Shoulder Pads MkIII

So I have made some molds of some custom Space Marine shoulder pads.  I have just been doing very basic symbols on the pads, crossed arrows for the Assault Squads, Arrows for the Tactical Squads, and Chevrons for the Devastator Squads.

An Example of a Tactical Sgt w/ Laurel to show rank

This afternoon I have been casting shoulder pads like it is going out of style! The resin that I am using is a rather fast acting resin it has a working time of about 90 seconds so I have to move rather quick to get the molds set and ready.

Here are three of the Molds with the Resin in them

The resin only takes about 10 minutes to finish hardening up before it is ready to come out of the Mold. I purchased a kit at the local Hobby Lobby and it came with the everything I needed to make the molds and even the resin.  I think if I try to make molds again I'll see if I can get a more flexible rubber for the molds. Each mold makes two shoulder pads.

The Sgt Shoulder Pad Mold open with the Pads in it

Here is a Tactical Pad, Look at all the Flash

  The nice thing is that the flash is paper thin, and is easily cleaned up. This set turned out pretty good if I say so my self.

All the shoulder pads out of the molds and waiting to be cleaned

A Number of the pads cleaned up and waiting to get primed

Some of the shoulder pads had air bubbles so I'll be adding a little green stuff to fill in the gaps.  These shoulder pads ar turning out better than I had thought they would. and I think they will give my Tact, Assault, and Dev Squads a unique look to them.  I can't wait to get them primed and painted.

Questions and Comments are welcome

Kitting out a Tactical Squad

Two troops choices and a HQ, that is the base for the standard Space Marine force organization chart.  That is the standard base for any army in the game. I thought that I would talk what my thought process was when I put together a all Plasma Squad.  I say all Plasma because it is a standard tactical  squad with ten men in it and I have given the Sgt a Plasma Pistol, one of the tactical Marines a Plasma Rifle, and an other a Plasma Cannon.

 

Ten Man Tactical Squad

For the Sgt. I went with the Plasma Pistol over the Combi-Plasma Rifle, is because of the assault I want to be-able to have one more Plasma burst before close combat. I feel like the constancy of the 12 inch range and being able to have more than one shot of plasma from the Sgt, is more beneficial to the range of the single shot Combi-Plasma Rifle.  

Sgt with Plasma Pistol

Next is the Tactical Marine with the Plasma Rifle, Str 7 AP 2 is not too shabby, having the option to move on still shoot 12 inches is nice also and the rapid fire.  I wish that I could field a squad with two special weapons much like the Space Wolves or Chaos Space Marines. I think that the Plasma Rifle is me favorite special weapon that the Tactical squad has to offer. The AP 2 is crucial for tacking down heavy infantry, and the 24 inch range is what makes this my favorite.

Tactical Marine with Plasma Rifle

The final piece to this team is the Tactical Marine with the Heavy Weapon, that heavy weapon is over course the Plasma Cannon, 36 inch range Str 7 AP 2 template! This is heavy infantries worst enemy.  The AP2 means invulnerable save if they have them, if it was only str 8 it would also double out most things.  Not one to look a gift house in the mouth putting down a AP 2 Template does quite that damage. When it comes to holding the line this is my weapon of choice.

Heavy Weapon Marine (Plasma Cannon)

At 200 points this unit will hold its own in shooting and hold the line fairly well.  I like to use this unit as one of my two troop choices nine times out of ten.  I enjoy running this troop choice so much that I am currently building another one.


Questions and Comments are always welcome.

Adding Wash to Mini's

My Medic From the Command Squad

So this is the Medic that is from my Platoon Command Squad, I am using IG arms and Bits with the Wargame Factory's Shock Troop Bodies and Heads.  I have built one ten man squad which is painted and and washed.  What I have done is to color the eyes different so that I can tell the difference between the command squad (Red) and the other troops (Blue).

This post is to show the difference between a Washed (Badab Black) and an Un-Washed model. The above model has not been washed.  I will also be painting the base to look like the others, I'll wash it then they will be finished.

Trooper, Washed with Badab Black

For the IG that I am painting up right now I am just going for a three Color Minimum and a Wash.  That is it. I just want to get them done quick and to a good table top standard.

The Ten man Squad Finished

As you can see I have a ton of stuff in the background of the photo that I am still working on, in time I'll be finishing them up and posting the progress!

BADAB WAR (Chapter Master Mantoea)

I thought I would paint up the BOLS Named Character in their BADAB war campaign.  This character is a HQ choice that is on a Space Marine Bike, his chapter tactics all the units in the army gain the scout USR, however only the TROOPS can out flank.  Not too bad, but it really didn't make too much sense that he is on a bike.  I figure that if I play around with some different builds I'll find a list that works well.

Right now this model is still a work in progress.  But here are the photos to date.

I primed with Army Painter "Army Green"

Next added Black

Next Brown

Next Silver

Followed with Yellow

Just Used Gold to trim the Bike

 

 

 

I'll be adding the decals to the front of the bike and the shoulder pad.  I'll post the finished model once I finish it.

Like always questions and comments are welcome

Going Old School with Hero Quest

I would say that I am a pretty active member on a Hero Quest forum.  I have started a project page that is keeping track of my progress in painting a complete set of the miniatures from the main game system.  It is going to be painting all 35 Miniatures.  Here are a few that I has painted back in highschool.  I'll be stripping them down with simple green, re-priming them and putting new paint on them.  I figure I can use these as a comparison later.

All that I painted back in the Day

This is one of my Favorite Dwarf Miniatures Ever!

Well here they are and as I start getting them painted I'll start posting here.
As always questions and comments are welcome.

Near Finished Magnetized Predator

This month has been rather slow with the hobby progress, I have been busy and what not.  However I was able to get more paint on my Predator Tank for my Emperors Fists army.  I magnetized all the weapon options, I was luck when I was look in my bits box I found two extra side sponsons so I was able to use them.

I went with the Lascannon options first

Here you can see the magnets on the sponsons

I don't know why I painted the Lascannons first, I have game this weekend against Orcs and I know I want to use the Autocannon and Heavy Bolters for that game.

These are the final peaces that I need to finish

Everything

The interior

Near Finished Devastator Squad

So before I base this Devastator Squad I thought I would take a couple of photos of it.  Right now the squad stands at 5, 2 Heavy Bolters, 2 Lascannons, and 1 sgt.  The heavy weapons, can be intermixed in with the other Tactical squad, so it gives the army a little more flexibility.

The two Heavy Bolters

The Sgt and the two Lascannons

I glad that the Devastator Squad is near completion, now I just need to get the predator tank finished here in the near future.  I have a game coming up vs. Orcs and I want to use the auto cannon, and heavy bolter version in that game.  I am very close to having that model rapped up as well. (once I am finished with that tank I'll post)

The hand painted chevrons

The Sgt not looking to bad

With this squad like the rest of this army, I just did a simple base coat on the model then dry brushed.  The blue color for instance I used night sky (darker blue) for the base color, then dry brushed dragon blue (lighter blue). After which I highlight a little, then paint the details.  This makes painting go rather quick, and the models turn out looking pretty good.

As always questions and comments are welcome.

A little more painting progress

On the "Sitnam Warriors" front I have been making some more head way.  Right now I am at the point that I need to base and put decals on about nine models to finish them.  Plus I have two company commanders pretty much finished up.  The one in the Terminator Armor is just waiting for me to put the decal on, the one with the power sword is waiting for me to make up my mind whether to give him a storm bolter or plasma pistol of just a bolt pistol.

You can see three more model almost finished

I have also put together and painted up another Terminator this one will be the first assault Terminator this one will have a thunder hammer and storm shield.  When it is all said and done I'll end up with a total of ten assault five with lighting claws and five with thunder hammers and storm shields.  On the power weapons they have a muted purple color to them right now I am going to be dry brushing a blue over the purple and hopefully it will give them a pretty cool effect.

Here is a close up of the unfinished power weapon

The above photo is going to be one of the two company commanders. You can also kind of see the purple color on the power weapon right now, I'll post photos of the finished model once I make up my mind what weapon to equip  him with.  (Comments will be very appreciated)

Terminator company commander

This is the Terminator command unit you can also see that purple color on the lighting claws.  I will be painting the skull on the Iron Halo white, and then also adding a gold color to it as well.

Like always questions and comments are welcome.

Getting off my Duff

After typing up my last post I got to to thinking, I what I have in front of me really is not too much.  This afternoon I decided to pick up my brush and start working on the next Sternguard Vet for my Kill Zone list.

Here is the model primed

As you can see this guy has a number of grenades on him, the cool thing about the Kill Zone rules set is that models can throw their grenades.  This will be a little in game reminder for me.  It is pretty cool, however with this guy being a Sternguard Vet I will most likely be using the special issue ammo.

Here we are after some paint

I still need to go back and do some touch up painting on the model, but once that is finished and the shoulder pads are painted and glued on this guy will be finished.  Oh yeah I also have to paint the back pack as well.  I am going to keep the helmet skull theme on all of my Sternguard Vets for this army.  It is not too difficult to do.

Better look at the helmet detailing

That is all for now, like always questions and comments are welcome

2011 Plans for 40K

Seeing as most blogs that I follow have done some kind of "year in review", or "what I plan for this year" kind of post.  I felt a little left out.  (that and I have not posted anything since 2010)

So instead of trying to make goals to stick to for a whole year.  I am going to first look at what I have done, and what I want to get done in the next couple of months.  Like most people who play 40K I have a number of different project going on at one time.  In my case I have three major projects that I want to get finished or very near completion.  The three project are (1) Hirst Arts Space Hulk board, (2) finish space marine "Emperors Fists" army, (3) continued "Sitman Warriors" army.  Those are the big three project that I have going right now.  On the back burner are painting 40K Orcs, and painting a Hero Quest board game miniatures.

Project 1 Space Hulk Hirst Arts Board


This project started out like gang busters, but has slowed to a crawl. Mainly due tot he fact that I have run out of dental plastic to cast the pieces, and that I have put away and stored the molds.  This is a project I really want to get it knocked out because it will be cool once it is finished and it really is not that hard to do.  When I sat down and put the pieces together to make the board pieces it was really fun and rather rewarding to see how they all look together.   So the goal for this is to suck it up and order more plaster and start casting molds again!  The assembly was pretty fun and once they get painted they will be awesome.

Project 2 "Emperors Fist" Space Marines

This army is so close to being finished.  I mean so close I can taste it.  I have just finished painting a count as "Lysander" model for the army.  All the tactical marines are painted, a scout squad is painted, terminators painted as well, I just need to base a devastator squad and base and finish painting a command squad.  So all of the infantry type models for this army are pretty much set.  All I need to do is finish painting a Predator tank, 2 rhinos, and a Land Raider Crusader.  When I type it out it doesn't really seem like too much.  My goal for this project is to get it done!  If in the next month or two I can have one more rhino painted, and all the infantry  models painted and based that will be a huge step.

Project 3 "Sitman Warriors" Space Marines

This is just a on going project, in the immediate future I have to base the rest of my Marines for the second tactical Squad.  I have started to add more models to my Kill Team, (1 more sternguard). I have also started to make a assault terminators, one with lightning claws (pretty much finished just needs a decal put on the shoulder pad, and the sealed) and another one with a thunder hammer and storm shield.  This is a army that I am slowly building up piece by piece, one squad at a time.  I should really sit down and make an army list for these guys.  Goals for this army are, just to continue working on them over the next few months.

All and all these are not going to be too hard to make these goals that I have set out for the next couple of months.  It is just a matter of doing it.  Oh yeah and of course I'll continue posting as I progress on these as well.