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

Throwback Thursday: The Chimera Project

Once upon a time I had a couple of Basilisks come to me and their Earthshakers stripped for terrain purposes. They were both in a state of disrepair and I sought to use the empty hulls as a basis for a modular Chimera. So I cleaned the hulls up and set to work.

Please forgive me the image quality, these are nine years old.

Firstly I build up a standard transport variant. It turned out alright, especially seen next to the standard kit.

Just the module that fit the hull.

Next I built up a Salamander Scout variant. Every one of those deck details is a bit of screen cut up and individually placed. The crew was pinned into place after being painted.

The modified hulls. I ended up making a Trojan variant as well, but will leave that for another post.

I've been going through my photobucket and I have a few things that will make for good throwback articles. Sucks though its mostly models I lost in the churn. C'est la vie, eh?

Cheers,

CJ

Nostagia pt. 2

So I got into the hobby because I had collected enough Space Marines to cobble together an army... and not a little one...

So I went in on my first starter, the 3rd ed box with the Dark Eldar and Space Marines.  Does anyone remember those terrible 'trees' that came with the starter?  There were a few battleforces that came with them, as well.  The others came with the gothic ruins sprue... much more useful.  Now that I think about it, I do believe those ruins came with the starter, too.  There was also included the battlefield accessories sprue, which included barrels, ammo crates, and tank traps.  I remember having so many barrels at one point...

I got a SM battle force, and then a mega force just to round out my section.  Keep in mind, this is when a battle force was $75, the mega force was $150, and totally worth it.  I got my army together and played with lots of troops at first, then a mix of vehicles and troops...  basically I had everything I needed for all the options the codex threw out at the time.  I got comfortable with the Marines.

So for about a year I played at the LGS, learning the rules and having a hell of a time creating all sorts of things with the VDR in Chapter Approved.  After that I dabbled in the soon to be defunct RTT scene here in Utah.  We had some absolutely fantastic Outriders before that program went away.  The first one I ever met gave me lots of advice on what units complimented what best, as well as tons of painting and modelling tips.  He pointed out White Dwarf to me, as well.

After a year of Space Marines, I was ready to branch out a bit, and I did...  Into everything.  I started Necromunda, and Battlefleet Gothic.  I picked up minis for Epic.  There wasn't anything I wasn't interested in learning.  The great thing about the LGS back then was that all the older gamers were willing to teach the games to us.  Hell, we even played in campaigns that had events over multiple Specialist Games.  After the SG range lost its *new and shiny* luster, I started a Chaos Space Marines force, and then an Imperial Guard force using Steel Legion figures.

After all that, there was only one GW hobby front left...

Nostalgia

So I was sitting around thinking about the Allies post I worked up earlier, and I got to thinking about the game as I got into it way back into it last decade...

A buddy of mine had some small assortment of D&D figs, as well as some randomly chosen 40k minis... one of which was a Space Marine with Heavy Bolter.  The figure caught my eye and my brain flashed back to 1998 and one of my friends in high school showing me an impressive collection of Second Edition Space Marines.  I had only a passing interest at the time, playing Decipher's Star Wars CCG and MTG, as well as the MB classics; ie Axis & Allies.

My interest, which had imprinted unknowingly, was to be fully sparked now.

I inquired as to where my friend had gotten his few scifi minis, and he told me of the first FLGS I was to attend.  Over the course of the next couple months, I bought anything Space Marines that caught my eye.  I had quite the collection of special characters, including this Black Templar Marshall (the one on the left), and this Games Day 1999 Limited ed. fig.  I painted with a scheme that was somewhat original.  No one around here was using it, and the internet was a little guy back then.  The seeds of the community were there.  Terragenesis, one of the first terrain sites I found, is still around.

So one day the guy who was using his 40k figs for D&D came around and discovered my collection of figures.  He asked, when did I start playing?  I replied, Just collecting.  He informed me that I had the makings of a decent army in sheer number of figs.  It was at this point that I first considered a rulebook and codex...

Throwback Thursday - Warcrafting Mordheim

Once upon a time my group played Mordheim.  Here is how I created the bases for my warband.

I used 2 part Alumilite Silicone RTV to make my mould.  It comes in 1lb packages, 14.4 oz of silicone and 1.6 oz of catalyst.  Its a 10:1, which are what the measuring cups are for.  2oz of silicone to one *portion* of catalyst, which is what the little cup and scoop are for.

Here is my positive, of which I will make a negative - my mould.

I used a small amount of superglue to fix the bases to the tin, then I did a displacement test to see how much silicone I would need to fill the mould.  The bigger the mould the more important this becomes, but it comes down to volume, which is l*(h*w).  This is easy when your mould doesn't have round corners.  In the same token doing a displacement test on a larger project becomes more work than worth since you have to have a completely dry positive.  I used my silicone cup and filled it to the 1oz mark, then poured it into the positive, repeating it until its full.  I need 3oz of silicone RTV for this mould.  The tin is deep enough so that the highest point of the piece is covered by .25" of silicone.

I mixed the silicone and poured it, and then left it over night.  Here is the finished product.

Once you have a mould you need something to put in it; in this case two part epoxy resin.  Following the instructions on the kit, I microwaved the mould until it was 140ºF, then mixed equal amounts of the A and B halves of the resin for 25 seconds.  Then I poured into the mould.  The mould has to be warm to offset the heat generated by the resin curing.  In these small square bases, I don't think it would matter too much, but in large more complex pieces, or thinner pieces the casting heat can cause warpage in the pieces.  After three minutes, the new bases were finished and I popped them out of the mould.

The finished, non-distressed bases.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the finished distressed run.

Cheers til next time.
-Xi

p.s.  sorry we're a day late with this one.

Throwback Thursday

Do people go in for gimmick-y blog titles?  Eh either way here is Throwback Thursday, the first regular feature of Into the Void.  In these segments, I'll showcase some of my old work.  The thing about most of this stuff is that its now lost in the aether.

Adeptus Arbities (Necromunda)
At one point the group I gamed with took up gang war in the depths of the underhive.  We all got different gangs, put em together, poured over PDF copies of the rules, then met to play for a few weeks.  It was great and got me interested in the Inq28 movement, but alas... no one seems interested.

I chose Arbities since no one else had and I had all the bitz on hand to generate a nice ten man unit.  I had everything but the elusive cybermastiff.

Here you see my Sergeant and Cybermastiff handler.  The heads, torsos, and legs are all Cadian Shock Troops, while the arms are from the SM Scouts kit.  I seem to remember having high hopes for all the bases, custom cast things had been in the works but never got themselves around to being finished.

The rules gave the combat shield/power maul combo, which I loved just for the modelling options.  I had a few of these old Rhino hatches in a bitz box and had always wanted an excuse for some guys with awesome riot shields.  The power maul is what gave me the most trouble, though, since I had no idea what to use for a guardsman size power weapon... that looks like a maul.  I solved this while thinking about another project when I took a look at the voxcaster antenna.  Clip it off, turn it upside down, and done.  That left handed enforcer uses a Cadian arm, the rest were all Scout arms I believe.

Four men with shotguns, added the shells in slings with some simple green stuff work.  These all follow the formula of Cadian core and SM Scout arms.  If the pouches from the Scout sprue worked, I used them as well.

The 'Heavies' equipped with heavy stubber and plasmagunner.  The stubber is from the IG tank accessory sprue, and the plasmagun from the SM Troops box.  Arms on the stubber are the SM Scout Heavy Bolter arms, and the rounds on the backpack are GS.  The plasmagunner is all Cadian except for the feed hose, which is floral wire wrapped.

All the heads have GS breathmasks to represent the benefits accorded by the awesome Arbites helmets.  I gave all the squad members the barcode transfer and unit marking from the Cadian transfer sheet.  I wanted them to be faceless, just a number in the cogworks of the Administratum.

Questions and comments welcome!
Til next time,
-Xi