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Wow. This Blog is awesome!

Great work mate, I really like the way your interpret modern military equipment and incorporate it into the 40k setting, no one else does it this well.

I can't wait for the slew of updates after Xmas.

hello whats the color recipe for your basic tanks? would like to replicate that on my aegis defense lines/bastion
many thanks in advance,
eric

Ruglud wrote:

Spoiler:

 ashotninja wrote:

im pretty sure i havent shown you guys the AC130 im working on (i say working on, havent done anything on it for months)









my favorite 40k weapon... the punisher cannon.


earthshaker cannon


this is where i got all the spare parts for my thunderbolt and vultures... the AC130 is made from 3 valk hulls, joined and widened ... the rest is pretty much made from foamalux sheets.

but thats as far as i gotten for now, once i finished of my entry to the bad ass round comp il get this finished and out of the way.... well after i find a 24'' 20mm thick acrylic rod for the base, that wont cost the earth.

Late to the party, but this is AMAZING

Want more - go buy a new cheap camera (please)

hehe... well i guess you can wait till after xmas, i really want to get a proper studio setup for taking pics, decent lights, hood and of course the best SLR i can afford... then again the urge to buy an xbox one is growing... must resist!

as for the ac130 ... well its been something ive been meaning to build since i re-started... i also have a super heavy bomber called 'the showstopper' that is about 25% built based on a 1/48 scale b52 ... and not to mention i also have a superheavy stealth f117 nighthawk bomber that is fully built and ive been meaning to take pics of... so after xmas...

Zambro wrote:Wow. This Blog is awesome!

thank you very much.

Sheep wrote:Great work mate, I really like the way your interpret modern military equipment and incorporate it into the 40k setting, no one else does it this well.

I can't wait for the slew of updates after Xmas.

thats really nice of you to say dude, although im not really doing grimdark , im slowly making my stuff look grimy and worn... kinda more 40k'ish...... but i guess my favourite thing to do is make stuff to represent a 40k version of the modern equivelent... although i really need to work on my infantry painting...

tagsta wrote:hello whats the color recipe for your basic tanks? would like to replicate that on my aegis defense lines/bastion
many thanks in advance,
eric

hey bud, the recipe is as follows..

i start with army painter desert yellow spray..
single heavy wash using army painter strong tone wash.
hand paint each panel flat using old gw desert yellow (no real new equivelent)
dry brush with screaming skull of ushabi bone (both really similar)
basic bolt rusting and drippage use seraphim sepia.
rustage use any dark brown , i use modelair RAL 8017 71.041 armour brown.
weapons metallic parts use leadbelther with nuln oil wash and highlight with leadbelcher if needed.

thats about it really... if your going as far as pigments then i coat the low areas and tracks with MIG gulf war desert, and MIG beach sand.

hopew that goes good for your projects, any other questions feel free to ask.




also i forgot to say on the list of finished stuff needed to be photographed is also a manticore SAM platform... a skyshield landing pad (built and painted in 2 evenings, enjoyed doing that...) and a ageis defense line aswell...

its gonna be an explosion of pics come first week of january.

OMG..........HURRY UP CHRISTMAS, I want some more pics of this awesomeness.

Awesome blog you have here, really inspiring! Sorry if this is answered somewhere else in here, but how did you go about painting the mask on the HALO jumper? I've got a group of minis that all have shields like that on their helmets and I really like the effect you achieved.

While with all the races your work is still clearly in the realm of Sci-Fi the conversions seem add a touch of realism and believability to the models. I think its because you are making models that while sci fi are based on real world military examples we may be more used to seeing in films ect.

 ashotninja wrote:
sure... let me just get the rough main story thought of and id love to get some decent input on fleshing it out ...

As an amateur writer with way too much time on his hands, I'll give it a shot.

been reading the forgeworld horus heresy book 1 at the moment and i really think the story would suit the time just before the age of strife...

for instance, Eden the ship would have left the mars dockyard looking to find a new location to set up a 'new' earth, not long after the ship left the warpstorms cut off eden (ship) from the imperium and thats when they got lost in the warp and ended up in the far depths of the eastern fringe.... hidden from imperial veiw.... cue the age of strife....

id also like to add that the eden ship is techniqually a massive factory and terraformer ship, with a still intact and fully funcioning stc and stc factory... this is how the EDF have acsess to build all imperial type vehicles and many thought lost by the mechanicum...

ownng the last fully functioning stc makes the EDF the prime target for imperial and mainly the mechanicum to find them... althought they know of the existance of Eden, its location is still unknown.... the only race that know of the EDF are the tau.... and the alliance between the tau and the imperum are growing stronger , its only a matter of time before the imperium are told of Edens location.

All of this is plausible considering it's stated to take place before the Age of Strife. Knowing that the Eden ship existed and knowing where it went are two different things, so I'm okay so far with the Mechanicum searching for it; there's a lot of empty space in the galaxy and a huge area to search between Sol and the Eastern Fringe.

tau vs eden wars.
the tau as a fledgling empire first found Eden and attempted to overpower the planet, the tau were still new at fighting and struggled to take the planet... dispite the taus doctrines they saw the people of eden as deserving their respect to live on independant of even the tau way of life and chose to insted use the EDF to help train and guide the tau on how to effectivly defeat human imperial forces... the tau use eden for trade and have a small base on the northern glacier, for this the tau errected massive camo , shielding and ecm feilds to effectively hide the planet and its inhabitants from imperial view. (something like that)

I've got to stop here. Canonically, those who refuse to embrace the Greater Good are destroyed. What makes Eden so special that the Ethereals would help a society that doggedly resists assimilation instead of subjugating or destroying it?

# the eden crash landed on the planet and it took 12000 years to cultivate/ terraform.
# eden has an incrediblly powerful psyker called the envoy that targets potential candidates for eden citizenship and directs then how to get to eden via a pickup service (or something like that)

1: How did the crew survive for twelve thousand years on a crashed ship on a planet unsuitable for life?

2: How does the Envoy, an un-soul bound psyker of such power, protect himself from the perils of the Warp?

im gonna do a peice about edens laws and governmental system, regarding the use and discovery of latent psykers... races within eden society, the make up and tactical uses of the EDF, the implentation of the EDf against the oncoming threat of the imperium. etc.

How did Eden survive the Age of Strife with unregulated psykers? The planet would have to deal with daemonic incursions, i.e. a threat completely beyond their understanding and ability to fight.

From your quick overview, I've gathered that a special super-ship leaves Mars to create a new Earth and disappears into the Warp at the beginning of the Age of Strife. It gets to the other side of the galaxy and crashes. This crash somehow does not damage its manufactories, hull integrity, or supplies, allowing the colonists to survive while the ship spends TWELVE THOUSAND YEARS terraforming the planet that likely suffered an extinction-level event when the ship hit it. They maintain a culture based on twentieth-century Western customs and traditions in a setting that is extremely unfriendly to that sort of thinking. Their contact with the Tau results in the Tau giving them all sorts of tech to help them instead of obliterating them for rejecting the Greater Good. They have a super-powerful psyker to help people from outside their society find them while human psykers are normally either conditioned to serve the Imperium, killed outright, rule primitive cultures as god-kings, suffer horrific psychic assaults that leave them gibbering messes, or explode when daemons get them.

...

I have nothing bad to say about your model conversions and paint jobs. Those are exceptional. It is your fiction with which I have issues. This society is completely at odds with the themes and moods of the Warhammer 40,000 setting. At least one major faction acts completely out of character to accommodate this group's existence. I half-expect the Imperium to come along, see Eden, go "Keep up the good work!" and continue on its merry way. There are a lot of questions that need answering before this faction will look plausible for the setting.

carlos13th wrote:While with all the races your work is still clearly in the realm of Sci-Fi the conversions seem add a touch of realism and believability to the models. I think its because you are making models that while sci fi are based on real world military examples we may be more used to seeing in films ect.

i think thats a acurate way of perceving my style... i love modern military vehicles and particulary US army divisions... each department has their own style and weaponary as well as their ways of dealing with badguys... i wanted to capture that diversity with my forces, which in turn lead to making a mixed race army... something i havent really seen in the hobby before.

Dendarien wrote:Awesome blog you have here, really inspiring! Sorry if this is answered somewhere else in here, but how did you go about painting the mask on the HALO jumper? I've got a group of minis that all have shields like that on their helmets and I really like the effect you achieved.

DarkSoldier wrote:

 ashotninja wrote:
sure... let me just get the rough main story thought of and id love to get some decent input on fleshing it out ...

As an amateur writer with way too much time on his hands, I'll give it a shot.

thanks, i feel like im about to get torn a new one lol... but all critisism is taken on dude, fire away.

been reading the forgeworld horus heresy book 1 at the moment and i really think the story would suit the time just before the age of strife...

for instance, Eden the ship would have left the mars dockyard looking to find a new location to set up a 'new' earth, not long after the ship left the warpstorms cut off eden (ship) from the imperium and thats when they got lost in the warp and ended up in the far depths of the eastern fringe.... hidden from imperial veiw.... cue the age of strife....

id also like to add that the eden ship is techniqually a massive factory and terraformer ship, with a still intact and fully funcioning stc and stc factory... this is how the EDF have acsess to build all imperial type vehicles and many thought lost by the mechanicum...

ownng the last fully functioning stc makes the EDF the prime target for imperial and mainly the mechanicum to find them... althought they know of the existance of Eden, its location is still unknown.... the only race that know of the EDF are the tau.... and the alliance between the tau and the imperum are growing stronger , its only a matter of time before the imperium are told of Edens location.

All of this is plausible considering it's stated to take place before the Age of Strife. Knowing that the Eden ship existed and knowing where it went are two different things, so I'm okay so far with the Mechanicum searching for it; there's a lot of empty space in the galaxy and a huge area to search between Sol and the Eastern Fringe.

cool, as the core of the story itself i thought that this is not only potentially the most important part but as you say, the most plausible awell.... i really want thenm to have a enemy... something to prepare for.

tau vs eden wars.
the tau as a fledgling empire first found Eden and attempted to overpower the planet, the tau were still new at fighting and struggled to take the planet... dispite the taus doctrines they saw the people of eden as deserving their respect to live on independant of even the tau way of life and chose to insted use the EDF to help train and guide the tau on how to effectivly defeat human imperial forces... the tau use eden for trade and have a small base on the northern glacier, for this the tau errected massive camo , shielding and ecm feilds to effectively hide the planet and its inhabitants from imperial view. (something like that)

I've got to stop here. Canonically, those who refuse to embrace the Greater Good are destroyed. What makes Eden so special that the Ethereals would help a society that doggedly resists assimilation instead of subjugating or destroying it?

i agree with you... i had intended the interaction with the tau to be when they first started to expand the empire and found a powerful foe that they could not yet beat... who infact helped guide them towards the EDFs main foe... i also intended the tau as an ally , but really i was kinda cluching at straws with a weak connection...

basically i want the EDF to be a fully defensive army, having the STC means that when the imperium do come knocking they cannot just destroy the planet, they would have to engage in a fair fight.... and having an ally would be a nice thing for them to have.

# the eden crash landed on the planet and it took 12000 years to cultivate/ terraform.
# eden has an incrediblly powerful psyker called the envoy that targets potential candidates for eden citizenship and directs then how to get to eden via a pickup service (or something like that)

1: How did the crew survive for twelve thousand years on a crashed ship on a planet unsuitable for life?

well, perhaps not 'crash' then... what about they had to land on a potential planet, after a few thousand years the people of the eden ship began to build the city around the landed ship...
also... there would have been many powerstuggles within the ship during the terraforming process, and hundreds of generations of families without even setting foot on the planet...
(potential for an influential leader to create the eden way of life)
( also linked with the next question... the eden left mars with only a few navigaters... the humans aboard were not psykers infact were not allowed apon the mission... any psykers in the EDF as of now were found by the envoy )

2: How does the Envoy, an un-soul bound psyker of such power, protect himself from the perils of the Warp?

i think it says somewhere in the chaos codex that there are or were good deamons... that could be a possible answer.... call me out if im wrong but that couuld also be a possible part of why the envoy is very powerful and potentially immune to the effects of the warp.... but then again i dont know all 40k lore, so this is just a possible method of getting new races to eden... i really could not think of anything else ... i kinda based the envoy on doctor xavior from the xmen and how he finds mutants...
but i wasnt sure what i wanted the envoy to look like which is why i didnt describe him at all... so figuring out what he looks like would be excellent as id love to make a model for him.

im gonna do a peice about edens laws and governmental system, regarding the use and discovery of latent psykers... races within eden society, the make up and tactical uses of the EDF, the implentation of the EDf against the oncoming threat of the imperium. etc.

How did Eden survive the Age of Strife with unregulated psykers? The planet would have to deal with daemonic incursions, i.e. a threat completely beyond their understanding and ability to fight.

i think i might have answered that above, as in there were no psykers on eden when it landed.... psykers are perhaps a dangerous but nessasary part of warfare in the 40th millenia, which is why they are recruiting them now..


From your quick overview, I've gathered that a special super-ship leaves Mars to create a new Earth and disappears into the Warp at the beginning of the Age of Strife. It gets to the other side of the galaxy and crashes. This crash somehow does not damage its manufactories, hull integrity, or supplies, allowing the colonists to survive while the ship spends TWELVE THOUSAND YEARS terraforming the planet that likely suffered an extinction-level event when the ship hit it. They maintain a culture based on twentieth-century Western customs and traditions in a setting that is extremely unfriendly to that sort of thinking. Their contact with the Tau results in the Tau giving them all sorts of tech to help them instead of obliterating them for rejecting the Greater Good. They have a super-powerful psyker to help people from outside their society find them while human psykers are normally either conditioned to serve the Imperium, killed outright, rule primitive cultures as god-kings, suffer horrific psychic assaults that leave them gibbering messes, or explode when daemons get them.

i say based on 20th century customs but in truth that is just my way of saying its 'like' or similar perhaps... i very much doubt that there would be anything from the year 2020 18k years after...

i think 12 k years is a long time but in an isolated part of space with little neighbours and no need for expansion, a single way of life could be maintained for a very long time... perhaps the people of eden have a good life, and have no need to rebel... i know its not grimdark but considering that the edf outright hate and fear the imperium for losing contact with them/ never looking from them... stories handed down from generation to generation could have sealed the hatred of the imperium and almost kept the doctrines alive ... although thats a stretch given the amount of time.
your right about the tau bit... perhaps the tech is from the STC insted... i just like the tau flying stuff lol.

also i like to say that eden is located far from where the imperium have ever ventured, if the want to find eden they have to look further that ever thought of.

(just thought of this... perhaps not 12000 years... time is percieved differently while in the warp, so perhaps it has just been a few thousand years since they got lost to them , but much time in real life) - (???)

...

I have nothing bad to say about your model conversions and paint jobs. Those are exceptional. It is your fiction with which I have issues. This society is completely at odds with the themes and moods of the Warhammer 40,000 setting. At least one major faction acts completely out of character to accommodate this group's existence. I half-expect the Imperium to come along, see Eden, go "Keep up the good work!" and continue on its merry way. There are a lot of questions that need answering before this faction will look plausible for the setting.

thanks for your imput dude, i have ideas but need someone to slap me now and again and say 'NO' ... its my aim to upset the balance of moods within 40k settings... im fed up with the saying theres only war... well at eden not so much... there has to be hope somewhere in the galaxy and a safe place for anyone seeking refuge... humans do have the capacity to be good too.
but considering the hate the edf has for the imperium, and how badly the imperial war effort needs the fuctioning stc, i doubt they would let it slip away.

hey, it seems to me that a good solution would be to play on the Eden name a bit - what if the terraforming ship, caught in a warpstorm or flung off course in someway - maybe travelling through warp space to explain the loss of time - arrived in a system that was shrouded from the outside.

The terraformer ship crashes on a modern day 'garden of eden' and although hopelessly lost, everyone is pretty happy with where they are but it's impossible to contact outside the system. They encounter the Tau but even the Tau can't reliably find a way to reach Eden so there is limited communication and trading.

But now perhaps the anomaly that is keeping Eden isolated is beginning to change. Maybe a mechanicus probe has reached them, or the Tau have figured a way to navigate the anomaly more reliably, so the Edenites are building defenses as quickly as they can, and hiring mercenaries/any outsiders that can reach Eden.

TLDR: The warp did it.

well i decided i was too lazy to write the codex and sort the fluff since the new guard codex was iminent...
so... i guess its been far too ferking long sinse i updated my plog with actual pictures, not just false promises and excuses for inactivity... so il start with..


EDF autocannon heavy weapon team.



next up...

EDF Ageis line and skyshield




i finished these ages ago... and are a stable of my lists, without the skyshield i doubt i could win as many games as i do... and the ageis is a guard must.

next up..

an unusual concept for a unit i thought wouldnt suit the look and the feel of the EDF..

This is my techpriest enginseer with 4 servitors... bundled together into one unit model.

EDF Repair mech.








you might be thinking..WTF!!! thats not a... but yes it is...
it counts as the techseer, 2 servitors with servo arms and 2 servitors with multimeltas

basically its got 5 wounds, for every wound removed it loses a weapon with the 4+ save... the last wound is the 3+ save i imagine is the mech core.
so with one unit its got ..
laspistol, 3 servo arms , 2 multimeltas ..
4, 4+ saves and 1 3+ save...
make sense... hope so.

and lastly...

a counts as Valdor tank hunter based on a 1/35 scale PkZf 4 ww2 german light tank....






and yeah... just noticed i forgot to paint the backpack hanging off the right side... il make sure il get that sorted.

i have more pics ready but il find some time later in the week to chuck them up..

comments welcome!

The OSL on that laser is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. How did you do it?

Stunning mate, you continue to produce excellent minis, and push the concepts of IG. I hope you plan on doing some new units for the new codex.

that mech is awesome.

YES!!!

I've been waiting for more of this!

Your autocannon team looks great, but I think your mech is very very kewl.

Is it a counts as sentinal?

Yay!!!! It lives Fantastic work as always

Senden wrote:The OSL on that laser is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. How did you do it?

thanks very much...
trial and error really... i redid it three times before i was really happy with the finished look...
based with leadbelcher
black wash
airbrushed from dark to light using
model air - uk med blue - french blue - light sea blue - white

it really glows in the pics, im really happy with how it turned out... il be going back and redo-ing some of the previous OSL in my new technique.

Sheep wrote:Stunning mate, you continue to produce excellent minis, and push the concepts of IG. I hope you plan on doing some new units for the new codex.

i sure do!... the turox is defo getting a buffalo 6x6 workover as an EOD style with the bucket/claw... should pick one up at salute on the weekend... also going to make some propper looking stormies, with minimal use of the new kit...
i think il get a hydra/wyvern but not use the turret as is.. im not keen on its profile so il make one like i made my griffon and use the turret as a standalone quad gun for the aegis line.

livanbard wrote:that mech is awesome.

thanks, ive been sitting on the pics for ages, i should posted them a long time ago

xXWeaponPrimeXx wrote:YES!!!

I've been waiting for more of this!

Your autocannon team looks great, but I think your mech is very very kewl.

Is it a counts as sentinal?

nah, im counting it as a engineseer with 4 servitors, i wrote about it under the pics lol.

Dreadclaw69 wrote:Yay!!!! It lives Fantastic work as always

much thanks !
ive been really quite busy with sorting out my flat, just didnt have the spare minutes to post nothing.



Anyone going to Salute this weekend? i cant wait to pick up cool minis for my guard and necromunda gangs.

Woo hoo -NEW CAMERA

I'll be at Salute, spending money and looking over all the displays

Just a small tip, if you do not know you can use regular medical gauze, dip it in glue and leave it in a position you want and let it dry. Works like a charm for camo netting!

Ruglud wrote:Woo hoo -NEW CAMERA

I'll be at Salute, spending money and looking over all the displays

seemed a little smaller than last year... not know why... less sellers i think...
what did you pick up?
i got
astra militarium codex (hate that name)
k9 dogs from anvil
loads of conversion parts from zinge
bunch of figures from hasslefree for necromunda (im starting a new campaign at the end of the month)
a cool ninja i was going to use for marbo... but now i find out hes dead...so i guess hes another necromunda charachter.
bunch of things from atenocities for a necro crawler im working on.

BunkerBob wrote:Just a small tip, if you do not know you can use regular medical gauze, dip it in glue and leave it in a position you want and let it dry. Works like a charm for camo netting!

ive tried it and i really didnt like the results... maybe im not great at it... id rather pay ridiclulous amounts for brass etched ones from accurate armour... although i think i might use the gauze technique on scenery as its not so important to keep the details.
thanks anyway for the advice dude.




ok... got a few of my WIP's photographed for you all to see whats coming from me in the future..
bear in mine my other wips already posted on previous pages... i havent forgot about them (ac130 and the showstopper bomber)

first up..

my malcador counts as superheavy tank... based on a 1/35 scale M551 sheridan from the veitnam era



pretty easy conversion and the thing just looks nearly perfect as is... its already covered in rivits (although i might redo for larger ones)
standard battlecannon/lascannon/heavy stubber loadout on a malc.

next up... we are heading to the EDF's naval units.

im planning on doing a appocalypse game some day at my local shop which involves the imperials doing a major d-day landing style game against an entrenched enemy, i plan on making a few of these ships to send in troops and lay cover fire while other amphibious transports push the flanks... well we will see... heres what i got so far.






now for my 'ARES' class superheavy walker.



although i forgot to put a figure next to it for scale, it stands at exactly 200mm tall... bear in mind its far from being finished and will have its own custom datasheet with multiple magnetised weapon loadouts.

next up, something fun i decided to make when i was bored...
its a ratlings personal transport vehicle...


points 35
type- fast/transport
holds 10 ratlings overall (includes driver gunner and 8 passengers) when disembarked all ratlings pour out rendering the vehicle as unmanned.
F-10 S-10 R-10
no fixed weapons
comes with camo nets as basic.
one ratling may fire from the top hatch while moving.

someone check this datasheet out and see if its ok for me please... my friends have already ok'ed it for gaming.


lastly... and the thing you have all been waiting for...

MY TAUROX PRIME.

this has been one of my fastest turnarounds for a project cos ive been so hyped to be the one of first to make a really decent conversion of this vehicle..ive already seen some try... but i really think ive nailed it with this one.





as you can see, its really quite different...
all waepons are magnetised including the turrets battlecannon and gatling, the autocannons have been relocated to the front.
the angle of the bonnet has been made flatter.
removed the awful side doors and replaced with armoured panelling.
changed all the vison slits for ballistic glass.
added 30mm to the rear.
added 6 wheels on improved parrelel axles.
added top hatch.
ladder, panniers, stowage,air filters,exhaust,sparewheel to make it look like a buffalo 6x6 .

please let me know what you think guys!

I don't like the ballistic glass, though paint may change my opinion. Otherwise you nailed it, much improved. If you do a second one you should add a mine sweeper in there.

Looking good all over. The Ares head is very clever, and having those bits lying in my own box tempts me enormously! Your Taurox is interesting, I think it had to be treated as a quad, though I'd like to do a fully tracked version I think.I like the classic rhino style top hatches btw especially.

I really really like the sloped track guards on the Hellhound and the Eradicator cannon on the Basilisk. Awesome looking army!

Amazing stuff. Your scratch building is some of the best ive seen. And your eye for using bits and pieces from existing kits is just amazing as well Love your stuff

BB

Well, it's good to know that to make the Taurox not an awful, ugly model, all you have to do is discard 60% of the kit.

Excellent work. By you at least. GW, on the other hand...

Indeed amazing stuff. I'm a fan the look you're giving your vehicles. Keep it up!

Fantastic

Fantastic work, yes that Tauthingyrocker is a vast improvement, brilliant work.

Winner for me is the ratling transport, so strealing that idea, love it.

Buffulo, minus the ridiculous side mounted autocannons, is what the taurox should have been from the start! great conversion mate.

Where are the wheels from?

Man alive - that Stealth ship is great - reminds me of the ship in Cars 2

Taurox - what an amazingly effective conversion, looks soooo much better mate (Zinge wheels for the win) - with a hot tub on the back no less, pimp my ride

Salute... I only got two Basius basing pads (the Sulaco pair)for when I get my AvP kickstarter models... My boy got the latest 'not Dr Who' model from Heresy. Spent the rest of the show getting inspiration for my next gaming project - wild west. I thought it was crazy busy at the start of the day - Forge World stand was ridiculous - but it quietened off a load after lunch. Good day though...