The Cypra Incident, Scenery WIP

Hey all,


Bluddtoof here with a quick update on my work on the scenery set for mission 2 of our upcoming narrative campaign.
I've now completed the build of the fencing (20 uprights with various configurations of panel supports and a total of 14 panels, 3 of which are ruins and a set of hinged gates) and have started on the first watchtower.
Here's a few pics of the tower ....

The first 3 are the balsa carcass in progress and the last 3 are with the watchtower complete with a basic roof and with some fencing in a couple of possible configurations.
The issue now is whether I leave the tower as is and paint it, in which case the grain will show, or I'm considering plasticard cladding to simulate metal, complete with rivets. The second option will look far better but will involve a lot more work and this is tower 1 of 4! I'll make that decision tomorrow I think. One thing I will change is the mesh flooring on the other towers; I'll not cut out the central hole in future, it doesn't really show once occupied and limits model placement, a full mesh floor with a hatch will be better.

More to come soon, as ever comments welcome...


Bluddtoof.

Imperial Knight Freeblade W.I.P. The Build

Hi All

So now that our day of Deadzone is done, (and a great day it was, a cracking game which is ideal for a group day letting, everyone play several games), it's time for my next project; my Imperial Knight!
Firstly it's a really nice kit, easy to build and goes together nicely, I'd originally intended to magnetise many of the parts so as to give me the flexibility of main weapon options and also to have a model which was easy to transport but was held solidly together on the table, alas it has not come to pass because none of the joints between arms/body or body/legs lend themselves to the placement of magnets, I've not tried magnets before and I want my first attempt to be on a model that does lend itself easily. As for the possibility of using magnets to allow swapping out of the main weapon, that also proved impractical for two reasons; the two variants both have different power feeds that connect to a common point but the Thermal cannon feed originates from a piece which is hidden inside the main body of the gun and so cannot be removed, also the battle cannon ammo pack is hollow and so would need extensive remodelling to provide an anchor point for the magnet. In short I decided it was too much work for a first attempt and I've settled on the Thermal Cannon and I will fix the torso to the legs but leave the arms separate as they have a nice twist and lock connection to the torso.With this set up the model will fit snugly in a figure case.

So on to the model itself, I've built all the sub-assemblies and the next step will be to undercoat them.
The model will be fielded almost exclusively alongside my Space Marines, the Thunderbolts who feature a rock and snow theme on the basing. The Knight is a big imposing model anyway but I wanted it to be more so, originally I'd had the idea that I would model it stepping up onto a snow covered rocky outcrop, however the legs are moulded as a rigid piece for their entire length so no convenient knee joint, I looked at the knee with a view to cutting and reposing but the mould has no material to play with and so I would have needed to sculpt the whole knee section which is beyond my sculpting talents, the last thing I wanted was to give my beautiful model a gimpy leg!! I settled on mounting the model on a large rock outcrop, thus raising it even higher over it's foul enemies! The rock is modelled from thin sheets of balsa glued together and held with elastic bands overnight, once dry I cut away at it to create the broken and eroded shape, the layers give the appearance of a slate outcrop. Then an all over coat of thinned PVA to seal the balsa. Once dry I glued the legs sub-assembly in place and then I applied the rocks, gravel and then sand in stages letting each stage fully dry before the next. One benefit of using balsa instead of sculpting from a modelling clay is the base is very light so I didn't need to be too concerned over the bond between the models feet and the rocks.
Here's pics of the base prior to undercoating...

You'll notice I haven't attached the shin guards or the crotch banner as these will be painted separately and attached at the end.

In total I'll be painting the model in 12 pieces, firstly to break up the monotony of painting very large areas at a time and secondly to minimise the amount of areas which are hard to reach.

Painting pieces like the banner and the shoulder guards will also be easier as I'll be attempting some freehand work on the Knights heraldry, he's going to be a freeblade, I'm still working on the design for his heraldry.
The other technique I'll be trying for the first time is OSL, which I'll be using on the eye lenses and the face mask.

That's it for now, more to come over the next few weeks....

Bluddtoof

Dread-full December, Space Ork Mega Dread, The Build.................Part 2

Hi All

So here's part 2 of my walk through of the Mega Dread build. This will show how the primary weapon arms were built. Importantly it should be noted that both arms can be built for left or right fitting, depending on the orientation of the upper arm to shoulder piece connections. Your choice but be careful not to make 2 left arms! ;)

First up you should recall that I did a dry run and drilled and pinned the shoulder sockets previously but didn't fix them to the torso as shown here;

The Kilkannon arm;

The following series of shots show step by step how I built the main gun and the left shoulder;

The shoulder joint and upper arm, drilled and pinned;

The Barrel and Support prior to fixing showing the excess lug protruding and then with the excess material removed so that the barrel joins snugly to the chambers later. DO NOT fix the support to the barrel yet!

The Kannon frame attached to the upper arm/shoulder sub assembly with the kannon klamp, shown from several angles. The large hole is for a wide pin to connect the shell chambers to the frame later.

The wide pin which will hold the cylinder in place, the kit doesn't contain this. Whether mine was missing or not I don't know, the instructions/contents sheet doesn't show anything. I made this pin from the chopped off lug from the barrel, by shaving it down to the correct diameter. You could use whatever you have available.

The cylinder attached to the assembly. Ensure you fit it with the shells pointing forward! ;)

The barrel support now fitted in place, note that the hole for the barrel is aligned with one of the shell chambers.

Barrel fitted. This was a nice strong joint.

The shoulder guard fitted onto the shoulder joint. This was a total mare! The join is small and not well moulded. I spent a lot of time filing and sanding and in the end used 3 pins to get a decent fix. Be wary!

Left arm in place but not glued, the pin is tight enough that the arm doesn't droop under the barrels weight so I'll probably leave it unfixed after painting for ease of packing and transport.

The Ripper Klaw arm

Now the right arm, this was tricky! The worst bit was fitting the 4 pistons, the instructions are rubbish! My pistons did not conform to theirs, I did lots of dry runs and ended up using them in different positions and having to create an extension for one of them. There was some bad moulding involved with 2 of the pistons. My advice is to take this bit really slowly and be very very patient!

The shoulder pivot connected to the shoulder joint. I pinned this just in case.

The next 3 shots show the pin holes in the wrist and the 3 Klaws and finally the completed "hand".

Adding the pistons to the arm. As I said earlier this was tricky and required a lot of trimming and repositioning.

The arm connected to the shoulder pivot. This required a pin and some careful positioning so that the finished arm was in the desired position when complete. Again dry runs required at every stage.

The pin and hole for the wrist joint;

The klaw attached to the arm. Full rotation is possible here for a wide choice of positions;

The shoulder guard fitted. Again this required a lot of work and 2 pins to get a decent joint.

At this point I will share an important lesson I learnt; Don't Stop Doing Dry Runs!!! With the guard on, the arm didn't fit to the torso with the pin in its current position. Only a fraction off, but enough for the join to not work. So I removed the guard and fixed the arm as I wanted it and then put the guard in place. The arm is now fixed to the torso and cannot be removed.
Lesson Learnt!

The finished model;

Overall well pleased with the build, I made a few mistakes along the way but also learnt a couple of things. This is a big and complex build which deserves a careful approach and the model is well worth that effort.
I have since modified the model slightly as I want to field it in a codex orks army and the latest data sheet for it in I.A.Apoc, which is the only way to have one in a codex list, doesn't allow a third big shoota! Boo! So I've removed it.

The next post will cover painting the model and the base I decided to put it on.

Bluddtoof

Eldar Corsairs, The 1st Squad

Hi All

The bases are built as seen in my last post, so now for the squad itself. In terms of equipping them, I want to be able to stay at range and use their jet packs to keep moving so they need the longest range weapons available which means Lasblasters instead of shuriken catapults and I'll only be equipping 2 models per squad with special/heavy weapons, namely an Eldar missile launcher and a shuriken cannon in each squad. The fusion guns are nice but to use em you've got to be up close, not where I want my corsair infantry to be, I'll use my vehicle support and flyers for anti tank duties.
The squad will be churning out 24 lasblaster shots, 3 cannon shots and a missile each shooting phase at 24" range and then using jet packs to reposition in the assault phase. Sounds like a plan to me...

Anyway here's a few pics of the models themselves....

The models will be painted without their guns in place to make life easier, and then they'll be fixed in place once painted. As you can see in a couple of the pics I based the Felarch much earlier and originally had much fatter rivets but I didn't like em so I swapped to the filter balls method.
The models are nice to build, with the resin upgrade parts meshing easily with the plastic guardians.
The worst part was the flash on the jetpack vanes and quite a lot of warping in them too but they're nice and thin so were easy to reshape with just the warmth from my hands.
Next will be painting the first model to see if I like the colour scheme.....

Bluddtoof.