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Made in us
Perfect Shot Ultramarine Predator Pilot






San Jose, California

We have the same pin vise/drill thingy. Those sg sculpts are painfully detailed. looking forward to more.

being recalculated~4.5k 750 875 My p&m blog where there are space marines http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/545810.page DA:90+S+G++M++B--I+Pw40k12+D+A++/wWD-R+T(M)DM+
 TheDraconicLord wrote:
Holy crap, you have been pumping out Smurfs like a man-possessed
 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

Morris, tragically sold his soul to the Chaos Gods of Flowers, Dancing, Laughter and Friendship. The Morris Heresy is on record as the shortest and least successful heresy in Imperial history.
 Camkierhi wrote:
thats the best group of ass I've seen on the net, and I've looked at alot.
 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

Seeing that one of the reasons I started this blog was to help keep me on track, I figure I should try to keep a weekly update at the very least.

I got my nice day, so a load of stuff got primerd. Two bikes, one normal and one with a magnetized wrist for weapon swaps, were started and finished this week. Grav gun was the first weapon done, more will come in time. I have a new sternguard with a heavy flamer and an old LC devastator in progress on the bench right now. Progressing though base coats. Will probably not be finished today. If I count the bikes as two models each, I made my 4. If not I'm a slacker. The Boy has a half day at school, so I'm unlikely to get much hobby time in today. Yesterday I actually got a game in!

Yes, you read that right. My loyal Ultramarines took the field and emerged victorious!

List: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/553126.page

Here's a dirty little secret: For all my love of the hobby and posting here on Dakka, this is the first game I've had since spring. The fall equinox is not until Sunday, so I got at least one game in this summer.

The curse of fresh paint did not seem to impact the bikes. The only casualties they took were friendly fire from a wild miss with a dev squad's PC (guided by the sergeant's signum no less!) It was the squads old plasma gunner who took the hit, proving the dangers of such unstable weapons; If not the plasma you carry, the other plasma in the army will kill you.

This was also the first time on the table for the hurricane bolter arm for the ironclad and the chaplain Cassius conversion I made. Both did reasonably well for themselves.

I like the new codex, but need to get used to it. Adding to my list of things to do is make chapter tactics cards. I kept forgetting about them. Both when to use them, and what the do. Have some reminders on the table, that I could flip over when used, would be nice to have.

   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York



The Wife has the good camera, so here is a lousy iPad pic of the week's work. Finished the HF sternguard and the LC dev this morning. Had a lot of fun painting the flamer guy. I've painted enough standard marines that it's refreshing to do one that breaks the mold. Sternguard are good for that.

Next step is to pick out next weeks projects. I'm thinking the bike captain and then some older stuff. Mixing up the new/old will help keep me motivated to burn through my backlog.

On the construction side I'm still plugging away at the bikes. Need to figure out if I'm going to bother magnetizing the attack bike, or just rely on the clip on the weapon and a little sticky-tac. It's a small connection point, and the 2mm magnets I have look to be a bit big for the handgrip. What I could do is just glue the guns, arms, and upper torso together and magnetize at the waist. It looks like the arms holding the heavy weapon are the same ones that come with every vehicle accessory sprue, so I have a bunch of extras. I have a land speeder on the things to do list, so could set up his gunner the same way. This would work well, as the primary option for the bike is going to be a MM, while the speeder is going to be a HB.

Mid to late week looks to be good weather for priming, so hopefully I can get a batch of stuff ready for then.

   
Made in us
Perfect Shot Ultramarine Predator Pilot






San Jose, California

You bike chassis need some edge highlights. It looks like a bit of a solid blue glob. maybe a transfer to break up the monotony? How did you do your lascannon. Im working on like 7 different lascannon and I can't find a good scheme... except yours.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2013/09/22 22:55:13


being recalculated~4.5k 750 875 My p&m blog where there are space marines http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/545810.page DA:90+S+G++M++B--I+Pw40k12+D+A++/wWD-R+T(M)DM+
 TheDraconicLord wrote:
Holy crap, you have been pumping out Smurfs like a man-possessed
 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

Morris, tragically sold his soul to the Chaos Gods of Flowers, Dancing, Laughter and Friendship. The Morris Heresy is on record as the shortest and least successful heresy in Imperial history.
 Camkierhi wrote:
thats the best group of ass I've seen on the net, and I've looked at alot.
 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

 Largeblastmarker wrote:
You bike chassis need some edge highlights. It looks like a bit of a solid blue glob. maybe a transfer to break up the monotony? How did you do your lascannon. Im working on like 7 different lascannon and I can't find a good scheme... except yours.


Yah, more highlighting is something I know I need to do. I might try to pick out some edges on the captain's bike.

Here's a slightly better picture of the HF guy, just because I like him


And a few LCs, including the new guy, but a spectrum for variety...



So those are my four lascannon marines. Two are old hybrid plastic/metal ones, and two new full plastics. I paint them more-or-less the same as the rest of the weapons in my army, just with more details picked out.

Primer white (like everything I do these days)
Base coat the gun black. Abbadon Black I think is what it says on the pot these days.
Drybrush the whole thing with Chainmail Silver. Hard. Not just a lightly touch the high points, but get most/all the paint off the brush and give it a good, solid brushing/scrubbing. When the brush first hits the model, there might be some strong silver streaks, even if you think you got all the paint off. I generally start on the back of the weapon to hide these if I get them. This does ...unkind... things to your brushes. Don't use your good ones.
The shoulder mount is just Beasteal Brown. Except that one guy trying to be different in the 4xLC shot. That's bubonic IIRC.
Lenses are Glistening Green. All glass/screens/lenses in my army are painted with it. Just how I roll.
The lower power conduit is Deadly Nightshade. All the think, ribbed cables in my army use it.
The bundled wires are whatever bright paints I grab first, until I run out of wires. Blood Red, Sunburst Yellow, Emerald Green were the paints this time (and my go-to paints for stuff like this). Hawk Turquoise and Blood Angels Red *coughOrangecough* sometimes make an appearance. Due to the fact that these paints cover like garbage, I undercoat here with white first. Newer, high-pigment paints might fare better, but my old ones don't. If you can get a clean, solid coat of primer and don't have any slop from the other painting, you might be able to skip the undercoat, but that's not me.
Give the wires a wash. I used Chestnut Wash this time, I think I've just used black in the past.
Cable ties are the same black/silver as the main gun. While I try to do these at the same time, my sloppy brushwork with all the wiring generally requires me to re-do them after.
It's hard to tell in the picture, but the skull on the LC is drybrushed with gold.
Buttons/controls are Blood Red and/or Emerald Green.

The arm is how you paint the rest of the marine. For me, that's Macragge Blue with a Blue Wash these days.

On the backpack, the little nubs on the side are black w/ silver drybrushing. The skull on the back (not pictured, should have shot one) Is base Codex Grey, drybrushed silver, black wash, light silver drybrush to finish.
The little inset control panel is black, with the buttons done in red/green.

   
Made in us
Perfect Shot Ultramarine Predator Pilot






San Jose, California

Thanks! I might try a bit of energy glow on the coils though.

being recalculated~4.5k 750 875 My p&m blog where there are space marines http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/545810.page DA:90+S+G++M++B--I+Pw40k12+D+A++/wWD-R+T(M)DM+
 TheDraconicLord wrote:
Holy crap, you have been pumping out Smurfs like a man-possessed
 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

Morris, tragically sold his soul to the Chaos Gods of Flowers, Dancing, Laughter and Friendship. The Morris Heresy is on record as the shortest and least successful heresy in Imperial history.
 Camkierhi wrote:
thats the best group of ass I've seen on the net, and I've looked at alot.
 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

Another week, another 4 minis done. Well, almost done. I need to wait for the last wash to dry on the terminator before I glue his arms on.


The IG guy with the grenade launcher is for a friend of mine who bought some guard to ally with his SoB. Most was painted, but not all. So I had to try to match the paint job of the rest of the force. Battle of Macragge pilot guy is probably never going to see the table, but at least he is off the workbench. Terminator had a magnet on top for a CML. The launchers have been painted for a while now, and do time as typhoon launchers on top of my speeders. And then there is the bike captain...


I tried some shading on the helmet, where I put down a grey wash then highlighted back up with white. Also some subtle edging on the bike. Not sure how much is visible. I went for a White Scars-esque red helmet jag. Not sure how I feel about it. Once I get around to working up some fluff for this guy, he's going to have fought along side the Scars for some action/campaign. I may use the ally force rules to work him and the bikes into my main force with different CTs. But for now, he's just my new bike captain.

Or for tomorrow, a chapter master. A friend of mine is in town, so we're getting a game in. Shocking, I know, two games in as many weeks. When it rains, it pours. So it's my Ultramaines and his Tau vs. his cousin's forces of chaos. No idea what flavor, he's got a reasonable collection and proxies stuff from time to time. 2x 1,000 point armies vs. a 2k list.

I plan on running:
+++ 1k new (999pts) +++
* Chapter Tactics
Ultramarines

* Chapter Master (205pts)
Artificer Armor, Bike, Teeth of Terra

* Sternguard Veteran Squad (285pts)
1xCombi-Melta, Heavy Flamer, 9x Veteran
* Drop Pod
* Space Marine Sergeant
Bolt Pistol, Boltgun

* Tactical Squad (210pts)
Meltagun, Multi-Melta, 9x Space Marine
* Drop Pod
Storm Bolter
* Space Marine Sergeant
Bolt pistol, Chainsword, Melta Bombs, Veteran Sarg

* Bike Squad (174pts)
Grav-gun, Plasma Gun, 3x Space Marine Biker
* Attack Bike
Heavy Bolter
* Biker Sergeant
Veteran Sgt, Chainsword, Melta Bombs

* Stormtalon Gunship (125pts)
Skyhammer Missile Launcher

Tau are going to hide behind an ADL and shoot whatever shows up, my job is to play offense and go out and take objectives. Should be fun.

   
Made in us
Perfect Shot Ultramarine Predator Pilot






San Jose, California

that guys helmet is simply fantastic.

being recalculated~4.5k 750 875 My p&m blog where there are space marines http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/545810.page DA:90+S+G++M++B--I+Pw40k12+D+A++/wWD-R+T(M)DM+
 TheDraconicLord wrote:
Holy crap, you have been pumping out Smurfs like a man-possessed
 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

Morris, tragically sold his soul to the Chaos Gods of Flowers, Dancing, Laughter and Friendship. The Morris Heresy is on record as the shortest and least successful heresy in Imperial history.
 Camkierhi wrote:
thats the best group of ass I've seen on the net, and I've looked at alot.
 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

 Largeblastmarker wrote:
that guys helmet is simply fantastic.


Thanks! I wasn't sure if I should try something a little more flashy for the red part. But I do like how clean I got it to look. Most of my freehand work is wobbly as all get out.

Today's game was another victory for the forces of the Ultramarines (with help from Tau) Turns out we were against a pure demon army, mixed with all gods present. Purge the alien, so just a meat grinder kill fest. The last few turns were trying to bring down a iron armed nurgle DP and a pair of soul grinders. I think I need to strap a box of melta bombs to the back of my captain's bike. He needed them. Fun was had by all, even if we did start a bit late and had to rush towards the end so one guy could get home and pamper his wife.

New paint on the field was the bike captain and the sternguard HF. Captain lived through to the end, but was basically running scared, as he didn't have the S to touch the soul grinders. He did carve up some demon herald things, so wasn't a complete embarrassment. The HF marine did well for himself, walking out of the drop pod and positioning himself to bake a keeper of secrets, and more importantly the squad of plaugebeares next to it (which he killed about a half-dozen of) He and his squad unfortunately didn't live to see a second round, as they were shot and stabbed to death by a large chunk of the opposing army.

So considering new paint normally chokes and fails spectacularly, I'm happy with a OK performance from the biker and a glorious death from the flamer.

   
Made in gb
Steady Space Marine Vet Sergeant





Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

Some really nice mini's you have there Nev.
Thanks for sharing.

And that biker's helmet... It's given me such good inspiration for some free-hand tribal markings on my White Scars. It's really great

Z

   
Made in us
Stubborn Dark Angels Veteran Sergeant






Ok that biker helmet is awesome. The triangle makes it. Good call.
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

Zambro wrote:Some really nice mini's you have there Nev.
Thanks for sharing.

And that biker's helmet... It's given me such good inspiration for some free-hand tribal markings on my White Scars. It's really great

Z


40kFSU wrote:Ok that biker helmet is awesome. The triangle makes it. Good call.


Thanks for the feedback. I wanted something that sets him apart, but not so much that he looks like he doesn't belong. And I didn't trust my freehand skills for jagged red lightning. I was a little pensive, since I strive to keep my marines mostly uniform, but I'm getting more comfortable with him, and his bold departure from my normal paint job.

This week's progress is not good. Not making my goal. Well, if I count re-surfacing my driveway as "painting" and 950 square feet of asphalt as a "vehicle equivalent" I'm good. But that ate all Tuesday, and made me too sore to want to bend over minis (or even trust myself with a hobby knife/brush) for Wednesday. But all is not lost, I've got some stuff in progress:



I've got 2 SB/chainfist terminators in the works, and a chaos marauder with a flail.

The marauder has an interesting story. Back in the day, I made some mounted marauders out of dark elf dark riders. I bought a bunch of blisters of the marauders on foot, just for the flail heads. Ahh, the good old days of getting an employee discount at my FLGS and being single with a real job... Flash forward a number of years, and GW puts out a plastic marauder kit. I picked one up, but was on the way out of playing WHFB at the time, so they never got assembled. Flash forward MORE years (to earlier this one) and there is a new Warriors of Chaos book, I receive a copy of the fantasy core rules, and decide to put some stuff together. The marauder kit can be built as either flails of hand weapons, so I find myself with some extra flail heads. Those sure would have been useful back in the 90s. Which bring us to the old, metal chaos marauder with flail. Not the flail he came with, but a new, plastic flail. He's been cluttering my workbench, either as weaponless chunk of lead, or a re-armed, primed mini sitting in the back for far too long. So this week I started to slap some paint on him.

As it looks to be a rainy weekend, so I might get these guys finished (and possibly a 4th, thinking of working on the IG psycer) instead of raking leaves and doing the other yardwork I had planned.

   
Made in us
Perfect Shot Ultramarine Predator Pilot






San Jose, California

Interesting stuff going on. might I ask what kind of white primer you use? I'm starting pink tau soon....

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/10/05 00:22:16


being recalculated~4.5k 750 875 My p&m blog where there are space marines http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/545810.page DA:90+S+G++M++B--I+Pw40k12+D+A++/wWD-R+T(M)DM+
 TheDraconicLord wrote:
Holy crap, you have been pumping out Smurfs like a man-possessed
 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

Morris, tragically sold his soul to the Chaos Gods of Flowers, Dancing, Laughter and Friendship. The Morris Heresy is on record as the shortest and least successful heresy in Imperial history.
 Camkierhi wrote:
thats the best group of ass I've seen on the net, and I've looked at alot.
 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

 Largeblastmarker wrote:
Interesting stuff going on. might I ask what kind of white primer you use? I'm starting pink tau soon....


I use armory white primer. There is a picture of the can I picked up back on the first page, along with the Eldar supply drop. This is the second can I've had, and the last one I will get. The first can had no problems, went on smooth. This last can at best has given me a passable coat, and is the reason most of my summer projects took a detour though a vat of simple green. prior to it, bad primer batches were just something that happened to other people. My only concern when spraying was making sure I didn't miss spots.

So even thought it is the brand my FLGS stocks, I'll be shopping elsewhere next time.

   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

Lovely crisp, fall day here in upstate New York. So after lunch and a walk around the neighborhood, I took some stuff outside and put down a layer of primer. Coat went on clean. After screwing up most of my summer's work, I'm very gunshy about breaking the can out again. Did a test run on a spare bit of sprue before hitting the actual minis.



So I got the rest of the bikes assembled, primed, and good to go. The sarge is magnetized on his gun arm at the shoulder, currently packing a c-grav. Melta gunner has a magnet in his wrist, same setup at the grav gun in the other squad.

Also on the table is the techmarine from the TFC, and a new sergeant for my sternguard. While I love the way my old one looks, I have trouble with paying the points for the powerfist. This guy is just packing a chainsword at the moment, but has a magnet in his shoulder to swap out if I ever want options for him. A lighting claw might be in order.

And just to prove that I'm still painting:


Those are the last of the old metal terminators on my bench. I have parts for more, but they are mismatched, or very chapter specific. I think I've got some old GKs, DA, and chaos parts and bodies floating around in a box somewhere. But I think with these guys added to my force, I can field another legal squad. I'll see about getting my good camera out and getting a group shot of my old metal TDA marines. Should be good for a chuckle.

Next on my assembly/cleaning list is a drop pod. Emperor forgive any foul utterances that escape my lips as I work on that hell-spawned kit. Sooooo much hate for those damn things. But it will be my third pod, which is a magic number of hybrid drop lists.

   
Made in gb
Steady Space Marine Vet Sergeant





Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

I built a drop pod once... it sure is a PITA kit

magnets in the wrist must be a pain in the butt to drill in. Do you use 2mmx1mm magnets?

   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

Zambro wrote:
I built a drop pod once... it sure is a PITA kit

magnets in the wrist must be a pain in the butt to drill in. Do you use 2mmx1mm magnets?


I think they are actually 2mmx2mm. 1mm would probably fit better, but I'm not sure if they would have the strength needed to hold the bits on. Anyway, I don't own any, so I just drill out 2mm holes. And it is indeed a PITA. Not a whole lot of clearance or margin for error, but they do fit.

I'm not sure why I decided on the wrist mount. Probably because it would let me use the weapons on more kits. I could put it in the hands of a tactical marine with minimal fuss. Of course, I could just have him holding it out like he was on a bike, but that looks a little contrived for a foot soldier. But as I only own 3 grav guns, I wanted to be able to get the most out of them. The melta gunner just got dragged along for compatibility.

In the future, I suspect I'll try to stick with shoulder mounts.

   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

OK, ready the retro-rockets, it's old school nostalgia time!


When I first started playing 40k back in the RT-era, it was more as a RPG, less of a war-game. The guy in camo here was my character at one point in time. With a hand build hand flamer, made out of a IG lasgun and bits of sprue carved into a fuel tank and nozzle. My early marines were painted as BA, as those were the transfers that came in the first RTB01 we picked up. The cyclone in the background was a later add-on, from some 3rd party company I got a blister full of odd guns and bits from.



My assault terminators. The sarge has an older style rounded hammer. These guys will probably see less table time these days, since they can no longer fit with a HQ into my land raider.



And by HQ, I mean these guys:

They might still see use teleporting down with some tactical terminators, but they really loved charging down the assault ramp leading the boys. Especially the chaplain.





So that's 2 sergeants, 2 assault cannons, a heavy flamer, CML (magnetized, so he can take the field as a normal marine) and 6 normal guys, 4 with chainfists. This will let me field either 2 5 man squads, or one big 10 man squad. Although I'd need to remove the CML and field him as a normal guy to get the 7 basic marines for the unit. Which is fine, as the CML gets a lot of use as a TML stuck on the top of my land speeders.

That concludes our tour down memory lane. When you hear people complaining about people fielding terminators on 28mm bases, they are talking about me. But I've been doing it since the RT days, and by the Emperor, I'm not going to change now. You kids these days with your fancy "plastic" and large bases...

   
Made in us
Blood Angel Captain Wracked with Visions






That is some classic goodness

 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

One of the things on my to do list was to make some reminder cards as play aides, for both chapter tactics and warlord traits. My own psychic cards are also on the to-do list, but I'll get to those later.



There was a thread a bit ago about making cards in a program called "Magic Set Editor" And some nice stuff put togethers by others (from which I grabbed the warlord cards) But no chapter tactics. So I made my own. The pictures I used were just from typing "assault marine" etc. into google and taking the coolest looking ultramarine on the first page or two. Apologies to anyone who's art I stole. MSE is pretty darn easy to use, and free to download. Much easier then tweaking margins and text size in Word to try to get things to line up at the right size.

I've got some of these card sleeves on order from my FLGS:

http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4331

They do make an Ultramarines back, but it uses a Calgar pic I'm not fond of. Can't go wrong with the aquila.

   
Made in us
Perfect Shot Ultramarine Predator Pilot






San Jose, California

OMG those cards are AMAZING! thanks for sharing!

being recalculated~4.5k 750 875 My p&m blog where there are space marines http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/545810.page DA:90+S+G++M++B--I+Pw40k12+D+A++/wWD-R+T(M)DM+
 TheDraconicLord wrote:
Holy crap, you have been pumping out Smurfs like a man-possessed
 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

Morris, tragically sold his soul to the Chaos Gods of Flowers, Dancing, Laughter and Friendship. The Morris Heresy is on record as the shortest and least successful heresy in Imperial history.
 Camkierhi wrote:
thats the best group of ass I've seen on the net, and I've looked at alot.
 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York



So progress is not at the pace I'd like. Bunch of things to blame for that. Raking leaves, LotRO, Civ V (just picked up the expansion), watching an anime a friend loaned me (Sword Art Online, it wasn't bad). Also the seasonal "blahs" that I generally get this time of year. I blame getting old and my birthday in a few weeks.

Well, excuses aside, I did get some work done this week. The marauder came out OK. I tried some base/wash/highlight techniques I don't use a lot, and they came out kinda meh. I'm not a fan of the stark deeps/highlights it generated, and don't like mixing paint and doing a zillion layers. He's ready to go collect dust with the rest of my chaos army now though.
Getting some paint on the TFC. The cannon itself was one of the bad primes. After a dip and a scrub, it seemed mostly better, but still a bit of texture on it. I'm not sure how much is the primers fault, and how much is the finecast. Overall not very happy with it. MotF is going well. Once I finish his other arm and backpack I'll get some close ups of him.
The IG psycher is one of the minis I'm doing for my friend. Low priority, but part of my effort to move old stuff off the bench.

Also done this week is most of the drop pod cleanup. I just need to clean the mould lines off the harness frames (I did the harnesses already) and sub-assemble them to the central podium. And cut and clean the stormbolter. Then it gets dumped into the "things to prime" pile and waits for a clear day.

Hopefully I'll be able to polish off all this stuff before the weekend is over. But I've got some errands to run this afternoon, and some plans to do stuff with the family Saturday, so we'll see.

   
Made in gb
Steady Space Marine Vet Sergeant





Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

A little progress is better than no progress

How was the build / clean up on the TFCs? I have 2 waiting to get started and i'm not sure on them. I glanced over them quickly and there are some imperfections from the fine cast.

   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

Zambro wrote:
A little progress is better than no progress

How was the build / clean up on the TFCs? I have 2 waiting to get started and i'm not sure on them. I glanced over them quickly and there are some imperfections from the fine cast.


To quote myself from upthread (and months ago, man am I slow)

Also in the news is a new supply drop of marines. I just finished putting together a TFC. I can see why people complained about it when it was metal. It was rough enough in finecast. I'd hate to have to clean one up for professional level work. The resin pour/sprue connect points were in some bad places. The tracks specifically had bits in corners it was impossible to get a knife into, but you could still see. I also used a hot/cold water setup to bend resin for the first time. It worked fairly well. I was able to get the bits close enough to what they were supposed to be that the superglue could do the rest. Some of the detail was a little mushy and warped, but close enough for my lame tabletop level of painting.


It was irritating, but not the end of the world. In retrospect, I'd have left it in more parts to prime/paint. There were a number of bits that were questionable as to if they were flash or part of the model. The gunner has lots of spindly bits and details. Some saggy parts. I'm fine with just having one. If they come out with a plastic kit, I'll buy another. If I feel I need another one before then, I'll grab a 3rd party pair of tracks and steal the guns off of a stalker/hunter.

Overall it was less painful then a drop pod, but I can't say I'm a fan of multi-part finecast kits. It doesn't help that my TFC was part of my bad primer incident, so a miasma of irritation clings to it. YMMV, and I hope it does, as mine was not a positive experience with the kit.

   
Made in gb
Steady Space Marine Vet Sergeant





Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

Well, it looks like i got some 'fun' ahead of me

   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

Got some extra painting time in yesterday. Time I would have spent mowing the lawn, by I snapped the pull-start cord on the mower, so that got punted. Of course, now I need to spend some time getting a spare part and fixing that, but if I procrastinate hard enough, that might be next spring.



Yah, love that bad prime. I thought I had scrubbed it smooth. Nothing like a high-rez close up to show you all the flaws in your work.



Although I think this guy actually looks better close up. The harsh light washes our some of the chalky contrasts. It is kinda hard to miss the fact that his fists are bigger then his helmet. Such is the power of chaos I guess...

The drop pod is fully clean and finished with the sub-assembly. Waiting for a clear day to prime. Not sure what to assemble next; so many choices. I should probably do the razorback, it's the most likely to get used. The ven dread is tempting though. Or more infantry. Either some LotD made from new tactical marines and old skeleton bits, some new sergeants with wargear options, new command squad members, or the vanguard vets. Decisions, decisions...

   
Made in gb
Steady Space Marine Vet Sergeant





Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

Looks good

You did a good job despite the bad priming.

And seeing some vangaurd vets would be nice. They have some awesome sculpts

   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

Zambro wrote:
Looks good

You did a good job despite the bad priming.

And seeing some vangaurd vets would be nice. They have some awesome sculpts


Thanks. You want vanguard, you get vanguard. Well, first a jump captain, and then a VV sarge. The rest still need to be cleaned up and assembled. Although they are all sitting in parts in their own blisters waiting.

Captain:

Sarge:


All the arms are magnetized, so can be swapped as needed. So many options, it's hard to make a decision, so why bother when you have magnets! The sarge also has his jump pack magnetized.

There is space in the pack for a 2mm magnet and some greenstuff. Just put a little ball in the bottom of the top half, set the magnet in, and push more into the gaps with something pointy and non-magnetic (I used a spare bit of sprue I had on hand, toothpicks might be better) When the magnet is where it needs to be, just push the jump pack onto the back section to get the rounded nub on the torso to make itself a socket. That will help keep everything aligned when in use.
Some of the arms had to be done the same way. They are not solid, so I just packed the space with greenstuff and squished a magnet in there.

I am interspersing some normal assault marine bits in with the VV to stretch the kit out a little. I wanted a 5 man squad, but also a jump captain. While there are enough arms/heads to go around, I needed to add in a torso/legs/jump pack. So some of the guys are not going to be pure VV, but by mixing things up a bit, they will still look special. And I'll still have 4 more assault marines to fill out the last squad I need. You might recall upthread when I was assembling them, I mentioned that I had a spare sarge, so those 5, plus 4 more and the old sarge is going to be just what the company ordered.

My first thought (and first set to be assembled) for the VV is:
Sarge - LC/SS
One - Power axe/SS
One - BP/CCW, meltabomb
Two - BP/CCW (basic)

The captain has the TH/LC combo. I figured it was worth paying the extra 5 points over the powerfist, not so much for the concussive, but to look less goofy. There are no fists/hammers in the squad. I can't bring myself to pay that many points on a one wound guy who is going to strike last. And if these guys are on the field, there will probably be a character with a jump pack with them to do the heavy hitting vs. hard targets. Either the captain, or my jump chaplain.

   
Made in gb
Steady Space Marine Vet Sergeant





Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

Wow, they look great. I especially like the Captain's pose. awesome work

   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

Zambro wrote:
Wow, they look great. I especially like the Captain's pose. awesome work


One problem with magnetizing: If you get a nice pose, you don't necessarily get to keep it. I like the captain like that myself, but just by repositioning the arms he goes from "sprinting forward, going to hit you with the hammer" to "I'm going to put this lightning claw through your head". The mercurial nature of magnetized minis struck me with the next pair, particularly the BP/CCW one



When I put together minis, I try to get the angle of the torso and where the head is looking to sync up with the weapons to make the guy feel a little more dynamic. The guy with the axe is pretty straightforward. He's running at something, and is going to kill it. But the chainsword marine is reacting to something off to his left, snapping off a shot with his pistol and bringing his sword up to guard his chest. How would it look if we swapped the arms? One way to find out…



The beakie looses a lot of the dynamism that he had. He's still OK, but I prefer him with his original arms. The other guy works well. By having the gun arm down/back and the chainsword up a little, you can tell what's about to happen in the close combat phase...

   
 
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