Night Lords Magnetic Aspiring Champion Painted (Mostly)

So, this week I've been mostly concentrating on getting the Magnetic Aspiring Champion I posted the guide for, painted.  As you can see from the photos, I've pretty much achieved this now.  I've not done all his arms or shoulder pads yet, and one thing you might notice in the image above is an unpainted combi-plasma gun that I've converted.  Here's a closer look:

 Essentially what I've done with this is to adapt the guide I found here for making a combi-plasma conversion.  The conversion is remarkably simple - if a little fiddly.  I used the following bitz to make it:

-Chaos Space Marine Bolter
-Space Marine Command Plasma Pistol
-Chaos Space Marine Combat Knife
-Chaos Space Marine Bolt Pistol Arm

You can probably see what I've done here, so I'm not going to go into too much detail.  I used a Space Marine Command Plasma Pistol, because I got a load of them cheap.  This did mean that I had to remove the text on the side of the pistol, and the scope from on top - which is where I got the idea to add the chaos combat knife as a bayonet.  This makes the gun look a lot more 'chaos-like'.  I'm pretty proud of how this conversion went together - a little green stuff and it should look perfect once it's been painted.

You might also notice that I've magnetised the trophy rack on this Aspiring Champion's backpack (complete with Dark Angels helmet).  Given that Night Lords are all about terrorising their victims, it was pretty much a given that this nasty little bastard would be carrying a trophy rack of some sort - but this also nearly doubles the height of the mini - which would make transporting it to games more difficult.  But a little drilling, glueing and green stuffing has made this completely removable - and also leaves the door open for me to add custom trophy racks for when I'm playing against other races (like Necrons, Owen).

Another little fluffy touch involves the eyes - which unfortunately you can't see too well here.  Night Lords are supposed to have completely black eyes so that they can see in the dark - but painting a minis eyes just black looks not good at best.  Then I stumbled across this idea (scroll down a little bit).  So my Night Lords are now getting Boltgun Metal eyes with a black outline, which looks pretty sweet and stays on the right side of the fluff.

 Another little detail that I'm quite pleased with on this model is the power sword.  I followed another guide for this, which can be found here.  Certainly, no one should be able to argue that they didn't know this was a power sword!

Annoyingly, the varnish that I've used to protect this model (Vallejo Satin Finish) doesn't work too well with flash photography.  I'll have to remember this in the future, and photograph my minis before I varnish them.  This can be a little difficult when they're magnetised though - removing arms and shoulder pads all the time does make the paint prone to chipping.

So now I'm free to get on with the rest of this guy's unit.  Hopefully the rest of them won't take me as long as this little fellow did!  There is still work to be done on this model too - I've got to paint his combi-plasma, make and paint bolt pistol and chainsword arms for him, do 'marked' shoulder pads (Slaanesh, Nurgle, etc), and decide what colour I want to do the heatsink on his plasma weapons (don't pretend you didn't notice)!  So it looks like I've got enough painting to keep me going for a while!

Magnetising a Chaos Space Marine Aspiring Champion (Guide)

First of all, I'd like to wish all my readers a very happy new year!  I acquired quite a few new miniatures over Christmas, and I've already started to put them together.  My first little project has been to magnetise an Aspiring Champion model to lead a unit of Chaos Space Marines.  As my awesome girlfriend bought me a Night Lords conversion bitz pack, I'll be making use of these bitz in this unit. :)

I am a serial magnetiser.  I've struck before, and I'll do it again!  With the prices that GW charge for models nowadays (not to mention the time they take to paint), it often makes sense to magnetise a model so that weapons and other parts can be easily swapped out for others - allowing you to fine tune the model's loadout to the game you're playing that day and keep it WYSIWYG.  I got into this when playing Necromunda - which it's perfect for because you change weapon loadouts all the time.  With this unit of Chaos Space Marines I'm only planning on magnetising the Aspiring Champion and icon bearer - for other options I'll probably use extra models.  Please feel free to message me if you need any advice on a similar project - I've fully magnetised things as large as a flying Tyranid Hive Tyrant, so I can probably help.

Please note that this guide is for advice only, and I will not be held responsible for any injuries incurred, or damage to models as a result of using it.  Always get an adult to help you with scissors, etc.

Things you'll need:

Rare Earth Magnets
Pin Vice(s)
Drill Bits
Superglue
Scalpel
A good pair of Snips/Cutters
Small File
Paint (any colour)
Cocktail Sticks
CD Marker Pen (or similar)
Paperclip

I buy the magnets I use from Power Magnet Store, who I've never had any problems with.  You also get a discount for buying in bulk, which is nice.  For this conversion I used 2x1mm and 3x2mm disc magnets.

Don't get stung buying GW hobby equipment - most of the time it isn't even that great.  I bought a set of pin vices and drill bits on eBay very cheap.  This is cool - I remember when I was a kid and they were impossible to find anywhere - including in GW!  If you're thinking of using a Dremel for this, I'd advise against it - some of the holes you need to drill are only 1mm deep - and if you go much deeper you risk damaging the part that you're working on -  going slow/low RPM is key here.

Be extremely careful with the polarity of your magnets.  Use a CD marker to put a dot on one side of all your magnets, and stick to that convention.  With all my models I make sure that the dot sticks out of the body when the magnet is in place - so I can have Chaos Space Marines with Tyranid Scything Talons if I want lol.  Once you've got one model done it gets a lot easier because you can use it to test polarities.

The first thing to do with this model is to fit a 3x2mm magnet into each arm socket.  Unfortunately, because of the way this mini is designed, this is easier said than done.  The torso seam goes right across the arm socket - meaning that drilling will try to pop the mini apart (hold it tight in your hands even when glued, and be careful).  Secondly, the designers have put two locator studs inside the torso right where you need to drill.  Being a cynic, and having had similar problems with magnetising GW miniatures before, I reckon this is done on purpose (when will they learn?).  The picture below shows the problem:

You can see that I've drilled one side before the mini has popped apart.  This will happen because of the design unfortunately.  However, as with most problems, there is a solution:

Before drilling the second hole, I cut GW's locator stud and hole out almost completely using a pair of snips and a scalpel.  Next, I added a pin in the centre of the model where it should have been in the first place.  This will probably still pop apart when you drill the second hole because of the seam - you just have to persevere with it.  I use paperclip wire to make my pins - experiment and find the right size drill bit for your clips - I think mine are about 0.9mm.

To get the magnets stuck in the holes, I used superglue on the end of a cocktail stick, and wiped it round the rim of the hole (eeeew!).  Do one at a time, and always remember to check the polarity of your magnets!  You can adjust magnets once in the hole with a cocktail stick (just don't use the gluey one)!

Next, it's time to do the arms!  I started with the Power Fist because it looked most difficult (weird shoulder pad fitment).  I used 2x1mm magnets for everything from this point on.  For the magnet that connects to the arm socket one you just did, you can just eyeball the placement - try and get it in the centre of the surface you'd normally glue.  The easiest way to drill your hole where you want it is to use the end of your scalpel blade to mark the hole before you drill - just stick it in where you want it and give it a few turns.  For the shoulder pad magnet, I used a dot of red paint applied with a cocktail stick to show where the hole needed to be drilled.  The pad is quite a tight fit (especially using a resin one like I did here), so do test fit the parts before you put the magnets in.

Incidentally, when doing the other arm, I didn't take my own advice, and managed to get the magnet polarity the wrong way round.  Fortunately, this wasn't the end of the world, and I was able to drill through the arm and pop the magnet out like so:

I even managed to use the hole I drilled for the shoulder pad magnet, so this all turned out nicely in the end!

I was having some trouble getting my superglue to set today (I've now replaced it), so I decided to add a pin in between the torso and the legs - again using a paperclip:

Finally, I decided to add a custom head to the mini.  I'm not sure what the head is from, as it was given to me in a job lot of bitz (thanks Ben!), but I like the look.  Although you get a lot of winged helms in the Nightlords conversion bitz pack, I wanted my Aspiring Champ to have his face visible so he's set apart a bit more.  I'll leave the backpack off until he's been painted.  Don't forget to drill your gun barrels too - I hate it when people miss out this step!

Astute viewers will notice the tub of GW Kantor Blue behind him that I finally bought - watch this space for some fully painted Night Lords!

In Which I Start Painting My Night Lords Finally! But Then Realise That Vallejo Paint Just Isn't Going to Cut It!

With the name of this blog being 'Fifty Shades of Night', and what with it having a large (if crudely drawn) Night Lords emblem at the top, you might be forgiven for wondering why I haven't actually mentioned any Night Lords yet!  Well wonder no more, because I finally started painting them - now I've completed the Ravenwing Sgt, my next little project is the Chaos Chosen Champion 'Draznicht' from the Dark Vengeance boxed set.  This guy is going to be a test for my Night Lords colour scheme - which I thought I had worked out.  It was going to be based around a black undercoat, followed by the Vallejo Game Colour shade 'Night Blue':

Night Blue looked like the perfect shade - and it obviously comes in the Vallejo dropper bottle, which I love.  But my affair with Night Blue was short lived.  With the few Vallejo paints I own, I'd noticed that I tend to get quite a glossy finish - you can just about see this on the radar screen of the Ravenwing Sgt I posted last time if you're interested here.  A quick Google search showed me that I wasn't alone in having this problem, but also that the solution is simple (if quite annoying) - you just have to shake many Vallejo paints for quite a long time in order to get a matte finish.  No problem I thought - at least the bottle design saves me time and fuss, offsetting that a bit.  But when you've shaken a bottle for a couple of minutes - as I did with Night Blue - you'd probably expect it to be a very consistent shade.  This was not my experience here - my Chosen Champion currently has one leg which looks a much lighter blue than the other - even though both were painted within minutes of each other.  That's the first problem I found.  The second is that this paint chips easily!  Again, a quick Google search shows me that I'm not alone with this problem either.  To be fair, this problem might have been compounded by the fact that I basecoated the mini with Citadel/GW Imperial Primer (black), which is extremely easy to chip (unlike a spray undercoat).  But usually when I use Imperial Primer, I find that after a top coat has been applied, it's pretty resilient to chipping damage.  Night Blue does not give this effect at all - I can very easily remove paint with my fingernail, and around the model's feet, the paint has worn away a lot already.  This might not be a big issue - I usually varnish my models when they're finished anyway, but as I'm going to be painting a whole army of Night Lords, there's no way I want to put up with this from the main colour that I'm using - I would spend my life touching up scratches on half-finished minis.

Vallejo paints do have a lot going for them - as I've mentioned, I find the bottle design to be at least 1001% better than the Citadel/GW pots - and they're certainly much cheaper (as well as containing more paint).  I'm a massive fan of Vallejo's Acrylic Thinner Medium - as followers will know - so I'm certainly not biased against Vallejo, and I think it's good that GW don't have a total monopoly on painting supplies (especially because they're so cut-throat), but there's no way I can use this paint.  I'm looking around for a cheaper alternative, but I think I'm going to have to go with Citadel Kantor Blue as the solution to my problem.  One thing I might start doing with paints that I use regularly however, is to decant them into Vallejo dropper bottles.  Citadel should really start using these - especially at the extortionate prices that they charge.

Ravenwing Bike Sgt Complete (Just About)!

This blog seems to be doing my painting good - today I found that I had the motivation to finish the Dark Vengeance Ravenwing Bike Sgt that I've been working on for waaaaaay too long!  Well, I say 'finish' - he obviously isn't based yet, and I need to write something on the scroll on his right shoulder pad.  I've not highlighted the tyres yet either - but I may want to match that to the basing, which I haven't decided on yet (this being the first Dark Angel I've painted), so that can wait.  I really wish there is some way I could fill the gaps down the centre of this model, but it would have been almost impossible to paint if I had properly assembled it first :(  Anyway, without further a do, here it is:

Far from perfect I know, but as I say, I'm still learning! :P  Seeing as I was talking about adding 'eyeliner' (or should that be 'guyliner') to human models in yesterday's post, here's a close up crop of this Sergeant's face:

The eye on the right (his left) is the one I painted first, and for some reason it seems to have been the more successful of the two!  I think we can agree that 'eyeliner' makes a big difference on models like this though - it makes them look a lot more human and realistic.  It's annoying that you can see so many imperfections in the paintwork when it's blown up like this, but they aren't quite so noticeable in real life.

Just for fun (and an an attempt to help those newer to painting than I am), I've decided to show all the paints I used on this model.  I think I used nearly everything I own!  You can see them all in the photo below, which also shows you how messy my workspace is - something that I really ought to fix!  It's especially annoying when dust/crap from doing conversions gets into your paint!  Anyway, here they are:

One especially cool paint that I forgot to add to the picture is Vallejo Metal Medium.  This stuff is basically a plain white metallic that you can mix with other acrylics to make a metallic version of that colour.  I've not actually tried doing that yet, but I found that it made a great highlight for the GW Boltgun Metal paint that I used on the blades of the chainsword - it's much brighter than the Mithril Silver I'd normally use, and gives a really 'sharp' look to the blades.  I will report back when I've actually used the product the way it was intended to see how it works!  Hopefully it will be as good as Vallejo Thinner Medium, which I love (I promise I'm not on commission from Vallejo)!  Anyway, that's all for this post - I just thought I'd show off the latest fruits of my labours - this being a painting blog and all :P

First Post - And An Ode to Acrylic Thinner

Hi, and welcome to my new blog 'Fifty Shades of Night'!  Firstly I'd like to thank my friend Ben for helping me come up with the name - which he assures me will 'increase traffic'.  So if my blog becomes swamped with horny middle-aged women, it's all his fault!

This is going to be a painting blog, based mainly around my quest to paint up a 40k Night Lords Chaos Space Marines army (hence the name).  I also have a H.R. Giger (and Alienids) inspired Tyranid army that I'm doing, along with the Dark Angels from the Dark Vengeance 6th edition boxed set, and a load of other stuff - including a magnetised Goliath gang for playing WYSIWYG Necromunda.

I started painting miniatures from a very young age, and my first visit to GW was with my parents when I was still in primary school, to buy 'plastic paints' so that I could paint my toy soldiers (the green plastic kind).  After a while I stopped doing that, but got into collecting GW stuff in a big way in high school - although I hardly ever played.  I kinda stopped this when I discovered cars, drinking and girls, at around age 17.  Fast forward a few years, and I'm now 28 years old and fully nerdy again, yay!  Until recently I had a weekly Necromunda campaign going with a couple of mates, and this has got me back into the hobby in a big way.  Anyway, I've been getting plenty of practice in with my painting, and I reckon that I'm now better than I was when I was a teenager.  I'm by no means the best painter, but I thought I'd start a blog to share my experiences and learn from those of others.  

To give you a taster, here's the very first miniature I painted after my long hiatus - a Goliath ganger named 'Big Louie'.  He eventually ended up leading my gang, and I made a conversion of the same model holding a plasma gun.  I'm proud of the conversion, but it still hasn't got painted unfortunately!

Let me know what you think!  I think I've improved a lot since I painted this earlier this year.  The biggest tip I've discovered is to paint 'eyeliner' on my human minis by painting a 50/50 mix of black/brown into the eye socket before I paint the 'eyeball'.  This gives a nice outline effect (unlike that seen on Big Louie here).  It also makes it a bit easier to paint the eyeball part as it increases contrast and you can see what you are doing a bit better.

Anyway, this week I've mainly been raving about this stuff - Vallejo Acrylic Thinner Medium.

You'll notice I've written 'awesome' there - and that's because it is!  This stuff is just amazing, and I can see it really changing my painting habits.  Every blog I read from pro-painters or skilled amateurs recommends thinning your paints - and this has had me a bit confused, because every time I thin my paints to the 'consistency of milk' (as they all seem to recommend), they begin to run like washes, and even kind of bubble away from the surface I'm trying to cover as if it is greasy or something.  This stuff almost completely stops that from happening.  It mixes in really easily (although it looks like it wouldn't), and even comes in that ultra-handy Vallejo dropper bottle, so you don't have to dirty your brush to get it in your palette.  I can't wait to see how this works in conjunction with Vallejo Acrylic Retarder, which I also have a bottle of sat on my work desk, but unfortunately my skill-set doesn't include wet-blending yet!  Anyway, for a couple of quid I highly recommend this stuff - which I bought through eBay.  It's been helping me to paint the Ravenwing biker Sergeant that I've almost got finished (pics soon).

Anyway, thanks for reading and please follow me if you enjoyed my post - I'll be back soon :)