Sicaran Tank - The Build / Battle Shots Necron vs Dark Angels

Evening Folks,

Doc here so a couple of things to share in today's post.  I have started work on a Sicaran battle tank for my Death Guard so I thought for a change I would share some pictures of the build and magnetising process for the sponsons.

First off as forgeworld kits go its a relatively simple build especially as there are no tracks to build with this kit unlike a Spartan which is a future build.  I have decided to go with Lascannon sponsons but magentise them so I can have a none sponson option if desired or needed as a points saving option.

So as I say pretty straight forward build yet still managed to glue myself to the hull.  Perils of superglue!  The last shot shows my mini dremel / rotary tool from maplin best £12 i've ever spent!  Its great for drilling, cleaning and cutting and takes the elbow work out of it all!

So for those who don't magnetise there really isn't much too it.  Work out how you line up the magnets on the two pieces you would like to magnetise.  Ensure you check the polarity of the magnets you need them to attract to each other (lol).  You will get it wrong at least once and curse!   Just drill the right size hole not too deep just enough to make the magnet sit flat with the adjoining surface.  I superglue magnets in place and use a plastic rod to adjust its position before the glue goes off which is usually very quick.  Dont be tempted to check the two pieces magentise too early as often one of the magnets will pull out of its position if not dry!

Ok, second part of this post I snapped a few shots of our big Dark Angels vs Maynark Necrons game. So close just 1 vp in it, a bloody late night and a great time. On that last point it doesn't look like Innermech was enjoying himself in one of the shots which made me laugh.

 
So who do you reckon won by 1 point folks?

Comments Welcome

Cheers

DOC

Forgemas 14; Eldar Corsair Hornet; The Build.

Hello All,

Bluddtoof here with my first Forgemas 14 post, the build of my first Eldar Hornet for my new Corsairs army. I'm using the, slightly out of date, lists from the Doom Of Mymaera book from Imperial Armour and in a new style for me I won't be just buying all the cool toys I can get my grubby mitts on and then leaving half of them sat on shelves for 6 years awaiting some paint! No! This army will be built and painted unit by unit to a series of lists I've written! Will wonders never cease!
So Forgemas has worked out quite well for me as it gives me an opportunity to make a start on the army and paint one of the units from my initial 750pt list. The list contains a Corsair Prince with Bladesworn retinue on a Corsair Venom, 10 Corsairs with jetpacks, 3 Corsair jetbikes, a Hornet with Pulse Lasers (the subject of this post) and a Corsair Wasp Assault Walker with scatter lasers. The bigger lists each add more units to this base list and also add points to existing units here and there. More on those over the course of 2015.
Back to the Hornet and the style of the army in general; you may have seen some of my older posts on the trial build and paint of my first Corsair, they can be found here here here and here, the idea is that the army represents a Corsair raid on an Imperial facility and as such all the bases will be cut away sections of the facility floor, each infantry and bike squad will be distinguished from the others by the type of flooring material they are stood on rather than use squad markings, which don't fit the army in my mind.
All the vehicles will be on large scenic bases, I'm going to go to town on these and make each one into a little diorama with Imperial soldiers and techs hiding or fighting or dying etc, they'll include lots of ducting and pipework both under the floors and above them.

So onto the Hornet, it took me about 8 hours to build this, the base and model combined, and also several hours of drying time for the balsa and plaster sections, all told I built in 2 days and I really enjoyed it. The kit is decent quality, a fair bit of flash to remove but no warping which can be common with resin.

To start here's a picture of the completed build, I'll follow up with some step by step notes and piccies...

Fist step was to start on the base; I wanted to depict the Hornet zipping at breakneck speed down a pipe and conduit lined trench, hunting Imperial troops, the pilot relying on his unnatural reflexes to avoid the perilous structures. To achieve this I decided to pose the Hornet at a quite steep angle with one wing down in the trench, just skimming over pipes on top of the trench wall. The trench wall was the first bit to build and is made from a frame of 10mm cross section balsa pillars, 4 in total, with 2mm balsa sheet shaped around it to form the curved surface which mimics the bases edge and the flat surfaces. I used elastic bands to hold all this in place whilst the PVA set. If you try this ensure that the curved panel has the grain running perpendicular to the direction of curve, otherwise it won't bend! Pics...

Whilst that was drying I started on the Hornet itself, all the bits washed to remove that nasty mould lubricant (the bane of paint!)...

I started on the next new technique for me; magnetising weapons. I have to say it wasn't anywhere near as hard as I'd expected and it will give me huge tactical choice at almost no cost. The magnets are inset into the joints in holes I drilled, carved and filed out very carefully. I used a total of 8 little magnets on the model, the weapon cowling magnetises to the outside of the gun so the gun has 2 magnets, that's 4 on each side. I also ensured that I used the same polarity all round so that any weapon can fit to either side of each vehicle. I'll just have to remember that when I start the next vehicle! Pics of the magnetisation...

Next step was to build the pipework sections to fit onto the base, these plastic pipes are from Nightwing International and are part of their model railway scenery range. They're injection moulded plastic on sprues, each set contains loads of bits and poly cement works a treat. It's a nice modular system allowing almost infinite variation. Pics of the pipe sections and the base with the balsa section dried and coated with a thin skim of plaster to give a nice concrete finish...

Then it was back to Hornet to fit the engine intake and thrusters to the main body...

Once the plaster was dry I did dry runs with all the elements to get the positions right, I built the hiding guardsman, who's lost his helmet, lasgun and canteen in his dash for safety and is left with just a frag grenade and a trenching tool to fight off the raiders!
He's stood on mesh walkway (The mesh is the aluminium mesh sheet used for repairing car bodywork and suchlike, dirt cheep from my local hardware store) supported on plastruct girder. Before fitting the mesh I painted the base below in deep greens and swirls of Nurgles Rot; the black base will all be painted in this way and will have a coat of a couple of mm of water effects applied at the end (This will entail me making a snug polythene mould around the base edge to hold the liquid whilst it sets).
Here's the finished build from a few angles, the Hornet, pilot, canopy, guardsman and his loose gear are all un-glued so I can paint all the bits separately.....

That's it, I'm really pleased with it and can't wait to see it painted. More posts to come as that progresses, as ever C and C 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