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!

I'm Alive!

Hello everyone! Yes, I am in fact still alive!

Firstly, an apology for not updating my blog recently - the combination of uni work, a wife doing the same, and a teething baby have left me very little time for painting!

Secondly, another apology for the very little painting I have done, as it's not on my praetorians! I've been involved in a little painting challenge with a friend of mine - who can paint their monstrous creature in a week! I've got until Wednesday to finish, so here's how it is so far:

The Griffon is mostly done, with just the wings (and that damn annoying bit of paint on one of its's claws! grr!) to do, and to finish off the rider, but I'm pretty pleased with the results tbh! You may notice Gen. Melchett running away in the background... that's simply because he's finished now, and didn't want his newly painted coat to be torn to shreds!

So you know, it's wasn't em who named my general 'Melchett', but when my friend saw him on my painting table, the first thing he said was "Meeeeehhhh!!!!" (a la Stephen Fry).

I've been working on some Praetorian snipers recently too, using greenstuff to rebuild the shoulders after converting them from Cadian snipers. As soon as the epaulettes are finished curing, I'll show them off to everyone and begin the painting! More frequent updates to follow!

Upcoming Grey Knights Codex

Just a quick note on something interesting - I took a look at the Stormraven sprues in GW yesterday, and noticed that it comes with the option of adding either Blood Angel symbols... or Inquisition... :)

Apologies

Hello again everyone, and may I first say a big 'Sorry!' for not posting another update sooner. Unfortunately a combination of essays, dissertation and a baby with teething pains have left me with very little free-time and sleep to get any painting done!

One shining beacon of happiness for me though, is the rapid growth of my Praetorian army! Another 50 troopers, plus several special weapons, heavy weapons, command models, etc have joined my ranks, meaning I now have a full platoon, plus spares! hussar!

One other bit of great news is my order of Col. Gravis's fabulous pith helmeted heads have arrived, as well as an order I placed with Forgeworld, leading to the creation of this fine fellow:

I'd seen this done before - it's a simple head swap using Col.Gravis's heads and the Death Korps of Kreig command models. I plan to do an entire command squad using these models, as I think it helps them satand out as a Company Command. Quick thing to note though... Col. Gravis's head sculpts really are FANTASTIC. The detail is sooo much better than the pith helmeted heads on GW Praetorians, and certainly worth getting them (hint hint!)

Anyways, must be off as more uni work to do, but I do have a game against a large Nids force tomorrow - hopefully the two new Banewolf tanks I have will be helpful!

Speak soon :)

Plasma Gun Conversion, and a painting update!

OK, I mentioned a few days ago that I was trying to convert a simple lasgun trooper into a plasma gunner, and here is the final result:

I'm pretty pleased with it (for a first attempt) but certainly not too bad! I was trying to go for a plasma 'rifle' look, as I kind of liked the idea that the Praetorians wouldn't use bulky assault weapons in their massed ranks of volley fire. It was a long winded process though: I originally did it in various sections, firstly trimming down the lasgun and then covering it to form the main bulk of the weapon 'stock'. (below)

Originally I added the rounded end of the plasma gun, (shown below) and then the 'coils' on the top of the gun, before attempting to drill the end of the gun to try and and detail. Apparently greenstuff doesn't like to be drilled. Bugger.

In the end, I removed the rounded end and then re-sculpted it and made sure to add the detail in before it cured! Much easier. I think I might be able to do this in a much shorter and quicker process, possibly even sculpting the stock and the barrel in one go. Or, I could even try and have a go at Crosser Modelling's simple weapon swaps http://crossermodelling.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

Also, quick update on painted models:

And yep, that dummy is an ordnance weapon... at least when my son throws it...