Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Introduction

As I keep flitting about from project to project so I thought I'd start a general work in progress blog to keep them all in one place rather than starting numerous threads. Those of you who followed my incredibly slow progress on my renegade militia will know that army painting isn't really my forte as it takes me ages to paint anything. With that in mind I've decided to play to my strengths and create a diorama. In order to do something with all of the FW models I bought for my aborted renegade army I decided that the theme for my diorama would be the siege of Vraks. This is my first attempt to build a diorama so it will be a real test of my painting and modelling skills.

The Siege of Vraks

This piece is closely modelled on the trench diorama in Imperial Armour: Model Masterclass. Here is the basic layout of the trenches:





The chimera is just a place filler, it is going to be replaced with a basilisk crewed by some Death Korps of Krieg. Below is some work on the trech wall. After sawing up some of the sections and repositioning them I am happy with the layout and have begun to glue it together.



I am going to need some pink insulation foam for this project. My loal B&Q doesn't stock it so can anyone recommend a good place to purchase it online?

Thanks,
TLH.

These places do NOT do it (and in a lot of cases, people looked at me like I had two heads when I described it):

Wickes
Homebase
Travis Perkins
Sheffield Insulations
B&Q
Do it all (obviously not, n'c'est pas ?)

If you do find a supplier, please let me know. GW weren't much help. They maintain that any DIY shop will stock it.

I got pink and blue foam off of ebay and was the cheapest and easiest way to get it.

Thanks for the tip, Tzarinchilla. I have placed an order on ebay.

I like the look of the trench walls. Are those some of the FW pieces you mentioned (assumed you were talking about the army, only) or did you find them somewhere else?

@oadie - I have a number of FW kits. i have a malcador which is nearly finished and will be given a scenic base and a number of infantry models (mainly renegades) which I am hoping to incorporate into a diorama at some point. In answer to your question, yes, the trench sections are FW pieces. They can be found here:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/trenches.htm

'Big Guns Never Tire': The Basilisk

I have been putting together an armageddon pattern basilisk from Forge World. Given the climate of Vraks, the enclosed compartment is fitting. Also, this is such a great model, far cooler than a regular basilisk. FW models are far more detailed than GW ones. Here are the various sub-assemblies ready for painting:



The interior detail on this model is fantastic, really crisp. This is one of the main things that drew me to the model in the first place. The back compartment will be open allowing the crew to access the earthshaker cannon which will also mean that the detail remains visible once the diorama is complete.





The gun carriage:





I am thinking of maybe having a crewman looking out of the top hatch, but I've not decided yet.



Regards,
TLH.

I have never actually seen one of those honestly, and I have to say they look AWSOME.

Nice work there Hobbit, Ill be following this thread closely.

Another solution to your dense polystyrene issue is to use liquid insulation foam. It often comes in a can, and you just spray and file/sand it to shape once it dries. Just be careful with quantity, as it expands about x2 - x3 in area in the process on account of the large amount of air in the mixture. Although it isn't as sturdy as dense poly, it is easier to shape and much easier to get ahold of. Generally a lot cheaper too.

Yey! Your back! And about time to Good see you working on something again, and if your previous works anything to go by this will be impressive.

I got a little more time to work on my diorama between teaching today and I have managed to finish assembling the crew of the basilisk. First up is the range finder:



The voxcaster:



In order to liven things up in the trenches the Death Korps enjoy a bit of tango dancing from time to time:



Actually this guy is going to be stood by the earthshaker cannon with one hand on it. The selection of arms that comes with the crewmen is quite odd and not what I initially expected. This is a good example of caveat emptor, I thought that the crew came as pictured on the FW website: http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Imperial%20Guard/Krieg/Artillary/heavy/escrew1.jpg

However, as is stated below the picture, they come with different arms. This forced me to adjust my original plan and position the crewmen as best I could. The two crewmen below are also examples of this, the first has been given some sort of electronic datapad made from a piece of very thin resin that was cut from the gun platform (where the photo-etched grid goes) and plasticard. This was based on the device held by the voxcaster. The second has a shell that was constructed from a piece of plastic tube and some spare plastic filed to shape.





Now time for some paint!
TLH


Automatically Appended Next Post:
A small update, the crew have been undercoated chaos black and airbrushed codex grey.







More soon.
TLH

More work on the Death Korp. I have started blocking in the base colours. I'm not sure what colour to paint the helmets and armour and have done one in a dark blue/grey and the other in green. Personally, I think I prefer the blue/grey, My only concern is that the two greys are quite similar, however, once the greatcoat is highlighted and the helmet shaded the difference between the two should be more apparent.





My problem with the green is that it is quite a warm colour and that it clashes with the cool grey.





What do you guys think?
TLH

A darker grey might work. Something about the same shade as the adeptus battlegrey.

I managed to find a bit of time to work on this project this afternoon. I have begun painting the interior details in their various subassemblies. All the parts were roughly airbrushed before having the details painted in by hand. The inside of the compartment has been varnished and is ready for oil paints tomorrow. The gun carriage has been weathered using MIG powders and GW's Kommando Khaki to get a dirty, dusty effect. I also did a little bit more work on the crew while waiting for various stages to dry.

The gun carriage:







Ammo storage. This has only been given a few basic colours as it is going to be glued under the carriage when the model is assembled and so most of it won't be visible.



The top canopy:



Interior details:







That's all for now,
TLH.

The oil painting is now done. This really helps to define the details and add depth to the model. The interior is nearly finished now, I just need to paint the platform and a few other details.











Comments and opinions are appreciated.
TLH


Automatically Appended Next Post:
This blog doesn't seem to be generating much interest but I'll press on regardless. I finished the interior today, here are the pictures. First up without the canopy so you can get a good look:









And with the canopy for the full effect:







The canopy isn't glued down at the moment as I need to leave it off until I can glue the earthshaker cannon in place. Next I need to mask off as much of the interior as I can so that I can airbrush the exterior.

Dude this is sweet how did I miss your blog, keep up the good work.

Things are shaping up pretty good! I can't wait to see some of your trenchworks. Keep up the good work

Still interested. Your stuff is amazingly good.

I've even bought an airbrush. When it stops raining for long enough I'll even give it whirl.

This blog doesn't seem to be generating much interest but I'll press on regardless

I'm definately still reading. Really looking forward to seeing this one completed.

I'm loving the chipped paint inside, really looks like you've concentrated on defining areas that are going to see the most wear (I take it that's just masking fluid you're using?).
Only tiny criticism I'd have so far is that I'd rather see more detail on the internal control panels and some of the cabling as it looks like its made of the same material as the walls at the moment, but that's real nitpicking.

Great work

Holy Haleakala, that's an awesome looking interior ! I love your work man, keep it up.

@elaverick - The paint chips are sponged on. I use the grey sponge from the inside of blister packs for this. I agree that some of the control pannels look very similar to the rest of the paint work. The big computer with the green screen and the smaller pannel on the opposite side are painted codex grey, but that doesn't show up too well against the kommando khaki interior. I'm not overly worried about this though as I only need to give an impression of the interior as most of it won't actually be visible when it is glued to the diorama.

@Zzzzzz - glad to hear that you've bought an airbrush. Mine has changed the way I paint.

Best,
TLH.

Great weathering so far.
Can't wait to see more.
BTW have you ever visited www.barrule.com?

Also my interiors for my amegedon pattern basilisks were so deformed i decided not to bother with them.
They're going to be gaming pieces any way so I'm keeping the inside's for future project.
Just need to figure out a way of doing a canvas cowl on the front of the gun so you can't see inside. Was thinking of a wire collar piece & a cotton hanky stiffened with PVA glue.

Really great progress! I am SO gonna follow your progress! How much DKOK do you have? And how much do you have spent till now(PM me if you want)

Greetings from Holland!

Recently found this blog... believe me, im hooked!
Awesome work so far, can't wait to see the trenches.

Keep it up!

I really enjoyed the interior of the tank as it reminded me honestly of when I road in tracks. Great work man keep it up.

Thanks for the positive feedback guys.

bubber wrote:
BTW have you ever visited www.barrule.com?

Also my interiors for my amegedon pattern basilisks were so deformed i decided not to bother with them.
They're going to be gaming pieces any way so I'm keeping the inside's for future project.
Just need to figure out a way of doing a canvas cowl on the front of the gun so you can't see inside. Was thinking of a wire collar piece & a cotton hanky stiffened with PVA glue.

I have used barrule in the past for foamboard, plastic card and the like. I'm also planning on getting some camo netting from them to hide any ugly joins on the trenches. I have filled any gaps where I have repositioned the trench pieces, but I'm worried that the putty will still be obvious once painted and camo netting seemed like the best way to disguise this.

As for the canvas cowl, I'm not sure how you would go about that. I'm not very good at scratch-building.

Hans_posthumus wrote:
how much do you have spent till now

If I add up how much I've spent on models over the years it is probably quite a scary figure (especially if I consider how many of those are still unpainted), but my collection has been built up over quite some time. The Death Korp were a new purchase with this project in mind. Other models are older. My Malcador, which was feature in my renegade thread, is still not finished and I hope to do more work on that and show it off in this thread too. I'll probably finish painting it alongside the exterior of the basilisk.

Dear grud, please stop! I've gone through at least two dozen pairs of underwear just by looking at that weathering!!!

My girlfriend is away for a couple of days so I should get some time to get more done on this project. I have started painting the exterior of the tank. I'm painting it in more subassemblies than I normally would because the interior detail means that it is quite difficult to put together. I can't glue the canopy on until I have fixed the earthshaker cannon in place. Likewise, the canopy will be easier to fit in place without the tracks getting in the way.











Hopefully it won't take too long to get the tank finished and then I can start work on the base.
TLH.

Looking good, Hobbit - out of interest, how are the crew coming along?