On the Workbench [July] - Questoris Imperialis (Knights!)

Knights of House Taranis WIP

Another workbench post today.  While the blog has been quiet for the last week or so, I have been very busy with the hobby. It started with this...

I was taking a break from painting and decided to build a "shield captain on dawneagle jetbike" for a game I was playing in.  Yes, it's true.  I do occasionally (very occasionally) play!  Anyway, turns out I went a different direction and played Grey Knights with a Death Korps of Krieg battalion instead of Adeptus Custodes, so this guy went back in the case for a later painting project.  It was still a fun build.  And while I didn't find them post worthy by themselves, I also built and primed a handful of Grey Knight marines I needed for the game as well. So that was early last week.

Then I decided it was time to go all in on my House Taranis project.  I had been holding back on building a handful of knights until I decided what House to paint.  I knew I didn't want keep building freeblades.  And as regular readers will know, I finally decided to go with House Taranis after building and painting (mostly) two Armiger Warglaives. I need to go back and finish the second Warglaive, but you can see them with their new family in the title picture above.

So...with a house chosen, there was nothing to do but get stuck in and build!  I had the sprue for three more Questor knights sitting in my Knight Renegade box (the first edition).  Also in the box were three Forge World resin knight heads (which I had chosen for Mechanicum aligned knights back when I was seriously planning to build an Adeptus Mechanicus force - still a back burner project...).

The first up was a Knight Gallant which was built a little over a week ago and used for my recent how-to post on magnetizing Knights at the waist.  Since then, I have build a Knight Warden and the legs and torso of a Knight Crusader. Here they are, displayed with their custom Forge World resin heads.

Questoris Knight Warden

 

Questoris Knight Crusader

Here are all of my Questoris knights crammed into the cabinet. Two freeblades in the back and the three new House Taranis knights up front.  I'm most likely going to repaint the freeblade knight paladin in House Taranis colors too, leaving the Knight Errant as my only remaining freeblade oath-bound to the Holy Ordos. The errant is fully complete and there is no need to ruin that work with a new Taranis paint job. A repaint of the paladin, which is only partially complete with only base colors on the armor, shouldn't pose too much of a hassle to with the airbrush and some judicious masking.

It feels good to have them all built at last.  Now I have to get back to the second Warglaive and finish its paint work so I can push on to these big boys.  Then a box of Armiger Helverins should complete the project..well...except for this...

Yes, that's right.  The last knight to build will be a Forge World Cerastus Knight-Castigator.  This fella has languished in the original bags on my project shelves for far too long.  It's high time that this engine walks!  I have no idea when I'll get to the build.  With the other three Questoris knights built and waiting for paint, it isn't a priority.  But it WILL get built this summer. maybe July, but definitely by the end of August. So this has turned into the summer of knights.

I'll mix in some other projects as I go so I don't burn out on painting the big knights.  I want to continue progress on the Grey Knights, Deathwatch and Adeptus Custodes...and I should toss in a Dark Angels project too after completing the squad of Hellblasters. Lots of good stuff to paint ahead.

For those interested in magnetizing Knights, I'll drop a few pics below that further illustrate my method for magnetizing the waists and carapace weapon mounts.  Otherwise, stay tuned for more and expect the frequency of posts to increase as I get back to painting.  I hope your projects are going well.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!
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Knight Warden Legs

Knight Warden Waist (top/inside)

Knight Warden Waist (bottom/outside)

Knight Warden Carapace Weapon Mount (top/inside)

Knight Crusader Legs

Knight Crusader Waist (top/inside)

Knight Crusader Waist (bottom/outside)

Knight Crusader Carapace Weapon Mount (top/inside)

All the same as the Knight Gallant I posted about earlier.  I am using five-minute two-part epoxy instead of super glue.  Dries quickly with a strong, sticky bond that isn't brittle.  I generously cover the magnets and sprue so the whole mass is well glued in.  I expect it to be very unlikely that any of this will separate from the shells of the knights. All sprue bits are glued in using standard plastic cement first to get a good plastic-welded bond for holding the magnets.  the the epoxy was spooned around the result once the plastic cement was dry. The large 1/2" x 1/8" magnets have great attraction.

The key is to be sure the "button" on top of the legs is large enough to fit securely into the waist and also is shallow enough so that the whole upper carapace is sitting town the on the ball joint at the top of the legs. I did a lot of filing to make sure this was the case for all three knights.   When the "button" at the top of the ball joint is too tall, the upper torso wobbles and is far less secure even with the big magnets.  I just kept filing until the upper torso sat down securely and no longer wobbled on the joint. More careful cutting of the aluminum rings used to increase the diameter of the "button" would have reduced the need for so much filing, I expect.  But cutting such a thin sliver off of an  aluminium tube is a challenge in its own right.  I squashed one or two in the process as it is.