Valentime's Day!

So, for this Valentime's Day I decided to put my modeling and painting skills to use. Using some Sculpy bakeable clay and some GW paints I fashioned a flower for my girlfriend. She seemed to enjoy it :)

 

  

So, I know that I've seen other people post about their own experiences in modeling for friends and family before, so here's my question: what was the most memorable project that you worked on for one of your loved ones? I can't wait to hear your answers!

Escalation League, Round 1: The Models

So, a bit late from when I wanted to post it, but it's still this week! Yesterday was spent doing 10 hours of straight painting trying to get my guys all finished up for the first round of the Escalation League. The fruits of my labor can be seen here:

 

For the League I'm trying to use all new (or relatively new) models in order to increase the size and flexibility of my Guard. I was aiming for two Vendettas in my 500 list, but the lascannons won't get here for some time yet so I decided to go with the forces above.

The Vendetta was finished up with a Badab Black wash over pretty much everything. Some Dwarf Bronze and Boltgun Metal on the thrusters, but besides that I stuck for a pretty simple color scheme. For the pilot paint scheme I was getting tired so just drybrushed them with the color of the screens in the cockpit.

The "assault weapon servitors" for Diamond squad turned out pretty well I think. I last minute added some more wire leading up to their left hand which really helped hold the entire model together.

The rest of Diamond squad was given an improved paint job as well as some more cyber implants (most of those being ocular in nature). Note: magnetizing a Guard sergeant is dumb, as the power fist is on the right arm instead of the left like the chain and power swords.

The real star is my Psyker Primaris, built mostly from the Guard Command sprue. I'm going to rip the green stuff piece off of his left hand as it looks kind of dumb, but otherwise I'm pretty happy. I tried to make him look like Gambit from the X-Men with his red eyes and metal bits around his head, and the psychic power will be represented by him throwing an energized card.

 As you can see, he was intended to be a palette swap from my Company Commander.

And the view from above to show off his crown.

Next time: secret project unveiled! Then, some battle reports from the 500 pt edition of our Escalation League.

Escalation Progress

  

Got a bit more progress done on Tuesday, though a large portion of my day was devoted to a secret project (the conclusion of which will be on Friday). As you can see above, I have laid some paint down on the Valkyrie, base coating it... with, well, a grey very similar to plastic grey. Hopefully the Badab Black wash will knock that down a bit.

 

The undercoat is a bit lighter, and the flying stand is working now! I guess I just needed to trust the designers a little bit more for the construction of their huge pieces of plastic.

And here are some preview shots of my Psyker Primaris and some of what I have christened "assault weapon servitors":

 

The "servitors" are made from Catachans, a Cadian rebreather and some greenstuff while the Psyker is almost entirely from the command sprue, with a Grey Knight force weapon and some greenstuff tacked on.

More pics on Friday, and sorry for the late update- work has been crazy lately.

Tip for Better Magnetizing

Over the weekend I put together a few converted veteran guardsmen for my Escalation League force and I wanted to do some magnetizing again. Having had so much trouble with the Valkyrie I knew that I needed to come up with a better way of ensuring a firm connection between the two magnets than just praying that the holes were the correct size. I also needed a better way of keeping polarities from getting mixed up, and something to help me deal with how tiny the magnets were would also help.

After thinking about it for a while, I came up with the following process:

 

First I drilled my first hole using my dremel and glued a magnet inside so that it was flush with the outside. Then, I placed another magnet on top as can be seen above.

I then took the piece that I was going to magnetize this to and drilled a hole in that one, checking every so often to see whether it fit the magnet yet. When it did, I put some glue in the hole, then stuck the exposed magnet into the hole while still attached to the first magnet. Then I simply slid the two pieces off of one another (DO NOT pull) and let the superglue take hold.

 

By keeping the two magnets attached while I was drilling the second hole I made sure that the final product would still have a nice, strong connection between the two parts. 

I then proceeded similarly with the other alternate weapons load outs, this time starting from the figure and placing the magnet on top that would go in the other weapon options.

So, if you're ever having trouble getting your magnets to stick (or even keeping the polarities in the right place), try keeping the magnets connected throughout the process- you'll see a much greater success rate in making that connection really secure. And if you drill too deep on the first or the second hole, don't worry- superglue or greenstuff should provide enough extra material to make sure that your magnet is in the right place.

Assembling the Valkyrie, Part 2

No fluff today and apologies for the late post- too distracted by my life of destroying houses with a claw hammer/playing with my big flying box. Speaking of that...

On Tuesday I attempted to magnetize my Valkyrie. Attempted is the key word here, as it didn't turn out quite like I had intended. I followed the instructions here, the same place that I got them for my sentinel, and have discovered one thing:

MAGNETS ARE TOO TINY.

I mean, seriously... the 1/16x1/32 ones are ITTY! I can barely get them in the correct facing to go on the model. I also apparently cannot drill to save my life, as most of the magnets ended up not being flush with the edge, leading to weak connections.

For example, the 1/16 magnets on my valk and the associated weapon hardpoints:

 

ITTY-BITTY!

I also magnetized on the two neck weapon slots, so that I switch from multilaser and a targeting arrawy to two lascannons in a jiffy... though I still need to order some more lascannons.

I did get one thing right that was of my one design, though- the back door. This was an addition that I made to the guide as my door kept on opening when I didn't want it to. Two 1/8x1/32 inch magnets did the trick, and now I can open and close it with ease.

Finally, the major problem that I have been having is the flight stand. I just can get the damn thing on and off without breaking something. I tried to fix the problem by magnetizing it on, but the connection wasn't smooth/strong enough to support the bird and it kept on falling off. Anyone else had problems with getting the stand on and off, and does anyone have a solution?

EDIT: turns out sanding the slot that the stand goes into is pretty much the only way that it works. Oh well...

Hopefully this experience will have been a learning one, as I intend on magnetizing my other two Valkyries when they arrive, as well as the members of Diamond squad that I have some serious green stuff work planned for. Now I have to start painting the thing... fun fun fun!

Second Video Battle Report: Nids vs Guard and Marines

My second video battle report! Enjoy!

Escalation Progress 1.1

 

For the Escalation League I painted up a squad of troopers. These boys, combined with some flamers from my other hearts squads will make up one of my veteran squads.

 

Regimental number goes on the right pauldron, suit goes on the base...

 

... while Squad number, platoon symbol and rank (9, X, J, Q, K, A) on the left pauldron. We can also see a bit of my Fortunan pattern power sword on the sergeant there- basically take the blade from a Catachan sword and replace the chainsword blade on a Cadian sword. I'll add in some power fields later to chop people up.

 

I also tried a different paint scheme on these troopers- a Badab black wash followed by a Blood Red dry brush/highlight over the Red Gore base coat.

Next time I should have my second video battle report up, again Marines and Guard vs. Tyranids. See you on Wednesday!