Dreadtober: Construction Complete!

Hi folks,

I have decided that I will be painting my Techmarine Dreadnought before I completely assemble it. Through the wonders of Blutac, though, I can show you what it will look like.

I didn't factor the slope of the armour on top of the sarcophagus into the orientation of the servo arms, so they are on a slight angle. This isn't a big problem though, as conceptually they can rotate freely anyway.

All of the weapons I have chosen have a use that is additional to combat and which suits the role of a Techmarine.

The sarcophagus armour isn't quite as smooth as I would have liked it to be, but that is understandable considering the state it was in when I started. I doubt I could get it smoother without inadvertently removing other details, such as the rivets.

I added a small crux to the seismic hammer arm, which fits the Deathwatch theme. On the other arm I have attached a stylised skull and cog symbol of the Mechanicum. The Dark Angels symbol is, of course, on top of the sarcophagus, in front of the potential coil.

Withe the black undercoat done, I have already knocked over the first stage of painting. Next stage I will adding layers of grey where I will be painting red later, as well as the first of the metallics. Lots of paint scheme decisions to come!

See you across the table,

M4cr0

Dreadtober: Dreadnought Servo Arms

Hi folks,

Arguably the most iconic wargear of the Techmarine is his servo arms. This poses a challenge to people trying to kit bash a Techmarine from other parts and an even greater one for those attempting to construct a Techmarine Dreadnought. I would like to propose a solution.

Step one: get yourself a Killer Kan...

Killer Kan arms are fantastic material for making large servo arms. The pincers and saw can both be used with little modification, specifically the removal of everything remotely spiky or orky. Unfortunately, the one I had in my bitz box was missing these parts, so I had to improvise even further.

First I sawed off the arms leaving both the ball joint and a flat, smooth piece of plastic for attaching to the Dreadnought sarcophagus.

I removed the flamer to be replaced with a plasma weapon, as well as the gas tanks. This took some careful razor saw work. I also removed all of the spikes and filed them carefully. The twin plasma gun is from Victoria Miniatures though you could just as easily use another weapon from the GW range, or re-position the flamer nozzle that was just removed.

Before you ask, that was a Tamiya Clear Red spill form a while back, not Marc Clear Red.

I also added a Landraider sponson targetter for good measure. It makes it look more Imperial (Orks have no use for targetters). Voila, one Dreadnought-sized plasma cutter:

The claw posed a bigger problem. I took a close look at the rest of the Killer Kan and switched on my converter eyes, the ones that see what things could be, instead of what they are. I saw this:

I sawed carefully away at both legs to produce two parts for the claw of the servo arm. One facing of the claw had plenty of detail, which I would have facing forward on the Dreadnought. The other facing would require some more parts harvested from the rest of the legs.

I glued the two parts of the claw together then pinned the whole assembly to the servo arm to produce this:

So that was the two servo arms done! My last job for the night was to convert a conversion beamer. I used a 2nd Edition Dark Angels dreadnought twin-linked lascannon and a Space Crusade heavy conversion beamer. The targetter on the lascannons was making it hard to saw through the barrels, so I intentionally removed it to be replaced at the end. Here is the final product:

Phew! Kitbashing done, all I need to do now is bring all of the pieces together and give it a spray undercoat. Let's hope it isn't so windy tomorrow ;-)

See you across the table,

M4cr0

Dreadtober: Construction Begins

Hi folks,

After staring at my acquired Ironclad Dreadnought in consternation for a while, turning it over in my hands, I decided that the weird wall-thing on its back would be the first to go. Not knowing how it was glued, I jammed a metal file under there and started levering.

The back end popped off pretty easy but the rest of it was quite obviously glued using polystyrene cement; the plastic of the wall was bonded strongly to the Dreadnought. Not strong enough though:

What a mess!

Now that I knew polystyrene cement had been used, I was a bit grumpy (...just a bit). Super-glue, in most cases, I find much easier to remove and clean up. I decided to use my wire cutters on the sarcophagus guff, with the intention of cutting/filing down to the original detail.

Again, it became very obvious that this part had been super-glued on! What in the why for? Anyway, it popped off in two pieces pretty easily, revealing a mess of super-glue underneath.

"Let's use all the super-glue!"

The Imperial Laurel on the left side came off very easily with a hobby blade. I then started working with the blade to scrape away excess plastic and super glue, which left me with this:

Not perfect by a long shot, but ready for the next step.

After a quick bath in Simple Green, the addition of a potential coil and a Dark Angels symbol, as well as a black undercoat, I have the body of my Dark Angels Deathwatch Techmarine Dreadnought ready to paint!

For my next trick, I will be constructing some servo arms and converting a conversion beamer using some seriously old school bitz.

See you across the table,

M4cr0

X-wing: The Defense of Bespin

Hi folks,

This week I discovered a new FLGS, though I use the term lightly. Not that the place wasn't friendly, you just couldn't play any games there. Combat Company is an online store here in Sydney, with its headquarters a short drive from my place. Whilst most of their sales are online, you can buy directly from the warehouse, which is a surreal experience. Sgt Waz and I made the road trip and parked in the middle of this industrial/commercial estate; all of the roller doors were closed and only one door was open. The whiteboard on the wall as we walked in said something like "help yourself to a basket" and I was all like, "I won't need a basket"...

They had everything. EVERYTHING. I needed a basket.

All of the best miniatures games were there, as well as extra stuff by other companies that support the same games. There was also an aisle of bases. I bought myself some Infinity miniatures and a terrain pack, then spied on a top shelf above the register this gorgeous playing mat for X-wing:

We broke it in with a quick game between my Bespin Defense Fleet and some random Rebel ships that Sgt Waz chose on the fly, including two A-wings, an X-wing and Lando in the Falcon. With my heavy laser toting Heavy Scyk Interceptors, I knew I could deal damage at range, but up close the StarViper (Guri) would need to punch way above its weight, even with an advanced proton torpedo kicker.

The Bespin Defense Fleet steams towards the Rebels at full speed.

Early on I put as many shots on the Falcon as possible, stripping its shields with an advanced proton torpedo volley and nearly destroying it with heavy lasers. The return fire heavily damaged my StarViper.

Advanced proton torp to the face in 3... 2... 1...

As I came around for another pass the Falcon's turret destroyed my StarViper, but an M3-A Interceptor returned the favour the next turn. The limitations of the heavy lasers were starting to gnaw at me. I couldn't shoot at all at range one, so I was now maneuvering carefully to set up range 2 shots. Edit: I forgot that I could still use my primary weapon! Gahhh! I may have been at home playing X-wing, but my brain was obviously still at Combat Company, pouring over shelves and shelves of shiny cool stuff.

The Falcon is taken out from range 3, after a previous critical hit reduced its agility and Sgt Waz rolled a blank.

I started to whittle down the shields and hull on the X-wing, as the A-wings were proving too nimble and weren't doing much damage with their flashlights. Then they teamed up to take down an Interceptor and it was a 1 vs 3 battle!

Maneuvering to shoot an A-wing at range 2 whilst staying out of range 1 of the other A-wing and arc-dodging the X-wing. My best move of the game.

My plucky little Interceptor managed to take the X-wing down to the brink of destruction before running out of luck.

The return fire was deleterious.

Sgt Waz can chalk this one up as a win for the Rebels, though I'm sure Lando will be unimpressed by the dings in the Falcon.

See you across the table,

M4cr0