Demigryph knights: Finished at last..

Two and a bit weeks ago; on the day they were released I started constructing and painting a trio of Demigryph knights. At long last I have completed the mini-unit....

 It has taken some time, and to be honest I am not happy with the flags, but at last they are presentable enough to place them on the battlefield. I suspect that I will leave it some time and then return to the flags.The models follow the general Nordland theme of my Empire army. This means a blue and cream combination.

 I am content with the look of the unit. The colour scheme looks OK and the GW figures are some of the nicest that GW have made for the empire.

 Hope you enjoy...

Demigryphs: STILL on the painting table, mounts complete

Today marks a week since the Demigryphs were released and my attempt at painting them has stalled a little. I have (at last) completed the mounts, and I'm loving the cheeky look on their faces...

I have elected to keep with my Nordland colour scheme, so have painted the barding in a blue and cream combination. I am liking how they look, but they do remindme a little of some pottery my mother used to display in her display cabinet years ago.

 Having painted the barding,the animals fur and feathers looked a little dark so I had to lighten the colour with more Kommando Kharki and Bleached bone.

I am quite pleased with the finished look, but next time I will fix the feet to the base at the same time as I glue to the legs. The reason for this is that the alignment of some of the feet means that other legs don't quite touch the ground.

I hope you enjoy, now to return to the riders....

Demigryph; off the workbench and onto the painting table

Yesterday I had managed to assemble the Demigryph miniatures and had flocked the bases.

The weather was kind and I was able to undercoat the figures and place some basic colours down. The Demigryphs still need a lighter highlight and everything else needs painting properly but at least I have made a start.

I am maintaining the Nordland theme with these guys so the barding will be painted a combination of blue and cream. The Gryphs have been built from Charadon Granite to Graveyard Earth to Bleached bone and then washed with various brown - red washes.

 I was able to make more progress with the bases, which are effectively finished.

Which is more than be said for the knights, who have had almost no work...

More progress shots as progress is made.....

Demigryph on the workbench

 

 Today marks the release of a new Empire Army book together  with some fancy new figures. After trawling through the last edition of white dwarf I could not resist treating myself to a box of Demigryph knights. These are a kind of Hypogryph, just without wings. Very sweat.

I added small magnets into the saddle to give me the option of changing riders over should I find it better to have all troops or more command or just to change weapons. Apart from this they are straight out the box.

  

The model assembled easily with no real issues. It needed very little in the way of greenstuff apart from the normal areas over the seam. The only area of concern I had with the model were the feet. The feet are cast as separate elements, presumably to ensure they can maintain details parallel with the mold edge. I elected not to attach to the base at this stage because I wanted to keep painting easy,  but I found it tricky to make sure the feet were glued on at the right angle. Maybe if I had glued them all on at the same time that would have made life easier. As a result I have needed to add a little greenstuff in these areas.

The problem with painting the bases separately is that you need care with flocking the bases, so I marked out where the feet go on each base.. 

...I then added some cork and stone to break up the flat areas..

..and add some flock.

Then all I need is some riders. The only problem I experienced with these was lining up the legs correctly and adding the standard to the flag pole. This had a small area for gluing, so I decided to pin. This was not too successful and in my rush I appear to have added a slight kink. I will try and straighten out.

Hopefully it will stay dry enough for me to undercoat.
 More soon.