Lightning's Complete

Simple update after two weeks of not much progress.  Two weeks ago was very much an end-of-summer cleaning in the apartment each evening and last week was finding the motivation to not just hang out on the couch.

This weekend, I finished out the 4 Lightnings and 2 Lightning Strikes.  Only today as I was selecting the pallet for some Aquila Landers did I realize that I could've/should've used a color other than yellow to differentiate the Lightning colors from the Thunderbolts.  It still very much works.

Four-Ship of Lightnings

Two-Ship of Lightning Strikes

Four-Ship side-on

Two-Ship side-on

Not the Blue Angels

While I am clearly using colors that line up very closely to the Blue Angel's colors that was not the intent, blue and yellow do look good together.

I initially started trying to paint the Lightnings a purple and off-white, with blue accents.  The initial attempt did not look good, the purple and blue too close in "value."  Thus I have chosen to go the same color pallet I used for my Thunderbolts.  A bit more yellow this time around, with the core of the lightning being the bright yellow, along with the wing tips.

Another Wave of Aeronautica

 

The Next Wave

After finishing up the Knight Household, I am returning to the most recent wave of Aeronautica Imperialis.

I plan to paint the Lightnings in a deep purple, giving them a more royal color scheme.  I need to decide how to fit in the deep blue as well on them to tie them to the rest of my Imperial Navy Air Wing.

My current plan for the Valkyries and Vultures is to have them match my Marauder Destroyers.  The Arvus Lighters will be more utilitarian, a grey pallet with the deep blue as an accent.

Also waiting in the wings, is my Warbringer Nemesis Titan.

Iaculator Vera

A Prisoner Exchange

Summer is wrapping up in the northern hemisphere and I have been busily working these past few weeks.  I am on day 2 of a much needed vacation.  In this summer of covid, my brother's family and I hatched a silly idea for what we have called a "Prisoner-Exchange."  His wife swapped locations with my son and me.

More Cerastus Knights for House Ærthegn

For the boys, this week is much more of a hobby week along with some catching up on some pop-culture (The Mandalorian).  I am working on finishing up the commission of House Ærthegn and hopefully building out some Aeronautica Imperialis as well as a Warbringer-Nemesis titan.

In-Work Acastus with Conversion Beamers

About two months ago, my brother purchased a 3D printer.  This lets us do some straight-forward conversions or additions that would normally take much more effort or bits searches.  We also have ordered name plates for a slew of miniatures from Versatile Terrain.

For some reason this did not post last week!

Completed Knight House commission project

More of House Ærthegn

 My brother and I played a game solid game of Adeptus Titanicus the weekend after my last post.  He tried out the knights I had gotten him and immediately embraced them as one of his favorite units.  

True Messengers and Tiger Eyes clash

A consequence of this was that he commissioned me to triple the number Knights he has.  Last month, I successfully doubled his Knight force, adding a second Banner of 3 Questoris and a Banner of 2 more Cerastus.

Three Questoris

Two more Cerastus

That leaves me with projects for this month of 4 additional Cerastus (the recently released variants) and a pair of Acastus Porphyrions.

Even more Cerastus in-work

Barracudas Complete

Completed Box of Barracudas

Simple enough post for this past week.  I completed the box of Barracudas this past weekend.  One of them (the lead) is painted up as the Ace and is in the same colors of Red Horizon, should I or my son choose to run him as such.

Having painted these guys up, the four Tigersharks should be pretty quick.  That will easily bring the Tau force up to more than 250 pts, probably approaching 300 pts.

Top Details

Undersides & Tops

Tau for Aeronautica

In-Work Barracuda

I have started to work on the six Barracuda's I picked up. I am aiming for something reminiscent of the original Tau color scheme.  I aim amazed at the quality of just how detailed these models are.  Games Workshop's investments about a decade ago have allowed them to make amazing models and at 8 mm scale!

I am looking forward to additional Tau vehicles - I am hoping that the main studio or Forgeworld eventually produce the Orca and Manta.  It will be far off I expect, as they were not included in the core rules. I do expect Forgeworld to be releasing the Remora drone fighter.

Undersides of the Barracudas

Axiom Maniple Complete

Legio Praesagius Axiom Maniple with House Vornherr in support

This past weekend, I completed my second Reaver Titan for my True Messengers Axiom Maniple.  It was great fun and I decided to freehand the Legio symbol on it!

Lex Potentia completed

Legio Praesagius Freehand

This led me to also updating the Warlord Titan's right shoulder with the symbol as well.

Updated Warlord right shoulder

Overall, I enjoyed painting the Maniple.  I think the next step for them will be getting name plates for each of them from Versatile Terrain.

Lex Potentia under Construction

The unprimed Lex Potentia

I have started in on painting up my second Reaver Titan for my Adeptus Titanicus True Messengers force.  For this second Reaver, I decided to make its positioning more dynamic, but having it stand on a raised item.  I took spare components from the Warhound set and modeled the destroyed body of  a Fire Masters Warhound.  I also used some Ork aircraft machine guns to model a gun emplacement, abandoned by some traitor cultist.

A Banner-of-Three and Two-Ship

Yesterday evening, before typing this up, I completed two additional Imperial Knights of House Vornherr.  I now have a Banner of Knights sporting Knight Close Combat Weapons and Thermal Cannons.

Banner of Imperial Knights

Part of the enjoyment of painting models for Adeptus Titanicus is that each one can really be an individual.  This is true for both the Titans and the Knights.

In addition, mid-last week, I also finished up my Marauder Destroyers.  This completed my Imperial Air Wing ahead of the release of the Taros models next weekend!

Marauder Destroyers and Details

The Air Wing

In-Work Marauder Destroyers

A simple post this week.  Colors other than the camouflage of green and dark blue on the top of the Marauder, they are pretty close.  I think I will have them done before this coming weekend with an hour or two of effort.

In-Work Marauder Destroyers

I expect to finally play a few games of Adeptus Titanicus this coming weekend at my brother's to celebrate his birthday (barring symptoms - stay-safe - small bubble expansions here and there, talk to those that you are planning to meet with and exchange potential contact details).

Ærthegn Banner and Lance Gift

My brother has a full Maniple of the Tiger Eyes Titan Legion that he had commission painted.  Back at the end of last year, I picked up the Knight Household box and even more Knights. I have my own House Vornherr to add to, I decided for my brother's birthday I would provide him with some Knights.  For his traitors, I choose House Ærthegn to partner with his Tiger Eyes.

Long Range Knight Banner

Cerastus-Lance

I had a lot of fun painting these guys up.  They were a departure from my normal colors and allowed me to focus on details.  They also let me include techniques I had learned on previous projects, like weathering.  I also utilized the Contrast paints in combination with regular paints.

I luckily got the basing information from my brother and his commissioned painter.  I am hoping they look solid alongside his Tiger Eyes and that he is interested in using them alongside his Tiger Eyes.

Warhounds on the Prowl

This past weekend, I finished up the pair of Warhounds for my True Messengers maniple.    I used a mix of transfers from the Warhound box and my Horus Heresy Ultramarines box.

I think these Warhounds have been on long campaigns with an Ultramarines fleet.  While the Battle Titans have seen brutal action on major campaigns, the Scout Titans have supplemented subjugation campaigns on smaller worlds or against lightly defended Xenos worlds.

Pair of Warhounds on the prowl

From the other side

Still plenty of Titanicus to come in terms of my hobbying.  Up text, is a pack of 5 Knights as a gift for my brother.