Adeptus Custodes - Caladius Grav Tank

Hello all, thanks for dropping by. My latest offering from my scheduled pile, is a Custodes Caladius Grav-Tank, not to be confused with the Callidus Assassin! Both deadly.

This tank is armed with the fearsome double-barrelled Iliastus accelerator cannon, an advanced weapon which was to become the precursor to the main weapon of the Legiones Astartes Sicaran Battle Tank. The Grav-Tank is also armed with a twin-linked Lastrum bolt cannon, exemplars of bolt-weapon technology whose bolt shells are customised mass-reactive heliothermic warheads... they hurt.

The decals were from the FW Custodes decal sheet. The red is a clear red over the gold base colour, giving a nice metallic red finish. The gold is Retributor washed Reikland and a highlight of Auric Armour.

The design at the rear is similar to the modern Impulsor and Repulsor craft, probably lifted from this by Belasarius Cawl. The gold in this picture has been washed out by the camera, but is the same as the surrounding areas.

Completely different from the rest of the Imperial stocky bulky un-streamlined vehicle range, which I really like, sets the Custodes apart more than a 'gold' Land Raider! I drilled a hole in the bottom, added a perspex rod to mount the skimmer, I did add magnets but they came away from the rod and now two reside up in the hull... but the rod acts as a decent enough support without magnets. The base was done my usual recipe Mournfang Brown / Karak Stone / Ushabti Bone and slate chip from garden.

I may have to get a few more in time, but a nice addition for now to my fledgling Adeptus Custodes force.

Cheers, Siph (5pts)

Relictors Space Marines Primaris - Impulsor Transport - WIP

Hi all, thanks for dropping by. I'm away with work so these are coming as scheduled posts for as long as I have progress and can get a wi-fi signal in far away places. 

I was a big fan of the Impulsor 'swift attack grav-transport, the legendary flying Rhino in my mind, however I wasn't a big fan of the half truck open back but saw a decent enclosed kit from Models and Minis for a good price too. Seems that it's a one-man business and he has a massive backlog of orders, so there was delays (expect long delays) but after some correspondence and explaining his predicament I was happy to wait, and not disappointed, high quality kit and sweet look too. Compatible with the top turret ring connection and I easily magnetised the ring to swap out turrets.

The kit was half built to this point so I could spray the grav plates Leadbelcher and paint the struts easily. I recommend this approach with most vehicles, speeds up the painting and you can get to all the fiddly bits.

Here is where I am with the kit at the time of writing, just an aerial and the Icarus Missile Pod turret not pictured, they are sprayed black as my turrets are often black on the grey hulls. 

With the enclosed hull, I REALLY like the shape of this kit, and can't wait to get a few Gladiator tanks too, in my opinion much nicer than the floaty-Land Raider Repulsor. This feels like a decent modernisation of the Rhino kit (now its enclosed) and if you don't mind a wait (again at time of writing - may improve), I thoroughly recommend getting this conversion kit.

Cheers, Siph

Relictors Space Marine Rogue Trader Predator - RTB08

 

Hello All, thanks for dropping by, my latest (and somewhat ancient) addition to the 4th Company Relictors is an old school cool RTB08 Space Marine Predator Assault Tank.

(I remember buying these boxes from Oxford Street Plaza Games Workshop)

I added my usual shield boss skull face all my Relictors vehicles have, and a modern front rake and a sensor and grab rails from AdMech kits. The long side rails are missing but thats totally usual with second hand kits.

The original box art had small pennant flags showing Chapter Icon and Company/Squadron number so I obliged with some paper banners and decals, on paperclip aerials as the original were in a bad way.

The kit when received was heavily coated in thick chalky paint, no idea what it was, not acrylic or enamel, probably craft paint and thick white to cover up... anyway, the worst bits got sanded down flat but I just overpainted the majority as it was too difficult to remove - just adds to the charm.

The model was sprayed Uniform Grey from Army Painter, metallics picked out with Abaddon Black and tidied up with Codex Grey (Dawnstone) and metals a variety of Leadbelcher, Warlock Brass and some black sooting on exhaust stacks.

I added some purity seals to this relic of the Chapter and the spare crates on the rear marked with Company green and numeral 4, and Chapter badge white skull on black field. The pennants followed suite.

Here it is with my other 4th Company vehicle, a Mk1b Rhino.

And next to the modern variant.

Cheers for checking this old school beauty out. Cheers, Siph (5pts)

Legio Astorum Warhound Titan "Canis Victrix" Walks!

 

Hello Titanseers, thanks for dropping in to see the completed Titan! Canis Victrix Walks! Seen above with the mighty Titan Inferno Cannon as well as the Turbolaser Destructor.

The default armament that came with this second hand Titan was the Vulcan Mega Bolter and TLD. Both unpainted but ready for being magnetised with washers built into the socket. I added rod magnets to the arms to carry whatever weapon I chose. 

The banner printed by the talented Drake Seta from Battle Bunnies blog. I just adapted it to fit the banner template I have, if you look closely at the Astorum sigil you can see I extended the blue field and added the purity seals

I really love the striped Carapace!

Titan Owners Club motif on the reverse of the banner and also repeated on the right Shin Armour panel.

A mighty fine scout Titan addition to the growing Maniple "The Emperor's Halo" of Legio Astorum.

A close up of the Titan Owners Club decal, on a white background template from a stencil then applied and tidied up with the blue around the edges.

The proud Moderati and Princeps

Fully magnetised for storage / transport and weapon swaps.

The scouting Titans of the Maniple, in AT up to three can combine voids, so I will play these as two pairs in the next Titan Owners Club Walk UK in the summer (post-Covid)...

Cheers all, my your Reactors burn hot and your Plasma hotter! 

Princeps Siph (50pts)

Legio Astorum Warhound Titan "Canis Victrix" - WIP #4 - Base and Head

Hello Titanseers, thanks for dropping by. The next instalment of my Warhound journey is dealing with the head and spare weapon and the base to make the legs super stable and strong. Above shows the head armour cowling sprayed with Army Painter Daemonic Yellow and some pre-shading of blended Averland Sunset to form the darker areas. The eye optics were custom resin eyes to replace the plain plastic 'window' lenses.

Once I gave the head two thin coats of Forge World Sigsmund Yellow Clear paint it gives a really rich yellow over the spray and pre-shading. I then did the trim with Vallejo Brass and Reikland Flesh Shade and lined with Citadel Black Ink. I also did the Princeps and Moderati, the previous owner had a basic scheme for the Princeps and Moderati were not yet painted or fitted, I also repaired the headrest on one seat.

The eye sensors look great, and fit in with the aesthetic of the Warlord and under the Reaver eye lenses. The astute among you may recognise the cabling on the neck - it was missing from the second-hand job, so I chopped up some Necron Tesseract Vault cabling to fit into the cable glands on the head and torso.

 The neck is magnetised hence the fitting one end only. The armoured studs on the face and trim were highlighted with Auric Armour gold to brighten them. 

The base is 6mm MDF cut and sanded. I then marked out where the titan physically connects to the base, the Warhound is a nimble Titan, so not flat footed and up on raised toes. I had some great black screws from a plastic shed build so ideal for fastening the resin foot to the base, these will take the majority of the loading meaning the toes won't be stressed too much.

Using a Forstner bit, on the underside I made a recess for the screw head so the base sits flush.

Once I applied PVA and sand and sealed with diluted PVA, I painted the gravel leaving the connection points free for a strong bond.

I positioned rocks where the toes had been modelled slighty raised (the original base had craters in which the feet sat), this actually looked great and made the feet look natural and 'blended' into the base.

The other foot, again with natural slate chips - they will be left natural, just sealed with varnish. The toes will be epoxy resin glued to base and slate chips.

The completed base, with tufts and drybrushing applied. The feet will be sealed with matt varnish along with the base whilst the rest of the titan gets a clear satin lacquer, this makes the feet look 'dusty' compared to the armour plates.

The Inferno Gun, I bought this new to supplement the armament as Canis Bellum has already got a Turbolaser Destructor and Vulcan Mega Bolter, so a nice big flaming death template (in AT28mm its flipping huge cone!) is called for!

I did some rather nice (imho) heat staining on the barrels and burn marks on the muzzle guard, this was 4 washes (L-R Sepia / Leviathan Purple / Drakenhof Nightshade / Nuln and brasswork was Balthasar Gold / Warplock Bronze / Abaddon Black) and the edges were brightened with a quick light Leadbelcher drybrush.

The magnet was drilled into the arm which was cut down flush to the weapon. I also used some of my flexible rubber skipping rope as power cable to disappear into the 'armpit' of the carapace.

Just construction and sealing to do. Next post will be the completed Titan and Scout Maniple! (Yes, I now have a squadron of Scout Titans!?!)

Cheers, Siph.