MajorNese's AdMech reboot - project log

[MajorNese]

Day 1 of country-wide lockdown.
The coffe machine spirit is eager, and Dawn of War/Mechanicus soundtrack blasts all day long.
I've started tackling the backlog, with the intention of readying some of the larger models for ETL.

First up is the Warhound titan I've had around for a while.
Torso is built, head requires some new plasticard inserts for the eyes.
Though basing will only be done once the local GW store opens again - I intend to use 130mm bases for each foot.

 

[Magos Takatus]

Nice start! I bet it will develop quite quickly considering the current situation. Good luck, and good choice for the background music. :)

[thewarriorhunter]

Wow AT is really true at the smaller scale. I thought that was an AR Warhound at first and that you had a cutting mat with a really small grid. Looking forward to seeing this come along.

[MajorNese]

Day 4.

The coffee starts to taste better since I've started using the Rite of Irish Addition - at least one upside of home office.

Feet are built, and temporarily glued to 100mm bases for posing. Once the store is open again, I'll order 130mm bases for each foot.

Legs are built, just not connected right now, that will happen when basing is done.

 

 

Next up are the weapons, and mould line cleaning on the armour plates. Then it's just the details and the bases, and maybe casting/gluing some decorative stuff on there.

[MajorNese]

Week 2.

The room smells of resin dust, but the warhound is pretty much done - I'll add a bit of decoration over the time (I prefer not to rush that), and bases when available again.

 

 

With the first step on the road to ETL done, I'll do a smaller model or two for a change. Which one exactly will depend on a third party store delivery, so either knight or AdMech stuff.

 

I've got a lot of stuff still here, so I'd say it's for the best to just build stuff and only paint it once ETL has started. With current developments, I doubt my large events in the summer will take place anyway...

[Ldorte]

The Warhound build looks like its going great. May I ask what guide you used during construction? I grabbed a Warhound in February but have yet to do anything with it as it is quite an intimidating build compared to the resin tanks I've done previously!

[MajorNese]

I've used THIS project for guidance.

 

The official guide doesn't go into that much detail on certain parts.

The easiest approach would be to lay out the entire titan in parts - once you figure out which pistons and connector parts belong to the feet, it clears up a lot. Then the two-part pistons from foot to leg. Then the ones at the hip. Every piston has a different diameter and amount, so it's quite a puzzle at that point, but once the leg parts are done, the rest becomes rather obvious.

 

For building stages, I first did the torso, so I could figure out the pose with a reference for the future model. Then the leg portion/pose, then head/weaponry to match that. And once I get back to it, add some details.

 

Luckily, I have a friend who recently built his, and was able to answer questions about the more ambiguous parts not explicitly mentioned in the manual. If you have any questions, feel free to ask - it's not been too long ago for me.

[Ldorte]

That's a great link thanks, nice and comprehensive run down (unlike the useless official instructions!). Thanks for the tips I think I'll have a go at it this weekend.

 

I look forwards to seeing your warhound all painted up!

[Colonel Cross]

Did you ever find any good turret alternatives? Did you just use some plasticard to take care of the gaps between the Disintegrator top armor and the Dunerider ramp edges?

 

 

"Last but not least, my first boat.

I didn't like the Higgins Boat look entirely, and the design difference between transport and gunboat. So I closed the transport, making it a beach ramming brick, way more brutal than the original look. Once I figure out how to do an enclosed turret with missile launcher, it can run as both variants.

 

So if anyone knows a third party source for enclosed boat turrets, this might help a lot. No way that thing will stay open..."

 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Great job! I agree, an enclosed passenger compartment makes the vehicle look MUCH better.

[MajorNese]

 

Did you ever find any good turret alternatives? Did you just use some plasticard to take care of the gaps between the Disintegrator top armor and the Dunerider ramp edges?

I used plasticard for the ramp/top armour gap already. You only need a slightly weird triangle, that's possible if a bit tricky to cut without gap.

 

The only thing still missing is the turret alternative - the turret platform is so weirdly angled, my plasticard skills are insufficient.

If that pops up on Shapeways or any other shop in a good-looking variant, I'd prefer that.

 

 

 

Until then, more walkers for ETL.

Current project is marrying a Styrix conversion kit to the current knight box, with (almost) every weapon magnetized. Since every gun uses parts from the other (or not) and the GW instructions are completely cluttered, that takes way longer than anticipated. Seriosly, every single knight option (Canis Rex, Paladin, Warden,...) is described by itself, with every single step, and only the options that model has available. It's better to actually cut out the relevant parts and throw away the rest...

[Colonel Cross]

Thanks for the response, MajorNese.  I'm working on a test turret now.  I used the servitor for the Dunerider heavy stubber turret.  I then built the Disintegrator turret as normal, but I added a skitarii gunner from the Dunecrawler kit and glued his gunner hands to it.  You can't tell he is just floating there when placed onto the turret mount.  I added the heavy weapon mount as normal on the gunners left side.  And on the right I have magnetized a leftover Daedalus Missile Launcher.  I then filed off the mechanicus symbol and glued the heavy stubber on.  It looks pretty sweet as the turret shape and missile launcher ties the design back to the Dunecrawler and balances out the look a bit better, in my opinion.  

[MajorNese]

Finally got something done again.

 

The centerpiece of my collection of centerpieces, backbone of Knight House Accidentus.

 

 

Speaking of which - it grows. I never intended to create a knight army, but those guys just keep showing up in increasing numbers...

 

[MajorNese]

Another wave done.

 

Finally did the Termite I've had on the pile for a while. Considering how the points of the dunerider were increased, the termite might be more worth it.

 

 

Also finished the next wave of destroyers, the additional 6 bring them up to 9 now. While searching the entire house for a f****** ethernet cable (the one you always have lots around and don't know what to do with) I found yet another untouched box of kataphrons. No idea when I bought that, might have been a few years. Doesn't matter, the Omnissiah wills it, so either destroyers go up to 12 or breachers up to 9. I even found that damn cable in the end...

 

 

Next up for my martian friends would be a magnetized questoris knight, currently basecoated. It might just be delayed due to an Indomitus box arriving in the next few hours, that would mean my Raptors will get a few bikers first. We'll see...

[thewarriorhunter]

Looks so good. I always love seeing your scheme on models.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Termite and the Kataphron servitors.

[MajorNese]

And the project of the past weeks is done. With almost all weapons options - the melta cannon is something I wouldn't use anyway, and magnetizing that one too would have made matters even more complicated.

 

[thewarriorhunter]

Looks great, love the heat effects on the barrels.

[Clingy]

Wonderful work. Your Castellan looks amazing

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Knight.

[MajorNese]

Looks great, love the heat effects on the barrels.

Thanks. It's the same wet blending technique, going from leadbelcher over violet to blue. And let Nuln oil dry while hanging the gun muzzle-down.

 

In unrelated news, decals should now become less relevant for me on larger vehicles, I can directly "print" anything on basecoated plasticard.

 

The Omnissiah be praised...

 

[brother_b]

The OCD painting of ALL the rivets makes  me so happy. I'm the guy that my friends ask, "Why paint the underside of the mini"? To which I reply, "Because there's an underside of the mini".

 

Keep it coming, the blends are buttery smooth goodness.

[MajorNese]

The OCD painting of ALL the rivets makes  me so happy. I'm the guy that my friends ask, "Why paint the underside of the mini"? To which I reply, "Because there's an underside of the mini".

Well, I paid for the whole mini, I might as well paint all of it. At least what is visible enough to notice if I don't.

[thewarriorhunter]

That's pretty bad @$$. How are you planning on applying to the models? Will you print directly on the bits or attach the plasticard after the fact?

[MajorNese]

It depends on the upcoming experiments.

 

It definitely works to use white plasticard, basecoat it (black or red for example), then expose the white part with the laser, as seen in the pic. That would have to be attached after basecoating the mini, or it would be coated over.

 

The next approach would be to try to engrave it into the bits. Depending on how precise it works and how noticeable/paintable it ends up, that might do the trick.

 

Another thing would be to cut out symbols from plasticard. That doesn't work too well with the 0.5mm plasticard I have around - it requires so much energy to burn through, that it melts down all details in the surrounding area. I'll get thinner plasticard (I've seen 0.16mm and 0.13mm), considering how deep my current experiments already carved, that should work though. Then glue the resulting plasticard to the model and basecoat it.