Scratch Building A Ragnarok Part 2

So after hours and hours of sanding, waiting for liquid green stuff to dry, and then more sanding, I just decided to prime the model to see how it would look. As this is just a proof of concept, I am ok with the irregular construction. I hadn't planned this to be a practice run, but hey, that's how things work out sometimes. I've learned quite a bit during the construction.

1. I need to find a better way to cut out patterns. It was incredibly difficult to get anything to come out properly. I am quite pleased that the tank fit together at all.
2. Don't use sanding to get parts to fit. If cut properly they should fit the first time.
3. Don't rush ahead and put on rivets before all the sanding is done.
4. Use as little glue on rivets as possible. Any pooling at all will mess up the integrity of the design.
5. Measure rivet locations just as precisely as cutting the plastic.
6. Casting links is incredibly boring, and despite being able to pressure case, I find myself just letting bad casts through. I think on this model it will look ok since I can just mud up the tracks.
7. Pressure cast. My pressure casts are near perfect now. It just takes longer. 
8. Add more plates to the body overall, and use something as a spacer. 
9. Make just a turret next time.
10. There are always 10 bullets. 

I wish I had made more progress, since this tank is meant to serve as the base for a test paint job, but a friends 30th birthday got in the way, along with the resulting two day hangover! 

Scratch Building a Ragnarok Pt 1

With two cuts now bandaged, lots of green stuff to sand, and only 4 track links cast, I present you the first and maybe only ragnarok of the 413th DKOK. Working without all the proper tools made this build particularly difficult, but it was a load of fun none the less. I plant to test the tracks out and then decide afterwards if I am going to model a cleaner version. It has been a really long time since I have tried to scratch build like this, so my unsteadiness shows. I do see this as a sort of gateway drug. Once it is sanded, tracked, and painted, I am going to want to build more things like this. Just like painting, I can see that there are a whole host of tricks and techniques that I do not know. Scratch building is like painting for the first time, which makes it really exciting. Wading into the depths of a new skill really invigorates the hobby for me. I wish I had tried something like this earlier.

Caestus Assault Ram Weathered

I tried to keep the weathering of the CAR down to a minimum, and I think I succeeded in part. My normal weathering is pretty heavy handed, so I wanted to show that the CAR was in heavy use, but not totally trashed due to crashing into things all the time. I missed quite a few angles when I was trying to weather the thing due to the sheer size of the model. I've been finding it increasingly difficult to work with these large models and my current light source, so a revamp of my work area is in order.

I took a shot of the Ultramarines force as it is coming together right now. I managed to snag an original las/plas razorback turret, which adds one more original tank type to the legion forces. All these ultras need now is a Tallarn IG force supporting them. I think that will provide an interesting contrast in colors and in cultures.

Unfortunately for my painting, I've gotten the scratch building bug. I don't know what it is, but modeling ADD has been afflicting me a lot recently. For instance, I painted up that gigantic necron force only to leave it almost finished sitting on top of an ikea display cabinet. Maybe I need to play a game or something.

Another Old School Predator and Rhino

Two more old school vehicles have joined my Ultramarines Legion motor pool.  The rhino was in much better condition than most of my tanks, so it was a breeze to paint. The Predator required a little more work, since I had to added the sloped nose, as well as fabricate four exhausts. Fortunately I think it was worth all the work. I think the tanks look like they belong together despite the older metal turret being slightly out of scale. I was hoping that the not so subtle paint jobs would add cohesion to the force.

The Cassius is still on deck, but as you can see from the last two shots, I am experimenting with water slide rivets. The verdict so far is that they do not work well if paint is going to be applied over them. They certainly do not work well enough for me to make good molds and not loose the detail. I may have to make rivets the old fashioned way, which will make my scratch building project take that much longer. I've already tested the design with paper cutouts, and am ready to move on to the next step.

Three hints:

1. I just bought quite a bit of tallarn on ebay along with FW mumaks
2. I have a large DKOK army cleaned and ready to be built
3. Both of those armies can use what I am building. 

I'll let you guess what I am building.

Cassius Assault Ram Nearing Completion

 I made a lot of progress on the 2nd original predator and rhino, but those will have to wait till the lighting improves in my office/painting den. On the other hand, the Cassius is so large that I have a hard time getting photos of it under any lighting conditions, so may I present the C.A.R. #1 of the Ultramarines!

Despite all kinds of build problems, I have been having an immensely good time painting this guy. I know I said I was going to add some 4th company green to it, but that may have to wait. I am not going to dust the RAM like I did the tanks, since this thing would be far away from dust, but what about weathering?  Are RAMS's one use kind of things? I love the chipped metal effect on the tanks, so I am eager to do it to this guy, but would a CAR ever be reused, I mean this thing crashes into starships and titans as its SOP.

Cassius Assault Ram, LR Proteus, And Two Old Rhino Chasis

I still haven't painted an Ultramarine as part of this force, but I have started painting my LR proteus, the Cassius Assualt Ram, an original metal predator destructor, and another rhino.  It is really weird to have these many vehicles painted before I have even put down a base coat on a squad, but I am just enjoying painting them so much I don't want to stop.  The two OOP vehicles will probably get a green stripe with the ultramarines symbol on it in white. I'd like to honor the original owner, and it gives me a nice way to add a bit of color. I may add green stripes to the Ram as well, since I think it would be really cool to see the U symbol on top of something other than blue.

so does anyone else paint the way I do? Despite loving all these models, I still batch painted them. After the Mint-crons I was not planning on tackling another large army so soon, yet I find myself with the beginnings of one of the largest armies I have ever painted. Why did I wait 20 years to finally paint some Ultramarines?

Bases Cast & Cassius Assault Ram WIP

I don't know about other peoples experiences, but my Cassius Assault Ram has been a complete pain to build. I am having all kinds of problems, from what should be an absolutely trivial build. I mean, the thing is a box right? That aside, I thought I should post up some photos of the interior of the Assault Ram. I love what FW has done with this kit's interior even it it will never be seen once put together. In order to help theme the army together, I used graveyard earth + bone white over black to shade the inside. Those same colors are used on my bases, just applied differently. Hopefully the common colors will gel the whole force since I am using a variety of models of slightly different scale due to the age of some of my kits.

I am really happy with how my bases are coming along. They are easy to mass produce, easy to paint, and should be fun to load up with detail. I am going to be painting a lot of bikes for this army, so I am thrilled with how the bike bases came out. I wish the detail was not going to be mostly hidden.

Hopefully tonight I will be able to get the cassius sanded and ready for paint. I have the ram, the proteus, an original rhino, and a metal predator in the queue. I have a contemptor cleaned and ready for magnets, but I am really itching to do some painting rather than just resin clean up.

Ultramarine Basing

My Ultramarines project was put on hold for a business trip to the UK, which lent itself to a forgeworld buying spree at Warhammer World, but did not mean much progress painting. Before my trip I started working on some bases for my ultras. It took some time for my master sculpt to be ready to cast, but I can now produce streets with sidewalks pretty easily. With some bases ready for the first stage of casting, I thought I would paint up some of the masters just to see what the force will look like color-wise. For these bases I went with a black undercoat, graveyard air brush, and then bleached bone dry brush. Along the edges of the sidewalk I placed a diluted dev mud wash. I was thinking on top of this I could add, marble ruins, as well as some dead looking static grass.  I think the colors are meshing well enough for me to proceed.  Even though I have a load of FW vehicle stuff to paint, I just feel in the mood to make the armies bases. If only I could hurry the silicone curing process so I could get the molds made for the bases themselves.

One of the questions I now have is whether I should attempt to mix into the force some FW demios rhinos and predators. (Being so close to FW forced my hand. I know own 7 of the PH kits along with a Cassius)
In addition to my FW order awaiting me when I got home, I had a package with an original rhino and one of the rhinos with the meta predator destructor conversion kits.  The old rhino/predator came painted in 4th company Ultramarine colors,  which I am likely carry through during the repaint. It seems right  to honor the person who so carefully painted these tanks decades ago. It makes you wonder what will happen to all of your miniatures after you move on. (either from the game or from life) Very few people consider miniatures art, so collections could easily end up in the dump. What a strange and wonderful hobby we have!