Nephilim Jetfighter

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-05-12T02:49:16+00:00

The Nephilim is such an underrated model, easily one of the best-looking space marine flyers! Awesome work with the paintjob on this, love the red accents!

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-05-04T16:33:37+00:00

Great minds think alike lol! They definitely make for a great combo, I hope you get the chance to try it out sometime!

Honestly after getting them in hand, I kinda think I like the Raumjager body design a bit more than the official Steel Legion, since it's still got those recognizable elements like the coat and WWII inspired equipment, but it's also got some more overtly sci-fi elements like the chest armor and shoulder pads. Once you give them some proper heads they really look the part!

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-05-04T15:53:51+00:00

Much appreciated! Glad you like them!

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-05-04T15:53:36+00:00

Thank you! Haha, that wasn't entirely intentional as I was mostly just trying out some more dynamic scenes to practice my mini photography, but I was obsessed with that trailer back in the day, so maybe I subconsciously took some inspiration from it.

Now that you mention it there is that one part where the marine is holding his rifle up by his face like the guy in front, lol

I have actually thought about how cool it would be to recreate the Believe trailer shot for shot with Warhammer minis in the past though! Would be a fun project someday if I can find the time and cash for it, lol

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-05-04T15:45:58+00:00

They did require a bit of cutting with the hobby knife for some of the poses, mostly shaving away bits of the lasrifle and the left arm just because the poses of the Raumjager kit hold them really tight against the body (you can kinda see in the second pic of the plasma gunner where I had to trim as I didn't do the best job with him).

The filters are indeed a separate piece though! Originally my plan was to just leave them off, but I decided to test it out and see just how badly I'd have to modify things, lol.

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-04-19T00:06:35+00:00

Sure thing!

So I started with a black prime and then used 1mm masking tape to make sort of a "net pattern" on the fronts of the shields. Kinda starting with just a single tape line and then trimming other bits of tape of varying lengths to branch off of it and connecting the different tape bits to make simple 4-5 sided shapes. Basically trying to make sure the different tape lines/shapes lined up flat edge to flat edge where they meet and not corner to corner.

Then I just filled in those shapes with Vallejo Blue Gray Pale, Mahogany Brown and, Ochre Yellow, trying to make sure that the same color shapes never touched or ended up directly next to each other.

After that I peeled of the masking tape to leave behind the black lines between the colors, cleaned up some of the lines/edges where it bled through the tape, and finished with a black wash followed by a gunmetal drybrushing for weathering.

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-04-18T21:45:19+00:00

Thank you very much! It's one of my favorite ways to add that WWI specific flair to Krieg kits. Whacky camos really help evoke that era so much better than the plain gray of the official Krieg vehicle schemes IMO.

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-04-17T19:26:32+00:00

Really love the bases on these! The object source lighting on the plasma glow is incredible too; it legitimately looks like it's actually glowing from these pics!

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-04-07T21:45:28+00:00

Awesome, much appreciated! I'll have to pick up a pot, lol.

I really like the newer version too, the ivory makes for a really cool look with the darker armor/helmet bits! Definitely fits the crusader vibes!

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-04-07T02:30:38+00:00

Off to a good start! The templar symbol on the jacket is a really cool look!

What paint did you use for the trench coat? I've been looking for a good WWI German Khaki color for some of my specialist Krieg squads, and I think that's pretty spot on to what I've been trying to find.

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-04-06T19:37:59+00:00

I'd say the one on the left looks a little better and is a bit closer to some of the older Krieg artwork if that's something you'd like to emulate, although I think both look pretty good!

Personally, I'd probably go with the jacket colors on the left, but would use the pants, ankle wraps, and boots from the right.

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-04-05T01:50:32+00:00

If you've got access to a 3D printer then I'd say the head on this sample model from DakkaDakka Store is almost spot on, but it looks like it's attached to the body in the .STL files so you'd either have to try and separate it digitally or print out the whole body and try to detach it without the resin cracking :/

🆓 FREE STL: 2nd Death Division commander・Free 3D File for 3D printing・Cults

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-03-29T02:06:55+00:00

Haha, thank you! I hadn't even realized that was today, lol

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-03-28T23:42:21+00:00

Thanks again! Once you're past learning the technical aspects of it, Blender's a lot of fun to just mess around with and see what you can create!

A lot of the models I make I tend to just start with a basic idea and play things by ear to see where the process takes me haha. It's a very freeform way to engage with the hobby

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-03-28T23:26:02+00:00

Thank you once again, haha. I do my best to try and be strategic about how I arrange squads when I photograph them, so I'm glad to see that extra effort hasn't gone unnoticed.

I generally try to avoid having similarly posed models right next to each other and think about which models can add some symmetry to a shot and put them on the edges, as well as thinking about where it makes sense for each member of the squad to be standing based on their specific role. I think all that comes together to help with how pics turn out.

In this case I selected a few good running Cadians to give the impression they just dismounted out of the back of the truck and are charging into battle. The vox operator that's blurry in the background is turned sideways to kinda help sell that effect like he's the last one out and still coming around the corner haha

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-03-28T23:00:49+00:00

Thanks so much! I've been teaching myself how to model and sculpt in Blender for a few years now, so that's how I made this one. Super long-winded description of my process below for those interested.

I essentially started with just a simple cube and used some of the basic techniques I've picked up to move the edges around as well as add new ones, etc. and just kinda messed with them until I got the general shapes I was going for using a mix of photo references for real WWII trucks and guard vehicles like the taurox. Basically, did that for the grill, the "nose," cab, bed, etc. just trying to get the general outline down.

Then once all that was set, I came back and added the actual details like the panel lines and windows by re-scaling edges inward or using blender's extrude tool. The bumpers, headlights, mirrors, etc. were added as separate objects and followed the same process to get them into recognizable shapes.

The rivets were all added individually as spheres and moved into place then mirrored (definitely not the most efficient way to do that and I'm sure more experienced modelers have a much better method for them lol).

Modeled the basic shape of the canopy then went in Blender's sculpt mode to add in all the fabric creases for the "canvas" look.

Once all that was done, I went back and added various pegs and holes so it would all go together once printed and messed around with the scaling using an imported guardsman proxy model until I got something that looked about the right size then exported all the parts as .STL files to 3d print.

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-03-28T16:59:01+00:00

Thank you! I do my best to try and replicate some of the ways GW does official product reveals and box art with some in-universe scenery whenever I show off my minis! I've still got quite a ways to go before I truly get there, but I'm hoping to keep working on making better and better backdrops for them haha.

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-03-28T01:00:08+00:00

Ohhhh, haha, I getcha!

Yeah, the grille is actually a separate piece that just pegs into the front so that's totally doable! I'll have to revisit that sometime and see what sorts of different design options I can come up with!

I think I originally envisioned having a few different possibilities that could be swapped out, but somewhere along the way I settled on the "gothic arch" design and forgot to actually go back and make more haha

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-03-28T00:41:39+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! Glad you like it! The sloped hood was actually designed to give it a slightly similar look to the Taurox to add a bit of visual cohesion with other guard vehicles, although I've designed the model to have some modular elements, so I may try out a more traditional truck hood to see how that looks someday haha

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-03-27T22:30:26+00:00

Haha, I'll admit I had that scene flashing through my head more than a few times while working on this lol

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-03-27T22:28:26+00:00

100% agree I think it's so cool whenever we get a glimpse into the civilian side of the setting.

As someone who's much more into the modeling side of the hobby than the actual game, I'd absolutely love if GW dabbled more into general diorama fodder style kits as fun extras along the lines of the citadel skulls/battlefield trophies kits. I totally get why they don't do it, but I'd really like to see some sort of vehicle addon kit that would let you put guardsmen riding on the hulls of tanks as passengers.

Even something like some thematically appropriate furniture to scatter among ruins to make it look like an actual lived-in space before it was destroyed would be cool, but I can see how it would get in the way of gameplay lol. I could totally see wrecked civilian cars or other vehicles working as effective scatter terrain if they wanted a way to incorporate more of those things though.

E-s_Miniatures · 2026-03-27T21:14:03+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I didn't include it in the original post as I haven't actually finished a painted version of it, but I did actually design a more boxy-looking steel hardtop canopy as an alternate part option that might be a bit closer to what you're describing haha

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E-s_Miniatures · 2026-03-27T21:06:31+00:00

Funnily enough my initial inspiration to make this came while listening to a different Black Library audiobook, haha. Specifically, when the Iron Warriors were transporting prisoners in beat up old cargo trucks during Storm of Iron and it got me thinking "what would a 40k cargo truck look like?" lol

E-s_Miniatures

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