Astra Militarum Wyvern

Finished on time, for once!

I painted it in seven sub-assemblies; the hull, the two crew, the turret, the trigger assembly, and the two Stormshard Mortars.  I think I’d have gone crazy trying to paint it fully assembled!

Also, this was the first time that I painted one of my Astra Militarum units using the current range of GW paints.  I was initially worried that the new ones wouldn’t match the old range but I’ve been pleasantly surprised.  Plus, and this is heresy I know, but after painting this I think I prefer Agrax Earthshade to Devlan Mud…

Finally, why did I start my Wyvern Squadron with the number 2 gun?  I originally was going to make this the command unit but I couldn’t find enough parts to make a gunnery officer in my Bitz Box.  Never mind, my birthday’s coming up and I expect to bulk out my guard’s fire support very soon.

Officio Prefectus Commissar

Can’t believe I actually got it finished today. I’m not too happy with the face but it’s a damn sight better than more of my previous attempts. After all, it is a learning process 🙂

Now, onto either some possessed Chaos Marines or my Taurox Prime. Decisions, decisions…

Officio Prefectus Commissar – WIP

Those of you who know me on Facebook will most likely know that due to ‘business pressures’ my holiday next week has even cancelled. As such, my planned Big Project is being pushed back for a while so instead I’ve decided to press ahead with this chap.

Here he is after half an hour’s work.

I love Commissars (as a manager in the civil service, I can certainly relate to them 😉 ), indeed the original metal Commissar models from the late eighties first inspired me to put down the blood red power armour and pick up the bloodied and torn flack jacket.

I’m going to enjoy this 🙂

Leman Russ Resurrection – Part 5 – Finished!

It’s done!  I’m really pleased with how this has turned out, and in time for Miniature Monday 🙂

 

And to show you again what it looked like before I got to work.

Leman Russ Resurrection – Part 4

After taking some time off for a family bereavement, I thought the best thing to get stuck into was my erstwhile Leman Russ revamp.

Today I managed to get the base layer down and made a start on blocking out the metallics.

I decided to manually apply the basecoat as Catachan Green doesn’t agree with my airbrush (well, much of this is due to my general ineptitude with all things airbrushy) and I wanted to practice applying an even flat colour over a large area.

So far so good, this won’t be a work of art but at least it’ll better match the rest of my armour.

Leman Russ Resurrection – Part 3

It’s alive! It took me longer than is anticipated but here’s how the old girl looks now.

At the last minute I decided to replace the hull-mounted Lascannon with a Heavy Bolter and add on a removable ‘Dozer Blade but aside from that it looks as I had originally intended.

I’ll get it undercoated before I turn in, I should be able to have it looking all pretty by the end of the week.

Leman Russ Resurrection – Part 2

With the stripping nearly complete I’ve started on the new tank commander. The parts have mostly come from my Bitz Box however as I recently picked up a Taurox Prime kit, I’ve taken the moustachioed Scion Commander head since it’s extraordinarily cool and the perfect look for a potential Tank Commander.

As you can probably see, the neck will need a bit of Green Stuff but you get the idea.

Tomorrow I hope to have the tank reassembled and undercoated.

Leman Russ Resurrection – Part 1

Ages ago I posted an article pondering whether or not to revisit some of the old miniatures that I still regularly use. At the time I decided to leave things as they are however the advent of the new Astra Militarum Codex has brought with it a change of heart.

Specifically, I want to strip, rebuild, augment and repaint my first ever Leman Russ tank that I bought back when the kit was released in 1995.

Here it is.

As you can see, it’s in a fairly sorry condition which is mainly down to its construction and painting at the hands of an over enthusiastic fifteen year old. Plus, as you can see here, I never even bothered to fully paint the underside!

So, about fifteen minutes ago I put the beastie in a box containing brake fluid, hopefully tomorrow morning I’ll be able to strip off the paint without too much elbow grease.

I can’t wait 🙂

Hidden in Plain Sight 2: Plastic Valhallans on the way?

Considering some of the colourful feedback I received last time, it is with some trepidation that I again ruminate over an image in the latest White Dwarf.

This photo appears on page 22 of issue 10, look at the writing on the turret’s shield.

Could some plastic Valhallan infantry kits be gracing us before too long?

>