And now for something completely different....

By now you all know my love for robots and mechanical things. Get a load of what DARPA's been doing lately. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather my tax dollars go to something like this than lavish parties for GSA members or hookers for the Secret Service. It seems they haven't really solved the portable power issue yet, but they'll get there. Is anyone else unnerved by the sneakers on the thing?


Thanks for the tremendous outpouring of support for the Stormraven in competition over at MWC. If you haven't voted yet, we've got some stiff competition from a certain Dreadnaught, apparently, so please help propel our plane to victory. 

Contest Day!

Well folks, the MWC conversion contest featuring my Stormraven (below) is upon us. Please head on over to Miniatures Wargame Conversions and help propel my birdie to victory.

Thanks in advance!

Stormraven Conversion Finished!

In the spirit of doing what I say I'm gonna do this year,  I fixed a Stormraven model so it's the proper length to carry just about everything. I also did so in record time (for me), because the original deadline for the Miniature Wargames Conversions contest (again, thanks in advance for your vote) was set two weeks short. Now, two weeks is a hell of a lot of time. I could put in some LED lighting, hinged a proper dreadnaught ramp-- hell, I could've properly jointed a dreadnaught to fit in there. But, alas, I had to settle for a finished bird. Oh well. 

And she's a big one, too. All kitted out, she's as long  as an IG Valkyrie from its nose to its twin booms, and sits higher on her landing gear. Maybe a little too high, but it was important that the chin turret had clearance. Plus, half the time she'll be carrying jump infantry anyway, and the front storm hatch is actually at just the right height to walk right out of. You'll notice I dispensed with that huge ugly fishtail rudder in favor of delta wings set waaaaay back and rudders sticking out of the engine cowlings. I wrestled with setting th swings amidships in the original mounts, but she looks much, much sleeker this way.  Also, where most people felt obliged to stick on canard wings (which are really so an aircraft doesn't stall out when it climbs) I dispensed with them in terms of crew doors under the big, manly Hurricane Bolter mounts, which, visually read as canards anyway. 

What I really needed time for was to suss out the rear hatch, which would've yawned open like the jaw of an angler fish to allow a dread to just stomp on out. I'm also mightily disappointed with the hinge on the smaller inset crew hatch. Unlike the Rhino one, it's just sort of clamped in those teeth and will not fucking stay in. 

She is, of course, magnetized to hell and back for easy storage. naked like this you get a better look at the big friendly side door. Since all GW-designed Imperial troop craft are designed after Republic Gunships anyway, I though it a good idea to include these instead of just leaving the weeny little crew doors in the front. There is, after all, nothing in the SR rules that says the side exits are invalidated by H-bolters, it's just (badly) modeled that way on the original kit. Those weeny little h-bolter housings make better landing gear wells anyway. 

The only thing I didn't magnetized were the little nose-mounted missile racks and heavy bolters, because the multi-melta is so much more useful anyway. The SR isn't a missile boat at all, it's meant to fly up into people's faces and pour anger down their throats. However, it's a flyer (no cover) and a sad AV12, and under gunned (you can't sit back and shoot all day with TL lascannons like you can with a Vendetta) but I plan to give the Run/Gun/Drop/Die strategy the old college try nonetheless in future Blood Angels list. 

Being a completionist, I detailed the inside and its crew, including the Techmarine (who looks stuffed in there, the poor guy) and Edbart XIV, the gun servitor. You're going to see something of the inside when you open the ramps anyway, so why not? 

I had fun making the little servitor model. He had no arms, so I fitted his right with a spare auspex bit and ran cabling from his left shoulder.  I wanted to light the inside with LED's for the contest, but at the time, time was running short (remember, the original deadline was the 15th). The side hatches had plenty of area for hinging, and would've gotten reinforced with magnet locks inside the fuselage so they could hold up the weight of the h-bolter sponsons, but now... oh well. If Storm Eagles make it into the next Ultramarines codex, maybe I'll do it in there, especially after seeing all the great effects on Jon T Law's photo series on Flickr. Thank you for that extraordinary find, Tears of Envy. Another interior detail shot: 

FW made detail packs for the insides of Valkyries with a full squad of Elysian Drop Infantry sitting on benches, and I still hold out hope they'll make some of Space Marines doing the same for Astartes vehicles. Of course, to do that they'll have to upsize the Rhinos and Land Raiders...

The underside is boringly under-detailed due to time constraints. One of my thoughts was to model a set of belly doors so the Dreadnought (or any riders) could just drop out. Of course, that thought came after the thing was nearly finished, and the zep gear (a pit of them) would had to sit in new ugly housings to the side, fattening the already blocky profile, or in the originals at the rear. Oh well. The flight base mount sits into the crosspiece under the forward section a bit loosely, but otherwise snugly. As a result, she sits nose-up instead of nose-down like a Valk. She sports a chin turret because it's a better configuration for ground-attack missions. The thing would have to bank something awful to fire a dorsal turret at anything on the ground, be it tank or infantry.  Sorry GW designers, you should've put more thought into this. Way to fail. 

Perhaps to make up for the plain belly (also, let' s be honest, you see it more) the top is quite well detailed. For Storm Eagle duty, I could make some missile pods and stick a little metal plat on them so they adhere to the magnets holding the wing/turbines in place. But then, there's plenty of time for that in the future, and other projects to do. For those of you puzzled about the orientation of the wing decals in other shots, I hope this sheds some light on matters for you; they're for other pilots to see and identify the plane when flying above it. I mounted the grapple on the roof for boarding missions; she's meant to fly up under something, reel herself in, and then the Marines open the top hatch and cut their way aboard the enemy ship. 

Fitted out for anti-troop duty with those assault cannons the thing would have to carry mountains of ammo, so the lascannon turret makes a lot more sense. The h-bolters throw out more than enough shots to deter enemy infantry, and you're really going to be more concerned about Hydras and things with lascannons and lances anyway. I want my flying tank to take down other tanks and transports, and assault cannons just don't do that, unlike in the real world where a shell-spitting 30mm vulcan is a tanker's worst nightmare. You can get larger vulcans from Japanese companies (Kotobukiya makes an excellent, cheap, motorized one, and yes, I have one)

The hope is, of course, that our sweat pays off  and we win the aforementioned contest, but if we don't, there's still a great aircraft to help fill out the ranks of the Ultramarines. so it's win-win, right fellas? Fellas?

I swear their expressions just changed. 

New FW Stormeagle.....

No sooner do I finish my own extended StormRaven for the Miniatures Wargame Conversions contest, (painted pictures to come soon):then I saw this, on Tabletop Fix:

The official FW Storm Eagle model.

Hmmmmmmm.......

Happy Friday, People. 

Test Flight...

The next generation Stormraven (extended) prototype out for a test flight before principle photography for the contest over at Miniature Wargame Conversions. Test Unit Alpha 1 is sound, if a little drafty inside, and, at the time of this blog entry, ready for final paint and detailing. For those of you not in the know, contest entrants have to submit photos of unpainted conversions only, so while she looks a little rough now, rest assured she cleaned up nicely in the end. 

The Tachikoma engineers and yours truly thank you in advance for voting for us on the 30th (or whenever voting opens).

Happy Monday, People. 

Wash Out Your Eyeballs with This.

All of you hobbyists out there know you started out with Lego, or at least had them at some point. This video makes me wonder why we gave them up. The stock LR kit doesn't even have the wheels and rubber treads that even make it potentially mobile, so it takes some heavy converting to make the thing move, much less remotely. 


But Legos? Man, you can really master the possibilities, as this guy did. 


Happy Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, at the Factory....

One of our crack engineers is making final adjustments on Edbart XIV, the ship's gun servitor. Why put him in a big poorly-designed turret when he can sit safely in the armored heart of the ship? Plus, he'll be there to greet people whatever door they come through. 


Except the yawning dreadnought door in the back, but I'm sure he can swivel or something.  Ooooh I should've hinged that before gluing the hull together. Well, it's not like I have time to make a fully-articulated dread, anyway. Maybe next time....

I'll just leave this here....

From the factory floor of M3 Aircraft Works, where our intrepid engineers are diligently working on a improvements to a rather poorly designed aircraft. Whether this design will make it beyond the flying prototype stage is uncertain. During the initial design competition stage, it did beat out the twin-boom hulled "Flying Tumbler", which, while inspired by a capable, solid body design, looked too much like a Land Raider with wings. Sadly, the mock-up for that poor beast was subsequently pushed off the factory floor into the parts bin. 

It's to your eyeballs what headlights are to a deer....

When I'm an old man, I want my Dumbledore-esque office/library/studio/inner sanctum to be full of whirring clockwork brass things like this.  Catch the whirring goodness on their website.

Happy Thursday, people.

Tau'chikomatic Tutorial: How To Build a Fuchi!

A long time ago, I said that, when I got a job, I'd do this tutorial. Well, I got  a job, so now I'm doing this tutorial. Apologies to those who have been asking for the Weathered Penny. I got caught up in a flurry of parts buying for another project, and so bought the parts for this as well, but rest assured, that's next on the docket. 

Step 1: Parts. Go buy a Tau Crisis Suit, minus the feet and head, and get yourself an extra pair of legs and a Shield Generator dish as well. Weapons and other systems are up to you. We're building a basic Fuchikoma here, so I just included his signature plasma gun. 

You're also going to need some sprue, for reasons we'll go into later. If you buy your Crisis Suit on the sprue, perfect, you're ahead of the game. Now, tools: 

As you can see, our intrepid engineers are equipped with X-Acto blade, saw, tin snips, and  CYA glue. Other blades for the X-Acto are desired, but not required. I also have a complete set of other, shallow-angle blades and so on, but you should at least have the saw, because it makes cutting things SO much cleaner than, say, using the tin snips. You'll also need a little hand drill (AKA a pin vise) for drilling holes in things. I forgot to put it in for the photo, but you'll see one later. 

We start by simply gluing together the backpack as normal. Easy-peasie. 

Next, cut those ball joints off the torso plate and put them aside. We'll need one of them to make his eyeball later. Use you X-Acto to shave this smooth. Do it. Things adhere better when they're smooth. 

An extra step here to make life much easier: dig a shallow hole in the center of the now smooth shoulder joint. We'll need this as a guide hole for when we...

...turn this into a shallow pit using our blade. Simply stick the point in and twist to shave away the plastic and widen the hole. Don't be too vigorous or you'll bore right through the plastic. This is to make a ball joint for the leg  to fit snugly into. If you don't do this, you're asking for a world of hellish frustration when you try to glue on the forelegs. After a minute of effort, you should get something like this: 

Every so often you should test-fit the pit to make sure everything fits together nicely. 

I also sheared away a bit of corner to make the torso plate fit into the back piece. Now put that aside so you can....

Glue a pair of legs in the back piece. Angle them out, back, and down, but not straight down. These are the Fuchi's "pusher" legs. His ass should be higher than his front for that iconic Fuchikoma look. 

When the legs have hardened, glue up the lower part of the chest plate jam it the hell in there. There's actually a lot of contact area inside, and if you do it right, it'll be nice and snugly fit in there. A corner of this piece on either side will be resting on the ball join of the legs we just glued on. 

When that's good and set, it's time to glue on the forelegs. Dry-fit these prior to gluing to get the look you want. It's possible to vary the Fuchi's pose by shifting his way this and that; this just requires forethought. Remember that the farther down the leg is angled, the higher that side of the Fuchi will be, so if you want, say, a Broadside angling his guns up: 

You have to really splay out those back legs and play up the front ones. Likewise, to can't it left or right: (such as those Fuchis closest to the Major)...

You angle the legs on one side down and the other side out. Just make sure the two legs on a particular side are even, otherwise you end up with a wobbly Fuchikoma. Anyways, moving on...

Really, you can mount any one gun to the underside of the Fuchi, but for this example we're doing a plasma rifle. Sheer off the back of that pipe, and make sure you carefully shave down the end till it's dead even with the back. This is so it'll adhere evenly with the inside of the torso piece: 

When gluing it in, make sure the top of the barrel adheres to the underside of the front torso piece. More contact points make a sturdier model, so this is important. You don't want the sucker snapping off. My Fuchis have survived multiple falls and are sturdy as hell. When you've done this step, put him aside. 

Saw away the upper arms from the forearms and put them aside. Make sure those contact points above the elbow drums are good and flat. It's okay if there's a little angle, as long as there's a big flat patch on that drum to adhere to the model. If you've also been pinning the legs and things as we go and want to drill pin holes here, then you get a gold star. It isn't necessary, but it's easy to do with plastic and makes the little fella that much more durable. 

See that square corner on the back of the chest plate? That big friendly square is where we're gonna glue our forearms. It's sort of easier to do this before you put the front legs on, but it's not to bad, since they're splayed out of the way. Angle the forearms inward to give him that iconic cute pose. If you want to replace these with, say, twin rifles or something, you can, just remember your Fuchi needs the clearance: 

But he'll still need a round piece to form the Fuchi "mouth".  I used a spare round bit from my bits box. Again, depending on the weapon you replace his manipulator with, you may need to vary your leg pose to give him ground clearance. Now, on we go...

Here's our Fuchi so far. Looking good, but the little guy can't see. Help him aside, fellas. 

Remember our shoulder balls? This part is easy to screw up, so that's why we saved BOTH of them. Take your tin snips and cut the plastic ball in half. If you have sharp snips, the half-ball shouldn't shoot out and blind you,  but just in case, pinch it between your thumb and forefinger and you should be okay. If you do it in one try, then gold star for you. 

Remember that Shield Generator? We need that as a mount for his eye. Shear off that little tiny nub at the bottom, and then take your saw and, using the larger rectangular piece as a guide, saw off the bottom1/3rd of of the dish. 

Yeah, I know, I broke the blog template, but this is important. Glue the half-ball you just made low-center on the half-dish, and mount it as shown. That shades the gun and gives the Fuchi his little moon-pie face. It also gives as a big, smooth surface to mount the Fuchi's crash bar on. Speaking of which:

You'll have to a do a bit of looking on your sprue for a bit that'll fit on there. You want something with a corner and preferably a convenient peg (not required) . Refer back to your Fuchi for sizing; you want something as wide as the dish, and you want that peg to reach just underneath. Really, the pegs aren't entirely necessary, but they do add another contact point and look better. When you've cut/made the crash bar, attach it to the dish, framing his mono eye thusly: 

Aaaaaaaand from the side: 

As an option, shave the edges down a bit to round it off and give it that worn look. Or, simply use a round sprue instead of a chunky GW square one. Either way, once it's on there, you're done! Attach any additional weapons/systems to his back rack, mount him to a base, and paint to match the rest of your Tau. 


Also, this model is for sale, at cost. So, if you want him, go get him.