The AoD Community Monthly Hobby Challenge Thread - Oct 2019

[Marshal Vespasian]

Sure here you go:

 

https://i.imgur.com/jV9Y1rm.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/m1uJrZ0.jpg

 

Its just the mechanical arm from the Artel W waaghboss,which I got in an asset drop Box some time back. I still had a fist piece from a venerable 40k Dread lying around and it fit like a charm. I glued a piece of thick plasticard ontop, so it would Stick out at an angle when put to a magnet. Worked better than anticipated tbh. Thinking about it I could propably kitbash a twinlinked autocannon Arm with some cadian kits, paper clips and some wiring for the other arm and use it with the simple undecorated contemptor kit if I want to do a cortus build at some Point.

 

I was hoping for the magenta to work pretty well. I am planning to do magenta lightning on my templar brethrens' Power swords as well and on the coils of possible Volkite weapons that might be added somewhere down the line.

Green I do for lenses and eyes. Blue Plasma and Power weapons I have done to death on my BT.

So I was hoping the dark purple to pink to white dade would work opticly.

I might add in some more hues on larger objects.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Marshal Vespasian

[Vykes]

Man, yeah, that mechanical arm definitely nails the cortus look.  Man, magged up too?  Seriously, that's a pretty good snug fitted piece of kit there.  Honestly I think it nails it and even from a distance it does feel pretty unique until the next Contemptor body.  Aye, the plain look might work well for the Fists.  It's heresy to suggest the ones I used at someone elses suggestion (Iron Warriors, the banding screams 'Cortus').  

 

Yeah, I think the magenta works. On power blades for templates I think it'll do well... I have a feeling one of my recent opponents did something very similarly and it looks great, too (he used them on phalanx wardens if memory serves).  It looks pretty unique so I think it's coo'.  

[Marshal Vespasian]

I was thinking about either the completely bland contemptor there is or the death guard one as he looks pretty gnarly too.

But the project of building a cortus will be shelved for later. Its more of a happy Little accidents Situation.

 

I am not going the airbrush the whole blades I think. Ill propably do the blades In metal with hopefully figuring out how to reliable do tmm shading and then add some Lightning onto that, as is done on the new er gw boxart for primaris captains and stuff like that. Just in magenta as well.

[Gederas]

Come sometime tomorrow I'll be able to join in, as my Forge World order will have shown up.

 

Because no transfers for shoulderpad symbols on my IV. And I will start, with this lovely lad:

 

:D

Edited December 4, 2019 by Gederas

[Vykes]

Well, I still have a Sicaran venator that I'll take a snap shot of as soon as I'm back at my 'flat' in the city, but currently at the country spot and got some more work tone up. So, for December, lets get this done up!

yes, I'm starting a second Land Raider Squadron. Just deciding if I need 3 Phobus, or just 2 Phobus; or 2 Phobus 1 Proteus.

Edited December 6, 2019 by Vykes

[Excessus]

Come sometime tomorrow I'll be able to join in, as my Forge World order will have shown up.

 

Because no transfers for shoulderpad symbols on my IV. And I will start, with this lovely lad:

 

Wait what? How did you order him?

[Gederas]

Come sometime tomorrow I'll be able to join in, as my Forge World order will have shown up.

 

Because no transfers for shoulderpad symbols on my IV. And I will start, with this lovely lad:

 

 

Wait what? How did you order him?

Simple:

 

Seriously, found a NIB one on EBay for 80 bucks. But the Forge World order was the 120 Iron Warriors shoulder pads :lol:

[Marshal Vespasian]

Damn that forgeworld LR Kit looks incredibly nice.

 

Does someone have some Good ideas on how to customize a normal plastic mars pattern LR to look a bit more heresy ish? I was thinking of either putting some decoration on the sponsons or maybe building similar cupolas as the fw one has from plasticard.

Edited December 7, 2019 by Marshal Vespasian

[Gederas]

Damn that forgeworld LR Kit looks incredibly nice.

 

Does someone have some Good ideas on how to customize a normal plastic mars pattern LR to look a bit more heresy ish? I was thinking of either putting some decoration on the sponsons or maybe building similar cupolas as the fw one has from plasticard.

Well, the thing is, the "modern" Land Raider is still a Great Crusade/Heresy-era vehicle.

 

But to make it more Heresy-like.... I'd actually say make it look more regimented and less decorated. In my opinion anyway

[Vykes]

Aye, Gederas is right in that the modern phobos is a heresy era design that can be used.  Hoooooowever, a few things can make it look a little moere 'heresy' esque. 

• mount the las cannons on the forward doors instead of the aft set (a lot of the 40K illustrations, minus the famous Crimson Fist Land Raider, have the sponsons on the rear-most set of doors while the fore-most doors make it look more in line with the Spartan).
• remove the cowling on the heavy bolter and the las cannons, making them look much closer to their heresy-era equivalents in design
• scrape off the raised track links/decorative eagle and such (I did it for that mk iib, I'll take a picture soon enough) but it does help make it look a lot more utilitarian.  If you have some large gauge plastic tubing you can clip lengths of that and split them in half to make the heresy style track links.  
• if your bits box supports it, you can replace the dual barrel side-by-side las cannons with a pair of extra single mount las cannons over and under, pin them straight through to get the standard land raider proteus look with the more exposed mechanisms.  I had a -lot- of extra las cannons from heresy tank kits, honestly.  

[Marshal Vespasian]

Thanks for the Tips guys!

I was thinking about using some miliput and blustuff moulds to decorate the lr a bit, but then the heresy Look is a more utilitarian Look.

Putting the lascannons above each other should already do a lot for it I think, I should have some cadian lascannons left over.

 

I was also thinking about how to make my legion look more unique. I mean I have the imperial fist doors and the sculpted shoulder pads and stuff like that. But coming off my 40k Black Templars army I feel like I should make each marine look more unique. But then again in the heresy they are soldiers and not monks who treat their equipment like reliquaries.

[LameBeard]

Damn that forgeworld LR Kit looks incredibly nice.

Does someone have some Good ideas on how to customize a normal plastic mars pattern LR to look a bit more heresy ish? I was thinking of either putting some decoration on the sponsons or maybe building similar cupolas as the fw one has from plasticard.

I am also thinking about this - I have a shell of a land raider that wants to be heresy era (although since I am only likely to play small skirmish games, I might make it up into a terrain piece instead).

I love the Blood & Skulls stuff, but by the time I've paid postage and maybe import tax it would be as cheap to get forgeworld stuff anyway. But I think there may be UK suppliers of alternative "utilitarian" tracks.

Sometimes small details can make the difference - like if you have a pintile weapon, the melta-barrels or bolter magazines could make it 'heresy'. I'd also be tempted to switch the hatches to something simpler - without the little row of lights - since you don't tend to see those in the heresy era tanks? And like Vkyes has done, remove or cover the eagle.

I have given up trying to convert sponsons but I have an idea for the conversion of the front panel - if I make any progress I will post a picture. Please show us yours!

@Vykes: proteus for no 3, obviously. I love proteus. Might write to Santa now.

Anyway, for the monthly challenge I am going to pledge my Blood Angel 'counts as' Captain Aethon. We finally had a day nice enough to spray yesterday, so fingers crossed for one more for his basecoat and then the brush surely can finish it over Christmas holidays? Failure shall bring me eternal shame and so forth.

Edited December 8, 2019 by LameBeard

[Gederas]

I, Gederas, pledge to complete Nârik Dreygur, Consul-Praevian of the Iron Warriors Legion by month's end. Failure to do so will result in gentle mockery from my more successful fellow participants.

 

[Vykes]

Gederas my dude, I can't WAIT to see you paint 'em up! Man that's a rocking model. This is gonna be a good month.

Lamebeard man, that's gonna be a fun project too. I always love seeing Blood Angels, y'got this eh! But I'm definitely interested in what you come up with too. I tell ya, I hadn't thought of taking the headlamps off the Raider (I always build my demos without them even if the visions art I like is usually 50/50). If I hadn't just primed it I'd take a razor saw to it and try to make some more plating. But aye, nailed it too with the notion of melta/flamer and bolter magazine details really helping nail down the heresy look. Some of the old Russ hatches might proxy in well to keep the profile down in the absence of the heresy kits.

Y'know, I was thinking of the Blood And Skulls stuff in addition to this but man that would have been a pricey raider with postage doubling the price of the track kit itself... and I never decided if I wanted wrap around tracks or not

Hmm, bare command proteus or trip-las uparmoured proteus? That becomes the question of the day, now.

Aye Marshal Vespasian, milliput and bluestuff molds sounds great to me, too but honestly I'd be using it to add in some extra plates or make some press molds for the iconography. Heresy stuff to me has always been about utility rather than the ostentatious 40K 'vibe' of churchy warrior monks (as you perfectly put it), Buuuuuut I think that stuff like pennant holders for command tanks and extra uparmoured plates fit with the 'necessary' nature of a lot of vehicles. More unique doesn't have to be 'more showy' it can be more interesting pieces of equipment or personalized kit that feels militant rather than ornamental. Have ya firmly decided on a particular 'time' for the company? Early, mid, late heresy?

Post Scriptum: Add in the Venator to this month :P There may even be more!

Edited December 9, 2019 by Vykes

[LameBeard]

Hmm, bare command proteus or trip-las uparmoured proteus? That becomes the question of the day, now.

]

Bare command! Armoured proteus spoils the look of that sweet central viewport and the whole throwback to Rogue Trader. Just my vote of course.

 

For the Land Raider I might just get one set of the tracks from Blood and Skulls or similar - it doesn’t have to wrap around the top and I might even save doing the bottom if it’s buried in sand.

[Marshal Vespasian]

Yea blood and skulls sure do make some nice kits, but living in mainland europe the Shopping kind of sucks.

 

I am going for siege of terra I think since I want to use both dorn and Sigismund and it fits with tiles and pillars basing scheme, that I am doing.

 

I've done some blustuff moulds of armour Details with which I can add more ornamentation, but slapping a bunch of golden raptor heads on everyone doesnt make the guys Look more utilitarian ;).

 

I was going to put chainswords on them all, but they are way to massive for my taste. Maybe I should have a look around for smaller combat knifes, like from the cadian and tactical marines kits. The twenty tacticals I have done so far (mk III) have gotten the imperial fists helmets and sculpted pads,which I really like, it makes them look less run of the mill. When I eventually do breachers, I'll go for mk IV and shapeways shields. They will keep the mk IV helmets, as I really like the look.

 

Plans for the LR so far are: build a "bunker" for the Heavy bolter from plasticard like on the fw kits. Put the guns to the front door and the legion doors on the other doors. Try to put the lascannons above each other. Blustuff and milliput from the vehicle Upgrade kit and relace the round hatches with that. For painting I want to do a Verdun Style Red stripe with a numbered decal at the Front of the Tank.

 

Hopefully next sunday I'll get around to oil washing all the metal on the dudes I have done so far and then take a few pictures and Post them. I'm currently on a skiing Trip so my minis are kind of far away ;)

 

 

P. S. Yesssss! For the venator. Such a beautiful kit.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Marshal Vespasian

[LameBeard]

I tell ya, I hadn't thought of taking the headlamps off the Raider (I always build my demos without them even if the visions art I like is usually 50/50). If I hadn't just primed it I'd take a razor saw to it and try to make some more plating. But aye, nailed it too with the notion of melta/flamer and bolter magazine details really helping nail down the heresy look. Some of the old Russ hatches might proxy in well to keep the profile down in the absence of the heresy kits.

Actually, I hadn't thought of taking the headlamps off either! I mean, no headlamps, no 'turn signals' joke!? But I was thinking of replacing them just to give a different feel - I had some lights off the Valkyrie but can't quite make them fit. I like the idea of armour plates though - gives you your WYSIWYG extra armour or armoured ceramite too? My comment was about having a cupola without the little ring of lenses or whatever they are meant to be on 40k tanks.

My other idea for 'selling' the tank as heresy era was to have a mark iv crewman. Here's a mock-up, the pose is a bit off because of blue-tac. He uses the standard space marine tank sprue but with an old tactical mark v torso front (mark iv wouldn't work so well because no cables on the special torso back with no backpack) and spare mark iv bits - so almost free, depending on your bits box.

But of course if the Land Raider is abandoned to the sands as a terrain piece, I don't really want a crewman.

@Marshal Vespasian - I really like the idea of the stripe and numbering. That links to the idea that (at the beginning of the heresy at least) there would be scores of Land Raiders in the armoury, if not hundreds. I think some military modelling ideas like maybe a whip aerial would be great too, but I don't really know how to do that.

[Vykes]

Then I guess a regular Proteus will be the order of the day when I get the time, Lamebeard! Maybe put up some wolf flags and whip aerials like Horus's personal Raider from Vengeful Spirit. Aye, if you can hide the bottom of the track that should actually help to save a lot of time and cost.

Land Raiders always have the right of way It's not always about size, it's prestige. "Hey baneblade! You're a mismatched derivative, I'm the real OG." Totally works with plating acting as armoured ceramite and extra armour. And I guess you could snag the frag launhers from the crusader RAider kit and work with stuff like that. But honestly I always wonder now that Sicarans and such are around if we can do partial track guards to try and match them with those series. Totally agreed with using mk IV crew, it I know I did it before and it worked. But the cupola getting stripped down really does help. Looks like the old IG cupola there. No crewmen... heh, slumped over or bailed out, -laughs- admittedly yep, very yep.

Man, Marshal Vespasian, I definitely getcha. Shipping from them even just up north is pricey and basically doubles the cost of the kit. Nice, nice, (Working on Sigismund for a mate's Christmas present and I did Dorn a few times in the past, wicked kits). Alright, so late heresy... I mean, might be a weird question, but considered adding a few small support units in mk VI or VII? You've got one of only 3 legions that really can get away with it, after all. -laughs- it's still pretty unique and no raptor heads needed eh?

The mk IV breachers does fit pretty well with the Imperial Fists, I ended up going more 'chunky' with the regular mk III for my 16th legion boys, but I've often thought about making a 10-strong mk IV honour guard unit for 'VIP guard' duty. That said, word of warning about the Shapeway shields as I've used them for Blood Angels in the past, if they flex and get a crack, they don't just break, they tend to completely shatter. As for chainswords, yeah I felt the same. I'm putting together a Luna Wolf mk III volkite charger squad with close combat weapon and yeah, unless it's a dedicated chainsword assault squad, they're unwieldly. So I used a mix of a few chainswords, some of those mk IV swords which are still stupidly long, then knives and some 2E plastic space marine knives.

Love the idea for the LR, especially the Verdun marking as it's always been kinda under-represented. I regret not doing something like it, but I could never figure out 'where' consistently on vehicles because of the different silhouettes represent it differently. That said, I am having to go with different squadron markings as I'm planning on adding at least that second Raider squadron and maybe a second Predator squadron to the mix. So it's well worth considering all of those markings and such.

heh, have fun with the ski trip! I just get to sit out in the cold of Northern-ish Canada shoveling snow, less fun that way

As for me, Raider is progressing well and jut putting the first coat of varnish on it for chipping the black stripes onto the hull. Hopefully I'll have some good pictures up soon and maaaybe even done in the next few days.

Post Scriptum: And soon, the oil!

Post Scriptum Secundus:

Soon, the powder.... gotta let the oil dry but yaaaaaz.

Edited December 10, 2019 by Vykes

[Marshal Vespasian]

For the hatches I like the idea with trimming of the lenses and doing a mk IV crewman. Alternatively I like the heresy style hatches, which arent Split in the middle, but Kind of like on WW II submarines. Damn I am getting more hyped for that lr than for its Inhabitants. Hope to Start work on it in January.

 

I habe thought about mk VI and VII. I want to do my dudes in old armour Marks first, meaning two full size tactical squads with the second bunch of ten having their hands magentized, so they can carry volkite or Plasma or bolters. I just love the brutal Look MKIII gives.

 

Then two squads of breachers in mk IV. I guess itll be 15 each. For my heavy Support squad I could then see myself doing just a modern day tactical kit and adding ten of the kromlech lascannons to them. I think those will be easoer to do than the fw ones, altough I like the look of the shoulder mounted lascannon.

 

I am kind of putting off doing Sigismund. I want to have a normal praetor in artificer armour done first. I really want to go All out on Sigismund painting wise but I need to practice the more invovled brush Part of the workup (EG Blending and glazing the yellow Parts) on another model first. So I guess that where my BaC Praetor will come in once I have an okay looking, but basic HQ Option done to go with the templars. Up until now all the yellows are done with the airbrush and with the contemptor I have the feeling that I am getting the hang of it finally.

 

So did I mention that this thread is great and I am really liking the heresy part of the board? Thanks for all the tips so far guys. Now it has started to snow yesterday evening here in the Austrian alps so I need to get out of bed and get up a mountain.

[Vykes]

I do like the single hatch idea, (old IG tanks were always my gold standard on capturing the WW1-2 looks with their dome and flat hatch sorts. -laughs- it's how the heresy vehicle things work, eh? Always something exciting and fun to tinker with. Like the Praetor, ya get to really toy around with exactly what you want. And aye, yellow is a nice unforgiving horror that I only do by airbrush ;)

Aye, mk III has a lot of adherents, and the plastics are terrific (the mk IV resins are great but I'm not keen on the plastics). magging the hands is always a good idea for support squads (least for me, though I end up just making dedicated squads because I can).

Shoulder las cannons... anyone now if there's any third party out there that have that option? I haven't seen it around, missed my chance earlier and would love to do some as well.

Well, got the Raider done!

[Marshal Vespasian]

LR looks ace!

 

What'd you do for the tracks? I am planning to add quite a bit of armour to my fists so I was wondering whether I should use one of the special track weathering products or put some of my basing paste and grit on it or just some Pigment what have you....

 

The lights are overspray with a light blue and a little bit of white?

I am amazed how quick you did that Tank, it looks really nice

[Vykes]

Those tracks are just the standard LR tracks with the tread pads cut then filed down (and man do I like them a lot better that way). Then I painted them separate, gunmetal, then some gunmetal and steel, then chrome.  Wash it with some oils, then some weathering pigments (did it with the rest of the hull) then seal it and add a bit of sponging and edging with chrome.  That's about it.  Basing paste will absolutely work (I tend to use liquitex paste for most of my bases) 

 

Yep, as for the lights, they're just some magic blue, then added in some white ink, then straight white ink.  These artists inks are a ton of fun.  

[Marshal Vespasian]

I want to try out vallejo fluorescent green for some eyes and lights. On the Imperial Fists Upgrade helmets I didnt paint eyes, because they are basicly a slot, but on normal Iron Pattern helmets I will, so maybe thats a reason to do them.

 

Man I've been looking at a lot of Land raiders online yesterday evening. Sad that apparently the spaced armour kit doesnt exist anywhere anymore. That would have made painting the squad amrkings way easier, but I think I have an idea on how to do it now.

I'll do the whole "nose Part" in Red and the deeper Part, where you put the decals, in Black and then extent the Black stripe down the track guard. Similar to how this guy did it:

 

https://youtu.be/FYWmSt29t3M

Edited December 11, 2019 by Marshal Vespasian

[Vykes]

That generally feels about right, Marshal Vespasian my dude. Ugh, I wish the spaced kits were still around, I was looking a few weeks back when deciding how to work up my Phobos and didn't realize they were OOP till then. Can't wait to see what your workaround for the markings are.

As for me, I'm neaaaaaaaaarly done the Venator. Just one or two little bits left. Maybe a bit of a surprise for the colours -smirks-

[Marshal Vespasian]

Looking forward to doing mine when I look at that beauty. Gotta think about how to do the glow though. I have been eyeing those fluorescent paints people are talking about.

 

I started slowly assembling my templar brethren. Hopefully I can still Block in yellow and black before the end of the year.

Edited December 17, 2019 by Marshal Vespasian