400th Post addendum

 I've received an email from Siph at Sea, and he would like to add the following to our 400th post..

Siph

my favourite bit has been the Warhammer World Battle on the fortress board, looked epic! http://weemen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/first-weemen-3way-battle-report.html

This battle saw myself, Siph and 6th battle it out in our first 3 way battle!

And don’t forget my third titan…   http://weemen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/legio-astorum-will-walk-imperial-reaver.html

Best achievement was prob getting my Drop Pods done!   http://www.weemen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/relictors-drop-pod-armoury-pics-of-all.html

and for the future....and i quote ' And yes, you are correct…. No wins for me with Relictors in 6^th… that will change with new Codex I promise!!' hmmmmm...

Relictors Drop Pod Armoury - Pics of all 5 Pods!

This post is really just a nice picture fest of my completed Pods, please enjoy. If you want to see the WIP and how to magnetise drop pods, please see my previous posts (here). The first pic is all the finished Pods in gaming glory. Just add some righteous fury filled power armour clad Relictor Marines...

The Emperor's Holy wrath made incarnate, the Relictors surge forward from their Drop Pods 

 The dropsite was leveled by the missiles of the support Deathstorm Pod before the Tactical Squads landed.

Squad I advances towards the enemy lines 

 Squad II

Squad IV

 Squad III - Until next time Traitor Scum!

Relictors Deathstorm / Dreadnought Drop Pod Finished!

So here is the finished Pod, the first of my project of four Pods I've been busy doing recently. This one is different from the others as it uses 3rd party parts, namely Chapterhouse Studios Armoured Doors and is a Dreadnought Pod or Deathstorm Missile Pod. I've used the small StormTalon aquila's to decorate the doors to match my first Drop Pod and as usual, a white skull chapter badge.

I love the look of this Deathstorm Launcher, and gamewise its not bad either, cheap and great against horde armies, on the turn it arrives it pie-plates every unit (friend or foe) within range, with a large blast. After that, every turn it fires one large blast at an enemy unit within range - see Imperial Armour books for rules.

Here is the view of the Pod set up as the Dreadnought Drop Pod, or Lucius Dreadnought Pod.

Just a different view of the Dreadnought Pod configuration showing the Deathstorm FW sensor head and the deck protrusions.

This shows the magnets in the Pod vanes. For more notes on construction see my earlier posts on magnetising drop pods and using Armoured Doors 3rd party products. I'll be posting the completed 'normal' pods soon, just as soon as I've finished the remaining 4 doors... nearly there!

A final shot... or 40!

Armoured Drop Pod Doors - 3rd Party Resin Conversion Kit

The Chapterhouse Studio's Armoured Drop Pod doors are great for making a Games Workshop Space Marine Drop Pods stand out from the others. I've used them to differentiate between the normal Drop Pods and the Support element Drop Pod which can be played as a Deathstorm Missile Pod or a Dreadnought Drop Pod as seen in the previous post (here). The small Aquila are from the StormTalon kit, the doors come unadorned.

The casting of the underside of the Chapterhouse Door Armour is not perfect - so to fit flush to the GW Drop Pod, I removed the rivets (12 rivets each door) from the plastic Pod doors that were under the Chapterhouse Kit. The resin kit is designed with holes for these rivets, they just don't always cast with enough room so it's easiest to just trim them off the door instead, allowing a flush fit.

The second thing to note is shown in the photo above, once closed, the rivets on the Drop Pod vanes catch at the bottom end of the Chapterhouse Armour when fitted. This can be easily trimmed off to allow smooth door action, or in my construction, the vanes have a certain amount of give as the are only fixed at the top, in my design the bottom is magnetised to the Pod deckplate and door sub-assembly, meaning the doors slide past these rivets without too much problem.

When dry fitting the Chapterhouse Studio's kit to the GW plastic door prior to using super glue, I needed to soak each resin piece in hot water and hold to the door so it cooled into a flush uniform straight fit. If you use resin kits, this is normal but worthy to note here.

 Here is the position of the doors closed if the vane rivets are not removed... not good.

Here shows the closed doors if the vane rivets are removed (or in my case, allowed to move past).

Hopefully this helps any potential Armoured Drop Pod builders with your hybrid kits! I hope you agree this kit gives the normal pod a great sense of heavy duty hardware and sets them apart from the 'normal' Pods! Overall a great resin extra and easily fitted to your drop pods.

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.

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.

Magnetizing Drop Pods - WIP

I am currently basecoating a number of Drop Pods however, one drop pod I want to be for a Dreadnought. So, to make it different from the normal drop pods I will leave out the central column and harnesses. However, this gives me an opportunity to use the same Pod as a Deathstorm Drop Pod if so desired.

To enable the swopping of such a large Missile Launcher Assembly, the pod will have to come apart. Above you can see the magnets for the five 'fins' and magnets drilled into the floor for attaching the central Missile Launcher Assembly. The FW Deathstorm pod comes with a sensor assembly for the deckhead and 5 sensors that go into the deck slots - both of these can remain when the pod is a Dreadnought Drop Pod and differentiate it from a standard troop Drop Pod. The magnets I am using are quite strong, but the resin is quite heavy so 5 were needed to hold it firmly and also for asthetic reasons when absent, the magnets on the decking will be equally spaced.

Above you can see the magnets in the fins. Number one tip for magnetizing things is check the polarity of the magnets. Every fin magnet is the same polarity so the final assembly can be attached any which way. The slots on the base where the fins attach also need a little filing so the fins are not such a snug fit - the magnets will do the holding together, not the plastic parts and I want to be able to put together and take apart with ease.

The magnets were glued into place and for extra security, spare pieces of sprue were glued on the underside of the deck, therefore providing another surface to glue onto.

Slowly does it with this project, drop pods have a bigger surface area to paint than a Landraider I reckon! These are currently at the undercoat / basecoat stage. I have some Assault Troops to do first...