Test Conversion and Colors for Praetorian Hawks

I got rather excited with the arrival of my Grav Chute yesterday and prompt me to test out some parts for some conversion, just to see how the grav chute may look like.

Here, I've used a cadian guard, a shotgun from Space Marine Scouts, the grav chute and some green stuff.The shape and design of the grav chute is more geometrical and I thought of elbow and knee pads moulded into similar shape to relate to the grav chute. I've also did a similar styling on the shoulder pads.

I had to be careful as not to overdo it and make sure that this is a conversion that I can do for the next 19 guardsmen as it should be simple enough to maintain its consistency and yet effective.For the colors, I've chosen a scheme similar to the Elysian Taros Campaign color scheme. These para-troopers are a separate division in my army called the Praetorian Hawks and will be distinctly different from the rest of the Byzantum Guards. At the moment, I plan to have 2 veteran squads of this in 2 valkyries. I think some variety of uniform would look interesting on the battlefield.

DEI GRECI: Hektor - the Ogryn Bodyguard (final)

This is certainly an inspirational project. If you guys haven't seen this, check it out! It's one of my favourite IG blog site out there!

DEI GRECI: Hektor - the Ogryn Bodyguard (final)

Grav Chutes

Just when I was looking forward to the weekends and can't wait for the day to end, a package just arrived at my office, some grav chute just dropped in via Royal Mail.

I seriously can't commit myself to buy those nice juicy elysian troopers (due to budget) but I do have some ideas on conversions with sprues from cadian/catachan and a bit of help with these elysian parts, which i think can make a big difference. These will be used by veterans along with the Valkyries as drop troopers. Makes dropping out after moving flat out a bit more exciting with the grav chute...:D

Just when I thought of finishing my current hobby schedule before these grav chutes arrived... must resist.... (rolling for leadership test, double 1, damn!)

Completed First Sentinel

After 2 evenings, here's my first completed sentinel, the OOP edition with flamer and multi-laser. I've left half the hull unglue to reveal the interior and the pilot, and also managed to do some minor conversion with Tau parts to have interchangeble weapons. CC are welcomed thanks!

Platoon and Veteran Squad

Here are 2 infantry platoon squad and 1 veteran team. Included this time also is the missile launcher. The veteran team is made from a mix sprue of catachan and cadian. there are a bit more of touch up here and there before i move to the next project.

New Recruits!!

Alright men, line them up! Get your act together, ladies, you'll be lucky if you last more than 5 minutes out there and should be flattered if i even remember your face!!!

Ahem, ok, I'm in the progress of painting up the boys here which I'm sure will be used. Of course more will come once the new codex is released and I finalised on the FOC.

Here's some experimental batch painting, trying to maintain the quality of the first test model. Here's a challenge, try to identify him in the crowd...This lot took me abt 2 evenings to paint...
Its pretty much the same method I used as before, only quicker now as I'm more confident of the colors used and gettin familiar with the design of the models. Oh, and I'm really expanding or maximising the sprues on the heavy weapon team by using normal guardsmen on the heavy bolter here, I'm saving the kneeling models for the mortars as they look more natural...

Oh, and I've decided on the brown base edging, looks a bit better than before.
Thanks for viewing and comments are much appreciated!

Crest Design

Here's a draft of some crest design which I'll paint on my troops soon, to tell apart squad/platoon members, roles and designation. I figure the red and white will stand out rather well on the green and desert yellow camo pattern. This is done using photoshop CS3.

I just finished primer 2 squads last night, can't wait to get started on the paint job!

More to come as I go along.