FTGT Ron - NOVA Update 8+ Weeks Out

Hey Everyone,

This post is a status update on my Tyranid painting progress for NOVA.  If you missed my first post on my army and work remaining, you can find it here : http://ftgtgaming.blogspot.com/2016/06/ftgt-ron-back-in-2-part-epoxy-putty-mix.html.

My hobby ADD has me darting around between projects like a squirrel on a free way, so you'll see my progress has been sporadic and all over the place.  Overall I've gotten a lot done on a lot of different models.  From last time this was my outstanding paint list:

Models that need to be painted:

• (3) (2) FW ripper bases (stretch goal of 6 total to replace some sprue freebie ones)

I finished up one FW ripper base, and boy do these little dudes take a lot of work.  There are something like 20 individual rippers stacked on there.  Rippers have carapace on their heads that is a little different than most plastic Tyranid models so wanted to make sure I liked the finished result before I batch painted the other two (or 5 if I pick up another pack).

   

• (1) Mucolid 

After some discussion with the guys, I've decided I'm going to try and make this Mucolid appear to be exploding.  My first attempt at achieving this look will involve recasting the top in green stuff, and stretching the material outwards after it's cured slightly, but not all the way.  I picked up some mold making rubber, and I got a spare Mucolid top in from Bryan.  This one will be in the works in the next week or two.  I hope it turns out alright, but if not I'll just do the normal mucolid top conversion with green stuff tentacles.  Look for a post on the results in 2-3 weeks.    

• (1) Flyrant with a flying pose that is about 95% completed. 

Finally done!  You can see the finished post here with more pics:
http://ftgtgaming.blogspot.com/2016/06/ftgt-ron-flying-hive-tyrant-flyrant.html

Models that need to be repainted:

• (1) Flyrant with a standard pose.  This guy was done very early on in my collection, and the scheme, while similar, is slightly off on the colors.  I hope to reuse some of the previous layers with washes and new highlights to bring it in line with my new scheme.  I will also be painting him up a pair of Forgeworld Dual Devourers to match my other 3 flyrants.

I've started work on this guy.  The first thing I did was cover all of the bone areas, and carapace areas with base coats and washes.  I've started touching up the skin in areas where I can't salvage the paint job.  This guy will be close to a full repaint by the time I'm done.  I also carved off some of the imperial elements on the base, in preparation of making the basing look like the rest of the army.

I've always disliked the standard, tail on the ground pose, so I wanted to add a conversion to the model that made the pose seem less silly, and more practical,  After some thought, and discussion with the guys on the blog, I came to the conclusion that a Flyrant might adopt the tail on the ground pose if he was stabilizing himself to fire his thorax weapon.  This would allow the Flyrant to line up his shot, and give him extra time to spray his 'beetle juice' over unsuspecting vehicles from his thorax biomorph (you can see how I made the conversion for that biomorph here: http://ftgtgaming.blogspot.com/2014/07/modeling-thorax-biormorph-on-hive.html).  After experimenting with a few different materials (including a hilariously bad green stuff attempt), I found that a mini hot glue gun with a narrow tip and 7mm glue sticks could produce satisfactory "electroshock grubs" with a piece of wire armature to hold the glue.  Here is a my test strip with clear glue.  

  I ordered some black glue sticks to make black beetles, and made the wire armature that will hold the glue when it is done.

Very excited about this conversion, I hope the final product gives me the effect I'm looking for, and spruces up what was previously a very unrealistic looking pose.

Touchups:

• (2) Flyrants with minor touchups.  These guys were painted before most of the other models in the army and could use a final highlight here and there.

With my "walking" flyrant, I've noticed that he appears much more compact due to the smaller walking lower half and very large wings.  This lends the model a sense of imbalance between the top and bottom that I have tried to mitigate a bit.  I had already modified and shortened his head horn, and I had been using a home made twin linked devourer conversion that wasn't as long as the forgeworld versions.  

In order to bring him in line with my other flyrants though, I purchased a set of forgeworld devourers.  I modified the outstretched FW arm to make it bent as well.  Here is the result prior to paint:

The other touchup category flyrant really only needs a few final highlights here and there (namely the skin and bone areas).  He really shouldn't take more than an hour or two.  He's already got a sweet pose and base:

Display board

I haven't started on the display board yet, I'm hoping to devote the month of August to this.  

Alright, that's the progress so far.  I'd say it's coming along pretty good, and I'm feeling confident that I'll make NOVA in time with a finished, fully custom army.  We'll see if this optimism continues as we get closer.  I'd love to know what you think so far, feel free to drop a comment/question below.

-Ron