Progress Log: Alpha Legion Warband: "The Last Surprise"

[Firedrake Cordova]

Of the plastic glues I've used, Tamiya Extra Thin Quick Set (the one with the lime green cap) is probably the one I'd reach for - it sets very quickly (so you don't have to hold the part in place for as long as the other options), and it's extremely thin/liquid, so it can be placed via capillary action, and flashes off areas you don't want it on quickly. Tamiya Extra Thin (the one with the green cap) and Mek are similar but takes longer to set, so you're going to be holding the part in place for longer.

 

The only other plastic glues I've used have been Tamiya Liquid Cement (the one with the white cap) and Revell Contacta, both of which are far too thick to be appropriate for this use-case. There may be other glues I'm not familiar with that may be appropriate - you want something thin so it's easy to apply without getting "a big glob" on the model, and to set quickly.

 

53 minutes ago, hd3 said:

Alternatively, I can admit defeat and ask the local hobby shop to fix it for a commission 

If you're not sure you can fix it neatly, there's no shame in asking someone with more experience to help. Obviously, how attractive an option this is depends on how much they're going to be asking, but it's definitely one worth considering.  

Edited December 2, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova

[Rogue]

Alternatively, how about gluing in place as best you can, then wrapping a few strands of thin wire around the top, the hand and the bottom. It could be painted as an energy effect, or as strapping to prevent anyone trying to disarm him.

 

The wire would hide the join, and strengthen it.

[hd3]

Because I'm too scared to deal with the staff right now, I decided to take a break from painting and instead start assembling my next batch of legionnaires. I've got two boxes of chaos assault marines. One of which I've started building as warp talons( I'm giving two of them mkvi helmets to break things up a bit) and the other as either warp talons or raptors depending on how they play in 10th. I'm still learning the meta etc.

 

The other unit I was building are havocs, four of which I have given lascannons. I'm going to call them "the las-e boys", which is a pun on an American lounge chair brand.

 

Im thinking for the aspiring champion, I may give him the plasma pistol and the power maul. The plasma pistol for stats and the maul just because everyone else has a chainsword. I'm open to change that though. 

 

Finally, I'm thinking of adding a dark apostle and a hellbrute to my list just because with them and the havocs, I'll have the chaos combat patrol.

 

They're also on sale at my local shop, though I'll have to remove them from their bases somehow to put them on the bases I want to use. Somebody told me the other day that combat patrol size games only work on set lists from the box, so I thought it would be good to have that option. 

 

Mind you, I can't prime anything until winter ends. Stupid humidity.

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

Putting off the staff until you're happy dealing with it sounds like a good call.

 

With regard to priming ... do you have space for a small airbrush setup?

 

4 hours ago, hd3 said:

Somebody told me the other day that combat patrol size games only work on set lists from the box

That's my understanding, too.  

 

[Grotsmasha]

5 hours ago, hd3 said:

Somebody told me the other day that combat patrol size games only work on set lists from the box

This is correct. Some units even have different rules/abilities to help balance them vs the other Combat Patrols. The Rules and composition of EVERY Combat Patrol is included in the 40k app for free

[Pearson73]

I'd agree to either delay pinning the staff until you've had time to practice on slihgtly larger pieces and build your confidence, or perhaps the hobby shop would let you watch and discuss it with you if you asked them to pin for you? They might have some handy tips that otherwise might take a while to learn.

 

Winter is a real pain for priming, lasts quite a while for me in Sweden too...

[LameBeard]

Some great stuff in this thread.

 

Good luck with the pinning - someone at the hobby store will surely have a pin vice (mini drill with 1mm or less drill bit diameter) for drilling out gun barrels, so may be able to help. It’s not a time-consuming job, it’s simply a job that’s tricky because as the others said, it’s about getting the alignment right.

 

if it goes badly consider cutting his hand off at the wrist, leaving a nice flat large surface area, and giving him a sword, axe or spear from another model. Bam! You will have created something unique.

 

ps was the Pringles can for snacking or was it a proxy model?

[hd3]

16 hours ago, LameBeard said:

Some great stuff in this thread.

 

Good luck with the pinning - someone at the hobby store will surely have a pin vice (mini drill with 1mm or less drill bit diameter) for drilling out gun barrels, so may be able to help. It’s not a time-consuming job, it’s simply a job that’s tricky because as the others said, it’s about getting the alignment right.

 

if it goes badly consider cutting his hand off at the wrist, leaving a nice flat large surface area, and giving him a sword, axe or spear from another model. Bam! You will have created something unique.

 

ps was the Pringles can for snacking or was it a proxy model?

 

I really hope I can still salvage the staff for the cool icon but I'll remember that as  a last resort. Nah, the pringles were just there and somehow ended up in the photo. They photographed my models again for the next month's get together. 

[hd3]

I finally had a chance to do the flames! I used corax white over the whole of the fire first, then a wash of lyandon yellow  for the mid tier and finally Tamiya x-22 bright orange for the bright tip. I think I'll add a little mephiston red just to the very top and a light wash of cartoburg crimson over the whole thing to finish it.

Then I can finally move onto the pile of debris and rubble at the base.

 

I also tried a tiny edge highlight of averland sunset along the hem if the robe to make it clearer. I'm actually really pleased with how it looks!

Edited December 18, 2023 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

The fire looks good.  I think I'd be a bit wary of applying an all-over wash of Carroburg Crimson to the fire effect - you'll likely lose that yellow at the base of the flames.

[hd3]

2 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

The fire looks good.  I think I'd be a bit wary of applying an all-over wash of Carroburg Crimson to the fire effect - you'll likely lose that yellow at the base of the flames.

 

Maybe just around the top?

[Firedrake Cordova]

Yup, that sounds a better idea  

[hd3]

I was thinking I might finally be able to use this legion vexcilia on the aspiring champion of my havocs. 

 

The tiny base underneath the actual banner is incredibly tiny though, I think the ebay seller cut it too short. I was thinking of making a tiny incision in the power pack and trying to slot it in with plastic cement. But I'm worried it's too small. Does anyone know any better ways to affix it?

[Firedrake Cordova]

If that's from the Mk III/VI box, then there's two sprue gates on the underside (one off to each side), rather than a central one (i.e. the seller didn't cut the central stalk short)  

 

For tiny joins like that, I'd be using the "quick set" Tamiya glue - whilst others will work, you don't really want to be having to hold it in place for a while whilst it sets

Edited December 23, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Not sure how much space you have at the bottom of the banner, but if there is enough it looks like a piece that could really benefit from pinning.

[hd3]

8 hours ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

Not sure how much space you have at the bottom of the banner, but if there is enough it looks like a piece that could really benefit from pinning.

I think I might just try that!

 

In other news, the Master of Possession is done! Except for the broken staff. I'm really happy with how most of this piece turned out. I think the I could stand to do better contrasts on the horns and skulls but otherwise it went better than I expected. Especially pleased with the flames.

My big screw up though was the edge highlighting on the power pack which I should not have attempted with a soft fine detail stc brush.

.

At last! I finally made a start on the Venomcrawler! I forgot what it's like to work on a big model. After doing my usual brush on gloss varnish to help the wash, I did an all over nuln gloss. This time I had the knowledge to know to do the black templar contrasts lines along the silver edges before doing the aquamarine paint job, which certainly made it easier.

 

 

I wanted to try something ambitious with the main armour plating on the abdomen though. I'm attempting to do Juan Hidalgos 'eavy metal style Alpha Legion armour. Using intersecting diagonal lines of black templar to help create an effect of a Hydra's scales on the armour. Next time, I'm going to darken the bottom two verticies of the scales for greater shadow, then use a brighter silver, maybe runefang on the top of each 'scale' to brighten it in contrast.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I think he came out well.  It looks like you're off to a good start with the venom crawler  

 

@Dr_Ruminahui makes a good suggestion about pinning (you could probably lop the central stalk off, and replace it with some brass rod that was drilled into both parts)

[hd3]

At the 40k meet up today, I was lucky enough to meet しまだーさん, who does commissions and painting models up here in the empire's frozen north. He very kindly fixed my HQ for me . You can find his art channel below.

 

I also did a dry assemble of the base debris for the Venomcrawler. The rubble looks stone like to me, part of a bas-relief or similar on the building our spider tank just destroyed. So I need to think of a colour scheme for a shattered stone display. For the skull plaques, I can use my bronzed statue formula of warplocked bronze, dry brush retributor gold and nihilak oxide. But I wanted to set that against a lighter stone debris background. Maybe something that looks like marble?

 

I'm also unsure what do about the bits of exposed base between the bits of rubble. 

 

P.S

Thank you grotsmasha for the dead space wolf

 

 

 

https://www.instagram.com/jd013toybox?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

 

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by hd3

[Grotsmasha]

Glad to see you got that staff sorted

 

Here's a few close ups of the dead Wolf for those who'd like to see them,

Spoiler

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

Good to see you managed to get the staff sorted - they did a good job, and it's nice to see the model "whole" again.  

Edited December 24, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova

[hd3]

I tried doing Juan Hidalgo's hydra scales on my Venomcrawler abdomen, at last. After thinning out black templar to almost wash status, I did an all over shade on the scaled sections of armour. Then three pronged edge highlight of ironbreaker on the uprising sides of the scales. I'm happy with it considering it was an abnormal shape and it's my first time doing something tricky like this. But I can already see I made the highlights too bright and thick, especially on the left side. 

 

Next, I'm going to finish up all the aethermatic blue plating, then tidy up the edge playing with ironbreaker and nuln gloss. Before that however, I want to try doing a really thinned down warp lightning wash just along the bottom of the blue plating to creat a greenish tinge at the end.

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

I think it came out quite well  Like you say, there's one scale where it's a little thick, but I'm not sure it's really worth trying to tidy up (I don't know if there's anything which can be "strategically placed" there?).

[Pearson73]

Really cool approach for the scales, I think it looks good and from a distance the odd mistake won't stand out.

 

The flame effects on the Master of Possession also work really well, and it's great to see him with the staff repaired too.

[Grotsmasha]

I quite like those scales

[hd3]

I did a lot of building and assembling last night and managed to do one 5 man unit of warp talons and Las cannon armed havocs. 

 

For the Havocs, since the lascannon arms are all the same and I wanted all my marines to look different, I switched out a raptor arm wielding a bolt pistol for the left arm to make it more visually varied. For my first time really kit bashing, I'm happy! I'm pretty sure it's still within the rules (both weapons are really just for aesthetic purposes). I only did the sub assemblies on most of these. Partly because I want the zenithal highlight spray  I plan to do with silver later to be more realistic. Partly because honestly, last night reminded me how bad I am at and how much I dislike the actual assembling part of this hobby. The lascannons in particular need 3 contact points to line up after you attach them and two are really really small. So I'm putting it off until it's painted. I might even ask the guy who fixed the Master of Possession to attach it for me honestly. I also still need to figure out how to attach the vexcilia to the aspiring champion's power pack. 

 

I switched out a couple of the warp talon heads with mk vi helmets. I've decided both of these marines are Horus heresy veterans. One is going to be a full legionnaire while the other was an inductii, so he's getting the inductii shoulder pad colours and decals (an approximation) at least. I want to get a mk vi studded shoulder pad for his left arm to match.

 

The big problem on all of these is that a lot of super glue 'frosting' seeped out on various spots, some of which in really hard to reach places. I'm trying to figure out the best way to remove it, or if I can just paint over it since I'll be priming with a rattle can. Grot suggested a foam nail file, so I'll try that but for the hard to reach places, I think I might try getting this 

 

 

The vms debonder stuff specifically for removing excess dried super glue.

 

The other thing I think I might need to fix is to fill in some of the gaps on the warp talon fins lining the jump packs. Grot suggested I try making some 'sprue goo' out of melted sprues and using it to fill in the gaps. This is my first time making it though, so I've no clue how to do that.

 

Finally, I have to decide if I should build 5 more warp talons or 5 raptors. I'd love raptors for variety but people generally say warp talons are better. I don't understand why though. Raptors and warp talons seem to have same melee weapon skills though talons have blanket -2 AP. Plus raptors can shoot.