Assault Squads on the Painting Bench

Well hello all!

I just wanted to share a couple of pictures showing what I have been up to today and to prove to Mordian 7th that I do indeed still remember how to paint (it has been years since I have picked up a paint brush in earnest).

Here are several views of the 38 Blood Angel Assault Marines that I am currently powering my way through. I had to take a break as I lost the natural light and I am waiting for a wash/glaze to dry. Tomorrow will see the final highlight on the yellow helmets then the under armor/tubing then the various stuff on the armor (eagles, purity seals, etc). I am still not sure what color I want to paint the bolt pistol and chainsword housings (the non-metallic areas of the weapons) any suggestions?

The goal to get these done this year should still be doable. Take care all and thanks for looking!

Final Assembly and Sanginius WIP

First off I would like to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Years!

I have had some time off lately and it has allowed me to finish up the assembly process on the Blood Angels needed for my trip to England. I wanted to include a 'normal' Tactical squad to allow me to hold any 'rearward' objectives or another option to charge forward in their Rhino. I have a bunch of the old metal Death Company minis and I wanted to make use of them somehow (given that the new plastic Death Company minis are awesome). The old metal Death Company minis are full of Blood Angel Icons and some Death Company Icons, so with a little work shaving off some of the more obvious Death Company Icons I achieved some 'blinged out' Blood Angel Marines. Here I present Tactical Squad Pellario:

I also managed to work on some Combi-Plasma Guns for use with my Vanguard Vets (Heresy-era Vanguard Vets carry Bolters/Combi-Bolters as well as Chainsword/Bolt Pistol). I had one actual Combi-Plasma to go off of so I set out to make four more. I went at with standard Marine Bolters and Plasma Pistols:

Here is a view of them attached to the Vanguard Vets:

If that was not enough for you I took a stab at making a Sanguinius based around the Scibor SciFi Angel model. There are several things I really like about the model (scale, wings, holding a Daemon head) and several things I don't like (obvious press mold sculpture with pieces just placed on to with little reason for them other than to fill a gap, flimsy/broken sword, silly looking Daemon head) so I went at it with some concern on how it would all turn out. I had to change the sword (due to it being destroyed in shipping) and I wanted to add some various GW bits to help tie it in with the rest of the Blood Angels. Here he is in his unprimered state:

A closeup view:

Next week is a full week off from work for me so I fully plan on getting a bunch of painting done next week. First up on the painting table will be a whole mess of Assault Marines! Take care all and thanks for looking! As always comments are always welcome, I would love to hear what people think.

The Skies Fill with Angels

Well it has been a busy time in my life lately but I have managed to get some Hobby Time in. The preparations for the trip to England continue with assembly of the main portion of the army: the Assault Squads. The weekend event that the fine folks at the Tempus Fugitives are putting on in March is set during the Great Crusade and has a mission that seems right up the Blood Angels alley. The Skyhook Mission found in the Hammer of the Gods Campaign Pack is perfect for the way I play Blood Angels.

I knew that I wanted to do big 20man Assault Squads which was the norm during the Great Crusade but I didn't want to make 'special Crusade-era only minis' so I went ahead and assembled my Assault Squads as normal 40k-era Marines and I will have to deal with any flak I might get for not having exact Crusade-era models. Here is a couple of views of the assembled mass of jump troops:

Here is a close up view of the 2 Chainsword wielding Squad Leaders (for when I want to save some points by not having power weapon equipped Squad Leaders):

Blood Angel Assault Squads are allowed 2 Meltaguns per Squad and while that is a nice anti-armor punch I think 2 is a bit expensive points-wise. I have 1 Meltagun per Assault Squad and I wanted to make them all a little different; I even managed to use one of my old metal Assault Marines as a Meltagunner. Here is the 'anti-armor' punch for the 4 Assault Squads:

Here are a couple of shots of some of the actual trooper minis (I love the dynamic poses you can achieve with the Marine Assault bodies):

During the Crusade the Blood Angels had a pair of biological twin brothers (Perada & Lorator). Their *fluff* reads as:

 Though they would separately go on after the Siege of Terra to carve out their own separate legends for the Sons of Sanguinius, it was during the Great Crusade that these two biological twin brothers were inducted into the Legion. Each mirrored the other in aspect and finesse and it is said that only the Primarch could tell them apart. While he was alive, Sanguinius never separated the brothers, calling them his muse vitae.
  I knew that I wanted to make these guys look like twins as much as possible so I used exactly the same pieces to put these guys together. However I did not want them to be in the exact same pose so it was a bit of a challenge to make them look similar but not exactly the same (as that would be boring). Here is a look at what I came up with for Perada and Lorator:

If that was not enough jump troops to fill the skies I decided to add a couple of jump Sanguinary Priests. I have at least 5 of the Blood Angel Sanguinary Priest Minis so I wanted to make a 'right-handed' and a 'left-handed' version using the same mini. I think they turned out fairly decent especially for being the same  exact metal mini. Here is a look:

Well that is all the assembled and primered troops; the skies will be filled with a sea of Blood Red Vengeance. I will leave you with a couple of looks at what is currently on the workbench (Vanguard Vets and Combi-Plasma guns):

As always thank you for taking the time to take a look! Comments are always welcome!

Hinged Side Door for a Rhino

Well it was a busy weekend but I did manage to get a little hobby time in. I wanted to tackle a problem that had been vexing me for a while: how do I hinge the side door of a Rhino so it will open? After several attempts that all failed I came on this idea:

First off I drilled out the hinges on a standard Rhino door and slipped a thin wire through. I also applied a small 'v-bend' to the wire which I hoped would act as a bit of extra tension on the door. It looks like this:

After looking at the door action I decided that the front side of the door along the bottom edge between the hinges would require a little bit of a beveled edge to allow the door to swing fully down. Here is a view of the front of the Rhino door with the hinge wire and the beveled edge:

The next step (which is the tricky part) was to cut two angled cuts into the side of the Rhino to allow the hinge wire to sit flush with the side of the Rhino. The cuts are small but there is a fair amount of detail around so I had to be careful. Here is a view of the cuts that need to be made:

You can see that the wire will sit in these little grooves and along the inside edge of the step. This is where I applied the glue that holds the whole assembly together and allows the door to swing on its hinges (like it should). Here is the door glued in place:

A little contour putty to blend over the cuts and wire and you should never know that it is there. The best thing is the wire adds a bit of tension to the door which allows it to stay closed, partially open, or fully opened (or any position in between). Here are some views of the door in action:

I am pleased with the results and once the putty has dried I will snap some more pictures of the finished area. Thanks for looking!

Blood Angel Rhino with blood drop top

Well it was a busy weekend but I did manage to get some hobby time in. I needed to repair one of my Baal Predators which I managed to do with the help of some small magnets. That left me some time to work on a basic Rhino for my Tactical Squad. The Rhino assembly went smoothly and when it was done I felt it needed a little something more especially on the top. I added some Forgeworld Blood Angel doors but still felt it needed something more. After all, I see the Blood Angels as Gaudy Gothic.

I know that I have a Death Company Rhino coming up and for that I want to include a plasticard "x" on the top so I thought I would practice the technique a bit on the current Rhino build. While an "x" would not work I thought I would try and make a 'blood drop' that covers the top hatch a bit. For a freehand attempt at a large blood drop I think it turned out rather well. I even managed to line up the hatch lines so it looks like the top hatch still opens.

Here are a couple of pictures of the completed build:

Here is a close up view of the top hatch:

While I was at it I thought I should go ahead and include a Razorback option for it just in case:

That should be all of the 'rhino-based' vehicles that I need to assemble for my adventure in England. Next up on the build desk will be a Furioso Dred and then swarms of assault marines. Thanks for looking and comments are always welcome!

Damocles Command Rhino-Initial Build/Interior Paint

Well I managed to get some more Hobby time in this weekend and I decided to work on something I have had sitting around for years: a Blood Angels Damocles Command Rhino. This is a nice little kit available from Forgeworld which I have always wanted to build and paint. The detailed interior is just awesome and I knew I wanted to make it as visible as possible. This was a build that needed to be done in steps:

Step 1: Painting the Interior. After making sure the resin pieces were all nice and clean I went ahead and assembled the interior pieces of the Damocles kit. A quick primer and a brief wait; I was ready to lay paint to a brush. Here are a couple of shots of the interior all painted up.

I had to remember that most of this will be in 'shadows' as it will be all contained by the outside sections of the hull. I wanted to paint it nice and vivid so it would show up at all. While the sealant was drying I knocked out the 2 command marines. Here are a couple of shots of the marines before they 'take their seats' at the console.

Once all the various pieces of the interior were painted and sealed I went ahead and assembled the completed interior. It gets a little cramped in the Damocles!

With the interior completed I set about to finish up the rest of the build. I have one little complaint with the Damocles kit, the Top Hatch Assembly didn't really line up well with the top area of the Rhino. I plan on leaving it loose so it can be removed to see into the interior easier so it was not a huge deal. I had some Blood Angel doors that I thought would be a nice touch. The rest of the exterior build is fairly straight forward. Here are a few shots of the completed build of the Damocles:

Well there is my Blood Angels 4th Company Damocles Command Rhino ready for primer and paint. My plan is to assemble the various vehicles I will need for the game in March and primer and paint them all together. This will help me maintain a consistent paint job across the vehicles I hope.

Take care, thanks for looking, and comments are always welcome!