Sisters of Battle - 17Jan Retributors & Avenger update

[WAR]

Looks great

[Warsmith Aznable]

So I've wanted to do this forever now. Tonight I started on a conversion for an Avenger Strike Fighter so that I can have a flyer that's organic to my Sisters of Battle, so I don't have to take an ally just to get air cover.

I'm using a Dakka Jet kit and some parts from an Immolator kit.

The first (not so great) photographs of the conversion:

1. From the front

Showing how I reversed the "dive bomber" wing additions to make the wings slant down. I wanted the hard-points to mount the lascannons to, but I didn't want the wings going up. I also decided at the last minute that they should be swept forward, too.

2. Top view

This shows the swept forward wings better. I think this is more in the Imperial style, and helps to differentiate it from the kit I used for the base of the conversion.

3. An oblique view from the front

To give a better idea of what the aircraft looks like.

4. A close-up of the pilot

I wanted very much to cut apart the Ork pilot and get his googles, but it wasn't happening. I ganked his scarf, though. Extracting this woman from the Immolator turret was a pain in the behind. Poor girl doesn't have feet anymore, but that should show unless you're peering down below the dashboard looking for them, and what are you, some kind of foot-pervert? I angled the point on the scarf on the wrong side, so I had to fudge it a little bit and cover it with putty.

I'm still not sure how I'm going to do the defense stubber. At first I was thinking of using the Immolator's driver, the one dropped down in the hatch, but she might not be able to see very well and that would ruin the effect. I am also considering a servitor. Third idea I had was just a stubber on an automated mount with a servo-skull targeter.

It was a lot of fiddling to get her sitting up at the right angle to look like she was actually flying the thing. Originally I had her in there without the chair back, and she blended in well to the back of the cockpit, but she was too laid back. Like, "flying is awesome and I'm sure glad there isn't some kind of a war going on" kind of laid back, and that just wouldn't do. So I had to put the chair backing in there and jam some putty behind it to blend it in. It looks OK from the top, but I could use some more on the sides, I guess, not that you can see it very well.

But the important thing is that I've got the Sister in there with her scarf flying in the wind and that's neat.

The wing-mounted lascannons are sorted out, just need to get the on there, but I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to do the big cannon yet.

But yeah, the girls are going to do some tank hunting soon...

[Dosjetka]

That is one beauty. I love how different it looks from the original kit and I'm loving the pilot and her scarf! I'll be following this closely :)

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Nice to see some SOB love on here. :)

[Warsmith Aznable]

Would it look ridiculous, do you think, if I mounted an assault cannon right in front of the cockpit glass?

[Bryan Blaire]

Max, could you use the rotary bolt cannon bit from a Nephilim in the nose area of the jet, similar to how it is mounted on the Nephilim? It looks like there is a large open cavity there that could also be filled in that way, if you don't need that area for something else.

 

Otherwise, yeah, mount it above or below the nose forward of the cockpit.

 

No matter what, it does look like a pretty awesome project you have going here.

[Warsmith Aznable]

Max, could you use the rotary bolt cannon bit from a Nephilim in the nose area of the jet, similar to how it is mounted on the Nephilim? It looks like there is a large open cavity there that could also be filled in that way, if you don't need that area for something else.

 

The large, open cavity is the intake for the main jet engine. I believe they modeled the general look on the F-86 Saber, which is a neat aircraft.

 

I was thinking of the "hood" area on top. There are different options, and I was thinking of a plain one with an Aquila affixed to it, but then I had the thought of putting an assault cannon there. I don't know. I'm going to have to go get my blue tack and do some thinking...

[Bryan Blaire]

Well, for the similarity to the Saber, what if you simply "mounted" a hexagonal configuration of heavy bolter/autocannon sized gun ports in semi-recessed housings around the body of the aircraft just forward of the cockpit? It doesn't have to actually be a rotary weapon then.

[Warsmith Aznable]

I've got plenty of tubing; I could do that. I don't know how well I'd be able to blend them all in, though.

[Bryan Blaire]

Can you make little elongated oval bubble housings, similar to the Dakka-jet housing for the lower two shootas, but lower profile (and somewhat sleeker)? Then your could just stick the tips of the guns out of the openings and call it a day.

[Razerz]

If you want googles, Victoria Miniatures have some really good looking variants. Here's a "starter pack" with the three versions she do, as well as a gas mask: http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/product/gas-mask-and-goggles-sprue

[Warsmith Aznable]

If you want googles, Victoria Miniatures have some really good looking variants. Here's a "starter pack" with the three versions she do, as well as a gas mask: http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/product/gas-mask-and-goggles-sprue

Thanks! It never would have occurred to me to look up googles as a separate bit.

I am base coating the aircraft right now. I've left the cockpit unglued so I can paint the details more easily, so I can still go back and try to add the goggles.

Here are some pictures of what I did after I last posted:

5. Frontal close-up showing weapons

I used one of the Dakka Jet big cannons to represent the bolt cannon. I had to trim down the length, otherwise it was funny looking. I decided that off-set was cool looking, and that it didn't have to be rotary. I had first tried an assault cannon from a dreadnought, but it didn't look right.

6. Oblique to show off weapons more

I think the lascannons are perfect. Aquilas are a lot harder to curve than the chaos symbols from the tank sprue, by the way. I had to greenstuff some holes there behind the lascannons, because originally they would have been underneath and had some Orky gubbins stuck in there. Perfect chance to add more Aquilas. I'm not thrilled with the flaps being on the wrong side of the wing, but in the end I don't really care. Once paint is on it and I've got the symboles drawing the eye away, I don't think it will be a big deal.

Of course I had to have the big exhaust pipes and ridiculous blower on the front. Sister Biggles wanted a hotrod, and who am I to say no?

7. Close-up of the defensive stubber (or maybe not)

I hastily threw this thing together, so it's a bit rough looking. I put a magnet in the raised round thing it's sitting on, so I can remove that thing at-will. I will probably rebuild a better one later, but for now I've got that to stick on there to remind me it's got one at all. Not that I expect to ever get a chance to fire it, with 12/10/10 armour.

8. A broader oblique shot

I tried to do a better picture, but I need to mess with my camera settings and the lighting to do anything decent. The camera is still set to do small close-ups, and I normally take photos in the kitchen where I've got a fluorescent overhead that gives not so harsh lighting. But this is the general idea of the thing.

I'm going to go flip the aircraft over and base the top side now. I'll do a shot of the shiny silver fuselage here in about an hour maybe.

[NightHunters]

Really like this!

 

Also a fan of mr Blaires idea of taking the sabre gun positioning and as the nose curves in it should be quite easy to blend the housings into the fuselage.

 

But you could drop an AC into the area below the canopy, cut out the slotted area a little and it should drop right in!

 

Looking forward to more!

 

Edit: Scrap the above, looks great! love the remote weapons station.

[Warsmith Aznable]

Really like this!

Thanks!

I couldn't wait an hour:

9. THE SHINY!

I'm thinking yellow highlights in the spirit of this, which works since my ordos wears bright yellow power armour.

[deathspectersgt7]

WoW very cool great job

[Maeve Trinity]

Gosh these are gorgeous! 

 

This thread is really inspiring me for my own Sisters army!  Those dual wielding Reaper chicks are just awesome!  I hadnt seen those before, and I think I might indulge myself in some!!!

 

Thank you for sharing and keep them coming!!

[Warsmith Aznable]

Gosh these are gorgeous!

This thread is really inspiring me for my own Sisters army! Those dual wielding Reaper chicks are just awesome! I hadnt seen those before, and I think I might indulge myself in some!!!

Thank you for sharing and keep them coming!!

Hey, thanks for the kind words! I'm watching your cosplay thread, too.

Now that I have the attention of a bunch of people, I suppose I'd better deliver on a finished product, instead of my usual "get excited about a project, make a bit of progress, then get distracted by my next idea and not finish anything" modus operandi.

This evening I put a layer of black paint on areas that I'm mostly going to be dry-brushing boltgun metal onto.

10. Oblique with the black undercoating

Like I said, most of that is getting dry-brushed boltgun metal, but the Aquilas will get burnished gold, and parts of the lascannons will stay black. I'm not sure what I'm doing with the Ecclesiarchy targets just yet, though.

And I'm still turning over in my mind how I'm going to do the yellow and black highlights. I don't have large areas to work with for stripes and whatnot. It seems I'm never sure exactly what I'm going to do until I'm halfway through doing it. I have such a haphazard creative process...

But this is my "seriously, I'm going to get this one done" project. No skipping on to another model before this one is finished. I swear. Maybe.

[DarKHaZZ13]

Waheeeyyyy. Nicee to see some innovation on the sisters front.
Keep it up!

[Warsmith Aznable]

I did my version of dry-brushing on the exhaust pipes and engine whatnots, the gold aquilas, and the coloured Ecclesiarchy targets:

11. Oblique - finally with some colour

SOON I will be painting the cockpit, but I reckon I want to order those goggle bits for Sister Biggles first...

[Warsmith Aznable]

I'm still thinking about how to arrange the yellow and black on the Avenger. I am having problems getting to sleep, so I picked up the Immolator from earlier and started to put yellow back onto it. Which turned into laying down some black too. It's been a long day...

Anyway, it's a terrible picture, and I need more coats and possibly a different brand of paint for the black, but there it is, proof I haven't forgotten the old girl. Driving around in nothing but a coat of primer is probably why she outflanked onto the wrong side of the table, missed with the multi-melta (at rear armour, too! Within 12"! All I had to do was HIT! Aaaargh...), and then unceremoniously exploded. I clawed a tie out of that game, but it was painful all over the place.

But yeah, I keep picking paint schemes that are a pain to do. Hopefully I don't screw this tank up again, because I really don't want to paint it a third time.

[Warsmith Aznable]

Still brainstorming the colour details. I've got a general idea of what I want to do, but I don't want to start anything without a solid plan.

With sincerest apologies to whoever painted and photographed the original, here is a manipulation I did of a dakkajet image to show what I'm thinking:

A. Main view

A yellow stripe down the length of the dorsal fuselage beginning from the nose. Black highlights on the hood and cockpit, and maybe a black outline around the stripe? The Ecclesiarchy target is red and in retrospect sort of awkwardly placed.

I don't know if I want to do a stripe on the very tips of the wings, or a stripe running on the leading edge and then curving to the tips of the wings before running out to a point on the trailing edge of the tip, or a stripe parallel to the fuselage that is centered on the target.

About the tail, it's between the whole thing being yellow with black highlights, black with yellow highlights, or silver with yellow stripes that match the wings.

B. Nose detail

Another thing that I'm undecided on: do I give it a toothy grin like this, or do the whole nose in yellow?

[Rizara]

I say do the whole nose in yellow.  The toothy grin doesn't fit with the sisters theme.  It goes great with orcs, and it could work on some military aircraft, but I think for the sisters it would work best with the solid yellow nose. 

 

I also think adding the stripe on the wings would bring out the yellow and make it look better.   As for the curve, it could work since its a similar element to the your nose, but on the wings I think it would be best to have it curve going back, not from the front of the wing.   If you do end up doing the stripe, you should also duplicate it on the tail fin wings as well.   Also, a black stripe on the very outside edge, then your yellow stripe would probably be best, since you  seem to be planning on a black part on the nose.   I would also avoid the checks, they also don't fit well on the sisters theme unless all your sisters are using checks.   You could add some black on the tail fin itself, probably the back half, and then do a white fleur de lys half on the back have as well, basically showing just half a soriatis icon on the back half of the tail fin.  This would add some more marking, but also give it somewhat of a personal touch to the plane.   It would also break up some of the silver on the fin as well.  

[Warsmith Aznable]

Making some progress this week, I've decided on a design for the accent stripes.

12. Top View with undercoat for stripes

I was leaning toward a stripe on the leading edge sweeping back at the wing tips, but I penciled it in and it just didn't look right. So I went back to the wing stripes from the inspiration photo of the Saber fighter. I am happy with it.

13. Another top view

I'm using Bone White here, and I'm going to lay down Skull White on top of that so that the yellow I put down last will be nice and bright. I wasn't sure about the tail markings, but I went with a wide stripe on the wing tips. On the tail itself I may still go back and do some kind of symbol. The transfer sheet has an Ecclesiarchal I-symbol with wings that is perfect for a flying nun, but I think they'll be too small (and I am crap with transfers). I might try to freehand the lamp symbol of my DIY ordo, but I won't know until much later when I sit down to actually do it.

14. Oblique that kind shows the nose swoop

The nose swoop wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The fiddly bit was keeping the line straight as it swept back toward the tail. I did it section by section, and I reckon if I need to clean it up I can do it with Mithril Silver.

15, Another Oblique

Now I am doubting that I want to do the black on the top of the nose and blower. I may just keep them yellow and only do the black trim around the cockpit. I am still unsure if I want to do a black outline around the stripes or not, either.

But that's some progress. I've been staying away from it because it's been vexing me, but this evening I was sitting in my studio talking on the phone, so I just picked up a brush and started doing it. When I get to the yellow I will definitely do a closer shot showing the swoop coming off the nose. But for now, I am tired.

[Bryan Blaire]

To be honest Max, I'd try to tempt you to darken down your metal and keep the bone. That looks fantastic like it is, IMO.

[Warsmith Aznable]

I appreciate the encouragement and input

To be honest Max, I'd try to tempt you to darken down your metal and keep the bone. That looks fantastic like it is, IMO.

I am too much in love with the shiny finish to darken the metal. It gleams IRL, it's awesome! I almost didn't even want to do the yellow stripes, because sitting on the shelf at certain times of day it catches the sunlight just right and the rivets look like they're glowing. At other angles there's the bright reflection running down the length. Some spots the paint is not as smooth for whatever reason, but overall it's a super shiny airplane, which was a very happy accident. I never expected it to be so bright, but I believe it suits the Sisters of Battle. Imagine: some poor Guardsman up to his neck in mud in a trench, everything is brown and black and grey and dark, blood and death everywhere, all seems hopeless. But then, out of the sky, a shining angel comes roaring over the battlefield! So perfect and clean, shining like the face of the God Emperor himself! Sister Biggles and her flying machine come to save the day

I only hope the the yellow comes out and I can maintain clean lines.