#MonsterMarch - Week 1

Week one of #MonsterMarch - check out the Swordmaster of Hoeth blog for all the community updates.

Ok - a bit of background about this model - I got it from a Thai seller on eBay a while ago - I've always wanted a life-sized Facehugger and they are only about £20 - so thought it was taking a punt on.

The quality is hit and miss - I definitely wouldn't advise for a novice builder; the model is made out of vinyl and is hollow, so can be easily heated to reposition it and trimmed, but being hollow means that joins can be an absolutely nightmare to fill if there are gaps (and there are gaps!). The sculpt is pretty good, plenty of detail where you would want it and but obviously not GW standards here. I can imagine lots of these get bought, put together badly, sprayed once and then get binned - but with some TLC, I think they could look pretty good.

Typically - I jumped straight into assembly, meaning I had no unassembled pics - so I will share this one from the seller:

As you can see - the body is in two parts, with eight complete fingers, separate nails and the tail is split into four (understandable - the tail is about 3 feet long...).

Issue one...everything is very straight...not very organic or posed.

The body went together first, a hairdryer was required to heat the parts to get everything meeting and even then, there was a good 5mm gap in places that had to be filled, so out came the greenstuff. Luckily, most of it was around flat areas that I could smooth in, with only a little sculpting required around the 'mouth'.

The tail went together fine, but I left that off until the end.

I attached all of the fingers and nails as they were, before heating the knuckles and bending them. I wanted the Facehugger to look like it was about to pounce, so played with each finger one at a time until I was happy.

Finally, I attached the tail in one piece before heating it and bending to give it a bit of life. I hardly had it kinking round, but even the positioning I gave it was pretty tricky - the vinyl is pretty thick and being hollow, wanted to 'fold' more than 'bend'.

The other good thing with the model is that I should be able to gently heat it once painted and reposition it if I'm not quite happy. Saying that, by the end, I managed to get the model into a pose I was happy with - I have a super secret place I will be placing this once finished - so tested the poses on a few bits of furniture and it doesn't look half bad.

Next update - painting begins!

Daemons WIP Bloodthirster and Skarbrand

Hi Everybody.

Thank you for swinging by our blog!

The titan progress has slowed a little, I'm looking for a good day to start adding paint to the body. Excited!

However I thought I'd share my other WIP (of which there are many... LH), a couple of Bloodthirsters. I've built one as the Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage, which is the the flying D weapon one. I really like the overall look of the Bloodthirster with the double handed axe. I've gone f true Khorne colours, with the skin a Blood red colour, with black flesh as the wings (picture below with Skarbrand). The armour plating is a combination of silver and gold.

The double handed axe is looking far too clean. This will be getting a few 'blood for the blood god' layers on it for good measure. (Picture Below with Skarbrand's)

The second Bloodthirster is Skarbrand, I've always like the back story with Skarbrand, and had looked to convert him, however the moment the model came out I had to have one!

I'm still in two minds whether to add the chest plate and guards onto the model, either way looks right, I plan to review once all sub parts are painted and then see which looks correct in my eyes..

Again the axes need more blood on them!

Below are the pairs wings, Skarbrand I've opted to go for red skin up to the joint, and then a combination of black with brown- the back story is that his wings were destroyed, and he isn't a flyer- thus his wings wouldn't ever be used- so I went for a necrosed look, rather than a healthy looking red tone- like the rest of him.

Interestingly enough Skarbrand looks good added to the body of the normal Bloodthirster, this could make an interesting conversion maybe? the only issue would be to modify the wings to fit, and to then convert the other Bloodthirster to sit right with Skarbrand's body.

Thank for looking!

#MonsterMarch - Week 0

Hi guys - I am aware its been a few months since I've posted (it's only a few months since November 2015 right?) (Ha Ha, few months! - Siph) - but a combination of work and getting married really didn't help getting a little burned out after the Warhound project...

To help me get back into building and painting minis, I thought I would start off with something a little...different... I also don't want to start out with something tiny and intricate, so got something pretty sizeable and fun lined up.

To help motivate me, I am taking part in #MonsterMarch; a community painting challenge set by the Swordmaster of Hoeth blog, who is tasking people to paint up a monster in March this year.

Each week there will be an update and hopefully by the end of March I will have finished the mini (maxi).

The model I am going to be painting is a full-scale Alien Facehugger that I picked up about a year ago but never got round to starting - hopefully will look something a little like this when it's done (it actually won't - I am going for a walking/pouncing pose - but who doesn't love that pic...?)

I'll be updating my progress over the rest of March - so keep your eyes peeled.

the 6th degree

Hobby Area Lighting Improvements - Daylight LED Lamps

Hi Readers, thanks for popping in. I wanted to share this upgrade with hobbyists out there, specifically UK or Europe based as the supplier is UK based, but I've included the details of the lamps so wider area hobbyists can also do a search on the popular auction sites for the same.

The great improvement over the existing lamps I had is the fact that the light is a "daylight-like" white 6W LED, not warm yellow incandescent bulbs. I have a magnifying lamp in the centre from which I do my painting as my eyes are not getting any younger and I can now actually see those details! It also prevents eye strain. But the other great feature is that these new lamps are clamped to the desk, freeing up loads of desk space where the weighted bottoms used to have to sit. This also means they can be clamped to vertical surfaces or undersides of shelving for those hobbyists with even less desk space.

Here was my older set up, you can see the weighted bottom of the lamp on the right. Much better now. The clamps fit desk thicknesses of up to 1.5in, the height of a standard GW paint pot, the cord is about 2m long

Here's the description and UK seller ID. They are just shy of £20 GBP. Upgrade your lights, totally worth it. Search for - Modern Silver Adjustable Clamp LED Desk Lamp Light.

Reaver Titan - WIP #8 - Comparisons

Hi One and All,

Just a quick post, following comments about the size comparison of the Reaver titan. Below are a few initial pics to compare with regular 40k models:

Weapons

Here is the Laser Blaster and Gatling Blaster weapons by a Razorback and marine.

The Laser Blaster by a Knight.

The Titan Power Fist by a dreadnought.

 Gatling Blaster next to a Land Raider Spartan.

 The Reaver Titan Volcano Cannon (where has that appeared from?... )  by the XL chaos black spray can.

Head and Body:

The Knight again by the legs/body to show the height of the Reaver

 The Razorback by the titan's leg.

Princeps inside the body of the Reaver.

Reaver Head by Typhon Siege Tank and the Fellblade Superheavy Tank

Princeps next to the Head of the Reaver

Finally, a bigger comparison- the Reaver head by a Head of something a little bigger... (Where did that sneak in from! - Siph)

Thanks for looking!

Relictors Landspeeder Storm WIP - Getting more for your money

Hello Readers, thanks for dropping by. Keeping to my aim of this year to make a dent into the to-do pile and get some of those units on the table, one of my long purchased loafing boxes was a Landspeeder Storm. Well looking at the kit it doesn't make sense to me to build the kit with all the occupants in it, I prefer the idea of the Pilot and Gunner and an empty crew compartment I can place passenger models in if necessary.

Even a Space Marine would have difficulty staring into the on rushing wind, smoke and haze of the 41st Millennium battlefield, so following my Scout Bikers, these crewmen will have Pig Iron helmets which look great on Scouts I reckon.

That leaves four crewmen that come with the kit who are spare. The first crewman hangs out of the right-hand side of the Landspeeder, with one foot up on a step poses a problem for a base, so I added a rock and voila, one Scout in the field. I've swapped his hand from holding the rappelling lines to a CCW, not shown, off for ease of painting.

The second crewman is sitting on the left-hand side of the Landspeeder, his pose is sitting back but with some wedges (not stilettos honest!) which will be covered by the basing material, his pose becomes a bit more upright, and being the only left handed Bolter wielding Scout, I was keen to use him! He now looks like he is stalking forward.

The third crewman is the Sergeant, he stands looking out of the top of the open topped Landspeeder, but with the addition of a Bolt Pistol instead of a steadying hand, he is now ideally engaged in close-combat with the enemies of the God-Emperor!

The final member of the Landspeeder is sitting back reloading a Bolter but his legs were too prone, one tucked in and one pointing straight along the seat, so I cut his waist and plonked the torso on a spare pair of Scout legs, so now I have a walking Scout re-loading in the midst of battle (shows his lack of experience - fancy a SM running out of ammo mid battle!).

So, four Scouts with different poses, they will look great interspersed into other based Scouts in the field, adding some personality and character to the rank and file. And more importantly, 4 (ok 3.5) more models for minimal cost!

Cheers, Siph.

Squaduary - RTB01 Tactical Squad Completed

Hi Readers, thanks for dropping by and having a look-see. Here is my completed pledge for Squaduary for the month of February.  I had these RTB01 marines sitting about for an age, and another squad since 1989...

For those who might be wondering what Squaduary was, its all about building and painting a squad in February and was a hobby related event being run by Stepping Between Games. A great way to get motivated to paint some of those miniatures lurking in the cupboard of doom To-Do pile. I'm sure it will be a regular feature for upcoming years!

These were painted my usual scheme for the Relictors Chapter. Using Codex Grey/Dawnstone or Army Painter Uniform Grey spray, washed with Nuln Oil, highlighted Administratum Grey.

The Banner stripe denotes a Tactical Squad, and the green colour denote the 4th Company, I already have 6 Tactical Squads for the 5th Company, and one for the 4th Company... quite a few Marines now!

I had to re-arm the Sergeant with a FW Bolt Pistol and the Specialist with a Spellcrow Gravity Gun as a counts-as Grav Gun. The original weapons were damaged.

The Missile Launcher is the original, FW do an updated version if you like this style, I also painted the Missiles yellow to match the rest of the force, and the Sergeant has a few spare reloads.

The second half of the squad have the Bolters, on the left the empty hand was replaced with a modern grenade hand as the pose was a asking for it. The middle Marine has his original Bolt Pistol drawn, They are tiny!

The rear shot showing the Combat Blades and the holstered Bolt Pistols.

Thanks to all the participants of Squaduary for the motivation, and to Stepping Between Games for organizing this great event, cheers. Siph.

Legio Crucius - Reaver Titan - WIP #7 - Titan Power Fist

Hi one and all! thanks for looking!

Up next is the Titan arm I've built and really wanted to share the pictures rather than the comparison pics - that will be next, I promise.

I decided to have the option of a Titan Power Fist as firstly I really like the look of it, it fits the old school look of the Reaver I remember with a right ranged weapon, and left arm a CC one. It also looks very similar to one of my favourite moments in the classic 'Transformers Movie (the G1 version, not the new Bay stuff), where Unicron transforms into robot mode to attack Cybertron - there is a close up of his hand  as it smashes into the planet - The Reaver hand has a similar look.

I've built the arm similar to the other arms- with a screw embedded into the arm to then lock into the shoulder mount. This was the key reason I wanted to do the shoulders this way, as the Fist Shoulder doesn't have a ball joint like the others, thus to magnetise it would have meant being more accurate with the placement of the magnets/cutting into the joint etc. I'm happy with the results.

Its a sizeable fist! I've not glued the hand to the arm yet as I am looking at maybe magnetising this joint to allow rotation.

Below are pictures of the fist mounted to the body of the titan.

 The Reaver likes to dance.

This isn't the final pose of the titan, its angled to the right due to the weight of the right arm. Once its fixed into position I am hoping it will be more upright.

Thanks for stopping by!