New Year's Model: Hilda Garde III

The first model of the new year is another commission: the steam-driven Hilda Garde III from Final Fantasy 9. No photo-documenting of the construction on this one, as the servitors and Squat mechanics in the construction hangar eschew photography as a matter of principle. Also, I was halfway done before I thought of doing so. 

Like the newer Highwind produced  previously, this version of an ancient model is an improvement over the original in so many ways. 

Aw, I still love you, old Hilda Garde model. Even if you're not as accurate as the new one. Man, I was such a slacker in the old days. 


I used the same parts where possible, and different parts to improve both the look and structural integrity. Like the Highwind rebuild, this one also left me wanting to tear down and rebuild the original (not to mention keep the rebuild; oh well, I'll always have the picture). Unlike the Highwind rebuild, I was able to go out and find most of what I needed from local hobby/game stores, which allowed me to bolt her together rather rapidly. Sharp eyes will note the more design-accurate puller prop in the front, some Warmachine parts for the sexy paddle-wheel nacelles, and a more accurate fish-tail rudder. (I don't know what I had against rudders back then, since my Highwind is way off, too.) Also, this one incorporates a record number of pins, since she has to survive the rigors of the modern postal system. 


Ahhh airships. I do love building them, even though they have absolutely no game use whatsover. Now, if the Square-Enix production designers would cooperate and design some more conducive to scratchbuilding, I'd be happy. Did you see those things in FF13? They're as needlessly complex as the ones from FF12. Come on, guys, I can't make that without a bigger workshop and a blowtorch....


On a closing note, I want to thank Brent of Strictly Average for his interview on BoLS, which has driven a ton of traffic to this site over the past few days. It's a good read (consisting of me spouting off about modelling, plus lots of pretty pictures! ) so head on over and check it out. To those people perusing the blog for the first time, welcome!

Year-end Tanks....

In the spirit of the season, I'd like to start off by saying thanks to all of you out there who have made this blog a part of your day, or week, or however often you come back. When starting off I'd thought I'd be just another voice in the wilderness, and the sense of community around the hobby blogs had just been astounding. I've learned a lot from reading and following your exploits in modelling and gaming, as I hope you have from mine, and I hope to continue to do so in the coming year. 

Anyhow, thanks to a little extra free time during the Christmas-New Year's week, I was able to get  a couple of projects out of the way, not the least of which were my first foray into the realm of pattern Rhino hulls for the Ultramarines. The project was initially spurred on by my purchase of a large bits lot that included some ancient metal Predator bits and an old Razorback turret (in addition to those old mk1 Landspeeders featured in an earlier post).  As with other pattern hulls, the resulting tanks always turn out a bit taller than the originals if only due to the expedient of having armor skirts instead of exposed wheels:

My one regret from the model was that I wasn't able to fabricate any satisfactory exhausts, and had to go with these boxy ones that look a bit like old-style Jeep snorkels. Maybe I'll come upon another bit for the next set of them but this'll have to do for now. The round detailing bits are from Greatcoat Infantry sprues, in case you were wondering. Used sprues will always be the scratchbuilder's friend. ;) 

They're a bit wider too, thanks in part to the width of the plastic i-beams I used for the track sections. The end result is a slightly larger, heavier-looking tank that looks more durable than Rhino actually is.   

I resisted the urge to saw off the barrel from Leman Russ autocannon bit, since I rather like using twin-linked Lascannons (thank you, Vendettas) to bore through the armor of those pesky Ork battlewagons. The metal turret bits (yes, I have another one) sat way too low, however; so low that I had to build up the hull under them to get the turret to traverse past the pintle-mounted storm bolter. Luckily I never throw anything out, and had some Chimera hull bits that filled the bill perfectly. A little plasticard and some riveting later, and I had a rather pleasing set-back Predator with an offset turret.

The sponson mounts were from the same bits purchase, and didn't come with mounting arms, so I made do with rare earth magnets. In retrospect, I probably should've added an HK missile box to the side of the turret, but there's always the next one. That metal front plate was from the same lot as well, and had a Blood Angels blood drop that was easily hidden with a spare Ultramarines symbol. I wish I had more stowage bits, having shot my wad, so to speak, with my IG tanks. Oh well. Being ship-based, I suppose Marines need to travel light anyway. 

Some newly-minted Devastators next to their new whip. Another benefit of the larger chassis is that it actually looks like it could accommodate half a dozen power armored Astartes. Ten... that's still pushing it. 

The old-style metal Razorback turret sits high enough that a hull mount like the Pred's wasn't necessary, which is good, because I wanted to be able to remove the turret and have it read as a plain old Rhino. The hinges on the side and rear doors were inspired by the amazing card work of Klaus Fischer, a modelling deity in my book who's right up there alongside Dave Taylor. If you haven't clicked around his site, go and do so. His vehicle builds are absolutely amazing, particularly his airborne tanks and their working retractable weapons. 

Weird to end with a plug, but I write these things off the cuff, so there you go. Thanks to everybody who made this such a great year, and for sticking with me. I wish you all the luck and success in the world, and better 2011.

Tyracron Update: Mycetic Tombs

These sort of got lost in the shuffle during the whole Highwind commission thing. In truth I'd had them near-done for a while and only just needed to add the final glowy bits, but never really had the time to sit down and do so.


The irregular cathedral door-like pattern picked out on the sprue was sort of a happy accident. I'm a bit of a pack rat, and so I  hold on to sprues forever. When I was searching through my bits box for detailing ideas, I hit on the patterns instantly, rorschach like. Cutting and fitting them to roughly hexagonal facings took some doing, but was by far easier than the initial measuring/cutting/gluing of the plasticard boxes that lie beneath. 

They got the standard "oily metal" treatment Tin Bitz drybrushed with Boltgun Metal, darkened with multiple of black paint washes. I've come to prefer the actual black paint to the packaged ink washes; it comes off grainier and sticks to recesses better. I decided to further highlight their weird geometry by placing the glowy bits in places where the needly sprue nubs create frames, rather than paying attention to the hard outlines themselves.

One of things that makes a Mycetic Tomb better than the standard drop pod is that it seats twenty little buggers or one big monster, and so by necessity it has to be a bigger model. Initially I fretted over making something so much larger, reasoning that people would cry foul, but honestly, you have to be realistic about scale with regards to transport capacity and internal machine workings, even with a the race can bend time and space like Time Lords. 

I tried to suggest this by making them taller and broader, yet thinner. They still look heavy and industrial as hell though; you get the feeling that the Tyracrons colonize worlds by simply dropping buildings on them (sadly, Mycetics are rather flimsy, stat-wise). I had initially planned to use those rib-like Monolith bits for the Tyrannofex/gun barge, but oh well. 

Yes, Grievous looks pissed after his express elevator ride. You would too if you had to fold up to fit in a box that you then ride through the hell of re-entry. Of course, it would have been a bigger stretch if the rules allowed multiple monstrous creatures or something like that. Rules-wise, it would have been nice to have to an initial turn of assault once you bounced out of the thing. As it is, they're only really good for dropping shooty elements like Pyrovores, Zoans, and template-spewing Tyrannofexes.


 Of course, as large as they are, I could use them as Monoliths in a regular Necron army in a pinch, but the real strength of the current codex is in Destroyers, anyway. 

Shipbuilding 101: Another Highwind, Part 2

After all that greenstuffing, the only thing left to do is the basing and painting, and you get:

The only thing I didn't do was paint the hot bomber girl on the side, because she would've been so small it would've looked like a pink squiggle. Instead of using my traditional "glue, then sprinkle basing" method, I used some textured paint as an adhesive instead, and then applied the basing materials. 

After photographing, I quickly boxed her up and packed her away so as to fend off the  temptation to refund the commission and keep the model. I'll have to settle for doing some fine-tuning of my own model, instead...

Next time, back to 40k, maybe some Dark Heresy. I was actually working on a NSFW rogue psyker/necron cultist and some murder servitors while I was waiting for glue to set/green stuff to cure/ washes to dry, not to mention seeming to have finished my Tyracrons' Mycetic Tombs and then forgetting about them. Oh well. The Tyracrons appreciate it anyway. ;)

Shipbuilding 101: Another Highwind, part 1

Here I was, all set to cobble together a second Hive Tyrant, and a commission drops in my lap. Not just any commission, either; the guy wanted AIRSHIPS.

As in, the kind I built from Crimson Skies planes. The Highwind and Hilda Garde III, to be exact. The Hilda Garde I wasn't (and still am not) sure about due to the availability of specialty parts, but the Highwind I was pretty damn sure I could whip up. Plus, I've always wanted to improve on that decade-old+ model with better parts and modern techniques. 

So, what the hell. 4 kits from 3 eBay sellers later, I started up the works. 

Inspired by the fantastic step-by-step articles over at DEI GRECI, I decided to photodocument as I went. Here's how it went down, starting with the Kestrel:

Ugh, what an ugly plane. Let's dismember the fucking thing:

Next, came the Metroliner:

Nice little helicopter, aint he? He gets the chop too:

Man, that was a lot of sawing. Later on I realized I needed the fuselage and sawed off his little tail, too. On to the Ground Hog. In my frenzy, I forgot a before picture, but here's the eBay picture:

After he was chopped,  I set to drilling and putting together the subassemblies. The Phalanx still hadn't arrived in the mail yet;

I drilled into the nose and inserted a heavy-guage coat hanger rod for the pusher prop. I also sawed apart those big engines with a jeweller's saw (this took a while, as they're thick), capped the propellor halves with Tau shoulders, and let the rear half be. Those little winglet with guns became the basis for the Highwind's over-complicated tail. I made it with 3 rudders instead of four, so A) it wouldn't be over-wide and B) so I could center the metal bit and drill a pin hole:

At this point, I turned my attention back to the Kestrel parts, and drilled the pinholes for both this tail assembly: 

Oh yeah, we also have Groundhog bits to manage. This required more pinning, drilling and fitting, using the tried-and-true method of inserting pins in one part, marking their destination in the other using them and some ink, and then more drilling and glueing:

And while I was at it, I got a jump on the crew section with some more cutting and drilling:

That second rod goes all the way up through one part and into the Kestrel fuselage. The forward window section is supposed to be offset, so you can go out on deck and talk to whatever party member was hanging out on deck (I think it used to be Yuffie, barfing over the side). No there aren't bits small enough to make the little railing. It's just too small. The bit on the front is from an old Sazabi-ripoff Mekton mini that went to a better place, years ago.  At this point, I stopped for the day and worked on other things, mostly because there was, as I said, no Phalanx model to hack up. 

Till the next day came and it arrived:

Oh look! My work is half done. Let's get rid of that other wing and saw the front dome off that fucker. An half-hour later (god-DAMN it took FOREVER to saw through) I fit everything together, then it still wasn't long enough, so I had to further hack apart the Metroliner, as previously mentioned. Luckily, all that sawing makes for nice, smooth surfaces for Super Jet (tm) CYA glue to adhere together like rock. I also used a bit of sprue, drilled through and pinned, to anchor the rear strut-- oh hell, just look:

I used a bit of plastruct i-beam (I swear those i-beams have a 1,000 uses)  to square off the top, and also to use as a mounting point for the engine nacelles. Being wider than the Metroliner, we'll fill it with green stuff after assembly. I also made the clamshell half for the rear thruster that pops out when the thing transforms on disc 4. We're pretty much ready to drill into the fuselage and mount the engine nacelles now, so then you end up with this:

Now she looks more familiar, doesn't she? We'll do something about those ugly parts on the side in a minute. How about from the back:

That SM clamshell will get added after we greenstuff the hell out of it. I added a couple of  space marine shoulder pads to round off the nacelles, and then some plastic missile halves (from the same 1/35 scale Tamiya set the mk. 1's bits came from, in fact) to bulk out the fuselage of the upper section. I also used the weensy center bit from the Kestrel for the little hull section on top of the main fuselage, giving us this:

Next went a lot green stuff to smooth out angles and fill in big gaps. The underside of the upper fuselage section, where the Metroliner bit was, needed this especially. I also green-stuffed it to the base(s) and anchored them in place so it wouldn't topple while it cured overnight. In case you're wondering, I didn't buy the Citadel green stuff; A while ago I bought a much larger, much cheaper tube off the internet. 

Yes, that's the good old Highwind mk. 1 in the background, envying her younger sister's more true-to-form modelling and metal hull bits. 

Tomorrow, the big finish!

Cloning Tanks Part 4: One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other...

Every motor pool has one (or more); the Chimera that's been repaired so many times it's a testament to spare parts stores and good ole'fashioned elbow grease. You folks will recall a post way back with some un-detailed and unpainted card tanks at the end? Well, I finally got around to finishing them off, and Chimera #3 is one of those. 

I like the way his rear section looks more like a little vault, thanks to the heavy rivets and imposing-looking hatch. Maybe they carry the regimental mascot and colors inside, for all the armor plating it has:

Those first two Chims came from a lucky eBay win (after unloading some old collectibles, a certain reseller had parts on sale, and... gee, can you guess my buying habits by now?) and I fitted them with upper track guards, so I've basically been holding onto the extra tracks for.... my, over half a year now. As you can see, the hull bears the same trademarks of my forge's reinforced armor, ie the heavy riveting (courtesy of ample sprue reserves). As Chimeras have a five-man fire point and no static lasguns anymore, it didn't seem an issue to model them. Our pattern multi-laser is more of a beam shotgun, as you can see, and the roomy turret actually accommodates a entire human gunner instead of just his head. 

Unlike the stylish sculpted GW treads on tanks #1 and #2, #3's are actually strips cut from a single sheet of Plastruct Clapboard Siding detail plasticard. The strips were laid over plastic  I-beam strips, which I also used for quick and easy track guards. The rear hatch is  static, of course, while I used lengths of paper clip (run directly through holes bored into the sculpted hinges) to articulate the Chimera hatches on #1 and #2. I would've liked the sub-doors on those to open, but they weren't molded in such a way that hinge-boring was possible. Oh well. #1 and #2's unused tread sections made two more Chimera tractor bodies possible:

Need quick and easy Hydra turrets? Get a $7 defense line turret, close the box with plasticard, add a top hatch and a Tau drone for a tracking radar, bolt the AC's on the sides, and then secure the whole shebang to the hull with rare-earth magnets. Those extra-blocky heavy duty treads you saw on the Basilisks way back are a thing of the past, I'm afraid. I'm quite taken with the i-beam-and-detail-plasticard approach to cheap, inexpensive treads. 

Added a few vents to the back for spice. I need to replenish my stowage bits box. I sort of shot my wad with the Basilisks and Leman Russes. But of course, they're modular:

So now I can go back and make two more Hydra modules for the Basilisk tractors, and a couple of artillery modules for these, allowing me to potentially field up to four of one or the other at once! WHA HA HA HA!!! 

Ahem. Sorry, still on the Dalek high from last time. 

I would have made Chim #3 modular, but I'll always need dedicated battle taxis anyway, so it's better to have a mix of modular bodies and static ones, right? Hmm, come to think of it, I need to make something up to serve as a Hellhound, too, don't I? Can't field Hydras all the time.

Tyracron Update: Deathleaper!

This week, another specialty Tyracron: the Deathleaper. That Alien Queen model is the gift that keeps on giving, and her lovely legs were the basis for what turned out to be a fantastic model. I reposed the legs into a sprinting stance, cleaned the lines a bit with green stuff, and anchored them with a brass peg in one stiletto heel. She ain't coming off that base, and she's balanced enough not to tip over:

Since Tyracrons don't have tails (the non-MC ones don't anyway) she has to use her rending claw arms for balance as she vaults along, and probably moves like a gazelle, courtesy of those monstrous Gauss Lances on her other set of arms. They're mounted side-by-side on her shoulders, which makes her sort of a monstrous swiss army knife of metal death. 

Her head is mostly green stuff, combined with a teardrop-shaped metal bit and a plastic Necron head. It's also intentionally not white, as Deathleaper isn't a synapse creature. Since she's a stealth unit, I mixed browns and blacks in with the metallics to keep her overall paint scheme dark. Of course, she probably uses some kind of Necron cloaking device to hide,  since she towers over regular models. 

Those Cryx bits really set the model off, don't they? I had to cut an remount one of the lances onto an opposite assembly from a different arm; lucky for me the upper arm bits were identical. I thought about using Gauss Lances for all my Lictor-based creatures, but decided to give the others the Cryx mecha-talons. After all, Deathleaper's a special girl.

The rending claw arms do have full-length upper arms, they're just bent at a right angle. Most of the metal bits are back over the base's center of gravity, lending the model extra stability. I wanted her forward in an aggressive pose anyway; the GW Deathleaper is just sitting on his haunches and waving at you, which isn't very threatening for something that's supposed to be a horrible assassin-monster. He also isn't leaping, and she is. Take that, GW model-designers.

You perv. You can't stop looking at her ass, can you? The Alien Queen leg bits had these ridge-plates on the outside that, when moved to the inside and welded together via green stuff, made a perfect lower body/hips to go with the Necron Destroyer torso. I had to mold an abdomen plate with green stuff, and reinforced the knees with brass and green stuff as well to  make them even more structural. I toyed with idea of giving her breasts as well, to reinforce the femininity of the model,  but the result would have just looked too silly. 

The photos suggested a turntable anyway, so I thought I'd make a composite. Mass production Necrolictors will probably use recut 'Nid Warrior legs and Warmachine mecha-scythes, but 'Nid Warrior bodies are a little too heavy-duty looking. I might go with a composite of Destroyer upper bodies instead, but time will tell. For now, there are the Harpies to work on, and Tyrannos and Tervies to design and resolve. 

More Tyracron WIP....

Some successful eBay auctions gave me the funds to buy bits for this beast. (a pair of them in fact, as sharp eyes will discern from lifeless husk in the background)  Since Necrons use ghostly Vampire Counts-y names, I thought of calling it a Banshee instead of a Harpy, but that'd just confuse people even more. 


Yes, those are Eldar cannonry bits. Just go with it for now. 


Happy Saturday, people. 

Vampire Skaven Part 3: The Doomtrain

Now that we're past the footsloggers, here's my favorite model in the entire army, if not my Warhammer Fantasy collection. The Doomtrain came about in those heady days when you could just order bitz willy-nilly from Games Workshop. The Storm of Chaos had just come out (yes, I've had it that long) and with it, the lovely Hellcannon kit in all its awful glory. About the same time I was painting dwarves for my friend Brian, and he paid me in trade with an Imperial Steam Tank (yes, the old-school metal model). A Hellcannon and a few bits orders later, and this monster came about.

This is another one of those cases of a model practically building itself. The Hellcannon and Steam Tank parts went together like they were made for each other, and the Screaming Bell bits followed shortly thereafter. The thing was an absolute joy to build and paint, to boot, from the little furnace full of soul-fire in the back to the wight-skaven drivers. It's also too long for even a chariot base, so damned if I know how I'll ever use it in battle.

The little stools of the Warp-Lightning Cannon's engineer minders actually fit right into the little peg-hole in this steam tank deck piece. I particularly love the little gauges and dials, which fit the skaven to T. 

The huge jaw piece for the Hellcannon still sits in my bits box, but the bigass skull piece needed minimal embellishment before fitting to the Steam Tank hull-turned-cowcatcher. I fitted skaven icons over the Empire shield mountings, and the warpstone reactors just fit the model perfectly. The end-bits even run into the grooves on the massive cog-wheels. 

The warlock-engineer hanging off the little platform to the side was an afterthought, as were the chains streaming off of the smokestack on the front. Of course, since this thing is powered by the souls the machine sucks out of the living, what's the stack for? I don't even think the steersman can see over it, anyway. If I could come up with a base to fit it, I might even enter it in a Games Day mini competition. I'd have to come up with track bits that would even hold it up, but it weighs a ton, so stability is ensured. If I did enter it, I'd also want to make a tender for it, if not some other, equally interesting car. 

Here's a shot from the other side. No crewman here, owing to the theory that odd numbers and asymmetry are more interesting. Those warpstone reactors look cool any way you turn them, so no problems with symmetry here, either. I thought of fielding it using Black Coach rules, but it looks even more durable than one of those, if not more deadly to the surrounding troops. 

This is a beauty shot, not an actual battlefield pic. If it were, the thing would steamroll right over that poor rat swarm in the front. Next time, we polish off the army showcase with cavalry.