BCK's Thread of Stuff: Maybe not eldar...

[Olis]

Cheers, guys.

 

Although it may not look like it, I did some more work on the Sicaran.

 

http://i.imgur.com/ZbwMmgp.png

 

Mostly sanding to get the transitions from the bondo to the resin to be smoother, and more gap filling work where the body and the track sections meet. A few more little things to take care of it and paint shouldn't be too far off.

 

Bonus points for the pintle-mounted choom! :lol:

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I figured it would make more sense for an energy anti-personnel weapon that could draw on the same power source that charges the big gun instead of worrying about ammo. :)

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Well, I think I might have messed up Russ' head beyond repair, so that's fun. He might have to get a greenstuff helm for any hope of saving the model.

 

This past year's been unspectacular with my mother getting sick, a string of failed projects, my inspiration and drive waning a little, and just recently finding a decent job. The one bright spot as far as modeling goes was the Macharius, and I think I might take a break from figures for a while and try to focus on some vehicles. My second Mach is a lost cause for now, but something has agreed to take its place in the queue. A proper super heavy, in fact.

 

http://i.imgur.com/47Ay026.png

 

 

[Brother Dallo]

Tried to send you a message, but it failed. Guessing your inbox might be full.

 

I have a spare (not recast) Fulgrim head going spare, if that's of any use to you?

 

Drop me a PM if you're interested.

 

Loving all the stuff in this thread btw.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I'm not sure what happened, but my inbox isn't full and I did get the message. I appreciate the offer, but I want to see if I can salvage this first. :)

[Augustus b'Raass]

Dude, your Macharius wasn't a failed project and you finding a decent job can't be construed as unspectacular! Keep your chin up! :) :tu:

Also, I've been looking forward to that Sicaran getting some paint. :D

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

The Mach was a good thing, and so is the job, but it took months to find it. The sicaran will definitely be getting some love as well, once I smooth out all the areas where the resin and bondo meet.

[Daemon2027]

I find the work and detail you do on vehicles fascinating so there will be no complaints from me if that's your focus for a while. Kind of interested in what you did to Russ head though.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I cut all the hair off of Russ because I didn't like the head being locked into that position and my attempts to sculpt new hair have been less than spectacular.

[Daemon2027]

Well don't give up, I've tried a hair a few times, not easy. Give it another go. Are you going to give him some braids, might be an idea to do it desperately and then attach?

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

The beast begins to take shape.

 

http://i.imgur.com/W8JHjsJ.png

 

Right now, only the lower hull and the bare bones of the track sections are glued -- which is the reason for the tape holding it together -- while I do some fitting to see what will need more work with the boiling water to fix some warping. For as long as I've had one of these plastic Baneblade/Shadowsword kits, this is the most construction I've ever done on one and I'm surprised at the size of it... and I thought the Macharius was difficult to hold while painting! The upside is this weighs a fraction of that solid hunk of resin.

 

Though the Stormblade has an inferior weapon to the Shadowsword by the rules, I've always liked the look of that Plasma Blastgun a lot more, even if the name of that weapon leaves something to be desired.

 

http://i.imgur.com/iGYhLbo.png

 

What a view!

 

There are a few things I want to change on this lovely beast, however. This section right up front is the first.

 

http://i.imgur.com/QbCIQz2.png

 

It's difficult to tell from photos, but those two doors are way too small for even a human crewman to fit through, much less an astartes, and also gives the appearance of their not being much armor at all on either the lower or upper glacis plate. I'll probably just remove the hinges from the doors and then put down some sheet plastic to build up the armor over them.

 

Another problem I noticed is a bad gap on the right side where the casemate meets the top of the track section.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Xz5nhcl.png

 

There was a bit of warping on that side, and I trimmed some resin away, but it didn't help much. With so little room to see what might be causing that while it's on the plastic body, it's difficult to see where exactly the problem is.

Edited February 22, 2017 by Brother Chaplain Kage

[Noctem Cultor]

Looks awesome glad to see excitement didn't win out like most people, fixing that warping will make it look even cooler. Look forward to seeing the progress on it.

 

-Noctem

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

No new progress on the Stormblade because work's kicking my butt the past few weeks, but if I can't fix up my second Macharius, I think I now know what to do with the turret.

 

http://i.imgur.com/K48IyBF.png

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Mounting tracks on the hull itself to act as extra armor- something real-world tankers did until explosive reactive armor became common- is a good touch.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Oh yeah, it worked out well on the Mach and there will probably be some on this beast as well.

 

I have an update on it, which may not seem like much to most people, but it was monumental to me.

 

First up, here's a shot of what I was trying to correct with the hot water tonight in the faint red outline.

 

http://i.imgur.com/94TQo34.png

 

I neglected to a get shot of it before I fixed it, but the long horizontal stretch was really warped on the right side (our left). You can see how round it is in this foreshortened shot compared to the other side as well as how the top of the vertical plate with the driver's viewport is much lower on our left side than our right. There's also an ugly reminder of that enormous gap on the casemate.

 

So, I get the water in the specially purchased pan for fixing warped resin just to the point where the bubbles are forming on the bottom, and the intention was to try to only get the long horizontal section in the hot water with as little of the casemate or the front end in it as possible. I'd done a lot of de-warping on that front section and didn't want it undone. I had the idea of trying to lower it into the water upside-down, and at first, I thought it was going to work. And then my arm grazed the edge of the extremely hot pan and I dropped the whole thing into the boiling water, which was deep enough to completely submerge it.

 

http://i.imgur.com/mYPezoR.gif

 

Completely unprepared for that, I had to scramble to find something to get it out of the water before it started to melt. A pair of grill tongs came to the rescue and I managed to get it out after 10-15 seconds (which is an eternity for this sort of thing), and thankfully the only damage from the tongs was a few small dents on the underside that won't be visible. I kept my wits enough to try to straighten out that warped horizontal section. I had to dunk the front end twice to get it back to where it was, and then I beheld the accidental miracle.

 

http://i.imgur.com/lNu0CUJ.png

 

Somehow, the extremely warped undersides of the casemate leveled out and there's barely a gap on the right side now. I think being upside-down in the boiling water let that section flatten out on its own. Like I said, this might not mean much to some people, but to me, fixing errors like this is the most important part of the build phase, especially something this large that will be a centerpiece model.

[Magos Kasen]

A happy accident indeed then. Glad no lasting damage was suffered. What a beast this model is!

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I tried out some replacement tracks on this thing, but unlike the Macharius, none of the vinyl tank tracks I have are wide enough to properly replace the originals. Well, Tiger tracks could possibly do it because they will span the width of the road wheels, but they just look a bit too small on a tank that large. After a few frustrating hours of assembling some individual plastic tracks, here's what I got.

 

http://i.imgur.com/JQM6Tk3.png

 

And this only serves to highlight how stupid the placement of the return roller is in relation to that first road wheel that's not even touching the ground. I'm going to have to make some changes, which will probably be removing that floating road wheel and moving the return roller further inside the track armor.

[NightHunters]

Lordy I love threads like this!

 

Totally agree with the wheel placement, moving the internal hub for the return roller is going to be lots of fun. It honestly can't think of an alternative arrangement!

[Corswain]

A true hobbyist indeed! Save the resin, deal with the burn later! :)

 

Stormblade's looking good and I look forward to seeing some paint on it.

[Olis]

A happy accident indeed, brother! I'm glad to hear that you're getting out of the rut, hard work as it may be. :tu:

[Walter Payton]

Just binged this thread.  Absolutely stunning stuff - well done indeed  If I ever become half the modeller/painter you are I'll consider it a pretty good innings!

 

  It's difficult to tell from photos, but those two doors are way too small for even a human crewman to fit through, much less an astartes, and also gives the appearance of their not being much armor at all on either the lower or upper glacis plate. I'll probably just remove the hinges from the doors and then put down some sheet plastic to build up the armor over them.  

 

 

They seem to be inspired by similar access hatches on real-world WWII-era armored vehicles which were used to service the transmission.  You can see similar doors on the sloped portion of the Panzer IV's frontal aspect (for example in this photo).  Of course, this raises the more interesting question of why there would be transmission at the front and an engine at the back - but that would require one to think about the internal layour of 40k vehicles, at which point one's head begins to hurt!  

Edited February 27, 2017 by Brother-Captain Alecto

[Lord_Ikka]

Looking forward to the tanks, love armor!

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I appreciate the kind words, everyone.

 

Lordy I love threads like this!

Totally agree with the wheel placement, moving the internal hub for the return roller is going to be lots of fun. I honestly can't think of an alternative arrangement!

 

Oh yeah, fun with a capitol F. I spent the majority of my day off working on this very thing.

 

http://i.imgur.com/xQt7q5b.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/2ZzjF6w.png

 

After removing that floating road wheel, it took a lot of time to decide where to place the return roller, and even more to actually do it because I'd already glued the two halves of that track section together. I also had to snap off the end piece of the track that was formerly set up to go around the return roller in the old position and lay new pieces. Thankfully, the donor tank kit has a lot more track than what I will need for this.

Edited September 17, 2017 by Brother Chaplain Kage

[NightHunters]

Cracking.

Love the look of that, nice fix there Brother.

Now how about a nice sprocketed drive wheel at the rear?

[Olis]

That's looking dangerously like a realistic tank track assembly, brother... ^_^