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Let me know how the no window spray booth goes.

 whalemusic360 wrote:
Let me know how the no window spray booth goes.

Will do. Once I get setup and try a test paint session I'll do up a post of the whole experience.

I do want to share my current display case setup now that it's somewhat complete. Over the past two months I've been getting setup and moved into my new apartment and I ended up selling the two detolf cases I had years ago that were in storage. I looked around a few retail display case shops for suitable options but because of costs and the hassle of delivery (some required a commercial loading dock and freight delivery) I decided on going back to Ikea to buy the display case.

I ended up picking up the Ikea Milsbo in Anthracite (https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/milsbo-glass-door-cabinet-anthracite-30396448/) for a pretty decent price of $229 CAD - and best of all the packages fit in the back of my car without any issues. I really like the legs which elevate the case off the floor and the locking feature. Also useful is that the shelves can be set a different heights of the case as they rest of these adjustable pegs which are screwed into the sides of the frame.

Some cons are that the frame in the middle is a bit wider than I like which obstructs the view a bit and the legs of the case flares out meaning you can't put two of these side by side to have the edges be flush against each other. Also I do wish you had to option of buying additional shelves from Ikea as I found out later the 4 shelves do not provide enough room for my entire collection of painted models. The way the glass shelves are designed make it harder to get glassier shops to custom cut them as the corners are chamfered so they can rest on the pegs.

Anyhow, after a evening of assembling I was left with this:


Not too shabby...the next day I pulled out my models from storage for test fitting:

This is when I realized I had much more in my collection than I remembered


This all just meant I had to be more selective with my model choice for showcasing...

Case Mods
What's a good hobby post without modding advice? There were two problems with the Milsbo I wanted to tackle:

1. Dust Sealing: After assembly I discovered the case has some large gaps around the door frame. This is an known issue with the detolfs as well and over time, dust can get into the case if sealing mods are not done. I wanted to make sure this new Milsbo case was well sealed to reduce the amount of cleaning I would need to do. To do this I use the same solution many Detolf owners use which is adhesive weather stripping. I ended up two types:
- 3/8" wide and 1/8" thick for the door sides and middle gap (the sides need a bit more room for the doors to open close and the gap between the two front doors were small enough that the 1/8" seal was perfect
- 3/8" wide and 5/16" thick for the top and bottoms of the doors (this gap was a bit bigger and the thicker foam ensures a tight seal)
The sealing was applied to the back and sides of the front doors so it's pretty much invisible to the viewer with the doors closed. They can be seen in the later pictures showing the side LED lighting.

2. Internal Lighting: I also wanted to do some custom lighting to brighten things up in the evenings. I know Ikea sells some ready made ones but I felt none of them would be suitable for the case and I wanted a more bespoke solution. I ended up picking up the following parts from Amazon:
- Lepro LED Strip Lights (16.4 ft 3000k-6000k tunable white) SMD 2835. Looking back these are a waste as I'll be replacing them with some SMD 3014 204leds/m. The colour temp adjustment is not necessary as I found I didn't need the adjustment and most of it is not that noticeable after it's placed behind the aluminum railing with diffuser. These LEDs also require 3 wires (instead of 2) which makes soldering them more of a chore.
- LED Aluminum Channel with Cover. These worked great with the LED strip lights as the cover diffuses the light evenly into the case and the width of the channels are perfectly sized to place in the front corners of the case. I ended up cutting the channels to size (hobby hacksaw FTW!) for each of the shelf heights and then securing them to the inside using 3M velcro tape. Each section was soldered to each other with a break in the top corners where I used hot swap sockets for a temporary connection. The 3M velcro allows the side lights to be securely attached while easily detached for maintenance or readjustment while the top LED channels were secured using magnets (the top panel of the case is steel while the sides are aluminum - otherwise I would have used magnets all around).

Pic showing the connection for the side/top corner and the foam weather seal on the inside of the door (note the taped magnet for the loose wires so it doesn't hang down ):


Pic showing the side LED channels:


Also not pictured is the LEDs are wired to a smart plug which is scheduled for a timer to turn on/off in the evenings/midnight and allows me to manually control it via google home.

And the fully sealed, lit and filled case:



I managed to cram most of my models in there but lot of my older tanks and troops didn't make it. Here's a quick pic of the troop rejects pile:

(these guys are all magnetized and stored in these plastic storage boxes with tin sheets glued to the bottom which is a much more space efficient way of storing troops!).

Still to do for the case mods are to replace the current LEDs with the currently in transit SMD 3014 LED strips, resolder everything using black wires (which will blend in better) and put in the end caps onto the LED channels.

Lovely. Angle that bad-boy across the corner Egg. Your models are too amazing to be trapped in the corner like that.

That's an awesome collection and fittingly displayed!

Looking great, Eggroll - what are you using to stack your characters up like that on the top shelf?

Gitsplitta wrote:Lovely. Angle that bad-boy across the corner Egg. Your models are too amazing to be trapped in the corner like that.

Haha thanks Gits. Will think about the positioning later but don't have much room to work with in this apartment room at the moment.

Viterbi wrote:That's an awesome collection and fittingly displayed!

Thanks Viterbi!

Dysartes wrote:Looking great, Eggroll - what are you using to stack your characters up like that on the top shelf?

Thanks Dysartes! They're actually acrylic cases I bought at Daiso (japanese dollar store) many years ago. Not sure if they're sold anymore but they come with 4 compartments which I found were the perfect fit for 28mm minis.

Plans for a 2nd shelf? With your pile of shame you should be able to easily fill it.

 whalemusic360 wrote:
Plans for a 2nd shelf? With your pile of shame you should be able to easily fill it.

Yeah I'm still thinking about picking up another Milsbo or a Detolf. Should have more than enough models to fill up either but it's more of a matter if I can find space for it without pissing off the wife

If she doesn't know what shes gotten herself in to at this point, really only has her self to blame

 whalemusic360 wrote:
If she doesn't know what shes gotten herself in to at this point, really only has her self to blame

Hahahaha yeah I think she's used that line on me a few times

Nice display case. Kind of jelous when I see it. I was considering that model but went with the cheap detolf instead with the scope of adding a second one .

 Argive wrote:
Nice display case. Kind of jelous when I see it. I was considering that model but went with the cheap detolf instead with the scope of adding a second one .

Thanks Argive and no worries...the detolf is still an excellent case with better visibility than the Milsbo. I'm still considering adding a detolf to the room to add more display capacity in order to display the rest of my models.

A quick update for now. FInished off the final tac squad I had left over from the Dark Vengenance kit. Thought I was all done with those models before I realized I still have the terminators still left to do

Astonishing. Just beautiful. The cream totally pops.

Fine quality that I've come to expect from you Egg.

They look great as always!

inmygravenimage wrote:Astonishing. Just beautiful. The cream totally pops.

Thanks inmygravenimage!

Gitsplitta wrote:Fine quality that I've come to expect from you Egg.

Thanks Gits!

GiraffeX wrote:They look great as always!

Thanks GiraffeX!

Been awhile since I have checked in and you never disappoint Egg. That case and the models inside look ace!

Are those all DV marines, just with arm swaps?

whalemusic360 wrote:Are those all DV marines, just with arm swaps?

I think so but it's been so long that I can't really remember 100%. The body, legs should all definitely be DV kits. Should pads are for sure BA ones...others are probably all from here and there though the plasma cannon guy is all DV and same with the sergeant.

Yorkright wrote: Been awhile since I have checked in and you never disappoint Egg. That case and the models inside look ace!

Thanks Yorkright!

Been awhile since my last post as I haven't had a chance to setup a painting station after moving in. Finally had some downtime over the holidays and spent most of that playing Cyberpunk 2077. The other time I had left was to setup a properly airbrush and paint station and got to work painting my backlog. Just focusing on doing single models for now. Here's what I've managed in the past month or so:



1. Ennox Sorrlock - Sternguard Veteran: from the Kill Team Cassius boxset. Removed the Iron Hands iconography and painted him up as a Blood Angel.



2. Jensus Natorian - Codicer Librarian: second model from the Kill Team Cassius boxset. Same as before, removed as much Blood Raven iconography as I could and painted him up as a BA librarian



3. Vael Donatus - Sternguard Veteran: third guy from Kill Team Cassius. UM iconography removed and painted red!



4. Ortan Cassius - Chaplain: last one from KTC with UM iconography removed.



5. Sergeant Chronus: had this model for a long time (metal model) that I stripped a few years back and never repainted until now. The 2nd version of him in a turret I'm already using in one of my earlier Land Raiders. Spent some additional time on this one filing off all the UM iconography; the centre chest icon was especially tricky but I managed to get it off without too much damage to the surrounding areas and then proceeded to glue a BA drop icon which turned out quite well.



6. Kyrin Solaq: Believe this guy is a captain of the Raven Guard but always loved the dynamic pose so repainted him like all others above in BA colours and icons.



7. Watch Captain Artemis: last of this bunch, this is a faithful reproduction of the 54mm Inquisitor model that's repainted in BA colours to add to my collection of captains!




Next up in queue is the techmarine with thunderfire cannon. One of the worst models to put together as it was in fine cast and the quality was absolutely terrible - the worst recast models from China looks better than the finecast version of this! Anyhow pictures to follow shortly!

Very cool work on all this characterful minis and good job getting all the other chapter's iconogrophy off!

They are glorious Egg. So glad to see what you've been up to!

Great renditions of the Deathwatch Overkill models. I love that set, and I think you have done a really good job of transforming these into BAs

Thanks for sharing

Viterbi wrote:Very cool work on all this characterful minis and good job getting all the other chapter's iconogrophy off!

Thanks Viterbi! I've gotten lots of practice recently...just takes a hobby knife and a bit of patience.

Gitsplitta wrote:They are glorious Egg. So glad to see what you've been up to!

Thanks Gits! Always glad to see anything friendly face when I pop in every once in awhile!

IGtR= wrote:Great renditions of the Deathwatch Overkill models. I love that set, and I think you have done a really good job of transforming these into BAs

Thanks for sharing

Thanks IGtR! Always happy to share with the peeps here and yes, the deathwatch models are some of the most unique models from the old SM style. Just need to finish them all off so I can eventually move onto Primaris stuff!

Fantastic selection of Blood Angels from the KT Cassius box, they all look really well done. I also had to have a snoop through the pages of your blog and blown away by the quality, I really like how you've done your Blood Angels, darker reds feel better than the super bright flat red they're usually painted as.

 Tyranid Horde wrote:
Fantastic selection of Blood Angels from the KT Cassius box, they all look really well done. I also had to have a snoop through the pages of your blog and blown away by the quality, I really like how you've done your Blood Angels, darker reds feel better than the super bright flat red they're usually painted as.

Thanks TH! Yes when I first started my collection 10+ years ago I wanted a much more darker/muted red. Over the years I've slowly moved over to a bit brighter of a red to give things more of a contrast. I think I've struck a happy medium between my old stuff and GW's very high contrast bright reds but who knows...maybe in another 10 years I'll be at GW's gold standard


Quick update as I found a squad in my display case painted up from the holidays that I forgot to take photos of. Presenting the FW MKV Assault Squad! I actually bought these guys back in 2011 and they "only" cost £32 back then!

Wow, those yellow helmets really pop!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Wow, those yellow helmets really pop!

Thanks Gits!

Been working lots recently so have had less and less time for painting but did manage to finish off the last two Kill Team Cassius members converted to Blood Angels:

Edryc Setorax, Raven Guard Vanguard Veteran:


Rodricus Grytt, Imperial Fists Devastator:

I've just got to tell you Egg... I've never seen Blood Angels better than yours. They ARE the BA as far as I'm concerned.