Relictors Deathstorm or Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod Interchageable Conversion

This is one of my four Pods under construction at the moment, the Support Pod if you will, either a FW Deathstorm Drop Pod or played as an empty Pod as a Dreadnought Drop Pod or for a few more points (and assault vehicle rule) a Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod. Note the Chapterhouse Studio Armoured Doors on the outside of the open doors (looks thicker) - I'll post outside appearance photos next post when transfers have been applied and the Pods finished.

By use of several magnets seen in an earlier post (here), I am able to take out the Missile Pod from within the Drop Pod and rebuild the pod without any innards, except the nice FW Sensor piece in the deckhead of the interior - a Lucius Drop Pod doesn't have any weapons within, so this is rather fitting, and gives the Dreadnought more overhead clearance too!

The photo above shows the Pod once the engine block and vanes have been lifted up straight off the petal base, leaving the Missile Pod magnetised to the deck plate and the doors.

Above shows the magnets on the deck plate and within the Missile Pod, the other deck protrusions are from the FW Deathstorm kit with flexi-hoses trimmed off so I can remove the outer vanes without catching on the base plate. I used 5 magnets of same polarity so the Missile Pod always remains lined up with the door openings.

The above picture shows the two sub-assemblies, and the magnets on the inside edge of the end of the vanes and in the grooves in the petal base plate. Totally hidden once the pod is constructed once more.

Finally, the above photo shows the Pod constructed without the Deathstorm Launcher, configured for the Dreadnought Drop Pod or as a Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod.

Hopefully this helps and gives someone out there inspiration to buy a FW Deathstorm and convert - two pods for the price of one! (Again, if you want to see how I magnetised - see here).

I will post the exterior shots in the next post, with a cautionary note about using the Chapterhouse Studios Armoured Drop Pod doors (lovely pieces that give weight to the outward appearance of the Pod and mark it apart from the run-of-the-mill other Pods nicely) but need a little care and attention to operate/fix correctly.

Relictors Drop Pod Project Progress - WIP Deathstorm

Just a quick post showing the latest progress with the 4 Pod Project - I'm nearly done, only 7 doors and two Stormbolters left, huzzah! This is the missile payload from the FW Deathstorm Drop Pod, a nice piece showing a lot of explosive potential! I've opted for a Tausept  Ochre coloured missile to match with my 2nd Whirlwind missiles and the yellow hazard chevrons from the pod doors. The brass coloured ends are meant to signify a simple fusing cap.

This has been magnetised underneath to enable me (with some clever jiggery pokery of the actual pod) to remove this payload from within and have an empty Dreadnought Pod instead. More of that later once painting has been completed, but it works like a dream and has an added hidden benefit when working with the Chapterhouse Studio's Armoured Drop Pod doors...

...To see how I've magnetised it see my earlier post showing the WIP gubbins.

Iron Warriors - Obliterators

Hi all – I’ve had almost no hobby time in the past month as I’ve been ripping rooms in my house apart and rebuilding them (it looks nicer now though) but this week I managed to get back into it with a unit I’ve been looking forward to tackling for ages; Obliterators.

As much as I like the unit and the fluff, the GW models are a little bit...awful.

But I did some digging around and stumbled across these alternatives from Polish(?) studio Hi-Tech Miniatures. They aren’t the cheapest models – roughly the same price as GWs Obliterators, but they look absolutely stunning and when I got them in my hand – they are absolutely worth it. The detail is incredible and I would rank them up there with Forgeworld pieces. They are also the perfect scale. I guess my only niggle is that these are the only three models they make and are so unique that if I want another unit I’m not sure what I would do... I’ll definitely be going back there for my Lord and Champion models though.

Its taken about a week to get them painted up – with all of the flesh and sinews being a bit of a pain to paint without messing up any of the metalwork – but I am really happy with how they turned out.

If anything, I would say that the pics don't do justice to the models – you could spend ages poring over them and find little bits you hadn’t previously spotted. Also the pics make the cloaks look shiny...no idea why – they look fine IRL...

Now these are done, I really must get some infantry finished. Maybe after a tank... thanks for reading.

Relictors Razorback LasPlas Turret Conversion

Just a little quick post showing the turret I made for my Razorbacks, here shown on Tactical Squad VI's transport. It is a Forgeworld Twin-Linked Lascannon Turret converted into a Lascannon / Twin Linked Plasma Gun Turret (or LasPlas) instead. Gamewise these have the advantage of being counted as two weapons for the weapon destroyed results which is nice.

 Lascannon

 Front View showing Charge Packs below sensors

 TL Plasma Guns

A selection of Razorback turrets I can choose from.

Thanks for reading.

Relictors Drop Pod Project Progress Update - WIP

Continuing with my 4 Pod Project to add to my one Drop Pod already done, the above photo shows the stage I am now at, with slow but steady progress over the last few weeks.  The warning stripes on the doors are slow progress as are the actual doors themselves. I am studying for an advanced maths exam about 22yrs after my last school maths lesson so hobby time is limited to winding down after Differentiation, Integration, Matrices and Newton's Method wizardry...  e, i and Pi... ouch brain hurts!

The engine blocks are now done, the single one above is a FW one that comes with the Deathstorm Missile Pod so will also be a feature in the Lucius Dreadnought Pod along with the Chapterhouse Studios Door Armour too, giving the Dreadnought a little more headroom... it will be magnetised so I can swap out the Deathstorm Launcher (see here).

The central columns are now done as well, so the interiors are pretty much completed, just some doors and weapons to do and then I get to put together 4 more pods - remembering the little quirks of fitting the Sergeant's harness correctly and I've already filed the 'bottom' of the doors to close properly etc...

Although the result would be worth it, I think I wouldn't attempt 4 at once ever again, 20 doors, 20 Vanes, 30 Harnesses etc is too much. Each Pod is like a Landraider surface area! Getting tantalisingly close now, I hope to post soon with lift off (or drop off)! Thanks for reading.

Terrain and Scenery - Honoured Imperium Space Marine Statue

I've been plodding along with more Drop Pod progress since my last WIP post but have been chipping away at the pile of unpainted scenery too. This is the Space Marine hero statue from the GW Honoured Imperium set, included with the broken Aquila and some window panes from the Shrine of the Aquila type building.

 I've gone for a muted Bronze, to reflect an aged forgotten relic on some planet now war torn. The bronze was acheived using a (old GW paint names i'm afraid) - Tin Bitz undercoat, then Brazen Brass basecoat. Heavy Thraka Green wash for the verdigris weathering stage one, when dry a heavy drybrush of Brazen Brass again followed by a glaze of watered down 50:50ish Hawk Turquoise - this looks heavier on application than it is once dried. I removed any pooling glaze from the bottom of any curves/base of statue with a small dab of tissue to prevent over-weathering the verdigris patina. Once dry a light drybrush of Brazen Brass and Chainmail 50:50 mix on the uppermost edges and extremities to brighten it back up.

The stone plinth was painted Charadon Granite base, drybrush of Codex Grey and final highlight of Fortress Grey. The earth my normal recipe of Calthan Brown, drybrushed with Kommando Khaki and Bleached Bone. I made sure some of the steps were covered with patches of dirt too.

Join me in the fight against grey bare plastic scenery. See my other posts on Terrain for ideas.

Relictors Battle Company Transport Pool

As promised in my last post, here is a shot of all my Battle Company Transport Pool, not including the Landraiders, Predators, Vindicators, Whirlwinds and Drop Pods, just the basic Battle Company transport consisting of Command Squad Razorback, 6x Tactical Squad Rhino's and 2x Devastator Rhinos. The Tactical Markings and Devastator Chevrons are from the FW Space Marine Transfer sheet.

Here are the Devastator Rhino/Razorbacks along with the newest Rhino/Razorback for Tactical Squad VI and the Command Razorback - great for mixing and matching for 40K battles here or at Lord Halfpenny's. I've yet to complete the FW turret I'm converting into a Lascannon/TL Plasma Gun turret. I'll post once done so you can see the simple conversion.

Right back to work and slow progress with those 4 Drop Pods! Thanks for reading.

Relictors Tactical Rhino / Razorback VI Finished

The final Rhino / Razorback for my Battle Company Transport Pool is now completed, this is the latest addition to the Relictors - Tactical Squad VI's Rhino.  The TL Lascannons are converted from some Predator Sponson Lascannons, a CoD exhaust thingy and an Aegis Gun sensor and base plate, I've also got a FW Lascannon mount yet to do - converted into a Las/Plas turret for any of my Razorbacks.

This Rhino has all the same markings as all the others, WFB Shield pommel Skull face, chaos chains etc. But this one also sports Chapterhouse Studio's Hatch and Doors, nice lot of skulls, very Relictor's Chapter-like - and suitable for any Chaos Space Marine Legions, especially Nurgle - the top hatch has maggot and tentacle within the skulls, but I've just bone coloured the lot though - they are not yet heretics even if the Grey Knights think they are!!. Here are some more views - hope you like. *EDIT - Since posting this, I noticed I had not yet weathered the tracks and skirts with a stipple of Calthan Brown dirt, that is now done!

Lastly, here is a shot with the Squad and their new ride. Right, I must continue with some more Drop Pod progress and I still have some more Terrain and Scenery to do... and just a Command Squad to finish the entire Battle Company (plus the obligatory Armoury extras and FW goodies - that never ends, lol)

I'll post some pics of all the Relictor Rhino's in a few days. All neatly lined up they look awesome! Shame I won't field them all together. Thanks for reading.