Who wants to name a tank?

Well, I promised some better pictures of my Veteran squad, and so here they are!

Even though they're not quite finished, with just little bits of detail here and there to do (facial hair, aquila's, etc) I'm really pleased with the results. The three plasma gunners were converted from the Forgeworld Cadian Hazardous Environment troopers, and it was very simple to do a head swap, and even manage to salvage the top part of their backpacks to use as demo charges! All that's left to do now is to paint the squad's vox caster and Autocannon team.

I've also finally 'bit-the-bullet' and painted a tank for these men - the first tank I've painted for a long time, as I've never managed to paint one to a standard that I'm happy with... Until now.

And here we have my Plasma-cutioner! Again, this tank isn't quite finished, with just some scorch marks to add around the barrel of the main gun, and to also add some decals to give it some character, but as I've never been any good with painting tanks before, I'm really happy. I'm also really pleased with the plasma coils, which have come out really well. I will be painting some plasma cannons for the sponsons to replace the multi-meltas, as there's nothing more terrifying than 5 Plasma cannon blasts coming from this tank in a turn!

Here's a question for all of you though - what should I call this beasty? And here's some more piccies.

All the best,

Dan

Finally, some time for me! (And my models)

Well, the missus has taken my son on holiday with her family for the week (I couldn't go because of work commitments) and so I've finally got some time to get some serious painting done! I'm planning on finishing my veterans squad and company command this week, and also start painting a Leman Russ Plasma-cutioner.

Slight problem though... I've gone to take some pictures, and realised my wife has taken the camera with her! gah! So, apologies for the quality of the pictures, their from a camera phone. I promise I'll take some better ones once she's back.

I've pretty much finished the sergeant and three 'wound counters' (as I call them) though I do need to highlight up the pith helmets with dheneb stone.

The weapons aren't really doing it for me though. I'd struggled with picking a colour and settled on a wooden-style look, but I don't think it looks right. Any suggestions for an alternative?

I've also converted 3 Cadian Hazardous Environment plasma gunners into Praetorians, using a simple head swap and by trimming off the respirator unit, whilst leaving the plasma ammo canister intact.

Once again I need some help with the colour of the weapons, and also, How do you think I should paint the canisters on the backs? I was thinking metal, as white would just blend into the body armour. Or, I could always paint them the same colour as the guns.

As always, any comments or criticisms are really appreciated! Plus it should help keep me motivated on posting more often!

Best, Dan

wow... It';s been a while...

The 7th March to be exact! That's a surprising (and quite shameful) 5 months without a post on my blog, and for that, I am sorry. Unfortunately the combination of the final year of my degree, raising a toddler and helping my partner start her degree, not to mention working, has put a serious burden on my hobby time. Fortunately, now that its Summer I can try and go back to what I'd started - building my Praetorian regiment!

Now some of you will have already seen my (much) earlier posts, I had pretty much finished a squad of guardsmen, and painted my company commander, General Melchett. You may have also seen my annoyance at the size difference between the older metal models, and the new plastic ones. Because of that, I decided to sell my old metal Praetorians and build a new scale regiment from scratch... and here's what I've done so far!

I will write some fluff to explain why their wearing body armour, and I have to admit, I'm not fond of the white helmet I've given the sergeant, so I'll probably paint them the same as my earlier ones - a 'tea-stained' look. I've got some parts from Forgeworld arriving in the next couple of days to help me build some special weapons for them to wield, plus more heads from Secret Weapon Miniatures (sculpted by Col. Gravis) arriving around the same time, as well as a spare heavy weapon ready and waiting to join the ranks. hopefully I should get them finished rather quickly, so I can use them in large game I have coming up.

I'll try and post more often from now on, but I do want to say thank you to all of you who're following my blog! I'll try not to disappoint!