The Neurode Crusade - Updates and Fixes to HQs and Elites

[Brother Christopher]

Sorry for the double post. Here's another update. I'm trying to reserve 30 to 60 minutes every day to do something related to the hobby. So, finally I got myself to make some GS ornaments. I'm absolutely useless with sculpting. Maybe I am too demanding or something, but I'm never content with my sculpts. I tore off all the tabards I sculpted, because they weren't any good. Still, I wanted some tabarded marines, so I decided to try and make GS moulds. It kind of worked (not as perfect as GW plastic, but way better than my sculpts), so I escalated and made some more moulds. By saying some, I actually mean quite a lot of them. That way I can save some money and have some decent-looking ornaments without ruining my budget by buying dozens of bits whose individual price is okay, but it quickly stacks up and reaches the price of a new 10-man tactical box.

 

So, here are my cheap ornaments. They still are greasy. Sometimes GS isn't good enough to replicate all the small detail, but overall I suppose it's worth it: the price of the GS I used to make all this and the moulds would allow me to buy 2-3 plastic bits, not including shipping.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Neurode%20Crusade/P1090955_zps2c6e4626.jpg

[Brother Talon]

Impressive! Me and GS have a very hate/hate relationship, so it's primarily a filler material for me, or for fixing cracks and chips on finecast or resin.

 

Can't sculpt or mold to save my life.

[Brother Christopher]

Did you try making moulds? That's really easy. And if you need cheap ornaments, that's the way to go!

 

A proper update on the Sicaran!

 

I must be manually retarded or something. Or, without so much drama, I must be the slowest hobbyist in the entire Emperor's galaxy. As you can see in the images below, I literally added 3 chains and a couple of ornaments and more than an hour was gone! True, I had to trim and file GS here and there, but still. An hour? How much time can it take to glue a couple of bits on a resin tank? Oh, boy. I also despise working with chains. To attach them in the right place, to align the links aesthetically - that's too much!

 

Okay, enough with the frustration and whining. And the ebook I listened to was quite good, so that's not really a wasted time. Hopefully, the final result will be worth my time and effort. Here are the pics: what do you think?

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1090958_zps70540958.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1090964_zpsde801f6f.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1090963_zps1d823ee9.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1090962_zps225f6fe7.jpg

 

What do you think? Enough? Too much? I'm still planning to add some detail, especially cover the places where the chains are attached to the hull with GS, but that's pretty much it. I think. For now, I'm planning to paint the recesses at the front yellow and put black crosses there.

[Marshal Reinhard]

Definately not too much. An old gem like that will have been in service for quite some time, so she'll be laden with honours and commerations, celebrating her victories. Anything less would be insulting to the machine spirit, who is as much part of the Chapter as any initiate

[Brother Talon]

I wouldn't be too overly concerned with the amount of time it took you to get things to where it felt right. Sometimes it can take me an entire week to make a squad of models, one day at a time. While I've tried batch painting, it messes with my hands and there goes stability with a brush (followed by a ton of swearing and unintelligible sounds unbecoming of a person).

 

If it's not a rush project, take your time. If it is, you pace yourself. Done a lot more in an hour than I've managed, I'll tell ya that. I'll spend four using blue-tac just to see if things fit right, then change my mind and go with a different idea. Then again... I'm excessively stubborn and overly self-critical.

[Marshal Rohr]

The use of a CD to press mold on is genius. Thank you.

[Brother Christopher]

Though I promise myself that I'll have more time for 40K, in reality the opposite is the case. But I have a good excuse - it's not pleasant to do something that you have to... Something, you somewhat regret, as you know the final result won't be great.

 

After some tiresome hours of annoying (to put it mildly) and tiresome work, I, the head techmarine of the Neurode Crusade, have managed to reclaim a relic Sicaran battle tank. Also, it is officially recorded in the Crusade’s records that the purchase reclaiming was the worst one in the Chapter’s history.

 

Due to the zloty to pound exchange rate, my understanding of sanity and my gaming history, I cannot afford a new Sicaran worth a month’s rent. Yet, someone sold a Sicaran on an online auction. I’ve been thrilled to get the model for a reasonable price, however, my joy was short lived. I discovered that the said tank is a "recast" and not a good one. Annoyed with the quality of the cast, I contacted the seller. As I already started working on the pieces (at first it wasn’t apparent how appalling the model is), it was too late to return it, so we settled on a partial refund. As a result, I got this model for a quarter of the price of a FW model. And it seemed as a good price at that time.

 

From today’s perspective, I’m not that sure, though. The assembly and repair processes truly strained my patience and made me question my decision and even my collecting 40K. Spending time on the model was frustrating and I must say that I never felt frustration with 40K before. I also learned that either liquid green stuff is rubbish, or I can’t use it. Fortunately, now I’m done with preping the model. It is far from perfect, true. It was infuriating, yes. But it saved me some time, as the only other real alternative of getting a Sicaran was scratchbuilding one.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1100269_zpshsikdase.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1100270_zpsoywgsqhf.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1100271_zpsgseatbyq.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1100272_zpsvglxjaer.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1100273_zpsovgoz1w2.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1100274_zpsxagj5xjg.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1100276_zpsnhatrlct.jpg

 

I can’t wait to see how it’ll look primed and painted. Fingers crossed! Hopefully, all the green bits will get covered up nicely by the primer. Yet, more realistically - I expect these bits to be awful. Especially the top couple of links of the rear tracks, where the air had to get out, and which were particularly ruined.

However, on an amazing up-side. By accident, I found this Telion for a silly price. While buying the Sicaran arguably was a mistake, Talion is a bargain of the year so far. I just have to remove the omegas and I’ll have an awesome looking neophyte!

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1100277_zps4bue1ujl.jpg

[AndrewChristlieb]

It looks pretty good despite your issues with it. If the tracks comeout looking aweful you might be able to extend the armor a bit with some card and cover those spots. And remember, paint covers a multitude of sins. ;)

[Firepower]

Stringing the chains over your seals is a clever touch.  If I ever get myself some proper chain, I'll be stealing that.

 

And yes, liquid greenstuff is more or less worthless.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Firepower

[The_Chaplain]

As a brother in arms who also purchased a recast sicaran off the Internet-- I have the utmost solidarity with your current plight. However it looks like you've fixed the issues with your cast. I need to do the same with my sicarans rear tracks-- what was your process for rebuilding them? It's a beautiful death machine on the table-- you won't be unhappy with the purchase once the body count starts skyrocketing.

[Brother Christopher]

It looks pretty good despite your issues with it. If the tracks comeout looking aweful you might be able to extend the armor a bit with some card and cover those spots. And remember, paint covers a multitude of sins.

 

I'm so, so sorry! Your idea to extend the rear armour is amazing, but I won't do that. I absolutely love it, but at the same time, I can't stand the thought of wasting any more time for preping the tank.

 

Stringing the chains over your seals is a clever touch.  If I ever get myself some proper chain, I'll be stealing that.

 

And yes, liquid greenstuff is more or less worthless.

 

Go ahead! I was inspired with a Rhino hatch from our chapter upgrade sprue and figured it looks quite cool!

 

As a brother in arms who also purchased a recast sicaran off the Internet-- I have the utmost solidarity with your current plight. However it looks like you've fixed the issues with your cast. I need to do the same with my sicarans rear tracks-- what was your process for rebuilding them? It's a beautiful death machine on the table-- you won't be unhappy with the purchase once the body count starts skyrocketing.

 

The prospect of having it painted is the only thing that drives me onward. Other things about the tank drive me mad...

For the tracks. The original pins/joins had lots of 1-2 mm holes in them and looked like Swiss cheese. Oh boy... I used liquid GS, as it was supposed to fill up bubbles. Then I removed (most of) liquid GS and tried regular GS to rebuild the joints between the links. After an hour or so of doing 4 links (I'm useless with GS!!) I left it to cure... and later realise that it's rubbish. So, ultimately I removed the ruins pins/joints altogether and used a toothpick. I cut it to the right length and then, using a small metal file, I made small grooves to imitate the shape/texture of the original pieces. So, I recommend either to use regular GS (and I know you can! ) or to replace them altogether.

 

Since the previous post, I've managed to prime the tank. Unfortunately, the paint didn't work miracles that I'd expected, but I'm done with it. I truly am fed up with this Sicaran and it'll have to be as it is. In the end of the day, I'll call the ruined spots 'battle damage' and paint it appropriately. The tank is centuries old and rare, so I'll tell everyone that it was unearthed during one of the Crusade's operations, wrecked and abandoned for millennia. That makes 40K-sense, I suppose. Any tips for painting battle damage on black armour?

 

BTW. I've been browsing my photos and I found this. Some time ago, when I was home I did something with my techmarine/master of the forge. I tacked the servo arms I'm working on to the backpack to see how they look and if they make any sense.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Master%20of%20the%20Forge/P1100201_zpsulobtrnh.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Master%20of%20the%20Forge/P1100202_zpsdcfxjgk4.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Master%20of%20the%20Forge/P1100203_zps82pnpvi3.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Master%20of%20the%20Forge/P1100204_zpsix5j896m.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Master%20of%20the%20Forge/P1100205_zpsccmxa8ce.jpg

 

It's still WIP, but what do you think?

Edited March 9, 2015 by Brother Cristopher

[infyrana]

You could always paint dirt over the tracks etc.  Literally, mix with your paint some actual sand or other dirt like substance to mud up the tracks and hide the bad casting under it.  Or use some rust effects which have a 3D sand finish that you can pack up into the mould lines.

 

I hate resin, mostly I hate the fact that it breaks in my hands.  My FW 40k Death Guard shoulder pads were the worst offenders for simply snapping anything spike like related, and after taking the sprue's tab from the pad edge I was often left with a massive chunk out of the shoulder pad rim.  With my DG Contemptors, I've broken the spike at the top of the neck/body area, I simply used a file and made a cutting slash into the bodywork to give the impression of being hacked in that area with a massive blade.  With similar miss-cuts or bad filing to clean up flash lines, I just make a bit of battle damage with a knife or file and aim to paint it up as such when I finally find my painting mood.

[Marshal_Roujakis]

I'm surprised that Liquid Green Stuff isn't working that well for you... I've used it quite a lot as a finishing touch to a model to seal exposed areas and even to remove finger marks off of green stuff objects.

[Brother Christopher]

@infyrana

 

I totally agree with you on the resin matter. I hear that the material is better than plastic in that it allows for greater detail. Yeah, well... For smaller models, it's not strong enough,l as parts bent and break. For large models... I can't imagine to pay a month's rent worth of cash for a Storm Eagle and then suffer, as some did. Suffice to say, that I'm glad I started my 40K when there were metal models out there. They're annoying too, but at least their weight is right. Plastic is best, from my experience. Maybe the detail isn't as sharp and great, but at least it's more durable and easier to "process".

 

The dirt on the tracks is an option too, but there's a problem with that: none of my other tanks have it. And I want to use one method consistently throughout my army. But, I'll give it a thought, as some sand/texture on tracks tends to look cool.

 

@Roujakis

 

Maybe I've been doing it wrong, but I'm extremely disappointed with liquid GS. For me, on most occassions, it does more harm than good. But I'm glad you can make the best out of it!

 

And an update. I just realised why my progress with 40K is snail-slow. It's because I get ideas. For instance, now I thought that the Sicaran requires some special attention, a freehand maybe, to draw people's attention away from the ruined bits. In Codex: Black Templars (page 5) there was a graphic I thought I could use for my tank. It is after all old'n'stuff. I decided to waste my life try to transfer it on the tank's side. However, knowing that my relationship with Citadel yellow is mostly about hate, and I didn't want to ruin the 80% covered yellow side of the tank, I took a small, thin rectangle of plasticard, primed it, painted it yellow and made a small 'canvas.' That way, even if I failed miserably, I wouldn't have to redo the side of the Sicaran. On the other hand, if I succeeded, I could've just cut the marine figure out from the small sheet and glue it on the side of the tank.

 

I must say, I'm rather pleased with the result. At first, I wanted to paint two marines, just like on the graphic. Unfortunately, I abandoned the idea: the second figure is too small.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1100284_zpsuywadygq.jpg

 

But then I thought that the white part, which was supposed to be a flash, didn't look great. So I repainted that bit, and here's the final version:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1100288_zpsrsxzg2ab.jpg

 

I hope that an outsider, with some imagination, will see an Imperial Fists marine with a bolter as much as I can see him .

 

 

 

The squares on the mat are 1cm by 1cm, so the marine is about 2cm high. He'll be placed in one of the recessed areas on the Sicaran, something like this:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1100290_zps0mrpex2l.jpg

 

I want to paint pale yellow outline of some ruins/battlements in the background on both sides. I'm still wondering what to place on the other side, but you can never go wrong with a templar cross or a ribbon of parchment, can't you?

[Acebaur]

It's looking great!  I'm sorry to hear about all your troubles with the model though, but I think it came out looking just fine. The marine looks awesome and I agree that I like him better without the gunfire. 

 

I like your color scheme as well, very similar to what I'm planning to do whenever I get around to buying a Sicaran.  Because they are so old, I feel like they should still have some of the yellow of the Legion on there to honor her past service. 

[Metic]

that looks so rad

[Honda]

If that techmarine/Master of the Forger were any more awesome, this thread would explode.

 

I know my head did. Just brilliant.

[Ciler]

ON a side note, you may be happy happy to know that from the standpoint of someone who doesn't know the sicarian model well I couldn't see anything "wrong" with it just looking at the pics. Only after reading your explanation and looking at the pictures closely did I notice the tracks.

 

So you've done a great job I'd say.

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for your awesome feedback everyone!

 

I'm away on a conference, and hence, away from my paint set at the moment, but I'm getting back to painting the Sicaran tomorrow. Also, I want to compile a report on the progress with the Techmarine and a list of inspirations. Because this techmarine/master of the forge has a long, long story. A story of my dealing with 40K, I suppose: too many ideas, too little time and awful time management (I get distract... oh, I'm going to make a Stormeagle!).

[Marshal_Roujakis]

Good luck on the Stormeagle... those things can either be a meh or a pain to assemble... if you have it easy, then good on you... but if the gaps on it are too big... well... prepare a few blobs of Greenstuff to cover them holes :D

[Brother Christopher]

I must've been tired or something. Storm Raven, that's what I'm gonna build. Eagle, Raven - a SM flying brick, who cares!

 

I've seen some pics of peoples efforts to build an Eagle. I couldn't bear that, just couldn't. FW models are great. They perfectly entertain my inner nerd. But there's a more reasonable part of me that reminds me that there are some financial limits on how much I can spend on plastic/resin tanks and planes. Furthermore, there's the issue of quality. Sure, finished FW models are great, but you have to put incomparably more effort into assembling resin models than plastic kits. And here's a disparity I can't get over: you pay much more for a FW resin kit which is initially an inferior product. Having said that, I suppose that getting a ruined Sicaran for the price of a Rhino is somewhat different than getting a £100 plane. Lastly, FW is beyond my financial reach, at least as long as the PLN to GBP exchange rate doesn't become more favourable (#reallifeproblems).

 

On a side note, did anyone have any 'direct contact' with the new BA Tactical Squad? I can get one for a fairly decent price. I see that there are also some pretty nifty bits in the box, but I'm 50:50 on the matter of de-bloodangelification of the bits. From the pictures on-line, I think it's possible to remove or convert their insignia, but I'm not sure if it's worth the effort. Any advice?

Edited March 15, 2015 by Brother Cristopher

[Kongou]

 

Promising! Looking forward to more! May I inquire what scholarly pursuit is delaying my brother in mustering his forces? It's nice to know I'm not the only one struggling to balance life, study and 40k

 

Sorry for the off-topic.

 

Literary criticism, fantasy literature. I'm writing about dealing with international crises and dealing with the threat of totalitarian rule. And the work I'm analysing is... The Lord of the Rings (I wanted to do Harry Potter too, but I'm running out of time). I'm portraying Mordor as a tyranny and showing how the Free Peoples handle the threat with the focus on Gandalf as an almost autocratic leader, who can be trusted with the authority he holds, because he can resist the temptation of absolute power. So, a bit of politics, a bit of ethics, and a great dose of geekness. It sounds kind of lame, though. It doesn't contribute in any significant way to the development of science, but - who cares. I like Gandalf, despite the fact that he's a witch.

 

.... I probably should name my chaplain (or any other high officer) Gandalf.

 

I left my scout's pauldrons uncrossed until I can figure out how to do them properly...  Do you varnish before you put the cross down?

 

I just paint it, no varnishing, no nothing. Well, sometimes in cases of bigger and more elaborate freehands, I make a pencil outline. And doing scouts' pauldrons is amazingly tricky and unpleasant. I don't know why, but I find it much more a strenuous and tiresome task than doing PA pads.

 

Imagine the chaplain standing in front of a horde of orks, YOU SHALL NOT PASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[Brother Christopher]

My inconsistency with wh-projects is just... Well, suffice it to say that I'm surprised to discover how consistent my inconsistency is. Last time there was the Sicaran, earlier a TFC, now let's get back to the forgotten AoBR-to-Ironclad conversion. I decided to do something with the dreadnought, as it was just sitting there on my desk and gathering dust for the last half a year or so. The good thing is that in that time I remembered that vehicles too can be Templarified and I decided to add some BT elements to the final look.

 

For now, there isn't much progress, but I'm happy to see any progress at all. I painted the coloured panels and did some highlighting. Next step: refining the grey lines and the body of the Ironclad is done. After that highlighting the arms and painting a couple of ornaments shouldn't be an issue and the conversion/paining will finally come to an end. Fingers crossed.

 

This 40K stuff is exciting! I never know what will happen and when will it take place. I really have to improve my time management and find more determination to focus on the hobby.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Ironclad%20Dreadnought/P1100476_zpsadgzaaav.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Ironclad%20Dreadnought/P1100477_zpsobbazrkl.jpg

 

The DIY parts are quite tough to paint, as covering them with coulour reveals all those nasty mistakes that I made during assembly. The worst are the front panels, the right-hand side (i.e. red) in particular, but right now that is something I can live with.

 

I still haven't decided on the colour of the cross and wings on the sarcophagus. Maybe white wings/red cross. Or red wings/black cross. I have to give it some thought.

[Acebaur]

Looking pretty good. Are those leg coverings DIY too? And what is that little cross and shield on the smoke stack from?

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks! The legs are made out of plasticard, at least the outer most layer of the armour. Here's an image from before priming the model which shows all the conversion work I did.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Ironclad%20Dreadnought/P1080237_zpsccc82d51.jpg

 

And the little shield is a GS imprint of the ornate cross guard of the power sword in the BT chapter upgrade box (I think). Or something similar, I can't remember exactly what was the original, as I did that some time ago, back when I decided that I can't sculpt anything decent-looking on my own, and shifted to GS mould-making.

Edited April 25, 2015 by Brother Cristopher