Space Marines Army Finished?

It’s the weekend…  And everybody loves pictures; especially pictures of fully painted armies.

Here’s my Space Marine army in all its; small… glory.  It’s not much, I can muster 1200 points.  I’m not entirely sure what I want to add to it, if anything at all.  Perhaps a bike squad or a Vindicator.

Predator Heavy Support

The latest completion for my Space Marine army is this, in my opinion, beautifully painted Predator Annihilator.

The sponsons are actually magnetized, but I find that I rarely, if ever, use the heavy bolters.  For a tank that can not move and fire all of its weapons… If I’m going to sit still I want to make sure that whatever I fire at dies.  Dice gods willing and all of course.

I must say that while painting this tank I have fallen in love with Dheneb Stone.  This foundation paint combined with Devlan Mud equals pure win.  It even managed to make painting the headlamps 1000x easier. 

Quick and easy headlamps: Lay down a good foundation of Dheneb Stone followed by Yellow Ink and then Gryphonne Sepia wash.  Give it just the tiniest highlight of Skull White and you’re done.

Yes, I said Yellow Ink… I still have full pots of all the GW inks.  Jealous? :P     You could use some watered down Sunburst Yellow to get the same effect though.

 Thanks for dropping by and reading my post.  Cheers!

Odd-toed Ungulate Or Rhino

I finished up this bad boy the other week, but hadn’t gotten around to posting it until now.

 

Here it is next to its brother…

 

If you’re curious about the arrows you can find out how I did them here.  Thanks for stopping.  Cheers!

Squad X Transport At The Ready

‘Men… zero hour approaches.  Swallow fear and be strong in the face of death.  Go forth in the name of the Emperor and show the archenemy what it is to be afraid.’

<Mission data inloaded, insertion point acquired.> ‘Awaiting orders, sir…’

‘Advance!’

I finished up my first Rhino today.  All in all I think it came out pretty good.  It’s a little brighter than the squad, but no matter.  It has more surface area so it was bound to be a tad brighter.

Nothing overly exciting about a Rhino so I tried spicing up the post with that bit of creative writing.  After finishing up Titanicus and jumping straight into Blood Pact, I felt an urge.  Let me know what you guys think about the Rhino.  Cheers!

 

A Stroke of Madness

Well… not really, but it’s cool never the less.  Time and time again you’ve all heard me go on about how I can’t free hand paint.  It’s OK though, I’ve come to terms with it and I’m finding that it’s not a hindrance after all.  This ‘folly’ so to speak, in my hobby abilities forces me to create ways of getting around it.  So I suppose it’s not really a folly at all, depending on how you look at it.

This post coincides with the last one about painting squad markings on the Rhino’s hatch, but this time around, there will not be any painting.  While I may not be the first person to think this up, I don’t recall ever seeing it before, so at least for the duration of writing this post, I’ll consider it my own… stroke of madness.

I took a sheet of 0.8mm plastic card and traced the Rhino hatch out on the plastic card with a pencil. 

I then measured out an arrow that would fit and look the way I wanted it to and cut the pieces out.

I roughed up the edges a bit because a little damage makes it look better. 

Lastly I have the finished product and in my opinion, looking damn good.  I like the raised effect of the plastic card.  This will most certainly be repeated on the other rhino, its hatch is already submersed in Simple Green.  It’s mostly simple and easy to accomplish and repeat… I say it’s a WIN.

That’s all for now.  Thanks again for stopping by.  Cheers!

Painting Squad Symbols On A Rhino

I’ve always fancied squad markings on the top hatch of Rhino’s.  I’m not entirely sure why, but they’ve always seems fitting.  So naturally that what I want to do with my Rhino’s.  The unfortunate reality is that I can’t free hand paint worth a damn.  Here’s one solution that I came up with, it’s probably not new, but it works really well.

Scotch Tape is a great thing…

Here I masked off the area in the shape of a tactical squads arrow.  I made sure that the very inner edges were pressed flat to keep any paint from running underneath.  If you try this you can tell that you have good adhesion when the tape is nearly transparent.  Since I wanted my arrow to be white, in this step I filled in the area with Codex Grey.

 I used Fortress Grey in this step to help make it easier to paint on the white.

I forgot to take a picture in between painting on the white and this step, but I’m sure you’ll be able to fill in the blank.  After painting on the white I pealed the tape back to nice crisp lines.  Sadly I also discovered that my arrow was slightly off.  So I again used some Scotch Tape were I needed to make corrections.

Here’s my WIP Rhino with the hatch.  Overall it came out pretty nice.  While doing this though I had a stroke of madness and thought up a crazy idea for the second Rhino.  Which may end up being repeated here depending on how well it turns out, but you’ll have to check back after the holidays to see.  ;)

Happy Holidays everyone.  Cheers!

The Mega Post… Moonscape Finished

I finished up my first set of Moonscape craters tonight.  I have to say… The results are better than anticipated.

I wanted these to match my Realm of Battle Gameboard so I opted for the blasted dirt look rather than the gray up heaved bed-rock scheme.  The colours are those used in the Citadel Scenery Pack and the edges were textured using the Vallejo Black Lava.  Here’s a picture of them sitting on my desk after being primed.  The Black Lava does a nice job to cover up those horrid and unsightly flat edges.

After priming them black I used the Citadel spray gun and applied on a nice even coat of brown over the whole crater.  I then used a large flat drybrush to make the black blast area in the center and then drybrushed Ochre brown over the outer edges.  Finally I applied Devlan Mud wash to the deepest crevasses.

Here are some other projects that I am slowly working on.  Three tanks for my Space Marine army.  I’ve not done much other than prime them and use the spray gun to give them a coat of Mechrite Red, but it’s a start.

My most recently painted Space Marine squad got their decals and were designated tactical squad no. 10.

I assembled my Shrine of the Aquila.  Honestly, I had forgotten I bought the thing.  I was under the bed pulling out some paints and such for the Moonscape and there it was.  I’ll most likely paint it up to match the picture on the box, but somehow tie it in to the rest of my buildings.  The Shrine is HUGE…  Frosty the Snow Marine gives you size comparison.

 

Well, I’m afraid that’s all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.  Cheers!  :)

Magnetized Predator Sponsons

I magnetized the sponsons on my Predator about a week ago.  I finished assembling it and then primed it black before realizing that I had not made a blog post about it.  It’s a bit late to really give a proper walk through, but better late then never I suppose.  My apologies if this all seems a bit confusing.

Fortunately magnetizing Predator sponsons is probably one of the easiest things to magnetize as there’s very little modification needed and no drilling necessary.

I started by clipping the off the flat extension that goes into the gun right below the block portion.  A 1/8” magnet fits perfectly onto its surface.

I then cut a little piece of 1/8” thick plasticard to fill in the gap where the extension would have gone into the guns and glued another 1/8” magnet, centered on top of what was the hole.  I chipped away some of the primer so you can see the magnet a bit better and if you look closely you can see the outline of the plasticard piece around it.

Doing it this way still allows for 180 degrees of rotation.  It does however, prevent the gun from pointing up or down, but really, just how important is it that the gun be able to point up or down?  In my opinion… It’s not important at all.

Using the 1/8” magnets was perfect because it placed the guns at almost the exact same height as the non modified part.

 

I did have the turret magnetized also, but it was rather flimsy so I’ll not bother going into detail how I did it.  After some consideration I decided to just glue the twin-link lascannon into place.  Honestly, I can not see myself ever using the autocannon and should I some day decide to… There’s always ‘counts as’.

Thanks for stopping by.  Cheers!

The New Tactical Squad - Finished

Alas I have brought my Space Marine army back to its full strength.  I completed the tactical squad that’s replacing what I’ve dubbed my ‘snow marines’.  Not familiar with that story?  Click here to check out Frosty and his friends.

I’ve decided that this squad isn’t going to directly replace the old one.  I don’t want them to share the same fate or be damned by relation.  This squad will be roman numeral X once I get the decals on.  “But Chris, the title of the post says ‘finished’.”  Ah, right you are and there’s a reason, all of which will be explained in a later blog post.

Without further rambling… On to the pictures.

Comments and criticism welcome.  Thanks for stopping.  Cheers!

The New Tactical Squad – Progress After the Mishap

I’m not one to do ‘progress’ posts of incomplete model, but it’s been awhile since I’ve made an honest hobby post.

If you follow my blog you will know that recently I ruined an entire ten man tactical squad using GW’s Purity Seal.  For those that missed that whole ordeal, you can read that post here… (clicky)  It was a hard lesson to learn and one that I’ll surely never repeat.

I’ve devoted all of my hobby time to painting up another tactical squad to bring my Space Marine army back up to full force.  The below pictures showcase their current state of completion.

 

In a way I’m actually happy that my last tactical squad got ruined.  It has allowed me to really focus on the hobby and reminded me just how much I really do enjoy it, even when things go wrong.

Keep an eye out for the squads completion and thanks for stopping by.  Cheers!

When Good Models Go Bad

It’s a mournful Saturday for me and my proud Space Marines…

Today was the day that my local GW hobby center was hosting Armies on Parade.  I had intentions on attending to exhibit my army as well as get in a game or two, but to do such was not my fate.  My entire army has not been matte varnished and I thought I should probably do so before showing it off.  As you’ve probably already guessed and/or cringed… they frosted. 

I did start with a test model that came out perfectly fine, so I proceeded to spray an entire squad of ten.  All of my hard work ruined.  The once brilliant red dulled and defaced.  See the originals.  I did recall a tip; to get rid of the frosting use rubbing alcohol.  Big Mistake!  The below is what rubbing alcohol will do.  It exacerbates the issue ten fold.

There is actually two entirely different things which are both generally referred to as “frosting”  and these occur in one of two ways.  Cloudiness – After the varnish dries it takes on a cloudy or milky appearance.  This is an adhesion problem.  When the varnish does not properly cling to the model surface.  Frost (above picture) – After the varnish dries it looks like it was just removed from a deep freeze.  This is a surface issue where thousands of microscopic pits develop and refract light in all directions.  This could be due to the surface the varnish was applied to or an uneven coat.  To tell which is the case; take a clean brush with some clean water and go over the whole model.  If the cloudiness does NOT go away than you have an adhesion issue.  If the frosty look DOES disappear than it’s a surface issue.  The water fills all of the microscopic pits to create a smooth surface that light can bounce off of in a single direction.

If you have an adhesion issue than I’m sorry to say, it’s time to get the Simple Green and start over.  (Some have had success using rubbing alcohol to remove the cloudiness, but I strongly discourage this unless you have nothing to lose.  See the above picture.)  However, if it’s a surface issue you’re not entirely out of luck.  To try and correct the surface issue you need to fill in all of those tiny pits.  You can varnish the model again with a gloss varnish and then try a matte medium again or if the frosting isn’t too bad, you can try Microscale Industries Micro Flat.

Micro Flat is a liquid resin that dries crystal clear.  It can fill those microscopic holes and help get rid of the frosty look.  Here’s an example of a frosted Space Marine and then one I went over with Micro Flat.

Micro Flat does have a bit of a shine to it, but it’s not bad and could most likely be reduced if diluted with a bit of water.  I painted the above model with Micro Flat straight out of the bottle.  Micro Flat’s true design is actually a decal finisher.  If you’ve ever used decals you’ll know that once dry they tend to have a close to gloss finish.  Micro Flat can be applied to tone down the decals shine and seal it into place.

Unfortunately I’m still going to bin the whole squad that got frosted.  So the next couple of days I”m going to be in full throttle hobby mode trying to pump out another tactical squad so I can get this army back onto the table top.

Genesis Chapter Landspeeder

Just as promised, here is my Genesis Chapter Landspeeder.  Dealing death swiftly across the battlefield… before suffering a weapon destroyed result and becoming useless.

Yes, it is magnetized and you can find out how I did it here.  You may notice some gaps in the assembly and there’s a good explanation for this.  This particular landspeeder came from a 3rd edition box set that had been sitting / baking in a hot garage for years, so the bodies were warped pretty badly and gave me some fitment issues, but nothing I couldn’t handle.  I made the best of it and overall I don’t think it came out to badly.

The paint scheme is still the same as all my other Genesis Chapter stuff so if you feel so inclined please look at some of my other units (clicky) and let me know what you think.  Thanks for stopping.  Cheers!

Genesis Chapter Chaplain – My Personal Masterpiece

Hi all, Oni here… and after weeks of devoting all of my hobby time to completing my Genesis chapter chaplain, my own personal best, I present it to you all now.

I love chaplains and I love this particular model so I decided to go all out and do it the best I could and I have to say, I’m very pleased with the results.  I’m not going to type out a full how-to on this one like I normally do, there’s just far to much.  If you’d like to know how I painted a particular aspect of my chaplain feel free to ask me in a comment and I’ll fill you in.  Thanks for stopping by.

Genesis Chapter Tactical Squad #2

So I’m starting off May with a bang by completing Tactical Squad #2 of my Genesis Chapter. Just in time for Games Day. I feel like I rushed these guys, but no matter, I’m only aiming for a good table top quality. This squad much like squad #1 (here & here) are snap fit, but are from the Battle for Macragge box set. I found these guys on eBay for $20.00 so I couldn’t pass them up.

I tried a new flesh tone on the sergeant and used a different technique on the bases. For the skin tone I started with Dwarf Flesh like I normally do then did a wash of Ogryn Flesh, but then highlighted using Elf Flesh. I’m pretty happy with the results. As for what I changed about the bases… nothing more than using a heavy over-brush technique rather than dry-brushing. I also tried painting my Purity Seals Bronzed Flesh followed by Gryphonne Sepia wash and highlighted with bleached bone. I’m not as happy with the results so I’m going to stick to my old way... Starting with a Bleached Bone base.

You can find out my colour scheme(s) by looking at some of my other Genesis Chapter posts. (here)

I suppose after this I’ll move on to the half painted Landspeeder that’s been sitting around for a month. Comments and criticism welcome and thanks for stopping by.

Some More Magnetic Joy!

I’m back in gear with making some hobby progress. I had a little bit of down time, but now I’m all ahead full. Coming down the line there will be posts on scenery for my RoBG, bringing my Genesis Chapter up to strength as well as Grendel posting updates to his Death Guard, so keep an eye out.

On topic… Awhile back I posted a ‘how to’ on magnetizing a Razorback. This is a small extension of that post. Since I’ll be using my Razorbacks as Rhino’s as well I wanted to make the appropriate interchangeable parts.

 This picture shows the mount on which I can place a Storm Bolter or a Hunter Killer Missile. Conveniently enough this mount can be flipped upside down when I’m using the model as a Razorback without any of those two options.

It’s so nice that the design of these bitz make it easy enough to magnetize for interchangeability. Here is the Storm Bolter. All I needed to do was use my pin vice to drill a small 1/16” hole in each side then press in the magnets.  Of course taking care to line everything up and making sure my magnet polarities were correct.

This is the Hunter Killer Missile. This bit took a small amount of thought to figure out a good way to magnetize it, but again the overall design made it easy. I chose to place the magnet above the fitment stud as the plastic anywhere else was to thin to drill. I used the same size magnets, 1/16” diameter by 1/32” thick.

And the final results…

 

Thanks for reading! :)

Magnetizing A Razorback: The Definitive How To

With the 5th edition vehicle rules making the Space Marine Predator less than practical, what is a Space Marine player to do? Take Razorbacks, that's what! I grabbed two of them for my Genesis Space Marine chapter. I intend to use these not only as Razorback, but also as Rhino's as the kit will easily allow for both. The Razorback, like most every other vehicle gives you the bitz for various weapons load outs and that of course is where the magnets come in.

I wanted to magnetize the Razorback as easily as I could without having to purchase additional bitz. So I ended up doing most of the work right the turret mount. 

I started by clipping off and smoothing out the pegs that the weapons normally mount to.

I then took two 1/8" diameter by 1/32" thick magnets and glued one to each side of the mount where the pegs had been.

Using the same sized magnets I was able to simply press them into the holes on the weapons where the pegs would have gone. It was quite convenient that the sizes matched up so perfectly.

A test fit to make sure everything lines up well and the magnets would in fact hold when positioning the guns. 

Next I had to solve the issue of the armoured carapace that sits on top of the guns. I went ahead and magnetized it also. The magnets didn't need to be all that strong since the carapace just sits on top so I ended up using some smaller 1/16" diameter by 1/32" thick magnet. I simply used my pin vice with a 1/16" bit to make a hole in the bottom of the carapace and pressed in the magnet.

Subsequently I needed to give the armour carapace something to attach itself to. As you can see in this picture, using the same magnets and technique I placed two more small magnets into each of the guns. I also needed to trim off the little rail on each gun that the carapace normally fits onto.

And here is the final results. To switch out weapons I simply pop off the armour carapace remove each gun, snap in the new gun and replace the carapace.

An important note... Make sure to check you magnet polarities before committing to glue or pressing it into place. Thanks for stopping by and reading, I hope this post helps anyone who's trying to mag their Razorback.  :)