Saturday 2 April 2016

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

Thursday 31 March 2016

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 3rd 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.

Monday 28 March 2016

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.

Tuesday 15 March 2016

Perimeter Breach! The Cypra Incident, Scenery WIP.

Hey All

Bluddtoof with another WIP post for my Fencing Terrain project.
I've completed all the uprights now and 2 more damaged and breached fence panels.
I currently have enough tubing to make 5 more panels but with an order on the way I'll soon be able to complete plenty more. As I stated in the previous post I want at least 12 intact panels so we can simulate a large intact compound, the broken one swill allow for a ruined compound effect.
Here's a couple of pics of the work so far...





Hope you like, as ever C and C welcome.
More to come soon...

Bluddtoof.

Sunday 13 March 2016

"Don't Fence Me In.....", The Cypra Incident. WIP.

Hey All

Bluddtoof here with the first WIP post for a new terrain set I'm building to be used in our upcoming Narrative Campaign; "The Cypra Incident".
As I said in my last post Doc and I need to represent a military compound in the 2nd mision of our story, whichever way it goes; either an Imperial Compound or an Orky scrap yard. So we decided a set of fences and watchtowers would fit in either scenario.
To this end I've started on a set of fencing panels and uprights; I wanted a flexible but simple set which would be easy to store and light and manageable on the table. Here's what I've come up with...



The above shot is of 2 uprights and 1 panel, the 3 pieces are separate and thus the whole set will be flexible enough to lay out in lots of ways, some of the uprights will have supports at right angles and a few will be 3 or 4 way supports to allow for more flexibility.




Above shows a damaged panel in 2 different positions, to provide stability and strength the uprights on either side of the broken panel are fixed. I intend to make a max of 3 of these breached panels, the rest will be intact and fully flexible.
The bases of the uprights will also get some scenic work; tufts of grass and vines and such. I'll also be adding a few rivets to the upper panel supports.

The raw materials are pretty basic;

Uprights: small GW round bases, Plastruct 4.8 mm styrene tubing, 1 mm plasticard and Plastruct 4.8 mm styrene column.

Panels: Plastruct 3.2 mm styrene tubing and Isopon aluminium mesh (for repairing holes in car bodywork)

The mesh I bought at my local hardware store at a couple of quid per sheet which makes 4 of the 5"x 3" panels , the Plastruct products I got from Antics on line, they can be a bit pricey but you get 6 or so lengths per pack.

I'm planning on a dozen panels or so, a gate section and then 4 watchtowers which will comprise a small square bunker 6" tall with a roofed parapet on top, the top section will be removable to access the interior. In terms of area, they will house a small squad of infantry; 5 models I think to allow for combat squads or weapon teams. I don't want them too big or to be major bunkers. The towers will have panel supports in the middle of all four faces to allow full flexibility of set up.

As for the paint job; I'm planning on rusted metal, I'll be trying some rust effects I've not tried before.

More to come soon. As ever C and C welcome and stay tuned......

Bluddtoof.