Stormtalon conversion and update

Well,  it has been over a year since my last post. I have been writing my thesis and unfortunately health problems have got in the way.  Hopefully things will be better soon.  I have still been able to do some hobby here and there,  useful for relaxing but I can't do too much.

Anyway,  enough of that.  In the year since the last post I have painted 5 more assault marines,  some death company,  a drop pod and have a crap load of models built and ready for painting (tactical squad,  sang guard,  5 more death company,  assault bike,  a few buildings and more). I am also working on a stormtalon conversion and am very nearly finished with an imperial knight.  I will be adding pics of everything in soon,  in particular I am very proud of the knight so am looking forward to finishing it.

So,  onto the stormtalon.  I know the space marine flyers are,  to put it kindly,  a tad boxy. But I am quite keen on the aesthetics regardless,  however,  the number of conversions of the talon made me want to try my own.

If anyone reading,  if indeed anyone is reading,  wants a more detailed tutorial I can knock one up but it is pretty simple

The wings are drop pod fins,  you can see where I have cut the fin and then attached it to the engine. This is fairly common swap for the wings and it works well.

For the rear,  I used the wings and cut of the nub at the end opposite the upright. This meant they slotted nicely onto the body. Of course I first cut off the old tail fin upright and patched it with plasticard. I also split the tailfins that attach to the upright and then used these on either side.  A sharp knife and patience meant this is actually very easy. Also,  the strange fin below the body was cut away.

 I used some spare pieces to make a mount for a gatling gun and plasticard to pat h it all up.

 I cut away the intakes from the roof panel and mounted the launchers side by side,  I magnetised these to swap the missles.

 I added magnets under the wings for assault cannons (from the stormraven,  but the stormtalon ones work just as well) and the heavy bolsters from a predator.

I botched together a gatling cannon but am not happy with it. I am trying to get hold of a punisher cannon or the taurox  gatling cannons. Hopefully they will turn up.

Quick update

My time is currently taken up with 60% Ph.D stuff (I should really be finished soon, but nope) and 40% being lazy/watching TV/video games/painting. For a few weeks my lazy and painting time will be eaten up by designing a course for tutoring I will start soon.

But since the last update I have finished the assault marines and have started the libby and putting together the death company squad. I have also pretty much sorted the SW Landraider and am working on a squad of grey hunters. I am planning on getting a Baal predator and DC dread soon and adding to the AM squad. I still haven't picked up 7th yet, and will think it about it after the new BA codex that is rumoured to drop at some point this year.

Pictures.

I need to take some proper photos as these were taken rather quickly in my hallway and the light is terrible, but they will do for now.

Stormraven nearing completion

I haven't been able to paint much recently as I have been rather busy, but I have been doing bits here and there on the SR and am nearly there. Still need to glue the canopy into place and sort out a few areas. 

 I added a magnet at the rear for another twin linked heavy bolter to defend troops as they disembark.

 The wing mounted assault cannons can be swapped for lascannons

Quick update

I have been ridiculously busy since the last post all those months ago. I will be painting some more this week and am aiming to get the blood angels I have bought ready in a few months. I am very close to finishing the SR now and will then finish the landraider before moving on. I am the slowest painter ever.

Stormraven update

So I have been painting the Stormraven and have done about 70% now, I have to paint lots more details and then apply washes and attach the cockpit/multi-melta. Quite a few areas need tidying up as well. I have left off the wing mounted assault cannons and underslung bolters of these photos as I have only just started painting them but I should be finished soon.

 Apologies for the messy background on these, it is under the best light in my house.

I used army painter flowers, tufts, static grass, brown basing and barbed wire for the base.

This is just about the only photo which shows up the highlight, I used evil sunz scarlet and wild rider red on the edges and it shows up well in daylight, unfortunately the lighting on most of the above photos washes it out.

Army painter tips

Quick update, I have spent this week sorting out the assault marines and basecoating them and the Stormraven. I will put up some pictures later, but I have to say I am very impressed with the army painter dragon red. I practised using some old figures and at first it just didn't turn out well, the paint scraped off and it was patchy and gloopy. But then I read a few tips and cleaned the figures using soapy water, shook the can for about 2 and a half minutes, made sure the humidity was okay and most importantly I prepared a large area to spray in. Unlike the citadel undercoats the army painter requires a much more delicate approach, I found it best to use my hall-way and I used newspaper to cover about 2 feet up the walls and a bit of card to stick between the walls. This created a covered area that I put an old cardboard tray in, and using side to side motions and spraying from about 14cm away I achieved a nice even finish. The most important part was to start spraying and then move the can past the figure in a sweeping motion, don't spray directly onto the figure as this results in far too much paint.

Using this approach I managed to get a very even and consistent finish, and it saved a lot of time. I sprayed both the 5 marines and the SR in about 30 minutes including prep time. Using a brush it would have taken a lot longer with a more uneven finish.

Space Wolves photos

I haven't made much progress over the weekend with the Stormraven or anything for that matter so I thought I would take a few photos of the Wolves. Not the best photography by any means but it will do for now. The un-based grey hunters still need quite a lot of painting, and looking at the photos I have noticed lots of little bits that need doing elsewhere as well.