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

Eldar Corsairs, The New Base Colours

Hi All

Here's pics of the first corsair model with the base edging and lower surface repainted in shaded greys rather than the original silver.

 

I definitely prefer this, it will also lend itself better to the scenery set I will eventually build to match the army.
As ever comments please.

Bloodtoof

Sons of Horus Justaerin Terminators - The Beginning

I would consider myself a forgeworld fanboy, I actually do love it. So I've finally decided, that for my heresy army, I am going to plump for the instigators, the original bad boys, the Sons of Horus.

I recently picked up my first batch of Heresy era models at the Forgeworld Open day along with the Betrayal book. I've picked up Abaddon & Loken, some Justaerin Terminators & a pack of MKIII Iron armour marines with SoH shoulder pads and phobos pattern bolters.

I've decided to start with the 1st company Justaerin Terminators as I later want to move on to Abaddon so I think it will be nice to have him and his squad finished together.

Now we all know Forgeworld stuff costs a small fortune so the army will be bought in stages. That way I can do 2 things, await the Horus, SoH Contemptor and Catalan Reavers release & I can also save for the next batch whilst finishing what I have currently. Well thats the plan!

I am going to go to town and then some on these guys. I'm not interested in timeframe, they will take whatever they take. I'm going to be be doing every technique I know on these - hairspray, osl, chipping etc so i'm hoping for great results. We shall see :-)

So first things first, bases. Now in the past i've been an advocate of the resin bases but this time I wanted some thing a bit more custom. That way I can replicate it whenever I want, without having to buy a load more resin bases.

So here are the Justaerin Terminators bases built and now ready for basecoating

Made using a combination of wood chip/bark, sand, slate, guitar strings, copper wire, resin & brass bits from the 40k basing kit.

Next will be the terminator build, they are currently being snipped, filed & cleaned up including a little green stuff smoothing out.

Till next time

Luko Dakka

Eldar Corsairs, My New Project, Modelling the Bases

Hi All

So Worcester War 13 has been and gone and now it's time to start something new.
Last year I went to Warhammer World with some of the code boys for the Carnage tournament and whilst there I picked a few nice forgeworld bits and pieces for my long planned Eldar Corsair army.
With the release of Doom Of Mymera last year I'd written a few little lists and knew roughly what I wanted, namely a jet pack heavy infantry army with some heavy vehicle support. So most of that is bought in one form or another and just waiting for some glue and paint....
To start with I'm doing a corsair squad to test out my new colour scheme, but before even that happens I needed to sort out how I was gonna base the army up, I don't see a bunch of space pirates sporting squad markings so how to differentiate the squads since they'll be equipped similarly if not identically? I took inspiration from a guy I played against at the Spikey Clubs SVAXIII tournament earlier this year; he had a lovely Deathwatch Marine army who's individual marines each had their own chapter badge on 1 shoulder pad but no squad markings, so he'd used a unique base design for each squad, with all models in a squad having the same style of base. I liked this idea and I've stolen it and modified for my own needs.
My army represents a corsair raiding party assaulting an imperial base, so the bases will be cut-away sections of flooring complete with girders and ducting under the floor. Each squad will be identified by the type of flooring material they're stood on.

The flooring discs cut out for the first squad;

The bases with girders added. These are plastruct girder sections cut roughly to size;

Pipes and cables added;

The bases complete with the pipes and girders cut/filed and sanded to the shape of the base and with the flooring discs fixed on top;

A base with rivets added;

The rivets are made from the tiny plastic balls you find inside water filter cartridges. Each cartridge contains thousands of them as shown here,

Just drill a hole in the surface a little smaller than the ball and pop one in, I used a pair of pointy tweezers. It's a little fiddly but worth it. The filter cost a fiver and I don't think I'll ever run out!!

 The bases for the squad with rivets and some pipework coming up through the floor on one of them, this will be duplicated throughout the army.

That's the bases done, next is modelling the squad itself.

Til next time........

Bluddtoof

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