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Made in gb
Esteemed Veteran Space Marine






Northumberland

I'll bear the polishing kit in mind when I get to mine then, start as you mean to go on and all that.... In fact, if it's just polishing paper, I've already got a bunch of that for cleaning frets on guitars. I'd guess it does just as good a job

RE the primer staining - I wouldn't worry, your fresh primer should cover it all nicely. If anything, it may add some character because wings tend to get mottled faster as they collect all the moisture if the aircraft are parked in outside dispersal. Th lead packing is also a good idea - I'd never thought to do that, but that'll help nicely in a Boston III I intend to do next(-ish).

If you're unsure about masking the cockpit, I can highly recommend Vallejo Liquid latex applied with a silicone clay shaper. The silicone doesn't stick to the latex (at least not half as much as a brush) and it's easy to just paint it into place. THe only snag is that I've found the latex stretches when you pull it off, which can leave tiny tabs/flaps of paint attached to the bits you want. To get round that, just score the edges you want to pull away with a sharp scalpel, and it's comes out perfect. If you're anxious about ruining the cockpit, don't take the risk. I use some Mig masking putty (Great stuff, no residue and low tack), smushed into the cockpit so nothing is visible. Then you can spray the canopy and plane separately and easily assemble them afterwards

Now with 100% more blog: 'Beyond the Wall'

Numine Et Arcu
 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

Thanks man, I don't know if the Alclad papers are any different to other polishing papers, they go up to 12000 grit if that matters.

Yeah I'm a bit sceptical about the canopy masking, might just use the masking putty instead, thanks for the tip
   
Made in gb
Esteemed Veteran Space Marine






Northumberland

Aye I guess I'll be fine, mine go down to 1 Micron (14,000 grit)

You'll be alreet with it It's daunting at first, but the masking putty is a godsend really

Now with 100% more blog: 'Beyond the Wall'

Numine Et Arcu
 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

So no photos for this update unfortunately, but not actually much progress made, as I'll explain...


So I took the plunge with the Alclads. Sprayed up gloss black primer, sanded it down. Sanded it again right down to the 12000grit paper. Applied the Alclad silver...and it messed up. The overall condition wasn't too bad, but the high-shine Aluminium was almost comically shiny, as if I has just wrapped it in tinfoil.

Wasn't happy with that so I resprayed it with the gloss black. Sanded it. Sanded it. Sanded it again just to be sure...and sprayed the Alclad aluminium, which is less shiny than the High-Shine brand.

Went on nicely but while drying started to horribly wrinkle and distort, and at one point actually started to melt the wing.

Again, went back and stripped the whole thing down with the Biostrip. At this point some of the photoetch is peeling off from the cockpit which I managed to fix but this project is starting to do my head in a bit.

Stripped it down...

Applied the gloss black...

Sanded it...

(You get the idea)

Third time, the paint went on ok, even after I accidentally spilt half a pot of black*, masked up a couple of panels for differing shades and even the other colours, but again, it's started to just destroy part of the wing panels.

Sod it with the Alclads, I've ordered some Vallejo Metal Colour and am just going to strip it down and redo in harmless nice Vallejos. Will never use Alclads again if I can avoid it. Don't let this put you off, I think I just don't have the resources and expertise to use them properly.

Tomorrow I'll get back to stripping it down, reprime it with Vallejo black and just do the original plan. Will post some photos soon. In the meantime however I've been working on a few little Titanicus bits I've left for a while, so again, watch this space!




*Seriously, you see photos on 40k groups on Facebook of "oh look guys, I just spilt my Nuln Oil, I'm a member of the club now, hehehe!!!", seriously guys, clean that crap up. Don't spill you paints then complain your carpet is ruined because you wanted imaginary internet points.
   
Made in gb
Ancient Venerable Dreadnought






Argh, that sounds a PITA, glad you rescued the model... I hope the carpet survived the spill

Goberts Gubbins - P&M Blog, started with Oldhammer, often Blackstone Fortress and Void Panther Marines, with side projects along the way 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

 gobert wrote:
Argh, that sounds a PITA, glad you rescued the model... I hope the carpet survived the spill


Cheers, luckily none of mine went on the carpet, but I saw one on Facebook the other day where the spilt paint (not Nuln Oil) was actually soaking into the models he's just done, and his first thought is "ooh I'm going to put this on social media!" Bloody idiot.

Anyway, I've begun stripping the Lightning down in manageable chunks, partly to preserve my patience, partly to prevent any further cockpit damage. In the meantime I've done a little bit of Titanicus stuff, starting with this pair of Warlord Gatling Blasters.

Took me ages to find a nice yellow method, came up with this:

1. Get a nice bright basecoat going. In this case I've used Vallejo Golden Yellow over a coat of Dead White, a nice stark, but flat colour.




2. Take some weathering powder, in this case Forge Worlds' own make, and use a dry brush, heavily apply it so it's almost solid black. Don't worry about streaks or anything as shown below:




3. Grab a slightly damp cotton bud, and start to remove the layer. Important: You don't want the cotton bud to be soaking wet. I've found that saliva for some reason actually works a bit better than water, and so just a light lick of the bud (giggidy) gets the best result.

You just want to buff it, push the bud around the edges so you get this black lining, and towards the centre of the panel use a very light touch, keeping the bud moist so you're almost buffing it.



Perhaps the photo doesn't do it justice but you end up with a nice contrast between the edges and the centre, with some shine when the light catches it. Make sure to seal it with some varnish once you're done then move on to the rest of the model.

By playing around with the amount you actually remove you can get some nice grimier, industrial looks such as on this Reaver.



Same technique except that I removed less powder, and worked it in more before removing it so there was more of a stain on the yellow. Overall it's turned out very nicely.

Majority of remaining Titanicus work is just final details, a couple of Turbo Lasers to finish as well as general touchups and some repairs from a bit of damage when moving flats, but will keep this going with the Lightning. Hope you enjoyed this one and give the technique a go, see how it works with you
   
Made in gb
Esteemed Veteran Space Marine






Northumberland

Valkyrie wrote: Bloody idiot.


Quite. I've never understood people's craving for validation on social media - especially with such obscure 'incidents' .

Anyway, shame to hear about your Alclad shenanigans. I was really hoping they'd work out for you because, as discussed, I've seen some really good results. That said, I'm confident you'll pull it back with the Vallejo - and you can still get a really nice effect. So... divvent fret and keep gannin . I'm really liking the effect on that Titan, and the mini-tutorial is excellent. I'll have to attempt that technique some time or another because you're right, it just hits that industrial grime feel perfectly.

Cracking work as always!

Now with 100% more blog: 'Beyond the Wall'

Numine Et Arcu
 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

 Warpig1815 wrote:
Valkyrie wrote: Bloody idiot.


Quite. I've never understood people's craving for validation on social media - especially with such obscure 'incidents' .

Anyway, shame to hear about your Alclad shenanigans. I was really hoping they'd work out for you because, as discussed, I've seen some really good results. That said, I'm confident you'll pull it back with the Vallejo - and you can still get a really nice effect. So... divvent fret and keep gannin . I'm really liking the effect on that Titan, and the mini-tutorial is excellent. I'll have to attempt that technique some time or another because you're right, it just hits that industrial grime feel perfectly.

Cracking work as always!


Cheers mate currently looking at ways to shade the Vallejo once applied, so fingers crossed it turns out better than the Alclad.
   
Made in gb
Esteemed Veteran Space Marine






Northumberland

I'd guess the same method of gloss and matt basecoats may apply - but I've also had good effects using filters (GWs washes actually) over metallics. Thin them down and you may get some nice tints. Dunno if that helps

Now with 100% more blog: 'Beyond the Wall'

Numine Et Arcu
 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

So after a lot of headache and language not suitable for this forum, some decent progress has been made.

Between the various processes which I'll explain in a bit I made a bit of progress on the Firestreak missiles. Just went for a simple anti-flash white for them which was the standard paintjob for this ordnance. It's just Vallejo Dead White, which again is a fantastic shade, and some gloss varnish airbrushed on. In the process one of the tiny fins snapped off so I had to fashion a replacement out of some plasticard. Was thinking of just using the Red Top missiles instead, but decided against it for two reasons:

- The pylons for the Red Top are different from the Firestreak. I'd have to remove them from the model, possibly damaging it in the process.
- The Red Top was introduced in 1964, whereas the Lightning in the decal guide, XM186 crashed in 1963. It's a rivet-counter issue I know, but it'd always be that niggling thought in the back of my head otherwise.

Overall it's come out pretty well, little flat but the decals will help with the detail.



You can see one of the Red Tops in the background.


So, onto the main fiasco I've dealt with this last week or so.

Stripped down the old layer of Alclad paint and the primer, starting from scratch, at which point one of the wings came off. Checked the wing, the stripping has warped it pretty badly. Years of storage in a stack of boxes probably didn't help. Burnt myself with the hot water trying to reshape it, at which point the elevators came off. Back on they went.

Sprayed the Vallejo silver which went on very nicely, masked off the black portions and sprayed those. Went to apply a Vallejo grey wash after following a few guides online, just ruined the whole bloody thing. Streaks and pooling etc. Went back over with the silver and started again.

At this point it started going well, remasked and resprayed the black and marked out the area for the yellow detail on the tail. This was really tricky as there are no panel lines or marks to reliably take measurements from, so it was just done by eye, measuring out ratios of masking tape width.

Anyway, that was just done with the Dead White and Vallejo Golden Yellow, and here we have the results.





Pretty bloody happy with this considering how difficult it's been. Have since sprayed it with gloss varnish ready for the decals. At this point I've realised that there are flaws with the model, the odd nick or scrape, a little bit of glue residue here and there. I'm not particularly fussed right now; I'd rather get it to a decent standard I'm happy with than go stir-crazy trying to match those in the magazines.

So next steps will be to apply the decals. I have a bottle of decal softener and decal fix, although I'm unsure how exactly to use them. Here's where it hopefully comes to life!
   
Made in au
Alluring Mounted Daemonette




Australia

Hey mate,

This is a cool little side project - thanks for the detailed posts too, it's interesting to follow along with the trials and tribulations! Very impressed with your attention to detail on the rocket fins - something I would have just glossed over!

Plane looking very neat at the moment, good stuff all round.

Titanicus walker has great colours too. Thanks for sharing!

t z you are k 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

Thanks man, I was thinking of glossing over the fins, but thought I'd give scratchbuilding a go.

I'm still wondering if it's still worth trying a wash on the silver, just to break up the panels a bit. Adding some darker shades of various panels has helped a bit, and is similar to the real Lightnings, but to me, it does need the wash. I'm wondering if Nuln Oil would work in an airbrush, but what's the best way to go about this without it streaking or pooling?
   
Made in gb
Fighter Ace





Edinburgh

The Titan looks gorgeous sir. As for the Lightning, shaping up nicely despite your woes! Perseverance is the key for much of this hobby, I have found! Probably just as well when I collect Guard... :\

   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

 Ragsta wrote:
The Titan looks gorgeous sir. As for the Lightning, shaping up nicely despite your woes! Perseverance is the key for much of this hobby, I have found! Probably just as well when I collect Guard... :\


I know that feeling, hence putting the Thousand Sons on hold after painting 50 Horrors of various types
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

So the first Firestreak is finished.



Pretty simple to complete, just three decals and the clear nosecone to attach afterwards. I did think of painting the nose red, as the missiles often had covers to protect the casing.



Fine as it is for now but I may change my mind in the future.

Cheers all
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

Been getting over a very bad case of labyrinthitis this last week so no real update on the Lightning at this moment, but when I wasn't collapsing I came upon an old project:

Had my first game of 40k since Covid over the weekend, and I agreed with my mate not to use an overly competitive list in this small 500pt skirmish. While looking through my old Guard stuff in the loft I found a very old Grey Knight force I had started back in 5th Edition, back when we had the utterly bonkers crap like the Ulumethi Syphon and Mindshock Bombs.

Thought I'd give them a go and ended up tabling his Sisters, and with the recent announcement of the new GK/TS box, why not give these guys a makeover?

Altogether there are around 20 Marines, 5 Terminators, a Dreadknight and various characters back when Inquisitors were part of the GK Codex.

Quick reminder that these guys literally haven't seen the light of day in close to 15 years, so don't judge too harshly.



First up is an old Inquisitor. If my memory serves me well I got this guy when they were doing a "last orders before we move to Finecast" deal, so quickly snapped him up. Went for a different scheme with this guy, I think the dark skin really goes nicely against the white armour. I kinda don't want to redo this guy but the paint's a bit chipped in places, so perhaps redoing in the same scheme will be a good alternative.



Now we have another Inquisitor from the days when Ordo Xenos Inquisitors could take Conversion Beamers, although at the time there wasn't even any artwork to show what a CB would look like. He's just the SM Commander box with some GK parts, and the Conversion Beamer is a Psilencer/Psycannon combination with some added details here and there.



Here we have Stern and one of the Terminators. While the models in this batch are white, the standard Power-Armour Marines are simply silver. When I redo these guys I may just make them all the traditional GK silver.

So for this project there's a fair bit of repair work to be done. Many snapped Nemesis weapons to be repaired. I'll also have to get some 32mm bases for the Marines, but might buy another box of 10 to get the numbers up, perhaps add some Interceptors and Purgators into the mix.


And to finish off today's update, something which I was looking around in the loft for a while.



This guy is the gunner from the top deck of the Nemesis Titan. Managed to get him cheap online, and did a little bit of conversion work to shift his arm from "resting on the balcony" to "smoking a fat cigar". The cigar itself is simply a small length of paperclip inserted into a hole drilled through his hand. Will redo this guy as well, as I used contrast paints for his robes and it just doesn't look as good as I imagined. When done he'll probably be another Inquisitor.


That's all for now folks, will probably update again when I'm a lot more conscious.
   
Made in gb
Esteemed Veteran Space Marine






Northumberland

Well I have missed a bunch of cool stuff going on here!

Sad to hear about the ongoing silver fiasco, but you've pulled it back, and it looks great . Obviously I'm not sure what your tutorial has indicated, but I always gloss varnish before panel washing/lining. The gloss not only protects your paintwork from any adverse events, but it also helps the wash's capilliary action into the lines, so you can 'feed' it in with small dabs. Also, if you were still wondering - Nuln Oil runs great through the AB. No thinning needed, and you can build it up in thin layers to dim down bright metal. Same for all GW washes I've found. Glad to see you've adhered to accuracy with the missiles too - I love a bit rivet counting myself ! And they've turned out just fine! Needless to say, I think your Lightning is coming along just fine despite the bumps along the way.

Labyrinthitis sounds like it sucks, but at least you've rediscovered some gems .

Now with 100% more blog: 'Beyond the Wall'

Numine Et Arcu
 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

Cheers mate. I've tried a couple of coats of Vallejo varnish, which has worked to an extent, but nothing like the finish I've seen on other completed Lightnings. Overall it's stained it to an extent I'm happy with so it looks weathered but not overly dirty.
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

Hello again,

First off, apologies for the long absence. Been a number of factors, namely stress over this bloody Lightning but I suppose also just basic stress over the current lockdown situation. Overall I've just been in a bit of a hobby rut. Everyone has them eventually and it's just best to step back and try another hobby for a while; I've been totting up some hours on Halo MCC and trying to teach myself guitar (again!), overall much less successful than Halo.

Anyway, the Lightning.

I finished off the cockpit to a level I'm happy with. There was one last part for the cockpit and a few PE parts to attach to that. I'm wondering if it was even worth adding the PE parts, half the parts aren't even used (not including spares which Eduard nicely included), and the majority of the ones I have used won't be visible at all.



The high contrast of the photos has made any defects clear. The mess around the cockpit lip will be tidied up before I attach the canopy.

What really pissed me off however were the decals. Seemed simple enough right? Well the stencils (NO TREAD patterns on the wings) just didn't want to stay aligned, and to make matters even worse the Decal Fix I applied to the roundels to get a nice finish just ended up staining the silver horribly. It was just...awful.

That's what made me put it down for a bit. I was able to save the finish by redoing it by brush, but I just don't get how something as simple as decal fix could ruin the finish.



Here's where we've got to so far. As you can see it's pretty basic at the moment, but should add some more in the future.

However at the moment there is a potential new project on the horizon. Couple of years ago the other half got me a Start Collecting Tau box, and the project kinda got put to one side due to the crappy Chinese airbrush at the time and also other factors such as job loss and moving flat.

Well come April and a nice little tax refund, I treated myself to a nice little deal I saw advertised on Facebook:



All in all we have another SC box, a team of Stealthsuits, 2 squads of Sniper Drones, a Broadside and a Devilfish and Ghostkeel (both not visible). That combined with what I already have gives me:

Ethereal
Cadre Fireblade (to be converted from the other Ethereal)
6x Crisis Suits
20x Fire Warriors
3x Stealthsuits
6x Sniper Drones
2x Marksmen
Devilfish
Ghostkeel
Broadside
2x Remora Drones (almost certainly recasts but I don't really care)

I figured if I do get buyer's remorse I can just resell it and break even, it's all there sealed, but with the new airbrush I'm looking forward to a new aesthetic to try out, although I'm still currently looking for a nice paintscheme.



Thanks all, hopefully the 2 followers I have here haven't abandoned it, but all comments and feedback is really appreciated
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka






Looking forward to seeing those Tau come together. I bought the starpulse cadre because it seemed like a good deal and I’ve wanted to build a Sa’chea army for quite some time. But it’s near the end of my priorities list.

 Avatar 720 wrote:
You see, to Auston, everyone is a Death Star; there's only one way you can take it and that's through a small gap at the back.

Come check out my Blood Angels,Crimson Fists, and coming soon Eldar
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/391013.page
I have conceded that the Eldar page I started in P&M is their legitimate home. Free Candy! Updated 10/19.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/391553.page
Powder Burns wrote:what they need to make is a fullsize leatherman, like 14" long folded, with a bone saw, notches for bowstring, signaling flare, electrical hand crank generator, bolt cutters..
 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

Cheers, been looking for a Starpulse to go with this but can't find one at a decent price unfortunately.
   
Made in us
Ragin' Ork Dreadnought







And here I thought I was all over the place. lol I've never been so enthralled by an airplane build. You've put in a lot of hours modifying and detailing the original kit and I really appreciate how cool it's coming out.

Yellow technique on the Titan arm is really cool and I'm likely to steal that.

Like my Facebook page!

Waaazag da Kan't Stoppable (ORKS) ~6,000 points
Orks-in-Progress, Finished Orks.
Terrain I'm making.
The Darion Sector War Campaign.
Into the Jaws of Hell 40k campaign.
I do commissions. If you are interested send me a PM and we can talk concepts and pricing. 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

Thanks guys.

Had a tedious 3-hour meeting at work yesterday, so in typical fashion I turned my camera off and spent the time putting together the Fireblade.



Found something similar on Reddit. It's simply the Ethereal chopped at the waist and replaced with a Breacher Shas'ui. I couldn't find a Pulse Rifle that fit the pose I wanted so just went for the Blaster instead. I like to think it's an experimental one with a built-in Markerlight.

Next step would be to get some Fire Warriors done, although I'm wondering if it's worth putting some Carbines in there as well as the Rifles.
   
Made in gb
Esteemed Veteran Space Marine






Northumberland

Ugh. That Lightning sounds like it's turning into a complete nightmare build - but kudos to you for sticking with it. If it's a consolation, it still looks great from where I'm sitting. That said, probably best to give yourself a rest and tackle those Tau - although I find it amusing how you've gone from building the ultimate 'anti-Commie' weapon to building Commies-in-SPAAAACE!

Now with 100% more blog: 'Beyond the Wall'

Numine Et Arcu
 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

 Warpig1815 wrote:
Ugh. That Lightning sounds like it's turning into a complete nightmare build - but kudos to you for sticking with it. If it's a consolation, it still looks great from where I'm sitting. That said, probably best to give yourself a rest and tackle those Tau - although I find it amusing how you've gone from building the ultimate 'anti-Commie' weapon to building Commies-in-SPAAAACE!


Thanks man, and haha I never realised that comparison

Went home for Fathers Day and managed to find the small Tau force I had from before, some of which was painted up rather nicely if I do say so myself.





I think what put me off this project initially was the sheer amount of highlighting, and after a while I got the shakes and was just sick of it. Now I have a decent airbrush however it should go much more smoothly. Might strip down some of the original Fire Warriors, they could do with a repaint.

Also finished off the Remoras. I'm certain now that these are recasts*. I bought them second-hand ages ago, I didn't get scammed but wasn't told they're recasts, but overall not too fussed. There are some imperfections which I've tried my best to clean up, but hoping they'll be hidden by the paint.



I do have a bit of a soft-spot for Remoras. They're a very handy unit with T5, 4 wounds, a built in -1 and 2x Burst Cannons, 2x Seekers and a Markerlight for 60pts! Another little trick is that RAW you can stick 12 of these guys in a Devilfish, get a little clown-car going.

I was surprised by the size of these as well. I was expecting just a Gun Drone with wings, maybe a little bigger. They're actually pretty giant.



Next step will be filling in some more gaps on the Remoras, and getting some of the new stuff built. Until then, thanks for reading!

*I have no affiliation with recasters, so don't bother PM'ing.
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

Been pretty busy this past week, plenty to build with very little workspace!

Probably the most complete kit at the moment is the Broadside. I've tried to future-proof as much as possible, hence the magnetisation.



The Railgun has been assembled in one part, and fits nicely into the shoulders without needing an additional magnet in the forearm/Railgun connection.



I've also magnetised the SMS/Plasma mount, which was a little tricky. I'm hoping we get D2 plasma in the next book so fingers-crossed this wasn't in vain!



My magnetising isn't the neatest but I was focussing more on overall result, and you'll barely notice the join anyway.

Next up are the Crisis suits. While they're mostly built I've put them on hold temporarily while waiting for some 2x2mm magnets. I'm still wondering about magnet placement; I originally was just going to do the arms, but then while playing around saw this layout:



I can't put my finger on it, but I do like that mounting scheme. Looks like a mini-Broadside in a way.

I'm not looking forward to having to magnetise the whole lot. I might just do the shoulder mounts on a couple of them, otherwise I'll get sick of it quite quickly. In addition how do I mount the weapons? I'm hoping to preserve the mounting lug to prevent them spinning about while on the model, but that just makes it more difficult to get the magnets lined up and accurate.

I might just bite the bullet and have them able to spin, I can always correct it later on.


Last but not least...

I've been thinking for a good long while about what kit to stat after the Lightning, and had narrowed it down to a small number
- Vickers Valiant (too big for the cabinet)
- Spitfire (nice but a bit cliche)
- Harrier (little too pricy for my liking)
- Gloster Javelin (close second)

Eventually I found this half price on Prime Day and decided to go for it.



I was aware that the Mustang had some UK influence through the use of British Merlin engines, but wasn't aware that the RAF actually used the Mustang, so it'll be a nice slightly unusual kit to try.

I've had a quick look through the box and the quality is good. Same scale as the Lightning but considerably smaller. Given the provided colour schemes this'll be a very interesting kit to try out. I'll have a proper look over the weekend and get some more info together.

Thanks all


   
Made in gb
Esteemed Veteran Space Marine






Northumberland

Those Tau are coming along nicely! Bold move magnetising the whole lot mind - I'm not sure my patience would stand for that!

And I'm glad to see you're persisting with the aircraft too. I saw the Mustang on sale and was tempted, but in the end I had plans for a Bf109F-4 (Trop). Guess I'll watch you build to get my P-51 fix!

Spoiler:
And yeah, the RAF made extensive use of the Mustang because it was designed for the RAF, to RAF specifications with input from RAF engineers. Basically, the RAF wanted North American to build Curtiss P-40s under licence. NA weren't too pleased at building a rival company's design, and decided they could produce something superior. Which... didn't go totally to plan. The airframe was excellent and made use of cutting edge research (Laminar-flown wings and Meredith-effect radiators), but the powerplant was naff. The RAF swiftly decided it was useless as an interceptor, but had excellent low-level flight characteristics. Until, that is, some bright-spark whacked a Merlin into it and the rest is history! Other British input was the adoption of first a 'Malcolm Hood' (The classic Spitfire canopy) and later the 'Bubble' canopy (First trialled by the British in 1940, and adopted on the Typhoon in 1943).

Now with 100% more blog: 'Beyond the Wall'

Numine Et Arcu
 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

Been a bit hectic recently, but overall have made some decent, if not frustrating progress on the projects.

Most of the time has been spent magnetising the 6 Crisis Suits. God knows how the weapon stats will change in the new book so wanted to keep my options open.

The process itself was rather simple, bought 100 2x1mm magnets for £3, and they just go in no problem. The issue is just how tedious the whole thing is.



Each suit has at least 3 hardpoints magnetised, the 4th I'll just slap a support system on. I'm currently working through the weapons, with each one having a top and side magnet mounted to avoid any awkward-looking setups.

What's annoying me a bit though is the paint scheme. I wanted to stick with the classic brown Tau Sept as I had before, but wanted to go with the "airbrush layer + wash" process rather than "hand layer + highlight" which I did before, which was just took far too long. Tried Army Painter Desert Yellow and the overall result wasn't too great.



It's not bad, but I was just looking for a more vibrant yellow finish.



Same with the Shas'Ui. The helmet's going to be white as he's the squad leader, but even then I think it'd be better if the brown was a little lighter.

So I tried a lighter shade of the yellow, and still wasn't happy. Despite the awkward photo you can see the figure on the right has been basecoated in the new shade, but the wash just ruins it.



I'm just trying to be able to fill in the panel lines and add *some* level of shade without staining the entire model. Some folks have suggested pinwashing, but that might be a little too fiddly for me. I may scrap the colours and go a different route, but we'll have to see.

Thanks Warpig for the history on the Mustang, really wasn't aware of it's full backstory so that was an enjoyable read. Have made some progress starting with the cockpit chassis.



The cavity on the left is for the rear undercarriage, while the seat and console will eventually go in the space on the right.

I decided I wasn't going to go nuts with aftermarket parts for this one, just the console and dials would do. Bought an upgrade pack from Eduard, this time in solid resin so I'm not worrying about folding and gluing anymore photoetch. I honestly can't believe the detail on this



Fire Warrior for size comparison. Absolutely unbelievable.

The pack did come with photoetch seatbelts, which I might add, shouldn't be too fiddly, I hope.



So that's it for now. Paints for the Mustang have been ordered, should arrive in the next couple of days. Next steps will be to paint the cockpit interior before adding the Eduard parts, then assembling the fuselage.

Thanks all, enjoy the weekend. As always, any comments or feedback is appreciated.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/07/09 17:46:12


 
   
Made in gb
Lord of the Fleet






London

So latest update, plenty of stuff happening although not much real progress. Been on a hectic work schedule as well as a much needed typical British holiday by the summer, so here's what I've been up to:

Besides the painting the Ghostkeel is finally put together.



Honestly this kit was far more complicated than it needs to be. Why does the whole backpack need to be articulated? It's not really a nimble Battlesuit!

And as a bonus the main weapons have been magnetised. Was surprisingly easy compared to the Crisis suits.



Speaking of the Crisis suits, magnetisation is underway and good progress has been made. Easiest way I found was to shave away half of the mounting lug, then place the magnet flush where the lug would have been. That way, you have the magnet, but also some of the lug remains so the weapon isn't going to suddenly go all wonky.



Doesn't have to be exact, there's a nice bit of wiggle room. Each weapon now has two magnets, good for both arm and back-mounting. Once you get used to it, it's not too difficult, it's just a bit tedious.

Onto the painting...I gave up on the classic Tau scheme as I just couldn't get a nice clean desert-yellow. So instead, I've decided to go for red. First attempt with a couple of Fire Warriors came up alright...



...until someone on a Facebook group commented that it's the McDonald's colours, which I couldn't get out of my mind. I made a slight adjustment and am very happy with the result.



Looks much better in my opinion. The blue's a bit lumpy as it's painted over the yellow. Didn't want to strip it all down again just for the blue, so hopefully the next models will be a lot smoother. You can also see one of the Remoras in the photo, been doing a bit on those:



I know they're meant to be stealthy, but I think they just look cooler like this. I tried to apply a thicker coat than usual, hoping it'll cover up the recast defects.

And just to show the effectiveness of the magnetisation, here's the stand-in Commander in his preferred loadout, dubbed Commander Lodestar:



For those of you less 40k-orientated, the paints for the Mustang have finally arrived. I've begun some work on the cockpit area. This is just from today so some extra detail will be added, but I'm rather happy with how it's turned out so far.




I've used Vallejo US Light Green for the cockpit and rear landing gear area, with a decent wash of Nuln Oil. I've tried to leave some brush streaks in the brown to give the impression of wood-grain. Might add some scuffs with a pencil later on. Next steps will be to get the seat installed, although I'm a bit cautious: while it would be nice to add the PE seatbelts from Eduard, it may require shaving off the moulded plastic ones.

With that in mind, do I:
1: Shave off the plastic ones and apply the PE in its place?
2: Simply apply the PE over the plastic without removing anything?
3: Forget about the PE altogether?

Will probably go for the second option just for ease. Once that's done I can add the detailed dials and cockpit interior I've been waiting to use, then hopefully I can get the fuselage assembled.

Until next time.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/07/23 21:55:57


 
   
Made in gb
Ancient Venerable Dreadnought






The red looks good on the tau. I can see why you changed away from the McTau, the blue works well.

I vote for number 3, that photo etch looks way too fiddly to attempt 2! Best of luck whichever way you go

Goberts Gubbins - P&M Blog, started with Oldhammer, often Blackstone Fortress and Void Panther Marines, with side projects along the way 
   
 
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