HeavyTankBuilder

AOP all done and dusted, 3 rd place over all in my local store.  Disappointed? Yes.  My entry focused on models, display board second.  I went about this wrong from all the entries I have seen online.  The models of course need to be good (1 st and 2 nd had great models) but the display board carries far more weight with the general public.  Lesson for next time! The board was fun to make and I don’t regret putting more time and effort into the models, as that’s the core of what I produce and enjoy anyway.  AOP is a great competition for a whole host of reasons; it forced me to finish stuff that perhaps would have dragged on otherwise, I saw some great stuff produced by other people and came away with a whole host of other ideas for the future.  This article runs through what I produced and how I went about it.

Finally finished the Falchion and another model in line with the core theme of the blog.  I picked this up back in March at the Forge World open day, with a view to have it finished before wider release... anyway...  it's done now.  The techniques involved are covered in the Glaive tutorial.  This time around I have tried to apply some of the pointers and tips passed on from Matt Murphy-Kane and Mark Bedford from not only Warhmmer Fest, but the FW open day to.

Just a few snaps of what I am working on ready for Saturday and AOP.  Getting there...but not much time left and it still feels as though there is a lot to do!

Warhammer Fest was good.  Forge World (FW) owned the show.  Games Workshop (GW) suffered in comparison because they cannot discuss upcoming releases and run a different business model to FW.  We had a good day because we planned early in the queue, saw 4 Forge World Pods back to back and we got seminar tickets early in the day for the Forge World discussion.

The Terminators are finished at last!  Can't remember when these things first got primed and based but my goodness it was a long time ago.   They have come out really well; there is however a few things I am not as happy with as I would like.  The varnish ran out and did not give the sealed coverage I require in my gloss varnish/oil wash process.  Some areas are a little stained where the wash could not be removed correctly.

Marneus is complete.  He has come out really well and sits nicely alongside Marius Gage (my TH/Shield Eternal Chapter Master).  The combined limited edition Space Marine Captains have come together brilliantly with some help from the pipe roller. 

Something that I am sure a lot of hobbyists have suffered from is having too much on the go at one time. I have talked about it before but still find myself falling into the trap of stocking up too many kits and wanting to build/paint far too much in too short a period of time. It's gotten so bad that it is actually hindering my ability to blog on stuff because I am not finishing things and getting distracted by the latest successful game test. Here is a run down of where I think I am going wrong. 1.  Play testing the latest good idea and then wanting to paint that to the standard of everything else in quick time. In other words, inability to stick to one list for an extended period. 2.  If find airbrushing more satisfying than brush work at the moment.  Not completing one project before starting the next. 3.  Taking on too much.  Articles, mock up builds to allow gaming, my first commission for someone and getting in more games ...

Managed to get the Techmarines completed at last!  Pretty happy with the final look and feel of each unit.  Most of the techniques for painting these can be found in previous articles.  What I will say is their performance in games has been outstanding.  From vehicles, massed troops, important characters, these 2 cannons have laid waste to huge chunks of opposition armies.  Thundefire cannons are top of my list right now in terms of getting on the roster once all my troops choices are in place. 

My HTB website needs reinvigorated. I have been busy with work and hobby/website has really slipped off. I will talk about WIP overload (again) in my next article but I really want to get back on track. In my opinion White Dwarf and Visions is so far removed from what I thought was historically good about WD that I wanted to do something about it. GW doesn't listen to anyone so asking them to change anything is a waste of time. Articles on list building, advance modeling techniques, tactics, detailed battle reports, use of other products (heresy!) that offer something GW doesn't or that are better is never discussed. Airbrushing is huge and so accessible nowadays yet it is totally ignored by GW. Look at coolminiornot.com ; airbrushing is everywhere. It is as if it doesn't exist in GW's world.  I think there are loads of topics that used to be covered so well that sadly have been actively removed by GW's head-shed.   So my s...

Another squad now complete at last!  I fell into the trap of having too many projects on the go but have stuck to my 1750 list and continue to work down it.  They have come out really well and the tiny magnets have worked great.  I can now come back later and add any combi-weapon I choose based on play testing.  It also allows me to swap with Sternguard Squad 1 so I can have a no combi-weapons team, or loads of combi-weapons or a complete mixture. The new wrist mounted weapons mean it is far easier to magnetize the wrist joints.   I use a 3mm x 1mm diameter magnet in the wrist and a 2mm x 2mm diameter magnet in the weapon hand.   You have to be very careful drilling out the 2mm magnet in the hand but it can be done.   They marry up very well – only issue is getting the paint to stick to the surface of the magnets.   Even if it does chip off it doesn’t matter, it cannot be seen.   I may use these magnets on my next special weapon ma...

This is my new Chapter Master model.   He is made up of bits from the Limited Edition Captain model # 2, Vanguard bits, Sternguard bits and the Masters of the Chapter Storm Shield.   He has come out as well as I could have hoped for.   There were 5 major parts to work on; the body, the hammer, the shield, the banner and the cape.   All have come out pretty well and combine to make a strong centrepiece model to protect Tigurius and work alongside my 2 Sternguard Sqauds.

Here are some shots of everything I have finished since Apr 2013.   1000pts would have come up sooner but things inevitably caught my eye (the Glaive, the Scorpion, the Falchion and Terminators – most of which still unfinished!! Terrible ><).  

All three drop pods are now complete.  Happy with the look and feel of them.  I think they fit in well with the Army and have served me well in the last few games.  I need to get better at the burn/re-entry marks made using the airbrush but that aside I think they are all good. 

Frustration at the way the Devastators turned out has all but evaporated because of the way these have come out!  Really happy with them and it comes down to a few things I think I drifted away from in my pursuit of new techniques and trialling different products.  The key lessons, which made the difference in this project, are as follows:

I hit a bit of a wall with larger vehicles and turned my attention back to finishing some of my more basic units to help get up to 1000pts.  I knocked together my Sternguard, Devastators and Aegis Defence wall a few weeks ago and had the base colours all completed.  I then got distracted with the Glaive and Falchion.  Going back to something different was a good move as it made me re-visit a few techniques and do some smaller, finer work. 

More progress shots really.  Pleased with the stencils and the marginally darker blue this time around.  Will keep post short to keep the work on the models going.  Any questions on any of my stuff do not hesitate to ask.  Thanks for the interest; just over 6000 hits - nice!  HTB.

Work progresses slowly on the tank.  I hope to have more parts done up the stage of oil wash needing to be applied in time for when the main body needs that as well.  The stencil has come out really well on the side of the tank.  I plan to keep using the XIII stencil to bring some uniformity to the large tanks, but differ how I apply the grey secondary colour.

Day 1 and 2 WIP photos.  All the sanding, cutting, smoothing and washing of the component parts has been completed.  My weathering has begun – the tracks have been given a light coating of sandy paste.  

A brilliant day at Forge World Open Day 2014.  Lots of new stuff to see and managed to speak to all the major designers including an in depth chat with Mark Bedford and Phil Stutcinskas (big fan of his new Falchion Super Heavy tank).  The Glaive was well received in the painting competition however it did not win – a fantastic Apothecary Marine in the larger scale took the painting competition, and rightly so – it was awesome.  Was great seeing my tank in the cabinet and seeing peoples interest in it and answering questions on it. So the new stuff…

So I was really happy to see one of my tanks up on the Forge World Facebook page model of the day,having been encouraged to get it on there to see what the community thinks.  It seems to have gone down really well!  I will certainly try to get to the Open Day now so others can see it up close.  Now to get the next project finished!

After 2 weeks of 4-6hrs a day working on it the job is done.  I am really pleased with the results despite initial frictions with the model and paint application.  It has come out lighter and more worn than my other tanks, fitting in with it being an older, rarer war machine.  I am very keen what people think about the finished model and where I can look to improve on upcoming projects, namely more infantry elite units, a Storm Raven and a Fire Raptor. 

Making steady progress with the tank.  Main body colours are now complete and have spent several hours getting to grips with the smaller parts to allow Satin Varnish to harden up.  Hope you like the progress so far.

And this then would be the second project.   I have planned out my first 1500pts and would like to hit that before branching off and adding to the Army…that said I couldn’t resist leaving this lying around any longer and got cracking. The first stage saw me make sure I had all the bits and that there were no poorly formed parts, or anything broken.   Then came the tedious but essential job of stripping the parts from the casting blocks, sanding them all down, finishing with a wash in hot soapy water to remove any excess release agent from the construction process back in the factory.   The water must not be too hot or you will deform the parts – if you can put your hands in the water comfortably then the temperature is not too hot for the resin.  

So 2 quick updates as I have broken my golden rule and started 2 projects rather than see one through start to finish!  These Thunder Hammer Storm Shield Terminators have been sat around for ages so broke them out and added some Forge World details to make them stand out. 

This is my completed Rhino/Razorback with magnetized hatch for my first tactical squad.  I know they are not particularly popular vehicles but I am looking to build up a company this year and want a good few Rhino/Razorbacks/Drop pods to cover the fluff side of things.  I am very pleased with the final outcome and will talk through what's changed and come on since Part 2 posted a month or so ago.