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This remains as one of the all time best scratch builds anywhere, glad to see her on the table again after the great spill.

Simply one of the most brilliant models ever made, so influential and inspirational. Truly magnificent.

Oh and where abouts in Scotland?

wow, haven't seen that in a while. Great to see you working on it again

Thank you guys!

Yes, I think it is time for the old lady to be finally completed. She survived 3 cats and began to think she was cursed.
Currently we are without cats - so what better time ?

Well I decided to experiment a bit more with the already painted part. Trying to tell more of the "painters" story. So one understands what is exactly happening.
So I took the challenge of doing the Dencara Cloud Pattern with a brush.


While that dried I completed the damage of the upper story of the body.


Wow, that damage stuff IS time consuming.
So maybe more already painted elements?


I also started the blue ornamental flag on the observation deck.
I still need a good Latin phrase - so if you can spare one


To provide more context on the paint process, I also provided a strip of bare metal in front of the rust resilient paint.


Uff!
The base for the body damage done.


It starts to tell a story of its own.


But it took my quite some hours to get all the damage painted on her.


So how could I continue with the upper decks?
More damage?


I decided to take the easier route
The upper and command deck is already painted. She is returning to Xantium after a successful campaign in the south and we want her to look representable when she returns for her parade.
Of course the command deck with the officers as well as the landing platform where first visitors are arriving, must be spit-shining sharp, right?


So I started to do the cloud pattern to the sides.


Here at the front some bare metal.


Then the lower deck left.


Not much new here.


And the right side lower deck.


Back to the front


Here you can see the instructions for the paint detail.
Indicating the two colors (Solarblau and Sturmgrau) as well as the transition line.


And this is how she looks


This will be the last post for the next two weeks.


I hope I will continue when I return from Scotland.


But right now I feel pretty confident I will

So, what do you think of the different paint versions and the story to it?
Cheers
Klaus

So epic. It really is a masterpiece.

EDC

Loving the battle damage and the ad hoc repairs of bolting on pieces to cover serious wounds. The partly painted parts are also really nice as it shows that they are taking the time to repair such an honored vessel.

As for Latin phrases, here's a link that could help. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/07/25/latin-words-and-phrases-every-man-should-know/

I like "fac fortia et patere"- do brave deeds and endure (not seen that used before), I think it's fitting with all the battle damage done to the ship, but there were other good ones on the list as well.

Enjoy your trip....watch out for sheep....and their mates

Wicked, been following the Athena for a fair while haha, good to see it not forgotten.

Ridiculously good work on the PHRIKE and KAIROS diorama - the hybrid scratch / kit bash was wonderful to watch...

As for the ATHENA, what can I say but,

Beautiful work....Wow. I am in awe!!

Tanks look great, Klaus. Good job.

Good to see the ship back on the desk. Looking nice. Keep at it.

Great to see ATHENA back on your workbench!

 Klaus, not Santa wrote:
Thank you guys!
She survived 3 cats

And did those cats survive her? =)

 ishkatar wrote:
Great to see ATHENA back on your workbench!

 Klaus, not Santa wrote:
Thank you guys!
She survived 3 cats

And did those cats survive her? =)

Hey ishkatar,
well maybe it was misleading, but no.
During the ATHENA build time I lost 3 cats...


But hey!
I'm back
The trip to Scotland was great!
We had excellent weather,


visited SAS country,


did some boat trips,


listened to many Pipers,


and enjoyed the local pub-live


Scotland really is worth the trip

And against fears, the ATHENA was still on my desk when I got back, and she continued to draw me to her.
I think this time I'll finish her.

The first thing I did was to extend the "clean-and-paint" scene.
So I added some platforms


and extended the areas already re-painted.


The entire front of the ATHENA is now freshly painted,
while the rest is being worked on.


The Tech-Priest has already added his instructions and paint guide.


And here on the right, I will add a welding scene.


Similar to what I did for the "Prototype" dio.


Here you can get a rare glimpse of the underside.
As you can see most of the paint is already "stripped" and some rust resilient paint applied.



While completing most of the body paint, I was thinking about adding another piece to the nose area.
This is the first sketch.


But first I had to complete the rest of the paint job.
Top deck and radar completed.


I added the paint with the closed armored shutters over the windows.


But mounted them open.


Top deck and railing completed.
I also completed the railings for the main deck.


And the rotors.


One of the rotors is already painted in rust-resilient paint


With the body completed I started with the weapon systems - like the
KERES Forward Rocket Launcher System


Then I painted the Hydras.


And the NEMESIS Mk MCMLXIX CWIS Trieste Pattern


Wow, this really felt like the final spurt.
Only some more weapons!


The PHRIKE Quad Lasguns and POLEMOS Mk XV Fuzz Pattern AA-System


So I decided to add another Athena image to the nose area.


Pretty stylized and golden.


Yesterday I had some daytime hobby time and was able to build the stand for the ATHENA.
I used some 4mm Plexiglas.


Wit this I can add the belly-mounted AA system and it generally looks like flying
I'm pretty pleased with the result - first time working with Plexiglas.


And I decided I need a proper backdrop for her. I still had some mounted canvases around and splashed some paint on it


Sorry for the blurry pic.


And last not least I finished the nose image.


I still have to add the slogans to the two flags on the observation deck to finish the ATHENA itself.
After that I will paint the various crew members and painters.
MAYBE (but that's a large maybe) I'll add a shuttle scene to the landing deck, where a high ranking representative is landing and being welcomed...
We'll see.

Wow guys!
It's been quite a trip from here




And I thank you all for being part!
I can't count all the comments, suggestions and encouragement you provided.
THANKS!

A true master piece. Amazing every single time I look at it.

Thanks Mate!

Well, for those interested in the Dencara Story, I have added some new story elements, including the legendary Colonel Estara (remember the first pics of the ZEUS on page 1? ), as well as Colour Sergeant Gunnarson, and slave N056223.

http://fischers-design-shop.blogspot.de/p/chapter-i.html
or here on Dakka-Dakka:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/689780.page

and I created some maps (still WIP though)




Cheers
Klaus

Hi all,

thank you all for your feedback on the ATHENA
Unbelievable, but she's done - everything left is now Eye Candy. Whatever is not finished now won't hurt the ATHENA at all.
But I still have many ideas for the ATHENA.
The painters and welders on the ATHENA will be important to tell the story and make the paint-job better understandable.

There are also the two golf players on the rear deck


And as mentioned before I'm looking at a shuttle/reception scene for the landing deck.
I already have some characters sculpted for this:


So the idea now is to have s shuttle on the landing deck.
The shuttle transported an important passenger - I'm thinking of a female Consul or Ambassador or a High General - and a reception party is waiting for her to exit the shuttle...
maybe with a piper?
:-D

So I drew out some plans.


Maybe you can see the first images on the right, were leaning towards my old THANTALOS Airborne Carrier (Dec 2007)



But I'm also trying to incorporate the newer PONOS family looks into the design.


Still bulky, brutal and retro.
Lets see if it works.

The job of the HERMES is similar to the old Sikorsky Sky Crane


Which could also carry a personnel pod/container.


So I started with the passenger pod.


With doors at the side


As usual a lot of Green Putty is needed


And here's the basic body of the HERMES already on top of the pod.


Needs putty.


Initially I had planned to do a visible cockpit like I had on the THANTALOS,


but the windows will be way too small and narrow. So it will be painted windows instead.


Next I worked on some of the thrusters.


Which are mounted on the underside.


After an extended sanding session the basic body of the HERMES looks very much like I intended.


Then some more thruster works for the "wings".


And a first layout plan for the passenger pod.


Maybe you can see that the VIP pod will have a large throne like seat at the left -centered to the rear wall - with two consultants seat next to the door, and then 4-6 bodyguard seats along the right center line.
Well, that's the plan
So, what do you think?
Cheers
Klaus

Looking good!

Saw a Sky Crane in Chicago once, flying between the buildings with HVAC equipment dangling below it. Majestic.

Hi all,

thank you for the comments and feedback
As promised to Malevengion here's what I've planned for the passengers.
I absolutely want to try these Eisenkern Stromtroopers


and these Female Panzerjägers.

Both sets are from Dreamforge Games, come at a reasonable price and offer some nice poses and weapon choices.

From a modding perspective the parts offer lots opportunities and scale wise they fit nicely into the WH40K scale.


For the two females I'm not sure if they'll be additional Bodyguards and get weapons, or if they'll be more assistants, maybe holding PDA's or the like.

What would you think?

As for the Governor, I fancy this Raging Heroes TGG Strategist
(http://www.ragingheroes.com/collections/tgg/products/ludmilla-magdanova-strategist-kst)


With either this head


or helmeted with mask.


Again, what do you think?

But on to building
I continued with the wings.


Which are mounted to the rear, so they don't hinder or obscure the VIP pod (or any other transported stuff)


And mounted on these wings will be the rotatable fins with additional thrusters.

These will also act as additional landing gear.

While the putty for the fins cured I started the main rear thruster.


Which looks rather nice to me


On the ATHENA it would look like this.


Enough room to accommodate the reception scene, don't you think?




The visiting party with the HERMES.


Lastly I built the frame for the pilot's windows.


Looks just like I had envisioned it.


I hope you like it as much.

I look forward to your feedback - especially on the head choice for the Governor and the role of the two female troopers.
Thanks

Klaus

I like the unhelmeted head and having worked protective services before, I definately think those young ladies need guns.....

Another amazing build project. Mostly lost for words but re: The head for the governor I prefer the first pic.

EDC

Hi all,

as usual thank you for the feedback, comments and emails
I hope you had a great weekend with lots of family- and hobby-time.

Some of you have asked me for a scale-/comparison-shot of the Eisenkerns and TGG compared to the 40K Guards.


Here's a 40K trooper between an Eisenkern and a Tough Girl.


Here I mounted two standard IG arms on an Eisenkern Panzerjäger female.


And this Panzerjäger has two Forgeworld Krieg arms, with a standard IG trooper on the right.

All-in-all I think they fit together well and since the Empire of mankind spans many different worlds with very different gravities, the differences in physique can be explained easy.


Well, in the meantime I built another, greater turbine fan.


And I mounted it in the forward section of the HERMES.


With this last major piece of the built in place I started to add armor plates and a front grill.


With the help of the great tool by Camkierhi it was quite quick. These PVC Cutters make the cutting/snapping of thicker (1.5 or 2mm) plasticard really easy.

Thank you Camkierhi!

Before I could add more plates and panels I wanted to try and add light effects again
Those LED strips are really easy and once you know how it's done you can lights quite quickly.


I decided to add light effects for the thrusters first.


Powered by a 9V block battery.


I mounted the cables, so they would add to the Imperial look and feel of the HERMES shuttle.


While digging through some of my old build stashes I found this old seat section I had build for some obscure project


With these it was quite easy to build the interior of the VIP pod.


And of course the Pod needs lights too, right?


I also tinted the thruster LED's blue and the interior lights red, using Airbrush transparent ink.


The VIP pod also needed a throne like seat for the governess.


Then the pod doors.


Which are mounted in the open state for the scene.


Together with the ramps.


Light test


After the successful lighting of the model I completed the additional panels and plates.


The final HERMES.


So I started to finalize the reception scene. For this I decided I'll need a piper


After some GreenStuff sessions I got this.



The two female Eisenkerns received assistant's accessories.


And I decided I needed a saluting officer on the deck.


Two guards for this side.


The complete reception scene.


A welder working on the bomb shaft completes the crew.


The 23(!) crew memebers assembled for priming.


The VIP pod received the first lick of paint.


Since the HERMES with the black primer looked quite menacing to me, I decided not to go for any of the Dencara campuflage patterns, but to keep it (almost) black instead.
So I painted it in a very dark violett.


And I will try to add dark red highlights and maybe skull ornaments, similar to what I did with the ZEUS.



So, what do you think?

Cheers

klaus

Shuttles coming along nicely.

That tank is a thing of terror and awe Klaus!!! Phenomenal work as ever and always

I'm thinking there must be some secret sorcery to your impressive skill and that I must master it in order to become a tenth as awesome as you!

Teach me your ways!

Well done, Klaus. I would have said "on finishing the Athena", but you are still adding to it and making, what is already an amazing model, even better.

The HERMES looks amazing, I love the design .

Thank you guys!

Well, as I stated in the last post, I don't want to paint the HERMES in any of the Dencara camouflage patterns.
So I started out with a dark red and a parchment/cream color pattern.


Together with bronze highlights and metal drybrush it keeps the menacing dark appearance,


but also the VIP style.


Since this is the personal shuttle of Governess Felicitas zu Hammerstein it needs her coat of arms.


Her house is also symbolized by the golden Griffin.


Which is needed on both sides.


For the VIP I decided on a more Inquisitorial symbol.


The whole shuttle.


For the other side too...


And this is now the finished HERMES shuttle - VIP version.


On the ATHENA deck



With the Dencara background.




And her current residence in my office.


With this now completed I began painting the crew.
First is of course the piper.
Here's the start of the tartan pattern.


And the finished pattern.




I hope you like the look so far.

While I still have a lot to do - painting the 23 crew characters that is - I'm already thinking forward to the next projects.
Plenty lot of ideas

Aurelius 12 Reborn on Warseer suggested:

Dare I open up the floodgates by asking if you're considering modular cargo as your next project.

Which re-kindled an old idea I already had.
An Airborne Assault!
And with the HERMES I think I have a nice delivery vehicle.
Probably based on something like this here:


Even though I think of an "almost touch down" of a militarized version of the HERMES maybe on a hilltop and the troopers leaving the assault pod - more seats, bigger doors.
I hope I can restraint myself from starting until I have the 23 painted

Cheers
Klaus

Love your freehand coat-of-arms etc. stuff.

Ooo, look forward to a Chinook type thing.

But get the current job finished first, be a good boy.

Thank you Dr. H
well it's not going to be anything Chinooky
It'll ba a HERMES air assaulting and the soldiers disembarking like on the Chinook image.

Well, I'm trying hard to finish the project, but progress is slow right now and this is just a little update.


I was able to finish Felicitas zu Hammerstein last night.


She's the visiting VIP on the ATHENA deck.


I think the colors work pretty good.


Yes, it's a bit of black-red-gold ;-)


I also finished the Piper last night.


Amazing to see how plump those WH40K models are when you compare them to the TGG and Eisenkern models.


After the washes the tartan pattern is tones down, but still visible.

I hope he'll look good on the ATHENA.

Well, last not least I worked a bit on her entourage.
These guys still need some love and I'm considering adding the golden griffin to the shoulder pads.


But other than that, I think I won't add any other details, or should I?

I hope you like today's update.
Cheers

Klaus

Hi all,

I hope you had a great weekend with lots of hobby and family time - and for my US friends I hope you had a great 4th of July!
I spent the weekend in Munich with my wife and friends and we had a blast despite the ever changing weather - what happened to summer again???
Nevertheless, I did get some work done

I still had to work on the Eisenkern bodyguards. And one thing I wanted was a good crest for the shoulder pad.
Since they belong to Felicitas zu Hammerstein I wanted to have a griffin.
Here you can see the development of the crest from left to right.


Once pleased with the design I tried it on the first trooper, using Bubonic Brown as base color.


With some minor adjustments I applied it to all the bodyguards.


For the other shoulder I wasn't sure at all. I tried to do something with the Inquisitorial colors - white, red, black, gold - Red, white, black was out of the question, as it resembles the German Kriegsflagge. Red, white, red is the Austrian flag, which I didn't want to use either.
So I experimented with red, white, gold a bit.


But that didn't work out either.
So in the end I used the red, white, red with a black Inquisitorial "I" superimposed.


Still a touch too much WWII Germans for my liking, but without historical legacy, it looks great.
So here are the finished bodyguards.


I'm quite pleased with the result.


I wasn't quite happy with Felicitas zu Hammerstein and some of the color transitions.
So I reworked some areas - especially the face.
She acquired an eye-patch and I think it looks better now.


So here's the visiting party on the ATHENA deck.


I can't suppress a grin.


The piper.


And last not least I started with the ATHENA reception party.
They're all in Dencara Navy Blues.


Still a long way to go, but I'm actually pleased with the progress.
What do you think?
Cheers

klaus