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If you get to the point where you want to work on the bird, lemme know. I got mine yesterday. I have to look up what they cost, but whatever it was, that plus shipping and its yours.

Well, seeing all my other ebay-ordered bits arrived today, I'm getting antsy to start the conversion to be honest

So, flabbergasted by the offer, I humbly accept your offer while digging my toe in the dirt... ^^

Nice work on the land raider btw

Cheers, Smeugal! And he's not even finished!


Alrighty, a start on the Death Company. I didn't want to go for the classic black-highlighted-with-blue-or-grey colour. I started out with a black under coat and the drybrushed them with Mechadendrite Red + black and Mech. Red + orange. Followed by two airbrushed on glazes of Black Ink, with a little bit of red, thinned to a 50/50 mix with water. I also stirred in a tiny, tiny droplet of detergent to break the surface tension.
I then airbrushed on a layer of Vallejo Red Shade, thinned with water, and the bloody thing dried out leaving bright pink lines in the creases of the models. So I then sprayed on another layer of the black/red wash to fix that.
While usually spraying models like this holding them in my hand wearing a surgeon's glove, in my haste, I sprayed some of the models while still standing in the cardboard box I use for undercoating. The cardboard box decided to shed some white fuzz from an old undercoating with white, and now some models have little white specs on their lower legs...

Besides there trials and tribulations I'm quite happy with the effect of the drybrushing and washes. I think it will contrast nicely with all the metallic detailing I'm planning for them.

Some experimenting with a red metallic. The mix was just a bit too thick by the end so some cleanups will be needed here and there.

Whaddayathink?

The metallic red really brings out the muted red highlights on the armour.

I think it needs to be toned down though, maybe a few glazes of black wash would lower the tone abit, whilst keeping it 'red'.

Good work!

I like that meph... it works.

Cheers guys!

I'll definitely have to experiment with it a bit before continuing it on the other 5 mini's. The pictures make it look redder than it actually is. Under standard lighting conditions it's leaning towards a somewhat purple shine. However, it's only slight.
What I'm thinking to do is to lightly highlight it with some mithril silver or chainmail and then give it some glazes of red ink or thinned paint, maybe thinned with some metallic medium.

I'm quite hopeful that I should be able to get to the shade I want. of course, any idea's or tips are more than welcome

Alrighty, I did some testing on a piece of paper, including some highlighting with a purer red, but I think that the solution I came up with is the best compromise between speed and desired look. I highlighted with Vallejo's Bright Bronze mixed with some GW Mithril Silver, drybrushing the rough bits and normal highlighting the smooth bits. I then airbrushed blood red heavily thinned with water, and after that a layer of black ink mixed with a little bit of red shade, also thinned with water.

It's not entire the effect that I first envisioned but I'm ,liking it nonetheless. The deep red copper tint looks more muted than a pure red, and the reddish hue on the black armour gives it a look of dark, dried blood. Which is appropriate for, well, 'Blood' Angels. And I'm also quite confident that once the other detail colours are on that it will tie the unit in decently with the look of the rest of the army. The brass/bronze, some green, the parchments, some metal detailing. There's even one Marine that has a loincloth that I will do in that khaki colour.

What say you?

A very interesting colour set you have there - will be interested in seeing how it looks when finished

As of Friday your SR kit is otw!

I still like it. Get some contrasting colors in there to set things off and you'll really have something.

Thanks guys!

Yeah, I'm actually very eager to get the other colours on there. I'm hoping that the added bronze will give the needed balance to the palette. Yesterday I slowly started the 'normal' metallic details, such as the teeth of the chainswords, and it's already adding much needed contrast.

@Whalemusic: You da man! Again, thank you very much for the offer I couldn't refuse (without any need for equestrian decapitation). I think I already have come up with a name for that Stormraven, or its pilot: "Canticum Cetus" (google translate is your friend). ^_^

Wehey! Guess what arrived in the post today?

Everything arrived intact and I must say that the quality of this Chapterhouse cast is of good quality. They even have adequate interior detailing.

The details and lines are crisp, little to no warping, just a slight bend in the larger parts but they're actually as good as straight. The only bits that will require some serious attention are the two side panels. They have quite a large resin 'bar' on the top edge that's 2-3mm thick and 10cm long. That's going to require careful but persistent sanding.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
This kit really will save me a lot of time and headaches. It's easily over a decade and a half since I handled some plasticard for vehicle conversions and this is just exactly what I had in mind to extend the hull. I'll still need some extra construction material together with the extra parts I ordered off of Ebay to get where I want.

So the master plan is:
-Extend the hull using the kit.
-Integrate two tail booms with the engine housing and cut/relocate upwards the vertical tail to create large vertical rudders, much like a Sukhoi Su-35s (look up pics in Google, most beautiful airplane I've seen).
-add a center boom with no vertical tail, to hold the Dreadnought clamp.
-Ditch the silly top intake
-Position the cockpit section forward well over the front hatch so I can make an attack helicopter-like turret to replace the silly top turret.

Yup, that's right, another project that's crammed into an already full pipeline. Surely Sisyphus's a sissy!

That was surprisingly fast, glad it made it there safe. I used a jewelers saw to cut off the strips. No magical customs charges or the like I hope?

Nope, no added costs whatsoever, hurrah!
Yeah, I've got a fine, thin-bladed hacksaw but it's old and the blade is not 100% straight... I'll see what works the best with the least risk of damage.
Thanks again mate!

I'm excited! can't wait to see how this turns out!

Do the pictures of the Death Company convey their true colors or are they off at all?

Thanks niallkissick, I started preliminary assembly yesterday. I hope to have some progress soon.

@Cypher: Well, the photo's are remarkably close to the true colours, the second pic is probably closest as that has the least of diffused sunlight.

OK, construction question for the Stormraven. I've hot a design snag already.
As mentioned above, I'd like to move the cocpit section quite a bit forward to I create an overhang large enough to put a small turret underneath for the 'main' turret weapons. I can slide the top plate forward enough, no problem, but then I don't have any neat sockets anymore for the wing roots. I'd like to magnetize the wings for ease of transport but If I move the top hull section forward, I'd have to construct a filler plate that's strong enough to hold the magnetized wings. I could also cut of the wing root section off of the top plate but then I don't have enough support for the front section to slide foward for the overhang. Although this might be easier to (re)construct than the wing roots...
I could use some feedback on this conundrum.

Anybody with prior Stormraven conversion experience, don't be shy now!

If the explanation's a bit unclear, I'll gladly post some pics later today

After a while of tinkering...
I decided to stick everything together temporarily to see how it actually looks like as I didn't exactly drew any plans or sketches. I'm just winging it basically.
Everything's pretty much in place. I just need to build the 'chin' under the cockpit and figure out what I want to do for chin turret. A razorback turret is a bit too clunky and the original turret is out of the question. I want to make a simple design that holds up using a magnet and have the turret design simple enough so I can magnetize the weapons as well. Any suggestions are always welcome in terms of bits I could use and such.
And the only other thing to do is to close up the sides, install some canards, and close up the 'neck' behind the cockpit.

Alrighty, ye who hold their silence, behold and comment!

I'm back from the mad professor shed:
Ze gun turret. First design is meant to have the entire gun assembly swivel up and down on the strut. The whole thing is held together by the gun magnets in combination with the central strut, which also has a little magnet in it. Mechanically it works but the whole thing can't stay perfectly straight. the interaction of the gun magnets with the strut magnet results in the strut wanting to rest just a tiny bit crooked.

The last two pictures is to show what direction I'll go for I think. It's a more solid design which will be better to handle. the up-down motion would be just for the guns then, with the central assembly being rigid. the whole will be mounted to a, well, mount, that will go under the chin and takes care of the left-right rotation. (This would also have been the case with the first design) I'll have to cut up another defiler leg to geth the exact piece I want for the vertical strut, but hey, that's why I bought 'm off of Ebay for.

Whaddayathink?

Interesting. I think you might be getting a bit close to having a Space Marine Valkyrie. Certainly is ambitious though.

Pretty cool looking actually...

Thanks guys! Here's some progress on the chin turret.

Well, obviously I need to chop down the support struts and maybe make the center strut shorter as well. Right now the turret looks good but it's way too big and I need to place it completely forward in order to have clearance for the front ramp.
'Winging it' bit me in the bum this time...

Very nicely done... wow.

How do you do the little spots of weathering all over the tanks? It looks amazing but I don't think its salt weathering is it?

This blog =sexy
nuff said

Considering your probably going to have more stuff by the turret (spotlight, sensors, etc), what if you changed the way the doors open, in order to gain more room?

Cheers guys!

@omgitsduane: indeed, no salt weathering. I used the 'dry sponging' technique. Take a bit of mousse like you find in the packaging/blisters, dab on some paint and then just treat it much like a drybrush. Rub off as much paint as possible on a piece of newspaper or such, until there's almost no paint coming off it. Then just dab it on appropriate post on the model. You'll get the best effect if you build up, a bit of black, then a bit of metallic colours, some dark brown and such. That way you create a more natural looking effect.

@whalemusic360: Hmmm that will difficult I think. The only way I can see atm if I cut the door horizontally and have the top bit of it rotate outward or inward, much like the cargo door on a military cargo plane. But there still might be clearance issues for marines exiting. I'll take a look at it.

i love the storm raven! cant wait to see more.