Gamer's Garage Sale

This morning I attended the Gamers' Garage Sale hosted by our local gaming store Imperial Outpost Games and man did I clean up. On top of picking up a basilisk and sentinel for $35 total I picked up Star Wars X-Wing with a Y-Wing for $10. But that wasn't the steal. I picked up all of the below for $5.

For a measly $5 I picked up:

• 15 Space Wolves
• 5 Space Wolf Scouts
• 5 Space Wolf Terminators
• 5 Fenrisian Wolves
• 2 Sisters of Battle
• 1 Emperor's Champion
• 1 Space Marine Bike
• The upper half of a Dreadnaut
• and a pile of various Space Marine/Wolf bits and pieces

It looks like there will be a whole lot more Space Wolves in my future.

Tutorial - Terrain - Barricades

After completing my old Citadel Scenics barricades I got to thinking that they could make for a great 'counts-as' Aegis Defense Line. After measuring them I found that each piece was just a little too long or too short to make a reasonable 'counts-as' so I thought I'd make my own.

The below tutorial can be applied to your own 'counts-as' Aegis Defense Line or any piece of terrain you'd like to make. All the tools and materials I used were items lying around in either my garage or hobby desk so ultimately it was a zero cost project.

To replicate this project you will need:

Tools

• Saw (optional)
• Razor Blade
• File
• Pencil
• Ruler/Tape Measure
• Popsicle Sticks
• Paint Brushes

Materials

• 1/8th inch MDF
• Model Bits
• Super Glue
• Joint Compound
• Sand
• Primer
• Paint
• PVA Glue
• Static Grass

I began by measuring out strips of MDF which were 1.5" in width. I also marked those strips every 5 inches for the first 20 inches and then every 2 inches after that. I cut those strips on my table saw and then cut the 5 and 2 inch segments on my miter saw. As you can see above I several more sets that what I needed. I figure I'll get around to making more of these later since this first try was a success.

Each Aegis Defense Line is made of of four 5" sections and four 2" sections. In the above photo I've rounded the edges of each tile with a file and my razor knife. After I started to place bits on the tiles I decided to further trim the tiles into more narrow and irregular shapes.

After each tile was trimmed and filed into irregular shapes I placed various bits from my bits box along with some styrene and apoxie sculpt.

One of my smaller sections is built out of a piece of a dozer blade, a tank wheel and some sandbags made of apoxie sculpt.

 A Tamiya oil drum and some other bits.

Some larger styrene sections here, more sandbags and some wheels.

A great way to get texture on styrene is to chew it a bit with your molars. It seems gross but it makes for some great random dents and texture. Other bits were simply chopped up with my clippers and some received a plasma cut texture using the technique demonstrated in this other tutorial.

After all my bits were placed to my liking I applied joint compound to the tiles around the bits. Be careful not to apply too much, although if you do you can chip it off pretty easily. Leave the barricades to dry for at least 24 hours.

After the joint compound has dried I applied thinned PVA glue around the tile over the joint compound and then spread sand of varied size over the PVA. Allow the glue to dry overnight.

Once the sand was dried in place I applied two coats of Krylon 2x grey primer. This helped to ensure the sand stayed put and layed down a great base on which to paint.

I began my painting by applying a brown earth tone to the base. I followed that up with a dry brush coat of 'Blue Stoneware' to the sand followed by another dry brush coat of 'Dolphin Gray'.

After the ground had been finished I painted the bits. Most of it being metal I painted the majority of the bits with a 1:1 mix of gunmetal and black. I painted the wood with a light brown, the rubber with nato black, and the sand bags with light tan. After the paint had dried I applied a thinned down wash of Army Painter's 'Dark Tone'. The wash was allowed to dry overnight.

I applied PVA glue in a thin line around the edges and applied static grass to mirror the style of the Citadel Scenics. Everything then received a healthy application of dull coat. DONE!

Modelzona 2015

Today was my first trip to the IPMS Modelzona Model show and competition. I entered 5 models: Space Wolf Drop Pod, Space Wolf Rhino, Imperial Guard Salamander, Imperial Guard Wounded Soldier, and a Kabuki Miniatures 'Napoleon X'. To my surprise I took home medals for three of my models in two categories.

My Space Wolf Rhino took first place in the Sci-Fi category.

My homemade Imperial Guard Salamander took second place in the Sci-Fi category.

My Kabuki Miniatures 'Napoleon X' took Third Place in Figures - Sci-Fi & Fantasy category.

WIP - Ork Dakkajet Conversion

I've been looking for various models to complete outside of my typical builds for upcoming model competitions. One idea I had was to convert some Hasegawa Egg Planes into Ork flyers. What follows is my current work in progress, an Ork Dakkajet converted from a Hasegawa Egg Plane.

Doesn't this kit look like it was designed with Orks in mind? These kits only run about eight dollars on Amazon!

 A lot of styrene was used to make this conversion.

 I also used lead solder wire to make the cables. This was the first time I've used it in a model for this purpose and I absolutely loved the effect. It was so easy to work with!

 Panel lines were emphasized with a razor and dental tools. The rivets were created using microbeads.

I used zip ties for the ammo belts. I saw that technique online somewhere but I can't remember where.

 The grot is from the gretchen box. I had to cut off the arms legs and waist and resculpt the shoulders and arms with green stuff.

Various bits helped to fill out the build.

I've got two more of these kits on hand to make conversions out of. My ultimate goal is to apply three of these to one base. That way as each hull point is removed during game play I can remove one model for each point.

Terrain - Citadel Scenery Barricades

A while back I picked up a set of old school Citadel Scenery barricades. This week I finally got around to painting them and I can't wait to get them out on the table.

The barricades are made of hard foam, come primed and flocked with static grass.

I used a combination of craft and Army Painter paints. Shading was achieved using a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone, water, and black craft paint. Weathering was done using Secret Weapon Miniatures rust tone weathering pigments. The final step was to seal them all with Dull Coat.

Terrain - Citadel Scenery Chimera Bunker

A while back I picked up the old school Chimera Bunker at a local swap meet. The piece is made from hard foam and comes primed and flocked with static grass. I finally got around to painting it this last week and I have to say that I'm quite pleased. I can't wait to get it out on the table.

I used a variety of craft, Tamiya, and Army Painter paints. I used the sponge method to apply chipping to the paint of the chimera. For shading I used a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone, water, and black craft paint. Secret Weapon Miniatures weathering powders were used for rust tones and ground charcoal was used for smoke stains. A gloss coat was applied, followed by an oil paint wash to all the rivets, which was allowed to dry slightly and then dragged down with a dry brush. Finally everything was sealed with dull coat.

Fallout Hobbies Custom Decals

After participating in their Kickstarter campaign I have finally received my order from Fallout Hobbies. I have to say it has been well worth the wait and Ron was great to work with. Not only was he able to produce some amazing custom decals, he made sure to keep his Kickstarter backers well aware of the overall progress of the project and touched base with me to let me know when he planned to have my order out the door.

The Shipping

I had ordered a custom set of decals and their standard Military Airbrush Stencil 2. From the time the Kickstarter closed to the time my package arrived was indeed a while, but one should expect that from a business being built from the ground up and I had no illusions going into it that I would have a speedy turn around. That being said Fallout Hobbies kept us customers well informed throughout the processes. My order arrived today packaged in a durable cardstock envelope and both my stencils and decals were packaged in zipper bags with card stock backers. All of this was consistent with the high level of professionalism I have come to associate with Fallout Hobbies.

The Stencils 

Fallout Hobbies Airbrush Stencils are low-tac self adhering vinyl which are cut to allow use as either positive or negative stencils. Fallout Hobbies offers a variety of pre-designed stencils from simple lettering to complex Chaotic Stars symbols. If they don't have a stencil that fits your needs you can either provide them with a finished graphic to use, or have them design what you need. I will be using these for my vehicle lettering.

Please excuse my cruddy pictures but it is damn near impossible to get a good picture of the semi-gloss of the vinyl.

The Decals

I am currently working on a Gaunt's Ghosts army and really didn't want to go full bore into it until I had some quality decals to bring it all home. When I placed my Kickstarter pledge in mind I was just hoping that I might get something designed that would be decent enough to pass for the classic Tanith skull and daggers. What I received exceeded my expectations.

I had provided Ron an example of the Tanith patch and requested white decals in his Army Standard Spacing. This is a sheet of infantry, vehicle, and larger sizes. I also requested that the infantry decals be no larger than 5mm in diameter to fit the shoulder pads of standard Imperial Guard infantry. Due do to their small size over 200 infantry decals fit on the sheet! As part of the custom order process Fallout Hobbies will send you a proof to approve before they print allowing you the opportunity to ensure that your custom order will be exactly what you want.

The sheet included 4 extra large decals, 5 large decals, 18 vehicle size decals, and 209 infantry decals. Keep in mind that I requested specific sizes which allowed Fallout Hobbies to pack in a lot of decals. They make sure you get your money's worth out of each sheet.

The detail in these decals is amazing. Each one is crisp and clean. The lettering in the banner can be read on all but the infantry size decal, granted a magnifying glass is needed to read the smaller ones, but the detail is there even if you can't see it with your naked eye.

The quality of the decals does not decline as the scale decreases. Each is detailed and read well, despite my poor attempts and photographing them.

So many decals! With two sheets of decals in hand I don't think I'll ever need another Tanith decal but I know I'll be ordering different decals for other armies and projects.

I'm eager to get some more of my infantry assembled so I can start slapping these decals on my ghosts. I'll follow this post up soon with a review and photos of the decals after application. In the mean time I highly encourage you to stop by Fallout Hobbies and see what they have to offer. No doubt they either stock something you need or could make it for you.