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Good point, Littletower. I'll have to update the thread title.

Stormwolf, Day 3

I feel like I didn't get much done last night. It's starting to actually look like something now, but I've still got a long way to go.





I keep discovering things that I did wrong or that I should have done differently. That's the trouble with making it up as I go along. I have a papercraft pattern for the Stormraven and the Ceastus, but there's a lot of difference between those and the Stormwolf so I am always discovering things that aren't right. Then I have to debate whether I need to change them or not (as in the case of the bottom chamfer). The engine nacelles are another example: my first set were too big for the rest of the model and so I had to start over. It's kind of fun to have to figure it all out, but it's a bit slower. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out - I just hope the scale is close.

So my question to you, dear reader, is whether the Ceastus style wing works or if I should go back to the regular wing from the standard GW Stormwolf?

So the game is this weekend, but the Space Wolves will be on the sidelines. The idea was for me to try to build like crazy and surprise our Tau and AM friends (3000pts split between 2 armies on each side). My Space Wolves ally was going to be the hammer and my Eldar was to be the anvil. Unfortunately, my buddy didn't get the day off after all. My Eldar will have to do all the killing themselves.

Nevertheless, I'm still working on the gear for him (although now the surprise is blown and can post everything). I did these guys first. I used my buddy's ven dread model (not the SW variant) and another one I picked up at the FLGS. Neither had a CC right arm so I had to build that. I wasn't having much luck on ebay for the shield, murderclaws, axe, etc so I figured I'd have to build all that too. Anyway, here's the Ven Dread and Murderfang that we were going to run:





I also did the cockpit and more work on the engines/wings on the Stormwolf. I also blocked in the assault hatch. It's slow going now as it's more and more detail work. I've got a turret and the sponson bits coming. Next week I'm going to try to get the back done and keep plodding along on the engines.

The dreads look awesome, great work on the weapons.

The stormwolf is looking brilliant, looking pretty spot on to the real deal to me. I just not that keen on the design of the thing in the first place. But you have done an excellent job of scratching one up.

Just a quick update. I've got a couple of engine intakes made and installed. Tonight I'll be further revising the canopy and getting the engine exhausts in. I've got to get going on the back detailing and I need to smooth out the assault ramp - it catches pretty bad on the jamb.

Slow going now that it's more detail work.

I feel like I got a bit done last night (as opposed to other nights where I feel like I've gotten nothing done). Still slow going, but I feel like I'm making progress.

Anyway, this it the third evolution of the canopy. I think it's much better than the first. I've got a little work to tie it into the fuselage, but I think it's turned out well.





I also got some work done on the engine nacelles, some paneling and the exhaust nozels. I've got more cutting to do for the air brakes and I think I need to move the nacelles back a little as well, but again, it's taking shape.




I also got the assault ramp roughed in and functional. The Stormwolf is supposed to be ship to ship in space combat so I wanted to give it some room to allow for breaching an enemy hull (as opposed to being right up against the side of the ship itself). With a little detailing, I think it will look great.



Anyway, thanks for checking in and C&C is always welcome.

Can't say that I like the original model, but you've done a good job replicating it. Engine ins and outs are nice.

I've been going round and round with my group about the general boxyness of pretty much all things Imperial. That said, I am liking the overwhelming brutalist style a little more than when I had started.

Very impressive!

While I don't like the lack of aerodynamics in most of the GW flyers, Imperial in particular, the main issue I have with that one is that it looks like they took 2 separate models and just stuck one to the back of the other. It just doesn't look like a whole, continuous, vehicle.

Wow.

I'm always blown away by good scratch builds. And yours are better than good!

Thanks Zambro. I don't always think so. There are so many great builders and painters (I love your FP, btw) on this site. It can be as intimidating as it is inspiring. But I plug along and get a little better (maybe) and I get to keep my friends going so that we can play. It's win/win!

So the current raft of SW projects are wrapping up and another friend of mine is starting a Necron army with his son. We had talked about what he was building (I think he's bought the battlebox and maybe another HQ or 2 so far). He was wishing he could put more scarabs on the bases and I wanted to try making a mold and casting some stuff so that was one project. I also thought I could crank out a monolith really fast (it's just a simple pyramid, right? ) Well, I guess there's a little more going on here than meets the eye. I'm making progress on it, but it's slow going since work has been a little more intense the last couple of weeks. Anyway, here's some pics.

Scarab Base Progression




When I was casting last night, however, I ran into trouble. I don't know if my mix was off or if the rubber from the mold had had enough, but only half of the resin set and now what hadn't set is bonded to the rubber. Well, I wanted another version anyway for a little variation.

Monolith



Thanks again for checking in.

So I've gotten a little work done on the Necrons this week. The monolith has a lot more going on than I had initially realized (a bit of modeler's hubris on my part). I like that I can cobble some junk into it (the bottlecap and straw segments). I'm not thrilled that it's not perfectly square, but the Mek in me is pretty strong, and I think it will turn out fine. Speaking of which, I'm totally going to make another into an Ork Bastion (sigh, add it to the list ) Anyway, the Scarabs turned out awesome! I lost a mold halfway through and had to recast it, but I used a real base (the first one was one I cut from 1/8" sintra) and the new casts are great! The mold held up even with an insane amount of undercutting which saved me a lot of cleanup and now I know a little more about casting. It's pretty cool that I'm actually learning a little every now and then.

Here's the Monolith:




And the army of SCARABS!!!



I can't wait until my friend gets his scarabs (with the bases) glued on. They're gonna look sweet!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh! Here's the current state of the Stormwolf:






We actually used it in a game this week as well, but it didn't come in until turn 3 and by that point my friend's (very experimental) list was decimated. I was very excited to have it on the table though.

Good work on the space pyramid.

Casts look like they came out well.

Keep it up.

I got some more work done on the Monolith last night. I'm starting to hit the detailing pretty hard, but I need to figure out a solution to the guns before I can close up the bottom. I'm really, really glad that other scratchbuilders post their work as it's been a huge help to see how other people have been solving some of the same issues. I'm also out of glue.




And a detail of the front door:

Progress from last night. Still detail work to do, but I'm happy with it. It took me much longer than I had expected, but I think it's turned out ok.






As always C&C welcome. Thanks for checking in.

So things are pretty much done now. I've got a little work to finish the Monolith and the Stormwolf. I got in a couple of games this past weekend vs. the Necron (one with SW allies - but no Stormwolf). Here are some probably low-quality shots of the Monolith in action.





I think I'm going to work on some Eldar for a while.

Monolith looks the part. Good job, Mars.

Thanks, Doctor.

So on top of all the projects I've been building for my friends, I figured it was time to get back to my own army. I don't even remember the last model I built for myself - it must have been the Crimson Hunter, I guess. I don't think I've painted anything since. I have the urge to do that again so, I've shelved the Wolves and the Necrons and pushed back the Orks. It's Craftworld time!

First up is the Avatar. I never liked the small model GW put out for the Avatar of Khaine and I couldn't afford the FW model. I also wasn't really feeling the proxy I had been developing. I decided to go the route of converting the Avatar from the Dark Elves "Cauldron of Blood" kit. I didn't think that the pose was terribly frightening - and the Avatar should be a bit freightening, right?!?






As you can see, I gave him a tiny change in his stride (and I'm still debating trying to tackle his sword arm, but with his shoulders thrust back like they are, I'm not sure I can pull it off). I'm also trying to think of something to deal with the valentine's heart in his hand (which I hate). I was thinking of a wraithlord or wraithguard's fist (with blood dripping down and all that) or maybe a smooshed Tau or SM (since those are the armies I face most often). Any ideas?

Looks a bit like he is yawning and having a stretch, having just got up.

... the valentine's heart in his hand ...

It doesn't, does it? It does! Why would they do such a thing?! That's ridiculous...

Yeah, remove that.

Look forward to seeing what else you improve on it.

@Cam: Ha! I was hoping that it would look more like a "You want some!?! Come and get it!!" kind of a pose, but now I see that whenever I look at it. Damn You!!!

@ DrH: I need to figure out what to put there, though. I'm also (probably unnecessarily so) struggling with the idea that while blood continuously drips from his hand, he's made of magma, and thus anything he touches - that isn't magical or whatever, would burn. I'm not sure showing a burning marine in slagging armor would be recognizable. Hmm...

Well, apparently I have no attention span (not even a short attention span) when it comes to building. A friend of mine and I played X-Wing the other night and it inspired me to pop over to TheMetalBikini and, of course, he's running another contest. I couldn't resist.

It's a terrain piece for X-Wing, which is sort of weird because the game itself is pretty 2 dimensional and "terrain" that isn't just a print lying on the starmap will probably cause more headaches than fun, imho. There are a lot of 3 dimensional asteroids out there, but they always seemed like they'd just get in the way (you can't really overlap your base over them, can you?). With that in mind I wanted to do the XQ-4 Deep Space Platform from the old X-Wing and TIE Fighter computer games.



I thought if I just cut it in half and built the platforms on the same plane as the ship bases, everything would be fine. The central torus would be the issue, especially the upper decks, but I thought if I made it boxy down near the playing surface, you could still put models on top of it (as if they were flying over it). So here's what I came up with (I have detail work to do yet, but this is the basic form).





Let's just say it's HUGE! The map is only 3'x3' to begin with. I haven't measured yet, but I'm pretty sure that just about everywhere is within range of the platform's guns (or the platform is in range from just about any deployment). I've also done cards for the platforms and the torus. So theoretically it's ready for a game. Like I said, I have a lot of detail to add and if I had more time, and more wits, I think it's perfect for some electrical action to light it up. I also gave up on having it be modular - platforms separating from the torus, which remains in 2 parts. It's kind of nice to have it stay together while I move it around, but I think it would also be nice to be able to remove platforms as they are destroyed. I'll try to figure that out again later. I'm also thinking about working up some little guns that could go on the platforms as well as some other nibbly bits to flesh out the torus (which need the most love, I think).

Anyway, here's the link if you're interested: http://www.themetalbikini.com/

After this it's back to Eldar and Orks though!

Well, it's done. It didn't turn out as well as I would have liked (the wires didn't like the glue and I had to use the more sloppy hot glue gun to get it done in time), but the XQ-4 Deep Space Platform is done. I guess I can get going on something else now.





I'm actually looking forward to trying to paint this Avatar, as well as getting back to my Dakkajets and MANZ.

Hey I was one of the winners! Wahoo!

http://www.themetalbikini.com/2014/11/winners-of-deep-space-scenery-contest.html

I've actually been working on other (40k) stuff this week, but it's been sort of slow at work and since I'm stuck behind this computer anyway, I figured I may as well get some other stuff done. I've been meaning to figure out a way to start dabbling in 3D printing and this seems like as good as any. I'm not recreating the wheel (or tread), and it kind of looks cool. Now that I've been playing with this for a while, I think I'll start on the Imp Corvette next. Of course, I'll keep plugging away on everything at home as well. So much (gaming) work to do...

Congratulations on the win!

Looking at the size of the station, wouldn't that be a little large for 3D printing without splitting it dwn into components?

I'm hoping that I can fit the pylons (separately) onto the bed, but I may have to break it down further. I think that will be the least of my worries. I'm much more concerned with resolution.

and Thanks!

Congratulations on the win. Good job on that build too.