Pretty 1K Sons Rhinos

[dbecer01]

I see a lot of very clean looking Rhinos for 1K Sons pics (as opposed to some of the other legions). Do you guys buy the standard Chaos Rhino, and just not put spiky bits on it, or do you buy a FW Rhino or Imperial Rhino, and convert ( from looking at the codices, it looks like they don't have the same weapons as Chaos Rhinos)?

[Tyriks]

Whatever you want. Places near me tend not to carry the chaos vehicles so I haven't bought any besides the LR. There are very good detail bits in that kit though.

 

You could also buy the standard Rhino and some of the FW upgrades to add a little flavor. The weapons haven't been hard to take care of, it's really just the havoc launcher that's tough to replicate (but I never use havocs anyway).

[Ahzek451]

In the past, I used to use to use spikes and such on my thousand sons vehicles, mind you not as much as the rest of the chaos armies would have. But as time went on and more bits became available (plus years spent modeling) I started to move toward a cleaner and less spiky aesthetic and the Sons seem to uniquely enjoy above other legions. 

 

Undivided chaos armies (iron warriors, night lords, etc.) - yes to spikes.

World eaters-loves them spikes.

Death guard-sure, add spikes.

Emperor's children-up to you, but personally feel less spiky then the others.

Thousand sons-least spiky IMHO.

 

That being said, No spikes on my stuff, and I hunt for Egyptian conversion bits online as well as dive into other tzeentchy bits. Lots of greenstuff and plasticard. Usually LED's. Sadly, the 40k thousand sons land raider doors are gone on FW, but the rhino ones are still there. IF need be, cut the symbols out and put them on the land raider plastic. 

 

I go so far as to not use the combi-bolter provided on the chaos rhino/raider sprue and instead make my own from the inferno guns in rubric/scarab kits. The picture in the codex is a nice example of what you could do. cut a hole in the top hatch, put a tzeentch disc on it and cut out some other birdy bits and slap em around. Cut off the exhaust stacks and put gargoyle heads on, etc. 

[Raven1]

No spikes for me. In fact I take spare bits from the rubrics/sot/exalted sorcerer sprues and add them to my vehicles. So they have "inferno combi bolters" or other tzeentch symbols. The drivers are terminator or non-crest heads.

[WarriorFish]

I agree less (or no) spikes works best for Sons, and any iconography and bits added go a long way to adding more of a Sons look to them - but you're all forgetting to post your pictures ;)

[Kite Senet]

I have one spiky bit on one of my Thousand Sons Vindicators (the leader of a set of three). In particular, it's the partial ring of spikes around the top hatch, pointing toward the ladder side of the tank. I figured it made the most sense there, since the upper surface of a Vindicator seems like a relative weak spot that the Sons would be keen on shoring up. The hatches may be durable, but if someone gets up there with a satchel of melta bombs there's little they can do to clear them off before one is set unless they open the hatch themselves, which makes them vulnerable to that same melta-bomber tossing a grenade down the open hatch. The easiest solution does seem to be simply making the top surface of the tank a hazardous place to be.

 

My one Rhino doesn't have any spikes, but it also looks quite plain to me.

 

No pics though, since none of these vehicles are fully painted; two squads of Scarabs have priority first.

[Prot]

I don't mind spikes but it does seem like the Legion is trapped in time so a non-chaosified unit that existed pre-heresy seems to often retain it's pre-chaotic look rather well. Plus those spikes eventually snap off the more you travel. :)

[Panzer]

I definitely see the TSons more of a fancy rims instead of spikes Legions so I'd actually try my green stuff skills and put fancy rims all over the Rhino ... now I'm kinda glad that I don't play TSons because such an attempt would probably ruin me. :D

[dbecer01]

It seems that the style is also very clean. Is there room for dirt and battle damage in this army?

[Panzer]

Sure there is. I mean they all are sorcerers and everything but I doubt even they can concentrate on keeping their armour magically clean mid-battle. ^^

[Skerr]

Lol, DnD had a low level spell called prestidigitation that allowed you to clean, shine and bring back the color to objects. I had a Battle Sorcerer in a military campaign with a fancy breastplate and deep red robes. He cast prestidigitation every morning and perhaps after most battles or situations where he got dirty.

 

I imagine the same for my 1000 sons tanks going into battle looking just off the assembly line due to similair magics. I have them glossed to give more of shine or enchanted look.

 

I imagine the same for my eldar...

 

So for my sons, dirt and grime simply will not due, haha. My sons have white power armor and imagine would be a pain to keep clean. (Exalted Sorcerer spills coffee on himself and damns the day he picked white.)

[Panzer]

Different universes, different rules for magic. I'm pretty sure that in DnD sorcerers also don't risk to rip open the material plane or get their soul devoured by a daemon everytime they cast a spell either.

 

No argument about them cleaning their armour in their downtime. That's what other Marines do as well (unless they worship Nurgle or Khorne apparently). Especially for loyalists it's a holy duty to keep their equipment clean. Still you see lots of armies with battledamage and dirty looks because it's something they do between battles, not mid-battle.

Not to mention that most TSons are just automatons so it would fall to the Sorcerer leading them to clean every single one of them up whenever they step in some dirty puddle lol

 

That being said, of course there can be some sourcerers who are super obsessed with keeping their soldiers clean. He asked whether there's room for TSons to be dirty and there definitely is. Doesn't mean they all have to be dirty. ^^

[Tyriks]

Of all the armies in 40k, I'd say TS have the easiest excuse to be clean. Doesn't mean they have to be, though.

[Skerr]

Yeah, my sons use magic to stay clean. No towels or armor all needed.

 

Different universes don't matter.

It's my own fluff. :)

[Ahzek451]

Repel-all spell. Except for the wolf blood...we welcome that blemish. :P

[Scammel]

The Forge World panels give a pretty good arcane-but-not-overly-chaotic look. I think a more plain style would work, too, though I would stay away from the trappings of 'modernity' with excessive smoke launchers, searchlights etc. 

[Skerr]

I like to put flaming cauldrons on the smoke stacks, some FW doors and a couple Tzeentch symbols and good to go.

[dbecer01]

So, given all this, I've been wondering if I should get an airbrush. I've only painted one army before, and I am kind of basic at it. I can do basic brush work like laying down bases, washing, and my edge highlighting is ok sometimes. 

 

I see a lot of airbrushed models which look wonderful, and I've heard that I can get all of this done faster.

 

What would you guys recommend? I've got 3 start collecing tzeentch Daemons boxes, 2 Change Cult boxes, 3 Daemon Princes, and Magnus the Red to paint. (The rest of the army, I will probably collect in December or something, I've got enough work to do.) 

[Skerr]

I got a inexpensive kit and compressor off Amazon a few years back. I did not use it much for the first few months as I was a novice and it takes a bit to get used to all the processes like good paint flow, cleaning, declogging, maintenance and practicing with the psi and trigger before jumping in to paint real projects. Putting in practice was a bit of a deterrent at first.

 

I started watching YT vids, there are a lot of good ones but Next Level Painting and Orc Painter Nerd are 2 great places to start. Both have basic tutorials and reviews and show a variety of techniques for tanks, infantry and other stuff.

 

I started using it more to the point where i got comfy with it and eventually upgraded to an Iwata Eclipse HP CS. There are other great ones and this one by Iwata is a great starter brush. You can get a larger needle and nose cone (a bit of rare feature) for more priming and base coating. I use the same compressor I got off Amazon.

 

I love airbrushing and have basecoated/shaded/highlighted 1 predator, 1 vindicator, a squad of Rubrics, Ahriman, 3 Exalted and their discs. I did other colors such as armor trim, cloth, guns etc by hand brush after airbrushing.

 

I did use the airbrush to make cool pink and blue nebulae and star scapes on the discs warp energy stand. It was a lot easier than I thought and folks seem very impressed with the galaxy effect. I could probably get the same effect with varying hues and splattering white with a toothbrush though the nebulae went really quick and easy.

 

On the right project it can be very efficient though I don't use if I think I can get better results with a brush like my Harlequin army.

 

One day I plan on airbrushing my unpainted nid army almost entirely without a hand brush. Only details like eyes, teeth and claws being hand brushed.

 

Next up I plan on priming and base coating/ shading/ highlighting 40 tzangoors and 1 shaman with that baby. I plan on doing the armor and weapons by hand with these.

 

I find the priming in airbrushing to be ideal as I live in high humidity so the AB solves that problem and I do believe it is more economical. I still keep a couple rattle cans on deck though.

[The Yncarne]

You can see pics of my rhinos in my gallery (http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/gallery/album/13638-the-blood-ravens-thousand-sons/ - sorry, phone)

 

For predators, I buy the chaos version and stick to using the guns and a tzeentch icon only. I’d do new rhinos the same way.

[dbecer01]

Cool, did you freehand the symbols on the side doors?

[Tyriks]

Those are from the FW transfer sheets.