Thursday 20 September 2012

Dark Angels Razorback.

So despite the fact I've started a new project, I'm still cracking on with the Dark Angels I started a couple of weeks ago. I picked up a pair of the fancier than normal forgeworld razorback kits, one with twin heavy bolters and one with twin lascannons for them, so they can travel about in luxury.



This is an in progress picture of the first, which I also bought a fancy 'dozerblade for. I added a couple of minor bits, the shield on the front is front a Warhammer Empire swordsman, and I replaced the head lights with baneblade vision port to give it that gothic arch look that suits the Dark Angels so well. I put a leman russ vent on the front plate and added plastic GW Dark Angels symbols to finish the conversion work.


These shots are the same tank finished off. To weather the tank, firstly I applied a layer of dark umber acrylic using a sponge around the bottom few millimeters of the whole tank. After this with on older brush I applied forgeworlds 'Dry mud' weathering powder to a level just a bit higher than the umber. I think the 'dozerblade lends itself to the weathering powder well. You can see the umber and the powder blending well together on the metalic end strut of the blade.  


I sealed the powder on with two heavy coats of turps, making sure the first was entirely dry before adding the second.
 

With that, The job was done, ready to hunt some tanks!

Thanks for reading,

Gonders 

Monday 17 September 2012

How To Paint a Chaos Warhound Titan. Part one.

I appear to be going through one of those 'can't stick at anything' phases. I've painted 10 dark angels and started something new. Unfortunately, I've now got quite a back log of models I could do to paint, and not enough time to do it. but hey-ho, such is life.

So i started re-reading Dan Abnett's Titanicus at the weekend. Find me one person who starts reading that book, and doesn't rush to build that titan they've had waiting for a couple of weeks. Well it isn't me.

So here I go with another big old project. I've been here before, and as is tradition, I find myself starting with this shot.


This is all the parts to the Warhound's body, laid out on a 4'x4' gaming board. Doesn't seem like that long ago I did the same with the Reaver last year now. 


So after an evening with a dremel and a handful of steel pins, I got the legs to this stage. None of this has any glue on it yet, and all the pins are placed so the legs are posable as they can be. I've built a warhound before, and I know they are a bitch to get a good pose for. you need a degree in engineering, and a few extra hands at the very least. 

The first thing I did after this was to cut the base. Once again, being of a joinery disposition helped that. The base is made from 12mm MDF, and is going to be modelled(to match his big brother), like he's smashing through an imperial city. Here, the curve on the second layer will be a set of steps leading down into a fountain/square area. The bottom half will have black and white checks like marble tiles. And the top part will be street level. More on this at a later date.   





These four pictures show how I progressed posing the titan this evening. If i hadn't done this before, I'd be panicking the legs are to out stretched, which they do appear to be. However, its never clear quite how big the hull for the machine is when you've only built the legs Once the top is on, it'll even the proportions somewhat. 


This is where we stand now. I've hung the armour plates on their pins here to show how it'll look more bulked out later on. 


This carefully balanced shot shows how the stride will look better later on. I have just noticed I've been photobombed by my own Reaver here, which I've had kept at the back for reference while I was building. Oh, he's a cheeky monkey!

Well hopefully more comin' soon

Gonders

Sunday 9 September 2012

Dark Angels Tactical Squad.

As mentioned in my last post, I'm starting a Dark Angels army, just like the rest of the world and his dog.
I've now finished my first squad. Half of these guys were from the last post, but I've since applied a bit a ware and tear to the Armour, notable some light dry brushing of boltgun metal and some dry mud weathering powder from forge world .








I'm pretty happy with how they've turned out. The only thing I'm not sure on, is that I've not found a decent way of making sure the weathering powder sticks. I've power a layer of white spirit of the powder on the these models, but even after this has dried, you can still rub the powder off if you really try. I'm going to have to try some different methods. 


I've also started work on the first transport for the army, this here forge world razorback. hopefully I'll have it done for my next post!