Thursday, August 28, 2014

Tauros Venator




I've always loved peering through the Forge World online store and the catalog I picked up at Games Day back in 2005, but it wasn't until late last year that I finally purchased my first Forge World model, an Elysian Tauros Venator. My venator sat untouched for quite a while until I broke it out a couple of months ago and started to work.
One of the first details I added was a mesh screen over the roll cage. I used window screen for this detail. I also added grab bars to the roll cage using florist wire.

I made a custom lasgun carbine for my driver which was detailed in a tutorial I posted earlier.

Using some RTV silicone I made a mold of one of the front wheels and cast it in resin. I used this copy as a spare tire and attached it to the rear of the vehicle.

I used Secret Weapon Miniatures weathering powders to give an aged bronze look to the Imperial eagles, and a light dust to the sides and underside of the vehicle.

I did a little bit of OSL to the various light sources like these batteries.

I used Tamiya clear acrylics for all of the consoles. All of the paint chipping was achieved using the sponging technique.
I used an oil wash to complete the weathered effect.

And the finished product...





Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Tutorial - Using Silly Putty as a Masking Tool

When masking off oddly shaped objects masking tape can be a bit ungainly to manage.  And using masking tape to create smooth curves is nearly impossible. These are great opportunities to use Silly Putty. Not only will it allow you to easily mask of odd shapes and smooth curves, it doesn't leave any kind of sticky residue. I'm not sure if it is available across the pond but it is widely available in the states and is often no more than a dollar.

One of the best uses for Silly Putty is for making organic shapes for camouflage. 

Start by base coating your model in whatever color you want your camo patterns to be in.  Remember that when masking the base color will be covered up in any areas you do not mask off. This is opposite of what you would do if you were painting on the camo pattern. 
Once you have base coated your model apply the Silly Putty to the areas you want to remain the base color. Silly Putty is infinitely forgiving and can be applied, removed, and shaped as many times as you want. Once you have everything exactly where you want it, apply your paint. 

I prefer to remove the Silly Putty while the paint is still tacky. This helps to prevent any paint from peeling, but limits the risk of smearing the paint. When you remove the Silly Putty go ahead and mix it up really well and you can use it again, and again, and again, etc. Eventually, if your Silly Putty ever wears out just toss it in the trash and get some more.

After you've removed the putty you'll have a beautiful camo pattern!

Don't stop with camo patterns, you can use Silly Putty to mask of odd areas when painting, use it to temporarily tack bits in place, as a bouncy ball, to make copies of newspaper articles and then stretch them out in wacky ways. If you have any tips on other ways for modelers to put this great tool to use please leave a comment below.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Inquisitorial Chimera with Chapter House & Forge World


Back in February of this year I set about making a one of a kind Inquisitorial Chimera using the Chapter House Studios six wheel kit with iconography and a rear door from Forge World. At that time I completed a review of the Chapter House Studios kit so I won't go into great detail about it in this post but you can check that out by clicking here.


The Chapter House kit required some modifications to fit. I was very happy with the Forge World kit. It was very detailed and I knew it would add a load of detail to my Chimera. 


I was disappointed however (this was my first Chimera) that there were no interior details in the crew compartment. So I made some.


I created a rear entrance and command module for the interior using styrene, sprue, guitar wire and green stuff. I also created some details for the side walls but I didn't get any pictures of them before they were painted.




The hull of the Chimera had to be modified itself. I filled in the driver's hatch and gun ports with apoxie sculpt and sanded them all smooth. I think the gun ports on the sides of the Chimera look stupid with the lasgun array sticking out so I wanted to cover the ports.

Using hatch pieces from multiple kits as well as some styrene rod I created the above gun port covers. I think they look a lot better than the standard lasgun array.

Adding the Chapter House Kit to the Chimera hull was a giant pain in the ass and required a lot of apoxie sculpt, putty, and a razor saw.  I also had to replace all the rivets on the front and sides of the hull using a small diameter styrene rod, but in the end it was worth it. 

I wanted the Chimera to appear to have been requisitioned from an existing Imperial Army so I searched for some obscure Imperial regiments and settled on using the Jouran 29th and an urban camo scheme. You can also see below the magnet in the turret.  All turret mounted weapons are magnetized.

 Initial weathering was completed by sponging to create a chipping effect.

 Decals were added using Microset & Microsol to get a nice painted on look.

After setting, the decals were worn down using a tooth pick.

Additional weathering was created using an oil paint wash.

I also used Secret Weapon Miniatures weathering powders.

 Purity seals were added on various parts of the Chimera to give it an added Inquisitor feel.


 Some bed rolls and other packs were added to give a lived in feel.

The name Jouran and number 29 were added using rub on transfers. I like these because they can be worn down easily with a toothpick.

 And the finished product...