Base done!

I'm extremely proud of what I've done, and I even think it surpasses my last Commander's base for detail and creativity!

Originally, I had a huge issue with super glue residue all over the base where I had put the grass. It was extremely white and largely compromised the integrity and natural look of the base, however I came up with a solution hastily. I painted all of the white parts of the grass with a nice vibrant green, and repainted the log and all the dirt, completely covering up my issue. I'm surprised with how well it worked, but I'm also ecstatic with the success of this mini-project. Now I need to get that Crisis suit's weapons done, then I can move onto the main project: the Commander!

Commander Updates and 'how-I-did-its'

Here's some progress I've made on my Commander's base.

I started with a pen and some green stuff for the main centerpiece of my Commander's base.

I snapped the pen, using my wire/sprue cutters, then began wrapping the green stuff around it.

I added some textures, and voila, a log! This is something I've never done before, so it was a whole new experience for me, and an enjoyable one at that.

I also decided to do my basing differently. Instead of putting the fine sand on and then the thick sand afterward, I did them both at the same time, for a more natural look.

I decided it would be nice to share some of the custom work I've done with the model, while I was preparing the base. So here I'm going to explain where each component came from, and what I'm aiming for in using said components.

 This fin, or in this case antenna, is one of the Coldstar components included in the kit, an arm fin to be specific. I wanted to have a more commanding look about the model, rather than a combat look, so I decided another antenna was necessary. This one measured up perfectly with the angle of the other antenna, so it was the one to use!

 This fin isn't actually from the Commander kit, but rather the Broadside kit. It's the fin that usually gets put on the back of the Broadside model, but I decided to use it to add to the large number of antenna on the model.

Following the trend of antenna, I couldn't find a single attachment to mount onto the jet packs that I was satisfied with in any of my kits (Commander, 2 Crisis kits, Broadside and Riptide). So I came up with a great idea. Why not take the engine fins off of the Coldstar engines? And so here we have the new and improved Enforcer Commander jet packs. I'm extremely satisfied with this outcome, it looks fantastic while maintaining the level of WYSIWYG that I like to abide by.

Fourth Crisis

I FINALLY got around to working on the fourth Crisis suit to wield the Cyclic Ion Blaster and Plasma Rifle! His weapons aren't finished, but that's alright because it won't be long before I finish them too.
The next project is my new Commander. He's going to be a Buffmander, or "Raven", and so he hasn't got a single weapon or attachment on him, however I have left his arms free just incase I should ever change my mind. Its as simple as drilling and adding magnets.

In this image he's currently got weapons from another suit equipped, just for photo purposes (as seen below). This suit, while it looks the same as the others, I did a little differently. At first, I painted up the feet, legs and thighs as normal, but instead of edge highlighting the black areas with grey, I decided to cut back on effort and dry brush. It gave the same effect, just not as prolific. After doing the lower body, I lost motivation and so it was a while before I got back to it, but when I did, I did the whole torso as one, instead of doing the front and back of the torso separately. I also did the jet packs before the arms and head, as I find the torso and jet packs to be the least motivating parts, so if I got them out of the way it would be easy street the rest of the way. I had to pin the jet packs, as when I was testing out poses with blutack, the small rods that go from the jet packs into the upper body of the model snapped off, although I kinda wanted that, as pinning is a much stronger join!

Now onto the Commander! Here's a sneak peak at what to expect. He's stuck together with blutack, which is what I do with every model I prepare before painting, so that when I do paint it, I can glue it together exactly how I want to, knowing exactly how to configure it. I put all the fins for the legs and arms from the Coldstar configuration on, as well as adding and extra fin to the head, and painstakingly cutting the fins off the Coldstar jets and slotting them nice and comfortably into the Enforcer jet packs. I did this because I wasn't happy enough with all of the attachments I could put on him. They just didn't look good enough for my liking, so I decided not to use any, and just have lots of fins or antennae instead. Lastly, I added a final fin from my Broadside kit to this model's back, as seen in the picture with me holding it. I may alter the pose a little bit, but it probably won't be a noticeable amount. The reason I did all this instead of just adding normal attachments like a normal person is because I wanted something completely different, that hadn't been done before. I wanted the model to stand out, and I'm very sure it will!

Drones complete!

Gladly, I've finished my first lot of drones!

Next up, the final Crisis suit equipped with a Cyclic Ion Blaster and Plasma Rifle. Luckily, I have a spare Cyclic Ion Blaster I won't be using in my new Commander kit, since my Commander is going to be a "Raven" Commander, or more widely known, a Buffmander.

Progress on the Drones.

Progress is being made! I'm working on painting up the attachments now, and then I'll be finished!

I threw together a progress chart based on one someone shared on advancedtautactica.com that I liked. This should hopefully help motivate me to get projects done, and give me an order to work on them because receiving multiple boxes of models is actually rather daunting when I think about the amount of work I have to do to produce some awesome models.

I'll be starting University soon, so I won't have much time at all to work on any hobbies, so I really hope to get all this out of the way before I start. For anyone wondering, I'm going to study to become a nurse.

Drone Bases done. Next up, Drones.

The Drone bases are all done! I love doing these, as they're super easy and get me motivated for the challenging parts like the battlesuits.

Simple. 2 different grits of sand, paint, add rocks and grass, and done! And they look so realistic! I can't wait to have a full themed army kicking around the table.

Phase 2: 1000 points

Hurray! More models have arrived!

But before I get started on my new models, I need to get some Drones on the go! I've begun work on the Drones' bases, then I'll be working on the drones themselves. Since I didn't enjoy the fact that my first magnetised Drone would spin on its magnets, I need to think of a way to make my Drones' options interchangable without having them spinning. It's frustrating, very frustrating. I'm considering using a magnet and a stabilising pin, but I don't think there's enough room for that, so I may just leave out the magnets altogether. I'm sure I'll come up with something economical. But for now, bases!

I've added the sands to the bases and painted them up. I've also added a couple of rocks to some of the bases, but not all of them so as to add variety to them.

I'll glue the stems down, then add some grass to the bases to finalise them, then onto the drones!