A whole lotta Nids!

[airinhere]

Sometimes good fortune favors you.  Last week I made an absent minded inquiry on a local classified board for the tiny island I live on.  I found an unexpected ad for Warhammer "stuff".  When I followed up on the ad, I found a huge collection of Fantasy and 40K models being sold by a mother whose son had moved away to Uni.  She told the story of a son who had been involved since he was young and had approved of selling the models as she moved from one home to another.  I could only see the better part of a childhood spent modeling and playing games.

And what a childhood it must have been.

For the sake of brevity, I will only drag on about the Tyranid forces I found in the multiple storage bins of randomly collected parts.

Two Mawlocks that were in need of some creative modeling to bring them to life.  Posed along a Trygon Prime I recently found on ebay.  Great paint job on the ebay models, but wow am I overloaded with Nids now!


Again the red and tan ebay nids mix with the newer, unpainted and teal/ white Nids found just down the street.  Seven Carnifex.  One modeled as Old One Eye, and one with Venom Cannon.  All the rest are being set as Dakkafex.  I do love the ebay Stonecrusher Carnifex.


A second Flyrant for my swarm!  Badly in need of Pinning at all joints and some general cleaning up.  But a lovely addition to my growing horde.  Converting of Dual devourers is being worked on for this and my other modern Flyrant.


A spare set of (dragon?) wings found in one of the containers made a great source of converting my old school 3rd edition Tyrant into a Flyrant.  Again, Dual Devourers are being created for this third Fyrant model.  Fluffwise, I presume this one is a "female" versus the two "male" modern Flyrants I have.  I might even model objective marker egg piles or nests.  

(Wooo, I just realized what a bad picture this is.  Might have to redo this one later on, but you get the idea).


A swarmlord was found within the many boxes of bits and piles of metal parts.  I cut his arms to allow to pose his blades and will likely try to model him spitting on his upper right blade to coat it with: Venom? Acid?  I think a more detailed base is demanded for such a model also.  I have 3 of the 3rd edition Carnifex that I will try to convert into Tyrant guard to keep the Swarmlord company.


I am trying to make some greenstuff or milliput  dual devourers to serve as a base for added barrels for the Dakkafex and Flyrants.


Finally, I actually shouted when I opened one unmarked citadel case and found this inside.

A Harridan! Complete and with all of the Gargoyle clusters that can cling onto it. I spent the last two days pinning each of the larger models, but this guy took the most work. Currently this is hands down the largest model I have.


Beyond these Nidzilla models, I now have endless swarms of Genestealers, Termagants, Hormugants and some other nice models from the ebay lot I bought over the Summer.  I ran everything through Battlescribe and am a few points shy of 9000!  I have always lurked here, but with all these models to work with, I would like to contribute to the community and am looking forward to painting these beasts as I work on my Carcharodon army.  (Fluff to come).

[Kyokii]

Absolutely bananas
I love it, congrats to ya.

[tylertt]

Indeed what an amazing find that would have been! Do share your results as you get your force all painted up.

[airinhere]

It was pure blind luck that I ended up with these new Nids. It will take days still to process what everything is and I believe I will never want for spare bits for conversions again.

I now am looking at possible color schemes for a mixture of Kraken and Leviathan Nids for a fluffy army set in late M41 in the space "under" the Dominion of Storms. My thought is a distinct, evolved Fleet leftover from the remains of Kraken, or a specific lesser hive fleet arriving as Leviathan appeared. Sadly, my awareness of what known hive fleets that would be in that region and at such a late point in the Imperial calendar is limited.

My "special snowflake" idea is to create a new designation: Hive Fleet Cayman. Based on color patterns found on the various fish and wildlife living underwater here such as angel fish, parrot fish, Turtles, eels and all the little reef fishes.

Obviously, this could create a garish variety of colors and I would like to stay with a unified theme, however the idea of being able to paint a variety of color schemes does appeal when looking at such a large horde.

Anyone got any tips on how to pick out a airbrush?

[glitchrr36]

Nice! would love to find 9,000 points in bugs. That harridan is a wonderful find

[jurassicpork]

Nov 17, 2015 22:22:58 GMT airinhere said:

It was pure blind luck that I ended up with these new Nids. It will take days still to process what everything is and I believe I will never want for spare bits for conversions again.

I now am looking at possible color schemes for a mixture of Kraken and Leviathan Nids for a fluffy army set in late M41 in the space "under" the Dominion of Storms. My thought is a distinct, evolved Fleet leftover from the remains of Kraken, or a specific lesser hive fleet arriving as Leviathan appeared. Sadly, my awareness of what known hive fleets that would be in that region and at such a late point in the Imperial calendar is limited.

My "special snowflake" idea is to create a new designation: Hive Fleet Cayman. Based on color patterns found on the various fish and wildlife living underwater here such as angel fish, parrot fish, Turtles, eels and all the little reef fishes.

Obviously, this could create a garish variety of colors and I would like to stay with a unified theme, however the idea of being able to paint a variety of color schemes does appeal when looking at such a large horde.

Anyone got any tips on how to pick out a airbrush?

Re airbrush: gravity feed iwata eclipse hp-CS is a great choice; not too expensive and will serve ou well as you learn to airbrush.

[Kwodd]

Nov 17, 2015 22:22:58 GMT airinhere said:

It was pure blind luck that I ended up with these new Nids. It will take days still to process what everything is and I believe I will never want for spare bits for conversions again.

I now am looking at possible color schemes for a mixture of Kraken and Leviathan Nids for a fluffy army set in late M41 in the space "under" the Dominion of Storms. My thought is a distinct, evolved Fleet leftover from the remains of Kraken, or a specific lesser hive fleet arriving as Leviathan appeared. Sadly, my awareness of what known hive fleets that would be in that region and at such a late point in the Imperial calendar is limited.

My "special snowflake" idea is to create a new designation: Hive Fleet Cayman. Based on color patterns found on the various fish and wildlife living underwater here such as angel fish, parrot fish, Turtles, eels and all the little reef fishes.

Obviously, this could create a garish variety of colors and I would like to stay with a unified theme, however the idea of being able to paint a variety of color schemes does appeal when looking at such a large horde.

Anyone got any tips on how to pick out a airbrush?

You definitely want gravity fed, my paasche talon has served me well.

[airinhere]

I spent the last couple weeks sorting all the models I ended up with. I am certain to need an airbrush to finish all these models. I read good things about the Iwata and have considered one before. I ended up with about ten moderate sized fantasy and 40K armies a huge fantasy chaos warrior army and then this enormous Tyranid force.

I managed to cast some dual devourers and am cleaning them up right now. all my carnifex and flyrants are currently sporting the newly cast weapons.

Originally I used just greenstuff, but the end result is too bendy and is harder to work with later on.


I then mixed milliput with the greenstuff and ended up with a much easier material to work with after drying.  I have been using a small Dremel tool to clean up the cast arms.  I plan to sandpaper things down to a smooth finish shortly.


This Tyrant ended up with the original dual devourers that I started with.  I decided that adding additional devourers to each arm would be a good way to show the weapons as more physically imposing.


My three Flyrant models with their dual devourers.  The 3rd ed model is mounted on top of a old heatsink with greenstuff vines/ tentacles growing onto it.  This is mostly to bring its size back into scale with the newer model flyrants.


I ended up keeping two of my Carnifex as close combat beasts and one with a venom cannon since it was glued heavily and not worth tearing apart to rebuild.  I did end up being able to remake 4 of the carnifex into dakkafex!



Each Dakkafex was given one set of the large devourers and then a sculpted set of the dual devourers.  each set of dual devourers was bulked up like the Flyrants with another devourer barrel.  Each Dakkafex has eight barrels of Devourers.  Plenty enough to keep the physically imposing look that any Carnifex needs.


I am reaching the end of the sculpting stage of my Tyranid swarms development.  I am already plotting a Christmas present airbrush and compressor to begin painting with the new year.  

[blackrainbow]

This is super cool that you got such a score, and that large score can live on in someones loving care as it devours whole star systems - good on ya! (and yeah, killer score!)

[airinhere]

Airbrush ordered! I chose the Iwata CS and bought the .5mm needle and tip so I have two sizes of spray to work with. Now for all the parts to arrive!

In the meantime, I get to go over each model with a file and razor to clean up any trim, flash or otherwise noticeable modeling issues. Should be plenty of time to clean up all the big guys at least.

I also ordered a supply of Vallejo paints and am excited to have something other than craft store paints to use soon! I plan to keep much of the Hive fleet Kraken colors, but several mobs and special models will have distinct patterns and variance to keep the painting from getting stale.

[tylertt]

I missed that last post of the models. They look awesome man, and I am super jealous of the 3rd Ed Flyrant. Really like that model.

[airinhere]

I have sadly neglected my Tyranids while I worked on a series of Marine models. Now I have fully painted Deathwatch and Carcharodon Astra armies. Having reached completion on these Marine forces, I am returning my attention to my beloved Tyranid hordes.

Carcharodon Astra forces of predation Fleet Mako assigned to intercept and divert Tyranid forces approaching Forgeworld Ferrax IX.  Inquisitor Mane assigned from Ordo Xenos along with Deathwatch assets to coordinate Marine activities across Sector.  


I do already have a nicely painted force of Tyranids and will focus on painting all rtandom and unpainted models first so that I have armies that are able to be fielded.

I am opting to go with a light green skin tone and then a dark reddish brown for the armored plates.

Today i fired up my airbrush system and started to apply paint.  I started with my horde of gaunts, genestealers and a few hive tyrants.



I moved on to basecoat my Zidnilla forces


I then moved onto basecoating my centerpiece.  'Rodan' the Harridan



Basecoats applied, I moved onto secondary flesh tones.  You can see the color difference from the highlighted models versus the gaunts sitting nearby.  In the background you can see the Inquisitorial troops assigned to Investigate and capture Tyranic species for research purposes.  


Zidnilla forces recieve highlights for fleshy parts also.

Even Rodan recieves the start of her fleshy highlights.

[Xyver]

Looks good! Might be time to start a thread in the painting section!

[blackrainbow]

Pretty excited to see this move forward. I love watching models come to life. +1 painting thread idea.

[airinhere]

Painting thread is on the horizon, but before I get into painting, I decided to assemble all my spare bits and parts and make a BFG fleet for my Nids.

So here we go with the results of gluing my fingers together many, many times.

For thousands of years the Tyranid have moved toward the brightness of the Astronomicon.  The force of Humanities will brodadcast across the stars has drawn the attention of monsters from beyond the farthest reaches of where Mankind has dared to tread.  Over time these behemoth fleets grow and split into smaller fleets and split again in a cycle that changes only when the need to gather new biomatter can be sated.  Some few ancient beasts prowl among the fleets and impose their will upon all.  

Hive Fleet Cayman is led by an abnormally large and immortal creature.  Able to impose its will upon all Tyranid it finds, fleet designation "Cayman" has enjoyed success despite the fragmentation of its parent fleet Kraken.  Led by an enormous Hive craft loaded with docking sites and launch bays this venerated leader of Tyranids can give birth to a verminous horde of smaller craft.  


Two adult Hive ships bring needed long range firepower and more launch bays for horrific living projectiles.  Together, these three Hive ships  work together to impose their will on the Milky Way Galaxy.  


Side view reveals torpedo launch bays dotting the armored shell and a mass of tentacles common to this fleet.


Providing heavy firepower support for the Hive ships are two Scyllia class cruisers.  They are heavily armored and have massive claws, Pyro acid cannons and launch bays for antibodies.



Another Scyllia class cruiser, this monster launches phage mines and can fire bio plasma and pyro acid.



A solitary, younger Carnivore class cruiser developing slowly into another Hive craft.   An oversized prow weapon system has begun to develop and signifies that this will someday develop into a fourth Hive ship for fleet Cayman.


Additional Carnivore class cruisers displaying extended carpaces and healthy claw structure.  These young ships are fated to eventually grow into massive armored craft able to launch hordes of smaller torpedoes and escort craft.


Young, Carnivore class ships that have not yet started the growth cycles that will determine their eventual role in the new fleet.  They enjoy their limited responsibilities to the fleet as they gorge first on new worlds.  Often these ships lead small splinter fleets against safe targets.  Their hunger is unending as they furiously seek biomatter needed so they can grow big and strong.




Predator class escort ships race ahead of the main fleet and throw themselves into the enemy in a mindless cycle of death and rebirth.  Their only thought is to protect the fleet.


Hive fleet Cayman was built from the spare parts found in boxes and corners of all my bit boxes.  I added a load of greenstuff tentacles and have already prepared a load of drones to help build a fleet of smaller craft that surround the larger ships.  I did a basic paintjob with my airbrush, but now I get to go in and detail all the larger models.