Commission Thunderbolt Finished

This long time project is finally finished, packed and out in the mail to Niroe. Although I started his Valkyrie first I still have that one on the table - it should also be finished this week.

Although the snow wound up a bit thicker than I had intended I'm still pleased with the base on this one. The model uses more rare earth magnets to attach to the base.

This was also the first time I'd put my trust in to decals and tried the gloss coat/decal/gloss coat/paint method that I have recommended to so many others. Turns out it works just fine... which I suppose I knew. I simply hate applying decals.

There are a lot of detail shots for this guy floating around and I'll see what I can do about putting together some better composite images.

Commission Tech Marine

Commissioned Black Templar Tech Marine that I'm pretty darn happy with. I'm going to go in and clean up the BT icons on his shoulder and knee but otherwise think that he turned out quite well.

I am especially pleased with the armour chipping and the limited rust on the exposed metal of the servo backpack. The rust was accomplished using the "Rust All" product which I'm becoming happier with the more I use it.

I'll get some better photos online the next time I break out the light box. The blending and highlighting on the red don't come through particularly well in these shots - although you can see some of it in the third photo down.

Green and blue were chosen as the split contrast colours for the red on this one. I did not, however, make any specific attempts to apply them as spot colours.

It's been awhile since I updated my Leman Russ project so I thought I'd post another WIP shot. I did the snow on this one at the same time as the Thunderbolt base... and managed to get the snow weathering BACKWARDS on the treads. Oops. Note that all of the snow is at the FRONT of the vehicle and not the back. I'll be fixing that shortly.

I also intend to add mud to the tracks, undercarriage and track marks - as well as water effect to the engine compartment to show where snow has melted on the hot metal.

I had originally planned to add several guardsmen slogging along behind the tank. I'm going to save those for another project and just get this one finished so that it's not distracting me much longer. I have far too many big projects on the table right now.

An early update on the Thunderbolt project.

I am quite pleased with how the split urban camo scheme worked out - although I think that the snow on the base is a bit thick.

There is still a lot of work to be done, of course. I'll add all of the detailing, weathering, chipping, wind streaking along the wings... some techniques that I've never applied before. This project has been a real pleasure and I intend to re-use the base idea for every future flyer.

Flyer Display Stand for Forge World Thunderbolt

Materials:

Wooden Base - craft store
3/4" x 10" square acrylic rod - plastics shop
Glue, gravel and base materials
1/2" rare earth magnets - K & J Magnetics
Two part plastic to anything epoxy

I measured the base to find the center and simply epoxied the bejebbus out of the rod. I added two of the 1/2" magnets to the top using the same epoxy and one of them to the bottom of the Thunderbolt.

After the epoxy was dried (I waited 10 minutes) I went back in with my gravel and debris.

I was hoping that the magnets would be just strong enough to allow me to lift the entire display, base and all, by the flyer. It's not. It's strong enough to survive the customary bumps that come with life on a shelf.

More Fun With Magnets

High temperatures recently have made it impractical to paint, and impossible to prime anything, so I decided to jump in on putting together a new model. Right away I knew it would be my new Land Raider but I couldn't decide whether to put it together as a plain ol' Land Raider or as the fancy Land Raider Crusader... which got me wondering why it had to be one or the other.

Thank you rare earth magnets.

I put together the body in the normal fashion and embedded four rare earth magnets (1/8" x 1/32" each) in to the top sponson mount on each side.

I cut the top pivot from each of the sponson weapons and added magnets there instead -- two each to the Crusader sponsons, because they're metal, and one each to the standard plastic weapons.

The red dots on the front helped me mark where to embed the tiny 1/16" x 1/32" magnets to hold the Crusader frag launchers in place. There are six of the tiny magnets in the body and three in the launcher... for each hole. The more magnets the better the hold - and I can hold this thing upside down without anything falling off.

The pintle gunners will be swappable as magnets won't really work there. I will also make the front mounted guns swappable once I order a second housing.

When I'm finished it won't take more than a few seconds to switch between a Land Raider and a Land Raider Crusader.

Of course I don't have one in my 750 point army list but it will still be a pleasure to paint... as soon as I'm done with at least one other project.

Army Blog Update - Black Templar

The only vehicle in my 750 point army list - this one lone Razorback is going to need to find a way to get across the table and deliver my only shooty Marines. Good luck with that, little Razorback.

Despite being cannon fodder I'm pretty pleased with the vehicle. Having decided to redo my army if I decide to keep playing I went ahead and put more effort in to the only vehicle. I can field it as it is and be happy with it and put more detail in later - although I think I'm going to break my own rules and do some of that detailing now.

It's getting harder to keep on track with this 750 point army. This is especially true when I want to go back and completely redo so many of the miniatures. Ah well, tabletop first....

Army Blog Update - Black Templar

The first eight of my Black Templar Initiates are finished. Each is standing on one of the resin cast bases I made for this army. BT symbols on the helmets are very much in evidence - although I have otherwise kept detailing to a minimum to help me get this army on the table.

Included at the bottom is the Marshal complete with his magnetic lightning claws and my Assault Marine test model. I have a pair of the Assault legs magnetized and ready to paint - that will let me swap the Marshal either way to match current and future lists.

Of course now I plan to completely recast my bases... but that a topic for another post.

This guy is finally finished. I have him sealed, set aside, and ready to use with my army. He is sitting on one of the bases I made for my Black Templar army - and I've added a white casing to his bolt pistol to make him match the squad he'll attach to.

It's nice finally seeing some progress on this project. The idea that I might actually get an army on to a table in July is starting to seem like a reality. A very geeky reality.

Just about finished with this one. Of course now that I actually have a 750 point Black Templar list it turns out I'm not actually going to use him. Ah well. He has been fun to paint and I'm quite happy with the conversion.