All Posts By

Duke

Where we paint

Posted on May 31, 2010

I’m in the enviable position of having a Man Cave. My roommate moved out last year and, instead of finding a new one, I just expanded to fill the space. A little repainting (robin’s egg blue is not condusive to anything) and moving of furniture, and I was ready to go.

I’ve got a full closet for storing kits and boxes, army cases, even my gaming table. I’ve got an old dry bar that I’m using as a display cabinet and place to store my rule books, codecies and magazines. There’s my computer desk and bookcase, and up against the patio door is my painting table. It’s an old Ikea Ivar shelving unit with desk, drawers for my paints, and shelves for my terrain and WIP stuff.

I never use it.

It took me a while to figure out why. It’s a great space. Lots of desk space, good natural and artificial light, a PC full of MP3s, all my supplies handy, a decent chair… and no TV. It seems that I’d rather be hunched over a coffee table in my dim living room with a movie on than comfy in my Man Cave.

Work-in-progress

Ultramarines Land Raider Convertible 2

Posted on May 30, 2010

I didn’t get as much done this weekend as I would have liked. I had hoped to have the tank assembled and primed.

I did manage to solve the question of whether to have the doors ahead of the weapons, or behind. In most of the pictures in Imperial Armour 2, the Land Raiders have thier lascannons in the aft, and the doors forward. The pictures of the Crusader/Redeemer in IA2 and the models in the codex and White Dwarf have the weapons forward and the doors aft. Since I didn’t really like the look of the having the lascannons forward, I made the obvious choice.

Magnetize everything!

I added magnets in both doors so that I can mix and match as needed. It also keeps the door open for a Land Raider Terminus conversion if I find some extra predator sponsons. I used some sprue to span the doorways, and filed the ends down to fit between the track-halves. I used some 1/16″ thick card to make sure the magnets are close enough together.

This side was easy, since it has the flat interior door. The other side has the control panel/equipment door. I suppose I could just use a flat piece of card instead. that would ensure having the same amount of clearance for the magnets on all doors. Besides, no one will ever see the thing anyway…

Oh, and to tie in with Craig’s post, I’m using the camera in my cell phone. 😀

Work-in-progress

Ultramarines Land Raider Convertible 1

Posted on May 27, 2010

No I’m not making an assault tank with a ragtop. That would be heresy.

For a while now, I’ve been wanting to start a real painting project. Most of the things I paint are for current armies or upcoming events. They generally feel rushed or burdensome. I’ve decided that the way around that is to just pick something that I don’t have an immediate need for, but that would be a fun model to build and paint.

I won a Land Raider at Astronomi-con Vancouver last year. I ordered the Crusader/Redeemer sprue from GW and a set of Ultramarine doors from Forgewold. I also picked up Imperial Armor – Model Masterclass Vol. 1. It has some neat weathering techniques I want to try out.

I usually dive right into these things, build it, paint it, play with it. I’m going to try to pace myself this time and take the time to make everything as good as I can. It’ll be interesting to see how I do with that.

Tonight, I washed off the Forgeworld doors. I’ve got an old head from my electric toothbrush that I use with some dish soap to remove the mold realeasing agent so the primer will stick. Speaking of which, I’m out of primer… I’m also trying to figure out how much to assemble before priming. I want to make at least a token effort to paint the interior (though no one will ever see it, so I may skip that), so I can’t just put it all together. Plus, I’m concerned about putting together the assault ramp before priming, since that’ll stick it shut. I’m not sure how string the resin will be as compared to the normal plastic, so maybe I should just glue the whole thing shut anyway. Decisions, decisions.

I’m using this website as a guide for magnetizing the weapon and accessory mountings.

No pics this time. We all know what bare plastic looks like.