Imperial Knight Showcase

Evening All,

Doc here with the promised showcase of my Imperial Knight Freeblade.  I don't have WIP shots for this model as it was completed in secret so I could surprise Red Mist in a recent battle.  So many of my recent posts have talked about sponge weathering and this model gave me the chance to really put that to good use.

I have painted him in the Gerantius 'The Forgotten Knight' colour scheme.  Two reasons for this firstly I only intend to use 1 and second I really liked the look of the sea green.  Its a colour I haven't painted much before.  This model also allowed me to get over I hate transfers thing....  Well sort of still hate transfers!

Anyway on to the picture dump....

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

Deadzone update - Completed Enforcers

Hi All,

So in true DOC style I left finishing my enforcers to day before our Deadzone day.  Well when I say finishing I actually started and completed 7 of these models today!!  The first batch I completed are here.  Nice to add a further 8 points to my tally!

Anyway on to the showcase:

So there you go all done.  Whilst not my best efforts, as with the first batch I again got to practice sponge weathering.  My main concern moving forward to more precision work is getting a small enough piece of sponge so I can just catch the edges more accurately.  I might make myself a tool with small piece of sponge on the end?  Ill have a think on that one.  Anybody else got a good idea for this please comment below.

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed I have more painting points than I have posted up on here. That is because my next post will be my already completed Imperial Knight.  Why Doc have you not shown it until now?  Well that's because I wanted to surprise Red Mist with it in our recent 4K battle.  It was nice to plop such an imposing model down as a surprise and his face was well worth it!  So it seems Code40K is about to have an Imperial Knight segment!

Thats all for now folks

DOC out...

Deadzone Plague Strike Team Completed

Hi All

Huzzah! I've finished my Plague models for Deadzone and with a couple of days to spare before our Day of Deadzone on Sunday. The last 3 models are a pair of Stage 2 and a mutated Teraton.
Here's a few pics of them.....

Stage 2...

Teraton...

and the last Stage 2....

finally all 3...

I've enjoyed painting these as a change from my usual 40k stuff, I'm pleased with the finish and I'm really looking forward to seeing them on the table. It's also been a great start to my hobby points system which I started at the same time as this project, these points will go toward some of the shiny new Ork stuff from GW.
But for now my next project is my Imperial Knight, stay tuned for WIP posts over the coming weeks, I intend to try magnetising for the first time and I'm going to try my hand at some OSL also for the first time.
Any tips to share on either technique are always welcome.
That's it for now, next post will be a report on Sundays Day of Deadzone....

Bluddtoof

Terrain (new and old)

One item I have never put as much effort in to has been terrain. I have always used boxes, mega blocks or odd bits of scenery here and there. Nothing has looked uniform and as if it should be there.

So this year I am making an effort to correct this. I have a home-made board (see earlier blog entry) and now want to populate it with terrain that is correct and looks like it should be there.

First up I am updating some terrain I made back in the mid-nineties for my Warhammer games. As with the style back then everything was Goblin Green!

Here are some hills and a river. The grey fits in with the board. They could probably do with another coat but they look like they should be on my board.

While these are nice I want some more buildings. I have quite a few that I picked up a few years ago but more is always better. I see a lot of games with a very sparse amount of blocking terrain and people then complaining their army got shot top pieces!

I have started these:

I have used the GW tech paint to give the copper effect. I think it has worked well. I may have used a bit too much on the statue, but a bit more dry-brushing and highlighting should tone it back.

Here is my prize for winning Worcester War, a Skyshield. The 2 pics show that the flaps do move!

Finally I have still been painting my ever expanding Marine force. another squad of Sternguard. this time with Combi-grav guns. these my go well in an unbound force with Kantor offering the Objective secured rule to them! Looks like a 3rd squad is in order.

I hope to get a bit more time spent on the hobby in the next few months.