Salamanders update (with pictures!)
I've been consistently building and painting, and I swear it never seems like I'm making progress. There's a lot more green marines, though.
I haven't played a lot, but when I have, it's been better than the beatings I'd been receiving. With a few exceptions, though, my opponents weren't very good. One of my FLGS (Comics & More) attracts a... younger... crowd. I seriously don't know where 8-15 year-olds get the money for this hobby, but they do. Playing them is one part teaching and one part vengeance for all the time I had my backside handed to me by 12-year-olds at Magic: The Gathering (which I said good riddance to in order to finance my Crimson Fists). If nothing else, it's good practice.
My best match came with my Salamanders against Nids, played by a quite worthy opponent (who usually plays Chaos). We were both surprised when I wiped him out on turn 4 - Apparently, bugs burn and are squished by thunder hammers.
My Blood Angels trounced another Nid player and two Space Marine players (Sicarius/Tigirus and Lysander armies, respectively).
But, you're tired of text from me. This time... I have pictures!
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This is Honoured Sergeant Tel'Yan, 6th Company Detachment. See what I did there with the name? I am soooo original. This model was fun (and is obviously not finished). I wanted the elongated barrel, stock and strap, so I cut one of the spare sniper rifles up and heated some plasticard. The camo pattern is straight out of my camo tutorial, using desert tones (Graveyard Earth, Kommando Khaki and Bleached Bone with an Ogryn Flesh wash and dotting with Chadronite Granite).
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Land Raider 1 of 2 (2 is still in the box), "We Are His Righteous Hammer," is currently built out as a Crusader pattern. After my first Blood Angels Land Raider where I magnetized all of the weapons, I realized that I wasn't very happy with the hurricane bolters. I had an extra set of sponson mounts (without the weapons) laying around, so I used the Godhammer sponsons specifically for the Hurricane bolters. The Flamestorm cannons and lascannons will share a separate set, which I have yet to build (all of my current lists use Crusaders, so I'm not in a rush).
The freehanding on the top uses an non-metallic metal technique. I didn't use it on the rest, because I actually like the multi-angle shine that metallics give you. I went with it on the freehand, because I wanted it to look like it was actually painted on by the chapter.
Lastly, the Rhino chassis I spoke about in my last post:
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I messed up when I was magnetizing the Predator sponsons, and the only fix was to make them permanently Lascannons (which is about all I use anyway). Other than that, this has nearly every option I could think of (except for HK missiles and an extra Storm Bolter, that is). Not show are the Heavy Bolter turret, which needs to be primed, and the Dozer Blade that I forgot to put into the picture. I built it in such a way that I can clip it to any Rhino chassis. I've even got the lascannon/plasmagun combo in there. Next project for this will be a heavy flamer turret.
Here's what it turns into:
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Now, I've got to go make a not-cheezy list for the next tournament. Because against these kids, I can't justify 14 Thunder Hammer terminators, Vulkan, and two Land Raiders. It's just not sporting.
Maybe I'll get those Sternguard primed and ready.
Whoa, I have a blog here!
Apparently I haven't updated in a while, which sucks a bunch because I've been doing a lot of work (mainly on my Salamanders) and haven't bothered to take pictures. I really should rectify that, because here's what I've been up to:
1) A squad of 10 Sternguard complete with combi-weapons (flamers and meltas). I started with a tac squad box and tossed in Terminator Honour shoulder pads, and then converted the weapons. They look pretty awesome! Two of them even have heavy flamers, which are also conversions.
2) A Rhino chassis with a bunch of upgrades. Initially it was intended to be the Sterguard's chariot (which it will still likely be at some point). I used a Vindicator box for the chassis and extra armour (I still need to build the rest of the Vindi), and grabbed a spare Heavy Bolter turret to give it a Razorback option. I'm pretty happy with the paint job, and there's some freehanding on the back.
4) Assault marines! I've got a 5-man squad of them built and primed, and another waiting to come out of the box. The sarge has a Thunder Hammer that I made using the power axe they come with and the head of one of the hammer from the Death Company box.
5) Scouts! One squad built, primed and basecoated, and another squad half built. Did a custom conversion on the sarge to allow him to count as Telion - even used some plasticard and green stuff!
6) Land Raider - completely built and ready to prime. Well, completely built as a Crusader. The Redeemer/Godhammer sponson is still in process. With this one and the Rhino, I decided to just seal them up. I could have spent the time to paint the interior, but (like a Drop Pod) the door actually gets in the way when playing, and I have built two Land Raiders already with the moving door, and I can't get it right. It always winds up off-kilter, and for that money, I wanted a really good looking tank.
7) On the Blood Angels front, I've actually worked on painting an assault squad! I've also got another Land Raider in the box, and the Adeptus Mechanus says it's going to them.
Land Raider WIP
Here's a wide shot of the Land Raider I'm working on:
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I don't have a better angle of the freehanding, but I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. There's a chalice on one side, and The Axe Mortalis on the other.
I've got a ton of pictures to work up, and this is pretty much the only Blood Angels pic among them. I apologize, but you're going to be seeing a lot of Crimson Fists, Salamanders and Pointy-Eared Xeno shots over the next few weeks.
Silence!
Yes, I haven't updated in a while. I've got some pics to post, but I keep forgetting to grab the card from my camera.
The Pred is not going well. I'm not pleased with the way that the paint and the primer interacted. It's salvageable, but it's not going to be my best. Also, I have apparently forgotten how to handle electronics. I roasted one of my last two yellow LEDs, so I need more of them to continue anyway, and I screwed up the wiring pattern. My soldering iron also sucks a ton, so I'm going to need a new one of those anyway. I'm not going to be entering the Pred into the BoLS contest.
However, all is not lost! The bases arrived about a week ago, and they are totally sweet. I've got three Death Company on them, totally magnetized and ready to go. They're primered and ready to paint this week, and once I get the other boxes, I'll be set with a squad of five. Next up will be a magnetizing tutorial for them.
Predator Interior
Yeah, I redesigned the site after only nine posts and 18 days. I'm quirky like that. The black background wasn't working, so I went with white. Makes integrating things like Disqus and Google Friend connect easier.
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Anyway, here's the right left (I'm an idiot) side of the interior of that Baal Predator. From right to left:
- that block at the edge of the picture holds a magnet which keeps the front plate in place. This will be necessary to access...
- the gaping hole that is there for the battery case. Having already added lights to a Land Raider, I know that GW makes their models just a little too small for a 9-Volt or 2 AA batteries. Cutting a hole became necessary. One on each side, to boot, in order to make it totally accessible.
- Just above the battery case hole is a smaller hole for the wire to run through. When the project is complete, there will be a light for each headlight, a light in the battery compartment to shine through the windshield, a a light on each side of the crew compartment*, and a light in between each of the two hull halves to shine through the engine ports. They are overcharged, after all - they should glow red.
- The hole at the upper left of the access point is for the internal light.
- The banner was freehanded and reads "Exact Unleash His Furious Justice." (Seriously, can I even read my own block script?)
- The interior was primed grey, hit with a basecoat of something close to Iyanden Darksun, washed with undiluted Gryphonne Sepia, and then drybrushed Bleached Bone. I used the concepts in this battle-damage tutorial for the scuffs around the door joins and the bench.
I'm hoping to have this whole thing done by May 21nd for the BoLS Blood Angels Painting Challenge.
* Yes, I know it doesn't have a crew compartment. However, it might be pressed into service as a Rhino or Razorback at some point.
Magnetising the Baal Predator: Part 0 – Overview
I'm magnetizing the ever-loving snot out of my Predators in an attempt to make them truly STC. Once I'm done, I'll be able to use the same shell to assemble a Rhino, Razorback, Predator and Baal Predator in all configurations with most of the possible upgrades.
This is a brief overview, not actually a tutorial. I wanted to make sure I could actually do it before I started getting into the how of it.
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Here's a view of the turret assembled with the Assault Cannons in place.
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I chopped off the posts and replaced them with magnets. This works remarkably well, allowing it to tilt up and down as if it were on posts, and keeps it firmly in place.
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Because of the way that the model is layed out, I couldn't make this two pieces - it needed to be three, because the top shield locks around the casing ejectors. So, two magnets hold the gun itself in place, and then another magnet holds the shield on top.
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On the back, I dropped two magnets into the post that hold the ammo attachments, and then magnetized both of them so that I can switch them. I used the smaller 1/16" magnets here which I've had some issues with in the past (they don't hold Terminator arms on as well as I'd like), but the 1/8" magnets simply wouldn't fit here. They work perfectly, though. Very strong grip.
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I messed this one up but good, but considering I've never actually used an HK missile, I don't think it's too much of a problem. The idea here is to have a magnet on the inside of the turret (top pic) and then one in the base of the missile (bottom pic). They hold very well, but since the magnet on the missile is right in the middle, it tends to pivot down fairly easily. I need to think of a different way to handle that, if at all.
I completely messed up the Heavy Bolter sponson, winding up with the magnets backwards. It's not so bad, if no one notices that the targeting array is facing 180° off from the gun... I'll probably save that for the other Baal instead and make sure I get the magnets right on that one.
The bad part about the way the sponsons are laid out for the Baal as opposed to the base Pred is that the Lascannon isn't going to fit on this sponson at all. Of course, if I get the Pred upgrade sprue, it'll have its own sponson doors, so I can just glue that all together.
Initial purchase
Fun times are here at last!
Here's a pic of the initial purchase of Blood Angels paraphernalia:
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Standard Land Raider, Razorback, two Baal Predators, Sanguinary Guard and Death Company. Already had the Codex, but it looked good in the picture.
On order are a Land Raider Crusader, two more Sanguinary Guard, and six Death Company boxes.
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