Paint Log - 3/14/2012

It's been a while, but I'm still at it. Unfortunately, wedding preparations and the like have kept me from the painting table for a while (although lately I've been spending a fair amount of time playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, as well...).  I haven't been able to make it over to the game store for almost 2 months now, just because everything is rather hectic, but lately I found some time to get back to painting.

Previously I mentioned the possibility of stripping Mohsar and Nuala. I went ahead and did that - since then I've repainted Nuala, and she looks much, much better. She's about 80% finished. Mohsar has been primed and his cloak base-coated, but that's about it for the moment.

The Tharn Bloodtrackers are finally all finished, over a year past their purchase. I'm quite happy with how they turned out. After I get a few better photos of them, I'll place them up here.

I also picked up the new Circle models - The Gallows Grove. I did a small bit of basecoating on one model last night - looking forward to painting them.  Also assembled, based and primed the Sentinel Stone and Mannikins. Need to paint those. Assembled Baldur the Stonesoul, built his base out of thick cork and painted it, as well.

As for the rest...
I haven't said much about it now except for a few previous references, mostly because I was hoping to surprise folks with it once I had finally finished it... but seeing as many know I have it, I figured I might as well show off what I've got so far.

The model that's been keeping me busy for the last few months is the one I've been salivating over ever since PP first teased it. I received it just after it released in December as a late birthday gift from my fiancée ... The Celestial Fulcrum battle engine!

These pictures have been taken over a 2-3 month span, since I started painting the Fulcrum sometime in late December and have been working at it off-and-on again since then. I started repainting the model midway through, which is why it's been taking me as long as it has. But I'm a lot happier with the newer, more polished, results.

With regards to the color scheme, this is straight out of the painting guide in Hordes: Domination. I'm following their guide very closely, in part because I love the studio scheme, and in part to better learn how they went about painting it.

Backside of the Celestial Fulcrum. Just finished painting every single rune with the first step of color.

Next step: adding Menoth White Highlight to each rune to create 'hot spots' in the glow effect.

Each rune has now been glazed with mix of green, yellow and blue ink. All finished!

Phase two: At this point, I started repainting portions of the fulcrum because I wasn't pleased with the result. You can see the difference if you look closely - the right side of the stone ring has the new paint job, compared to the left, which is the original. The stone looks better on the right, in my opinion, and more akin to the studio paint job.

Last night's work. At this point, the entire front side of the fulcrum has been redone - stone, wood, and runes. I still plan to do a minor touch-up on the green gem. The three guys in the foreground are the druids who control the Fulcrum. They'll be attached last.

Better view, showing off the new paint job. I tried a different method of doing the runes on the left that captures the look of the glow better, I think. I'm debating about going back over the right for a third time and redoing the runes on that side so that they all match.

View of all the Fulcrum's pieces: On the left are the "moons," which will be the next pieces attached, something I'm really looking forward to. Each one still needs its own gem painted, along with the wood and steel bands on their armatures to be finished. The druids are currently semi-painted - just their skin and glowing stone breastplates for the moment.

I still need to do shading and highlighting of the various gold bands and plates on the fulcrum.

Backside of the fulcrum. Here you'll see that I haven't really gone back and further painted the stone yet. Part of me really likes how the darker tones really makes the runes 'pop,' but I still plan on highlighting the stone at least a little more to bring it more in-line with the front.

Used the camera's flash here, just to make some of the other details stand out.