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I decided to finally start my armored company, and since it will be a rear-line vehicle I'm doing a Basilisk first as a warmup before I move to the vehicles that will actually be doing most of the fighting (you know, the ones that actually stay on the roster).

Started off by putting in a drivers compartment.

Anyways, here's the link to it
http://www.siegecraft.us

-Hans

Impressive. You've done a good job of creating a believable interior on a model that has unbelievable dimensions. I've always pictured a gunner for the Heavy Bolter, but it looks like it's getting crowded in there already. Also, without a removable portion of the vehicle no one will be able to see much of him anyways. Good stuff.

I haven't quite decided yet on the Heavy Bolter, but I honestly hadn't considered a gunner yet.... Hmmmmm. You can fit somebody it there for sure, but because the only view is from directly above, it would mean you need to do a whole figure. I can do vehicle type stuff, but not up to figure sculpting yet.

-Hans

Updated it as of today, ended up doing an interior around the heavy bolter..... but it didn't make sense to me to add a crewmember in there, it's got nowhere for him to see out of when the hatches are closed. Time to start painting the interior now.

http://www.siegecraft.us

That's really cool! Great styrene work. We gotta see it painted!

looking really great. cant wait to see it finished.

will you include electric lighting? or will the natural light from the hatches be enough to show off the detail?

LOL you people suck with all your great ideas and stuff. I wonder if I can sneak some LED's in there somehow, thanks for the suggestion.

-Hans

Updated again, finished painting the interior..... and the photos suck. But it does look nice!

-Hans

http://www.siegecraft.us

Very impressed. It looks like you've got the painting to back up your scraratchbuilding. And the driver's even got seatbelts too! That's sweet. I really dig it. Remember to post when it's done. Don't leave us hanging man!

I dig that heavy bolter. Excellent scratchbuilding there. Solid interior work too. I for one look forward to your progression. Thanks for sharing & happy painting!

More updates again. Chassis is done, tracks are on, and working on the underside of the gun deck.

http://www.siegecraft.us

-Hans

Updated again, started working on the armored cab over the gun breech area. Got it all shaped out and ready to start adding inner and outer details.

-Hans

You are not sloping the side armour (à la the Armageddon Pattern Basilisk)?

I had considered doing that, but the I wanted to minimize the size of the cab. The Armageddon pattern really gets fat on the rear end and I don't like the way it looks from the back. If you notice, it has a good sized overhang on top of the tracks.

I wanted to emphasize the gun barrel itself as well as make the breech area seem bulky too. Going too large on the cab would start making the gun appear smaller. So I decided to extend the plates up from the existing tub, and there just isn't enough room there to make it angle in from the sides.

I'm going to try to post up more pictures tonight after I added the rivets and other external details. Time to start digging into the spares boxes to look for interior details. I think I have some german radios from a halftrack kit that will go nicely.

-Hans

Ok, outside is basically done I think. Still need to decide on the track guards and some stowage gear or not. I want to do a few tweaks to the interior of the gun compartment, but haven't figured it all out yet. Quite happy with the overall look though.

-Hans

http://www.siegecraft.us

It just keeps getting better and better. I like the idea of a sliding loading tray. Are you going to make a jack or something behind it to lift the shell onto the tray?

I've got a few ideas on things for that already, and hopefully my local hobby shop still has it in stock. But it may be a bit fragile, so probably won't get added until after the paint. I don't have too much time for new ideas anymore either, this thing needs to be done by april 1st.

-Hans

That thing is totally rad. Great use of plastic card! Capt K

Small update today, just a basic spraycoat of a darkish grey to see how it all looks before moving on to painting.

-Hans

http://www.siegecraft.us

Ok, more updates. Upper cab interior is painted, base camo coats are down, website is updated.

For the whole thing, it's on www.siegecraft.us

http://www.siegecraft.us/models/basi031.jpg

-Hans

Lookin sweet! Looks like you'll just finish under the wire. Are you entering this in a modeling comp or is your armoured company going to get some action? If you've got an entire company we gotta see some pics of the army.

This is going to be entered this Saturday at a local model show, along with another 3 or 4 scale models of various types such as the Sherman that I also just finished up.

It's the first vehicle of my Armored Company, the rest are still on the shelves at the hobby shops. I may or may not use the Basilisk in the armored company, but I'm going to be doing regular Imperial Guard as well, so who knows. But this is the only Guard piece I have finished up so far. I'm still going over the codecies to decide on what I want to have in them.

Of course, I still have half my Tau to paint and a lot of Space Marine stuff too. Those are puttering along as well.

-Hans

Heh. I think 99% of the people here have tons of unfinished minis staring back at them! I actually wen't crazy and purchased all of the tanks I'll need to complete my Armoured Company for the 1850 level. I almost purchased the Forgeworld Baneblade as well utnil I noticed a major flaw. The front wheels are not connected by anything other than the tracks! Where's the axle! I can't believe such a beutifully sculpted model would have such a major design flaw like that. So, for me I still have to open and build 5 more tanks, then finish scratch building my Baneblade before I'll call my Armoured Company done.

Good luck in the contest. I used to be a member of IPMS, but it's been years since I entered anything.

One thing I can't decide on, and really need to figure out soon, is what color to make the Aquilla's on the sides and top. White looks ok, but stands out a bit much I think. I am thinking of a parchment/pale tan or brown color with dark grey skulls. But I'm willing to take suggestions.

-Hans

Just another small update today. Painted the tracks, did the first (and probably only) highlight layer, and basecoated the aquillas and scrolls in white. Any suggestion on colors for the Aquilla's?

Tomorrow looks to be decals and attaching the last couple parts. Maybe start the weathering and washes.

http://www.siegecraft.us/models/basi034.jpg

-Hans

Oh, there will definitely be some unit markings and other details added on still and those have to go on before the weathering in order to match up. The grey sounds good, and I was thinking a lighter tan as well. I'll see what they look like and pick the best one.

-Hans

It's a little tough to do but I've always been fond of the faded white under oversprayed color. That probably doesn't make sense! I mean like in WW2 when they would paint over the stark white star on the side of the turret on the Shermans. You could still see the star, but it looked faded under the olive color. This would probably be hard to do with multi-color camo, but it's an idea.

I know exactly what you mean, I've done it a couple times in the past. If you airbrush, it's actually not too hard to do if you mix the paints correctly for it. I use either a mix of 1:1:2 of paint, future, and thinner and that seems to work well. If you have a regulator and can dial the pressure down very low, you can also just use very thinned out paint. Just go easy, drop the pressure down, and do very light coats.

With a multi-color camo job, you most likely won't see it overdone in the camo scheme. Generally it's just painted over in one single color. Though you can usually do the same method as above and even in the rare cases that it is painted over in a camo scheme it will work.

-Hans

All Done!, pictures coming sometime tonight or tomorrow.

Somehow, I actually managed to get it all finished in time for the show! I Managed to pull a 2nd place in the Sci-Fi category as well, beaten by a very nicely done small scale AT-ST. I even managed to do up a figure to go along with it in about 2 hours on Friday, eventually finishing about 5 minutes before I had to leave for work (I work nights). Next morning it was a frantic pack up and go right from when the alarm clock went off, as well as an emergency repair on a Sherman I wanted to bring.

Now it's time to start buying more vehicles.

-Hans