WH40K - Deadly Deathraider ... Of Death - mostly painted

Here's the Deathraider, with a slap of paint. I have to say that the aftermarket resin pieces I added are all very nicely sculpted. I decided on basic black, with a sort of tombstone grey for the stone work, and bone for the skeletons and skulls. Tamiya metallic spray for the weapons and tracks, with a little black ink here and there to tidy up spills and mess. I will have to re-do the black parts again, because I am getting sloppy with my drybrushing. As usual, I am going for tabletop, arms length quality, rather than 'Eavy Metal.

A quick rundown of the extra bits:

- Angel of Death side doors and ramp, from Chapterhouse Studios
- Rectangular and angled panels, from Scibor
- Tombstones and grave markers, from Renedra.

Chains from a craft shop. About $5 for two metres.  I just drilled small holes and used little nails to hold the chains on.

Skeleton from the Warhammer Giant plastic kit.

WH40K: Deadly Deathraider... Of Death.

I am building a Space Marine Landraider with a sort of Angel of Death theme. I am using resin add-on bits from a number of companies. I still have to add weapons, tracks and hatches, and possibly some chains.

The rectangular slabs and the odd shaped panels at the front are from Scibor Miniatures. I added some styrene strips to blank off the sides of the 'slabs' over the front tracks. They aren't very even now, but I will file them down. I want to paint them to look like stone, so a few rough edges will be acceptable.

The Landraider doors, front and sides are from Chapterhouse Studios.

I also used some tombstones (in polystyrene) from Renedra, leftover from a graveyard terrain piece I have been making for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and there are also a few bits from the bits box. (Skulls!)

The plan for painting is basic black with the decorations picked out in stone and bone. This vehicle should be suitable for the infamous Legion of the Damned.

WH40K: Puppetswar Big Gun

Big Momma gun add-on kit from Puppetswar.eu

Another conversion/add on for a Warhammer 40,000 vehicle model, this time from Puppetswar. They are another Polish creator of resin miniatures and accessories. These Poles certainly know how to make a nice wargaming product!

All aboard the Warbus!

I really like their Ork style Warbus, but I plumped for the Big Momma cannon, because I had a spare Rhino in the stash, and the Mekboss in me likes really big guns.

The main piece is a single mould of the big gun and front/top armour, which can be glued straight on to the top of the Rhino kit. (You need both sides, all the floor pieces, the top piece, the rear hatch and the tracks from the original kit. You will also need a hatch, the headlights and any accessory pieces such as badges that you want to add.)

There is also a rear piece with fans moulded on it - this goes directly over the rear door of the Rhino. There is a dozer blade (very large), an ammunition crane, and four ammunition pieces.

In the pictures you can see some brass bits and bobs which I added, partly to hide some gaps, and partly just for decoration. I also used brass tube to extend the crane. I just wanted to strengthen the crane pieces and decided to make it taller.

I realised that, unlike the Vindicator, which this resembles (but much bigger gun - some sort of envy, perhaps?) there is no driver hatch or vision slits. So I added a couple of pieces from the bits box to represent sensors for the driver, who presumably is watching a screen to steer this thing. I also put a spare eagle on top of the gun, for martial decoration.

That dozer blade is huge.

Puppetswar sells it and a similar piece separately as the 'War Plows'. It it would be a wonderful cow catcher for the armoured train I am going to build (one day).

WH40K: Maxmini Siege Guns - mostly painted

Here are the Siege Guns with most of the painting done.

I usually paint track pieces separately. I put them on double sided tape on a bit of board. I spray with Citadel Black and then Tamiya or Mr Colour Gunmetal. 

The vehicles are undercoated in Citadel Black, then Tamiya Light Sand. The tracks get glued on, then I go over them with paint markers for weathering. Silver paint marker for wear and tear, and various mud and dust colours for dirt. It's not precise, and it won't win any modelling prizes, but it's good enough for the table top. 

When I was building these kits, I accidentally dropped one of the guns, breaking the resin in a couple of places. Luckily I found a couple of the small fragments and glued them back on. Superglue (cyanoacrylate) adheres to resin very quickly, which is tricky if you are trying to adjust the placement of pieces on a model, but it is a very strong bond. Once painted, the join is hardly visible. I couldn't be bothered repairing the handle on the breech, because I expected it would just break off again during game play. 

WH40K - Fernvale Specialty Scenics

Another project finally makes it off the 'to do list'! I bought these resin scenery pieces a year or so ago. They are from Fernvale Specialty Scenics. (Although I don't see these pieces on the website; there are still some nice looking terrain bits for sale.)

They have been undercoated in cheap spray paint, then lashings of Tamiya Dark Yellow and Light Sand spray paint. I brush painted the rocks in Citadel Codex Grey, dry brushing in a mix of grey and white. I dry brushed some of the grey shades on the 'ground' but that looked a bit odd, so I touched it in with swabs from a Floquil Enamel Paint Marker (the colour is 'Earth'). This leaves a thin coat of 'dirt'; the markers are supposed to be used to weather AFV models, but once more I am finding that paint markers are the way to touch things up quickly. Also I find that scenery doesn't need the same level of care in painting as miniatures or vehicles do. Unless the dry brushing is too heavy handed, the only painting necessary is a couple of sprays of whatever colours are lying around. I used Tamiya Clear spray to varnish the pieces, but that turned out a little shiny, so I went over it with a dusting of Citadel Purity Seal, which seems to have worked.

The Ork graffiti is also done in paint markers, but it would be too easy to overdo that so I stopped. Sometimes the Finishing Fairy has to visit the work table and take your work away, letting you know that you have done enough and you can stop now.