Ghost Bears: Kodiak Progress

Hi folks,

It's a bit shameful to admit, but this model has been standing unfinished on my shelf for over 3 years now. In fact, the conversion of this guy was my second post on this blog! It wouldn't be so bad if he was one of mine, but I actually got it for KuriboGoomba as part of a 5 Mech Ghost Bear Star. After painting a test miniature, though, I lost my nerve a bit and never picked them up again. Well, nerves be damned, I'm back stravags!

The Kodiak assault Mech is 100 tons of pure aggression. It is designed to tear strips off anything at close or medium range, with its Ultra AC 20 cannon, twin Streak SRM 6 launchers and 8 (8!!!) ER Medium Lasers. They were one of the main challenges; painting those 8 tiny little green lenses.

The other big challenge is the black outlining of the cracked ice motif, particularly over uneven surface (i.e. all of them!). Let's just say I'm looking forward to never having to do it again.

For a simple size comparison, I put the Kodiak next to the Shadow Hawk IIC I had painted earlier:

Beefcake.

Two down now, three to go. Next will be a Stone Rhino...

See you across the table,

Marc

Dark Angels Servitors: TO-DONE!

Hi folks,

In the spirit of finishing off some of those niggling projects that have been hanging around for too long, I finished some servitors off to go with my Techmarine. I built this squad back in the days when you could have four heavy weapons in a servitor crew. These days the limit is two, so I can see another Techmarine getting painted in the near future. To finish these guys off I needed to replace the old busted green plasma glow with the new stylish turquoise glow. That may not sound like a lot of work, but I think it was worth the effort.

I painted one of the servitors with a fully charged plasma cannon, the other is recharging. Take a look at the next pic and see if you can tell the difference between the two.

The fully charged plasma cannon was drybrushed with increasingly lighter shades of turquoise using a short bristled flat brush. I wet blended some of the same shades into some skin colour applied to the face.

The recharging plasma cannon was painted flat turquoise, then I applied increasingly lighter shades as washes to the base of the plasma coils. I then drybrushed Leadbelchers to the top, so that the glow only appears in the gaps between coils.

These guys are now ready to go and Zzzapp! some Primarines. Not that I have anything against them... or anything...

Zzzapp!

See you across the table,

Marc

Dark Angels Assualt Squad: TO-DONE!

Hi folks,

I finished my Assault Squad this afternoon with another round of green highlights, weathering on the jump packs and some added detail to the eye lenses. Having fallen horribly out of favour for the past couple of editions, this is the best the squad has looked in an awful long time. Thankfully, it hasn't quite been the "painting lipstick on a dog" exercise I though it may be.

I didn't have too much extra to paint on these guys, so I used up some of my time adding a faint blue glow to the jump pack exhaust. I didn't want it to stand out too much (it is not as if they are in the air or anything!), so I just added enough for people to catch a glimpse if they are at the right angle.

I am planning on painting an Interrogator Chaplain to go with the squad, to give them a harder punch in close combat; he's tomorrow Marc's problem :o) Until then, it's time for a Major To-Done stamp!

See you across the table,

Marc

Dark Angels Assault Combat Squad: TO-DONE!

Hi folks,

As part of my To-Do list this year I have a 10 man Assault Squad that I wanted to update for use in 8th Edition. I have owned these models since they were first released and they have seen a couple of different coats of paint (some more comprehensive than others...). A few editions ago I snapped off the plasma pistols because they always seemed to overheat and I was losing marines before I ever made it into close combat. I replaced them with eviscerators, when that option became available. I liked the way they played, they reminded me a lot of the days when you could have multiple powerfists in a squad. It should be noted that in those days (2nd Ed.) I preferred the power axe/plasma pistol combination!

I repainted the Sergeant a little while ago, after the wifey made clear her displeasure of the changes I had made to him over the years. I returned him to a more classic look which I was really happy with.

The eviscerator blades are from Victoria Miniatures, which I have grafted onto Dark Angels powersword hilts form the Ravenwing sprues. The pose on the left hand side comes from some powersword parts I got from Sergeant Waz. To jazz these guys up a little I added a round of green highlights, added detail to the eye lenses and painted the armour joints Leadbelchers which I washed with Nuln Oil (Gloss). I also added some weathering to the back of the jump pack which I will show off when the second combat squad is complete.

I have  had a love/hate relationship with plasma weapons for ever. I love the idea of them but I have lost so many models on the battlefield to overheating it's not funny. Well... it kinda is...

Anyway, I was happy to add them back into the squad. With the new rules I at least have a choice whether I want to put my model at risk or not. In the old days, when you shot plasma weapons they would take a turn to recharge. You still had to choose carefully when to use them but they would not blow up randomly in your face. That is why the plasma pistol/power axe combination was so much fun; you would use the plasma pistol for a turn and then swing the power axe two-handed in the next! to freshen these guys up I gave them the same added detail as the eviscerator marines and changed the plasma glow to turquoise to fit the rest of my army.

So that's half the 10 man squad done, though it feels like I am more than half-way through the project. The next five do not require any major details to be painted, like new arms or shoulder pads. Hopefully, I can knock them over fairly quickly and get the whole squad on the tabletop. For now, I get a Minor badge for my efforts.

 See you across the table,

Marc

DreadTober: Old Six Eyes TO-DONE!

Hi folks,

DreadTober is my favourite community event every year, but it does mean I have quite a few Space Marine Dreadnoughts in my collection. This year I though I would do something different and show my Tyranids some love. Back in the days of 4th Edition, I used to have a Bomberfex that seriously wrecked face. When I decided to repaint my army (they used to be all blue), I never really got around to fixing that guy up. Fast-forward a few years, I decided to convert him into Old One Eye. The only problem was he had SIX eyes (which was very helpful when he was slinging around pie plates in his past life). So a named him Old Six Eyes!

I have a quite a few "twins" in my Tyranid collection, and this guy fit together quite nicely with my Deathleaper.

To convert the original Carnifex I sawed through the start of the tail section and changed the angle, so that he could sit up on his tail like a Zoanthrope. This fits the look of my "snake-form" heavy Tyranid collection. The tail is pinned with a thick pin into the ruins on the base and up into the thorax piece.

I have painted Old Six Eyes as if he has just regurgitated a bunch of stuff that was sticking in his craw. If you can figure out what he has thrown up, I'll give you a cookie ;-) It reminds me of a scene in the film The Ghost and the Darkness, the morning after Remington is dragged from his tent. If you don't know what I am talking about, do yourself a favour and watch the film, it is an oldie but a goodie. Anyway now my army has its own Ghost and Darkness.

Old Six Eyes is also on my To-Do list for this year, so I get my first stamp!!

See you across the table,

Marc

I'm Back from Japan!

Ohayō gozaimasu!

My blog has been a bit quiet the past couple of weeks because I have been on holidays in Japan. My mate KuriboGoomba married his lady love in Kagoshima and we were honoured to share the day with them. It was a traditional Shinto ceremony, which involved drums, Sake and praying to the spirit of the Sakurajima volcano (we heard it erupting the first morning we were there... it was... disturbing). At some stage, one of the costume changes involved Goomba carrying a sheathed Katana. It was epic.

At the end of the trip I spent some time in Akihabara (photo above), the Mecca of all things Mecha. If you are unfamiliar with it, Akihabara is a suburb of Tokyo dedicated to pop-culture; particularly anime, gaming, models and entertainment technology. I went into one building that was nine stories tall, which pretty much contained every Gundam, ever. I managed to find some of those Japan-release-only Ultramarines, which I considered getting because of the shear rarity of the things. Seriously though, I don't need Ultramarines and my To-Do list is full enough already.

I was on the hunt for some Macross stuff, and came across these beauties. They are from the Macross Plus series, which was a favourite of mine back in high school. Thanks to their age, they were dirt cheap as well, so I splashed on a couple of display stands as well.

Hopefully I'll get some time to work on them during the Christmas break, as right now I am fully engaged in completing my Dreadtober project. This year I have decided to show my Tyranids some love and work on Old Six Eyes, my version of Old One Eye. More about him next post!

See you across the table,

Marc