Back to the Drawing Board

So I painted up the stripes on the ol' dozer blade, and to in all fairness, it looked pants.

There was little to no contrast between the stripes and the star, the whole thing was far too busy and just didn't work at all... but hey ho... you win some you loose some.

As a result I've repainted the whole blade in nice new coat of weathered bronze and I'm quite happy with the results.

I think it looks much better, and as I didn't take any pictures of the yellow and black atrocity (I painted straight after it) you'll have to take my word for it.

Before I added the extra layer of bronze over the verdigris it looked even better (IMHO), like an actual piece of copper that had been left outside...

...and had it been a bit of scenery and not the business end of a Land Raider I'd have probably left it as was. But as part of the model as a whole it had to be painted up more than it was, but I did leave some heavy verdigris on the underside to remind me of my best ever paint job the world will never see lol.

Other than that, I've done a little weathering to the stripes atop of the 'Raider...

... which still needs a little tiding up (but that's why it's called a WIP yeah?).

And I've been working on some custom track guards for a bit of chaotic extra armour (I'm a fan of "what you see is what you get" when it comes to my models), pics of those to come soon, but with the spawn due at the end of the week I could be away from my paints for a while so I'll try and squeeze in as much as I can between now and then.

C&C always welcome.

Take it easy, 

- Dave :)

Stripy Goodness

I'm thinking I'm well overdue an update, so here I am... updating. Even if just to prove (to myself more than anyone else) that this isn't just another project that's going to get started and then lost in the warp (cupboard) with all the others.

Anyway, haven't had much modelling time lately (I won't bore you with the details), but I have started making some progress on the LandRaider.

As you can see I've been getting my stripe on, slowly but surely building up the bass coats (I like to paint in sections then glue everything into place when I'm happy... then just go round touching up the seams).

Unfortunately my daylight bulb packed in, so I can't get any good shots till morning. And excuse the sloppiness, I'm yet to go in with the second (third and probably fourth) coats of black, and tidy the whole thing up a bit (a lot).

I have also started building up some greenstuff on the blade.

The green is really just structural, as I'll probably go in with some miliput for the finer details, although I left it quite rough when I did similar work on my vindicator and that ended up looking suitably chaotic, so I'll decided when it's dry and I can have a good look without ruining it.

That's all for now, more updates when I get the light on my side.

C&C always welcome.

- Dave :)

The Ministry for the Interior...

Sooooo...

After a long night of non-sleep I made some steady progress towards getting my new 'Raider finished.

Like a fool I forgot to take pictures BEFORE gluing in the cockpit, so what I have to show are "atmospheric" and "arty" [read: awkward and unsteady] shots.

(I'll get some better shots when I dig the good camera out, these are just phone jobs)

The Thing About Landraiders...

Big targets, fairly slow, expensive and limited in their weapons configuration (the chaos ones anyway).

They're also spiky, heavily armoured and usually filled with heavily armoured spiky things... and I LOVE EM!

Given the opportunity I'd quite happily field a Land Raider for all three of my heavy slots. 30 Berzekers wrapped in a blanket of steel and lascannons, not too shabby... through in a havoc launcher and a dozer blade to stop em getting stuck on rocks n stuff (and cos they look cool) and you're in business.

Unlike those silly Imperial types, us Chaos chosen don't have access to a billion different types of 'Raider, so we have to get creative. Most of our war engines date back to the Great Crusade itself, and this allows (as with most things Chaotic) A LOT of scope in terms of customisation and conversion work.

I love how Stempe over at Brush And Miniature Torture has retrofitted his Iron Warriors 'Raider with "old school" side sponsons (scratch built and bang on the money), and Hortworth's Khornate offering is simply jaw dropping!

I myself am still plodding away with my own dozer clad war machine, and hope to have it finished in the coming weeks (preferably before the new baby arrives and takes the last  of my free time from me).

What I really wanted to say in this post, is don't be limited by just what's in the box. Even for those Imperialists out there, there's still plenty of inspiration like the ones found in this Bolter and Chainsword thread. (I especially love the mini dozer blades, a rather elegant solution to the "assault ramp" problem)

So don't be content with just opening the box and gluing it together, whilst this can be great, there are greater things out there if you're willing to put in a little build time, and plenty of tutorials and simple conversions for those who aren't as accustomed to chopping up plasticard and fiddling with green stuff as others.

Remember, inspiration is just a google away.

Getting Pist (on)

Finished the basic rig for the dozer. Just gotta add some cabling here and there for the hydraulics etc and slap on a bit of paint. All in all not too shabby, even if I do say so myself

Dozing on the Job

FINALLY started building the framework for the "hydraulic" lift for the dozer blade. It's gonna be a fiddly one so don't expect too much when it comes to build speed.

LED test

Quick test of the led placement before I wire it up properly

Daemon Engine WIP

An update on my Daemon Engine for the Land Raider.

I''m fairly happy with how it's looking. Needs a bit more detailing like chains and stuff, and obviously the LED needs fitting into place, but I can't do that till it's glued into place and I can't glue it till I've painted it up and assembled the rest of the interior (which is next on the to-do list).

Anyway...







note: I know the stripes are shabby... but as it say's in the title, it's a work in progress :)

Operation landraider continues...

Had a minute so I thought I'd pass it by knocking up another quick sketch of the Davidicus Pattern landraider (working title)

Daemon Engine

I made this ages ago. Gonna paint it up later and fit an led. I'm hoping to get the interior finished asap so I can make a proper start on the dozer :)

Operation Landraider

So here we have the beginnings of what I hope will be a solution to the age old problem of "how do you fit a dozer blade on a landraider without rendering the front assault hatch unusable?"

The blade will be split into three parts, one by each track front, and a central blade attached to the top of the hatch that will rise independent of the other two blades allowing for lots of chainaxe based loveliness to ensue

All will of course have a liberal coating of hazard stripes when finished. As it was written in the book of Perturabo: "and ye shall cover everything in the sacred colours of black and yellow, paying special attention to article 12 sub section B of the Iron Warriors health and safety code, as decreed by the Iron Priests of Old, with a written record of all hazardous materials to be filed and  presented in triplicate to the office of general maintenance and administration within 28 working days there to be stored for future review... amen "