Spartan Assault Tank - FW's Hardest Kit to Build?

Evening All,

Not been on here in a little while but have successfully built the hardest GW kit in the world the Spartan Tank.  More specifically the version before they changed the design and molded it with the tracks on.  I also made the mistake of trying to carry on with this when in a foul mood!  That as we all know simply doesn't work!

Anyway here is a few pictures showing the tank at various stages including the track bodge I ended up doing.  Once it is all painted and weathered I will cover up these issues.  For anyone else attempting this version of the kit GOOD LUCK.....

God Bless the elastic bands and the stolen from the better half hair bands!

Major track issues stemming from the front not being positioned right (during in the night in question!)

Picked the forgeworld brass etch for this tank.

The next two photos show the tank in primer and me starting to lay down the shadows.

Genuinely hated this build so glad it is out the way now.  This is not my current painting project but I will return to it in the next few months.

Thoughts on your experience with this kit would be interesting and also any good stories about when you should stop modelling might help!

Cheers

DOC Out!

The Cypra Incident, more terrain WIP.

Hi All

Bluddtoof here with some more WIP on my current project; the fencing terrain for our upcoming narrative campaign; The Cypra Incident.

I'd planned a post over the weekend and even took photos but didn't get round to it so this post contains photos from a couple of stages in the process.

First some photos of the tower after I'd added some plasticard sheeting to give a smooth metallic finish and started adding rivets to this panelling....

Then I moved on to painting, all the pieces got a solid black base coat sprayed on followed by a coat of silver; I used a spray by Plasti-kote, I've used this before and found that it covers exceptionally well but has a glossy finish which doesn't like to accept further painting. I tried a single small piece of scrap plasticard first and tried out a new method for applying rust effects, namely sponge weathering.
It worked really well; using successive coats of Dryad Bark, Dark Flesh, Khorne Red and Troll Slayer Orange I built up a heavily rusted effect, a final light sponging of Caledor Sky gives an impression of flakes of the original blue paint still clinging to the heavily weathered metal.
To finish off the effect and to smooth it all together I washed all the pieces with Reikland Flesh, followed by dabs of Seraphim Sepia and finally Agrax Earthshade whilst the 1st wash was still wet, this has the effect of randomly blending the 3 shades giving a really dirty finish, I use this method on my Orks too.
On the uprights I wasn't quite happy and wanted an even more rusty look so I tried an orange wash all over them.
This pic was taken after I'd finished the sponge work...

Here's a few pics of the set as it stands now...

So not much left to do now, all the uprights need their bases doing, this will involve mud and some swampy plant life. I plan to have vines and creepers climbing the uprights and some of the panels too. I'll probably leave the tower, however I've got some barbed wire on the way which will be formed into coils to sit on top of the fence and form a protective "shelf" around the tower below the parapet.

Then of course I need to build and paint at least 1 more tower, eventually there'll be 4 intact towers and a couple of collapsed ruined towers as well.

That's it for now, more soon....

Bluddtoof.

Cerastus Knight Acheron - The Build

Morning All,

Today I am sharing the build process for my Knight Acheron.  I have to say first off GW the instructions are rubbish! and has clearly been photocopied lots of times!

Anyway this my first forgeworld knight my other knight is a plastic kit.  The first thing to do is wash all the parts and make sure all the parts are present.  One of my friends has recently had a problem with forgeworld not wanting to replace a missing part without proof of purchase.  This was very frustrating after I was with him when he bought it for cash at a forgeworld open day.  Anyway after proving he ordered some other stuff for delivery on the same day they relented.  So guys advice is keep or get a receipt and check the parts when you get home even if you don't intend to build it in the near future.

The next thing I did because I knew I would do the build over several days is split the parts into sections bag them and label them as can be seen in the first picture below.

The first section I constructed was the body and cockpit, I have to say no matter what I did I couldn't get this to fully line up so in the end I went with best fit and have since filled the minor gaps with green stuff.  Top tip for any new folk out there elastic bands!  Also leave it a good while to go off.

Next I cleaned up all the armour panels although I have no intention of gluing any to the model until after the paint job has been completed.  Next top tip be careful around the thin bits of resin as you can see from the next picture.  I should not of used cutters in this area.  I think gently cutting away with a sharp knife would of been more sensible. I have since fixed this with green stuff and hopefully after painting and weathering you wont be able to tell!

At this stage I then realised I needed to design the base to allow me to start constructing up from the ground.  So I toyed with full city fight ruins and so on but then thought I don't always use models on city fight terrain.  So I scaled back to the design below and aim to have the one foot stood on the barrel.  The fantasy grave stone is more for a bit of fun and will be adorned with one of the code40ker's name for a laugh!  The knight head will also be painted to match one of the code players knights.

So from this point on I started to pick up speed as the excitement takes you onwards.  First thing was working out the foot on top of the barrel and I actually drilled and pinned the foot to it.   Once I had the first foot in place I blue tacked up the legs to work out where to position foot number two.  I wanted to ensure the hip joint wouldn't look to unnatural.

Ok so now I got really excited and stopped taking pictures of the process (woops).  So the next picture shows all the sub assemblies ready for painting.  I will say I used the hairdryer as per the instructions on the cables on the back of the legs.  Next top tip "You literally only need it on for 10 seconds tops"  any more and it goes very floppy.

Well that is the completed sub assemblies next I will consider a colour scheme as my other knight is Gerantus the Forgotten Knight (who can be found here) I will need to consider whether I go with another freeblade or consider a knight household?

Any questions, tips or thoughts please comment constructively below.

Cheers

DOC

Showcase Cerastus Knight-Castigator

In my last post I was undecided if I was to paint up my scouts or start my second knight.

Well as you can see from the title I made my decision.

This is my CERASTUS KNIGHT-CASTIGATOR.

It is the same colour scheme as the lancer and here they are together. I still need to do the transfers, but i will do them both together now they are complete.

I am a big fan of this type of knight rather the the normal one from GW. My next purchase for the knights has already been made…..

In the long term want to complete a household, but I need to figure out how to get the “GW” knight to fit in with these taller models. Maybe I just have to build them all as crusaders with the top weapon to give the added height.

I am currently working on my 3^rd squad of centurions. This time armed with heavy bolters, and I have started the camo cloaked scouts

I hope to have these done in the next few days when I can hopefully look to start either a fire raptor or a storm eagle.

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.