Armour in April Final Roundup

It's been a very productive month of April for me. I got a lot of work done across a variety of projects. Unfortunately not all of them were hulls for #armourinapril.

The two Leman Russ tanks are ready for the final detailing pass. The Salamander Scout is waiting on the crew to be finished, and the Thunderer is waiting for me to finish the dozer blade as well as a few other details.

In other Armour in April news, I managed to secure seven more hulls in trade right at the end of the month, along with quite a few extra heavy weapons. Five Chimeras, a Wyvern, and a Hellhound will add a little something something to my expanding motor pool.

Finally, Cylde Ar of Mastodóntica got in touch to share his absolutely beautiful Wave Serpents he knocked out during the month. Google probably butchered the translation when I went to check it out but it seems like he also got a Fire Prism and some Shining Spears done. Great work!

Thanks to everyone who joined in to get some armour done this month!

Cheers,

CJ

Inq28: Inquisition War: Lexandro D'Arquebus

 Here is the completed Lex D'Arquebus. Unfortunately I'm no closer to finishing Draco or the rest of his retinue at this moment.

And a little preview of the new law in the sump...

Cheers!

CJ

Inq28: The Guilder

This is Mad Robot Miniatures 'The Guilder.' I am a big fan of this model. As soon as I saw the preview Mad Robot Steve put on his facebook page I knew how I wanted him to look.

When he arrived I decided to get him cleaned up and painted straight away. After a bath in warm soapy water to remove any mould release agent I basecoated the miniature with Rustoleum grey primer. Once that set I gave him an overbrush of Ceramite White, and from there I had at him with washes and glazes. The finish on the fabric is exactly what I wanted. I used Testors Model Master Turn Signal Amber quite a bit, in all the yellow and gold in fact. It has proven to be a versatile paint. To think I bought it by mistake.

Getting The Guilder knocked out is great on two fronts: firstly it gets me my 'Buy a model and paint it within 48 hours' stamp. Secondly I plan to get great mileage outta him as either a dubious or outright villainous NPC for some Inq28 games.

Ten stamps not including the freebie box! Stay tuned as I try and fill the card.

Cheers,

CJ

Armour in April 3rd Update

The third week of #ArmourinApril is over. Not too much painting got done this week, but I did bring the Thunderer to life so I feel like it's a fair trade. I did get it and the second of my eBay rescue Leman Russ hulls painted up to the same point as the tanks last week.

So all four tanks are now ready for detail. That ought to occupy the rest of the month nicely.

The crew of the Salamander is also ready to be painted up. I also have been thinking about adding more stowage to the scout tank...

Nearly there!

Cheers,

CJ

Paint Table Saturday

Working on lots of tanks this week as #ArmourinApril continues. And I managed to complete a character for Inquisitor Draco's retinue, so that's one down and three to go.

Finally, I got my 'The Guilder' mini from Mad Robot Miniatures. He came today and I'm gonna try and get him painted in the next 48 hours for that bingo stamp.

Cheers,

CJ

Death Guard 001: Showcase

I finally got to getting some photos of these guys. I chose the Carrion Hounds vectorum and painted them using a recipe that was featured in White Dwarf 300 way back in 2005.

So far my collection consists of the models from Dark Imperium and The Plague Bretheren. I really like those three models and made sure to snag em since it was rumored they were a limited release. An added bonus for me is the great art cards that come with the box.

As far as painting and the hobby these models are important to me since they were the models that made me dig into my Dark Imperium box and get back into it. I've been on a tear ever since through Squaduary, Monster March, and now my own #ArmourinApril.

Cheers,

CJ

Thunderer Siege Tank 001

One of my favorite thing to do is convert models. If you've been following my blog for any length of time I think this is pretty clear. For #armourinapril I decided I wanted to add another hull to my collection so I turned to the Pile of Grey Shame to see about parts.

 What a shock I found everything I need... As you can see I already made some cuts to the main hull pieces of the Leman Russ and the Chimera.

And after a few hours of work and the addition of some greebles I have a very serviceable Thunderer Siege Tank. There is still a bit of work to do (like adding rivets) before I set to with the greenstuff to finish the build portion of the project.

Now at first I was worried about getting the 'Convert a model into a totally different unit or character. Make sure it accurately represents what it's supposed to be' stamp. I was thinking characters and models on foot and really I'm pretty well set for characters. No, that's a lie... I've got more characters than I need. But then I dug into this project and realized it was perfect to tick it off for my ninth stamp. Still no bingo!

I guess I need to keep plugging away at the pile.

Cheers!

CJ

Armour in April 2nd Update

The end of the second week of the month is here and #armourinapril rolls on.

This week saw me get some rare morning painting done before work. I'm usually up quite a bit before I need to leave the house anyways so I may try and capitalize on this previously unrealized hobby time. The Salamander Scout got it's basecoat finished up and both tanks got a black wash so they'd be ready for drybrushing when I got back to my desk again.

Update: I got some progress photos from Pablo Daniele Mura, he is working on a trio of Leman Russ tanks.

In related projects I assembled some parts and set out on a conversion marathon... Stay tuned for more news there.

In only slightly related news Dave Taylor's Kickstarter has successfully funded all the stretch goals. I look forward to getting my book.

Cheers,

CJ

Throwback Thursday: Cadian Valkyrie

This edition of Throwback Thursday is brought to you by the old GW black boxes! These were sent out with the hottest new items for a codex release back when those happened very sparingly.

In 2009 I was lucky enough to get to paint up the 5th edition IG black box. The new Cadian command squad and Valkyrie were the contents. It was a trick to assesmble the Valkyrie since there were no instructions with the box... total bummer, there was no flying stand either.

This was one of the most complex models GW had released at this point, and a lot of fun to build and paint. The interior and cockpit are really well detailed, even though I opted to leave out the door gunners.

The plastic Valkyrie was one of the most anticipated kits ever after the plastic droppod when it was released. I really had to work to get my paint job to pop on this one since the model would be on display. I used the following recipe:

Prime with Armoury Black PrimerShadow GreyCodex Grey drybrushBadab Black washSpace Wolves Grey drybrush
The metallics are as follows:
Prime with Armoury Black PrimerBoltgun Metalcustom mixed black ink washBoltgun Metal drybrushChainmail drybrush (very light)

This is the same recipe I use to this day, just with the current versions of the GW paint. I also tend to use Rustoleum spray cans to prime everything.

Cheers!

CJ