CNCS goes to war!

Here is the commission that I have been working on over this past week.  The scheme is based on an Ice Hellion Galaxy from Battletech with some slight modifications at the client's request.  The scheme is quite striking with the contrast between the tan and black. Here are the completed models for your enjoyment. 

The Mammoth strider here has been magnetized so all options are interchangeable and the polarity is done so all parts can be used in any combination.  All the options are possible so the client should have no problems when the new Northern Field Guide comes out.

Mammoth strider with options

Mammoth strider with more options shown

The following are the client's Fire Support and G.P. Squad.  These were done in the same scheme and feature some simple yet suitably Terra Novan.  The Koala gears were added and I am a big fan of these particular miniatures. 

G.P. Squad

Koalas... Beware the Drop Bears



Fire Support Squad with drones

The infantry I painted were a platoon each of Northern and NuCoal.  Both feature the standard studio scheme and are based the same as the rest of his forces.  These infantry are a nightmare to base but they turned out pretty nice. 

NuCoal infantry

NuCoal infantry close up

Northern infantry

Northern infantry close up

Primed and ready for paint...

Weather can sometimes be your friend or enemy when it comes to commissions...  I had knocked out the assembly and magnet work on the miniatures the day before so the plan was to get them primed and basecoated.  The weather did not cooperate as the temperature this morning was too low for priming.  I prefer to prime outdoors so this presented a problem.  I decided to work on another commission during the downtime as I always prefer to stay busy.  The temperature did rise to a level where I was comfortable priming outside without fear of a bad primer coat. 

Now a word on primer.  I prefer using a grey primer for most work I do.  I find grey to work out very well as it does not tint the basecoat like white and black can do.  I still do use white for schemes that either use white or red as a main color.  Black I find darkens colors too much and the blacklining effect can be done with an inkpen or careful painting.  When it comes to brands that is always up to you but I personally use Krylon Grey Primer as it is readily available, covers without killing detail, and is cheap to boot.  I have used brush-on primers and they are great in certain situations.  Brush-on versus spray is a personal choice and both are great so it comes down to you.  If you were wondering I use Reaper Master Series. 

Here is a picture of the primecoat and the beginnings of the basecoating.

Back to work after a crazy convention...

First I want to apologize to my readers as I have been incredibly busy with a studio commission I was not allowed to show as well as preparing for Reapercon.  Now that Reapercon is over and by the way it was amazing I am back to work on commissions I can show off.  The one is for one of the owners of Fighting Piranha Graphics and features miniatures from the Heavy Gear line.  This is going to be a Northern army using a very cool, in my opinion, scheme of tan and black.  The contrast between those colors should present a striking image on the tabletop.  Here are some pictures of the fun that was Reapercon as well as some WIP of the Northern miniatures.

One of the few pictures I remembered to snap

The artist/sculptor big top

Northern WIP