Armies on Parade, pt2.

Update part 2....

 

Hi guys, just a little update to show you where I'm at with 26 days left before the dead line, I've got a little further with my two Dreads, working on all four arms, the rear power plants and the second torso so its all coming together although painting slows down a bit when it comes to the detail, but I'm trying to be speedy without rushing them if you know what I mean.

I thought I would show you this picture as it gives a fair impression of where I'm heading style wise with the two Ironclads, I'm really happy with how it looks and cant wait till the Dreads are complete.

Finally layed my hands on a tile all be it a second hand one, interesting colour scheme that the previous owner had started but its not something I'll be running with, so a warm soapy bath it was to get rid of dirt dust and greasy finger marks, the water was filthy I can tell you, but the tiles ok.

Really glad it has a hill as it's saved me a job,  and so what to do with those skull pits, I'm not a big fan to be honest there's just too many don't get me wrong I like the odd dead guy detail but this is just nut's, it had me thinking where are the rest of the bones, why just skulls.

So out came the green stuff , I'm sure there is another product that better for this but it was at hand and times ticking!.

I was thinking of some sort of martian bubbling swamp thingie (?), it was easy to do I just pressed green stuff over the skulls flattened it out and tried to smooth all finger prints marks away, then with the opposite end of a model brush potted the surface with various sized holes.

Then I rolled small balls of green stuff and placed them in a few holes leaving some as if a couple of the air pockets had risen and burst, well that's the idea anyway.

I'm not totally sure what colour I will paint them, I want a contrasting colour to martian red but also not too bright, I might opt for that colour I painted on my martian trees, a kind of mustard yellow colour, or antoher thought is a really dark grey drybrushed up and washed with black ink, then use ardcoat (varnish) to give the impression of liquid.
Not sure, any thoughts guys.

Armies on Parade.

Update....

 

Hi guys, its been a while since my lats post so thought I would show you my efforts regarding the two Ironclad Dreadnought I have planned for my Armies on Parade board, yep that's right only the legs so far Drat! and times ticking!, I'm beginning to think I may of bitten off more than I can chew, ha.

Anyhow they are just about done just the odd shrub to add and maybe a purity seal to one of the shin plates, I am now starting to wonder on what to arm them with, don't think I'll bother with HK Missiles and was going to arm them both with a Heavy Flamer and Melta Gun but not so sure now, I could go for a little visual difference and opt for a Hurricane Bolters on one of them.
What do you guys think.

This Stormraven extension is going to pull the rug right from under my Armies on Parade plans, there's a lot more work than I though there would be and so has been put to one side so I can crack on with more straightforward painting and modelling tasks.
Shame but not convinced it will make the cut.

So little time AoP 2014.

Armies on Parade.

Much to do and so little time.....

 

So guys I walked into my local Games Workshop store (Leeds) a couple of days ago for a few bits like you do and got collared by James a member of staff at the branch, he asked me if I wanted to take part in Armies on Parade this year, now I remember last year when he asked me the same question and I declined his request stating that I had only just started this hobby and really didn't have the time or model count to do it justice, so this time I felt I would at least give it a go but in true "Jamie style" I have left things a bit late, could really of been planning this a month or so ago if you know what I mean.

Anyhow I'm in and my board/mini's have to be in on the 25th of Oct (Drat!!) giving me 40 days to get things sorted so having already pushed the panic button I need a plan.

First up the board, keep it simple nothing flash, add a little interest maybe that crashed Rhino terrain piece GW sell, turn the trees into the martian ones I did on my Dread display base plus add a few more, sorted.

Second up the models, not got the time to start anything really major but having said that I do want one large model piece on the board, so I've finally opened the storm wing box set I bought back end of last year ( Im really bad for buying models and then just shelving them) anyhow Stormraven it is I think the Raven would go well with my already painted Scythes Terminators.

So the models....

Stormraven, (not built/painted).
5 Terminators.
Terminator Chaplain, (not built/painted).
Thunder Fire Cannon, (Tech to finish).
Rhino and Tac Squad.
Dev Squad, (not finished).
Assault Squad, (not finished).
3 Dreadnoughts, (2 to finish).

And 40 days to do it.........wish me luck!.

Zinge Indusries..Ammo Belt.

  Ammo Belt.....

Hi guys just a short post to tell you about this Ammo Belt I've bought from Zinge Industries, its the second item I've had from them, the first being a Rivet Sprue which is a handy piece of kit to have, I used four of them on the name plaque for my Dreadnought display base, anyhow back to the belt, I have in mind a little kitbash/conversion idea for a heavy weapon tactical marine and needed a ammo feed belt to complete the job from magazine to weapon, now I have a Forge World ammo belt from something I bought a while ago but wasn't looking forward to heating the plastic a hundred times to make it fit, besides it might not be long enough anyway.

So Flexible Resin fron Zinge might be the solution, well not having used it as yet I cant tell you how the paint adheres to the product but what I can say is the detail is crisp and it appears that there is a metal rod through the belts to hold any desired position saying that I would use two anchor points as I don't think the rod's strong enough from just one glued point, the product itself has a slight rubber feel to it which Im a bit put off by but will reserve judgement till later, apart from that I'm happy with it, so more on this later when the marines painted up.

Here's a link to Zinge Industries goodies..    http://zinge.co.uk/

Display Base.

Display base for my Dreadnought.... 

 

Hi guys, well I've completed the display base for my newly painted Venerable Dreadnought and I'm really happy with how it turned out.
Its the first time I attempted something like this and hopefully it will stand me in good stead when I up size to something larger like a tile maybe.
Anyhow guys here's a few pics with brief explanations as to how I built it, as always click pics for enlargement.

First off I bought a wooden display base off ebay, not too expensive £15 I think.

I then cut out a slightly smaller piece of plastic card and glued it to the base with PVA.

I used cork coasters from my local hobby shop to build up the terrain slightly, I then carefully cut out three small circles where I wanted the mini's to go then stuck all the cork down with PVA.

I stuck various bits of interest to the base, half a Rhino door (the other half's on the Dread base), a piece of  resin I kept from a FW model and a skeleton.

Green stuff was used to fill the gaps between coasters and to push up against various terrain to represent slight sand drifts this is more obvious when the base is sprayed with primer.

I added sand and small rocks stuck down with PVA.





The martian trees were made by twisting a couple of paperclips together to the required shape then I rolled out a few green stuff sausages and squeezed them around the wire and pricked them with a tooth pick for texture.

After it had set I rolled out tinner strings of green stuff and wrapped it round each branch to add further interest.

To make the plaque I glued two pieces of plastic card together, one smaller than the other, and held them in clamps while it dried.

I used a length of tape to force a curve while it dried.

I used elastic bands to hold the plaque in place while the glue dried.

Just like the icon's on my other Scythes models I made my own water slide transfer for the plaque, I'm happy with how it turned out.