Finally finished something...

all three together - initial one (3) on left and latest two (6, 9) on the right

Sweet!!  A combination of seeing G.N.O.M.E.s painted space shark rhinos and being put to shame by Ricalope has spurred me to finish my second and third magnetized rhino chassis to complete something and gain a huge 20 painting points.  Fortunately they were pretty much 90% done, so it didn't take too much effort.  A few decals needed to be applied, the teeth and decal areas fixed up and the banners for the rhino doors completed.  You may notice I used my second TLLC razorback turret on the original chassis (#3).

chassis 6 configured as a predator

This is probably the first time I took some close ups of the additional magnetized bits.  They have been painted for a while but until I finished the chassis I wasn't too chuffed about showing off just a predator sponson.  Up next I want to build a couple LasPlas turrets, do a proper heavy bolter turret (I have one I hacked together similar to but not as nice as the TLLC) and I have another predator turret (need another set of sponsons) and I also have a couple whirlwind turrets.

chassis 9 configured as a vindicator with extra armour

I am still on the fence about whether they should be worth some painting points, especially the vindicator bits since they are almost 3 sides of a rhino.  I still have more bits to paint, a dozer blade that is half done, I obviously need more "blank" hatches, more searchlights and H/K missiles.  Since I am on the fence I will wait before awarding anything other than the 10 painting points for each chassis, and it let me post about it sooner rather than later :)

Been a busy boy...

Here's what I've been up to over the past couple weeks.  Early in the year I called about booking the hobby room at our condo so I could get some stuff primed.  I like to have lots of stuff in this state as it means if painting motivation/inspiration comes to me, I can act on it more easily.

In this batch there's my Mordaci Blaylock conversion and an AoBR tactical squad for my Novamarines, Pedro Kantor, a sternguard squad, a devastator squad, a land raider and a rhino for my Crimson Fists, finally a jump pack chaplain and my deathwatch marine for my Raptors.  I also tried to undercoat a tactical squad of Raptors white, but the can was pretty empty and it eventually started getting gritty so I stopped.

What's the best thing I should do for the poorly undercoated white guys; should i just give them a brush to see if it removes the grit? strip them and start again? any other magic tips?

Magnetized Demolisher Cannon (Rhino = Vindi)

Ron at FtW has been doing an excellent series of posts about magnetizing the space marine vehicle chassis. He's done a rhino/predator example and a few people have mentioned razorbacks & whirlwinds, and a couple have challenged a vindicator.

Well, I'm positive Ron would do a better job than mine, but I wanted a quick & dirty vindicator conversion which meant not cutting away the front of the rhino hull. I decided to snap some quick pics to silence the naysayers. Here is the cannon itself. I just used plastic card to fill in the gaps. I did a terrible job trimming the sides of the plastic card though to fit the front of the hull.
Here is where I put the magnet - glued to the piece of plastic card so it will meet up with the magnet in the front of the rhino's hull.

Finally here are a couple of shots with it attached. As you can see it juts out quite a bit, but it doesn't really bother me - I'm just happy to have all the rhino stc options magnetized.
Here is my previous rhino magnetizing post.

Space Sharks - BoLS Badab entry comments

I would really appreciate constructive criticism for my BoLS entry. Not in terms of "winning" next time, but in terms of really polishing her off with the little details.

So far here are some ideas I've had, let me know what you think of these or any other ideas you might have.

• "Danger/Hot" symbols around exhausts, rear of H/K missile, etc. (seems that space marines wouldn't need to know or indeed even care but ??)
• Naming the vehicle. Definitely not along the line's of "Blood of the Deep" but I was thinking more like just a generic female name, like Eileen or Susan.

Please tell me your thoughts!

Badab APC challenge - 4th place

Well the Badab APC challenge voting is over. I placed a respectable 4th out of the amazing entries, scoring just under 300 votes out of the near 2500 votes received. Nate's highly detailed Salamanders twin heavy flamer razorback just edged out Andy G's Raptors twin heavy flamer razorback by 14 votes in the final hours of voting.

Congrats to all the competitors, just goes to show the quality of 40K community - all of the entries were fantastic! I hope this spurs BoLS to hold more contests (especially Badab war related as many of my planned marine chapters fall into that category) and I especially can't wait for the scenario pack to make use of my guys in fun games.

ps. 50th blog post. :)

Badab APC Challenge voting starts

The voting has begun at BoLS for the Badab APC challenge.
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/03/40k-voting-badab-apc-challenge.html

Currently in fourth place, some gorgeous models have been submitted, even another Space Sharks razorback with a dorsal fin!

Head over and vote!

Space Sharks - final Badab APC challenge entry

Here's my final entry I just sent in to BoLS.

Fluff
This vehicle was designated APC 3 of the Space Sharks - Green Company at the beginning of the Badab war and operated as a transport for Squad 3. During the war, the Captain of Green Company ordered functioning sponson weapons recovered from wrecked Land Raiders to be assembled as firepower turrets for available Rhino APCs. APC 3 was retrofitted with a turret and tallied 7 tank kills over the course of the war.

Final 3 pics

Space Sharks - on track for Badab APC hobby challenge cut-off date

Well I managed to get quite a bit more done today. All the basecoats are fully done, and I've gone ahead and added the decals. I have to touch up one of the side teeth and then touch up all the grey areas before doing some edge highlighting and weathering. Definitely pleased with the way it's turning out. :)

Here's a quick half dozen shots in various configurations.

Rhino config




Razorback config



Plus a close up of gunner and kill markings on turret

Space Sharks - more rhinozerback progress

Well I had the day off and mostly to myself so I made sure I got quite a bit done on this puppy.
Finished drybrushing the armour and have given a basecoat for most extra details (except metal, did black last and needed to let it dry) tonight I will hopefully get another coat on each (and the coat of metal) so I can look to start with decals and weathering soon.

Single storm bolter, dozer blade & hunter-killer missile.


Twin storm bolter and razorback configuration (both with searchlight).


I'm particularly pleased with the way the front 'teeth' came out, so it looks good whether the dozer blade is added or not. I need to sort out the side 'teeth' as well, and I was thinking the headlights could maybe be red to look like eyes? Comments/criticism welcome.

Space Sharks - razorback turret.

Well the masses (all 30 of you!) have spoken, nearly 3/4 of you voted for the razorback (73%) so I've begun work on one of the turrets I had started (twin lascannons were done).

Now this has been made from a LR sponson weapon, so it's not a proper razorback turret. I don't care as I want my Space Sharks equipment to look well used and sometimes thrown together. However I'm not sure if this will help or hinder my entry to the BoLS Badab APC Edition hobby challenge, so I'm asking you to vote again (sorry!) based on the look of the turret - would you enter it as a razorback?

Here's a couple pics to show it off.


I'll update the poll now. So... what do you think?

Space Sharks - rhinozerback (now for entry in BoLS Badab APC edition hobby challenge)

As promised here are some pics of my Space Sharks magnetized rhino. Not yet glued together, am ironing out the kinks in painting the interior. I want to glue it together before I drybrush the outside to try and get it looking smoother.

Please vote as to which direction I should take it for the BoLS Badab APC Edition hobby challenge.

You can kinda see the blue wash I gave the windows in this pic


Detail of interior


Two shots at rear-ish angle to show the turret magnet.



All the bits plugged in

BoLS Badab APC Contest - PERFECT TIMING

Some of you may have seen my post about magnetizing a rhino for my upcoming Space Sharks army.
I have made some progress on it to this point, it is primed, washed with some drybrushing/detailing on the interior.
I will take some more pics tonight to show you my progress, but how happy was I to see this post (http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/02/40k-hobby-challenge-badab-apc-edition.html) on BoLS today.

Great timing. Now I have some decisions to make - I have 3 razorback turrets I built from Land Raider sponsons, however they are not completely ready as I need some big washers to mount them to the magnet, and something to cover the rest of the hole in the turret rhino top (as used for preds/razorbacks/whirlwinds).

So do I put some effort into getting at least one of the turrets completed, so it can be displayed for the contest as both a rhino and a razorback? Or do I just run with the bits to make it a rhino for now? I've created a poll - cast your vote!

I should have no problems meeting the March 4th deadline. Need to get some decals printed, and resolve my method for painting the armour. Wish me luck!

Space Sharks... Magnetized Rhino pics

OK, since I need to prime this sucker tonight/tomorrow I grabbed some pics of the magnets while it's not completely assembled. I've highlighted the various magnets and what they're for.





11 magnets used so far. For the smaller attachments I've just glued paperclips to the area.
For the sponsons/turrets and vindicator cannon I will probably use another magnet to ensure a strong enough bond.

Space Sharks... magnetized rhino

Well it took a bunch of spare hours this weekend, but in between doing the camo pattern for my Novamarines scouts I built the first rhino chassis for my Space Sharks. I used 1/4" rare earth magnets from Lee Valley. Nice thing about these was they painted a red dot to show polarity - made using them a snap.

Following mostly this tutorial;
http://apnu.runswithscissors.com/convertible-predator-howto.html

I have it magnetized so it can be a Rhino, Razorback, Predator, Whirlwind or Vindicator.
I also have both front hatches, the front (vindicator demolisher cannon/siege shield?), the underside (for dozer blade/siege shield?), both sponsons (for predators), the top (predator, razorback, whirlwind), as well as four parts on the tracks (for upgrades) magnetized. I count 11 magnets per chassis (Front, Underside, Hatchx2, Turret, Sponsonx2, Bodyx4) plus another 1 per demolisher cannon, sponson, or predator turret) making a total of 15 per vehicle.

I have no pics yet but don't worry this won't be painted anytime soon, so you'll get a nice series of photos to show you how I managed it all. No drilling required.

I also built 3 twin lascannon razorback turrets out of spare Land Raider sponsons.