Second Strongpoint completed

I appear to be on a roll.  A chocolate swiss roll with a cup of tea would be fantastic about now actually, but I have no swiss roll and if I drink tea now it'll keep me awake.

Yes, after the feeling of accomplishment I got from getting the Damocles Rhino done (I'm still feeling smug, over a week later) I got down to brass tacks and cracked on with the second strongpoint, just to get it done, out of the way and playable.  Tableable. Oh man, what's the word?! Presentable, I suppose.

In a similar fashion to the first one, here it is.

Yeah, that doesn't make any sense now, does it?  No it doesn't. Except to say that this bastion is modular! I didn't just want four bastions the same and decided to make the second one a slightly different and changeable affair.  The base is the doublewide and you can see the turret to go with.  Then there in the top right corner is the tower piece with the door that lets you out onto the lower deck. You can do whatever takes your fancy.  The floors are flippable for mounting The Guns That Nobody Uses™. Spess Mahreen not included.

 

Yep.  I like.  I would like to build a larger one for giggles, perhaps using four or even six Bastion kits with multiple floors, but next project is to get my Fortress of Redemption finished.  I had thought about building it all one piece and mounting it on a bit of scenery but that would make transportation an issue so it'll be in pieces. Then after that I have an ambitious project involving a Skyshield landing pad, two Shrines of the Aquila and some random bits from the Imperial Sector box. Oh yes.  In the meantime, more pictures.  Until soon! :)

 

RELATED LINKS
I never thought it was my (Imperial) Strongpoint...

Strongpoints, Part 2

Strongpoints, Part 3

Damocles Rhino completed

Really? Three months? Yeah... I know. The thing is - Real Life really gets in the way. As does my Tyranid Army which I really got into after the New Year. That's over on the other blog - Hive Fleet Limey.

And this poor fella. Awwww, bless. He's been sat, generally ignored. It's been like a mental roadblock. For ages I largely ignored it after getting it up together, once I'd finished painting the inside. Then I forced myself to paint the left door and get the wings done on the front and the other doors, as well as the dish and some bits n pieces.

Then I got to a point with my Swarmlord model where I am waiting for parts. I was sitting in the "den" today looking at it and decided "Right! Git 'r done!" And I did. Oh, you'd like to see a couple of pictures? Oh alright then.

 

Yes, there IS Dullcote on that.  Very strangely, I can't ever eeeeever get it to go dead flat.  I have a suspicion that the cause is the gloss (Painter's Touch from Home Depot) which is preventing "dead flatness".  I can't figure it out, but I am very leery of GW Purity Seal.  IMHO, it's shite.  I almost lost a couple of RH1N0s a while ago cos of that stuff frosting very badly indeed. Dullcote saved them. And we move on.

The wings on the doors were painted first.  I used a basecoat of Charandon Granite on the stone circle. As the wings were covered in Orkhide Shade from the basecoating I decided to use that a little, and just overbrushed with a thin coat of Codex Grey, missing all the cracks then painted the feathers individually with P3 Frostbite.  The wings were washed with a mix of Badab Black, Future Polish and water in 3:1:1 quantity. Let it dry, did it again. Then I highlighted the feathers with P3 Menoth White Highlight, washed again then did the tips with the white again.  The same was done for the front panel of the vehicle.  The sword was just done with some Boltgun Metal, washed with black.  Then some Shining Gold washed with Devlan Mud.  The gems were just painted in with GW Red Ink.  Yes, I know that missed one! ;)  Skull was Deneb Stone washed with Mud. 

This door was done in quick time.  The wings were bascoat of Granite and drybrushed Codex Grey, washed black. The "REPENT" scroll was based in Deneb Stone (love that colour). The robe was P3 Menoth White Base (basically Bleached Bone), washed with Mud. Very easy. I always paint the recessed panels on my tanks like that.  Just breaks the model up nicely, I think. 

I'm certainly most proud of the crew.  That was what I did first, as you may have read in a previous entry entitled Late And Lateability (I was on a Blackadder kick).  I look at them all of the time, and this model is in my display case with the lid off and the back door down.  I love it.  

 

I love what this unit can do, and so cheaply too! The gaming club is (not) enjoying a hiatus while we search for somewhere else to throw dice at each other.  I may have mentioned that.  I'm definitely looking forward to fielding this innocuous chap to assist my Deathwing and drop a cloverleaf on some unsuspecting troops. As soon as I had finished the Dullcote, I grabbed my second Strongpoint and I've started detailing the bastions.  Pictures as soon as they're done.  And before the end of May.  I promise.

Rhinopredaback!

Hey heyyyy! (Insert Krusty Brand laugh) Lots of Real Life stuff happening, and the 40K has taken a small step to one side of late.  A number of times I haven't been to the club on a Friday and the focus on "getting it done" has been lost for various personal reasons.

I have done SOME work on finishing the Damocles Rhino - working toward getting the exterior detail finished.  I'm hoping to get a lesson in painting wings by my good friend Nick Daniels (go see his Blood Angels work) so I can get to work on painting those Forgeworld doors all lovely and that.

In the meantime I bought a Predator.  Wasn't a planned purchase (like most of my army, it seems).  I don't see a lot of them in use to be honest, and part of the reason I bought it was to fill a hole in a Battlefoam tray.  Another part of the reason was my apparent OCD for building RH1N0 chassis vehicles.  The rest of the reason was THIS BLOG (that means you click on the link there).  I just stumbled across it one day and was so impressed I had to try it.  Here's my effort.

I didn't have the exact same size magnets that Munky had for his blog... I think mine were a tad thinner.  For attaching the Rhino doors, I used pieces of sprue that had been shaved down the correct amount.  If you look at the back of the Predator sponson mounts you'll see that I stuck on thin pieces of plastic which I sanded down until they were thin enough that with the magnet on, the sponson mounts sat in the recesses and didn't wobble about.  The magnets are very strong, and I need to use a lever of some kind (like a #11 blade) to pick the Rhino doors out!

While I was working on the sponsons, I found Munky's blog to be of great help.  Not a specific set of instructions per se, but a great guide.  The colour-coded "carve here" pictures were easy to follow.  I still managed to carve a chunk out of my left thumb though.  I don't know why, it wasn't in the instructions.

The addition I made was to put the aquila on the back door.  Yes, I know Forgeworld make one.  I had one but the hinge peg broke off.  So I carved the aquila out of the resin, sanded the back down until it was thin enough and stuck it on the door.  This door must have been through the moulding machine when the servitor was on the fritz as it had low spots in it.  Again the old useful Tamiya White Putty came to hand. 

A worthwhile project on the whole, I think.  Munky's guide is definitely the best one that I found for this.  It's now in the line-up to get painted! One day I'll get them all done... ;)

Meanwhile - here's a slideshow!