On the Workbench [ Bonus] - Horus Heresy 1st Legion Fast Attack

 

 Greetings.  Recent work on heavy support options for my First Legion Horus Heresy force got me excited to keep on assembling resin goodies.  So I dug out the fast attack options I've been sitting on and laid them out on the work bench. 

Three Scimitar pattern jetbikes backed up by a Javelin attack speeder will one day support my force on the battlefield.  These hovering machines can deep strike and easily maneuver into position to outflank enemy units.  I hope to use them as both a distraction and to support other forward units of the Dark Angels.

Assembly was pretty painless, though the riders were a bit fiddly; not due to any issue with the models themselves, just because working with epoxy can be a bit challenging when assembling arms into a specific position. Five minutes is not a long time for glue to set, but compared to superglue, it becomes an eternity. That said, I'm never going back to superglue for the bulk of my non-plastic assembly. Much better overall adhesion with a much less brittle bond.  Using pins could have helped, however then I'd have to be even more precise to get the holes in the bodies and harms just right to be sure the models could hold their handle bars correctly. I liked being able to make small adjustments as the glue set. The angle of the body as it sits on the legs determines the reach of the arms, assuming the arms are properly lined up with the shoulders.  Thankfully, the large shoulder pads cover up most imperfections if the alignment isn't quite right. 

In hindsight, I could have glued the arms to the torsos first, taking care to keep the arms parallel and at 90 degrees (roughly) to the torso.  Then, with that glue set, I could have clamped the hands on the handlebars and just let the torsos drop onto the legs at whatever angle they needed.  As it was, I had the torsos glued to the legs fully upright, with backs to the backrests, and that left the arms just a mm or two too short for the handle bars. So I had to snap the torsos off and glue them again, leaning forward a bit more, to correct the reach.

Here they are fully assembled.  The various weapon options have all been magnetized.  I used 2mm x 5mm rod magnets in the body and 2mm x 3mm rod magnets in each weapon.  For stability, I used two magnets for each as shown in the images below.  Probably not necessary, but I had the magnets and past experience as shown me that skimping can make for some fiddly models with bits dropping off and getting lost when a model is handled..

Lining the magnets up will get you the best effect.  I haven't done a perfect job with that, but the pull is fine and the weapons all snap in solidly.  The rod magnets pull on each other, so while the glue was curing I needed to watch out for one or more of them rising up out of their socket to join their neighbor.  This only happened with a couple, due mostly to the holes being slightly large for the magnet.  This happens when I allow the drill bit to wander while using the pin vise. It's a small issue, but something to look out for if the pull of the two neighboring magnets is strong.

The Javelin attack speeder went together easily too. I was pleasantly surprised to find how well everything fit together, when compared to some other Forge World kits I've worked with in the past. No option come with this kit so nothing is magnetized.  I could have done something fancy with the crewed weapon so I could swap for other options pulled from the bits box, but I decided to stick with the Heavy Bolter.

I didn't take any work-in-progress shots as I was building the speeder. But I have a couple different angles to show.

I got these models when the Dark Angels had special Heavy Bolter ammunition, something that got removed in book 9 when the rules were updated. Otherwise, I might have preferred lascanon and multi-melta for tank hunting here.  I imagine twin-linked krak missiles will do some work, esp. in all the games I'm not playing. 😂

That does it for the fast skimmer support.  At this point, I have assembled most of the units for the army.  All that is missing now is a handful of specialists, like Apothecaries, Techmarines, and the like. And I have plenty of plastic troops to build should I ever run out of things to add to this project. Oh, but how could I forget - of course, I also have to build the Companions and Lion'el Johnson!

Never mind that we appear to be getting something big and new for the Horus Heresy game in general  later this year...I honestly don't need more models for this particular force or game! 

Always great to have new things to work on though.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Dark Angels Intercessor and Heavy Intercessor WIP - Part 3

 

Greetings and welcome back.  The Intercessor project has continued. I managed to get the chest eagles painted and shaded.  Then some gold details and purity seals were painted, followed by some shading with GW Agrax Earthshade.

Then I started in on the green armor highlights.  I'm pretty slow with edge highlighting, and there is A LOT to do with these Primaris marines.  As a result, I managed only the five Intercessors so far.

So it's back to the five Heavy Intercessors to complete the armor highlights.  Then I'll start highlighting the rest of the details (weapons, leather work, etc.). once I get through that it'll be time for transfers and final cleanup...oh and let's not forget the bases! Still plenty to do, but they are already looking like proper Dark Angels marines now. 

Posts have slowed a bit as there isn't much to show day-to-day when batch painting like this.  I only put in a couple hours a night and there's no need to bore you with one detail at a time.  I'm likely riding the edge of boredom here as it is. 😂 Hopefully there are still enough readers out there that appreciate seeing how another painter works, stage by stage.

Until next time,

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Dark Angels Intercessor and Heavy Intercessor WIP - Part 2

 

Greetings.  Not as much progress to share as I expected early in the week, but progress none-the-less.  The various weapons have been painted and then the models were heavily shaded with GW Nuln Oil.

While painting the weapons, I also painted other metal details like the sergeant's arm computer and various backpack vents and nozzles. The various colors I'm using are available on the paint recipe tab above, so I won't go through all of that again here.  I'm using Monument hobby paints for this project, rather then the original colors I started with.  I've made notations anywhere that's relevant in the recipe.

The dark shading really dulls them down. However, additional layering and highlighting will brighten things back up appropriately.  I definitely paint in a subdued, drab style, make no mistake.

Funny thing about the Heavy Intercessors. Somewhere in the priming and base coating process I really gummed these guys up.  It's not super obvious (I hope) here on the screen, but when you handle these guys it stands out.  I almost tossed them in some Simple Green to strip, clean and start over.  But I decided to stick it out and complete them. It's not awful, but the savvy will notice where the details are not as sharp as they should be. I suspect I got a little carried away during priming, since I used a rattle can this time around. We'll see what the paintwork can do to compensate.

So that's 10 marines further along the path to done. Next will be adding all the details that get shaded in brown instead of black (gold, purity seals, etc.).  Then I'll kick in all the highlighting.  I maintain that progress should pick up now, if I can make the time available to get work done. It's summer and my girls are getting older and going to bed later so my evening painting window has shortened a bit.

How are your projects coming along?

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Dark Angels Intercessor and Heavy Intercessor WIP

 

Greetings.  The next project is launched.  I decided to address a need for troops to join my growing force of Primaris Dark Angels.  Rather than batch paint one squad of 10 Intercessors (an easy go-to project), I decided to batch paint a five man squad of Intercessors and the five man squad of Heavy Intercessors I recently assembled.  I mean what could be more fun?  Right?!

I haven't made all that much progress so far, but I didn't want to go too long without sharing some progress. So here we have the five Intercessors.  They have been based using Black Green Pro-Acryl from Monument Hobbies. I painted the leather equipment and the eye lenses on top of this to end the first session of the new project. As a bonus, spot the one Intercessor I shaded with Nuln Oil before recognizing I should wait until more of the base colors are on so I can shade everything that needs Nuln Oil at one time.

The five Heavy Intercessors were painted at the same time and in the same manner.

Having five different models (OK, not THAT much different) breaks the monotony of painting a full squad of 10 models that are basically the same. And in the end I'll have two squads instead of one complete, which is a nice bonus.  I'll come back and paint another five Intercessors at some point to fill out that squad.  Not sure about the Heavy Intercessors.  Five might be just fine for the games I'm not playing. 😂

So that's that for session one of the new project.  More progress will happen this week and the two squads should be much more interesting when I share them next. I like the Heavy Intercessor Sergeant with the hand up signalling a halt or cease fire.  It's something we expect a squad leader to do that is rarely modeled.  I really didn't plan to use the new Primaris line to usurp the traditional models from my Dark Angels force.  But they really are just so fun to build and paint. I haven't regretted the project one bit.

Stay safe out there.

Cheers ad Happy Gaming!

On The Workbench [July] - Reaver Titans for Adeptus Titanicus

 

Greetings.  On the workbench today, we have two new Reaver Battle Titans for Adeptus Titanicus. The one of the left will reinforce Legio Ignatum, while the one on the right will reinforce Legio Tempestus.  They are currently not named, but the rights of naming will begin soon.

My current Legio Ignatum force consists of one close combat Reaver, and one fire support Reaver.  So this new addition will provide additional fire support. The new Reaver brings me to one Warmaster (not built), 1 Warlord, 1 Warbringer, 3 Reavers, 4 Warhounds, and a Warlord-Sinister ally.  Decent enough options for fielding various maniples, especially if I sub the Warlord-Sinister in as a normal Warlord from time to time. 

My Legio Tempestus force is in the opposite situation, with two fire support Reavers. So this addition will be used for close combat, and will bring the force to 2 Warlords, 1 Warbringer, 3 Reavers, and 4 Warhounds. Also a decent enough mix.  If I build two War Masters, then Tempestus will get one.  But Legio Ignatum is what I see as my main personal force to play with.  I'm maintaining Legio Tempestus engines as a second force so I can invite friends to game with me. So they don't get all the cool toys, unless I need it for balance. And my point here isn't to play mirror matches, either, despite having a pretty equal number of engines in each Legio.  I just want to be flexible enough to try various maniples out with either force.

The real issues is how far I'm starting to slip behind in my engine painting.  I have 1 Warlord, 1 Warbringer, 2 Reavers, and 2 Warhounds assembled but not painted at this point...and the Warmaster waiting in the box still. Further, the Warlord, Warbringer, and one Reaver are for Tempestus, which is a time consuming painting project with the many stages required to do the camouflage. 

Expect to see many more Adeptus Titanicus project posts here as I work through this backlog.  I don't intend to add any new titans beyond this - but then I don't know what will be released for the game either.  If we get new titan classes, then I'll be adding them, no doubt about that. Oh, and there are the weapon options which I hadn't mentioned yet.  I have amassed a large collection of weapon options which are also largely unpainted.  So that's something else that needs to get done! :)  And the terrain, can't forget that...

Anyway.  I love me some Adeptus Titanicus, so there's no worries there.  I have a lot of great hobby projects to look forward to.  I haven't decided yet which game system or force I want to tackle next. It just might be you'll see one of the unpainted engines up here soon.

That's it from the workbench this month.  Now back to painting.

Cheers And Happy Gaming!

Dark Angels Redemptor Dreadnought - To DONE

 

Greetings!  After some finish work, I'm calling this project DONE. Since my last post, I added more script to the purity seals and dry-brushed the base. I also applied some weather powders around the feet.  The protective lacquer wiped that out, but I still like how the beast came out so I'm letting that go for now.  Perhaps I will apply some again with a little pigment fixer when I come back to add some heat staining to the weapons. I noticed while putting this post together that I had foolishly forgotten that in my rush to complete the project.

Those gaffs aside, I'm going to assign a big stamp of DONE for the hobby season and happily move on. Scroll down for a full set of studio pics from the light box.  This is a case where the finished work really matched my vision of how things should turn out when I started. It was a fun model to paint and a good way to continue practicing the craft.

That's it for today.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!