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I've done the majority of the zimmerit on the turret with green stuff and a sculpting tool. Doesn't look too neat but then it never was on the real tanks since it was applied by crews.
Anyway, I'm going to put pictures up later when the turret is finished and the camera has battery. Still need to buy the Forgeworld upgrade kit to make the squad leader (I NEED that dude pulling out his sidearm, looks fooking bad-ass) and equip the troopers with the backpacks and extra kit.

Also have a halftrack conversion in mind too.

Done some more Green Stuffing to a second Storm Trooper:

I've modified the armour to be a lot chunkier looking. I think it looks better.




Zimmerit on the Tiger turret:






Automatically Appended Next Post:
As an aside, I'm struggling to think of a decent name for this particle army- considering they're based on a Wehrmacht theme, I was wondering if any of our German Dakkanaughts might be able to help me out here. I kinda like the sound of the Schwartzwald Panzer-Grenadiers, or replacing "wald" with "weld" (world) or "berg" (mountain).
Also been thinking about names for the vehicles- the "Tiger", as I've been calling it, doesn't fit with the mythological monster theme of naming guard tanks and naming it something like a "Heracles" or "Centurion" sounds more like a marine tank (though I do quite like those names). Has there ever been an imperial guard Minotaur?

Anyhoo, I have the next couple of days off so I'm hoping to have the green stuff done on the Storm Troopers. I *think * the postie is bringing my road wheels on Wednesday so I may yet get the tank all assembled ready for paint this week!

What is Zimmerit? (I feel like I'm playing Jeopardy )

 Elnibbus wrote:
Has there ever been an imperial guard Minotaur?

Yep, sorry. Double earthshaker cannon from FW. What about sphinx? That sounds pretty cool. Although, I don't think you have to worry about it too much, as there is quite a precident for non-mythical creature names: Leman Russ, Baneblade (and all of the superheavies), Malcador, Valdor, Destroyer, etc.

Looking really good, I agree with your preference for the chunkier armour, looks much better.

The zimmerit looks really cool too! GJ, how did you do it?

Btw Rawson zimmerit was like a non magnetic paste put on german tanks to stop people sticking magnetic mines and explosives to the hull. =]

@Rawson: I may stick with Centurion then but it will have the same profile as a Leman Russ, so it probably won't matter either way.

@J-Paint: I did it with 2 different methods, the second one is better though-

I glued 2 strips of 1mm plasticard 15mm apart on a tray and then rolled out a length of green stuff between the strips- this ensured an even thickness. I then took a sculpting tool and scored horizontal lines in it about 5mm long. Once this was dry I peeled it off and glued it to the turret.

For the front part of the zimmerit, I rolled on some green stuff to about 1mm thick and then, using a piece of 1mm plasticard cut to 5mm in width, i poked lines in the putty.

3 hours. THREE HOURS this took! Bloody hell...





For one track unit...

Worth every minute dude!

Agreed! Looks absolutely brilliant! ....should i mention the other side? probably not....

@nerdfest09 and J-paint: Thanks very much chaps!

I'm going to tackle the other side tomorrow when I can be arsed! I've managed to green stuff the legs of 5 Storm Troopers plus I've ordered the Forgeworld Cadian Respirator Upgrade pack (finally) so should be expecting that in the next few days.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ok, so I might have lied when I said I'd leave it til tomorrow:

Made an exhaust system for the rear a la the real Tiger




(The small rods and lid in the inner tube are to prevent explosives being shoved down the exhaust)

Not looking too shabby overall:

not too shabby he says!! It looks awesome! The additions of the small details like the zimmerit and the exhaust covers, gives it the realistic touches that take it from being good to awesome in my opinion, Congrats on splashing out on the FW stuff, always a joy to be able to afford stuff from them! look forwards to see what you do with them.

 J-paint wrote:
not too shabby he says!! It looks awesome! The additions of the small details like the zimmerit and the exhaust covers, gives it the realistic touches that take it from being good to awesome in my opinion, Congrats on splashing out on the FW stuff, always a joy to be able to afford stuff from them! look forwards to see what you do with them.

I agree, great job!

Just needs one thing:

@J-paint: Thanks very much mate I'm going to use the torso drawing sidearm dude as the leader of my Storm Troopers.

@Rawson: Lol, it has rivets already! Rivets weren't exactly very prolific on the German tanks anyway but don't worry- I will put more on it! I also need to sort the road wheels out, they weren't exactly the best cast in the world.

Omgurd! Rivets! you could totally go nuts and get a secret handshake to join the Riveters! they're like the cool kids at school that everyone goes "Oh wow there they are! I wish i was half as cool as those guys!"

HINT HINT GUYS! ;-)

 nerdfest09 wrote:
Omgurd! Rivets! you could totally go nuts and get a secret handshake to join the Riveters! they're like the cool kids at school that everyone goes "Oh wow there they are! I wish i was half as cool as those guys!"

HINT HINT GUYS! ;-)

Haha! Very good

I'm looking at the tank at the moment and I just had a profound thought:

"Why the hell did I buy the Chimera in the first place?!"

I do intend to rivet the side plates and then fill the voids with zimmerit and other bitz'n'bobs. I do however need to get an extra couple links of track to complete the other side...

Just fell over your blog and I must say you have both excellent ideas and skills able to prosecute them to a even better finish.

I only thing there is, I wish you were quicker so I could see more of this stuff.

Thanks Gerner, I wish I was quicker too- would have been on it tonight but I was out at the gun club tonight.

Sorry chaps, no picks of progress yet- just a moan at how long it takes Forgeworld to do ANYTHING!!!

Helloooo folks, small update on the Storm Troopers:



Meltagunner (not finished yet):







I love the look of this dude, even if I do say so myself:



As you might have guessed, I changed the helmets for the Cadian respirator ones- I think they look much better than my helmets, fitting the look of the chunkier armour. I've reasoned that they've probably been manufactured under contract based on the Cadian design.

They look great! (Not that the old ones looked bad at all ) Those hellguns are looking snazzy Where did you aquire those heads? I was looking for some earlier, and couldn't find any except for super expensive on ePay.

Look stunning man! Really, not that I had anything against the old heads, but these look fantastic! I agree with the love for the drawing his pistol guy, love that pose so much!

Thanks guys, going to try and get the Meltagunner finished today.

@Rawson: The heads are from the Forgeworld Respirator upgrade pack (£20 but you do get the back packs, the torso drawing the pistol, extra arms and accessories).

 Elnibbus wrote:
@Rawson: The heads are from the Forgeworld Respirator upgrade pack (£20 but you do get the back packs, the torso drawing the pistol, extra arms and accessories).

Yes, I know of that upgrade, but I didn't know everything came seperately. I thought the whole torso, gun, and head were one piece. Good to know...

The torso and gun are one piece but you can choose which head you plonk on there. You get a couple of cool lasgun arms and arms holding mines/ammo boxes.

Overall though, the quality of the casting on the torso is not great, especially when you consider that it's £20 for a pack. I need to re-sculpt the fingers on the drawing hand. The backpacks and heads are pretty decent, couple of tiny bubbles here and there but nothing major.

Having serious thoughts of asking for a Thunderbolt from my girlfriend for my birthday/Christmas but she'd probably laugh in my face lol.

 Elnibbus wrote:
Overall though, the quality of the casting on the torso is not great, especially when you consider that it's £20 for a pack. I need to re-sculpt the fingers on the drawing hand. The backpacks and heads are pretty decent, couple of tiny bubbles here and there but nothing major.

You should write FW: from what I hear, they have awesome customer service (when you're complaining about the miscasts and air bubbles ) It seems that all the titan threads have gotten free stuff from FW when there's something awry.

Problem is I've already used the parts- green stuffed the drawing hand on the torso and cleaned up all the bits. Have almost finished the meltagunner and a reloading trooper.

Well, looks like I can and should call you 'captain inspiration' now, I don't have any real passion to start a guard army but i'm certainly going to build some and customize them after seeing your work! any hints on what i should build regarding troops? I still want them to be legal in case i get the urge later on :-) I was hoping to build a smallish 10 man unit or 2 different 5 man units? thoughts?

and now it means i'll be pestering you to see what awesomness you do next!

@nerdfest09, well I can only apologize for making you want to build Guardsmen! As for thoughts on customizing your troops, what period of military history interests you/which armed force appeals the most? If I had the money I would have definitely done Death Korps and done them as some Eastern Front Panzer Grenadier Unit but £34 for a squad of ten men (not very survivable men either) is a bit steep.
I've tried to convey a sense of realism to the guys I'm building (is it working?!) so do you want them to look "real" or completely Grimdark?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Zimmerit-ed the tank:



And updated the 20mm:





Thank-you-please!

Fethin' beautiful work dude! absolutely fantastic work I love the tank it looks amazing as well as the gun! makes me even more determined to work on something! :-) I would like a pretty grimdark feel to mine I plan on using Mad robot heads with the goggles for the main troops and the beret heads for special troops! in some kind of urban or s.w.a.t type camo?? any ideas?

now, more importantly, when are we going to see paint on these bad boys? i am really looking forward to seeing them painted up, what scheme are you using? plain greens or camo paint/netting etc.?

@nerdfest09, urban camo looks really good on Guard troops- black, white and grey or even the old Cadian 122nd scheme:

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRlIUeQfh7nQT8oYls5SpqZNSVKNoU63VmlRovpKq1mWdwYwAVHxg

Have you thought if you'd like to do a mech army or infantry heavy?

I'm going to try and get some paint on the tank and the autocannon by the weekend

Paint by the weekend! oh boy, oh boy, oh boy :-) can't wait to see the progress dude! that tank will be so so good!

and I'm thinking Tank heavy? totally different than my marine army.

have you built any more troops? if you plan on giving them all the level of attention to detail you have so far it will be one of THE best i've seen! ..... evaaaa!