I finished off the second Killer Kan last night (except I forgot the handle in the top hatch - arg) and now I'm on to the third one. I find myself rushing a bit since I feel pressed for time before the tournament (in two weeks). I know, two weeks is a lot of time for some, but those who are older, full-time jobs, families, snow removal duties, etc. know that it can be incredibly short when looking for hobby time.

I used the pastel chalks to finish up the "dirty" panels of white and things runed out alright. Again, I find myself having issues with scale when trying the same techiques on these miniatures that I used to use on larger military models. I'll get the hang of these too over time. ...

I made progress this weekend on the "white" Kan. I feel like I'm closer to what I'm looking for on the worn, white panels but not there yet. I think I need to tint it with the   pastels/pigments. I'm not sure why I'm hesitant to just do a wash.  I think it might be that I know I can remove all of the pigments powder without affecting the paint underneath if I don't like the results, then start over. A wash would be harder to recover from.

I'm hoping for a popup laundry basket for Christmas this year. Why? For taking photos in. When shooting WIP's, the lighting (for photography) is garishly harsh and can change things when it hits the "film". The rivets, which photograph as white "points" across the model are in fact a metallic and the whites of the model still come off as too bright in comparison to real life. The shine from the washes and inks are also amplified. This little laundry "box" makes for a nice, stowable, soft box to help diffuse the bright painting lights.
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I've started the second Kan in my Killer Kans squadron. This one is based on a Dreadnought I saw on ebay once (dang, wish I would have saved the image!). The main color scheme was a dark red and dirty white with metallics and was pretty cool, in my book. The idea I'm going for here is not one of extreme weathering and detailing, just looks like it's been cobbled together from old panels.

At this point I'm not entirely happy with the results on the feet. The killer kan feet are notoriously bad casts and I wish my sculpting skills were better (and I had more time). Part of me wonders if I'm rushing and doing a sloppy job, I don't rightly know yet. I'm going to leave as is though and move on. I'm almost embarrassed to show these pics but this is part of my process, and aI want to show the bad parts too.
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Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I finally sat down and forced myself to start back up on the killer kan mob for Red Jack. This one is the "Eavy Metal Killa Kan. This one is mostly steel and brass with some red panels attached for the glyphography (a real word?)

This took most of a day to accomplish, on and off throughout. I'm learning the GW metallics thin very well, and very thin too! I'll post more later and update you on the finishign and basing of the Kommando Big Shootas and the Stormboy Nob....

I seemed to have gotten a bit more time to paint this weekend and took good advantage of it. The next models in my mini hopper are the Big Shoota Kommandos. I plan to use them to support shootas more than Kommandos though.

I'm really liking the "painting on metallics" instead of the dry-brushing technique and feel that it really gives my orks much more character. I've yet to finish the hand-held ammo belt and the backpacks - that should come later this week as I have a 4-day weekend coming up (yeah!) and should be able to finish up these two and base them along with my recently finished Stormboy Nob.
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I said the next post would be of the finished Stormboy Nob, and it is. Along with freaking out and speeding up the end process when doing a mini, I also get apprehensive about the quality of work, second guessing if it's going to look at least as good as the last one. When it's all said and done though, I always forget it was like this the last time too.

When I'm nearing the end of a model there's a lot of shine from things like inks, glazes, and washes that make certain (read: bad) things stand out. That, and forgetting every time I rely somewhat on the Testors Dullcote to do a bit of smoothing on my transitions. Not that I do silky smooth transitions, yet.
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I found myself, as so many times in the past, rushing to finish up this mini because I want to see it fully assembled and finished. I have problems sometimes seeing the whole when I'm only working on parts.  Also so I can move on to the next thing I'm all excited for. Well, not really excited, just what I need to get done before the RTT next month, which is 3 heavy weapons boyz, three killa kans and one grot oiler.

The Stormboy Nob is a brute of a piece now that I've glued most of him together. I have the rocket to finish up with a red and b/w checked pattern and a few small touch ups on the main body like the big shoota chain, powerklaw blade, the rings in his arms and blend in the neck extension. Then basing and sealing. Here's hoping the humidity stays low!
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I finished up the wires and control box and moved on to the pants. I guess I don't paint as fast (or as well) as some bloggers but I'm working on it :)

I've come to realize that large, open surfaces area my achilles heel right now. I don't seem to have the right dilution for smooth transistions on big sections, such as this guys blue pants. I choose to paint them blue, rather than the brown of the rest of the army, figuring they want to fool da enemy into thinking they were just another piece of sky! I know the boots are red and black... they're orks. Makes'em easier to find in my army case too.
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I started the body details last night. Leather straps and the jump pack controls were all I got done, almost. I didn't want just a drybrush metal over black to define the box and controls, I wanted something that would stick out a bit. I did a "black" box look so had to highlight it some with greys to bring out the details - I think it worked. I also wanted reds and yellows for the smaller parts, industrial warning colors. I think I struck the right balance in colors here. Choosing yellow for the switchbox and the lightning bolt and balancing that with the red button and the tank on the side.
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... taken from "Liar, Liar", The Movie.

Here's photo I promised showing the finished powerklaw. Pretty eh? I'll finish the bottom blade after it's affixed to the model. The only thing that bothers me in the photos is the shine, but I know it'll be knocked out when I Dullcoat it.

Till next time boyz and girlz!