Finishing what I started so long ago.

Yes that's right I have finally finished the bikes I've been painting. Well I say finished, is anything really finished or do we just give up improving things once they hit a tolerable level?

I have loved and hated painting these models. I feel that It was a good project to help get me back into a mind set where I am enjoying painting for the sack of it not to get something done for a deadline (though I appreciate that it is a wonderful motivator at times). So what were the ups:

- Getting models I'd had kicking around from third addition (bikes) out of the case/bitz box and finally reaching their potential.

- Practicing new painting techniques from my Eavy Metal book to help me feel like I'm progressing as  a painter.

- Recording my colour combinations in a (probably vain) attempt to help me keep the colours of the units in an army looking consistent even when they are painted years apart (a particularly hard task with reds).

- Getting to use the lovely plastic parts from the Blood Angel kits that I just had to buy on release day for more than just single miniatures.

Making these helped me develop a new way to make bases without the need to cast the little devils in resin.

I know that the left shoulder pad icon should be black on the troopers but white just looked so much nicer.

Now for the things that made me go hmm:

- The bikes had been painted red a long time ago and the technique was a little different to that I now use meaning that it can be a little inconsistent (flying in the face of all the effort I put into the riders)

- Positioning bikers and painting them separately is a great way to get to all those little details but it is a massive pain in the rectum when you realise they no longer fit properly! I had to damage a few bits to try to get them on their seats and the Serg is still at a funny angle.

- I was beaming when I finished the models before applying the require varnish finish. Now I've had some issues with spray varnish so I now hand varnish everything. The problem is that I completely forgot that varnish kills off a lot of the subtle work done blending paints, finally leaving me wondering why I bothered on some parts (no wonder professionals don't varnish their prize winners).

- I should have bought three more  and painted them up so I had a full unit. I am only using five in my list but it's always nice to have the option.

had to get a little creative to make sure that all the models had the yellow blood drop for the second company on the right shoulder pad.

Overall I'm very happy with how they have turned out and as I was explaining to Will the other night I need to remember that they are gaming pieces so they need as much protection as possible, meaning varnishing is part of the process. Guess I'll have to keep experimenting to see if I can find a better varnish.

My next painting project is the redesigned Captain model (now fully plastic!). Hopefully shouldn't take too long.

On a side not I've added in a link bellow to the tool I was looking for at Saltue just incase anyone else was interested as I'll be ordering one next week and happy to add extra in to reduce postage.

http://www.masq-mini.com/aid-240-TubeTool-Set-New-transparent.html