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Hi All!

So, my current project is an expansion of my IG army. I have recently retooled my list, moving more to a mechanized list. The problem is, I need to build/convert a number of models to make this list work, including:

3 Scout Sentinels
3 Chimeras
2 Hydras
2 Officers
3 Melta Gunners
1 Plasma Gunner

The first item I'm takling are the Sentinels. Here are some pics:


My strategy is to prime and paint the things in major sub-assemblies. I am thinking this will be a bit easier given all the nooks and crannies in these walkers!


This picture shows the magnetized weapons. You'll notice that I have a plasma cannon in there, even though scout Sentinels can't take them. Nor do I have a lascannon there. Well, I already have 3 LC-armed armored Sentinels, so I didn't see a reason to make 3 more LC. And, I figured I would go ahead and take this opportunity to get the PCs painted in case I ever wanted to run the armored ones with them. I just had to make sure that all the magnets were in the right polarity!


Here is where the hunter-killer missile will attach. I've magnetized these as well in case I want to run the sentinels with them at some point!


The missile has a small bit of paper clip glued to it to allow the missile to attach to the magnetized rail. This way, I can remove the missile after firing to keep things clear. Not to mention, I can take the rocket off and "fly" it across the field


Here is the whole assembly. One benefit of this is that I can swing the launcher up to 90 degrees or so to launch the rocket. Not sure if this would be considered modeling for advantage, though...



Next up: Chimeras


Here are two of the Chimeras I need for the list. The one on the left has a command-variant turret with the radar antennas, while the one on the right has a minor conversion to have firing slits instead of fixed hull lasguns. I'm not entirely happy with this experiment, so I probably won't repeat it.


This my plan for the Hydras, using the gun from the Aegis defense line. I figure these will work until I can decide if I like them well enough to spring for the FW models. The guns will be magnetized to the Chimera, but I will still be able to remove the quad gun to use it as a standard Chim in the future.

So, the plan for the rest of the week and next is to start painting the Sentinels. I will be painting the pilots and cockpits first, and then masking the area to paint the rest of the walker. Stay tuned for updates!

Looking smooth so far; can't wait for some Paint! The Hydra Concept is neat looking, but the Hull could use some Additional Details, be they Ammo Banks, or Ropes, or Hold-All Bags on the side. It just needs something to break up the expansive, flat surfaces on the Hull.

Keep up the good work! Looking forward to those Updates!

Don't worry! I still have some detailing work to do to these things, so they will be getting a few goodies from the detail sprues I have laying about. I should note that the hull pictured will not actually be used for a Hydra, I was just using it more as a proof of concept to mock up how they will look. I have 3 more Chimera kits on the way!

Looks like a good start mate ! Any idea on the paint scheme you will be adopting mate?

Armorum Ferrum wrote:Looks like a good start mate ! Any idea on the paint scheme you will be adopting mate?

Yes, they will be painted to match the rest of my tanks:



The colors on the tanks are Tamiya Deep Green and Desert Yellow, applied with an airbrush. The armored Sentinels in the pic were acutally hand-brushed Dark Angles green and then dry-brushed Camo Green. However, I'm planning on doing the scout Sentinels with the airbrush in two tones as well, although I'm thinking of employing masking to get a finer separation of colors. I think this will look better on the smaller models.

Okay! I got the pilots and cockpits of the 3 Sentinels done. First up is a shot of the things primed:



Here are the cockpits. I gave them a boltgun metal drybrush, along with a few dots of Blood Red to show lights:


Here is a picture of one of the pilots. I didn't really put much work into them from the waist down, since you can't see that part once they are entombed inside the Sentinel anyway!


Here is a shot of the 3 cockpits, all assembled. I'm pretty happy with how the middle guy's sunglasses came out!


This is the overhead view. I put the most attention into this viewing angle since I figure a lot of people will see them from above on the tabletop:


Here is one of the cockpits masked. This process turned out to be a bit more fiddly than I thought it would be. If I ever have to make more sentinels, I would probably re-evaluate my method!


So, there you have it. This will probably be my last update until next week, as I'm going out of town for the weekend and won't be able to get any modeling in until I get back.

Great stuff!
for what it's worth, i like the "firing slits" on the Chimera. and the Hydra/Chimera was a genius idea!
i'm doing something similar with my Sentinels as far as the magnets go.
Can't wait to see more!

Well, unfortunately I can't take credit for the hydra idea...I got that one from several different examples in the Dakka gallery (just search for Hydra, you will see what I mean). I am planning on using them as only a stop-gap so I can evaluate how they work on the table and if I like them or not. If they perform well, I plan on ordering a couple of FW ones. If not, then they will revert back to standard Chimeras.

So, I tried priming my Sentinels last night, with disastrous results. I was using Armory Black, and apparently the humidity was a little too high as the finish came out all grainy. It also isn't adhereing well to the models . I've heard of people having problems with this brand of primer in the past, but so far I have had good luck with it.

About the only think I can think to do is pull out the ol' Simple Green and strip the buggars, and then re-prime with something else. This will probably set me back a couple of days. Maybe more, since there is a chance I won't get out for more primer until Friday. How frustrating!

Good work so far, sorry about the priming it happens to me all the time!

Okay! I'm back. Sorry for the few weeks delay; I've had some family issues and visits to work through, plus I've started taking night classes to work on my masters. However, thanks to the Labor Day weekend, I finally got some progress made on my modeling! First of all, I finished the Scout Sentinels:


Here are all the parts after having been striped, re-primed in Krylon gray and air brushed in Tamiya Deep Green.


Here are the major sub-assemblies after the camo pattern has been applied. I did this free-hand with my air brush, using Tamiya Desert Yellow.


And here we are, after detail painting, final assembly, a Devlan Mud wash, and basing (yes, I base after I paint, which I know is generally considered bass-ackwards ).


Here is another shot, from the side this time. The H-K missiles are at different angles, for variety!


And one final shot, showing the magnetized weapons for each Sentinel.

So, there you have it! The Scout Sentinels are now ready for the table top. Now it is on to the rest of the force. Here is a shot of the whole thing as it stands now:



As you can see, the major construction is pretty much done, but there is still a laundry list of things to do:
-Finish detailing & painting new Chimeras & the 2 Hydra proxies
-Miscellaneous Hull weapon swaps
-Basing the Vendetta properly

And that doesn't count the infantry! So, a bit left to do still. But, I am happy with the progress I'm making. Speaking of hull weapons, I'll leave you with this shot of the solution I came up with for equipping my Hellhounds with hull multi-meltas:



Involves the old HB bit, a sponson weapon from the new LR kit, and a little attention from the razor saw. Works like a charm! Until next time...

Well, I've been making slow progress on the 40k army, thanks to some real life things taking precedent as well as a bit of a detour I took; I decided to try my hand at re-painting a ship from Axis & Allies War At Sea. Being a native Hoosier, and having a spare Massachusets, the choice seemed obvious: the USS Indiana (the Indiana was a sister ship of the Massachusets). After doing some research, I settled on painting her in the Measure 32/11D camo she wore from the fall of '43 through the spring of '44. This scheme appealed to me, as I felt it was the most interesting of the schemes she wore, and was also the one I could find some color illustrations of as a guide. So, without further ado, here is my first crack at repainting a WAS mini:











So, now that this thing is done I can get back to the task at hand! I hope to have the Guard army done by the end of the weekend.

Awesome stuff! Can't wait to see more!

Okay! I finally got all of my new tanks done. First off are the two Hydras. The quad guns are magnetically attached, so that I can swap them for a standard Chimera turret if I need/want another transport.





Next up, we have the Chimeras. The first two are the command variants, with the extra antennas on the turret. The one with the gold emblem on the front of the hull is for the Company Commander and his squad.





This is the Platoon Commander's track. As I mentioned above in an earlier post, I decided to modify this model to have firing slits instead of the fixed lasguns.





And now for the other two...





Finally, here are a couple of group shots of all 4:





So, that's it! My Guard army is now fully meched up. Now for my next project: A Flames of War early-war German tank company!

very nice,I really need to invest in an airbrush at some stage.

It is truly a worthwhile investment! I think I would have lost what little sanity I have left if I had to brush-paint all of these...

Very good! The camo pattern is pretty well done.

_Tim?

Well, sorry for the delay in updating, but October was a very busy month for me! This time around, I have the first units I've finished for my FoW Light Panzer Company.

I present my Panzer III platoon!







These are my first 15mm tanks, and I think they came out pretty well. The method I used was to undercoat in black, airbrush an even coat of Tamiya German Grey, wash with Badab Black, and finally drybrush with Codex Grey and Fortress Grey. I haven't gotten any transfers for them yet, hence the lack of Iron Crosses.

The other item I finished was my Stuka:





The Stuka actually started out as the one pictured here:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXMFG3&P=FR

I masked the cockpit and the markings, and repainted it using my airbrush and Tamiya paints.

So, here is the overall shot:



As you can see, I've got a ways to go! The Panzer II platoon is primed, and will be up next. After that, I will probably paint the company command, followed by the two light platoons.

One other thing I've been working on is this research facility for the Tanks-giving game I am hosting in a couple of weeks:



This is my first attempt at terrain building, and while it is nothing fancy I think it will get the job done! Till next time...

Good call on repainting the Stuka, the original camo pattern looks hideous.

Also, are you going for the "fresh off the factory line" look with your vehicles? I think a little wear and tear at the very least would add a lot of personality to each tank. Just simple things like some paint scrapes around the hatches from where the crew would step while embarking. Also, a little mud or dust on the treads never hurt anyone.
I don't know if you've ever been around a tank, or seen a video of one in action, but they're dirty, filthy machines. The only time they're anywhere close to clean is on the factory floor, immediately following the painting process.
Any tank that travels accross an open grass field is bound to have mud and grass stuck in its tracks, road wheels, drive sprockets, lower hull and trackguards/fenders (if it has them)

nice looking sentinels and imperial guard all around!

Nowlan wrote:Good call on repainting the Stuka, the original camo pattern looks hideous.

Also, are you going for the "fresh off the factory line" look with your vehicles? I think a little wear and tear at the very least would add a lot of personality to each tank. Just simple things like some paint scrapes around the hatches from where the crew would step while embarking. Also, a little mud or dust on the treads never hurt anyone.
I don't know if you've ever been around a tank, or seen a video of one in action, but they're dirty, filthy machines. The only time they're anywhere close to clean is on the factory floor, immediately following the painting process.
Any tank that travels accross an open grass field is bound to have mud and grass stuck in its tracks, road wheels, drive sprockets, lower hull and trackguards/fenders (if it has them)

Oh, definitely. I know exactly what you are talking about. Although I'm in the Navy, I have been to several WW II re-enactments and seen a lot of pictures of armored vehicles in the field. However, this is more of a time management issue for me. My philosphy is that I'd rather have an army of painted models that look fresh from the factory than one or two fully painted and weathered models and the rest of the army in primer or bare plastic/metal. Eventually, I plan on circling back around and weathering my stuff, but for now I'm just trying to get everything up to basic table-top standards.

Great job on the Panzers, look forward to seeing more

Thanks! I probably won't have much progress made on the Panzer Company for another week or so. My modeling time has been consumed getting that research facility finished for next Friday's Tanks-giving battle!

Well, it has been far to long since I've updated this thread, so here we go! I've got a few things I've been working on.

First up is my Panzer II platoon for my FoW Blitzkrieg army:



Pretty simple scheme I am using here, but it is coming out OK. I'm hoping that Santa will bring me the early-war German transfer sheet so that I can get some iron crosses on these babies!

Next up is another Axis & Allies War at Sea re-paint. This one is off the USS Bismark Sea, which was a CVE (escort carrier) sunk at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. This one has some family signifigance, as one of my wife's Great-uncles was on board her when she sank, and had to spend hours in the water before he was rescued.





And finally, here is a project I've been working on off and on for the better part of a year. Back in February, I decided to build myself a Thunderbolt for my 40k army to use in Apocalpyse games. However, I got distracted with a cross-country move and a lot of other projects, so she lanquished all summer. Now that I have some time, and with an impending Apocalypse game in January, I have finally gotten off my duff and started working on it again. I think I am through with major fabrication, so now it is off to painting!







These sweet-looking nozzles came from an old F/A-18 Hornet kit (as did the bombs and weapons pylons).





The pylons are magnetized, so that I can take either bombs or missiles.



I made the pilot using the "crouched" IG tank commander body, with a spare head I had from the Valkerie frame.



Here is a size comparison next to one of my LRBTs. I tried to make it as large as the FW one, and it came out pretty big.

Well, there you go! This might be my last update until after Christmas. If I can get the Thunderbolt painted in the next few days, though, I will try to get pics posted.

Yikes! It has been too long since I updated this thread.

This time around, I have the Directorate fleet I've painted up for Firestorm Armada. The ships have a vaguely Star Trek look to them, but the Directorate is nothing like the Federation! The limited amount of Firestorm fluff out there points to this faction as being a greedy corporation feeding off conflict-generated arms sales. Kind of like Halliburton, General Dynamics, and Lehman Brothers all rolled into one!

My scheme is pretty simple, and involves dry brushing grey and blue over a black base coat. See what you think:











Here is the R&D cruiser, which is equipped with a cloaking device. There is a really impressive amount of detail in this ship!





Here are the bottoms; as you can see, I didn't spend a lot of time detailing this area, primarily because you can't really see it when they are on the tabletop.

That's one amazing fleet mate, Kudos

Finally managed to get my FSA fleet all painted up! The scheme is based on the one used by the U.S. Navy's "Great White Fleet" during its tour around the world in the early 1900's. In addition to the FSA box set, my collection alse includes another battleship, another pack of cruisers, and another pack of bombers. The hardest part of this scheme was the red waterline stripe; I finally gave up trying to mask them and just free-handed it. I think they came out OK, although they aren't perfect.



Here are the two BBs. They are probably my favorite ships in the range (at least until the Dreadnought model is released!).





The cruisers are interesting ships. I really like the flexibility of the turret and the swappable hardpoint!





I think the carrier is the most impressively detailed FSA ship; all the small details really give it a sense of scale!







I have found the frigates to be a bit weak as compared to some, but they are still good for anit-frigate work since they don't incur the -1 penalty to shooting.



Now for the air support! I based my bomber scheme off of a mix of WW II schemes.



The tiny fliers are a mix of blue and silver. The blue ones represent bombers, while the silver ones are fighters. The one odd ball is the recon plane, painted in a camo scheme.

Great stuff! I love the naval ships, some of that painting must have been very fiddly!

After about a year and a half of picking at it, I finally finished my Thunderbolt fighter! The motivation was provided by my first Apocalypse game, which was last Saturday. I based it as closely as I could manage to the size and detailing of the FW model, although there are many subtle differences. Maybe at some point in the future I will revisit this piece to put some weathering on it, but not in the near future. The pylons are magnetized, so that I can arm it with missiles instead of the bombs I'm showing here.

Another update already? Crazy, eh.

Anyway, after waiting a month for the FLGS to get some Lee scout ships in, I finally broke down and bought some off eBay. I decided to paint them up in a scheme similar to the one used by the US Navy on its airships during the 1930s. Take a look!