War Walker Finished

Basing is complete my war walker, which means it is finished.  Pics...

The barbed wire shown in my previous post worked out great.  I base coated it with Boltgun Metal and then applied a wash of Badab Black and then a very thinned layer of Macharius Solar Orange for a rust effect.  The wire itself hold its shape but it is still a little "bouncy" to the touch.

Thanks for looking, C&C is appreciated.  Next up on the painting table is my Ragnarok.

The war goes on,

Hessler

War Walker (3)

I visited my FLGS and picked up some supplies today, including this...

Almost 30 feet of barbed wire and posts!  For only $9, that's an awesome deal.  I'll be using this on the base of the war walker and I'll have plenty left over for tons of other projects.

The posts are more along the 1/35 scale so I had to trim off the top 1/3 of the posts.

The wire itself is very easy to work with and it bends and hold shape wonderfully.  That's all for now, more updates coming soon.

The war goes on,
Hessler

War Walker Painting (2)

I was finally able to put some camo on the war machine.  I stuck with the colors I used on previous tank but added in some brown for more interest.  On such a large model, everything has to be that much bigger to keep it looking good.  Anyways, here's a few snaps...

I tried to marry the colors better by using my airbrush to apply a wash of Badab Black.  The result was a little dark but I'm looking for a gritty, well-used look so it's not all that bad.  At this point I will give it a coat of gloss varnish and proceed with paint chipping and weathering.  I'm thinking the base will lend itself to something cool...possibly something involving water effects.

As for the Ragnarok, I will be applying a totally different color scheme to it and to the Panzer Russes.  I have decided that I want my tank squads to represent different looks so the Ragnaroks will get some Catachan green and heavy weathering.

That's all for now, C&C is always welcome.

The war goes on,

Hessler

War Walker Painting (1)

I finally found time to unpack my airbrush and compressor this afternoon.  I was able to throw a solid base coat of Vallejo German Grey (Air Color) on both the walker and my Ragnarok.  I will be taking a similar approach to the camo style as I did my last tanks, shown HERE.  No pics today, just a quick update to keep readers "in the know".

I have also decided to re-classify my "monster" as a war machine, as opposed to a Titan Knight.  I have been trying to read up on the fluff and background of the Knight Households and it just doesn't fit in with the theme of my army.  I will still apply the rules found in the BOLS "Lords of Battle", but I will be calling it a War Walker and treat it more like a precious gift from the Tech Priests of Mars.

Thanks for reading...more updates and pics are on their way.

The war goes on,

Hessler

Finalizing The Loose Ends

Well, after finishing the build and priming of a 5-man Rough Rider squad, I am finally caught up on all my unfinished builds. That means one thing...paint time. I will go back and work on the vehicles first, followed up by infantry.

The first painting project will be a big one...

I pulled my Titan-Knight out of the display case and it needs some touch up work (some rivets, some filing, etc.). Please pardon the dust, as well. I'll make good use of the airbrush for this monster and I will be adding banners to the undersides of the arms. I will be researching color schemes this afternoon and hopefully get some paint block out by tomorrow.

If anyone has suggestions for colors for the households, please let me know. To check how this build progressed, check the sidebar to the left under Started Projects.


1 Year Gone By...

I would like to thank everyone who subscribes and /or reads this blog. I have been at it for a year now and my love for this hobby has only increased. I set out to make this a place for people to get ideas and be inspired. Hopefully I have been able to spark someone's imagination to try something new or different. Rest assured you have inspired me. Thanks to everyone!

The war goes on,
Col. Hessler

Titan Knight (5)

After some constructive input from Itkovian, I took another look at the whole "turret thing" and decided to go for the chin-mounted HBs. I covered the turret opening with another piece of thin plasticard and removed the headlamps on the front of the chassis.

I borrowed the exhaust from a Catachan sentinel and plopped it on the back of the chassis.

So here it is...again...ready for primer...I think...

I will prime this black as I intend to then go over it with a base coat of Fortress Grey. This model will also be my first attempt at some of the fun weathering techniques shown the the Imperial Armour Masterclass book. I HIGHLY recommend it. But first, I will need to look into an airbrush...


The war goes on,
Hessler

Titan Knight (4)

After a long weekend in the country, I am finally focused on getting some of these projects built and painted. Here is the final production post on my titan-knight. I finally settled on a lesser known variant called the Castellan. It boasts a battle cannon, twin-linked autocannons, and a chin-mounted, twin-linked heavy bolter.

What I've done above is create a cover plate out of plasticard to facilitate the smaller Predator-style turret. The whole was basically hand cut until the turret fit snugly.

This is the left arm, kitted out with the twin-linked autocannons. Just a simple job of taking a couple ACs(I finally have a use for these) from an IG Heavy Weapons sprue. The existing ports in the arms allowed them two fit almost perfectly.

I did the old "snip, snip" on the Predator lascannons and swapped in a couple heavy bolters. My only thought about the turret is that the stats on the Castellan call for the HB to be chin-mounted, indicating that they are fixed in position. So should I ignore that and keep the turret in a "fixed" position? The other option would be to literally mount the HB on the chin of the model, which would also look good.

My officer of the fleet serves as an example of the scale for all the weapons and upper body of the titan-knight. I think all is done with possible exception of some banners on the arms.


As always, C&C is welcome...

The war goes on,
Hessler

Titan Knight (3)

Work continued on the Titan Knight today. I have decided to go with the Knight Paladin configuration. That means a Battle Cannon on the right, a twin-linked heavy bolter mounted on the body and a Dreadnought CC weapon on the left.

I managed to scrounge part of the cannon from the Shadowsword kit (I went with the Stormlord but that's another post). As shown below, it fit in the arm rather nicely.


Here's close up of the work I did on the arm. I just eyeballed the size and carefully cut out the circular shape with my trusty hobby knife. There is a particular blade available that suited the work perfectly. As with most mods like this, it takes a great deal of time and patience.


After dry testing the cannon, I went to work with the glue, basically "welding" the joints together with superglue. Another option would have been to use plastic glue but I get nervous using it on unique projects since it chemically bonds the plastic. That means "no mistakes".


The red lines below indicate where I will glue some small pieces of plasticard to square off the housing.


This project is turning out to be great fun. I think I see another of these in my future...


The war goes on,
Hessler

Titan Knight (2)

After some frustrating hours of building, I was able to put all the pieces together into some sub-assemblies. I ended up with legs, torso, arms, main body and turret. The one major flaw with the instructions is that there is no indication of what should and what shouldn't be glued. This presents quite a problem as there are a ton of joints and articulations that need to be left free from adhesive.

Next I assembled the lower-body and the upper-body. Again, all the articulation makes the final model VERY wobbly and unstable. I needed to go back and glue up some of the major points just to facilitate some posing and standing. All in all, it looks very cool.

As seen in this picture, I have left the weapons unattached as they don't represent the 40K weaponry I intend to use. I'm still deciding on the weapon load out, but things are well on their way to completion. As shown from the figure by the left foot, the scale seems to be great. It's much beefier and more imposing than a sentinel but not so huge that it looms like a Warhound.

After some consideration, I have decided to try and model either a Leman Russ or Predator turret to replace the one that was included with the model. The Predator offers the placement of a twin linked weapon on the front so I might go with that. Both turrets seem to look too large but I'll learn that soon enough.


The war goes on,
Hessler

Titan Knight (1)

So, today I finally received this in the mail...

It's the Gunther model from Dust Models. It's 1/35 scale plastic with some rubber pieces for the movable joints. It is from the Dust universe, which is a futuristic WW2 alternate history game. At least that is what I can make of it. They recently revamped their website...check it out HERE. Since I ordered this little beauty, they have added a bunch of new resin kits for some different walkers. They are twice as expensive as the Gunther ($100-120) but that's the way it goes with a resin model (can anyone say Forge World?) If you are interested in building one, I suggest trying the Gunther for $50(includes shipping) and see if you want to get any others. If this build goes well, I may end up building a squadron...God help me.

I plan to "40K" this one up a little with some Imperial iconography and treat it as a titan knight. The rules I will use can be found within the Lords of Battle Apocolypse Datasheets created by the wonderful people at Bell of Lost Souls(BoLS).

So this is how all the components are packaged. Everything is very organized and all the molds look clean with very little to no flash.

The instructions are quite elaborate compared to most model kits I have worked with and it also incorporates some full color pics of other Dust products as well as some cool looking conversions people have done.

I will post some more progress reports as I construct this be-u-tiful machine of destruction over the weekend. Wow, this will be awesome to paint...

The war goes on,
Hessler