Monday, December 22, 2014

Adeptus Mechanicus "counts as" Sentinel Part 2

Adeptus Mechanicus "counts as" Sentinel Part 2

It's slow going at home, holiday prep, my daughter running around, but I am trying to find time to get the first 3 of 6  finished.

Again Still a WIP, but progress is progress!

Number 1


Number 2


Number 3



Piles of Bits
 Priming

  And Paint actually touching my models...


Monday, December 8, 2014

Adeptus Mechanicus "counts as" Sentinel Part 1

Adeptus Mechanicus "counts as" Sentinel Part 1

So I have been playing a bit of 7th, and am surprised by how much fun this edition is. Trying out Imperial Guard (Can't bring myself to call them Astra Militarum) and in an effort to have a little bit more fun I am trying to list build using unusual and often overlooked units.

Which Brings me to the Armored Sentinel!
Taken from Google of course!
Having had a great deal of success with the basic 40 point Multi-Laser equipped model in squadrons I figured it was time to stop using the broken eBay-bait ones I had been using and put something worthy on the table.

Again stuck in my rut of Egyptian themed 40k. Fluff behind it would be these are the AdMech Seconded to the Thousand Sons during the Heresy.

A bit of a WIP of course, goal would be 9 when I was done.
Standard Sentinel for Reference
Scale is nearly perfect, a little "longer" and gun is a little lower, but overall like the vibe.
Going to modify the arm guard to switch the side the blade is on.
 

Thoughts?

Friday, March 14, 2014

Adeptus Mechanicus HQ's Part I

Almost back on my feet (so to speak), still not painting but doing a bit of converting till I am back at 100%. The Adeptus Mechanicus force, especially if played as Imperial Guard will need a ton of “HQ’s”, between Sergeants, Command squads, and IC’s to avoid too much repetition conversions and a deeper pool will have to be drawn from than normal.


The base of this guy is the Adeptus Mechanicus Magos from the limited edition Skullz, I have been fortunate to pick a couple sets, a few of the figures were damaged or miscasts, this particular figure was missing the detail on the back of his head dress.


 After carefully decapitating him I dremlled out a hollow for a new head.


I damaged the tubing around his neck, so dug through the bits box to find a good set to use.

The Head is from the Forge World Servo Skull set.

It's my second attempt at sculpting a hood, and I will say again making smooth and clean looking cloth is harder then it looks!


Feedback is always welcome.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Theodore Bruckner and Reaper as a Space Marine Bike Captain?


I need some advice, but first boring non-hobby stuff.

So I am still recovering from pneumonia, on the antibiotics and until the cycle is done I can't really paint or convert (due to tremors). So sorting through old ideas, trades and bits boxes is what I am left with.
Great model 'eh?

I picked up Theodore Bruckner and Reaperin a trade a while back, to go with the Cyber-Cavalry and my Kor’sarro Khan & Librarian conversions. He's been laying around for a while and maybe now is the time to start planning out his introduction to my army.

So here is the problem, he is HUGE. I am using the Dragonforge bike bases, and even Jeff's large bases seem small compared to him! 

So the question is..
  1. Use the Dragonforge 40mm x75mm base and accept the overhang, kind of like Jetbikes
  2. Use the Dragonforge 60mm x 100m attack bike base (Huge, but might work)
  3. Use the provided Chariot base which is 50mm x 100m
  4. Or ....?
When I posted this on my Club forums someone suggest cutting down Reaper's body a bit to make it fit, and I really don't like that option, yes it will correct the size, and be closed to the Empire Demigryph Knights I was hoping to convert into a Command Squad but it stills feels like a bad idea.

So looking for some advice before I start adding Bionics and converting Theodore to be Space Marine in Heresy era armor.





 

Monday, February 24, 2014

Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii Trooper Part I



Coms silence is due to catching the “crud” (read flu) going around, which then turned into a sinus infection and finally morphed into Pneumonia. I cannot recommend enough against getting pneumonia, it sucks. Besides the coughing and nonsense the antibiotic I am on causes tremors, muscle spasms, and arthritic like symptoms so no real hobby time for the last couple weeks.

So, instead here are some photos for a squad of 10 Adeptus Mechanicus troopers I started months ago and finally finished in January. The start of the project can be found here

The goal is a whole 100+ figure foot guard army, maybe in 2016? ;-)
 
More WIP, projects and painted stuff soon

Friday, February 14, 2014

Ironheart Artisans Paint Brush Rack



Ironheart Artisans Paint Brush Rack.

Let me start this review by admitting there will be a little bias in this article. 
Besides being friends with Alex, the owner of IronheartArtisans, I actually asked him to make this!

The idea for this started in late December, when prepping for a 2 day miniature painting workshop with Meg Maples (Awesome class, she was a studio painter for P3!). I was cleaning up my neglected paint desk, sorting brushes to pack a travel kit and clumsily shoved a large drybush in the coffee cup I used to hold all of my brushes and in the process I managed to inadvertently crush the ferrule of one of my Windor&NewtonSeries 7 Kolinsky Sable brushes completely wrecking it.

Besides being frustrated with my carelessness I was crestfallen at the prospect of replacing an almost new, high end brush the night before the class. To add insult to injury this was not the first time a brush had been damaged by the "coffee cup" (read my carelessness).

The story came up during the first 5 minutes of class, as I asked around to see if anyone had an extra brush I could purchase as Huzzah Hobbies was completely sold out. Alex happened to in the class, had an extra brush I could purchase, and over the course of two days we discussed the prospect of designing and manufacturing a brush rack. The idea was to try and mitigate the frequent ham handed bumping of the bristles and let the brushes rest in a more natural fashion, hence why they rest Horizontally!

And this is the Result!

The Brush stand is about 6 inches tall, made of MDF, and comes as pictured in 5 pieces
.
The assembly process was a snap, however it’s important to note it requires a little bit of glue (about 6 spots). I asked about this, and was told it is to avoid the common breakage problem that occurs during the assemble of laser cut MDF kits. Alex avoided this completely by adding extra tolerance to the cuts.
 
The design has a slight stair-step to allow for easier access to the brushes (see photos below). I really like the fact the spacing of the grooves is far enough apart to allow even ham-fisted Neanderthals like myself to access each group with ease.
 
A small unintentional bonus was the depth of the grooves allowed me to stack 2 brushes in each tier This allowed me to sort by size and set of wet blending brushes. You could also use it to keep track of spares, or have groupings based on projects or common usage, etc. It's worth noting I was able to get several different size brush handles on the rack without any problems.
It might be hard to see, but a couple tier have multiple brushes on them.
Pros: 
Excellent design, good weight, easy assembly, and affordable with a target suggested price of around $10

Cons: 
Slight “Burned Wood smell”… I actually like it (and so did a friend I mailed one too), but my wife who shares the office complained until it had aired out a bit.

Overall, I think it’s worth a solid 5 stars, I plan to purchase one more for personal use and give a few away as gifts. They will be available off his website in roughly a week.