Pre-Heresy Ultramarine Terminators and Scouts.

Well, another year has gone by without a new post, so it's high time I posted about what I am working on:

First off, the pre-heresy termies. I was inspired by some home grown terminators I was seeing online and decided to try my hand at them. The torso's, legs, and heads are from the plastic grey knight terminator box, the shoulder pads are from assorted Dreadnought kits, and the arms are normal Terminator arms. 

This project was a challenge because I don't really have a whole lot of experience with using green stuff. For some reason I really thought mohawks made sense for an Ultramarine, and I think they will give them a lot of character. I dont know how the extra tubes and stuff will look with paint on them, but I hope they turn out ok. 

I've always liked the look of the centurion plume on the 2nd ed. Ultramarine captain, and I tried to replicate the look here. I also played around a lot with drilling out gun barrels for these models. I think they add an extra level of detail and look great when the model is finished. 

The assault cannon trooper was a fun experiment. I had actually started this project back in 2011 and finished all of the other troops in the squad, but life blew up over the next year and I didn't really have time to get back to it until moving into my new apartment. The base of the assault cannon is from the Grey Knights psy-cannon. The barrels were the most tricky part. I wanted to slot them somehow into the psycannon base to add some durability. The only way I could drill holes large enough was to use the smallest drill bit on my power drill and then slowly and carefully drill some sink holes. Thankfully everything went as planned, and I have the durability that I wanted, plus I think the assault cannon looks great, and fitting to the pre-heresy time period. 

I look forward to painting these guys soon. I plan basing their look on the 2nd edition art direction with lots of blue/white checker print. I always thought that look added a lot of character to the universe, and it's a look that I try to fit into most of my Ultramarines. 

Second project: Sniper Scouts

Nothing too out of the ordinary here, just the basic sniper squad box with a minor tweak. 

I always thought the over sized silencers on these rifles looked stupid (and impractical, because if these guys are fighting on a battlefield of the 41st millenium, silencers would be pretty superfluous.) I simply cut the silencers off at the very base and I think it makes their rifles look a lot more light weight and versatile. 

I was disappointed in these models by the fact that you can't really do anything with them beyond the stock poses. I was hoping for a lot more flexibility that is consistent with the other GW troop boxes so I was kind of stunned when I couldn't do much with these guys to flair them up. 

So there we go, these models are currently getting their primer coat and then it's on to the painting table sometime this week. 

Also, 

I am currently looking for a new 40k group. If you live down in the Los Angeles area, and can offer any recommendations that would be great. I haven't gotten to play the new edition yet, and would like to get these new models on the table as soon as possible!