Hornet Class Storm Talon Conversion [Rogue Trader]

Redscorps named his Storm Talon, figured I'd do the same with mine.  With the fact I went with a Skyhammer Missile option and this looks like some kind of insect I went for 'Hornet Class'.

Competition - Last chance for entries

Yeah we said 30th.  Guess we should look at a calendar or something and notice there are 31 days in March.  Oops.  Soz.

The still means though you have about 27 hours to get your entries in.  Plenty of time to glue that last bit of plasitcard on, watch as it falls off, swear loudly and throw the model against the wall.  Good thing you were doing an Ork conversion, nobody will ever know.  Just stop crying, it doesn't look good.

We've had some great entries in the last few days and look forward to a few more on the last day.  Midnight, Central time, tomorrow, Saturday March 31st  (that's next week sometime in Australia according to Red's corps) and we are done.  It'll take a few days to get the entries organized and then we'll get the voting under way.  Been some good entries, it'll be a decent fight.

See, even Forgeworld wanted in so they submitted their Storm Eagle.  Unfortunately they only gave us a painted shot so no win for them.  :)

Thanks

The Rogue Trader

[Project Log] "Goliath" Pattern Leviathan - Pt 1

(I take no credit for the work being done and in fact, dont know exactly who made this wonderful beast below. What I do know is, I have the stuff in hand to build it and will be making a nice detailed 'How to' log of it right here. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show!)

 More after the page break!

[Ramblings of Rictus] Looted Chimeras

As i'm a bit stuck at the moment on ideas for articles I thought I would show what I have been working on recently...

Not long ago I sold three Looted Leman Russ tanks, I had them spare and figured I could sell them for more once looted than as second hand Russes. They did quite well so I thought i'd do the same with a couple of spare Chimeras I had knocking around.

I kept things simple and Codex legal.

Looted Wagon 1:

[Redscorps] Hi, My names Kharn. I'm new here, can you show me around?

A nice and easy conversion for all of you World Eaters players out there. I love Kharn the Betrayer but the model is really old now and not overly imposing. I've always thought the SM Jump Chaplain was a great basis for this model with the cool pose and ancient looking armour but my previous attempt to make a custom Kharn with the metal one was rather unsuccessful (I also managed to chop an almond sized chunk right off the end of my index finger while trying to cut it, BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!).

I've not worked with the Finecast range before and had read a lot of bad publicity, but I have to say that working with the material is great. The level of detail is superb plus the fact that there were only a few minor mold lines and only one small bubble meant I was pretty stoked!

It's really easy to cut which afforded me the ability to remove the shoulder pad, head and scrolls from the purity seals without much of a headache. It's actually so soft I was able to really easily re-sculpt the leg sections once I removed the purity seals and add the detail of the armour joints back on.

So the parts I used for this conversion:

GW/Finecast Space Marine Jump Chaplain Body
Forge World World Eaters Head and Shoulder Pad (From the WE Upgrade set)
WHFB Chaos Marauders Arm (The one with the dagger)
Possessed Chaos Space Marine Backpack
Forge World Chainaxe Head and Handle (I cut the pole out as it was too thin, I used the handle joined to the head of the chainaxe, joined to the Crozius handle as the thicknesses matched better)
Some bitz from my girlfriend's son's CSM bits box (Couple skulls, some chain, a tooth thing)
Forge World World Eaters Brass-etch Icons
Some barbed wire from Armypainter I think

The conversion is nearly done, a little cleaning up to do here and there but it's finished enough to show you what I managed to achieve in about 2hrs with the above parts. I think it's a much more impressive model to represent the mad-dog Kharn with and I can't wait to hit him up with some blood effects.

Click to enlarge:

What do you think? For the base I am intending to add a small pile of skulls from Secret Weapon Miniatures and probably a cheeky Red Scorpion Helmet.

Thanks for checking in,
Redscorps


Ps My Kharn's tougher than the normal Kharn! Power armour gauntlet to hold your Plasma Pistol OOP Kharn? Yeah, not on my watch sunshine..

[The Rogue Trader] Toy Soldiers Depot Review

Toy Soldiers Depot is another of the miniatures sources that are worth being aware of.  Their stuff is not targeted at 40K, is cheaply made and is of course, cheap.  I'd seen a post about their stuff over at Dakka and had been meaning to order a couple of bits for a while. The Dakka post had suggested an APC as a Chimera alternate and then I also found a great looking artillery piece.  After making probably the cheapest order ever I had a couple of bits on the way.

[Redscorps] Converting a Las/Plas Razorback.

Hiya! I'm Jack, Redscorps to most and I'm here today to share with you a quick guide to converting my take on the trusty old Las/Plas Razorback.

A quick intro about me, I've been running my Red Scorpions blog since November last year and as a hobbyist into WH40K for about a year now though I've actually been playing the game on and off for about 16 years. I hadn't actually been interested in painting or modelling until this year after coming back from the most recent 5 year long break. I think I'd actually only painted about 10 models in the whole 16 year period!

Long story short, I was a full time athlete but due to an injury sidelining me (I dislocated my neck at the C2 vertebrae) in January last year I picked the hobby back up to get me through the associated boredom of the recovery process. It's definitely become more than a recovery aid though as I'm really into the hobby again and loving it. My health is also finally back to normal again now but it's been a long and very trying 18 months.


So on to the conversion, I'm going to start out with something pretty simple here but something most of us marine players will find ourselves converting or thinking about converting for their army as no 'off the shelf' solution is available.

The components you require to make the Razorback I have posted above are as follows:
2x Plasmaguns of the space marine variety
1x Vindicator shell crane housing
1x Storm bolter gun mount from the space marine vehicle upgrade sprue
1x Coms bit from the Aegis Defence Line gun sprue (Or other bit of sensory equipment)
1x Razorback upgrade sprue.




So the conversion itself is very simple, what you want to do first is cut the shoulder mounts from the Plasaguns as well as the trigger assemblies. Then glue these level, ether side of the Storm Bolter mount. Next you can glue the Vindicator Shell Crane cover on to the top of the twin Plasmaguns and they should slot right into the back of the cover. At this point I drill through the base of the SB mount with a 2mm drill bit and insert 2x1mm Neo magnets so I can join it onto the top of the magnetised hatch for the Las/Plas model or take it off and run it as another varient or Rhino.

The sensor arrangement is also very easy, all you have to do is cut the barrel from one of the Lascannons where the recoil section is and clean up the frame that the gun barrel was sitting on, then simply cut the back and sides of the coms piece so it sits on the mount level and the top cover can sit flush. The other thing I was thinking of now that I have a much more expensive bits box was to fit some targeting equipment but as I did this conversion very early on in the piece (And targeting eqiupment wouldn't actually improve the aim of the gunner that always seems to miss with the Lascannon anyway!).

It's probably not the best example of a conversions tutorial but it might give you an idea of how to do it if you were new to the game or wanted another perhaps more aesthetically pleasing alternative to jamming a pair of Plasmaguns in next to a Lascannon.

Let us know if you find this useful and I hope you enjoyed my first article on the Miniature Wargame Conversions Blog. The next article from me will actually deal with SEO optimisation for your Blog and the one after that is one I am really looking forward to.

Happy hobbying,
Redscorps

Completed 5 Man Heirs of Horus Sternguard Squad

With all the business trips ive had recently for work, ive managed to get a bit of painting done here and there and really, all around the US with my wonderful mini modeling kit made from an old shaving kit bag. So over the next few weeks ill be posting regular updates of completed, newly named, Heirs of Horus. Including some absoultly amazing fluff writin by a very talanted writer.

Enough rambling! First up with this new series, the first 5 men of Sternguard Squad Alpha: (excuse the pics, I didnt have a light box)

[Thoughts of a Herb] Smarter Orks: Elites Part 2

So convincing...

Now, next post on Orks. As usual, I'll get ratings on the units from the resident troublemakers, Dakkazag and Zagblitz. So, on we go!

[The Rogue Trader] - Cheap Knights Part 2 - Purifiers

I've been building out a Grey Knight army and looking for ways to not sink a bajillion dollars into doing so.  I'd made a previous post about cheap knights.  Basically a quick demonstration about how easy it is to build a second set of 5 Grey Knights for 1/3 the price of a new box.  One of the comments I received on that post was about Dark Angel Veteran sprues, and that suggestion was one I wanted to try.

[The Rogue Trader] - Cheap Knights

With the high price of the Grey Knight Strike Squad box I wanted to see if I could stretch the value a little bit.  I'd made a basic strike squad, Justicar with Daemon Hammer, Grey Knight with psycannon, three Grey Knights with Force Swords.  This left me with a good range of option pieces, part of why the set is so expensive.  So I gave some thought to what I'd need to make a second squad out of this set.  A couple of eBay purchases later I was on my way.

Converting a New Nurgle Lord - Want feedback

Ok folks,

I did this guy last year fir ebay but have since decided to remake him so he can have a nice spot on my shelf.

Sons of Horus Completed Bike Squad

Pics of the first Sons of Horus Bike Squad. It will be expanded to a 6 man squad in the future.

A few shots of more alternate Plague Tower design

Nurgle "Banelord" Class Plague Tower

Hey Folks,

So I've had alot of requests for this and specifically the Obsidian Tower that was based off this design. (More on that guy later, but basically this with no Nurgle stuff or chaos stuff and instead one of the legendary artifacts of Vulcan, the Obsidian Tower) Its basically just a shadow sword kit and plastic card made into what can count as a great Plague Tower of Nurgle.Sadly like alot of my Nurgle stuff, I had to sell it last year :(

Another Apocalypse Style Plague Tower

Painted Demon Prince of Slaanesh

Dug this guy out last week. Its actually one of the first conversions I ever did as well as one of my first completed paint jobs. Finished roughly 15-18 years ago.

Dark Mechanicus Sentinal WIP

After digging around in boxs to find a few things last week, I came across this conversion I did awhile back. A counts as Sentinal for my always ongoing Dark Mechanicus force.

I plan to had a bit of clear plastic card to the cockpit and fill it with water effects.

Oh and Alpha, check your google friend connect via the followers list. (read the post under this if you haven't)

Nurgle Demon Prince Conversion

Hey Folks,

Another oldie but goodie. Just a basic conversion with minimal GS work for a Nurgle Demon Prince for a 40k Demon army.

Scratch Built Thunderhawk Gunship