Imperial Flight Officer Lt. Varras gets a new coat (of paint)

A few years back I bought a couple of large lots of abandoned Warhammer collections. In hindsight I suspect weariness with older 40K editions and blind AoS rage where part of the reason the second hand market experienced a glut of badly photographed shipping boxes filled with random models. This Imperial Officer, Lieutenant Varras, was in one of them. I repainted him this weekend.

Don't rest just yet! You'd better strip and paint my crashed ship as well now!!!

A small update on lots of little projects

These past few weeks I've gotten a bit distracted by work and the ever dangerous time sinks called computer games. If you value your hobby time I suggest you skip The Long Dark and Kingdom Come: Deliverance. With Fallout 76 almost out I worry it'll be December before I get around to some serious painting again (probably not, I tend to get bored quickly and suddenly after too much screen hours). In the meantime I have found some idle moments to blast away with my airbrush, drop some superglue on unsuspecting models and take my brush to (ancient) metal. It's just that every time I start, there's a computer game calling my name...

I think painting dead(ish) skin is one of the most Zen experiences in the hobby.

My Imperial Knight Errant stomps onto the stage!

The part of Ferrous Maximus in my Crusaders for Knowledge army will be played by Remulus Ortyllis in his Knight Errant. I had to change the weaponry on my first Imperial Knight as going for cool trumps all considerations of following nice pictures in rulebooks (and rules). With the re-release of Renegade I got the chance to get a nice bit of scenery and two Imperial Knights at a splendid price. As I always wanted an Imperial Knight, getting two was too good a deal to skip. I have to admit I got a bit overexcited by having the kit and started building it between waiting for my Necromunda barricades to dry. Yesterday evening I put most of the finishing touches on the model (excepting a few small details I added this morning before breakfast (I may have gotten carried away by this project).

I know what you're thinking, did he fire at 100.000 gigawatts or 150.000 gigawatts. Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself.

Tech-Priest Dominus Gregorius Dol added to my Admech strike force

While painting my Skitarii I also took steps to put the basic color blocks on a Tech-Priest Dominus. This one needed a bit more love and attention as it is a main character in the strike force I'm painting. I also had to take some hobby time out to run around the Mojave dessert. I am replaying Fallout New Vegas to find out why it gets so much more love then Fallout 4 (short answer so far I love both of these unpolished gems and I don't get it). Anyways this Sunday I took the time to finish the Tech-Priest Dominus. As I am feeling utterly uncreative I have been following along with the Crusaders for Knowledge strike force in the new Adeptus Mechanics Codex. That makes my life easier as I instantly get a name for this guy: Gregorius Dol.

"Aside from technical expertise I have a working knowledge of Word and Excel."

Skitarii Rangers and Vanguard at the ready!

This week started with a Monday off. As I actually had time to take the day, I decided to do a (virtual) arm swipe over the painting table and start fresh.I already have an impulse buy of Belisarius Cawl on the plastic pile and with the Forgebane box getting split up by everybody I took the opportunity to pick up two units of Skitarii and two Tech-Priest Dominus models. I love the Tech-Priests. They manage to combine the character and horror of old school models with all the complexity that makes new-fangled plastic miniatures great (sorry I can't help being a heretic). To add to the challenge I decided to see how fast I could paint two full infantry units to a reasonable standard. Well Thursday morning before work I put the finishing touches on the bases (I globbed on crackle paint) and here is the result.

The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, he said.

Mysterious door

What is behind this mysterious door? What was above it before war struck the building? No one knows, but it's there...

Building a Warhammer 40K Tactica Control

After completing my Plasma Generator I was planning to go back to Sketchup and design the next building. But as all my hobby stuff was just lying around anyway and I only had little bits of foamboard left, I decided to just start cutting and gluing and see where I would end up. I started out with a picture of the Tactica Control from Dawn of War.

So I replicated the support pieces and tried some different angles to see if I could space the building correctly.

Painting the Warhammer 40K plasma generator

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening applying layers with my airbrush to the model (and to some Basilisks that have been waiting for their camo for quite some time). I spent quite a lot of time masking the cooling ribs. This is the stage right before the masking tape came into the equation.

Grandfather Nurgle lends an (un)helpful hand

This part of the project brought quite a few fascinating mistakes, some Nurglesque spillage and one or two good things.

As I left off last time I was about to cut the rear platform to size because I thought it too big. Before doing that, I decided to go to the local store with random cheap stuff (or as it is known around here, the Action) and found these bottles of 'Glitter Glue' if only my Eldar army was unfinished......

You can't call yourself a true Dire Avenger if there are nog glitters on your uniform!

Building plasma generator coils

I started cutting and gluing the plasma generator coils yesterday and discovered quite early on that a) my sizing was off and b) I was almost out of 0,5 mm foamboard. Well I still had plenty of 0,3 mm and I decided to just make the model about twice as broad.

I started by cutting the base of the main generator and the 'concrete' spines.

Designing a Warhammer 40K Plasma Generator based on Dawn of War

I felt like making some buildings from the Dawn of War computer games. Scouting around the internet it seems that most people go for the Infantry Command or the Space Marine Chapel Barracks. Although both of these are nice, they are also huge and I would like to go for some smaller buildings. So I decided on the Plasma Generator. First step for this project was Sketchup. These are my first sketches. More news and info as I start cutting the foamboard.

 

Sand on the base of my plasma generator

Last night I got around to basing the base and, cut off some blemishes and finally gave the model a second layer of Gesso and PVA mixture. So it looks like I can actually start grounding today.

  

Building a huge Warhammer 40K Manufactorum

I managed to find some spare time to invest in finishing this long project. I started out airbrushing the entire building with consecutive layers of Shadow Grey, Fortress Grey, Skull White. I like Shadow Grey and think the combination has the right concrete look to it. After this job I airbrushed a rather astonishing amount of wash around burned out and bomb-shelled windows and other features (and where fancy took me). All I can say is long live Vallejo for supplying these huge barrels of wash (black and sepia for those keeping score).

Making a cargo elevator platform

Another day, another bit of hard labor on the Manufactorum. I made a little inset today to put behind the door as a raised factory floor. The PVA glue is still a bit wet on this pick, but it will dry up nicely I expect. Also featured on this picture is the grounded and beveled base of the building.

Making concrete walls for Warhammer 40K buildings

Today was very productive. I started out getting Gesso, a few new spackle knifes (I forgot to clean the old ones, may the emperor forgive me). I started out by applying a straight layer of filler over the brushed on layer (which is a lot easier that applying filler straight to foamboard). This was the result:

Experimenting with Warhammer 40K concrete

So work is steadily progressing on this building and with a bit of luck I might actually start painting it around Wednesday. Anyway here goes the next bit.

I put in the rear wall section here (on the left side):

Building the walls of the manufactorum

So I have been cutting and pasting another number of hours to get ahead with the manufactorum and got to the first hurdle. Turns out that no matter how much time you (well I) spend in Sketchup reality has a way of catching up. As I was cutting away at the walkway (on the cutting mat here):

Cutting foamboard for a manufactorum

Today I worked out how to cut the building from 5mm foamboard using some printouts and I adapted the doorway to fit in a leftover 'eagle door' from the Sanctum Imperialis kit. I also cut the major parts and glued what I could. Now to wait for the glue to dry. Here is a short update on the first step including one showing a space marine (to give an indication of the rather massive scale):

Using Sketchup to design a manufactorum

I really like the manufactorum on page 27 of Cities of Death so I'm going to try to build one to use as a centerpiece.

As it is always hard to see the back of a building on a 2D photo (har har) I've started this project on the computer using Google Sketchup. This way I can make a basic plan for cutting my foamboard (it is exact to the millimeter and I have used 5mm and 3mm foamboard as my building blocks, the little perons at the front is scaled to Astartes height). Also it gives me a chance to consider if the building will work on the tabletop. I am still in doubt to be honest, it is rather high so climbing it during a battle will cost allmost the entire battle. On the other hand it will block line of sight and if succesful it will look great. It will also give me a chance to use a lot of pvc piping I have lying around after a major home renovation project. So there we go.

Finished the Warhammer 40K jungle ruins

I finished the last buildings of my jungle temple. To start with I completed the building with the balcony. I angled one of the top walls to give the impression that the building is slowly collapsing.