Guardians of the Emperor - Gyrfalcon Jetbike

Its time for a little support for my Custodian squad in the form of a Gyrfalcon Jetbike! I picked up the 3 man squad of these from Forgeworld recently, so theres still 2 more in their boxes. I decided to paint one of these up as a treat for completing a whole squad of Custodes, and what a treat it was! I enjoyed every second of paint time on this model, mainly because it looks so dam cool! Very much looking forward to seeing the whole squad charging into battle!

I didn't use the flight stands that come with the models, they're just a bit to small for my liking. Instead i ordered some 3mm acrylic rod from eBay to given them a bit more height, and it also looks a bit tidier as well!As this one had a bit of height to it i gave it a downward angle, like this Custodian is about to bury his spear into a traitors face!!

The Custodian himself is a little different from his foot slogging brothers. Instead of armoured arms and legs, they sport some leather bracers and, what i like to call, 'space chaps'!

I refrained from doing any freehand on the screens, my skills just arn't there yet. Some green and blue glows break up that gold a bit.

I magnetised the weapons very easily for the jetbike, sticking some 2mm magnets to the underside of the weapons, and counter sinking one into the hull of the jetbike.

Finally the base. Another fine addition from Scibors Miniature, this is their 60mm base which comes in 3 designs. I simply love these bases; full of detail and character and fit perfectly with the Webway theme of my force!

Let me know what you think! More Custodiians comming soon!

The GunGrave

Guardians of the Emperor - First Custodes Squad Complete!

I made quite a few leaps since my last Custodes post, getting the full squad assembled and painted! These guys are quite challenging to paint, needing quite a lot of time to get each one done. I painted each one individually as batch painting these guys would've been a bit of a crushing task!! I also think painting them individually is quite 'fluffy' as each Custodian is said to have their training personally overseen by the Emperor.

In all I'm very happy with this squad! There are a few things ill change for next time. I need to make the red's pop a little more, so some more push on the contrast will be good. I also think i over cooked the final white glaze on the guardian spear, so they'll be a little less of that next time. I did use a purple wash selectively in the recesses to help deepen the shadows which i think worked quite well.

The 10,000 are well underway. Still a way off 10,000 but hey ho! more soon!

The GunGrave

Guardians of the Emperor - Legio Custodes Test Mini Complete!

So after a quick re-supply i was able to get the Guardian Spear completed and get this guy into the light box! 

I have to say, the boy looks goooooooood!

Although the detailing does take a bit of time to complete properly (including retouches and adjustments!) it's totally worth it!

I went with a blue power blade for the guardian spear. While i am very happy with the result and look of the blade, i may try straight metallic grey for the next one just to compare.

Very happy with the base selection, perfect for my 'war in the webway' look I'm going for!

I think i may have nailed the colour scheme first time here! The only think i will try is to make the tones and shadows a bit deeper in the pre shading stages. It will just make the details pop that bit more. I may need some sunglasses to look at all this bling!

The GunGrave

Guardians of the Emperor - Legio Custodes Test Mini

Now, i don't know about you, but when the Horus Heresy range first dropped i remember thinking "Aw man, how cool would it  be if they eventually did Custodes!?" Well, that day of course did arrive, and I'm just as excited about them now as i was then! More so given the insane levels of cool that the model range has shown so far!

So true to form, as soon as Mrs Gungraves back was turned, i casually logged onto Forgeworlds website and ordered myself a....modest....selection of Custodes!! More on those in the coming weeks. First up though i had to nail down a colour scheme. 

I have to admit, GW's tutorial on these guys was pretty good, so i more or less followed their guide for this mini. I did swap out some of the paints for the Vallejo Game Air equivalent in some cases. 

I base coated the model in white, then hit it with Vallejo Game Air Glorious Gold. Once dry, i applied an zenithal highlight of Polished Gold, again using the airbrush. 

I then washed the whole model with Seraphim Sepia (or whatever its now called!)

I then started refreshing the gold with thinned down Polished Gold, being careful to leave plenty of shadow in the recesses.

Then finally i applied a tiny highlight to the apex's using Vallejo Game air Silver. I called the gold areas done at this stage, so i blocked out the other areas in their base colours before doing any more. I was still happy with the gold afterwards, so left it at that!

As the Custodes are going to be quite a special army for me, i wanted to make sure i got some sweet bases for them. I always wanted the theme of this army to be the Webway, where they spent so much time fighting daemonic incursions with the Emperor! No i haven't read Master of  Mankind yet, so no spoilers please!

Scibor's do a great range of bases, so i was confident I'd find some there. These are some of their SF Elven bases in 30mm (2mm off the standard size for some reason, but i don't think anyone will notice!) As the Webway was build by the ancient Eldar, i think these fit my theme perfectly!

I basecoated them in Army Painters Desert Yellow.

I then dry brushed them with Ushabti Bone.

Then lightly dry brushed them with White Scar.

Finally i added some shadows to the bases. I did this using an airbrush with Vallejo Beasty Brown and then Dark Fleshtone for the deepest recesses. I then edged the bases in Abbadon Black. Suitably ancient Eldar-y i think!

Here's the (nearly) finished test model on a finished base. I completed the shading and highlights on the other base colours, but ran out of thinner before i could get onto the power blade!! I will go for a blue glow effect on the blade initially, but i may do it in silver metallics. We'll see.

I'll get this guy in the light box once I've done the blade. In the meantime please let me know what you think!

The GunGrave