Off the Top of My Head: Painting 40k Stormboy

On November 6, 2013November 5, 2013 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random Fun4 Comments

Before the glory that was Halloween (It’s still going on as far as I’m concerned. I’m extending Halloween the way the rest of the world does Christmas…) I began posting some of the Orks I’ve been painting. Though I have two chapters of space marines (the two more “angelic” chapters…First Founding!) and now some Sisters of Battle, the Orks are still my chance to be the most creative.

This model is an old metal Stormboy Nob I got in an incredible deal on eBay along with a lot of other older metal models. I love the look of the older models mixed in with my newer plastic kits, but they are a bit static and don’t look very “Storm-y.” Luckily eBay also introduced me to these great flying bases for them. I have a full compliment of ten to do, but I started with the great Stormboy Nob to test how it works:

It was fun to customize and pose him on this base. I over tilted so I have a nickel underneath the base to keep him down.

That's a newer choppa he has. I liked the look of it better. — That’s a newer choppa he has. I liked the look of it better.

The site to buy the bases has a great tutorial on how to paint them to give that layered/glowing effect.

The Rokkit is a little plain, but the rest of the model is so bright I was ok with it.

I used a piece of the Chaos Defiler model to accessorize his helmet.

How to paint the flying base here.

And my previous ork posts:

Black Reach

Dreadtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Psych’s Uzi Flowers: A Special Gift

On August 4, 2013August 2, 2013 By R. PettyIn ArtLeave a comment

This was a real first for me. For the first time in 20 years, I picked up a paint brush that wasn’t for trim or a wall. I painted a little in my youth but never anything more than your typical ten-year-old.

In my post about Red Bubble, I mentioned the important of thoughtful gifts. And this month, one of my dearest and best friends had a birthday. He is incredibly difficult to shop for though, so I have to get creative. Really creative.

This painting first premiered in Psych’s This Episode Sucks, and my pal immediately texted me about it immediately. In fact, a couple of people did, and you have to admit, it’s pretty friggin’ cool.

The problem is you can’t buy the painting. I’ve read through dozens of forums and posts searching for the artist and/or painting, but turned up empty handed. The problem-solver in me thought, “Psh. If I can’t find it, I’ll just paint it.” And that’s exactly what I did.

The flowers were not a problem for me, but I knew the Uzi would be, so my amazing RevPub partner penciled the Uzi on the canvas. From there, I printed a picture of the original and used it to paint my version. It’s not an exact match, which is a good thing, but I think it came out well. This project also inspired me to paint regularly because it was fun, relaxing, and something different. I can’t draw or visualize things, but I look forward to painting more penciled drawings!

It just proves that you should never be afraid to try something new. You never know what talents lit inside you or what new hobbies you’ll find!

*If anyone knows the original artist’s name, feel free to leave it in the comments section.

Started pencil sketch of Uzi — The start of painting the sketch. I did the shading in pencil and the basic outline first.

Uzi painted in full color scheme. I lost all the lines but having a print out and pics helped a lot.

Full painting after flowers were painted. I sketched them in pencil.

Completed uzi flower painting — Completed Uzi flower painting. I had no idea how to shade, so I made my own version!

Off the Top of My Head #12: Warhammer 40K Orks Dreadtrukk

On May 8, 2013May 7, 2013 By James CastroIn Games, Random Fun5 Comments

If it wasn’t clear from my previous posts, most recently the one about Dreamlike Gaming (congrats on the new store guys!) I’m pretty well into the Warhammer/Warhammer 40k hobby now.

Over the last couple months I’ve built two 40k armies. One went along with the release of the new Dark Angels codex. Dark Angels are troubled and all about smiting chaos (with their own flaws so that makes them interesting) not to mention a super-cool robed look. I love my Dark Angels army and pics of them will be coming soon. However…my favorite 40k army is orks.

Orks are a great horde army. All movement and weight of fire. They have a terrific all-id attitude and slight regard for personal survival; it’s all about the good fight.

One of the tragedies of the orks is their slightly humorous persona. Orks ARE funny and I do love that about them, but their cockney slang accents and brutish attitude usually make them difficult to tell entire stories for. I’d hate to see them lose their sense of humor but I’d like to see some good, long narratives from Black Library about them. Like Rodney Dangerfield….they get no respect. Except Ghazghkull.. If you don’t believe me read Chains of Golgotha and see how menacing this guy is.

My favorite tabletop aspect of orks is their junkyard tech. They can make things work just be believing they work, and can “loot” vehicles from other races, make ’em orky, and use them under the “looted wagon” codex profile (btw orks REALLY need a 6th edition codex…c’mon Games Workshop!)

Keeping this in mind I was able to get my hands on a Chaos Defiler for a discount price and, as I truly despise the traitors, I knew I’d never use it in a chaos army…but I could loot it!

Since it’s half Deff Dread and half Trukk I dubbed it the “Dreadtrukk.” It has parts of a Chaos Defiler, Battlewagon, Trukk, Land Raider Crusader, Wartrakk, Dakkajet, and Warbike to name a few.

Attached are pics of my looted Chaos defiler. It was a challenge to build, but I created it under codex rules and gave it:

DredTrukk	Points	Number Taken	Total
Original Points: 35			35
Skorcha	15	1	15
Big Shoota	5	2	10
Red Paint Job	5	1	5
Stikkbomb Chukka	5	1	5
Armour Plates	10	1	10
Boarding Plank	5	1	5
Wreckin’ Ball	10	1	10
Reinforced Ram	5	1	5
Grabbin’ Klaw	5	1	5

Total			105

The lower “jaw” is obviously the reinforced ram from the battlewagon. Believe it or not it is held in place with the left “arm” weapon of the Chas defiler left in two pieces. It worked remarkably well.

The Skorcha is actually the Flamestorm cannons from a Land Raider Redeemer. I made the Crusader variant but liked the look of the flamer so I was glad to use it. The turret still raises and lowers slightly which means the jaw actually “works.”

Inside the “mouth” is a ram head from a warbike.

The boarding planks I attached to the back of the trukk bed rather than the sides. Since the legs are on the sides it gives a bit more range, plus they can board whatever is “grabbed” by the Grabbin’ Klaw. For the Grabbin Klaw I used the claws that came with the Defiler and laid the trukk bed on top of them.

The “commander” is a nob with a stormboy head in a cupola made of Killa Kan shoulder pads an a vision slit.

The left side gunner is from the old Wartrakk set, I made a skorcha out of that too so I had him left over.

The right gunner is a “big shoota” boy with a nob head (no laughing!) I was very please with his posing, the big shoota held wildly in one hand and the human head held high in the other. I gave him a bloody chain axe just for fun. His “turret” is made of left over parts of the Dakkajet, a bike tire half, and Killa Kan parts.

I admit I like my orks “dirty” and scratched up even when bright and flashy. I had it painted in a nice pristine color scheme but didn’t like it until I scratched it to kingdom come with Necron compound.

I have another looted wagon I actually like better. A typical Leman Russ wth a boom gun. Pics of it and my custom warboss, Grimskragg Defftrigga, coming soon!

Click the picture below for a 360 view!

Off the Top of My Head #8: Warhammer and the Holidays

On January 30, 2013January 30, 2013 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Projects, Random Fun1 Comment

We’re a little over a month away from Christmas…and it both seems like ages ago and like we all just barely made it through…

I admit I like giving personal gifts. Anyone can buy gift cards or choose something from a list, but for the people closest to me I like to give very personal gifts. In the past this usually meant drawings, but since my drawing time mostly consists of RevPub projects I decided to marry my new interest in painting Citadel miniatures with giving creative gifts.

Part of the fun was picking models that matched the individual receiving the gift, the rest of it was creating small dioramas within the display case size to make a nice scene.

This is my father’s. For him (he enjoys carpentry) I chose a Fantasy dwarf master engineer and created a workshop for him, including a furnace made of a Volvo wheel bolt (See THIS post to see how I got a pile of those…) and extra tools. I gave him a little helper on stilts.

For my Sis, who likes Egyptian history, I did High Queen Khalida from the Fantasy Tomb Kings. I added bitz from a Sphinx and gave it a teal/gold tone. This might be my favorite composition. I also added a little copper familiar.

For my mom I made a Isabelle von Carstein. I cut a halloween decoration skull in half for a hill and added some zombies to give her a horde army. The snow effect also was fun to do for the first time.

Since I’m interested in the 40k universe this gave me a chance to paint models I’d otherwise be unable to paint and I’ve always enjoyed creating little dioramas and stories this way.

Anyone else give unique/creative Christmas presents this year?

Off the Top of My Head #6: Gangnam Style

On November 21, 2012November 21, 2012 By James CastroIn Random FunLeave a comment

I’m the last person in the world who gets into latest trends. I’ve essentially been the same since about 1996 in terms of style, musical tastes, and interests. That being said some fads are catchy.
I came late to the “Gangnam Style” craze. It kept showing up in parodies, videos, and feeds on all my frequently visited sites and I was curious. Needless to say it was pretty confusing and all the typical questions popped into my head such as, “What the-?” “Huh?” and “Why-?” But when I saw the real video it all became clear. It’s a hilarious track, the video is full of pop-satire, and, of course, it’s extremely catchy.

So when I went to the wedding of some friends and Gangnam Style came on it was hard not to do the dance, even if it was just on the sidelines. The groom cut loose on the dance floor, and when my date to the wedding, the fairer half of RevPub, shoved me out on the dance floor I had two choices:

1.) I could slink back into the shadows and appear as a “punk” in the eyes of all in attendance.

2.) I could do my best to NOT be out-danced in public!

I went with the latter. And the impromptu routine the groom and I concocted on the spot got lots of praise from everyone present!

Here’s a video taken at the event:

More than anything it was a LOT of fun, and goes to show, trends may seem a little silly, but if you can’t beat ’em…join ’em. You might just have good time.

Off the Top of My Head #3: How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Painting and the Balrog of Moria

On August 22, 2012August 21, 2012 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Projects, Random Fun1 Comment

I posted in my second “Off the Top of my Head” some of the 40k figures I painted. While I started painting with the five “came with the paint set” marines, the second model I painted wasn’t a Black Reach Ork but a Games Workshop, Citadel Balrog of Moria. I love the Lord of the Rings movies, but I don’t have much interest in the game (I like the grim darkness of the 41st millennium). This model was given to me by a friend I work with. His son loves the Lord of the Rings figures. He found this particular to be a little too advanced for him and offered it to me as a thank you for locating some hard-to-find movies and toys online (he calls me “the finder of lost items”). The weekend before my vacation I decided on a weapon for the Balrog, primered him, glued him and started painting him.

After painting it I decided, since I don’t collect the LOTR figures, I would return it to the young man who gave it to me. He was very happy to get the completed Balrog back and I received the ultimate kid compliment for my work: I was invited over to view his collection of Lord of the Rings miniatures and play video games. I take it as high praise!