Custodes - Wrapping up final details

While at NOVA Open I picked up a Custodes Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought which I've been eying since it's release. I may be picking up a Coronus Grav Carrier soon as well, so I'm pretty excited to get some Custodes infantry on the table top. I had done the majority of the work on these guys several months ago but I'm finally just getting to the last couple details and since I'm on a hobby-high from the recent trip, it's time to get these guys done. They're intentionally only painted to a tabletop standard but I'll probably put a little extra work into the Dread when it's time.

I'm also using this project as a jumping off point to try a new textural blending style I learned while taking a class with Roman from Massive Voodoo. The red shoulder pads is a good place to start this but I'll be doing this on the Dread and Vehicles to come on all the red and gold areas. I think k it's going to make them all look like the ancient advanced soldiers they are.

Saturday night at NOVA Open is complete

We just wrapped up Saturday night of NOVA Open and it's been amazing. I got to take classes with Roman from Massive Voodoo, paint an unbelievable amount of minis for the 30k Team Tournament, where our team "Two fools who laugh at death" (if you don't know the reference it's time to watch the original Conan the Barbarian) won the best sportsman award, we've played tons of pickup games, attended GW seminars, scoured the vendor hall for bits, and made repeated visits to the Forgeworld booth.

More to come, but for the meantime here's a pic from the 30k doubles event which was one of the most exciting games I've ever played. While leading my Iron Hands, with their brothers in arms The Salamanders at their sides, Ferrus Manus and his cohorts fought valiantly against an impressive Emperor's Children army. It ended with a win but not before Fulgrim decapitated his brother Ferrus in a martial showdown for the ages.

Back from the Lazarus pit with some hobby work

First post of 2017, and only a few things going on. I've taken a break from the stormbird to do a couple easier small projects though I've been thinking about trying to get the landing gear completely built before I take a longer break from work in the big flier.

I built a few MK 3 Marines for 30k/40k including a plasma support squad.

I've also mostly wrapped up work on my first five custodes. I expect to have anywhere from five to fifteen more down the road. Still working on the blades of the weapons but I'm trying to mimic the effect the 'Eavy Metal has done, I may bud to mute the brightness a little but we'll see how they look once I add some crackling electricity.

Finally I've started making a few custom bases to match my existing DragonForce bases. These are for a couple Iron Hands Astartes and my 40k admech force. I'll have some pics of them soon.

Stormbird scratchbuild - progress update

I haven't made too much noticeable progress but have completed a couple tedious tasks that were outstanding.

The engine nozzles we're foremost in the list tedious items to build. Again, taking lessons Blackadder's Thunderhawk scratchbuild, I started with some generic Target brand mouthwash caps. After a little sanding I measured the cap into three segments and made a guide mark every third ridge of the cap. Then about a weeks' work of meticulous cutting and gluing of 1mm by 1mm styrene bar, first in half inch pieces down the length of the cap followed bending and wrapping with the same size styrene around the cap at the base of these half inch pieces. Yeah it was as tedious as it sounds.

I also added a cone to the inside of of the completed nozzle, just in case anyone looks in there. Eventually there will be some LED effects so this may be seen at that stage.

Finally, I was able to get the pivoting arm for the front landing gear built and integrated into the gear housing. There will need to be an arm that runs the length of the vehicle and ties into the rear gear so I can control it with one mechanical operation. Bearing in mind that this finicky piece may have problems down the road I decided to make it removable via screws. I built some recessed screw holes for the outside of the gear housing and wrapped the nuts with styrene so they could be glued in place with plastic glue on the inside of the Stormbird. 

Not a lot to looks at but this stuff sure took a long time to get together. The next tedious task is to build the rear landing gear which will be a lot harder since I need to make the same components twice and keep things as exact as possible. Hopefully I'll have that and the final engines build before the new year.

Stormbird scratchbuild - progress update

I've made a little more progress on disembarkation ramp doors and the interior area that will be exposed once the doors are open.

I've also begun building the landing gear feet and hinged arms. Ultimately the landing gear will be servo controlled so I'm going to begin building the mechanical components that will raise and lower the gear. I want to have a single servo control the front and rear landing gear so I'm going to have to figure out a lever system to get a longer range of motion since the rear gear sits higher on the hull. I won't be adding electronics till most everything cosmetic is done but I've left enough room to run wires for servos and LEDs and I'll be managing the rods and gears to run everything now.

Once the landing gear is built completely I can work on the 4 ball turrets. They'll be the last big piece to build before I can do all the detailing and layering that will make this look like a finished model.

It's not technically Stormbird progress but also bought a cool Tamiya motorized hobby drill. It comes a a model kit that requires assembly but was a fun little side project as a break from plasticard fabricating. It'll probably be really useful when i start adding the fine details.

I hope to have another update in about a week once I have at least the front landing gear mechanics working..

Getting Ready for NOVA Open's Capital Palette

In a little over a week we'll be trekking from New England to the DC area for the 2015 Nova Open. I won't be playing in any events, except possibly some Age Of Sigmar games, but I'll trying to bring my A-game (or at least my B-game) to this years years Capital Palette.  Last year I completely dropped the ball with my prep work and ended up not submitting any entries, I really regret being so damn lazy after winning a Silver medal the previous year. I'm trying to make up for things this year so if you end up down there keep an eye for some of these models in the display cases.

I've been trying to refine the Iron Hands Legion Praetor I started a few months back. I added some more pronounced highlights as well as a few chapter and clan markings from the Forge World decal sheet. I also played with adding some shadows to the base for the first time, I like the effect but there's no way I'd be able to put that much work into a whole army.  Now he's looking a little meaner and more fitting of his stature in "The Iron Tenth". There are a couple small details left but I think I'm about ready to call this guy complete.

I've also done quite a bit of tedious work on some Tau Pathfinders that I've been working on for two plus years now. I probably over did the paint job considering their value on the battlefield but that's sort of my problem in general, I have a tough time taking short cuts of any kind when painting. I really went to town with some weathering pigments on their bases which I think are looking pretty sharp. Now I just need to finish the rest of this Tau army to the same standard.