Legio Astorum Warhound Titan "Canis Victrix" - WIP #1 - Basecoat and Arms

Hello Titanseers, hot on the completion of my Reaver Titan "Aquila Oculus" before Christmas, I dived into my next Titan project, a second hand Warhound Titan. This came with the certificate and spare Carapace, Shins and Head armour and a massive round plinth base - all of which I sold and bought an Inferno Gun arm and custom eyepiece inserts shown above, offsetting the cost considerably so a win win bargain!

This is Mars Pattern Warhound Titan No.4 for me, and Certificate No.3615, so a fairly aged Titan now, I think Forge World are now in the region of 6500 sold. "Canis Victrix" or 'Victorious Hound' will join it's Brother Engines' No.10 "Canis Bellum"; No.2974 "Canis Praetor" and No.4189 "Lupus Regent".

The Titan came constructed but I have partially deconstructed it for painting and strengthening with JB Weld and pins, and a slight rebuild of toes as they were designed to the custom base I removed it from.

The first Arm to get painted was the Turbolaser Destructor, a favourite weapon for me, all my Warhounds thus far have one. Its decent strength, range and damage output make it a great choice if coupled with something multi-shot or lower strength for void stripping and anti-heavy infantry (if playing 40K). I heat stained the barrels my usual method of black drybrush, Nuln Oil, Drakenhof Nightshade blue, Leviathan Purple, Seraphim Sepia over the Leadbelcher/Nuln/Agrax metal. The missing Power Couplings resin hoses have been replaced with flexible hoses (rubber skipping rope) for ease of arm swaps.

The alternative weapon arm is a Vulcan Mega Bolter, or the above mentioned Inferno Cannon, I've painted the Vulcan Mega Bolter to match my existing weapons on Canis Bellum, and above you can see the heat stained barrels. This too will have a power coupling of flexible hose up into the 'armpit' area, seen below.

The weapon received some verdigris after seeing the same on my mate John H's own Astorum Warhound, and I kept the armour clean and ready for battle honours etc.  All the arms have been magnetised to allow swap outs in the future, the weapon arm has a washer glued in place, the arm socket itself a rod magnet inside the upper arm for a strong bond. As this was second hand I removed the weak disc magnets used as they were only just capable of bonding - replaced with 20mm x 8mm diameter Neodymium rods - with about 2.5 kg pulling power. 

The carapace was repainted, the original owner had a blue scheme but too light and heavily weathered, so a fresh coat of Kantor Blue was laid down and then masked off for some stripe work characteristic of my Maniple. The above image show the step before the trim is painted gold, The blue has been edged with Night Lords Blue in the recesses.

The previous owner had a Legio Gryphonicus banner made so I repurposed it using some existing Legio Astorum banners Drake at Titan Owners Club / Battle Bunnies had made for me. Cheers mate, the back of the banner proudly displays the TOC coat-of-arms too. I added a few of the FW resin Purity Seals that come with Titan kits too and the finials from an Imperial Knight kit.

I am pleased with my progress, this will be Titan No.7 for the Emperor's Halo Maniple of the Legio Astorum. Oh dear... I think I have a problem (a great one to have!!)

Cheers, Princeps Seniores Siph.

Imperial Knights - Freeblades - Gerantius the Forgotten Knight

Hello All, thanks for dropping by. So, two Editions of 40K late and no longer OP, I finally got around to getting a representation of the much maligned 'Gerantius', 'The Forgotten Knight' special character. 

Not my own work, a eBay purchase and a few tweaks to make my own. I added the Gerantius Decals to the shoulder Pauldrons, weapon and Banner, the original only had two smaller freehand decals plus the shin decals. It is an excellent paint job, neat highlights and clean looking - I like it, Gerantius must have good support in system!

I also swapped both arms, the original had them the other way around but in all artwork, and the shape of the weapon shield it made sense to swap them back, so a razor saw and some glue and harmony was restored.

I added a small red skull kill marking for interest, and based the knight like all my other forces, adding some slate chips from the garden. The tufts are from Gamers Grass and the base is Mournfang Brown (Caltham Brown pot from the basing set now OOP, I have a litre of it!), Ushabti Bone and Karak Stone drybrushing on base and slate.

I am pleased to finally have Gerantius, The Forgotten Knight in the forces available - game wise he can be a Freeblade with Questoris Errant equipment, not so OP as before, but a nice historic addition nevertheless!

Cheers, Siph. 

Imperial Knights - Vassal Knights of Legio Astorum - Cerastus Castigator 'Heretics Bane'

Hello All, thanks for dropping by. I've added to my Knight Banner - the Vassal Knights of Legio Astorum ranks have now swelled with the addition of a Cerastus Knight from Forge World, a Castigator. Meet Sir Geraint riding Cerastus Castigator 'Heretics Bane'.

This was an eBay purchase, the previous owner had done a decent job, I just brightened up the blue panels leaving weathering in the recesses, painted a few red panels back to blue, re-did some trim, added detailing like dials and LEDs and painted some cables, pistons etc.

The groin power couplings were missing so I added some cables from a Necron Night Scythe kit in the ports between leg and groin. I added some slate to the base and repainted the base to match my own forces, and added some tufts.

I added the Legio Astorum decals and the Aquila details to the shins, the cheques were done already I just did some tidying up and repainted the white panels Astorum yellow.

The barrels were painted black and some blue power effects were added to the Sword.

Another Legio Astorum decal finishes off the transformation from perhaps Terryn, to Vassal Knights of Legio Astorum. A nice addition to the Knights force, now quite a few Knight Engines!

Cheers, Siph.

Lord Titanium Halfpenny Returns! where has he been?

 Hello one and all, goodbye 2020, and hello 2021.. 

It's been a while since I've posted, this was due to the house move, and then the decision not to unpack my weemen until we had the garage conversion completed which will become my geekroom/office space. 6 weeks of work, and here are the results at the moment.

I am going to repaint the walls over the base white, and then start to add my units, games table and desks into position. I also have a loft space in the void above the ceiling to hide my pile of plastic shame away to keep the room looking tidy. 

I am really missing the hobby, with having around 5 months completely away from it - I still haven't located my brushes yet!

Thanks for swinging by, I will hopefully have further updates next week!

Genestealer Cult - Relic Baneblade - Armorcast Super Detailed Baneblade

HAPPY NEW YEAR, I HOPE TO THE EMPEROR (FOUR ARMED) ITS BETTER THAN 2020!

Hello All, something quite historical and super rare this week, a "Super Detailed Armorcast Baneblade", from before Forge World existed. I have had this model for over 20 years sitting at the bottom of the to-do pile mountain and the time I do have to hobby is spent on painting my current Titans and Relictors, so I shipped off the kit to Castle Brush Studios in Poland for a commission paint job - and I am totally satisfied with the customer experience and end results - thank you to Simon and the team at Castle Brush Studio.

I gave them the kit with a few additions, I had chopped off the original triple Bolter side-sponsons and provided modern plastic ones, removed the front Baneblade Cannon barrel so it represents the modern armament of a Demolisher Cannon, added mud flaps to the front to lengthen the whole tank to the same length as the modern plastic kit, supplied GSC icons and a Tank Commander from the Achilles Ridgerunner buggy set and some Death Korps of Kreig atmospheric filters and Heavy Stubbers - I wanted this tank to look like a relic plundered from the local Planetary Force reserve stores.

Castle Brush Studio through great communication added the scheme I wanted to match my existing GSC forces, and weathered the kit to rightly look like the 3rd line reserve forces abandoned and forgotten - hence the older rarer pattern of Baneblade not the usual mass produced front line units the Guard have.

The Imperial icons were defaced and the stowages supplied with a spare Rock Hammer and Mining Laser.

The Machine Spirit has been defaced and violated in the name of the true Four Armed Emperor...

I love that it is an old kit, you know its a Baneblade but it looks completely different to the modern plastic kit - great to define that this is the relic abandoned reserve of a PDF.

All I did to the great job that Castle Brush Studio did was add a couple of paint streaks to the stenciled graffiti.

I had agreed to have an armoured iris on the Searchlight, however with 2nd thoughts I changed my mind so repainted the glass of the searchlight.

I touched up the Heavy Bolters to have laser range sights to match my existing forces.

I love the look of the tank, a great job by the Studio and the characterful kit means I am very happy with this kit and its great to have it done and off the to-do mountain!

I added the spare metal Track Links to the plain armoured glacis.

This is what the kit looks like, a hybrid resin kit with metal details and some FW/plastics I threw in... I will leave you with some parting shots...

My thanks to Castle Brush Studio for an excellent customer experience, if you have the money and not the time, check them out - they provide an excellent service. Have a great 2021 and hopefully some battles (of the tabletop miniature type!).

Cheers, Siph.