It is about time I post more of my stegadon aside from its rear end in the LM dice thread. He is mostly finished, aside from a bit more on the gold, ropes and rock under the foot. And I guess eyes and mouth. The skinks are unassembled and will be magnetted to the howday, so I have a bit of drilling to do before painting that part up. Anyway, here are some pics of the steg so far. What do you think?
Wow! I'm loving that so far! (Green and Gold are the Edmonton Eskimo's colors hehe...) Can't wait to see it as it nears completion! The one thing I would recommend would be to try and smoothen some of the highlights. In some places it looks like you went straight from Dark Angels Green to Scorpion Green. I would try to work in maybe some 1:1 DAG/Snot Green. Other than that it's looking great! Keep it up!
I was actually trying for a striped look, and I wanted the body to have a different scheme to the scales. Overall dark but with some very bright lines/highlights. I agree at the moment it does look a little odd in some places, in fact the highlights go all the way up to rotting flesh (almost bleached bone) and via snot green not scorpion green, but green ink smoothed it off a touch and darkened it. I am happy with the scales as are, but not quite sure how to fix up the body to get the look I'm aiming for.. Cheers for the positive comments. I'm definitely keen to start on the howdah this afternoon.
Agree with asrodrig: fantastic scheme, but some highlight might be better as you balance the tone up a bit more... Also, the horns looks a bit.. I don't know, maybe dirty.. Like it alot
Hmm yes 5 layers of highlight and 2 coats of ink did mean it took a loooong time for the scales, probably about 8-12 hours, though not in a row. The most frustrating thing is most of the scales will be covered up by the howdah. Oh well. Update: 3 skinks (including chief) assembled, all skinks have wire drilled into their feet, just need to drill a few more magnets into the howdah before I start painting it.
Abot the howda covering up the scales: you can magnetize your howda as well with these magnts, that would also be great for campaign rules and stuff. http://www.supermagnete.de/eng/magnets.php?group=discs
I have magnets from other sites.. But the howdah comes on and off easily without glue or magnets, and stays in place where it should. I'm not going to do anything. During battle however, the howdah will be on so most of the scales won't be seen.
Yeah sure. For most plastic models, you want about the smallest rare earth magnets you can find, these tend to be discs 1/16" diameter and 1/32" thickness. You also want some thin wire, and to make sure it will attract magnets. Paperclips work well. Even for the thinest rare earth magnets, they are too big for a model's foot, especially a poor skink. That is what the paperclip is for. Drill a small hole into each skink foot that is the diameter of your paperclip, a pinvice is much better than an electric drill because it is easy to go right through the foot. Insert the paper clip with superglue in the hole and leave it to dry for a few hours. When its dry, with side cutters, clip the excess paper clip that sticks out beneath the model's foot, you want the clip to be as flat as possible (the flat area will stick to the magnet) and flush with the foot. You now have a skink with metal in the bottom of his foot which will attract a magnet. While this is going, get a drill bit the size of the magnet diameter, and drill a small hole in the howdah where you want the skink to stand. This hole is quite critical, you don't want it to be any deeper than the thickness of the magnet or the magnet will not sit flush with the howdah. You also don't want it to be too shallow or the magnet will poke out. Drill half a turn at a time, testing it with the magnet until it is the right depth. You can then superglue it in place. Make sure you leave both parts to dry for 12 houres at least before testing or you might find the magnets overcome the glue and attrach, or the glue is still wet and you glue the bits together. You can now drop the skink where you want him to stand and he will stay until you are ready to pull him off if he dies or for transport. Remember to do several dry runs so you put the hole for the magnet in the right place on the howdah.
Stewart my dear friend, well done! Im from a province called quebec, yes there are english people in quebec. and im loving your stegadon, i live in laval so the GW shop isnt to far (20 mins) but lizardmen players a scares, myself being the second i know. IM LOVING THE GREEN, I LIKE I LIKE I LIKE. hope to see the top soon.
as an aside, you can glue the magnet to the bottom of the skink and just drill a little deeper into the howdah. just wanted to throw that out there, how i did all 12 of mine . good lookin scheme for the steggie though!