painting guides and I think it'll save me some time when painting of the hobbit stuff.  I didn't follow it exactly, and for future ones I'm going to mix up the order to make it easier.  For example, I find it much easier to do all the base colours at once, then washes before moving forward.  These ones have each colour done fully before going to the next area.  I find that I have to fix stuff a lot if I do it that way, but if I do everything at once the next layer can hide my past mistakes.

Anyway, I've done up a speed painting video showing (almost) every brush stroke.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

Hobbit Goblins Finished (+tutorial)

Here's the finished Goblins from the Escape from Goblin Town box.  I mostly used the simple painting guide from the latest White Dwarf but took some artistic license with a couple steps.  The most noticeable of those is the use of a red glaze to make the sores look infected.

Check out the video and all the still images after the break.  Let me know if you have any questions or comments.  I have been following taleofpainters.blogspot.ca and like their tutorials, so I may use those for the dwarves (and break out my painting rig to show the actual painting in fast forward).  Hopefully I find time to do that over the Christmas Holidays.

Hobbit Goblins WIP

I've been working on these guys and am getting near the final stages.  I used the basic scheme from the latest white dwarf (Pallid wych flesh), and added some red glaze to the growths to make them look gross.  I'm doing the goblin king at the same time, but giving him a bit more attention with blending.

The Hobbit Forces of Evil Assembly

Here's the final assembly video for the Hobbit box.  I've just primed these guys, so hopefully will be having some painting tutorials completed soon.

Hobbit Forces of Good Assembly

Here's all the forces of good from the new Hobbit boxed set, and assembling them.  They are all press fit and some of them are single piece.  I'm not a huge fan of the style of the dwarves and hobbits, but they are true to the movie and really well made.

(video after the break)

Unboxing The Hobbit Escape from Goblin Town

Here's a look at the new Hobbit boxed set and its contents.  I'm not as much of a fan of the true scale mini's, but the set is quite nice.  It'll be interesting to paint these guys up and have a go at the game.  Any suggestions about which ones to start with?  comments please.

Video after the break..