tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40619215035180173382024-03-14T08:34:03.547-07:00In The Grim Cheapness of the Future...having fun with 40K on a budgetVirtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.comBlogger172125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-34778550367033983262018-01-03T09:30:00.000-08:002018-01-17T01:44:15.577-08:00The End Times...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So, last
week a thought crossed my mind.</div>
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It was the
day after Christmas, and it was one of the most Games Workshoppy ones my lady and I'd had
in a while. I’d already been hit with a
financial crunch, but really... by seventh edition I’d lost most hope for the
game. <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2017/06/counting-hours.html">As I’ve mentioned before</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRevIeTRN10Iy-vSbBDrm_NN8RVA5lTPr6FG-9-uz9BK5tgKx0R3VnIoZ5sVsSAhIhq7N1hCh8GWLjeeZx1AudTnf4_HLBqUBxiaFs5NB8DOxaYQ8P6QJZpqyOFoUIGyT5FSAwFCAhdhLf/s1600/Alpha+L+Anubis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRevIeTRN10Iy-vSbBDrm_NN8RVA5lTPr6FG-9-uz9BK5tgKx0R3VnIoZ5sVsSAhIhq7N1hCh8GWLjeeZx1AudTnf4_HLBqUBxiaFs5NB8DOxaYQ8P6QJZpqyOFoUIGyT5FSAwFCAhdhLf/s200/Alpha+L+Anubis.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
Eighth
edition has really rekindled my love for 40K. And I’d already been having this
ongoing fling with Age of Sigmar, so it was kinda the best of both worlds. And my girlfriend’s okay with it as long as
she gets included sometimes (I'm a lucky guy).<br />
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So this
Christmas was some Death Guard and a core of Stormcast Eternals for me, while
she got the core of a shiny new Arkanaut/ Kharadron force (she’s had her eye on
the steampunk dwarves and their airships since they first showed up). </div>
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There was
much rejoicing.</div>
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But it got
me thinking about building a lot of this stuff.
And the tweaks I still need to make to my Death Guard so they’ll fit
this brave new millennium we’ve entered into.
Plus some Primaris I have left to build.
Really, there’s a ton of additions for the Relictors that have kinda
piled up. And the core of a Seraphon
army that I’ve been collecting for ages...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8QcCABPiKGwIiz3CJOcLTQuU9OiSclPckmsO7fTqXW4AmOkKERFGsrx9b7bBCcuhDsTEyc_rG0_0gD2vVKuAunsimdztKb3FlhSgNFlJ3Pvj88YEqZd7tyGyc4y7s4BdgbcIvP7-PyPLy/s1600/Primaris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8QcCABPiKGwIiz3CJOcLTQuU9OiSclPckmsO7fTqXW4AmOkKERFGsrx9b7bBCcuhDsTEyc_rG0_0gD2vVKuAunsimdztKb3FlhSgNFlJ3Pvj88YEqZd7tyGyc4y7s4BdgbcIvP7-PyPLy/s200/Primaris.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
That’s a
lot of stuff to work on. And not a lot
of time. Especially since I’m really
pushing to get two <a href="http://amzn.to/2zI5e9E">new books</a> done in 2018.</div>
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When you
also consider that I barely managed to post twelve times last year...and only
nine times the year before that. Trying
to do any sort of noteworthy project, document it, <i>and</i> write up
semi-useful directions takes up a fair amount of time. Plus, there hasn’t been any real response on
anything in about two years, and even then it’s not like there were long lines
of people waiting to share their thoughts.</div>
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So... I
think I’ll be shuttering this blog. I won’t be so extreme as to delete
it—there’s still plenty of advice here for conversions and Paperhammer models. Plus the models themselves in <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/11/new-stc-data-discovered.html">the STC files</a>.</div>
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I may still
post something now and then, too. I’ve
got a scratch-built Ogre Tyrant that I put together for about six bucks. Some updates on my cheap <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2010/11/unyielding-spectres-follow-up.html">Legion of the Damned</a>. And I’ve been toying with
building a cardstock version on Witchfate Tor.
Maybe even get some of these Paperhammer projects finally done and painted...</div>
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I may put some
new stuff over on my <a href="http://relictorschapter.blogspot.com/">just-as-neglected Relictors blog</a>. It’s a little less
instruction, a little more of my musing about the game and the chapter and my
take on them (and how my models fit into that take). And I'll continue to do stuff with <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/">the Atomic Warlords</a> (for as long as they'll have me).</div>
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So, to the
three of you who still check this page every other month or so... thanks. If you have any interest, I actually
blab a lot about geeky stiff on <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterClines">Twitter </a>and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/peterclines/">Instagram</a>. Maybe I’ll see you
there.</div>
<br />
The Emperor Protects.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyn8PT-n-EmWWC_Tj2rJAGWU6h4tyJLjJDn4KnRcgo_4gG8DfpazkNMrH2-qLskHL6EQdvZ_XVSU4Kn5pBih4GNYBtg9o51BaGwYNxVYCrvSaAh03tpmFt6LyvCgPnCm27RJzzOjRLZ_Xn/s1600/IMG_4372.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="881" data-original-width="1171" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyn8PT-n-EmWWC_Tj2rJAGWU6h4tyJLjJDn4KnRcgo_4gG8DfpazkNMrH2-qLskHL6EQdvZ_XVSU4Kn5pBih4GNYBtg9o51BaGwYNxVYCrvSaAh03tpmFt6LyvCgPnCm27RJzzOjRLZ_Xn/s400/IMG_4372.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-9801561172960902412017-10-18T13:55:00.003-07:002017-12-29T12:08:21.558-08:00Based On... What?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One of the biggest issues I’ve been dealing with lately is
rebasing. The move from Warhammer Fantasy to <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/06/cultists-and-marauders.html">Age of Sigmar</a> meant all those figures
had to be moved over to round bases (although my Empire and Undead armies have
decided to stay on their square bases... because sweet Jeebus that’s a lot of
figs). In the workd of 40K, we’ve seen Space Marines of all types and flavors
move over to these new 32mm bases, finally gaining a sense of the size and mass
they’ve always supposedly had.</div>
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For most of us, this is a huge project. I have four major Marine armies—Relictors,
Alpha Legion, Thousand Sons, and Death Guard (plus <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/07/rhino-redux.html">a few others...</a>).
On a rough guess... that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 models
that need to end up on larger bases. And
they’re all connected to their current bases in a variety of ways.</div>
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Some of you may be in the same boat. Here's a few options I came up with. You may have poked at some or all of them...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilrkZXcVc4ThdwSIelIcP58qxuNSlu8UE4NOlxMcq2S4ghQqpkM473w3CuAKyHsLjL_cLqdRLJghZ7PQPL318BzoTN0hp5qWKjlrYAhIsl3oL2VD_cAQemlhiK_c6BClmf6OEhv_IKubPF/s1600/20171015_132039.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1325" data-original-width="1036" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilrkZXcVc4ThdwSIelIcP58qxuNSlu8UE4NOlxMcq2S4ghQqpkM473w3CuAKyHsLjL_cLqdRLJghZ7PQPL318BzoTN0hp5qWKjlrYAhIsl3oL2VD_cAQemlhiK_c6BClmf6OEhv_IKubPF/s200/20171015_132039.jpg" width="156" /></a>Well, my first option came to me from WarGamma, a fun
after-market site I’ve bought stuff from before. He’s a sculptor who’s done some wonderful items
for “heroic scale” gaming, and he jumped on the rebasing issue less than a
month after the introduction of the 32mm base.
Check these out—<a href="https://wargamma.com/collections/new-products/products/bases-32mm-adaptors-for-25mm-bases">base expanders</a>.
Just drop your model in, add superglue, and done. They work out to .70 cents each. <br />
<br />
At first I’d planned to split them between my Relictors and my Alpha Legion,
just dropping them on (or under) HQ units, squad leaders, and other key
figures. Then I realized their best use
was metal figs on slottabases. Which is only a few Relictors and Alpha Legion
guys, but a lot of my Death Guard and Thousand Sons. And Necrons.
So the priorities shifted a bit there.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifP8_rm69mDNmT4a7lw5GDpp1oQamSrBjPJmU7yU2tsJ0t_4vpSfHWoV7cNxKINT-lbEgQBCYwuEXpNxDfioeEh0ReX_xTrgkDdQhMT9rjLzl1KpvXaAblJzDEp21h-ic2_NNLghJVfZ5Z/s1600/20171015_133059.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1277" data-original-width="1039" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifP8_rm69mDNmT4a7lw5GDpp1oQamSrBjPJmU7yU2tsJ0t_4vpSfHWoV7cNxKINT-lbEgQBCYwuEXpNxDfioeEh0ReX_xTrgkDdQhMT9rjLzl1KpvXaAblJzDEp21h-ic2_NNLghJVfZ5Z/s200/20171015_133059.jpg" width="162" /></a>As an added bonus, these adaptors make a minifig about a milimeter or two
taller. On a regular base, I think it’d
be one even, but the raised area in the middle means slottabases sit a little
higher. In these days of size-creep... that’s not a bad thing.</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Helpful Hint—</i>These adaptors are great, but they’re
ever-so-slightly too high on the edges, even for the slottabase models.. I ended up sanding them down just a bit—maybe
a millimeter or two—so they’d be flush with the GW bases. It took maybe six back-and-forth swipes
across</div>
the sandpaper.<br />
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Now, rebasing option two’s the classic one. Cut the model
off the old base, remount it on the new base.
Straightforward, and only costs you the new bases. I think you can buy a bag of 32mm bases from
GW for about .40 cents per base, but that’s if you buy a hundred of them. For a ten-pack, they’re .50 each You might be able to do slightly lower than
those prices if you dig around on eBay stores for dealers like Blackdagger or Hobby Titan.<br />
<br />
The catch here is that it means wrecking any basing/scenery you might’ve previously added. Plus... well, I don’t know about
you. but the knife’s slipped a few times for me or slid off path and suddenly a marine’s missing
part of their heel or toes. It’s a minor thing, but it grates at me. I did maybe a dozen Relictors like this a few
weeks back, carefully cutting off one foot at a time. Only one lost a bit of his heel.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAWmNPIbuGirc11LYEG61UcZEov-b5j6R8ioQx4ShOq-r5e-2BKiwh2E4M2hWFp1ucpggyeu885hKs8myYoP23atQk1LPY_pZDwXsEp7NMHs8lW_I1OjUKCHMSga2eVw50I_xqJDMJ985/s1600/20171015_141859.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1017" data-original-width="1035" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAWmNPIbuGirc11LYEG61UcZEov-b5j6R8ioQx4ShOq-r5e-2BKiwh2E4M2hWFp1ucpggyeu885hKs8myYoP23atQk1LPY_pZDwXsEp7NMHs8lW_I1OjUKCHMSga2eVw50I_xqJDMJ985/s200/20171015_141859.jpg" width="200" /></a>And this led me to option three.<br />
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At one point that past weekend, I got a bit frustrated and just took the
clippers to the base of a hapless Alpha Legionnaire and cut off the edges of
the base. I worked from underneath, so
the top stayed the same. I filed down what was left and ended up with a figure
standing on a flat, decorated disk. And I glued the whole thing to a 32mm base.<br />
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End result—all my basing and scenery transferred over. There’s never any risk to the figure itself,
so it’s faster and easier. Plus, the
model ends up being about 2-3 mm taller because the old base and basing
transfer over and stack on the new base. I was going at a nice, leisurely pace
and rebased about twenty Death Guard marines this way in a little over an hour.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2Z8R3sI5kEM3kApTF4XwPkoGzT882CBuOItTVSVaEcRO81zMImXkRyof5Sp0tM96J9GyN0U8Tf2Cl3fUF-Km1ulo7Eilbl2DYLGNGII5bLXGJ3X_eUfbTOiQ-GEvP28vEkvhfao00149/s1600/20171015_154729.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="955" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2Z8R3sI5kEM3kApTF4XwPkoGzT882CBuOItTVSVaEcRO81zMImXkRyof5Sp0tM96J9GyN0U8Tf2Cl3fUF-Km1ulo7Eilbl2DYLGNGII5bLXGJ3X_eUfbTOiQ-GEvP28vEkvhfao00149/s200/20171015_154729.jpg" width="200" /></a>You can even do this with plastic slottabase figs. I picked out some of my Relictors with
missile launchers from the Battle for Macragge/ Black Reach sets. It takes a little more work to clip the
slottabase off, but it works exactly the same.
Clip, file, glue, done. Faster,
safer, a little taller.<br />
<br />
And there you go. Three quick, easy, and
relatively cheap way to make your old models new and even a little bigger. <br />
<br />
Got to stand up to those Primaris somehow...<br />
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Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-64163212667491689832017-09-19T18:00:00.000-07:002017-09-19T18:00:18.758-07:00In Other News...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMB50x7Z7ZhNr_SigeBGY9mDfC5KvzaBaC1tMEeXhBC1dVck-H2v5_lLXwBDXLG6M7gdDTc51uVBr_fp3ESUjiSI0vwENp03l7nBcbeudh-W9MvmFWgsSSo06A_RXXC1_MRQVyrtLlWLEr/s1600/PB+signings+events.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="747" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMB50x7Z7ZhNr_SigeBGY9mDfC5KvzaBaC1tMEeXhBC1dVck-H2v5_lLXwBDXLG6M7gdDTc51uVBr_fp3ESUjiSI0vwENp03l7nBcbeudh-W9MvmFWgsSSo06A_RXXC1_MRQVyrtLlWLEr/s400/PB+signings+events.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Sorry... need to mention my other art projects for a minute.</div>
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Next week I start touring up and down California with my new
book, <b><i>Paradox Bound</i></b>, plus a little trip out to the east coast for
New York Comic Con. If I’m going to be
near you, please stop by and say hello—there’s still time to reserve a copy at
your local book store.</div>
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And if I’m not going to be near you... well, most of these stores take orders <i>and</i>
ship. Some of them even ship internationally!
Give them a call, request something for enscribbling, and you can still
have a personalized copy in your hands in just a few days.<br />
<br />
(and there’s also <a href="http://amzn.to/2jHonWn">a kick-ass audiobook narrated by Ray Porter</a>, which means you
can listen while building and painting... just saying)</div>
<br />
Hope to see you there.</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-91213083722983807692017-09-12T15:11:00.000-07:002017-12-29T09:43:48.948-08:00Knight Missile Pod<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So, a few years back you may remember I spent ages working
on<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/02/imperial-knights-part-xii-end.html"> a Paperhammer Knight</a>. It’s a
fantastic model from Newobmij, and I’m still very proud of how mine turned out.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcjp-6EEHJPCTwwRO4XFc3HylKk-cpuebxbc9XcR3V7yBX9smEIE-uKMM4Kmy4MgzoUsr1wGHuRvZGspruWcUWz4K8lH6ULCoSdF2A933MxgnlvLMoQCbCmR07QD1iQ-VcEw2jdF9gr55M/s1600/Renegade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcjp-6EEHJPCTwwRO4XFc3HylKk-cpuebxbc9XcR3V7yBX9smEIE-uKMM4Kmy4MgzoUsr1wGHuRvZGspruWcUWz4K8lH6ULCoSdF2A933MxgnlvLMoQCbCmR07QD1iQ-VcEw2jdF9gr55M/s200/Renegade.jpg" width="200" /></a>That said, a while back you may remebember GW put out their <b><i>Renegade</i></b>
box set, with Imperial Knights vs Traitor Knights. Big shock—I loved the idea of Knights that
had fallen to Chaos. Plus, it meant I
could now do <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/2016/09/labor-day-battles.html">fantastic giant robot battles with Marcus</a>.
One of the online bitz sellers I deal with frequently bought a bunch of <i>Renegade</i>
sets and put a lot of Knights up for sale at about half off. Just bare-bones
Knights—not the expansion/ Warden sprue—but still really cheap. Almost
half-off.</div>
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I may have made some poor choices. </div>
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Anyway, so... now I had some Traitor Knights. A few careful
bids on eBay got me some weapon options without costing me too much (it’s more
about patience than anything else). A
small traitor household began to come together.</div>
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The one part that kept eluding me, though, was the missile
pod. People were willing to pay big bucks for one. I’d see them routinely go for $28 or $30. And
I told myself I wouldn’t pay more than a third of that. After losing a dozen or so auctions, I turned
to <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2010/08/ork-fuel-depot.html">my bitz jars</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFoDhJ3zUH_2-F72dfqrQ26NotBu-ZCSNd4ipwpInibMK82gSN2Um8YzWgnL8IsPaRfEpZWc-SRU3fmy5luDAn9s3SW-3OsVyURDsZufiCdf9bhZXyKVeVDGyI3iwhv13j8aNZLEPPV2D/s1600/Base.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1115" data-original-width="1207" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFoDhJ3zUH_2-F72dfqrQ26NotBu-ZCSNd4ipwpInibMK82gSN2Um8YzWgnL8IsPaRfEpZWc-SRU3fmy5luDAn9s3SW-3OsVyURDsZufiCdf9bhZXyKVeVDGyI3iwhv13j8aNZLEPPV2D/s200/Base.jpg" width="200" /></a>And here’s what I came up with. </div>
<br />
These two boxes will be the base of our rocket pod. They’re from the classic Rhino set (normally
they’d go on the back slope of the treads).
I glued the open faces together to give me a solid box. If you don’t have these exact pieces—no
worries. There are enough random boxes
and blocks kicking through the various lines that will work. You could even
just scratch-build a box from scrap plastic.<br />
<br />
Next, I very, very carefully found the center point on one of the narrow sides and drilled a hole there. My post is the bottom half of a Lizardma—sorry, Seraphon standard pole.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Helpful Hint—</i></b>whenever I need to do a hole, I start small. I use a thinner drill bit than I need, because it’ll be easier to place the hole, or to clean it up if you’re a bit off. Then I can expand up to the larger size, using the initial hole as a guide.<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpUHB7muaVgET8gCVfejmyOwktmvhRtK9GVlGBsavhoFCYbdqhibzfBMI8C5jIMIUG-yZeDEycAYksWAsyHRfmZFxb8yfGkq9K05KrrE_B2N2BUM_aeavwT11CwdCGzaFAWUJZCqLqslaD/s1600/Havocs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1083" data-original-width="1219" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpUHB7muaVgET8gCVfejmyOwktmvhRtK9GVlGBsavhoFCYbdqhibzfBMI8C5jIMIUG-yZeDEycAYksWAsyHRfmZFxb8yfGkq9K05KrrE_B2N2BUM_aeavwT11CwdCGzaFAWUJZCqLqslaD/s200/Havocs.jpg" width="200" /></a>I checked that post from every angle. It’s very important
that it be as straight as possible—perpendicular to the surface of the
box. I checked it multiple times from
every angle.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Okay, so, while that whole thing was drying, I built two
Havoc Launchers from the Chaos vehicle sprues.
These were just straightforward, standard builds. The only thing worth noting is that I didn’t
use the bracket that normally holds them—just the bare launcher. I also cleaned
the heck out of them as far as mold lines and sprue marks. By nature of being a
weapon <i>and</i> a conversion, I knew this piece was going to get a lot of
attention.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikw6cPJwqaJSh4RkTIojGXcg2jK1JG5JzGSXGdw3xWochHGpF3tGLuTv-GZt9ufzinYdFWDpObOaW2Huy6G0b5N93J6z8d1Ed0q1bcSGO8eVh-d85dE6gOqJfggedIGigZZTtBh5o02hdU/s1600/Base+rack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1115" data-original-width="1219" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikw6cPJwqaJSh4RkTIojGXcg2jK1JG5JzGSXGdw3xWochHGpF3tGLuTv-GZt9ufzinYdFWDpObOaW2Huy6G0b5N93J6z8d1Ed0q1bcSGO8eVh-d85dE6gOqJfggedIGigZZTtBh5o02hdU/s200/Base+rack.jpg" width="200" /></a>Once they were relatively dry, I glued them onto either side of the box. This took a little bit of work and
patience. I wanted them to be flat
across the top, but they also needed to have a lot of surface area touching the
boxes for the glue. It required some
wiggling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Helpful Hint—</i></b>once I had them more or less in
place, I flipped the whole thing over, letting it stand on its head to
dry. That way the top of the piece would
dry flat, even if things slipped or settled.<br />
<br />
Now, the next part was tricky. I had a
post that fit in the top socket of the Knight, but I needed a bracket to hold
the pod upright and stable. I dug
through some random scraps and found some plastic tubing that was just about
the right size to fit in the ring around the socket. A little work on the edges with a file and it
fit perfectly! I could cut a short
section and set it around the post, so the two elements would each lock into
place.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJDvVz3fCEf-ENfaO3PzOT9sMNolFpkqLuLHbjQZCT9Grp0DeAAZlMyXd1b9coy-zScE7UzqYhQLu-E1RfWqZ8XoTNt6KUeL8LJboTUqMSN8Eqs81Y5IugOE6VxPwEK0UBSiOcIcQNk1Cx/s1600/Centered.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="1197" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJDvVz3fCEf-ENfaO3PzOT9sMNolFpkqLuLHbjQZCT9Grp0DeAAZlMyXd1b9coy-zScE7UzqYhQLu-E1RfWqZ8XoTNt6KUeL8LJboTUqMSN8Eqs81Y5IugOE6VxPwEK0UBSiOcIcQNk1Cx/s200/Centered.jpg" width="200" /></a>But... it needed to be <i>perfectly</i> centered. Even a little bit off and nothing would
fit. I’d have to cut it off and try
again. I mulled on this for a few minutes
and then realized the answer was right in front of me. The ring and socket on the knight were
already there. I just needed to fit the tube section and pod into place and
they’d center themselves. The only worry
was being cautious with the glue so I didn’t accidentally attach the whole
thing right now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, I set the pipe section into the ring, carefully applied a thin coat of glue
to the top, and then slid the pod’s post through it into the socket. The whole
thing settled snugly into place, and I waited about ten minutes before checking
to see if I’d messed something up somehow.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINZ12SNK9oNAB7RKGrau-Nc7_GLJHiva5oi-lV4Hk-Ejwyiz2L_FjO9DLJSiW3LdDQeifuWQjE7pxdN8hx3G0fdPcNmE-rLS3xI6xnXxh9HXcK1NetetA2xi11BntunmtlJ-2N6o6JezB/s1600/Center.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1121" data-original-width="1213" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINZ12SNK9oNAB7RKGrau-Nc7_GLJHiva5oi-lV4Hk-Ejwyiz2L_FjO9DLJSiW3LdDQeifuWQjE7pxdN8hx3G0fdPcNmE-rLS3xI6xnXxh9HXcK1NetetA2xi11BntunmtlJ-2N6o6JezB/s200/Center.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And look at that. A perfect little
bracket for mounting on top of the Traitor Knight. Exactly lined up and centered. It keeps its place so well I can take it on and off with no problem at all. it's solid when it's in place, but pops right off for transport.</div>
<br />
Anyway... at this point the missile pod was more or less done, but I wanted to add just a few
details to make it look more solid, more like the original pod and even more
Chaos-y. So I dug up another one of those
vehicle sprues and clipped off a few more things...<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYIYJmFgJ2QqaNEiBVLjgfo-bPlz_mxTbavzvAauE84Z-AaAx7ew2jrxtcX9YpnD8o8b53gWuk5ns6fAAUBjzQZSG2RccCAdXn03fPziMErxBoVAnAVF8e4nVqvmdXqLzdWq-phmVxuRH9/s1600/top+plate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1091" data-original-width="1451" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYIYJmFgJ2QqaNEiBVLjgfo-bPlz_mxTbavzvAauE84Z-AaAx7ew2jrxtcX9YpnD8o8b53gWuk5ns6fAAUBjzQZSG2RccCAdXn03fPziMErxBoVAnAVF8e4nVqvmdXqLzdWq-phmVxuRH9/s200/top+plate.jpg" width="200" /></a>The big Horus eye plaque for the Land Raider fit almost
exactly across the top of the missile pod. That helped to tie it all together
so it looked a little less cobbled together. I also added in a strip of plastic
here to fill a small gap. Next, the
regular missile launcher has a sort of antenna/sensor array that wraps around
one side. I wanted to imply that, and
found out that one of the curved spiky bits (usually used to line hatches and
turrets) worked like a dream for this.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For a few final details... a spare lens from the bitz bins
(I think it might be from the basing kit) helped fill up some space in that
center section. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
And there you have it. A $30 missile pod
for... well, one afternoon of rooting through my bits.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXhhQzLqqh_IURELT9hNhHOIidEMlHrNILdVa3mgGVVK8EFRnsyz5Aeq8QP4pNkzOO_rRXucHi-Cceooh1ROGti9CeCKRwaTp_zf5lvtslIMHaOr1BQMsndTtRtgrPTrmqW0DDvw20YIUF/s1600/Final+Pod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1596" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXhhQzLqqh_IURELT9hNhHOIidEMlHrNILdVa3mgGVVK8EFRnsyz5Aeq8QP4pNkzOO_rRXucHi-Cceooh1ROGti9CeCKRwaTp_zf5lvtslIMHaOr1BQMsndTtRtgrPTrmqW0DDvw20YIUF/s400/Final+Pod.jpg" width="398" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-56782955313878892172017-08-15T08:30:00.000-07:002017-08-16T20:39:55.852-07:00Primaris—an Introspective<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Okay, this isn’t really a hobby/modeling post. More of an idea that’s been bouncing around
in my head for a few weeks now. A few meta/in-world thoughts about the new guys
on the scene in Warhammer 40K, and I figured this was as good a place as any to
let them all roll out...</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaYZwApWYqaoT1eALhrEhKkQHLJlyFK1oAuBzR_XSiqF0wFhyVWa-kul0EpUWO1UDaakSTfhl3Smbik9LHXNhS7E3kktv_mLJ1DkXl1xyFKT47XgBMB5cG-Q105xnyUWBw3chYK1xsQc-O/s1600/Relictors_Livery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="244" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaYZwApWYqaoT1eALhrEhKkQHLJlyFK1oAuBzR_XSiqF0wFhyVWa-kul0EpUWO1UDaakSTfhl3Smbik9LHXNhS7E3kktv_mLJ1DkXl1xyFKT47XgBMB5cG-Q105xnyUWBw3chYK1xsQc-O/s200/Relictors_Livery.jpg" width="200" /></a>So, a while back I came up with a rationalization for why Roboute
Guilliman would send a company’s worth of Primaris Marines to the
Relictors to help bolster their <a href="http://relictorschapter.blogspot.com/2013/11/relictors-organization.html">near-decimated chapter</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I bring this up because <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2017/07/sdcc-schedule.html">I was at SDCC</a> last month and
got to sit in on a panel given by Titan Comics. They’re the folks doing the
Warhammer 40K comic (really great—you should check it out), and as such they’ve
got a hotline to Games Workshop. And they had some interesting information they
shared about the Primaris Space Marines, who’ll be showing up in their stories
soon enough...</div>
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<br /></div>
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Three fun facts. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>One</b> is that every Chapters was offered Primaris
marines to fill holes in their ranks.
Are you missing a key person here or there? Maybe a squad. Maybe<a href="http://relictorschapter.blogspot.com/2017/06/primaris-relictors_21.html"> a whole company</a> or two? Here are some troops to fill those gaps. Not
everybody took them, but everybody got the offer. Guilliman had plenty to spare.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Two</b> is that every Chapter also got the how-to
technology to make their own Primaris.
No more regular Marines for you.
From here on in, every new inductee will be two feet taller and broader.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Third</b> is this...
Primaris gene seed can also be used to turn current, regular Space
Marines into Primaris. Yep. A few new
glands, a little bit of downtime, and you’re one of the cool kids again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDBuxVYcewhev0veOWW8oPe5i2YB62xH5JFAP9B8q7sjTTrtI2jgHNucfWWjvnk9n0gosD60a4DjDItN4kzJItqmDuLRntUjc9e0B3aSTPAgWY9deef6WpYbTYsF2bPIeAUgy4xFo7QPsA/s1600/RG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="365" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDBuxVYcewhev0veOWW8oPe5i2YB62xH5JFAP9B8q7sjTTrtI2jgHNucfWWjvnk9n0gosD60a4DjDItN4kzJItqmDuLRntUjc9e0B3aSTPAgWY9deef6WpYbTYsF2bPIeAUgy4xFo7QPsA/s200/RG.jpg" width="168" /></a>Between two and three, I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing
Primaris versions of most of the major Space Marine characters over the next
year or three. Tigerius. Dante. Lysander.
Shrike. You could save time now and just convert an Aggressor into
Primaris Marneus Calgar.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(try saying that five times fast...)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although this does leave me wondering where—within the story
of the game—this’ll leave the many, many relics and historic items each Chapter
has in their respective armories. We
suddenly have a thousand suits of power armor and/or Terminator armor—each
individual component with a long, storied history, some of them stretching back
to the Heresy—and now none of them fit our new recruits. All those bolters that are near-relics? They’re all second-rate weapons now that we
have bolt rifles.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But as I was thinking about all that, something else hit me.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
How are any of the Primaris from that first group (point <b>one</b>) dealing
with this?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s look at a few of our First Founding chapters, shall
we? We’ve got the Dark Angels, who don’t
even tell their Chapter’s true history to three-quarters of their own members. The Iron Hands, who more or less all have
surgical addiction and mechanical
fetishes. The Imperial Fists have their
OCD scrimshaw habit. The Blood Angels
are about two inches from being vampires and have a tendency to go into
berserker rages. The Space Wolves are
about <i>one</i> inch from being werewolves, and ignore most of Gulliman’s
rules about how a chapter should act.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then, out of nowhere... new guys. New, fully formed Space Marines who share the
same gene-seed but haven’t gone through the chapter’s various
indoctrinations. Who’ve been
re-engineered to get rid of all those pesky “defects.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYTGwesvRgnmMM8CEqPvz9FKjDaTzvzlScxXy9V30ah_zD4otKvcRAiU15xp4Z2gRClulQU0gpYnlcoA_7GBWDiXK9FvI5_tg65gnrOUmx8SAcWVlQ3nfv7k4oHPdRxSb5YbIAyf3Hf_Z2/s1600/SW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="569" data-original-width="443" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYTGwesvRgnmMM8CEqPvz9FKjDaTzvzlScxXy9V30ah_zD4otKvcRAiU15xp4Z2gRClulQU0gpYnlcoA_7GBWDiXK9FvI5_tg65gnrOUmx8SAcWVlQ3nfv7k4oHPdRxSb5YbIAyf3Hf_Z2/s200/SW.jpg" width="155" /></a>How are they really going to fit in? How are they going to
react to their super-secretive Dark Angels brethren or the savage, bestial
Space Wolves they’re now training with?
It’s easy enough to repaint your armor, but how do you go against the
twenty-forty-sixty years of training you’ve had to deal with these... these
other people and <i>their</i> way of doing things?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Plus, there’s one other important thing we all tend to
forget sometimes. Space Marines are
these huge combat monsters now... but they were born human. They had mothers and fathers, maybe siblings. They got carried around, wrapped in blankets, burped, and even
on the worst of worlds they played games with other kids and laughed. Y’know, before being sent off to work in the adamantite
mines for their fifth birthday. No
matter how much training and indoctrination they go through, there’s a core of
humanity there.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The current Primaris don’t have any of that. They were all
machine-raised. One of the guys at the
Titan panel made a great example—put a Space Marine in a room with a crying
baby, and he’ll do his best to quiet it, probably try to find its mother or
some suitable guardian for it, and protect it the whole time. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Put a Primaris in a room with a crying baby and... he’ll probably
just stare at it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some interesting food for thought, if you like thinking
about such things.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, next time, I wanted to show you this cool Knight
missile pod I made for just... well, nothing.
It was pretty much free. I made it
out of bitz I had laying around.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then I might finally finish <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/05/leman-russ-pt-iii.html">that friggin’ Destroyer</a>..</div>
</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-40950458676320330592017-08-04T09:57:00.000-07:002017-08-04T09:57:04.915-07:00Quick Dark Imperium Conversions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif5PV4rQkLdGVI16nqDbTsvsuVQhXRXrDBYGdGjD9o3pSTk654vA5ru2pEzLC_Qj-aHWalptCHE5pCUDMIroxyQGMK4-ihL2z61mtXzqvwQgu-178bhWnBVI3ysuXkOmKMctBqXyNbqcxX/s1600/Relictors+Primaris+Captain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="573" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif5PV4rQkLdGVI16nqDbTsvsuVQhXRXrDBYGdGjD9o3pSTk654vA5ru2pEzLC_Qj-aHWalptCHE5pCUDMIroxyQGMK4-ihL2z61mtXzqvwQgu-178bhWnBVI3ysuXkOmKMctBqXyNbqcxX/s200/Relictors+Primaris+Captain.jpg" width="200" /></a>So, I’ve mentioned before (<a href="http://relictorschapter.blogspot.com/2017/06/primaris-relictors_21.html">in a few places</a>) my plan to use the Primaris
Marines from <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2017/06/dark-imperium.html">the Dark Imperium set</a> as my new Relictors second
company. Naturally, the Relictors
Conclave isn’t going to tell the new guys <i>everything</i> about how their
Chapter functions, but I still wanted to make a few small tweaks to some of the
higher-ups, something to show just a small hint of... well, you know.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s the Primaris Captain.
One of the first thing that struck me—a running theme I’ve noticed with
the Primaris—is that he’s actually designed with a reliquary (a philatory, if you want to
be exact) hanging at his waist. That’s a
good start. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsNFjljaZ2M2OkC_WY_HmtYe2maTjgz4xBDKRh_XweaLs11L6RBTNj9PB6e5nRG9P8XWRw4poGbmXNLeCWYqwJntbn6oceuJdp66Jk1HbBc4-0YZNyE87ZAL5SwEf_yZYDnMg09pg3RYqj/s1600/Purity+Seals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="432" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsNFjljaZ2M2OkC_WY_HmtYe2maTjgz4xBDKRh_XweaLs11L6RBTNj9PB6e5nRG9P8XWRw4poGbmXNLeCWYqwJntbn6oceuJdp66Jk1HbBc4-0YZNyE87ZAL5SwEf_yZYDnMg09pg3RYqj/s200/Purity+Seals.jpg" width="200" /></a>I added a few skulls to the base. It’s a habit I got into with <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/06/cultists-and-marauders.html">Age of Sigmar models</a>, because it’s an easy way to make characters stand out (and if
you’ve been playing this game for a while, odds are you’re not short on
skulls). It also helps fill some space, since Primaris are on 40mm bases.</div>
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I added more purity seals, because the <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2013/10/space-marine-captain.html">Relictors love purity seals</a>. Some on the
shoulder, a few on the cape. I like them because the Chapter has such an overall simple color scheme that it isn’t always clear to some
folks that they’re actually painted (I had once had a tournament judge comment on my “primer gray” army). So purity seals also serve to add some color
and contrast to each model.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrdm2M5BsvdWDblJkIZX2taOyYutUfOVJ6kdh8IoPWBsuNcU3-VQ3Kv3m7Uf0RUhQR7uD_crL5E8EQsWO6_58MPjsY4UVMk5Eq4intFEzLXYRjDz_PRzedwQpSjiuRKQRG0DfuhZau5mO/s1600/Sword+Detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="560" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrdm2M5BsvdWDblJkIZX2taOyYutUfOVJ6kdh8IoPWBsuNcU3-VQ3Kv3m7Uf0RUhQR7uD_crL5E8EQsWO6_58MPjsY4UVMk5Eq4intFEzLXYRjDz_PRzedwQpSjiuRKQRG0DfuhZau5mO/s200/Sword+Detail.jpg" width="200" /></a>Finally, the biggest tweak, but it’s still kinda
subtle. Using a very sharp knife, I
sliced the pommel off the Captain’s power sword and replaced it with a
skull. A deliberately large—perhaps even
life-sized—skull. He also got another
purity seal on the back of his hand, as close to the sword as possible. It doesn’t scream “Chaos weapon,” but it
maybe mumbles it under its breath. I may give the blade a red-orange paint job,
just to make it a bit more iffy.<br />
<br />
Not bad, I think.</div>
</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-24374095505114624162017-07-17T08:23:00.000-07:002017-07-17T08:23:02.461-07:00SDCC Schedule<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So, between a bunch of writing commitments, some medical
stuff, some work stuff, and actually <i>playing a game of 40K</i> (haven’t done
that in a while) the past three weeks have been kind of a blur. I don’t have an actual post for you. <br />
<br />
However...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiN_bxPLyscgN72lP4uhAU6Wh24HZGapsItqgtyAw_-17vdLS-rahWoeluDZyaNa7te7VbXzNC6eSYeAWe4CVCQM_mpyePbJtX4pV6sIEVUF-ZNeXmMFBUKfIsAGNN2beLr98J3Ow6yrwM/s1600/11230930_10153460713908270_3887335619546930876_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="526" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiN_bxPLyscgN72lP4uhAU6Wh24HZGapsItqgtyAw_-17vdLS-rahWoeluDZyaNa7te7VbXzNC6eSYeAWe4CVCQM_mpyePbJtX4pV6sIEVUF-ZNeXmMFBUKfIsAGNN2beLr98J3Ow6yrwM/s200/11230930_10153460713908270_3887335619546930876_o.jpg" width="161" /></a>If you’re into that sort of thing, I thought I’d mention my San Diego
Comic Con schedule. This kinda snuck up
on me in a couple ways. I hadn’t planned
on going, and my big plans for the coming weekend involved putting together my
Lizardman/Seraphon army for Age of Sigmar.
<br />
<br />
Anyway, turns out the folks at Random House had some clever ideas for early <i><b><a href="http://amzn.to/2thUuAe">Paradox Bound</a></b></i> stuff and they asked if I wanted to be part of them, sooooo... the
Lizardmen will have to wait. So if you’re
going to be at SDCC and wanted to tell me what a crappy painter/ gamer I am... well, here’s
what I’ve got for you...<br />
<br />
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<b>Thurs 7/20, 1:00-2:00</b> – I’m doing a signing at the
Crown Booth (1515). It’s going to be
cool. If you happen to be a fan of my writing, you <i>really</i> don’t want to miss this, okay? Seriously.
Please be there and hop in line.
It’ll be worth it, honest.<br /><br /></div>
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And that’s
all we’re saying about that...<br />
<br />
<b>Friday 7/21, 3:00-4:00</b> – Some random giveaways at the Crown Booth
(1515). Odds of being given something increase if you tell them "<b>The road beckons</b>." I’m not officially there, but
I’ll probably be informally hanging out/lurking a bit if you had something you
wanted me to scribble on. Or if the
booth folks handed you something you wanted scribbled in.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Saturday 7/22, 1:00-2:00</b>
– There’s a big cross-genre panel in room 28DE. I’m up there on stage, but so are a
lot of better, classier authors like Sarah Kuhn, Charlie Jane Anders, Vic
James, Daryl Gregory, and Pierce Brown.
It’ll definitely be worth it to see all of them. And one of us may something <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/">wise and clever about writing</a>. Or at least funny.<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday 7/22, 2:15-3:15</b>—All the folks from that panel are going to be
under the sail for a signing. And
Mysterious Galaxy will be there with piles of books from all of us, so it’s a
great chance to get something scribbled in without having to lug it around for
half the day (and to fill in those holes in your collection).<br />
<br />
I don’t have anything official
scheduled for Sunday, so—to be horribly honest—I’m not sure I’ll be there or
not. I may try to sneak off with that
life sized Spider-Man LEGO sculpture.
We’ll see how that goes...</div>
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<br />
Hope to see
some of you there.</div>
</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-54590533688351103502017-06-28T13:53:00.000-07:002017-06-28T13:53:05.497-07:00Dark Imperium, Week Two<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So, spent the weekend putting some of the Dark Imperium
models together. Let’s go over a couple
observations and impressions, from the modeling and customizing point of view</div>
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First observation... <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-few-thoughts-on-dark-vengeance.html">A complaint I had with the DarkVengeance set</a> was that all of the Space Marines were firmly Dark Angels. All the iconography was sculpted on the
models—sometimes quite a bit of it. It
was gorgeous, no question, but it was also a <i>lot</i> of work if you wanted
to use them for anything else. Despite
the prominent display of Ultramarines colors and heraldry on the box and promo pics, Dark
Imperium avoids that issue, and the Primaris look fantastic without being
pinned down to any particular Chapter. Which
is cool, because I plan on using them with <a href="http://relictorschapter.blogspot.com/2017/06/primaris-relictors_21.html">my Relictors</a>.</div>
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Of course, the flipside to this is that the opposing team
is... well, 100% Nurgle. There’s not a
single model here that’s even vaguely something else. Which is great if you
have a Death Guard army, or have been wanting one (it is <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/2017/06/8th-out-of-box.html">a full army</a>,
after all), but otherwise... it’s a bit limiting.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWiQ6eivr34Dg2t6djl4vqRm6JWWLujeYtIGgORLeEPMtDeQNNJ0xyRu8YrufnOZ1sAVeXwLHfnZsvTecP4vEKhZp-3ZPZy2ooqhCW2mosqM_nKNykkmr06f-TyI4bTXkwaD55-_M3R0II/s1600/Veng+Chosen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="553" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWiQ6eivr34Dg2t6djl4vqRm6JWWLujeYtIGgORLeEPMtDeQNNJ0xyRu8YrufnOZ1sAVeXwLHfnZsvTecP4vEKhZp-3ZPZy2ooqhCW2mosqM_nKNykkmr06f-TyI4bTXkwaD55-_M3R0II/s200/Veng+Chosen.jpg" width="200" /></a>Past that...</div>
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<br /></div>
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Another DV issue was that many of the models (especially the Chaos Chosen) went together
in really bizarre ways. Heads and arms
would be a single piece connected by the trim on a shoulderpad. Legs would be split lengthwise through the
kneecap. It was almost as if GW went out
of their way to cut the models in the most bizarre ways possible.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Dark Imperium models go together in much more basic
standard patterns. Heads and arms are separate on a lot of the models—standard
connection points, although it’s worth pointing out that the arms tend to be
complete-with-shoulder pad, just in case you had clever ideas. This means there’s a bunch of easy tweaks to
do that can customize the army without resorting to cuts or filing or putty. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkzSUswKa9E2bWPWfCB1LJ05ueDlMI1G7COBGp4dj_p4NW0ZW_v1jHpfW2iGJCex7JtQJTCyUc-dbrSR4WK2Ktdc5BPhE-LpR5nx8Q04q8jL55uUaKbgi13dGSPAp0oM_H3ULodVlELH_U/s1600/Plagueswap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="1211" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkzSUswKa9E2bWPWfCB1LJ05ueDlMI1G7COBGp4dj_p4NW0ZW_v1jHpfW2iGJCex7JtQJTCyUc-dbrSR4WK2Ktdc5BPhE-LpR5nx8Q04q8jL55uUaKbgi13dGSPAp0oM_H3ULodVlELH_U/s200/Plagueswap.jpg" width="200" /></a>The simplest one is head swaps within the set.
Many of these models have separate heads, and they all use the standard
neck-ball that Space Marines of all types have used for the past... what,
almost twenty years? I swapped the heads
of these two Plague Marines and didn’t have to cut or trim a single thing. <br />
<br />
Also, because of that standard socket, most older
head would fit on these models, too (and without too much of a scale problem). Yeah, it wouldn’t make much sense for a
Primaris to wear a Mk 7 helmet, but it’d be simple to work a lot more bare
heads into the army to give them a less straight-out-of-the-box look. I bet some of the Space Wolves unhelmeted
heads would look good, too. Or if the
Plague Marines look a little too Nurgley for your particular army, it would be
easy enough to swap in some regular Chaos Marine heads to bring them down a
notch.<br />
<br />
<i><b>
Helpful Hint</b></i>—I’d perhaps avoid heads with bionic implants for Primaris
soldiers. After all, they’ve been in so
few battles at this point, how many of them would have lots of replacement
parts...?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC-ul6NSXQjLme4CUKugpV7LqpDlGsHHAi8iDd0BnRlPcYpl8OulkqizoB0-rcU21ukG7di73vXlqIhhEdMrSV1nXHdAbCnHohJlxTTIv233iLEA2MZL6Y1RBggQPhx3lTeo7uaaoUKpl3/s1600/20170628_132156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="843" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC-ul6NSXQjLme4CUKugpV7LqpDlGsHHAi8iDd0BnRlPcYpl8OulkqizoB0-rcU21ukG7di73vXlqIhhEdMrSV1nXHdAbCnHohJlxTTIv233iLEA2MZL6Y1RBggQPhx3lTeo7uaaoUKpl3/s200/20170628_132156.jpg" width="200" /></a>The PoxWalkers worried me a little. There’s ten variants (two of each in the
set), and they all have pretty extreme horns. Silly as it may sound, they’re so
extreme that it actually makes them all very distinctive. It felt obvious they were repeating
poses/models within the squad (to me, anyway). So I shaved off a few of the
horns and spikes. It helped break them up a bit, and it also helped to inch the
whole squad a little closer to <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2013/04/plague-zombies.html">my existing plague zombies</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Worth noting—I tried to make those cuts as smooth as
possible, and I saved all the horns and spikes.
We’ll see how the final rules (and squad sizes) shape up for PoxWalkers
when that new codex comes out in the hopefully-near future, and then I might
move some of the spikes and some old skeleton horns over onto <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/2012/12/when-theres-no-more-room-in-hell.html">my zombies</a>
so they all look good together.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Also, one last thing to consider. All the Primaris Marines wear Mk X
armor. Every one of them. Which really means the only difference
between the troops, the sergeants, and the lieutenants is the paint jobs. Want to give all those guys helmets? Just trade with friends and give <i>that </i>guy a red helmet. Want to use that unhelmeted Lieutenant as
another sergeant? Done! Silly as it may sound, the uniformity gives
us a bit more space to mix and match</div>
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Is there a lot of room for making this model into that? Well, we may need to see the full
Primaris book before knowing that for sure.
But there’s definitely lots of conversion and cutomizing possibilities within
this set.<br />
<br />
Next time, I may show off a few of them.</div>
</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-26052366857694416082017-06-20T10:30:00.000-07:002017-06-25T14:41:17.126-07:00Dark Imperium<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Well, it’s been about five years since <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2012/10/yet-another-dark-vengeance-update.html">the last Warhammer 40K starter set</a>. A bunch of us
from the Atomic Warlords site sat around this weekend with some rum, the new
Dark Imperium set, and a few of the index books. We had many thoughts. Most of
them positive.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVEN6bE5oCQVPh2IQ623TiAtT45RhtqdR2kL0KELieCmbpYpuxSKvD0VmukcXrZOWOXpgA4GYbyv8BssELsIqx1nA3SyoWzPxQ6qM5iHOXIOBDRJIYm_gh94x9k7gnLquSJt7QiiSsRnur/s1600/D+Imp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1411" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVEN6bE5oCQVPh2IQ623TiAtT45RhtqdR2kL0KELieCmbpYpuxSKvD0VmukcXrZOWOXpgA4GYbyv8BssELsIqx1nA3SyoWzPxQ6qM5iHOXIOBDRJIYm_gh94x9k7gnLquSJt7QiiSsRnur/s200/D+Imp.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="176" /></a>Marcus was going to talk about the revised game mechanics
over at <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/">Atomic Warlords</a>. Very short version—they’ve moved 40K a lot toward Age
of Sigmar. Not all that way, but if
you’re somebody who really loathes those game mechanics, you’re not going to be happy with
the grim dark future...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I wanted to talk about the value, though. I know a ton of people have already broken it
down in different ways. I juat wanted to do a nice, simple "how much does this save us" sort of view...</div>
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<br /></div>
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We’ve got two HQ units (the Primaris Captain and the Lord of
Contagion). Going off the average
clamshell prices for single figs, it wouldn’t be outrageous to say these would
be $30 to $35 each. GW’s been getting
slightly better about pricing, though, and there’s some online retailers who
offer nice discounts, so let’s say they’re only going to cost $25 each-- <b>$50</b>
for the two of them.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1utpNYJFwdfu4rIGmJJjQy-dKXXUAiUCYz5gZ0CgVhXeZB3rc_lbEORYAcn0Fquxw7LNw-gunwTLMAYB9rWYTmcO1ZjHiiEPg-lciPNZEALp2aZD5noxiay4cPUWCcMA9iPRA4W72op7W/s1600/PrimarisLieutenant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="845" data-original-width="700" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1utpNYJFwdfu4rIGmJJjQy-dKXXUAiUCYz5gZ0CgVhXeZB3rc_lbEORYAcn0Fquxw7LNw-gunwTLMAYB9rWYTmcO1ZjHiiEPg-lciPNZEALp2aZD5noxiay4cPUWCcMA9iPRA4W72op7W/s200/PrimarisLieutenant.jpg" width="165" /></a>There’s two more character figs for the Plague Marines, so
there’s another <b>$50</b>. There are
three more Primaris characters, too, but Marcus pointed out it wouldn’t be
surprising to see them as some kind of command squad. Let’s conservatively call them <b>$40</b>
altogether.<br />
<br />
There’s also that Foetid Bloat-Drone. It’s dreadnaught sized, so I don’t have
trouble believing it could be a $35 or $40 set once we get one with
options. We’ll call it <b>$35</b>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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At this point, we’re already over <a href="http://amzn.to/2tmrpjp">the box set’s price tag of $160</a>. We haven’t even added in the three
five-man Primaris squads, or the jump troops, or the Plague Marine squad, or
that twenty-man <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2013/04/plague-zombies.html">PoxWalker squad</a> (probably another <b>$40</b>,easy). Heck there’s a full-sized, hardcover rulebook,
which sells for <b>$60</b> on its own.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2deo0SdjoQYd7T5BYWqowwAZ8zSH8U-o0KCnzfXwZijmEvIx1cD-q_8H4rmbweLWXOvJTLebqiymgCWPqr6ai6xjTQz26tbIOwJQ9KtjXIAn4HIdwseuLT7Iaz6oMJIL4CFb9XjuraRF/s1600/PlaugueGuard1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1004" data-original-width="1000" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2deo0SdjoQYd7T5BYWqowwAZ8zSH8U-o0KCnzfXwZijmEvIx1cD-q_8H4rmbweLWXOvJTLebqiymgCWPqr6ai6xjTQz26tbIOwJQ9KtjXIAn4HIdwseuLT7Iaz6oMJIL4CFb9XjuraRF/s200/PlaugueGuard1.jpg" width="198" /></a><br />
Also, something we realized late Sunday night.
This is a very complete, balanced set.
It’s two actual, viable armies that are <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/2017/06/8th-out-of-box.html">pretty fairly matched</a>, not a
couple random things that look good individually but don’t really match up
(y’know, like <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-few-thoughts-on-dark-vengeance.html">a bunch of cultists vs Dark Angels terminators</a>...).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/2tmrpjp">This set</a> is a freakin’ <i>amazing</i> value, even using my very conservative
prices. Half price on everything, if not
more. Split the box with someone, Chaos
and Primaris, and get an army for $80.
Heck, let them keep the rulebook, haggle a bit, and get your half for
$60 (heck, GW’s <a href="https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Battle-Primer-2017-ENG">giving the basic rules away for free</a>). That’s maybe a third what you’d pay for
either set. Literally 66% off!<br />
<br /></div>
If you don’t have a ton of money to spend (been there, believe me) but really
want to get into the game... this might be worth saving up for.</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-20164462139073240612017-06-15T19:32:00.003-07:002017-12-27T18:22:18.407-08:00Counting the Hours...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Tick-tock, tick-tock...</div>
I’ve got to
admit, I have high hopes for this new edition.
No idea if they’ll be met, but I have high hopes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZVUDNxYf3DOJzEfj3fvHNoCYDeyV5HgcXYMvuXDMBYzy_vl2_2uxcxxLoKmMNQNXDe5_AVXcJ7gv4jDL904JaB6XLdDfYxL0NOLh-k0fAVP8upqAvrNSLxd3bzqXFD3XiRPa5hnlrCmR9/s1600/PrimarisCaptain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="847" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZVUDNxYf3DOJzEfj3fvHNoCYDeyV5HgcXYMvuXDMBYzy_vl2_2uxcxxLoKmMNQNXDe5_AVXcJ7gv4jDL904JaB6XLdDfYxL0NOLh-k0fAVP8upqAvrNSLxd3bzqXFD3XiRPa5hnlrCmR9/s200/PrimarisCaptain.jpg" width="141" /></a> I don’t
know about you, but the past few editions have been... well, a bit of a letdown
for me. Honestly, at times it felt like
someone at GW really had it out for me. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chaos <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/2013/11/happy-chaos-giving.html">had become a mess</a> on <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/2014/04/chaos-bias.html">so many levels</a> (although the <i>Traitor Legions</i>
book did help with that a bit). That
pretty much put the Alpha Legion, my largest army, out to pasture. But at least I still had my beloved
Relictors!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, until
someone declared them <i>Excommunicate Traitoris</i> in the fluff. Stupid Inquisition... Yeah, that doesn’t affect day-to-day games,
but it still just felt like getting kicked when you were already down. Imagine if it had been the Space Wolves. Or the Blood Angels.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Heck, I
never even finished my Dark Eldar army.
They came out, sold a ton of models, and then the entire army took a hit
to their saving throws with the new edition. I already have an
army that runs around with thin armor.
But at least <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-bitz-bins.html">the Catachans</a> get real tanks...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Plus, the
game itself had become so bogged down.
Pages and pages and pages of rules, rolling dice again and again and
again for what should be simple results, units that were so randomized they were effectively useless.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9eK4F6g4b1ySBQJlPFKLzY9ff9UmtbNXBjphmWmAeY_HnIxxpqbnmTEEx4OvaimndCI1ki7oJNB80JsogQ6xby1tIBVrUWViI4Kbx5Pg1DqHuWRlbTnM4QEs-mkdlc7QUF2tu64-SjfCK/s1600/PrimarisAncient.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9eK4F6g4b1ySBQJlPFKLzY9ff9UmtbNXBjphmWmAeY_HnIxxpqbnmTEEx4OvaimndCI1ki7oJNB80JsogQ6xby1tIBVrUWViI4Kbx5Pg1DqHuWRlbTnM4QEs-mkdlc7QUF2tu64-SjfCK/s200/PrimarisAncient.jpg" width="150" /></a> And let’s not forget—the whole
<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/01/gaming-on-cheap.html">reason I started this page</a> was because GW effectively <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-ferrari-mentality.html">priced me out of the game</a>. I needed to find newer,
cheaper ways to play that didn’t involve models which had practically doubled
in price. Paperhammer was, if I may be
so bold, Emperor-sent at a time when I didn’t have a lot of good things going
on in my life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If it weren’t
for my friends at <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/">the Atomic Warlords</a>, I’ve got to be honest. I probably would’ve dropped this game a year
or five back.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway...<br />
I have high hopes for this
weekend. I really want this game to be
fun again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What about
you? What are you hoping for?</div>
</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-42365177151382824362017-05-16T08:30:00.000-07:002017-05-22T21:49:50.595-07:00A Shameful Moment of Self-Promotion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<o:p> </o:p> Hey, so
sorry. I know I haven’t done much here
in months but... I need to take a minute to make a sales pitch.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s kinda
how I make my living.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUJP3zI7c5OQKX8SD56GZkuws_O-n0GkOw36X2hF8Npv_KxzAjGjndVTho8WG84uEZA59zH4DFiaMlG1PoulnDXrFAS0521XtSX0ia_gRaNGhkrCiyOgoAzG1s0Hq-Rx8TdtQ7X185luR2/s1600/AudOrig_DeadMenCan%2527tComplain_FINAL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUJP3zI7c5OQKX8SD56GZkuws_O-n0GkOw36X2hF8Npv_KxzAjGjndVTho8WG84uEZA59zH4DFiaMlG1PoulnDXrFAS0521XtSX0ia_gRaNGhkrCiyOgoAzG1s0Hq-Rx8TdtQ7X185luR2/s200/AudOrig_DeadMenCan%2527tComplain_FINAL.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve got a short
story collection coming out from Audible.com next week—<b><i><a href="http://a%20shameful%20moment%20of%20self-promotion/">Dead Men Can’t Complain</a></i></b>. It’s a bunch of short stories
that I’ve had published in various places over the years, plus a trio of all
new ones that have never been seen (or heard) before. Most of them are stand-alones,
although you may find hints to a few things I’ve written in the past (or may be
planning for the future). It’s an
Audible exclusive—no print, no ebook, no special kanji edition—it’s audiobook
only. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because
they wanted to publish it and they do fantastic work, that’s why! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can
pick it up using your <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Dead-Men-Cant-Complain-and-Other-Stories-Audiobook/B06XX21WQN/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl">Audible credits</a> (if you’re a member) or straight through <a href="http://a%20shameful%20moment%20of%20self-promotion/">Amazon</a>. And one of the great things about audiobooks—you
can listen to them while you build and paint.</div>
Hint-hint.<br />
<!--[endif]--></div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-2898489271525349712017-04-23T13:29:00.000-07:002017-04-23T13:29:08.702-07:00We Interrupt This Long Silence For a Special Report...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9mZxSOfnHG6K88CinibbTzWtu5uO37RrEAjE22-5opVP32VtAX-_EUA5MS7MCl1ien-ONNeXVuHDbXv4dIRtfePHkLN-zNZS23pMwsZdqq2kwGrB6ofTKmBCDZxx1za7irWPUOvAOmNr/s1600/NGW.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9mZxSOfnHG6K88CinibbTzWtu5uO37RrEAjE22-5opVP32VtAX-_EUA5MS7MCl1ien-ONNeXVuHDbXv4dIRtfePHkLN-zNZS23pMwsZdqq2kwGrB6ofTKmBCDZxx1za7irWPUOvAOmNr/s400/NGW.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Well...<br /><br /><a href="https://warhammer40000.com/">This could be interesting.</a></div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-89877040400455582502017-01-22T15:13:00.000-08:002017-01-22T15:13:29.575-08:00Genestealer Cultists<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, let’s try to get this year off to a better start... Not paperhammer, but here’s a money-saving
tip—one we’ve probably all tried at one point or another.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the wonderful-yet-frustrating things about GW sets
these days is options. So many of these
kits are just packed with options. Phenomenal-looking
options (even if some of them are a bit silly).
And we end up with lots of leftovers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaIRQ3uZIwB4YiGFsudMj6MKCKYBakhMcBJlnXkmM2zeY2o3yVIwhAbDmzq-VnwC_bOyr9ZrtiUfqXASjOjTNhYnk7o-yy6h5ZMc7opSdvONpwYV_ugaz8vyHUgpoRuEtrNfAJ8fgI70UA/s1600/genestealer-cults-neophyte-hybrid-armoured-claw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaIRQ3uZIwB4YiGFsudMj6MKCKYBakhMcBJlnXkmM2zeY2o3yVIwhAbDmzq-VnwC_bOyr9ZrtiUfqXASjOjTNhYnk7o-yy6h5ZMc7opSdvONpwYV_ugaz8vyHUgpoRuEtrNfAJ8fgI70UA/s200/genestealer-cults-neophyte-hybrid-armoured-claw.jpg" width="200" /></a>I had some extra neophyte weapons for my genestealer cult,
and I wanted to use them all up. My lovely lady had gotten me the Armored Claw
for Christmas, so I figured I could put them on the Cadian bodies. Extra weapons, plus the change of arms and
shoulders helps to move them a bit further away from Guardsmen and closer to
mine-workers, visually.<br />
<br />
However... the Cadian torsos have <i>really</i> narrow shoulders. I tried a few
different ways of putting the weapon-arms on them, but no matter how I angled
it I ended up with a sizeable gap. Then
I tried a couple of spare Catachan torsos I had—not much better. They were wider, but that gap was still
pretty big.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can spot potential genestealer cultists by shoulder
width. It’s a fact. Who know? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I played with a few different ideas of bulking out shoulders
with plasticard and putty, but then I had a thought that tied back to one of my
(<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/12/as-2016-draws-to-close.html">very few</a>) posts from last year. Maybe I had some older figures I could
repurpose with a bit of <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/06/cultists-and-marauders.html">cutting and scraping</a>...</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRK_LO5EkqgW-W_5oXilEUlOICY06wlrWX6d0YuTJsP-j5_B41V2k0y59Evg12EhKN-xyrFUIEhpwi9yb6rbqs9kc_PPg26Yy4R8d4Dym722dcKQ_XdGFengVT0U8z-fK6AIGMJQghg3sg/s1600/Old+GC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRK_LO5EkqgW-W_5oXilEUlOICY06wlrWX6d0YuTJsP-j5_B41V2k0y59Evg12EhKN-xyrFUIEhpwi9yb6rbqs9kc_PPg26Yy4R8d4Dym722dcKQ_XdGFengVT0U8z-fK6AIGMJQghg3sg/s200/Old+GC.jpg" width="200" /></a>Meet some of my old, scratchbuilt genestealer cultists. They’re built from the <i>original</i>
plastic guardsmen, circa 1994 (I think).
I found a couple of them floating in the bitz bin way back when and used
them to bulk out my (at the time) all-metal Genestealer Cult army. Which, believe it or not, also came from the
bitz bins...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />A few quick slices and those old cultists had all new arms on them. Heads were
a bit trickier—I needed to make some neck sockets. I used the thinnest drill
bit I had for my pin vise, found the center, and gave myself a pilot hole
(maybe just 1/8” deep) on each model.
Then I swapped out bits to my largest, which gave me a nice, centered
socket.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBKTxPWCU7ogpSEvH3uVIIlsShpF_qc7aEpuR_8AeS49dSqdHEwsZL_sGsCW9hb4-vnfoarqJu5YaCI7rtmNw-qbIBhJvJRGSayyKG-cRK2YERbiK7Oi2U8smUCIz2mh3jjrxSKoZAPU_x/s1600/Sockets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBKTxPWCU7ogpSEvH3uVIIlsShpF_qc7aEpuR_8AeS49dSqdHEwsZL_sGsCW9hb4-vnfoarqJu5YaCI7rtmNw-qbIBhJvJRGSayyKG-cRK2YERbiK7Oi2U8smUCIz2mh3jjrxSKoZAPU_x/s200/Sockets.jpg" width="200" /></a><b><i>Helpful Hint—</i></b>when you need to center something like this, take
your time. Check and double-check. Heads are always going to be a focus point
for a model. We all know how bodies go
together, so even on this scale we’ll pick up on things that don’t line up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After that, it was just gluing heads on and... done. Some heavy weapons guys who will blend in
nicely with the rest of the cult. And
all it cost me was some older models I wasn’t going to use anymore.<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkHMR8emmuwbAsuzaOSLJvHi1Q6V7EczuECg0G2rzKk9zmSBf7u3EKd3bH-l1qXb2HvTi5DObLKwK2I0OfmKPJVuUPqib6OG1odUGqt23B3Qpv_qfGvVAPkjubD1UPnA9XXEc3MUmOuQ9/s1600/New+GC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkHMR8emmuwbAsuzaOSLJvHi1Q6V7EczuECg0G2rzKk9zmSBf7u3EKd3bH-l1qXb2HvTi5DObLKwK2I0OfmKPJVuUPqib6OG1odUGqt23B3Qpv_qfGvVAPkjubD1UPnA9XXEc3MUmOuQ9/s200/New+GC.jpg" width="200" /></a>You may notice (like I mentioned above) that the new limbs are slightly out of
proportion on the older body. The arms,
notably, are a bit long. There’s a few
ways <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2013/10/space-marine-captain.html">to adjust for this</a>, but I’m not going to worry about it much in
this particular case. Genestealer
cultists have a lot of distorted body parts, so these won’t stand out much.<br />
<br />
Next time—swear to Tzeentch—I’m going to finish up that Destroyer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-11999517818316303582016-12-28T22:37:00.000-08:002016-12-28T23:12:37.688-08:00As 2016 Draws to a Close...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wow. So here we are, at the end of the year, and this has
been the worst year ever for this little geeky blog. A mere nine posts. Counting this one.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Granted, there’s a couple of reasons for that. I’ve been working on a new book, a big one, and
it’s been a monster in many senses. I
did<a href="http://amzn.to/2isWA7m"> a bunch of signings</a> and cons. Plus,
like far too many folks this year, I had some friends and family die on me, and
it left me in a mood to... well, I drank a lot this year.<br />
<br />
When all that’s going on, forcing myself to work on a project just so I can put
up a new post isn’t any fun. And that‘s
what this blog—hell, this whole hobby—is supposed to be about. Having fun.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I’m not having fun... why am I here, right?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This isn’t to say I didn’t do anything 40K related this
year. Through the miracle of eBay I managed to buildup a fair-sized Genestealer
Cult that I’m pretty sure <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/">Marcus the Blackhearted</a> is looking forward to
crushing under the Imperium’s heel, and also some dirt-cheap Knights that
became <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/2016/09/labor-day-battles.html">a fallen household</a> to deal with his followers of the False Emperor.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj27ucdRA6VyoGENrrK71wLt5xTj7sfx-_mg47j9KHVElTbZhtCZKFbZe2W330AMM2DDNOPrO6Kl2kh0iEoPpg5lcEWJzNG5i01XNvxZvYbIh-1AMRUicg6-oI4cfHs6wZlwYliOR0Jf78r/s1600/Ogres+vs+Skaven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj27ucdRA6VyoGENrrK71wLt5xTj7sfx-_mg47j9KHVElTbZhtCZKFbZe2W330AMM2DDNOPrO6Kl2kh0iEoPpg5lcEWJzNG5i01XNvxZvYbIh-1AMRUicg6-oI4cfHs6wZlwYliOR0Jf78r/s200/Ogres+vs+Skaven.jpg" width="186" /></a>Plus my lady and I have been playing <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/07/age-of-sigmar.html">Age of Sigmar</a> on a
fairly regular basis, which eats up a night or two. She’s been trying out her Skaven against my
Ogres (or is it Ogors now...?), the Empire, and my very <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/07/pathetic-fill-in-post.html">zombie-heavy</a> Vampire Counts army. All with a
disgusting level of success. We’re
hoping to do a battle report for the Atomic Warlords page sometime in the near
future.<br />
<br />
But Paperhammer... I hate to admit, but it kind of fell to the side. Because, like I said, it kept feeling like an
obligation. And I didn’t want to spend
my scarce free time on an obligation if I didn’t have to.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yeah, that’s a contradiction. Deal with it. You know what I mean.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So—if you’re still interested—I still want to keep this page
going. I really love the sheer creativity of Paperhammer. Plus, let’s face it, even with the better
direction GW has been taking these past few months, a lot of folks still can’t
afford this hobby. And if I can help them into it with s<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/04/paperhammer-basics.html">ome white glue and cereal boxes</a>, I want to do it. Because
the more of us there are, the better.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I’m hoping to make things work a bit better in the year to come. I need
to finish the Destroyer. There’s a few
Age of Sigmar scenery bits I want to work on.
And I still keep looking at some of those huge templates for Warhounds
and Warlords. I mean, you’ve seen <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/2016/11/painting-frenzy.html">what Chaos is up against </a>on the Atomic
Warlords’ tables, right? We’ve got a fallen Knight
household, but we seriously <i>need</i> a titan or two.<br />
<br />
And if there’s something you want to see a cheap, Paperhammer version of... please
let me know.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Happy New Year.</div>
</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-56018225111580261752016-07-12T09:30:00.000-07:002016-07-14T00:45:09.315-07:00Pathetic Fill In Post<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
As you may have noticed, there’s been little forward
motion on <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/05/leman-russ-pt-iii.html">the Destroyer</a>. Not from lack
of interest. Just trying to juggle a few
dozen things, like the edits I’ve mentioned (they’re extensive) and SDCC plans (I’m
doing <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PeterClines/photos/a.10150329385300330.389110.272562625329/10154223108070330/">a few things down there this year</a>, too) and <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/">my other blog</a> and some
doctor stuff (boring). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And, yeah, in all fairness, building a few other,
non-paperhammery things. My lovely lady and I have really been enjoying <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/07/age-of-sigmar.html">Age of Sigmar</a>, so I’ve been putting together some more <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2013/09/snap-marines.html">bits-bin</a>-Skaven
for her and a big horde of zombies for me (also collected, for the most part,
from random bitz bins parts). I don’t
get to play that often, so this kind of gets my focus at times.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
(I may also do a post in the near future about a really simple Ogre
Tyrant conversion I did)<br />
<br />
I’m going to try to get some more work done on the Destroyer before I head down to SDCC—and get it posted. I just wanted
to let you know it hasn’t been forgotten.<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
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Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-27516049454099496372016-06-22T13:40:00.000-07:002016-07-27T23:47:10.881-07:00Cultists and Marauders<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hey, I haven’t had a chance to get back to the <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/05/leman-russ-pt-iii.html">Leman Russ/ Destroyer</a> (got a pile of edits that needed my attention) but I wanted to share something else I’ve been working on.
Sort of an ongoing background project.</div>
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As I’ve mentioned here once or thrice, my biggest 40K army
is <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2010/03/doomsday-device.html">the Alpha Legion</a>. I was a fan
and follower of the 20th Legion since back when they were just the Napoleons of
Chaos, long before <a href="http://amzn.to/28QQJX8">THQ </a>and <a href="http://amzn.to/28S3nWk">Dan Abnett made it cool</a> to like them. And as such, I’ve always had a place for
cultists in my army. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSmGuE3NozvNgRpyCANLXThRmYIcOr3E3izOAgifswnPsDSx-VzlUD98b5o-r-vDaJd7JR6upU8Ga6lP0tu34L9tD6wAjGH-SVIU-L0kkOf_-3-uSPtBALub804eKinHpKgQuDuxCTcHJX/s1600/cultists.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSmGuE3NozvNgRpyCANLXThRmYIcOr3E3izOAgifswnPsDSx-VzlUD98b5o-r-vDaJd7JR6upU8Ga6lP0tu34L9tD6wAjGH-SVIU-L0kkOf_-3-uSPtBALub804eKinHpKgQuDuxCTcHJX/s200/cultists.JPG" width="126" /></a>Alas, for years, the only cultist models were half a dozen
or so metal ones, half of which were leaders or special weapons. That’s not a lot of options. Plus, they were metal, so they could cost three
or four dollars apiece! Can you imagine
that? Paying four dollars for a single
GW figure? What craziness. Thank goodness for Finecast, am I right...?<br />
<br />
Anyway...</div>
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Like most folks, I solved the problem by mashing things
together. A good mix of <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-bitz-bins.html">Catachan parts</a> and Fantasy Marauders gave me a
nice group of post-apocalyptic looking cultists. Mix in a few <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2012/07/kroot-taste-like-chicken.html">Kroot accessories</a> and
they looked great. And these guys worked
fine for many years. Then <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-few-thoughts-on-dark-vengeance.html">Dark Vengeance</a>showed up and there were real cultist models. Not too posable, but lots of
variety. Also space to add on the odd bit of individual detail here and there.
Plus, through the miracle of eBay, I was able to get a bunch of them for less
than two dollars each...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3TkSzEjy05pfAKaOGN6afNUdI5fvMuEp7ovHX3Efgo1vLan8F93QQPHawBmYyJqfK6t1ux_dv_-YeeH64sjOQrEZRuIA04PU10AuwSLdufk0mAzxzJcdpR8RbKL3CI1qJRfKA1hU01Btx/s1600/20160621_161800-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3TkSzEjy05pfAKaOGN6afNUdI5fvMuEp7ovHX3Efgo1vLan8F93QQPHawBmYyJqfK6t1ux_dv_-YeeH64sjOQrEZRuIA04PU10AuwSLdufk0mAzxzJcdpR8RbKL3CI1qJRfKA1hU01Btx/s200/20160621_161800-1.jpg" width="200" /></a>But this still left me with all my old, homemade cultists in
their horned helmets and headbands. They
just don’t mesh well with the new ones.
Sooooo... what to do with about forty figures? And then it struck me that, in<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/07/age-of-sigmar.html"> Age of Sigmar</a>, it’s possible to field just one or two units and play like that. So
what if I just turned the mostly-Marauder ones back into regular Chaos
Marauders?</div>
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I went through all of the old cultists and sorted them into
mostly Catachan and mostly Marauder. In
a few cases, I found complementary pairs where I could swap legs and they’d
make a more-complete figure. Then, I
began to disassemble them.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Helpful Hint—</i></b>The idea of cutting up figs like this might seem
intimidating. Just make sure you’ve got
<a href="http://amzn.to/28OsSoI">a really sharp, clean blade</a>, a good cutting surface, and plenty of light
(the seams can vanish in shadows, and I want to be cutting between components,
not <i>through </i>components).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeha_ZpkLuQklIUG4CwihVUk6UU67ZXYHJ91Qk4Oae-mSVgruQG_JuGhbhAaHE5rxvVaVvUofUnz5_VnqKmIP1dPiiTbDCXlY5RRPxTbZag7rxG1D8_VBNTXBk9pxz23IUfHbjlDtLhpoP/s1600/20160621_162554.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeha_ZpkLuQklIUG4CwihVUk6UU67ZXYHJ91Qk4Oae-mSVgruQG_JuGhbhAaHE5rxvVaVvUofUnz5_VnqKmIP1dPiiTbDCXlY5RRPxTbZag7rxG1D8_VBNTXBk9pxz23IUfHbjlDtLhpoP/s200/20160621_162554.jpg" width="200" /></a>It took about an hour to separate them all and scrape off
any of the white “soft spots” left from the glue. Then I dug up all the leftover Marauder parts
and made a good-sized squad of fifteen armed with axes and shields.</div>
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I also discovered I had enough bits sitting around to make
one more figure, and after a bit I decided I might make someone I could use as
a Darkoath Chieftain, using <a href="https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-whquest-rules-en.pdf">the Age of Sigmar rules</a> that GW put up to go
with some of the <i><a href="http://amzn.to/28Y6Cuf">Silver Tower</a></i> figures. More on that later, depending on how it turns
out...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmm416VNmh3Y4WhbjKzJuU3vYmJNQ8yiObCHyGyfk8VhemYgz98VMDYd3IKn3M9arsJrpZeT5EozwVx4VzYecSzpfInaurP5yX_Gne3ugLcBvUuaglyVHWNkMYf5pNQW07iMRKH3rEqery/s1600/20160621_161314.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmm416VNmh3Y4WhbjKzJuU3vYmJNQ8yiObCHyGyfk8VhemYgz98VMDYd3IKn3M9arsJrpZeT5EozwVx4VzYecSzpfInaurP5yX_Gne3ugLcBvUuaglyVHWNkMYf5pNQW07iMRKH3rEqery/s200/20160621_161314.jpg" width="200" /></a>And as for the leftover, mostly-Catachan models... Well, as it happens a while back I also ended
up with a bunch of the hooded Adeptus Mechanicus heads. A few head swaps, a few details from the
Marauders and the Kroot, and now these figs will blend in much better with the
newer Alpha Legion cultists.</div>
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So don’t be afraid to cut up old figs and repurpose them. It
can save you a couple bucks and turn units you don’t use into units you do.
Heck, it might even give you something to play a new game with.</div>
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And I'm just adding this one last guy with the flagellant body and a flamer because I really liked how he turned out...</div>
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Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-31290997933452053102016-05-28T18:37:00.000-07:002016-05-29T19:32:28.795-07:00Leman Russ Pt. III<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Okay, let’s add on all that detail and make this pop.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivas4CSDJKY4R1A_NCdd2_nPkPTLutSWEzLOr0RZDJL_WxvfYlTuxhJosnrtXPjz4Bc_JL17Cx3Lw6pnATnooC61qAKmNSZvCxHDHLMYd36dZrZ_aPb4xwM2cqUSBpcch67qveJq00EGDr/s1600/forward+sight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivas4CSDJKY4R1A_NCdd2_nPkPTLutSWEzLOr0RZDJL_WxvfYlTuxhJosnrtXPjz4Bc_JL17Cx3Lw6pnATnooC61qAKmNSZvCxHDHLMYd36dZrZ_aPb4xwM2cqUSBpcch67qveJq00EGDr/s200/forward+sight.jpg" width="200" /></a>First up is the little sighting hatch on the front of the
hull. I’m sure somebody knows the real
name for this—feel free to educate me in the comments. I started with the sighting window itself and
added two tabs onto it (at the top and bottom of the template). I glued it and
just held it for a few minutes. Once it
was solid I glued it to the outer panel and held <i>that</i> for a few
minutes. Finally, I clamped all of that
to the outer panel and let it dry while I worked on other things. Once it was good, I put it on the front of
the hull.</div>
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Next up, the tread wall has lots of round detail pieces
representing rollers-axles-wheels-something (again, feel free to put the
correct term below). The easy choice is
to use my hole punches to make various sizes and work with those. The catch is... none of the hole punch sizes
really match up with the size of the detail pieces. I went back and forth on this for a bit,
debating pieces that looked a little small or a little big instead of cutting
out all the pieces and having them be <i>mostly</i> round vs. the perfect discs
I’d get from the punches.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNWLBIeqY8zJnPA7Lx0USYYxE891mM6I5ftNy1mLhSO0uIWJzudxHwbdbm8rFgIIlQhRjCXf4khcXkyMPpNIN8LTRrC0V8sfb3aJTWWwh-cln6dwHdBae9zFY_ScUohsj6tzmAT7Nqzlwv/s1600/tread+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNWLBIeqY8zJnPA7Lx0USYYxE891mM6I5ftNy1mLhSO0uIWJzudxHwbdbm8rFgIIlQhRjCXf4khcXkyMPpNIN8LTRrC0V8sfb3aJTWWwh-cln6dwHdBae9zFY_ScUohsj6tzmAT7Nqzlwv/s200/tread+detail.jpg" width="200" /></a>In the end, I went with the hole punches.
This is detail work, and I think more people will skim over things that
look really good vs. focusing on things that look okay. The off things draw the eye, in other
words. So I played around with sizes and
put some discs down on the tread wall.
As I mentioned above, some are a bit small, some a hair large, but I
think it’s pretty unquestionably a Leman Russ setup.</div>
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<b><i>Helpful Hint—</i></b>That top front wheel/roller/axle
piece. There’s a small problem here. On
the template, it goes down right on the seam between two of the panels. But if you check an actual Leman Russ model,
it sits in front of the seam. On this
model the seam is just a little too far forward for a clean placement, but
it’ll by passable if you play with it a bit.</div>
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Next up is the second big part of the project. If those tread walls were half of the work,
this is about another third. Seriously, between the layers and the links, about
4/5 of the time on this project so far has been these tread elements. They’re not difficult, they look fantastic,
but just keep in mind they’re going to be the big time suck. Plan accordingly. Have background entertainment prepared.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo9vojN3wRQZSboikIWwR_golKucsPLPeWM14ubKFipDodvyHLMowDiKjZF0gtf8ppIrxLxx3iJ09ntNiAXUFN66NSzQPesrvpQUvnPh1HjAuqVZQW6EOkFSrV_xKBUti0tvxoUgqsznqH/s1600/Layer+one.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo9vojN3wRQZSboikIWwR_golKucsPLPeWM14ubKFipDodvyHLMowDiKjZF0gtf8ppIrxLxx3iJ09ntNiAXUFN66NSzQPesrvpQUvnPh1HjAuqVZQW6EOkFSrV_xKBUti0tvxoUgqsznqH/s200/Layer+one.jpg" width="200" /></a>The first layer of tread links took about an hour. I cut them all at once and then peeled off
the template-paper where I could. There
are ten extras for each side, so there’s some room to pick and choose. Also worth remembering that sixteen of them
are going to be on the bottom, so there’s even more leeway. I set the glue on the tread element section
by section and then set the pieces down, making sure all the best, matching
ones were on the front parts of each tread element.</div>
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<b><i>Helpful Hint—</i></b>I printed out a spare page of the
template to help with placement. It let
me see how many to a section and gave me a nice sense of spacing.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjx7uzvKGvVTkWJqLrSvxhT2NS-9QvAb7HobftA2bAfCmrVdUfn3mbqRQ1VxqSw2eSaiCgjEz88aALbHulFD3RX4xdN2hR0irarzh3sT2AtdmXXYGs0lKFjhoMVwV3y1Ae7iGjlAYY4RXJ/s1600/layer+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjx7uzvKGvVTkWJqLrSvxhT2NS-9QvAb7HobftA2bAfCmrVdUfn3mbqRQ1VxqSw2eSaiCgjEz88aALbHulFD3RX4xdN2hR0irarzh3sT2AtdmXXYGs0lKFjhoMVwV3y1Ae7iGjlAYY4RXJ/s200/layer+2.jpg" width="200" /></a>The second layer is a little trickier. This is the one that makes the treads really
pop, though, so it’s worth it. A small
tread link goes between each of the larger ones. I put a drop of glue, spread it a bit between
the two sides, and placed accordingly.
The tricky part is on the corners.
A drop of glue will still hold one, but you need to keep an eye on it
until it dries or gravity can pull them out of line. Once set, they do a great job of
“rounding” out the treads.</div>
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Once all this was done, it was time for the big moment. Gluing the tread elements to the hull and
hoping it looked like a Leman Russ. I used
a couple photos for reference, glued, and held the whole thing for about ten
minutes to make sure it held.</div>
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<b><i>Helpful Hint—</i></b>Be extra careful when lining up
the tread elements and the hull. Because
of that odd, uneven piece on top—plus the unusual shape overall—it can be
tricky to make everything match in every direction. Check how far forward and back the treads
sit. Make sure they sit flat. Check it all.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMqFYjeKn1FNzpwhKclnrDwWy4FTAEUd13fUEmEQM2bvSoKiFndkGrGuAJA9SPTgU_jyggH2jULYlwW2o8BBz3Y5HrvEGSZesj_nocGb-wfsCKqtpFkGu8buSfrVOqjVARHCqHSG0tSTxP/s1600/Leman+Russ+base.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMqFYjeKn1FNzpwhKclnrDwWy4FTAEUd13fUEmEQM2bvSoKiFndkGrGuAJA9SPTgU_jyggH2jULYlwW2o8BBz3Y5HrvEGSZesj_nocGb-wfsCKqtpFkGu8buSfrVOqjVARHCqHSG0tSTxP/s400/Leman+Russ+base.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Now... it was cool getting two posts in one week,
right? Well, funny story...<br />
<br />
This weekend is both Memorial Day here in the states and also my birthday
weekend. This means I’m going to be playing, not building, all weekend. So I
won’t have anything new to show off next week.
<br />
<br />
But after that... we’re going to turn this Leman Russ body into a Destroyer.</div>
</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-70881871253678675562016-05-25T15:54:00.001-07:002016-05-25T15:54:24.649-07:00Leman Russ, Pt II<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hell—I wrote this up last week and never actually posted
it. Yay for you. Double post this week.</div>
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Sooooo, last time I got <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/05/leman-russ.html">the layered sides cut out and glued together</a>. This time I’m going to try to get the hull and both tread elements
(for lack of a better term) done. Yes,
I’m sure there is a better term for what I’m calling tread elements. If you
happen to know it, feel free to share your knowledge in the comments. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKn-82cFS10SsTvp0gLDarNnkowh1QoIaNJ2C4uXUdhgeneskRrtCzrcUNNbXr2YqrYkwP9Gpywyh3ncisIAaq-EJrApP8DjgFTTFMDKE1NK_kxLTYC2dBgV8XMqkxk-Mx18LG09oF3nBa/s1600/Hull+layout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKn-82cFS10SsTvp0gLDarNnkowh1QoIaNJ2C4uXUdhgeneskRrtCzrcUNNbXr2YqrYkwP9Gpywyh3ncisIAaq-EJrApP8DjgFTTFMDKE1NK_kxLTYC2dBgV8XMqkxk-Mx18LG09oF3nBa/s200/Hull+layout.jpg" width="200" /></a>The hull is pretty straightforward. Two sides and a long
strip that connects them and becomes... well, the part we’ll see. These are all big and simple, so I cut them
all out <a href="http://amzn.to/1Wk7Rax">with scissors</a>. Only took about
ten minutes to have them all done and marked.</div>
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<b><i>Helpful Hint—</i></b>Because I’m planning on building
this as a Destroyer, I didn’t make any of the cuts or adjustments in the hull that
would normally allow for the forward lascannon sponson. I may end up regretting this—we’ll see. If you were making an actual Leman Russ (or
variant) you’ll want to be sure to make those extra cuts.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisnSuM8G6PNXS6LOnaSg6pY2ve0YIZG7b3OM1iJEbCeBE9dq_az29gODJ4vJUTRgnxWkIq9bufSQz0CzTvvZPlBW9BROhPA6077VxRmdbY1F5LQoAt0rFAjFCDfNkzSi3_3AEegk9g4Deu/s1600/Hull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisnSuM8G6PNXS6LOnaSg6pY2ve0YIZG7b3OM1iJEbCeBE9dq_az29gODJ4vJUTRgnxWkIq9bufSQz0CzTvvZPlBW9BROhPA6077VxRmdbY1F5LQoAt0rFAjFCDfNkzSi3_3AEegk9g4Deu/s200/Hull.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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I lined up two of the front-strip edges against one side of
the hull. Once I had them as close as
possible, I clamped them with a pair of clothespins. After about ten minutes I moved the first clamp along to the next
edge, and then swapped out the next pin to the edge after that. It took a bit longer to work this
way, but it let me get much cleaner lines on the whole thing. Once I had the whole strip attached, I let it
sit for a few more minutes with a small weight on it to keep it pressed
flat. I used my smartphone, for this,
actually. It’s a good size and weight.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb84s1HthPCXRNz_lG7U1dgBZwcItiOFwW3jepXcK-HoCuuY_n8pwv1TlEFIy-NaVNN2GdEDZoEadngZXjqYzeFprc8NvEflO-TYqQkQl-0CR00oyN9l7aEtn3JmDVVFLDH5fAXY_1FZly/s1600/hull+Vs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb84s1HthPCXRNz_lG7U1dgBZwcItiOFwW3jepXcK-HoCuuY_n8pwv1TlEFIy-NaVNN2GdEDZoEadngZXjqYzeFprc8NvEflO-TYqQkQl-0CR00oyN9l7aEtn3JmDVVFLDH5fAXY_1FZly/s200/hull+Vs.jpg" width="200" /></a><o:p> </o:p></div>
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While it sat, I cut up some of the scrap cardstock into strips about 10" or 12" long and made
some of those <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/04/paperhammer-basics.html">consummate Vs</a> to put inside the hull. It's worth noting that the hull
has two heights, front and back, so I cut two different width strips for the
Vs. Note also that these went vertically—I
want to have some support in case something ends up pressing down on the hull.
Especially since that’ll be what I do next.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs9kvJIkdmi1w7VPBToJu3HkXIbr0cUP4zoVfr4wPmlEXKlcoPL6nesFYLS_1QccwZqoBusK0ySU6Fdo32q5LH_R82TPS7gvc3fTUj2L0EaQK-9sBKWIyBLFnilRoJDmJTlxYtYLBH5kPw/s1600/top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs9kvJIkdmi1w7VPBToJu3HkXIbr0cUP4zoVfr4wPmlEXKlcoPL6nesFYLS_1QccwZqoBusK0ySU6Fdo32q5LH_R82TPS7gvc3fTUj2L0EaQK-9sBKWIyBLFnilRoJDmJTlxYtYLBH5kPw/s200/top.jpg" width="200" /></a>There’s a raised section on top of the Leman Russ where the
turret usually mounts. The shape is a
bit odd, but it goes together very well.
The worst part is that—even with tiny tabs—you’ll essentially need to
hold the whole thing from all directions until it dries. So make sure you’ve got a good movie on. </div>
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If you <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterClines">follow me on Twitter</a>, you know I did <i>not</i>
have a good movie on for this part...</div>
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<b><i>Helpful Hint—</i></b>If I was going to do a Leman Russ
(or variant), this would be a good time to think about making <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2011/01/baneblade-pt-ii.html">some sort of socket for the turret</a>. Or you
could just glue the socket in place, depending on how nitpicky your own gaming
group is. Or do something clever with magnets.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijiQahnpfKtkBlke9RBS4BC-7HjrN94YqiNqF13KxuUXAaXv29HjoOYw_kuQSKqqc1FCv3cVusNQlASJcPect1bf8sEv6oHW6yoqF9AodmHqGa8SblUmcCFa_0cf-aWT4SbBGdFIJNccxA/s1600/engine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijiQahnpfKtkBlke9RBS4BC-7HjrN94YqiNqF13KxuUXAaXv29HjoOYw_kuQSKqqc1FCv3cVusNQlASJcPect1bf8sEv6oHW6yoqF9AodmHqGa8SblUmcCFa_0cf-aWT4SbBGdFIJNccxA/s200/engine.jpg" width="200" /></a>Next up was the engine compartment in the back. This is a little tricky because it runs up
the back section of the hull <i>and</i> the back part of that raised section.
This means there’s a slight angle along the back edge of the compartment. It’s easy to miss, so watch for it.</div>
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With that addressed, this is an easy piece to build. I added
a few extra tabs and glued the body together.
Then I added the detail frame on top.
Once that was dry, I glued the whole thing in place.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWkPdXw7599KQmFHXUEJ-Z1kXnaa0YFg6rEuzDw8lynxM-al-PdB13kSIVFMD80tOuNidyMOtPoJEl9hQrc9uR6rQiFyiHcvbSdlrSIApMsYFCAAVKAbjY5rhY7Bo_YcBODinkArbj2TCL/s1600/hull+complete.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWkPdXw7599KQmFHXUEJ-Z1kXnaa0YFg6rEuzDw8lynxM-al-PdB13kSIVFMD80tOuNidyMOtPoJEl9hQrc9uR6rQiFyiHcvbSdlrSIApMsYFCAAVKAbjY5rhY7Bo_YcBODinkArbj2TCL/s200/hull+complete.jpg" width="200" /></a>Once all this was done, I glued the last wall in place and sealed up the hull. It took a tiny bit of wiggling and pressure to make everything line up just right, and then a few more minutes of waiting. Once the glue had a good hold, I set it down on its side with a book to hold it in place.</div>
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Next up was the treads.</div>
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To make this easier to follow along, I’m going to try
to refer to things the following way from here on. When I talk about “the treads,” I’m going to
mean the horizontal section, the part that (hypothetically) runs around the
wheels and moves the tank. The tread
walls will be the pieces I built last week and the matching inside piece—the
vertical sections. The tread element
will be the whole thing together. So
there’s one tread element on each side of the hull. Make sense?
Hopefully that’ll cut confusion a bit.
Again, if you happen to know the actual terminology, feel free to share
the correct names in the comments.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCrhyphenhyphenNJStlz6qe7LCbtBpjnkJaPoBG1hnqMuWlzw0qKwu-4J_wXly7UAteqypEP75-mz7gF2ZNDPFpZeS6-fWH-lr4n-m64BCEG6QxKG_yCJZNgwFJaJbXITcyaNPGw918RSP21lfHY9Br/s1600/treads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCrhyphenhyphenNJStlz6qe7LCbtBpjnkJaPoBG1hnqMuWlzw0qKwu-4J_wXly7UAteqypEP75-mz7gF2ZNDPFpZeS6-fWH-lr4n-m64BCEG6QxKG_yCJZNgwFJaJbXITcyaNPGw918RSP21lfHY9Br/s200/treads.jpg" width="200" /></a>On this template, the tread is two sections. Rather than join them, I decided to attach
them to the tread walls individually. I
figured this would give me more space to work the clips and get nice, solid
joins. And it worked. Once I had one attached, I added the second
(the back section), and joined it to both the tread wall and the front section.</div>
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<b><i>Helpful Hint—</i></b>I glued them to the inside wall
first. If anything went wrong, it’s
easier to replace all of those parts than the layered, detail-heavy wall I put
together last time.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_APIUcLD9MUeNYIYFvsZAZoLne455HQuNMdmpx34LTqLKOIBS7dJDQskncSEeOfoUSwhtCSskz7ACooKhSMSUFybbcca4T9PPPfQNnYDcm5LHiVRxowlWttTbA8rrXs0LeFT57LVJSfpn/s1600/tread+Vs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_APIUcLD9MUeNYIYFvsZAZoLne455HQuNMdmpx34LTqLKOIBS7dJDQskncSEeOfoUSwhtCSskz7ACooKhSMSUFybbcca4T9PPPfQNnYDcm5LHiVRxowlWttTbA8rrXs0LeFT57LVJSfpn/s200/tread+Vs.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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I did this for both of the tread elements. While they were
drying, I cut some consummate Vs to go inside the elements. I tend to pick up my tanks by the sides, so I
wanted those sides to be solid.<br />
<br />
Once I had the Vs in place and everything was dry, I glued the layered tread
walls in place. I lined them up, wrapped
them in an old veggie bag (wax paper works, too) and set them under a few
hardcover books. Again—I made sure
everything was lined up first. It’d suck
to have it dry crooked after all this work.
I left these to dry for about three hours and they turned out... well,
fantastic. Solid and strong.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH8ysBNhVYU4IigC-2qml9i8Q0vIB30puSpO75VU8-qYjYcClEul6NU7MSFHmEyuKl2AD_jnrcNyMx0ymrP-we-SCyk_mxmrcBLR125Je6vv78srrU4ERDEfRXogRXFvFM9B5HRaskpFr3/s1600/basic+parts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH8ysBNhVYU4IigC-2qml9i8Q0vIB30puSpO75VU8-qYjYcClEul6NU7MSFHmEyuKl2AD_jnrcNyMx0ymrP-we-SCyk_mxmrcBLR125Je6vv78srrU4ERDEfRXogRXFvFM9B5HRaskpFr3/s200/basic+parts.jpg" width="200" /></a>Alas, all of that drying time on some of these pieces needed
means I didn’t get quite as far as I’d hoped to this weekend. The big elements
are done, but there’s still some detail work. So I think I’m going to stretch
the “Leman Russ” portion of this out for one more week before I switch over to
full Destroyer mode. So to speak.</div>
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Or, it was going to be one more week before I forgot to post
this last week. Now it’ll just be up on Friday
morning.</div>
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Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-33389112010260551092016-05-10T09:30:00.000-07:002016-05-10T09:30:13.229-07:00Leman Russ<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMewnW2eVCGQVj4jf1ogb5XE9f0GwuoSNAo2dCB0IqNJR1YcSyauXoWUWX4PQAwUigOqu91tu4sQeX1NDS4Yw9ME65GOf4GpHWLsocnjFJRKcxdRuFanBZ3wyiNcRU2xNgrIeOD3wYAYf5/s1600/Destroy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMewnW2eVCGQVj4jf1ogb5XE9f0GwuoSNAo2dCB0IqNJR1YcSyauXoWUWX4PQAwUigOqu91tu4sQeX1NDS4Yw9ME65GOf4GpHWLsocnjFJRKcxdRuFanBZ3wyiNcRU2xNgrIeOD3wYAYf5/s200/Destroy2.jpg" width="200" /></a>So, I’ve had it in my mind to build a Destroyer for a while
now. I’ve always liked the look and idea
of them. Much like the Basilisk (another
favorite) it’s less a tank than it is a mobile platform for a single, massive
weapon. Plus, some of the folks I game
with are starting to assemble (no pun intended) <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/2016/03/whats-in-box.html">some pretty impressive forces</a>, so having a dedicated super-heavy hunter gives me something that can die
on turn one a lot...</div>
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That being said, I’ve decided to do these first two posts as Leman Russ
posts. The Destroyer is built on a Leman
Russ hull, and it is one of the most popular tanks out there (<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/07/rhino-redux.html">after the Rhino, probably</a>). If somebody wants to build a tank company with nine tanks in it... this’ll be a good starting point.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnnstjgfURB-a_PssUzIJzIm4VZnTusRUXLYAxYkqIUU-WqVygRn07nXaq7CVQamT6BeEIiBTOIAy5IcMTHT3fcd7OS8YX89KHqMhGm_X-FqT0_g5QTEWmM5_8fTm-H0bzRtDF7IjMrBg_/s1600/Leman+Russ+-+Part+01+of+04.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnnstjgfURB-a_PssUzIJzIm4VZnTusRUXLYAxYkqIUU-WqVygRn07nXaq7CVQamT6BeEIiBTOIAy5IcMTHT3fcd7OS8YX89KHqMhGm_X-FqT0_g5QTEWmM5_8fTm-H0bzRtDF7IjMrBg_/s200/Leman+Russ+-+Part+01+of+04.gif" width="200" /></a>An advantage of the Leman Russ being so popular is there are
lots of different templates out there for it.
And for all the many, many variants of it. Some brilliant ones by Patroch. I dug through my collection and found a nice
one from way back when—one of the first Leman Russ templates I ever saw, to be
honest. I’d love to give credit where
credit is due, but the best I can find on it is a date
(2000-11-15) and the word <i>Bile</i>, which might be a proper name or a handle or
maybe someone created this template as part of an elaborate revenge plot? If you know who created it, please speak up. Regardless, it’s great and up in <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/11/new-stc-data-discovered.html">the STC Archive</a> for your perusal.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKl2GQZGjMVd9qO69wlNHii-OIcyVSD9riLYpP1OW8ocN74rHtzU1hcKRjcX1a_ElKgEBnB88DPlV4V7_f5lOHxZOxe8Xb_tjDMqOTNHMdTrYzyNy09zGJWgYEbHgcA8B86tyo1Tq4DfCT/s1600/Layout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKl2GQZGjMVd9qO69wlNHii-OIcyVSD9riLYpP1OW8ocN74rHtzU1hcKRjcX1a_ElKgEBnB88DPlV4V7_f5lOHxZOxe8Xb_tjDMqOTNHMdTrYzyNy09zGJWgYEbHgcA8B86tyo1Tq4DfCT/s200/Layout.jpg" width="200" /></a>One of the things I love about this template is its relative
simplicity. It has a lot of detail, but
the whole thing is only four pages long. And all that’s on the last page is the
standard turret—it’s really about three and a quarter pages. I managed to fit about 90% of this on<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/04/paperhammer-basics.html"> a single frozen pizza box</a>. So this is
going to be cheap even from a cardstock point of view.</div>
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I’m going to start with the outer sides and work in. This may seem a bit odd. but it means I’ll be
able to get most of the treads and hull done in just two posts. Again—very
simple template.</div>
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The sides of this template are layered, a lot like<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2010/03/malcador-heavy-tank-pt-i.html"> the Malcador I built years ago</a>. It means a little more work, but it makes for
a much, much more detailed model—and a much more solid one, too. If you look at this template, sheets one and
two each have both sides of a tread and three layers of detail (plus some other
stuff we’ll go into later). It’s worth
noting that those inner layers, the two sides, are all angles, not curved. This
is to help line up the tread pieces later.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivTT1SHCnHRWO8Q3WgOHasuBu3TDWMID39xHt2XdIfvtok0Fy2SeK1VoxsHbLw6NqvI_NtNhU5NNMjsEZQRfqxAKm8gFcJaBpUgpQ3uqK2YAEI5ruNDx4uBUt0el_sUqNgBBnSW9LTSy_o/s1600/Inside+cuts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivTT1SHCnHRWO8Q3WgOHasuBu3TDWMID39xHt2XdIfvtok0Fy2SeK1VoxsHbLw6NqvI_NtNhU5NNMjsEZQRfqxAKm8gFcJaBpUgpQ3uqK2YAEI5ruNDx4uBUt0el_sUqNgBBnSW9LTSy_o/s200/Inside+cuts.jpg" width="200" /></a><b><i>Helpful Hint—</i></b>The outer two layers have some
fine detail work at the bottom. The
third layer is just one big ring, really.
Whenever I have to do pieces like this, I always<a href="http://amzn.to/1rC9XFZ"> cut out the inner bits before I cut</a> the whole element from cardstock.
It’s much easier to work this way, especially with narrow bits like that
ring. Cut the element out first and it’s
harder to hold and harder to work with.</div>
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Once everything was cut out, I set it out in order and started gluing sections
on, one at a time. I used my
<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2016/04/paperhammer-basics.html">clothespin-clamps</a> every step to make the edges stayed as flush as possible—especially
at the top. This is going to be a very
visible edge, so it’ll draw a lot of attention. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbUdMeUBI9Tc3emJ6GqX4L9St348Ks7NXKyqEE9pDPoRAXEvtyu9XZeDEvEhYQMp-WYVTRB23oP9VZiTmw7jw8DCgkzvfSE4ZCbqaLrNdq33aOJVO8OX1FnH5d7vn7n882jD93NBcL82Sx/s1600/components.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbUdMeUBI9Tc3emJ6GqX4L9St348Ks7NXKyqEE9pDPoRAXEvtyu9XZeDEvEhYQMp-WYVTRB23oP9VZiTmw7jw8DCgkzvfSE4ZCbqaLrNdq33aOJVO8OX1FnH5d7vn7n882jD93NBcL82Sx/s200/components.jpg" width="200" /></a><o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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When all four layers were together and lined up, I let them
sit for a minute to firm up. Then I carefully wrapped them in some old veggie
bags (wax paper would work, too) and set them under a pile of books. There’s a lot of glue here, and I don’t want
anything to curl or bend while it’s drying.
Again—just to hammer it home—I made sure everything was lined up
first. It’d suck to cut out all this
detail and then have it dry crooked.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjepseUJwP0T9rKvU8YQAo8pC9Y_Q9PiapHYzv1gRh2Wd-eDPQzmeoTHF6odSnoRomTahauz9nZPh3RCiyTYHx83j3Iou5vM062WeP8U30Bi03fdc-704FNTzVSLn6FE4bb4yHdJFxhqKyN/s1600/Tread+Sides.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjepseUJwP0T9rKvU8YQAo8pC9Y_Q9PiapHYzv1gRh2Wd-eDPQzmeoTHF6odSnoRomTahauz9nZPh3RCiyTYHx83j3Iou5vM062WeP8U30Bi03fdc-704FNTzVSLn6FE4bb4yHdJFxhqKyN/s200/Tread+Sides.jpg" width="200" /></a>I left these under the books for about... four hours? I went out and saw <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1rCehFc">Captain America: Civil War</a></i>. When I came back, they were
dry, solid, and very flat.</div>
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And, believe it or not, the Leman Russ body is almost half
done at this point.</div>
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Next time, I’ll assemble the treads and the hull, then put
it all together.</div>
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Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-777675502901756982016-04-26T08:30:00.000-07:002016-04-26T08:30:00.472-07:00Paperhammer Basics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Long overdue. Many
thanks to the six of you who still check to see if this page ever gets updated.</div>
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I’m finally going to have some time to work on some new
projects, but I thought it might be good to go over some of the basic
paper-crafting elements first. There’s a
lot of stuff I skim over when I describe stuff, usually in a “just do this” way,
and I figured maybe I should finally explain how, exactly, to do <i>this</i>. That’d be helpful, right?</div>
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So, let’s start with the very basics...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWPymFeJuTpU3cAsi_erZ181qjJFhWr7LxTtsNSSzDXrgEiaWTed3uuMIIw2swuExavybo-xKJVROiXASf5k6_PPTsjapmqRyljcgimU3LNhR9L68mW2RJtcm1hOvobr75MVOiGh299AXv/s1600/Warhound.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWPymFeJuTpU3cAsi_erZ181qjJFhWr7LxTtsNSSzDXrgEiaWTed3uuMIIw2swuExavybo-xKJVROiXASf5k6_PPTsjapmqRyljcgimU3LNhR9L68mW2RJtcm1hOvobr75MVOiGh299AXv/s200/Warhound.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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I get most of my cardstock from food boxes—mostly cereal and
frozen pizza. It’s probably worth
mentioning that most frozen food boxes tend to made of slightly thinner
cardstock. I’m guessing it’s a
temperature thing. <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/12/defiler-weapons.html">Mailing envelopes</a> are even a little thinner.
Regardless, it’s a good thing to keep in mind when plotting out which
templates are glued to which sheets of cardstock. Back when I built the Imperial Knight,
I had a bunch of issues because <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2014/05/imperial-knights-part-iv.html">the template is actually designed to work with <i>paper</i>, not cardstock</a>. That difference in
thickness caused some of the more complex elements to be a little bit off—just
enough to notice and cause problems. So
if something’s really elaborate... maybe aim for thinner material until you’re
sure how it’ll go together.</div>
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<o:p> </o:p> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilnndm60cTdnIJ2irNRuPpGkeIGyXADi2lhkVjMbrLo7Yjsbuv5CDRZ92kq98-iNc6zdoTM3OmwwVuMKoB5lhXixM3tyBlJotUTt0h412CoKJynmVeBNOz_TVLjbCAJMc76fnXLzhXhFEO/s1600/Simple+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilnndm60cTdnIJ2irNRuPpGkeIGyXADi2lhkVjMbrLo7Yjsbuv5CDRZ92kq98-iNc6zdoTM3OmwwVuMKoB5lhXixM3tyBlJotUTt0h412CoKJynmVeBNOz_TVLjbCAJMc76fnXLzhXhFEO/s200/Simple+box.jpg" width="200" /></a>The most basic paperhammer shape is a <b>box</b>. It’s something you’ll use all the time, and it’s
kind of the cornerstone of paperhammer.
All you need to remember about boxes is to make edges match—a 1” edge
here meets a 1” edge there. It sounds
simple ‘cause it really is. Check out
this quick diagram. Four sides, a top, a
bottom. This would give me a cube
because all the edges are the same length.<br />
<br />
(more or less the same—I sketched it quick in Paint just so we’d have something
to look at...)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfGgwSSVz8qxban9IwfJIeTWGNvTsOdKo7hTTbLOy3EmBqcDJoZhsny0JH9FEPrDb30IhAaNkeJihMtdNhwRpQrsZeqMGE0CMIz4m_ZHVcKEUtwVxBblioPi7FmbOnF0hn2JyicZo9Kmu/s1600/flat+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfGgwSSVz8qxban9IwfJIeTWGNvTsOdKo7hTTbLOy3EmBqcDJoZhsny0JH9FEPrDb30IhAaNkeJihMtdNhwRpQrsZeqMGE0CMIz4m_ZHVcKEUtwVxBblioPi7FmbOnF0hn2JyicZo9Kmu/s200/flat+box.jpg" width="200" /></a>If alter the edges, I can alter the shape of the box. Look at this example. I shrink all the side
edges (but not the top and bottom edges) and now I’ll get a square, flat
box. This is the kind of thing I stick
on larger models to add some detail and texture. I could also go the other way—doubling or
tripling the sides to make a long, rectangular box. As I mentioned above, shapes like these are a
cornerstone of the paperbuilding craft.
Even with nothing else, you can use several of them together to build <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2010/08/ork-fuel-depot.html">scenery pieces</a>, simple
vehicles, and more.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0n1N7hZY6Bfy9JVoGX2s2rVLwhwOC8ZjrLo5CmdmLUgbDTBwyVZBc91ie2lqZjqTob1YAkZTr_ERtNOYcxBZWGSkZKBFDzRdIM5DMFTqf0xPnON6VIIeKvUbTatFAGAPxGDCmatk4pD5v/s1600/Box+w+tabs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0n1N7hZY6Bfy9JVoGX2s2rVLwhwOC8ZjrLo5CmdmLUgbDTBwyVZBc91ie2lqZjqTob1YAkZTr_ERtNOYcxBZWGSkZKBFDzRdIM5DMFTqf0xPnON6VIIeKvUbTatFAGAPxGDCmatk4pD5v/s200/Box+w+tabs.jpg" width="200" /></a>This is probably a good time to mention <b>tabs</b>. Trying to glue cardstock edge-to-edge with
white glue is pretty much impossible, so it’s always good to add extra tabs on
to the basic shapes. These are just the parts I bend and slip into the model so
the glue has something to grab onto. Some
templates have them, but often they’re tiny little things that are all but
useless. Others don’t have them at
all. I add or enlarge on a case-by-case
basis, and try to make note of where I do.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Helpful Hint--</i></b>Always remember that tabs can be pretty much any
size or shape because they’ll end up hidden inside the shape you’re building.
The only thing I need to be careful of is overlap.</div>
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It’s also worth mentioning that sometimes I can skip a side
and just use tabs. If I know, for
example, that my flat box is going to get glued to the side of the building, I
can leave off that connecting side and just put four tabs where that side would
go. It can make pieces sit a little cleaner sometimes, rather than gluing big
flat surface to big flat surface.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Z7NwP3SoEvmNfpQf9xbG36vazLVf4aXDuO9zJqv-V18MR0_RTQmjs4pqeggi_uP6HUJu3OPpJu_ClVSN8HDRTyXoTWoWvnQ9tBCDAgOcqOqHdTa8a0VMhSYeemLHyia4pgsSlcAAC0Sr/s1600/Odd+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Z7NwP3SoEvmNfpQf9xbG36vazLVf4aXDuO9zJqv-V18MR0_RTQmjs4pqeggi_uP6HUJu3OPpJu_ClVSN8HDRTyXoTWoWvnQ9tBCDAgOcqOqHdTa8a0VMhSYeemLHyia4pgsSlcAAC0Sr/s200/Odd+box.jpg" width="187" /></a>Now, you can use these same techniques to build an elaborate
box, something with a more irregular shape to it. This diagram shows how I built<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/08/gargant-8.html"> the engine for the Gargant</a>. I used the
five-edged side as my starting point, and that told me what all the other
panels and edges needed to be, size-wise—remember, boxes are just about making
the edges the same length. I mirrored
the other side, added some tabs, and put it together. The triangular boxes I added on either side went
together the same way. Also remember
that some shapes which look really complicated on their own (like that Gargant
engine) become a lot simpler if you break them down into component shapes.</div>
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One term I’ve mentioned once or thrice is <b>consummate Vs </b>(which
is a StrongBad reference, you heathens). I first used them, if memory serves,
back when I built<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2010/02/mk-i-land-raider-part-one.html"> the classic Land Raider</a>. Simply put, when I build a
box (regular or elaborate), I’ll usually save some strips of cardboard close to
one of its dimensions. Then I trim said
strips to be just 1/8 of an inch narrower.
For example, if that flat box up above was 3/4” deep, I’d try to end up
with some strips that measured 5/8” wide and four or five inches long. </div>
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Before I seal everything shut, I fold these strips back and forth (into Vs, or maybe Ws--just zig-zags, really)
until they can fit inside the box. They end up becoming
interior, load-bearing walls. Sounds a
little silly, I know, but these make boxes <i>incredibly</i> solid. If you have any worries about how strong a
paperhammer model can be, try a few experiments with strips. They’ll hold up stacks of books, so a bump
from a plastic Carnifex isn’t going to do much.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqvhp6PIuDIR6zZzkKzMrGvpEpTuigR1J35FG7Jrn6k5111E4CMGHSkDxBTYAjiNox_uSnL5h90GkA9g12RMrRL5u1Tb-kATj1m6ZJz4We_9Ss8VDB9JvPfxXysuhUPMQu5bnBCkrfgyYl/s1600/BB+Cannon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqvhp6PIuDIR6zZzkKzMrGvpEpTuigR1J35FG7Jrn6k5111E4CMGHSkDxBTYAjiNox_uSnL5h90GkA9g12RMrRL5u1Tb-kATj1m6ZJz4We_9Ss8VDB9JvPfxXysuhUPMQu5bnBCkrfgyYl/s200/BB+Cannon.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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For the longest time if had to make <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2011/09/baneblade-pt-v.html">a cannon</a> or tower I
built it as a <b>paneled cylinder</b>.
This is when I have a long card with numerous scores in it to create an
octagonal (or decagonal or dodecahedral...) cylinder. On the plus side, these can be easier to work
with because they’re all flat surfaces. It’s much easier for things to attach
to them, or to attach them to other things.
Also, it’s very easy to hide where the two edges of a paneled cylinder
come together.</div>
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On the down side, paneled cylinders tend to look...<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2011/12/silver-towers-of-tzeentch-pt-ii.html">well, kind of blocky</a>. They tend to make things
look like polygon models without the skins.
It can also be a little tricky working out the diameter of one of these
if you need a specific size and you’re not going off a template..</div>
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The flipside of this is a <b>rolled cylinder</b>. Just like the name implies, it’s when I make
the shape by rolling the cardstock. On
the plus side, it’s round and curved, which helps a paperhammer model <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/01/imperial-knights-part-x.html">look much cleaner and blend in on the tabletop</a>. Also,
it’s much easier to work out how big the diameter of a rolled cylinder will
be. </div>
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On the downside... well, curves and cardstock don’t always
go together well. It’s much harder to
hide the seam where the edges of the piece join. Also, that seam is going to have a lot more
pressure on it compared to a cylinder with lots of folds. Finally, that curve
makes it harder to glue the cylinder to another surface. So working with rolled cylinders means <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/01/imperial-knights-part-ix.html">working a little slower and making sure everything dries solid</a> before moving
on.</div>
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Finally, <b>tools</b>. Really, all you <i>need</i> for
paperhammer is your basic hobby knife and some sharp blades. But over the past couple of years I’ve found
a few other things that definitely make some stuff quicker and easier. A good pair of scissors can help, especially
when cutting out larger template pieces.
So can a straight-edge or steel ruler.
I use basic wooden clothespins all the time as miniature clamps. </div>
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Also... hole punches.
These are probably the best investment you can make if you think you
might be doing a lot of paperhammer. I
have three. The basic 1/4” one, a 1/8” one, and the 1/16” (which may be my
favorite). They can make perfectly
circular holes or discs, either of which can make for great detail work on a
model. I use the 1/16” for rivets, which
<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2011/09/baneblade-bonus-post.html">make things look amazing</a>. I know
some folks will say 1/16” is too big for a rivet, but there’s such a huge
history of things being excessive/oversized in <i>Warhammer 40,000</i> that...
well, I’ve never had any complaints.</div>
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So, now that I’ve gone over all of that... let’s build a
tank. Haven’t done that in a while.</div>
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However... that’s going to be in two weeks. I won’t be doing anything
this hobby-related this Friday, Saturday, or Sunday because I’m at <a href="http://www.texasfrightmareweekend.com/">Texas Frightmare Weekend</a> (so I’ll be about 1200 miles away
from my tools and glue). If you happen to
be in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, please stop by and say “hello.” <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br />
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<br />
Otherwise—two weeks until tanks.</div>
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Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-60778442967289178882016-02-22T08:30:00.000-08:002016-02-22T08:30:07.661-08:00Pathetic Excuses Post<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This spring has turned into a whirlwind for me, and
(as usual) modeling and gaming is what’s taken the hit. I wanted to be working on a paperhammer
Destroyer by now (<a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/2016/01/something-big-on-way.html">I’m going to need it</a>), or at least some Tyranid
scenery (also paperhammer—it’s going to be great).</div>
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Pretty much all I’ve managed to do is prime a few
things. But I thought some of you might
like this—it’s <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/11/warm-liquid-goo-phase.html">the Imperial Knight</a> I made last year. I don’t put up pictures of painted things
that often, and I know sometimes it’s easy to write off paperhammer projects
when they just look like... well, cardboard.
But even just a basic coat of primer shows how great these models can
look.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lQBTpgpyfgao32Bt1QbiFFBaxT2lnNpYiZUArqNxkXbtRbb1MWMzbh652pHA3IxKncpWeYlXRe1VAiQHonxKyITKk6jRMPgBabPFzMTdS5W82vSjBtZBI-ZBxHUQ_90UihR0TlyZDF_s/s1600/Knight+Primed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lQBTpgpyfgao32Bt1QbiFFBaxT2lnNpYiZUArqNxkXbtRbb1MWMzbh652pHA3IxKncpWeYlXRe1VAiQHonxKyITKk6jRMPgBabPFzMTdS5W82vSjBtZBI-ZBxHUQ_90UihR0TlyZDF_s/s320/Knight+Primed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I’ll put up a few more shots as it gets some color on it,
but I wanted to give you a look at it right now.</div>
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And next time, I thought I could go over some basics before diving into
that Destroyer.</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-72528572280060726802016-01-12T09:00:00.000-08:002016-01-11T01:35:23.780-08:00Gaming on the Cheap<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It’s the new year, so I thought I’d post a few quick
thoughts about this geeky blog and... well, what I feel like I’m doing here.</div>
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Yeah, I know. I don’t
do much here. Very funny.</div>
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Anyway, on one level, this page is pretty straightforward. Miniature wargaming can be an expensive
hobby. Bare-bones entry level can be
over a hundred dollars, and that’s not even talking glue, paint, or time. A few
years back I hit a long stretch of poverty—not imagined-poverty or slight-belt-tightening,
but actual how-do-we-pay-rent-<i>this</i>-month poverty? <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/peter-clines/black-friday-this-time-its-personal/10153119941196039">It was a really bleak time</a>,
made more so because my absolute favorite hobby went from a big part of my life
to completely unaffordable in about a month.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpYu9DZPX4FoeqVghsRxOSVEqCg6YfjNpQKSKFVUdwA2O7TmPVrjaAA3LjH0U2ftztxBZByuwW8NwaTbkH5hOEHdyiTJKn9q1bdYsuab1O2wxpqP0CkB34Z2dS3y0it0fYJvgSK7xA8tc7/s1600/Baneblade+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpYu9DZPX4FoeqVghsRxOSVEqCg6YfjNpQKSKFVUdwA2O7TmPVrjaAA3LjH0U2ftztxBZByuwW8NwaTbkH5hOEHdyiTJKn9q1bdYsuab1O2wxpqP0CkB34Z2dS3y0it0fYJvgSK7xA8tc7/s200/Baneblade+2.JPG" width="200" /></a>Then I found Paperhammer.
It’s like finding the light of the Emperor, just... cheaper. I’d worked in the film industry for a bunch
of years as a prop guy, so I had some passable art/craft skills. I dug around online (using the internet at the library) and found templates for <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/07/rhino-redux.html">Rhinos</a>, <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2010/02/mk1-land-raider-part-three.html">Land Raiders</a>,
Baneblades, <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2010/09/awakened-monolith-part-ii.html">Monoliths</a>... even Titans. And
<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/11/new-stc-data-discovered.html">there are some <i>great</i> templates out there</a>. Almost identical to the company models once
they’re painted. Suddenly 40K was
affordable again! The big expense was
white glue and paper for the printer.</div>
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Alas, while I’ve managed to claw my way back into the middle
class, I know there are still some folks who haven’t. Worse yet, Games Workshop’s prices have
skyrocketed over the past few years.
Thirty dollars per figure? Fifty
dollars for bare-basic tanks? I remember
when $150 would pretty much get you a solid army—and that wasn’t so long
ago. Now it’s a lucky thing if that same
$150 can round out your Heavy Support choices.
<br />
<br />
So being able to build a lot of these models on the cheap means keeping the
game open and available to a lot more folks.
That’s a good thing. And I’m glad
to share my tips and experience with you.
Read another way, I’ve screwed up so you don’t have to.</div>
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On another level, though... The hobby part of this game
doesn’t just mean buying the boxed set, putting it together with company glue,
and painting it with company paints. In fact, there was a time when said
company encouraged creativity and offered tips to players who couldn’t afford
to drop a lot of money. <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/10/kroot-encampment.html">Making terrain out of cardboard </a>and styrofoam used to be a regular feature in <i>White Dwarf</i> articles.
Black Gobbo ran a great piece (remember Black Gobbo?) showing how to mix
parts from a Basilisk and a Leman Russ to create a very passable Salamander and Destroyer. Heck, I remember when the Ogre line was first
introduced for Fantasy, <i>White Dwarf</i> ran a whole article about how to
convert Hero characters from basic ogres (just in case you couldn’t afford the
big metal models. </div>
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(I’ll touch on this again in a few weeks)</div>
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Thing is, I <i>like</i> making my own models and scenery pieces.
I enjoy it. I’m proud of the fact that I turned three
Tony’s Pizza boxes into a very solid<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/02/imperial-knights-part-xii-end.html"> Imperial Knight</a> and some bargain-store
Halloween decorations into <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2011/10/skull-rock.html">multi-use scenery</a>.
I like being able to turn some random pieces I dug out of my local
gaming store’s bitz bins into a unique and impressive <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2013/10/space-marine-captain.html">Captain for my Relictors</a>
or a character for an <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/07/age-of-sigmar.html">Age of Sigmar</a> game.</div>
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So, that’s that this is all about. For me, anyway. Making the game accessible to a lot more
people and giving those people a chance to do something a lot more personal and
unique with the units in their army.<br />
<br />
If any of that interests you... thanks for being here. <br />
<br />
I’ll try to be semi-interesting.</div>
</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-2645823546199139412015-12-29T18:00:00.000-08:002015-12-29T18:00:51.980-08:00Defiler Weapons<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Whoa! I wanted to get
one last post in before the end of the year and realized this is post
<b>#150</b>. Many thanks to the seven of you
who bother to keep checking in...</div>
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<br />
Anyway, in these last days of the year, I
thought we could go over the final weapons options for the Defiler. Yeah, only three years late.
Or a few weeks late, depending on how you look at it. Either way, not too impressive, I know.</div>
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Hey, <a href="http://amzn.to/1OYhL9a">I’ve been busy...</a></div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRRSaCd88UDxynREQ_9ogygT-ry-uYEE8CYJ_F9PVaRluyNt5d3zIK8hyphenhyphenYzm-sWf91uatrGCraUWfoRKlDZ8MaQiRF4IsgSskxCSRPkWADHbnOaE0XBCp8vm-K4yKrnd3hpj2oZB2bucXN/s1600/recap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRRSaCd88UDxynREQ_9ogygT-ry-uYEE8CYJ_F9PVaRluyNt5d3zIK8hyphenhyphenYzm-sWf91uatrGCraUWfoRKlDZ8MaQiRF4IsgSskxCSRPkWADHbnOaE0XBCp8vm-K4yKrnd3hpj2oZB2bucXN/s200/recap.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2010/10/defiler-pt-iv.html">A quick recap</a>.
I built the hull and legs of a Chaos Defiler entirely from
cardstock. The only non-paper part is
the ball-and-socket joints, made from some wooden balls I got at my local hobby
shop for about two bucks. I designed one to be more of a
Nurgle firebase while the other was going to be a Khorne close-combat monster.</div>
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First off, I’m not going to be doing the weapons for my
Khornate one, despite the current wave of Khorne madness. Games Workshop changed the options for Defilers
since I first worked on this project, and I think it doesn’t work out that
great for an all close-combat version.
Power fists and dreadnaught close combat weapons are not the same thing,
alas.</div>
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That’s just one of <a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/2014/04/chaos-bias.html">my many problems with the current Chaos Marine codex</a>, though.
Maybe it’ll all go away someday soon and we’ll finally get one that
<a href="http://atomicwarlords.blogspot.com/2013/11/happy-chaos-giving.html">shows the ruinous powers some love</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But I’m not holding my breath.</div>
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Anyway...</div>
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</div>
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As I mentioned above, I’d always planned on going much more
range-oriented on the Death Guard Defiler.
As such, I decided to skip close-combat arms altogether and go with an
autocannon/ havoc missile launcher set-up.
Ranged firepower on the move, plus the battle cannon when stationary.</div>
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So, here’s what a bit of experience and R&D can
teach you. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAxcmQGWc3nKcT2PWMK3PTYW4trupkgQPtq15_NYNj2iVie2eKHRlhA_BvPA7VaceA2MnMDxMGHoCO-JHPoFHTB5nakDOBof_EE6Zcin65iwaEeQ_Qd-V5FG1iALks0CdrmKhmhKeXJz6t/s1600/thin+cardstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAxcmQGWc3nKcT2PWMK3PTYW4trupkgQPtq15_NYNj2iVie2eKHRlhA_BvPA7VaceA2MnMDxMGHoCO-JHPoFHTB5nakDOBof_EE6Zcin65iwaEeQ_Qd-V5FG1iALks0CdrmKhmhKeXJz6t/s200/thin+cardstock.jpg" width="144" /></a>The twin autocannons are using the template from Newobmij‘s Imperial
Knight—it comes with a heavy stubber, and a few subtle tweaks will let it work
as an autocannon. That template’s
available in<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/11/new-stc-data-discovered.html"> the STC archive</a> if you want to check that.</div>
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Now, I used this template <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/02/imperial-knights-part-xi.html">twice for the Knight</a>, and
the only issue was that it doesn’t work as well with thicker material. So I looked around for something a little
thinner-than-cereal/pizza box cardstock that would curve well. It being the holidays, I realized the mailing
envelopes I was using to send out books was maybe 30-40% thinner. Also plentiful and cheap (don’t be
greedy—some folks need these envelopes to mail presents and end-of-year
business stuff).<br />
<!--[endif]--></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8o0uAMXBuN_jss1kKz8zNQ-vj_i99PZrlpoKrEIs87P4o43owFREAlh8KEavS5njNED7OvPcJZKku8wJ9myuUukLZ0LxsrgA_EMYkNhDxrSZjS7FkAb9nwAcn_sq_HwwCVNwds8T6vi1u/s1600/Autocannons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8o0uAMXBuN_jss1kKz8zNQ-vj_i99PZrlpoKrEIs87P4o43owFREAlh8KEavS5njNED7OvPcJZKku8wJ9myuUukLZ0LxsrgA_EMYkNhDxrSZjS7FkAb9nwAcn_sq_HwwCVNwds8T6vi1u/s200/Autocannons.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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That gave me two barrels.
The body’s just a basic 1” square box, 1/2” on the sides. I sketched it out, added some tabs, and out ti together. If it was a little loose, no big deal (I'll explain why in a minute). I glued the barrels on the cleanest side,
putting them together and closer to the top. I held it for about three minutes, then added another line of glue where the two barrels touched. If it was a little messy, well... it's Nurgle. I stood this on end and let it dry for about fifteen minutes or so before I started handling it. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LczA2rhMRFFE6vbVH8LjgCkUSIVKj02LKTbXNIgx20Q2y5s2S8vrOQh7kZqF20XjKZp2odbLpyLPi6b9MhjH5OHKaZd9RiRbmcmmJN-1MSqdLVrAygi3vvsRW-_ineDg8cKI9BEhNTss/s1600/blade+breakdown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LczA2rhMRFFE6vbVH8LjgCkUSIVKj02LKTbXNIgx20Q2y5s2S8vrOQh7kZqF20XjKZp2odbLpyLPi6b9MhjH5OHKaZd9RiRbmcmmJN-1MSqdLVrAygi3vvsRW-_ineDg8cKI9BEhNTss/s200/blade+breakdown.jpg" width="200" /></a>While the main body was drying, I made a simple axe-blade by cutting out a chisel shape and
then layering smaller chisels on either side of it. If you really wanted to go crazy, you could put more of a curve to this, but just remember it's really important to make the curves on all three pieces line up. I mounted this on the bottom
barrel of the autocannon as the standard
chaos underslung blade.</div>
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Normally each autocannon would have big ammunition drums or at least dangling belts. I decided to work around those by putting an armor plate over the whole thing. It was just a matching 1” square that I extended by 1/2” in the back and 1/4” in the front. Then I put a top and bottom on it and gave the whole thing 45 degree corners. That might all sound a little odd, but by doing it this way I’ve got a bit more weight towards the back. Which is cool, because the Defiler’s “abdomen” is already a little front-heavy with the battle cannon. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy2QWzkC8NHy5i5alMng05LjfIeevK0R8GQDL1jVgt0_w6ZTMNYXABeilw7Kk4mqmgeOB9vrf6P0Zt3yVe_BPqxEUNK1Jw4ekgRWDprDzw_bViqKk6GRd2B1ttUk9LJoEoaTHBQqEQ0Z3M/s1600/autocannon+assem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy2QWzkC8NHy5i5alMng05LjfIeevK0R8GQDL1jVgt0_w6ZTMNYXABeilw7Kk4mqmgeOB9vrf6P0Zt3yVe_BPqxEUNK1Jw4ekgRWDprDzw_bViqKk6GRd2B1ttUk9LJoEoaTHBQqEQ0Z3M/s200/autocannon+assem.jpg" width="200" /></a>I cut some 1/8” strips and added trim along the edges of the armor, and also a few little Chaos “barbs,” or whatever you might like to call them. The little jags and triangles that show up on most Chaos armor and weaponry. I used the 1/16" and 1/8" hole punch to create a bit of "corrosion" on one corner of the armor plate. As a final touch, I used some <a href="http://amzn.to/1OYj7AV">1/4" discs</a> to add a Nurgle icon.</div>
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I thought about building a traditional, six-barreled missile
launcher like the one that comes on the Chaos vehicle sprue. But then I realized I could do something fun
and a little more custom with a seven-barreled missile launcher. Because all the true believers know how much
Papa Nurgle loves his sevens...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6hmEDMeEpKdFpjxLoh1WMQ-napjJCY5O99KHQXpFdyY-8by5B7jj_FgJI-FAxc_1QVu3HqRVhxLWvR5URpKdgFn6c4peBMogGcIyNkSdy8ojNlcb3iSE9TowUzDU4smD0oVjMpmkkVtuF/s1600/missile+diagram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6hmEDMeEpKdFpjxLoh1WMQ-napjJCY5O99KHQXpFdyY-8by5B7jj_FgJI-FAxc_1QVu3HqRVhxLWvR5URpKdgFn6c4peBMogGcIyNkSdy8ojNlcb3iSE9TowUzDU4smD0oVjMpmkkVtuF/s200/missile+diagram.jpg" width="77" /></a><o:p> </o:p></div>
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I started with a 3/4” x 3/4” box and drew an X across it,
corner to corner. Then I used discs from
<a href="http://amzn.to/1YN2O4u">the 1/8” hole punch</a> to mark out five spots—one at the center and the others
equidistant out from the center one. The
whole thing looked a lot like a D6 when I was done.</div>
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<b><i>Helpful Hint—</i></b>When laying this out, remember
that you’re not going from the center point—you’re measuring from the edge of
the center disc, 1/16” out from the center point. If you don’t take that into
account, you D6 face will look a bit squished.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNQIARq7MJGl3kL60fPH83S0owymLxLikYr3L5EvJ0OjaIfQL0TSurz6As2t6vPo9_zXNOQuT7pMyhd-lrXSfzNvx4sdk6Np58h5lFegQw8da2UHArV-T_NsnDMGFFyMaxzqS-O7pUk_a/s1600/missile+armor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNQIARq7MJGl3kL60fPH83S0owymLxLikYr3L5EvJ0OjaIfQL0TSurz6As2t6vPo9_zXNOQuT7pMyhd-lrXSfzNvx4sdk6Np58h5lFegQw8da2UHArV-T_NsnDMGFFyMaxzqS-O7pUk_a/s200/missile+armor.jpg" width="158" /></a>Once I had the five spots, I just mirrored them above and
below to give me a 1-2-1-2-1 pattern.
Seven silos. I added a 45 degree
line off each corner and that gave me the front plate of my Nurglesque havoc
launcher. I cut it out, traced it, and
now I had a back plate. Measuring the
edges gave me the lengths of all six faces of the sides (which were 3/4” and
just a hair over 9/16”). I’d be more
exact about it except the whole body is going to be covered by another armor
plate. I gave it the same trim, jags, and icon as the autocannon.</div>
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For the shoulders I traced a 25mm base and cut out 14
circles. These were stacked and glued
until I had two discs that were seven layers thick (there’s those sevens
again). I put clothespins on these so
they’d glue flat and let them sit for a bit.<br />
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdvQ_2aoJXs7yZLUBw3ZunfcyeM1OK3UIa3yHFcNSqDSrInuRcwroDM7DMhg1RC5aroCdtjFeNo2WYmkWyuJorZcRNDgfp_7iJmBSqInWNyuI8TzMR6a2C-88PE78g5qd8pbWRXviQgcS8/s1600/shoulder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdvQ_2aoJXs7yZLUBw3ZunfcyeM1OK3UIa3yHFcNSqDSrInuRcwroDM7DMhg1RC5aroCdtjFeNo2WYmkWyuJorZcRNDgfp_7iJmBSqInWNyuI8TzMR6a2C-88PE78g5qd8pbWRXviQgcS8/s200/shoulder.jpg" width="200" /></a><b><i>Important Note—</i></b>in retrospect, these are a little small for
Defiler shoulders. Not horribly so, but
just enough that it gnaws at me a bit.
It wasn’t clear until the whole thing was together. If you wanted to use this same method, I’d
use a 40mm for my tracing template. I
still might pull it apart and do new ones before<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/11/warm-liquid-goo-phase.html"> the warm liquid goo phase</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM1eCXY8Ve6aVVK6T6FHTkXefWFjXVGw_PP91Tq_V9AZnuRdk298cwW4h0nkiWoc-zgwW493zhFsyTdEXeoHTEvYTtxHBtyL5w7nQGSbxVPWSYnjF_q6du9VQPrsmAKX9QtMYlbYC4JCWc/s1600/blast+shield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM1eCXY8Ve6aVVK6T6FHTkXefWFjXVGw_PP91Tq_V9AZnuRdk298cwW4h0nkiWoc-zgwW493zhFsyTdEXeoHTEvYTtxHBtyL5w7nQGSbxVPWSYnjF_q6du9VQPrsmAKX9QtMYlbYC4JCWc/s200/blast+shield.jpg" width="199" /></a>While the shoulders were drying I decided to go back and add
some rivets to the whole model. Looking
back, I guess I never got to the rivet stage before. I know I had <a href="http://amzn.to/1OYiYxh">the 1/16” hole punch</a> at that
point because the corroded effects were done with it. Anyway, I glued a few
rivets on at some key points.</div>
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I also decided to bulk up the blast plate that sits behind
the battle cannon. The one from<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2010/09/defiler-pt-iii.html"> the original template</a> is kind of puny.
So I built a larger one and added some more trim and rivets. It gave the center a bit more heft.</div>
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I glued the shoulders onto the central hull. Again, I tried
to center them back a bit to help counterbalance the battle cannon. Once they were dry I added the weapons. Because all of this is straight connections,
I was able to stack the whole thing and use my phone for a bit of weight.</div>
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And there’s a range-loaded Defiler, just like that.<br />
<br />
(ignoring the three year gap)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK1_t3rr8Ktk2EvnxEIRHiDV1zMhYOtGrep5cx42HlwgbptrDNIDGMp5lvCdgv_N9knL7qti6SfN2MH0w2MKST9MtltyBFg0AsxWDko5CCCfEZKGVvMhY03fkCxQ069kJEgCZPX74TpUlk/s1600/Defiler+fin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK1_t3rr8Ktk2EvnxEIRHiDV1zMhYOtGrep5cx42HlwgbptrDNIDGMp5lvCdgv_N9knL7qti6SfN2MH0w2MKST9MtltyBFg0AsxWDko5CCCfEZKGVvMhY03fkCxQ069kJEgCZPX74TpUlk/s400/Defiler+fin.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-3294958541113371282015-11-18T08:30:00.000-08:002015-11-18T08:30:00.673-08:00Cheap Helbrute Conversion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So, lots of people are already talking about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtlI1n-ZYVw&feature=youtu.be">the new Horus Heresy plastics</a>. I might at some point in the future, too. For the moment, though, I wanted to look back
at the last big sci-fi set...</div>
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(okay, seriously, how do we describe the connection between
30K/Heresy and 40K? Are they just the
#0K games? Imperium-based games? Grim
Future games?)</div>
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</div>
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...their last box set from mankind’s grim future, and show
something fun and cheap you can do with that.</div>
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You can still find <a href="http://www.hobbytitan.com/dark-vengeance/">lots of Dark Vengeance stuff online</a>, most of it at half to 1/5th what you’d pay for them as individual units.
A full tactical squad is about twenty bucks.
A lot of HQ characters are just two or three dollars. And you can usually find the Dark Vengeance Dreadna—sorry,
old habits—Helbrute <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/WARHAMMER-40K-BITS-DARK-VENGEANCE-HELBRUTE-MORTIS-METALIKUS-CSM-/371486357088">for under ten bucks</a>.</div>
<br />
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Now, as I’ve mentioned before, there’s a reason for
this. Like<a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-few-thoughts-on-dark-vengeance.html"> most of the Dark Vengeance models</a>, the Helbrute’s a block of plastic
that takes some serious time and effort if you want to do any major
conversions (that said—I’ve seen <a href="http://40kressurected.blogspot.com/2012/09/hell-brute-conversion-part-2.html">some great ones</a>). But it is possible to do some neat looking ones <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2012/10/yet-another-dark-vengeance-update.html">on the cheap without half as much effort</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg7BIvzJsFxiXFqPFVc7Fq5fzf64bf_gTxTd4rWlDdsxuk9aGjOSvJhOxyYWagmlrE1QSCt89ShFucO4GdSl-6jIM472dBTDlREGa2Pj0G3FWSPETWwZCrZjx1gGWSmvsLS6f2nlmAFfK-/s1600/Ocul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg7BIvzJsFxiXFqPFVc7Fq5fzf64bf_gTxTd4rWlDdsxuk9aGjOSvJhOxyYWagmlrE1QSCt89ShFucO4GdSl-6jIM472dBTDlREGa2Pj0G3FWSPETWwZCrZjx1gGWSmvsLS6f2nlmAFfK-/s200/Ocul.jpg" width="200" /></a>For example...</div>
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This particular Helbrute is going to be named Occulus Blight,
and it’ll be joining my Death Guard.
Before I even started putting him together, I rolled up a little ball of
green stuff. A little bigger than a pea,
a little smaller than a marble. I rolled
this back and forth between my fingers until it was as round and smooth as I
could get it. Then I very carefully
pushed it into the hood/collar hole where the little face piece would normally
go. I didn’t want the teeth/claws around
the hole to gouge the surface of the ball.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZpyy7P-52kQ-O73QxJY40o-lRRtIuoQpGyAUDcS449v4fbE6SEX4SlrzHs9s5xZPD2o4ewjuiqdxWW5hGcT4TQqVfy5tXze7AcOdSZaE4Q-3CJoAPNDfZfXyXZW3aPr9Lut2kjAqEz5-t/s1600/Oculus+inside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZpyy7P-52kQ-O73QxJY40o-lRRtIuoQpGyAUDcS449v4fbE6SEX4SlrzHs9s5xZPD2o4ewjuiqdxWW5hGcT4TQqVfy5tXze7AcOdSZaE4Q-3CJoAPNDfZfXyXZW3aPr9Lut2kjAqEz5-t/s200/Oculus+inside.jpg" width="198" /></a>Once this was in place, I stretched the putty out on either
side to help hold it in place. Again, I had to be careful so I didn’t force it
into the teeth/claws on the other side. This was tricky and I had to try
twice. Fortunately, on something this
simple, messing up just means pulling the blob out and rolling it smooth again.
So don’t panic too much. It maybe took
ten minutes from starting to mix the green stuff to having it in place. I let it
dry for another fifteen minutes—face up! I didn’t want its own weight
to make a flat spot on the ball—and then assembled the Helbrute as normal.</div>
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Look at that. One big
eye in the socket. Much Nurgle. So pestilent.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-sDsvKP79TWhybm4-uWCHPo2c8pwUvGBY0HoI9-9ZqW-UQ5XxcHd6NM-ZPkqsSbYrQvsRGbcBKzvBJU35JnMazWAX0qe7m2fUHL1UwX7f8-VF2FHsLObvR9DUHDxTgpz_uWEYBF-iGsbJ/s1600/Oculus+details.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-sDsvKP79TWhybm4-uWCHPo2c8pwUvGBY0HoI9-9ZqW-UQ5XxcHd6NM-ZPkqsSbYrQvsRGbcBKzvBJU35JnMazWAX0qe7m2fUHL1UwX7f8-VF2FHsLObvR9DUHDxTgpz_uWEYBF-iGsbJ/s200/Oculus+details.jpg" width="200" /></a><o:p> </o:p></div>
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I did a few quick detail things. An old scenic rubble piece went on the base. I snipped off the chains that hang from the
power fist and added some “tentacles” made from the horns of a Chaos Marine
helmet. It’s hard to tell, but I also added
a big tentacle to his power plant—one of the ones from the old mutation sprue. It looks really good there, and it’s got me
thinking some of those bulkier pieces might work really well on other Chaos
dreadna—sorry, did it again—Helbrutes.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Yrw5ZLhYgDjCg3n6ItUf1sJJn9Eyb9eMnAMeT2Jvl6VqPyYivgWeR69tydIkOzVn9_ovh83rKCc9Bf3b7KwFgM2_ehPlE7TiyJ139m6ybLghhbbT1ep0R5bbi2yRoaAvMJKsa_nGE5dp/s1600/Oculus+hull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Yrw5ZLhYgDjCg3n6ItUf1sJJn9Eyb9eMnAMeT2Jvl6VqPyYivgWeR69tydIkOzVn9_ovh83rKCc9Bf3b7KwFgM2_ehPlE7TiyJ139m6ybLghhbbT1ep0R5bbi2yRoaAvMJKsa_nGE5dp/s200/Oculus+hull.jpg" width="200" /></a>I didn’t glue the front plate-armor-hull piece in place
because I want to paint the eye without too many extra bits around it. So I’ll
prime those seperately and assemble them later.
As one last bit of detail, I added a centered horn to the armor
plate. It’s something I pulled from <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-bitz-bins.html">the bits bins</a> at one point—I think it might be from the Chaos Terminators
set. Central horns are distinctively
Nurgle in 40K (and related games). </div>
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All in all, maybe an hour to make a distinctive Helbrute. And about a third of that was just digging up
parts and mixing drinks.</div>
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(Primed and basic paint pictures coming this weekend)</div>
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Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061921503518017338.post-87187453555614911522015-11-11T09:30:00.000-08:002017-12-27T19:49:30.556-08:00New STC Data Discovered<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Just a quick post this time.</div>
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As has been noted, I haven’t added the templates for the
past few projects into <a href="https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7fZpQcx1UEMQ3MwWWpudXE5Vm8&usp=sharing">the STC archive</a>. Sorry about that. There
were some password problems, now resolved.</div>
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(and, as a reminder to myself, the new password is now in the
original document for this post...)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLCzWfg0eTG1Yks79E4e0rj1xuejmY7MEZLLsXQhHIGFiI_9lxv3i0rqPK1exrwFki4rq_ZVj_mHxIFv-4l4SpWJKleEINrrdycRXrKMNId_8VLwn31RHyxmGG3jglIAvnTTcSEOz26eVB/s1600/20150419_141440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLCzWfg0eTG1Yks79E4e0rj1xuejmY7MEZLLsXQhHIGFiI_9lxv3i0rqPK1exrwFki4rq_ZVj_mHxIFv-4l4SpWJKleEINrrdycRXrKMNId_8VLwn31RHyxmGG3jglIAvnTTcSEOz26eVB/s200/20150419_141440.jpg" width="200" /></a>Anyway, everything should be current now, including <a href="https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7fZpQcx1UEMQ3MwWWpudXE5Vm8&usp=sharing">templates</a> for <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/04/promethium-pipes.html">the promethium pipes</a> and <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/10/kroot-encampment.html">the Kroot tents</a> (there's a whole <b>Scenery </b>folder in the archive now).
I’ll try to be a lot better about keeping it up to date. Maybe even pre-updated, so the templates are uploaded
before I start new projects.</div>
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Over the next few weeks, I’m hoping to finish off an old
project that’s been sitting here for... well, about four years waiting for
final touches. Maybe dabble with some
cheap or easy conversions. A few tricks
and techniques. And I’m going to get
back to a basic Paperhammer tank.
Something to deal with all the <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/02/imperial-knights-part-xii-end.html">Knights</a> and <a href="http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.com/2015/09/part-nine.html">Gargants</a>.</div>
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Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0