Raztalin's PLOG (pic heavy)

[Raztalin]

Hi all.

 

Thought I’d start a log of what I’m doing (a WIP thread if you like), if not to provide wider exposure to my creations to you guys, then to help me keep track of what I need to do and also keep motivated to actually finish things!!

 

So, I’ve been a collector since I was knee high to a Squat.  Been involved in the GW hobby systems for well over 20 years now, and in that time my interest levels have peaked and troughed.  Prior to the 6th Ed launch my last copy of the 40k game system was 2nd Edition, with Dark Millennium. 

 

Since the start though I have been true to the first legion - my beloved Dark Angels.  Back then I even collected PA models!! ;-)  Over the last 2 years I have been slowly growing my Deathwing force.  I have a few things painted but generally I spend my time on conversion's, then dream of what they could look like with paint on them.  I also haven’t played a game since 2nd Ed. I'm much more of a hobbyist than a gamer. 

 

Last count I had a meagre 93 Terminators (plastic) several HQ's (all in TDA), one LRC, one Godhammer, a converted Pred Executioner and a Mk1 WhirlWind.  I also have a selection of RW and Greenwing, the DV forces (x2) a couple of Bike squads with Attack Bikes, a Storm Talon converted to be my Nephelim (counts as of course, just need to add the rotor blades from my crashed RC Helicopter so its more of the Apache gunship I want it to be).

 

So presently I have a few examples to show you guys, feedback on everything is appreciated and one of the main reasons I am posting them! :-)

 

First up is a couple WIP pics of the Chapy that (somehow) won Grotsmashers Kit-Bash Chapy challenge:

 

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I have actually made some changes to him since, a few extra layers on the cloak has given it alot more depth, and some hightlighting of the Black with a wash over the top has given the armour more life.  I'll try to remember to get more recent pics soon!

 

And something I have been working on over the weekend:

 

My take on a Storm Eagle - DA Styleeeeee

 

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I still have a way to go on this thing - spent Saturday getting it to here - no GS out as of yet as I still need to chop a few things add a few things then tidy up etc. Its been sat in my mind as a concept for a while - and after receiving a gift voucher for my birthday i treated myself to the Storm Raven kit.  I already had 2 of the Chapter house extension kits (as i wasnt sure if just one would be long enough) and had ordered from various bitz sites off the net most of the other little bits you see here and there.  I do atleast have the MM at the front, the Vengeance Missiles under the front wings, and the 2 x TL LasCannons on the rear wings.  If i ever wanted to use it as a Storm Raven I can either take out the front Missiles and replace with the Storm Bolters from the Nephelim / Dark Talon, the Lascannons will just have to be single TL, and the MM can stay as is or i can pop them out and addin either the HB's or the Typhoon Launcher.  To be honest - It'll be a Storm Eagle now and forever but i've built it from a players perspective just in case :-)

 

OK and last but by no means least - Belial.  With 6th Ed. came my latest incarnation of our leader.  Now the gun and sword are (IMO) the optimal load out:

 

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So thanks for getting this far (those that did!).  I hope some of what I have done / do looks good enough (its hard to compared to some of the tallent on show on this site!!)

 

I'll be updating this sporadically; but will welcome any questions and criticism (gun barrel holes will be drilled out ;-) ).

 

Peace out Brothers!

Edited July 14, 2023 by Raztalin

[Tenshi]

Very dynamic Belial. I like characters barking orders :)

[Tanhausen]

Nice Belial model!

 

Carefull with his "hunch", on the left corner...it looks like it took a chip and if you don't prepare him properly it would spoil a great idea :)

[Raztalin]

Thanks for the comments guys. 

 

Nice Belial model!

 

Carefull with his "hunch", on the left corner...it looks like it took a chip and if you don't prepare him properly it would spoil a great idea

 

On the rear of the model are you refering too?

[Tanhausen]

Yeah, just above the cloak.

 

Actually, its looks like you got a think layer of paint or something...or maybe some weird foto effect

[Cod]

Wow, very nice stuff going on here indeed!
 

Your Chappy looks really good painted, liking the colours you chose too ;-)

I'm also working on a stormraven converted to a stormeagle for my etl, but hadnt thought of double wings, think because of time I will keep mine simple, lol. Yours does look big and impressive.

Belial is a keeper!

Good luck continuing with your DA and painting these up

[Raztalin]

Yeah, just above the cloak.

 

Actually, its looks like you got a think layer of paint or something...or maybe some weird foto effect

 

I think its grease from my thumb or finger ... I rubbed it and it came off :-)

 

 

Wow, very nice stuff going on here indeed!

 

Your Chappy looks really good painted, liking the colours you chose too ;-)

I'm also working on a stormraven converted to a stormeagle for my etl, but hadnt thought of double wings, think because of time I will keep mine simple, lol. Yours does look big and impressive.

Belial is a keeper!

 

Good luck continuing with your DA and painting these up

 

Thanks very much.  I was dubious at first about the double wings, as i received the Dark Talon ones prior to getting the Raven and was concerned ovber the size of them!!  I then tried an "X-Wing" style look but that gave a very rear end heavy look.  Maybe shorter ones more akin to the original Storm Eagle would still work ...

 

Cheers for the support.  As it happens the only 2 people I know of a similar age who play still have just asked if I want to play on Friday, so will have to try and get a bit more paint on a few more troops!  Will be my first game for almost 20 years!!!  Should be fun though; and i'll be that little bit less n00bish afterwards :-)

[Raztalin]

Thought i'd post a small update with my latest conversion work. 

 

After reading the Horus Heresy books on my holidays I really wanted to build a Storm Bird - but after some research I realised the scale of it ... so instead i figured i'd use it as inspiration for another Storm Eagle conversion.  From what i understand the Storm Bird had large rotor motors on either side.  I had already purchased the DragonFly from puppetswar and thought to use that as a base for the conversion.  That soon changed as i realised there would be a helluva lot of work to get the body right, so I went back to an adapted Storm Raven like my previous effort. 

 

After a couple of nights planning, cutting up perfectly good models and piecing parts together I have com up with this:

 

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The rear wings are from my other conversion for now just for the pictures.  Still awaiting some bits to arrive to add the details but hopefully i'll have this bad boy done in the next week or so (when i say done i mean built not painted - still waiting to get an Airbrush to begin the larger model paintings.)

 

I've also got a Relic Contemptor in the works and will be posting pics of that over the next few days.

 

As always cheers for looking - any c & c is welcome

Edited July 14, 2023 by Raztalin

[Raztalin]

Greetings all

 

Right - I now have both of my Storm Eagle variants in the primed stages, 1 has some of the detail's started but that will be for a later post when I have a bit more progress.

 

What I wanted to share was my latest "side" project   (i'll never get anything finished LOL)

 

As mentioned in a previous post; after reading the HH novels I was intrigued by the Storm Bird; interwebs searches revealed some amazing conversions but the one i liked the most was based on a GI Joe toy that I haven't been able to find as of yet.  But as I was searching and reading related posts i stumbled across the guides for a kit bashed ThunderHawk; both the Nuneaton GW one and a couple others. 

 

Raiding various bits sites for the bits needed I set about making my own version, which amalgamated the various guides with bits of my own devising. 

 

Now its still very much a WIP; but thought i'd ask my fellow Unforgiven what they thought of it thus far (please forgive the grainy pics, i used my iPad in poor lighting, i'll get some more pics after this weekends work on it).

 

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Everything you see is "dry fitted" with bluetac atm, but I'm happy currently with where everything is situated.  My one issue is the Heavy Bolter mounts ... I have used the Predator Sponsons and added an extra muzzle (courtesy of the SR kit trimmed and glued on in parallel) and currently they sit in the upside down doorway of the rear SR chassis.  These i dont mind, but i'm unsure about placement for the other set ... i have tried them on the side of the cockpit in front of the forward wings but they are just a tad too large and are restricted in movement.  I have the Bastion kit HB's to play with too so a different mounting type and lower profile guns could be used too...my other idea is leaving the ones where they are and keeping them as the fwd guns and using the FW Razorback ones / Land Raider Hull ones and placing them in the wings.  

 

Which leads me to the next quandary ... do i extend the wings ... ?  I added the final pic above so you can see what it looks like with the standard SR wings on it (borrowed from one of the SE's prior to priming   ).  Now to me they look proportionate as they are, but every guide I've referenced extends and flattens them - and yes they do look good and more like the FW version.  I'm just wondering if i need to go that route ... IF i mount the other HB's on the hull then there is no requirement for more guns on it and the native SR missile pods will suffice for wing armaments. IF however I don't then i need to look at wing placement and design to incorporate them.  Brothers - your opinions please

 

As you can see I have used plasticard to extend the front section (more akin to the FW THawk design) which (to me anyways) makes the ship look like it could carry 30 marines in it (albeit if it is a little narrow!!) I have now made Armour plates for that section (more plasticard).  It also keeps the side Exit doors in a very similar place to the original design too; my vain attempt at keeping as much as I can to the original STC   Dry fitted the landing gear (into the Hurri Bolter mounts) and at present it sits fine ... now that could well change with 2 more engines on the rear and both wings ... so I may need to add more landing gear to the Rhino section at a later stage.

 

The gun - as some of you may have noticed is from the Stalker / Hunter Kit ... when that kit was released I saw it and instantly thought "yeah that will work"   the guides i have use Vindi Cannons and other spare SR parts to make a housing, this is great but i felt a little too static, I envisage that gun having a wider field of fire...I'd already got the Baneblade barrel which i was originally going to add to the Vindi cannon, but as soon as i could order the Sky Spear launcher (is that right!?) parts separately I bit the bullet and was relieved to find they mated up with little cutting needed

 

I have also glued the Rhino chassis the correct way round; the opposite to the guides, and it was solely because I wanted to mount the aforementioned gun to it.  This does present a slight aesthetic issue with the angles at the rear, and the exhaust tops being the "right" way round ... I will make sure they look right or are hidden when i add the smaller wings with the LasCannons on them, and add some Radar dishes or just hatches to the 2 smaller holes.

 

The front cockpit cover is ofc from the original Rhino kit, I stole this idea from another blog / post i found, i think on Dakka.  I felt it tries to look more like the THawk front; and although I'm not trying to replicate the original design entirely I do still want mine to be recognisable for what it is meant to be.

 

The tail will be interesting ... I have used the 2 sections i trimmed off the front of the upside down SR, glued them together and trimmed 2 of the rear rhino hatch handles? off and it fits like it was meant to be there ... I now have the task of "bulking" it up so the tail section has something solid to mount to.  Plasticard and GS will be used sparingly here

 

Wow, hadnt intended to make such a long post ... thanks to all who take the time to read it and thanks in advance for any feedback I may receive

 

Peace out!!!

Edited July 14, 2023 by Raztalin

[Cod]

Nice work Raztalin!

 

Your Thunderhawk looks the biz. The cannon on top is huge. At first I thought the wings might be too small, but overall it does create a long sleekish look somehow which I think works well. Looks like lots of fun playing around with other kits and plasticard.
 

This is going to dominate the battlefield!

[Raztalin]

Nice work Raztalin!

 

Your Thunderhawk looks the biz. The cannon on top is huge. At first I thought the wings might be too small, but overall it does create a long sleekish look somehow which I think works well. Looks like lots of fun playing around with other kits and plasticard.

 

This is going to dominate the battlefield!

Cheers Cod. :)  It has been a lot of fun, i even have the scars to prove it!!! 

 

Yeah the wings do look alright ... I'm just not sure how they would look if i extended them and how the proportions would work with the quite small front wings ... i guess i can always make them bigger if needs be.

 

Yeah I plan on taking my Air Force to an Apoc. game around Xmas time.  What i really want is to also get 3 Nephilims to escort the Storm Eagles and this bad boy for a real air force threat :)  Just a shame those kits are so dang expensive ...

[Cactus]

I think the second set of heavy bolters should be mounted on the wings. I really like the downward facing thrusters on the the front section but they do occupy the same space the forward sponsons usually take. I'm not that familiar with the storm raven wings so I can't say if they should be longer/flatter. Is there any chance of a front and rear shot showing the angle of the wings?

 

The extra rhino doorways at the rear are crying out for a set of Forge World's hatches with fancy chapter iconography.

 

I love the big gun.

[The_Chaplain]

Holy crap, these are amazing! Keep up the good work brother!

[Raztalin]

I think the second set of heavy bolters should be mounted on the wings. I really like the downward facing thrusters on the the front section but they do occupy the same space the forward sponsons usually take. I'm not that familiar with the storm raven wings so I can't say if they should be longer/flatter. Is there any chance of a front and rear shot showing the angle of the wings?

 

The extra rhino doorways at the rear are crying out for a set of Forge World's hatches with fancy chapter iconography.

 

I love the big gun. :tu:

Cheers for the response Cactus; I'll post some more pics once I've had a chance to do a bit more this weekend. The rhino doors at the rear will be covered by the 2nd level of rear wing that the LasCan's will mount on. However the fwd doors may well receive some FW DA doors ;)

 

 

  

Holy crap, these are amazing! Keep up the good work brother!

Thanks Chaplain, I'll do my best :)

[HsojVvad]

How did you make your Belial. I think the pose is so awesome, and the GW version is a bit bland, especially his legs. I would love to copy what you did. 

 

How did you do it, so I may steal, I mean borrow your idea. 

[Raztalin]

I'll do my best to recall :)

 

I used Lugft Huron's body, then bare head, storm bolter arm, cloak are from the new DW sprues, the shoulders are Tartaros TDA ones, and the dressed up with various bits from the DA vets sprues (mainly purity seals). The sword arm is also from Huron with the hand guard bit again from the DA vet sprue, likewise the banner too, the bit that would normally go on a backpack or similar.

 

Hope that helps

[HsojVvad]

I'll do my best to recall

 

I used Lugft Huron's body, then bare head, storm bolter arm, cloak are from the new DW sprues, the shoulders are Tartaros TDA ones, and the dressed up with various bits from the DA vets sprues (mainly purity seals). The sword arm is also from Huron with the hand guard bit again from the DA vet sprue, likewise the banner too, the bit that would normally go on a backpack or similar.

 

Hope that helps

 

Thank you it does. Ironic eh, Belial made from Chaos parts. 

 

 

[Raztalin]

OK so I promised pics ... and I shall deliver ... just not the ones that were requested ><  sowwy!!!  I will upload them this week though ...

 

I got a tad distracted this weekend, and didn't have as much time as i'd have liked to spend on the ThunderHawk Conversion, but i managed to get a couple of Dreads made up.

 

First off my MM/HF Ven Dread.  It was a"reclaimed" base model, with bits from the Old Ven Dread kit added on for good measure ... plus i thought i'd try and make a more archaic looking MM using the Rift Cannon ...

 

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I'm happy with how he's looking so will submit him to the TechMarines for gluing (may still need some GS'ing on the Rift Cannon to the Dread Arm) and a bit of tidying up still :)

 

I also managed to get some pics of the Contemptor thats now had the arms / weapons magnetised - pics will follow.

 

Cheers for looking; as always C&C welcome

Edited July 14, 2023 by Raztalin

[Raztalin]

And here is the Contemptor, with the 3 weapon loadouts I have atm (I did buy it with the FW Plasma Cannons too, but didnt get round to doing them):

 

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I've used the Pupetswar shoulders and weapons - for those that havent seen them :)

 

Clean up on a lot of the parts is still needed, and I need to drill a hole through where the CML will sit to put a bar through it to allow them to rotate up and down a little. The Power Fists also come with attachments for the Storm Bolters, Flamers and Meltas, which I will also magnetise when i get a chance.  

 

And the base has along way to go ... but its progress none the less.

 

Cheers for looking

Edited July 14, 2023 by Raztalin

[Raztalin]

Hey guys - Managed to get me some time to get to the hobby store last night to stock up on FoamBoard, and half an hour of time to cut some "wings" out.

 

I used the papercraft template for the shape, so the should resemble the original models, I'll add the armour plates on top with plasticard, not only for detail but to add strength to them too.  Couple of brass rods through each wing too, will hopefully be enough to hold them in place on the model (through the engines with a couple of discrete magnets) but also allow me to remove them for transportation.

 

Top shot:

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Head on shots:

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Its slow progress I know, but its getting there!!

 

I think i'll also use the papercraft templates to make the tail section too, as I'm not convinced by the "flimsyness" of the Storm Raven one on something this big. 

 

Hopefully i'll get a few more hours on this over the weekend; if not I have most of December off work so I plan to have the thing ready for a new year Apoc game!!!

 

C & C welcome (and appreciated) as always

Edited July 14, 2023 by Raztalin

[The_Chaplain]

Good call on the wings man. A definite improvement.  

[Dark Rage]

Nice lot of conversions here, really like that Contemptor those shoulders go very nicely with it and that other dreadnought with the melta conversion looks awesome as well.

 

DR

[Master Avoghai]

Raztalin, I curse you! You will be damned over 40000 generations!

 

Like if I wouldn't already had enough dread, your rift cannon one makes me think every second that I should convert one too!

 

 

:lol:

[Raztalin]

Raztalin, I curse you! You will be damned over 40000 generations!

 

Like if I wouldn't already had enough dread, your rift cannon one makes me think every second that I should convert one too!

 

 

There is no such thing as "enough" Dreads!! :)  I only have 6 atm :)

[Raztalin]

So ... the xmas break wasnt half as productive as i'd hoped ...but still I did manage to paint a few things.

 

Update time :

 

For the Currus Belli I vowed and completed a LRC :-

 

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As always; my plans of grandeur went astray - so instead of 3 squads of Deathwing I painted up the rest of 1 squad ... or in other words 2 Troopers :-

PS: excuse the poorer quality pics, i had to use my phone as I forgot my camera this morning!  ><

 

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Shhhhh - no one else will notice the blood drop i "forgot" to scrape off the inside of this right foot!!! 

 

These still need an anti-shine spray over them, bases and a touch up here and there (isn't digital imagery great for highlighting your mistakes!!??)

 

I then moved onto Belial - still to do his banner and cape, but here he is atm :-

 

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And one of them together :-

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Hopefully the next update will have progress of the 2 Storm Eagles and the Thunder Hawk and Belial completed with a squad to escort him onto the battlefield.  And maybe, just maybe a Dread or 2 ;-)

 

Thanks as always for looking and any C&C is always welcome!!!

Edited July 14, 2023 by Raztalin