The (Mad) Scientist and his Army of the Second Law: Beware of the FINISHED Raider!

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**Dr H**

weetyskemian44 wrote:
Technically speaking that tank is roller-skating, not walking... but that is even cooler so it still gets my vote.

Ta Weety. It can do both. About the only thing it can't do is fly, but it can jump.

One for the roller-skating tank.

I have found the candidates for re-painting, they are in the process of stripping and will appear here soon.

**Dr H**

This is where the re-paints are up to after today.
Building up the armour colour from black to a solid layer with minor shading.
They will both get brighter.

And therefore more shaded.

Although the photos portray them as brighter than they are in the hand, so you may not notice much difference by the end.

I'm taking photos of every layer so I can show off my whole process for the benefit of the Painter's society.

I don't normally show models at this stage as the colour is not finished. So bathe in the uniqueness of this post.

No prizes for guessing which chapters these are from, although the non-yellow chap may be more challenging, and this assumes you don't know what chapters I've already added to the army for these to be re-paints (same chapter).

Notice that they look rough at this stage, and they continue to until nearly finished.

Still interested in hearing opinions on what model I should build next.
Quoted for your convenience:

Dr H wrote:
Thoughts on any and all of the following:

1. Ork Nob. Straightened legs (as I've decided to do with all my orks).
Made especially tall, has a habit of biting people's heads (as they are generally shorter than him), name of Skul-Bita.
Any klan except Death Skulls (as I've already got one of those).

2. Flying Kroot. Made more bird-like. How to handle weapons when your arms are wings?
In fact, there are many varieties of Kroot I have ideas for, including Tyranid, spider, ork, other animals (Imagine a cat and bird in one being).
Would need quite a bit of planning and design before anything can happen though.

3. Flying Tyranid. Termagant-sized (something like this exists in the game doesn't it?), with mechanical wings, skin stretched/grown over the frame.

4. Scorpion Hormagaunt. Just because.

5. Ork with many robotic legs. Because GW gives you more bodies than legs.

6. Beastman. Have a metal beastman. Pretty much just a paintjob.

6.5. Mouseman. Have a metal mouse in plate armour. More conversion required to 40K him.
Possible friend of the beastman. Could be done together.

7. Tau stealth suit. Melting into/out of a piece of terrain to represent the camo'.

8. Dire Avenger. With a Tyranid warrior head as a shield. One of the oldest ideas on this list.
May need some more "flavour": Tyranid hunter.

9. Some kind of assassin. Depends what bits I can find...
Turns out, not many.
Infinity Alguaciles (sniper). I feel there is something I should do to this mini' to make it fit the army (more 40K, less infinity) but don't know what can be achieved with a metal model.

10. The Kenbishi Industries HAW206 prototype. It's been sat there for a while, looking cool.
If you don't know what it is, watch this:

You'll have to watch the full episode if you want to know the story: Ghost in the Shell: Stand alone complex. Episode 2.
But I would recomend the whole series and the "2nd Gig" following series. Not to mention the movies too.
It's a walking tank, do you need any more reasons?!

11. Tracked servitor. I have an epic landraider. Supplied (as many other things in this list are) and inspired by Gitsplitta.

12. Something to do with wolves. I have wolves.
I think they are for goblin riders. I have the riders as well, but no guarantee they'll be used together.
Many wolves. Few ideas.

13. Holly; The Scientist's chief analyst. I have a metal lady from Full Borer mini's, and quite a lump of related fluff for Holly.
I'll need to modify the model a bit.
And find a role for her in the army, on the table.
Fluff may get a few tweaks to make her more interesting (currently only a secondary character).

14. Imperial Guard female standard bearer. I have a Victoria mini's miniature for this purpose.
Lacking any actual Imperial guard bits, I'm not sure how I'll tie her into the 40K universe, but the model is pretty close as is.
May just be a paintjob.

15. Tau Crisis suit. Quite heavily converted; there are a number of things I want to change about the model.
Would likely be a commander (of at least 3, under The Scientist himself) for the army, so a bit more special than all the troops that I've done so far.
And I only have troops at the moment.

16. Necron immortal. Not built one yet, should rectify this.

So...yeah... That's a fraction of the ideas I have on the list.
Thoughts on what you like,
what you want to see,
ideas you have to flesh out something, ...

**shasolenzabi**

Looks like a lot to do, and love the GiTs footage.

1. Make him a Goff

2. Make his feet carry the gun, put it on a flying base?

3. Yeah Gargoyles are their name.

4. Scorp-a-gaunt sounds cool.

5. Orky mech might do that to himself.

6. Beastmen used to be part of 40k so go for it!

6.5. see above

7. That would be cool.

8. That would look cool, and also another hunter would be good as a paired team.

9. Plastic add ons, or dare I say it, green stuff some grim dark on him.

10. Yeah that will be a beast of a robo-tank.

11. that would work

12. Cyber-ized wolves.

13. sounds good, maybe have her as a medic? or act for the scientist the way a commissar might for the minis? or she could also be the mech that keeps the Kenibichi going in case something happens?

14. fortunately Victoria minis are IG stand ins anyway.

15. well, as crisis suits are called that as they are rapid response on the battlefield anyway to deal with things the troops can't.........

16. Model a interference device so that he does not pop-back to his tomb world and be lost from the scientist.

My ideas for the list you gave.

**Dr H**

Nice one Shas', Good thoughts.

For that, I'll show you the progress on the repaints:

Just the bits and pieces left.

**Solar_lion**

Nicely cleaned up re-paints. Thant alone shows talent. good show!

**shasolenzabi**

Dr H wrote:
Nice one Shas', Good thoughts.

For that, I'll show you the progress on the repaints:

Just the bits and pieces left.

Very nice work! very nice to see.

**Gitsplitta**

I do love the beakie helmets... it just says "space marine" to me.

**Dr H**

Thanks Solar. This pair was selected as they looked hideous next to everything else (especially the newer stuff). They were stipped, re-built, and re-painted.

Thanks Shas'.

Gitsplitta wrote:I do love the beakie helmets... it just says "space marine" to me.

I think that's a sign of the time that you got into 40K. The other helmet is what says "Space Marine" to me. Neither is wrong in my view.
This one got the beakie helmet as he's a White Scar marine, and as they are all about fast bikes and stuff he got the streamlined helmet. (every details has a reason)

And now may I present to you, the finished marines along with a breakdown of every layer of paint added to the IF marine.

Before that, I'll show you the before and after photos:
Tactical marine #5: White Scar.

Tactical marine #6: Imperial Fist.

As I said, they were hideous.
Thick paint, little to no highlighting... or even shading in some places.
Uneven edges.
and just a general lack of knowledge of what I was painting.
Not to mention that some numpty didn't remove the paint from areas that were to be glued; hence the reason these were also re-built.

So these were stripped and then I took photos of every layer of paint I added. Here is the full series (with annotations) from primer to tidy armour (no additional details) for the Imperial Fist.

Spoiler:

And once all the details are done, you are left with these (which are the vote-able photos):

Not the greatest of paint-jobs, but as rescue attempts (and compared to what they were), they are good enough.

Ta

A couple of arty projects to finish off and then I'll be back here to start something from the list. Speak now to possibly influence my decision.

**shasolenzabi**

Good rescue paint.

**inmygravenimage**

Impressively crisp - smooth job!

**evildrcheese**

Amazing work on the repaints, they look so much better.

EDC

**Gitsplitta**

Beautiful work. Wonderful to see your step-by-step photos... thanks for taking the time to do that.

**Dr H**

Thanks Shas', Graven, EDC, and Gits'.

No problem, Gits'. Not something that's necessary to do for all models; there were moments where I thought I had a copy of the same photo but could tell them apart from the background changing

Some colours and paint effects vary from model to model, but as an example of the steps I take to a finished paint-job, it'll do nicely.

And the decision has been made. After collating, combining, analysing, subjecting to peer-review, lost, found, lost again, reconstituting, extrapolating, and finally throwing darts at the masses of votes I received on what to do next... I went with my gut; The one model that kept creeping into my thoughts over the past few days is the HAW206.

It's a large, walking, rolling, multi-ped think-tank.
It's got hands, Gatling guns, a cannon, smoke launchers, anti laser-guided weapon systems, and a brain in a box.
The model is even movable, with polyethylene joints.

I'll tease you all with photos of the parts to start with.
From top to bottom;
Turret parts,
Main body parts,
More tail/turret parts and cockpit parts,
Clear parts (inc. stand), and ball camera/sensors,
Arm pieces (2 of everything),
Joint pieces,
Leg pieces (4 of everything),
Scale shot of the larger bits with #6 standing in for scale; this is quite a big beast (but the hatch is very small for 40K scale),
And the last photo is of the first page in the instructions, showing sketches and details of the tank...

...You can see it has a 120mm main gun (smoothbore is says),
12.7mm Gatling guns in the arms,
The scale to a human (this is a 1:35 scale model),
and it even shows how the feet work for walking or rolling.

The kit even comes with alternate parts for the hands and feet for open/closed, walking/rolling.

At the moment, I may not be making many changes to the kit, but small details may be added as I go along.
I'm going to try and keep it mobile, but will have to see how it stands on it's own to see if it really needs gluing to keep a specific pose (it comes with a stand to support the tail for a reason).

The paint-job, though, will be more exciting than shown.

I've just spent all morning translating the instructions to make sure I don't miss something. It's mostly pictures, but there are a few comments in Japanese.

**dsteingass**

OOoh! I love those movable Japanese kits!

**Red Harvest**

Tachikoma FTW!

You were slumming with those space marines, Doc. The HAW206 is a project worthy of you.

**Dr H**

dsteingass wrote:OOoh! I love those movable Japanese kits!

I've only just started this kit and I love it.

Red Harvest wrote:Tachikoma FTW!

I was looking for Tachikoma kits when I found this one, and it flew all the way from Japan for less than I could find locally.

You were slumming with those space marines, Doc. The HAW206 is a project worthy of you.

A sprinkling of "normal" is what helps to give meaning to the madness.

Oh My God, this kit is amazing!
Not only did it make it's way from the far side of the Earth for a fraction of the cost, but the mould lines are so well placed and so minimal they are actually hard to find (and so far would be hidden by the construction anyway)...

...And then, to build it, it has pegs and slots and fits together perfectly; just look at the photos below.
Most of this is not even glued (some will be just to be sure, but it doesn't "need" it).

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to use the cockpit for this model as the hatch is very small to see in, and is far too small for anyone in the army to climb in.
However, the kit comes with a brain-case (part of the anime's plot) that I might build a small cockpit for just inside the hatch.

Still, that's not going to stop me painting this cockpit up and seeing how it goes with the rest of the kit.

**inmygravenimage**

Extraordinary indeed. How exciting!

**dsteingass**

That's a sweet command console. Much fun painting those screens.

**shasolenzabi**

That will be awesome when painted and finished!

**Camkierhi**

That looks to be a beautiful kit sir, agree, can't wait to see some paint on it.

My son has been collecting Gundams, from Japan, wife has been getting them, they are usually really nice kits. I commented and have a nice shiny one in a box waiting just for me, keep putting it off.

So will you go with the standard colouring, or is the scientist getting this for his army, I was looking at it and thinking how cool it would be to paint decloaking.

Lastly, I bet you could get Grots to crew this puppy!

**Batō**

I approve

No, seriously; looking forward to see the kit coming together.

For all GITS-fans something I came across yesterday (little off topic, so I'll just link):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvzrzu6ukBk

**Dr H**

Thanks Graven. Coming off the back of a major scratch-build, a nice kit is very exciting.

It is nice isn't it, Dave.

Hope so, Shas'.

Camkierhi wrote:That looks to be a beautiful kit sir, agree, can't wait to see some paint on it.

My son has been collecting Gundams, from Japan, wife has been getting them, they are usually really nice kits. I commented and have a nice shiny one in a box waiting just for me, keep putting it off.

You should give it a go. I was putting this one off since I got it at Christmas (things to do, etc...), but it's going to be a joy to build.

So will you go with the standard colouring, or is the scientist getting this for his army, I was looking at it and thinking how cool it would be to paint decloaking.

Of all the tech' this thing has that would probably make it OP in a 40K game, cloaking is not one of them, that I know of. However, if I see a kit for the think tank from the first GitS film I'll be getting that and it'll be cloaking.

This one though, will be getting an exciting colour scheme...
...well, I say that like I have it already planned. It's not, but it will be...distinctive.
At it's size, camo' is not really necessary, so "intimidating" will be the word.

And it won't be subtle like the Predator.

Lastly, I bet you could get Grots to crew this puppy!

Possibly, but they'd need a booster seat.

I do possibly have a model that'll fit (Infinity pilot), but it'll need testing once I get to that stage of the kit.

Batō wrote:I approve

No, seriously; looking forward to see the kit coming together.

For all GITS-fans something I came across yesterday (little off topic, so I'll just link):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvzrzu6ukBk

Of course you do, Batō.

Yeah, I'm not entirely sold on a live-action GitS film. Especially Scarlett as Motoko. Don't get me wrong, Scarlett is very hot. But Motoko is something special that goes beyond just hot (and beyond Black Widow, which might be the obvious comparison).
But the Geisha from those teasers does look cool, so there is hope for the visuals in the film. But I still have a soft spot for the artwork that goes into an Anime or Manga.
Will she make a good Major, we'll have to see...

Anyway, done a bit of painting in the cockpit:

That actually looks quite a but rougher in the photos that I expected.
I may either pull it apart (it's only press-fit together, but they are very tight fits), or throw a black wash over it as I think I'd like it darker anyway.

And in other news:
I got a new toy for my birthday...

A 3D printing pen.
Ooo, Ahh, but what can I do with it?

I'm sure I'll find a use for it, but, NEW TOY!

**Dr H**

Right, so I pulled the cockpit apart and re-painted it.
Then added the screen details, etc.
And then stuck it in... why? Well it turns out quite a few points on it are used, structurally, for the rest of the model.
But we'll all still have the pictures to remember the interior detail:

The two pieces of the cockpit then push into location holes in the base of the body.
The front piece first because the seat on the rear piece overlaps with the lower edges of the front and pegs into the triangle of small holes you see in the first picture here:

The top-down view shows how cramped the cockpit is, and the last shot shows it fitted in.

These photos then show various sub-contructs being added around the cockpit,
All just press in to location holes and slots,
The top of the body then fits on, locating into 12 separate slots/holes/pegs at once.

And this is the body together (now glued and curing with a rubber band around the front).
Also, the Infinity pilot that could fit through the hatch: I'm going to paint her up, but leave her separate as standing on the seat you'd only see her head and shoulders peeking out the hatch, and then the working hatch would also be worthless. She is now the designated driver of the tank for this army.
Number 5 for scale; this is just the front part of this tank, no legs attached, no turret/tail.

Onwards.

**dsteingass**

I, for one, appreciate every single little detail you put into that screen never to be seen again

The Altimeter gauges especially!

**insaniak**

Great work on the cockpit detailing.

**Dr H**

Thanks Dave. There were so many dials... How many dials and screens does a tank need?!

Thanks Insaniak.

As this is an unusual model for this forum, I may as well cover every step, and they are coming along quickly.

The main body:
With the top on, it was time to start fully closing it in and adding details.
Notice the 3 little dots on the white sphere? You'll see many more of those about the body, that's how the pilot sees. Every angle is covered and many can move (on the model too, that one can rotate and move up and down a little; that'll be easier to show when it's painted).

Those square boxes on the sides push into the holes on the sides of the cockpit inside; I've not glued them, they can be posed.

The hatches open. I don't know what the little one is for though, probably refuelling.

The next couple of shots show the quality of the model kit. See the pencil thin lines of putty; that's all the gap filling that is required.

And then there's the sensors, anti-laser-guided-weapon lasers, Bull-bar to protect the headlights, and the thing underneath (that again can be rotated).

The final photo shows the "hips" of the tank, and yes, another "eye" underneath.

Then the turret was built.
These photos cover about 40 pieces.
The gun can move vertically in the mount, and the mount can move vertically, while the whole thing can rotate 360deg.

Then the "tail" was built.
Each of those ball sections is about 14 pieces.
And there is a huge degree of motion about each joint.

And finally, the body and tail come together to create a beast of a tank, and it's not standing on it's legs yet...

Arms and legs to come next.
I may need to find a larger model to show the scale...

**dsteingass**

That is so Rivet ready you know....

**Camkierhi**

Looks amazing. Kit is really nice. Great work on the cockpit. Dave is correct, needs some rivets.

**shasolenzabi**

Excellent work on the cockpit screens, and looking good so far, yes a big beast and will be a great addition to your army Dr.H

**Dr H**

dsteingass wrote:That is so Rivet ready you know....

Well... it is a bit thin on the finer details. I'll look into it.

Thanks Cam'. It is a lovely kit. You need strong fingers to push many of the parts together fully (and if you do the gaps are non-existant), but really nicely designed and tidy kit.

Thanks Shas'. Yeah, this should give many of your tanks a run for their money, and I've now got a total of 2 tanks (3 if you count the Wave Serpent).

Next job was the arms.

Very flexible with those 3 balls and two sets of hands.

And then it was the legs.
2 sets of feet for walking or rolling.
Lots of joints but not quite the range of motion I'd have hoped for (many armour plate clashes).

Looks lovely all together.

And that's the basic building done.
Now that Dave has mentioned rivets I'm going to have to add more details; thinking cap on...
The push-fit joins between all the separate sections are pretty good. It seems to be able to hold it's pose (so long as it's not too extreme), so I'm going to keep it flexible and not glue any more.

And I mentioned that I needed a larger model for scale purposes; how about my Predator (as a Space Marine can stand under this tank with room to spare):

I think we all know who'd win that fight.