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

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

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

Armour in April 1st Update

 I started with two tanks nearly complete so I have been focused on getting them done first. The LR Vanquisher is nearly done at this point. The Gideon pattern MBT I had painted half of the metallics and then stopped. I got the rest done and now they are both ready for some washes.

 I got all the Shadow Grey basecoat applied to one of my basic LR hulls as well. While I was working on the metallics for the Gideon I painted the tracks and grab handles on the armour skirt for this comparison picture. When I first started with my Imperial Guard, the tank on the left would have been fielded as is and considered done. I was completely chuffed with my paint job, too, since it was smooth, no brush strokes. That was about... oh iunno Eye of Terror? So In the interval I've made some progress.

In the modeling side of things I made some changes to the Salamander. I've added a few extra track links and an old lasgun rack. I may add some more stowage to the vehicle at a later date.

I haven't gotten any progress updates from anyone else participating yet, but when I do I'll make sure to share them.

Cheers,

CJ

Armour in April!

We've had a theme to help drive hobby productivity for the past couple months. I decided that I'd start #armourinapril and get some tanks of my beloved Guard painted.

I invite everyone to participate. Leave a comment that let's me know you're in and lag posts with the #armourinapril label so others can find em easy. Fantasy warmachines and tanky creatures definitely count!

One of the first tasks is to get the above dozerblade stripped and repainted.

After I finished my Imperial Knight I decided that I wanted to keep going with large models for a while, and since the end of the month was so nice I got some priming done.

 These are all eBay rescues except for the Salamander. The Chimera in the lower right looked like it had been dipped in superglue or something...

This is one of the few Gideon pattern MBTs that exist in the wild, along with a command tank I started in 2016 I think. As you can see the dozerblade is out of the brake fluid bath and parts of an old Hellhound are in there now.

Happy Easter!

CJ

Monster March Update

 We're into Spring now and my monster is really blooming!

...I'm done I promise.

 I have been cracking right along though. I've got the legs done to the point I can mount them to the base, since that's done too.

 My first idea was to treat it like a normal infantry model and drive the pins through the base.

That shit didn't work. The idea just doesn't scale properly. Luckily for me the JB Weld hadn't completely set and I was able to peel the pins off and try again. I put the pins in the legs of my Knight and that worked out a lot better. JB Weld is pretty handy stuff.

As of this evening this is where progress currently sits. The carapace is more or less done. I've glued the chest, face, and the plate above the head on. The battle cannon is ready for highlights and touch up, and the gatling cannon is ready for it's all over black wash. As long as nothing crazy happens in the next ten days I should have no problem getting this guy done.

Next update will be the completed Knight!

Cheers,

CJ

Terrain: Garden of Morr 001

It's been a busy week for me. I've been working non stop on half of a Sigmarite Mausoleum or as it used to be billed, The Garden of Morr. I always liked the death cult in the old WFB Empire. There were some excellent conversions around... ah the nostalgia!

 I started with giving everything a coat of primer while still on sprue. I then clipped out and assembled the tombs. After that everything got painted Rob Hawkins style... I know I'm not the only one to have been inspired by his work on this particular project lately. I painted all the walls and fence pieces while still on the sprues, clipping them off when I was ready to start applying shades.

This is the part where I skip some of the step by step photos for the last couple steps before being completely done. The next step is an all over wash of Nuln Oil and then some spot drybrushing. I'm pretty happy with how it's come out so far. Stay tuned to see it finished.

Cheers!

CJ

Monster March Update

I've managed to get a lot of painting on my first Knight done in the past few days. The house heraldry is the blue and yellow, with a quarter blocked out to signify an alliance with the Mechanicus.

My idea for a household is a filthy rich Rogue Trader raised his banner and a few Freeblades came to the call. They provided fire power and support while the trader plied the fringe. The Freeblade pilots formed a household of sorts. Eventually the Trader 'retired' to the governership of a deep space way station. The Knights became a powerful force on the station and were able to hire out as a mercenary band to myriad nearby systems. After a thousand years or so they had adopted uniform heraldry and made strong alliances to a forgeworld in the sector. The household has persisted to the 41st millennia.

It works for me.

Cheers,

CJ

Paint Table Saturday

Been a while since I had anything to show on my Paint Table Saturday update.

Here is the state of my Squaduary pledge. The Primaris Marines from Dark Imperium have been a lot of fun to work on so far. Hopefully today I'll get the rest of the base colours blocked in and these minis will be ready for detailing. I also plan to get some work done on some custom bases for the models.

Cheers!

CJ

Squaduary Week 1.5 Update

Alright first week and a half of Squaduary is past and I have plenty to show for it!

I've got my Primaris Ancient and five Primaris Intercessors painted up and ready to go. The rest of the Primaris Marines from Dark Imperium are almost all primed and shaded up, and I've already started blocking in colours on the next five Intercessors.

I'll have a proper for the end of Week 2.

Cheers,

CJ

30k: Iron Warriors 002

Finally have some more progress to share on my Horus Heresy Iron Warriors.

The first 15 models have been basecoated with Rustoleum Titanium Silver spray. These should prove rather simple to get painted up once I get the hazard chevrons done. I really want to get some painting done on these models this weekend.

Cheers,

CJ

Inquisimunda: Van Saar Mercenaries

I have fond memories of picking up some Van Saar from eBay to flesh out a Hive Gang Militia unit for my Steel Legion army many, many moons ago. These guys came painted up in the standard Van Saar green and really contrasted well with the other hivers I had thrown together by mixing Catachans and Empire Militia. Sadly, those models are all long gone.

With the rumored return of Necromunda and the looming release of Shadow War Armageddon I decided to put together another Van Saar gang. I thought about picking up some first or second edition GW models and instead picked up some Vanderbilt Fighters from Mad Robot Miniatures. These resin minis capture the feel of the original gang perfectly in my humble opinion.

The Mad Robot kit included six adults and four youth. In the narrative I'm building my mercenaries are Mechanicus aligned. In that vein I armed my juves with Flechette Blasters and one of my gangers with a Radium Carbine. If I ever get to a game of Necromunda they'll count as more mundane weapons that look cool. For the Inq28 games I have planned (someday...) these guys will be armed exactly as they look.

The weather has been unseasonably nice these past couple weeks so I got some painting done. After a primer coat of Testors flat black acrylic I gave the models a coat of Orkhide Shade, then a coat of Snot Green, and finally a wash of Thraka Green. I haven't gotten any more done at the time I get this posted, but I do have a plan.

Cheers,

CJ