The Age of Strife

[EricF]

A thread for my work in progress. The title seem appropriate given that much as I love the heft of metal models I can't say I enjoy trying to clean up flash and whatnot on them!

So I have a question... I've been preparing some bikes and trikes to join my Squats and found myself to be missing a set of headlamps. So I sculpted something approximating a headlight. Of course ten minutes after finishing that I found the offending missing set of headlamps. So opinions please. Should I keep what I've done since it looks okay and makes for a change from the other trikes, or shall I revert to the proper original piece?

Second question! To base or not to base. So the bikes are going on pill bases, because I think they look better stood upright! The trikes on the other hand, well they don't really need bases. I'm inclined to not bother with bases for the trikes and just leave them as they are. The pros would be better blending with terrain, the cons? Bit harder to put a magnet in, but I should be able to put something in the rear wheels. They might not look so cohesive with the rest of the army I guess. Thoughts please!

 

[twisted moon]

i think you should stick with your conversion and base the trikes.

 

[Orjetax]

I suggest bases.

Headlight looks perfectly fine, if your instinct is to just let it ride, do so.


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[Sleepysod]

My god man, how many bike and trikes have you got!? Keep the conversion - looks good and I’d base

 

[dieselmonkey]

I'd keep the new lamp, looks great. I'd suggest making a few more custom jobs, most bikers like to customise their bikes, I can't see Squats being an exception!

As far as bases go, I'd base them, makes them match up with the bikes, as without a base they're 2.3mm lower than the bikes and so look smaller.

 

[symphonicpoet]

^I'll stay out of the base or baseless discussion. I'm fighting that one myself and I'm . . . torn. The arguments in favor all make sense and maybe I'll go that way myself. We shall see.

But I will say, I like the conversion. Keep your own headlamp! Variety is the spice of bike!

 

[EricF]

Thank you all for the advice, the consensus seems to be keep the lamp and base the trikes. Works for me!

And yep now they are all in one big pile I do seem to have a lot of bikes! I'm hoping to batch paint them fairly quickly just with different coloured fuel tanks so they are ready for the riders which will no doubt take more time.

Speaking of getting bits ready (since this is my WIP thread) for other models to sit on top of, just done the bases for the current painting project (not oldhammer, but quirky models so a little oldhammer in spirit I guess) ...

These are for some Kromlech models, any guesses which me hearties?! For the curious the bases were from Ristul's Extraordinary Market, I think they are now discontinued.

 

[EricF]

Well as mentioned elsewhere painting progress is on hold, so I've moved onto stuff I can spend a few minutes on when brief lulls occur! When my brother ended up with much of our GW bits I ended up buying a few bits and pieces myself over the years. One of those was a copy of 2nd edition Blood Bowl. I never did paint our old copy of the board and I quite fancied painting one, even if to this day I wish the board had been done with 30mm squares.

Anyhow I fetched out the board thinking I'd start filling in any imperfections in the polystyrene and realised it was in quite a state. I sanded off the little dots from the molding and gave it a quick prime with the airbrush so I could better see wha I was dealing with.

Lots of dents and cracks along with the expected small holes from the polystyrene.

Then to add insult to injury I seem to be missing half a square along one edge of the central board. I don't know what happened here - manufacturing fault, squashed somehow, cut? It's not clear.

What is clear is I will have to rebuild it with some XPS or something. However the first step remains - out with the putty and some patience to clean up the basic holes first.

 

[EricF]

Quick WIP update on the bikes. I've managed to get them all basically done. The next step will be detailing things like the gauges, adding some ink washes to the fuel tanks to make them a bit more individual. Maybe adding some heat discolouration to the tailpipes, etc. I've got one more bike to make up, somehow it got missed in the mass build and prime session (typical when you're batch painting!). So some progress, but slow going. Next step with the Squats will be to finish prepping the lead and get the solid models (ie without plastic arms) primed.

 

[EricF]

I finally get some base colours down on a heavily converted Armorcast Warhound Titan I've had for some time (you can see my painted Reaver here). Still lots of work to do at some point, but now there is a base layer down and basic highlight over it all. The zig-zags were a total pain to do and I did manage to make one mistake whilst doing it, but hopefully it won't show up too much when fully painted! Here is a WIP shot:

 

[Malacassa]

The Warhound look great. But no base...

 

[EricF]

Yep, I was wondering if I could find a suitable plastic base and get it in this year's Golden Gobbo I think the Imperial Assassin I've just finished might have to be my entry however...

Still trying to decide how to paint the warhound's toenails, such dainty feet. Leave as is, but with some shading and weathering. Sponge stipple with black and leave the sliver as chipping? Very open to ideas ...

 

[symphonicpoet]

That's a 28mm Biasi/Armourcast Warhound, right? Why would you base it? I have to think that would just make it harder to put it on a table without crushing something. And it's plenty big enough/stable enough to stand on its own two feet. After all, it's a vehicle and no one bases a Predator or a Land Raider.

 

[EricF]

Don't worry I won't base it, I was just jesting because the entry requirements for the Golden Gobbo were around "commercial bases" this year, since my first Golden Gobbo was a 28mm scale Titan it'd be fitting to enter this one (not that it's going to be ready in time!).

Yep it's an Armorcast Warhound ... with the spikes taken off and a mechanicus seal put on, some minor modifications to the weapons (vents), some additional "engine" greebling, the lower legs thickened up and the collars thickened up at the top, scrolls added to the legs (front and rear) and some scrolls added to the torso and finally a pair of mechanicus seals on the crotch. I've another without any modifications, but it's probably a long way off in the paint queue!

 

[symphonicpoet]

^I was wondering what that business on the top was. I'm too far out of the current iteration to have recognized it from such an oblique angle. Nicely done!

 

[EricF]

Well general modelling is on hold due to the house move for the most part, but I did indulge myself when I spotted the Elegoo Mars 2 LCD resin printer on sale ... I'd been intending to get an EPAX E10 when they released them with the 5K screen (possibly later this year), but I decided to just give things a whirl with a smaller 2k printer, dip my toes in so to speak. First prints done today, the obligatory rooks/castle test file from Elegoo and then dear "Brother Blake" (already featured by Diselmonkey here). I must say I'm rather pleased, I need to clean up a few of the support attachment points and see what he looks like with some primer on, but I'm rather impressed (not the greatest photo - sorry just a quick snap on the phone camera):

So my first foray into modern 3D printing, I used to do some SLA printing at work some 20 years ago - needless to say such things were out of reach for mortals at the time! I'm not quite sure exactly what I might print once I locate a suitable place to set the thing up more permanently, but for now with just the one real print under my belt it makes the above marine the most expensive I own At least now I'm sorted should I run out of classic backpacks again ... just Squat arms I need sculpting (or scanning?) now!

 

[EricF]

Some paint finally laid down on some more graveyard scatter terrain. Just the primer and a few base layers with the airbrush, but it's a start!

 

[twisted moon]

they look promising.

 

[Karak Norn Clansman]

Very good project log here! Lovely painting and modelling. A worthy 3D printing endeavour there as well. I particularly like what you've done with the Titan.

 

[EricF]

they look promising.

Now finally finished: viewtopic.php?p=110814#p110814