Paint(ed) Table Saturday - 40K Catachan Armour

Not so much Paint Table Saturday as PAINTED Table Saturday and that can't be a bad thing right?
A finished project is a thing of beauty no matter how small and these two powerhouses of the jungle were finished up this morning.

Hellhound Chimera APC variant and Leman Russ Demolisher variant

I posted about these a little while back, when I talked about what needed to happen before the painting could start. I'm pleased to say the prep work was well worth it and I'm more than happy with the finished items.

A dark green base coat has been overlaid with several lighter coats and then a sponged black/gray camo pattern applied over the top. Despite Evan's cajoling I decided to stick with a two-colour camo as I don't really like three-colour on 40K vehicles.

Exfoliatus is a Leman Russ Demolisher, just the ticket for clearing a path through the jungle and taking on weapon pits, strong points and other nastiness including enemy armour. She was the worse off of the two when she arrived and required serious surgery in the war forges before being fit for battle once more...

Ole Smokey is a Hellhound Chimera APC variant, just the ticket for flushing infantry and creepy-crawlies out of the undergrowth. Or perhaps better still, simply BBQing the whole lot at once and being done with it once and for all!

Both still need another coat or two of Dullcote to hide the last of the decal shine but as I've run out of the damn stuff yet again that will have to wait.

Next up, three Sentinels and an odd Ogryn Bonehead and I'm all done for 2500 points, just in time to start the Painting Challenge once again.

Cheers,
Millsy

It's ON again! The 6th AHPC has been announced!

The real Lord Snow is at it once again! Curt from Analogue Hobbies has announced this year's Painting Challenge so get your brushes out folks and sign up.

I'm on board again this year (how could I not be?!?) but Evan is dithering. Leave a comment below folks and help me ramp up the peer pressure. C'mon Ev, how about a couple of hundred points over three months? Surely that's not too much to ask...

Cheers,
Millsy

There, I fixed it...

With the infantry component of my 40K Catachans 99% complete I've been umming and ahhhing about whether to add a little steel in the form on some AFVs. The canon dictates that a pure Deathworld force is foot sloggers only with a few Sentinels for support. But I'm not doing a pure Deathworld force so in the end I compromised and bought a couple of vehicles. I will at least however restrict myself to weapons and upgrades that make sense in a jungle environment...

Unfortunately despite my best efforts I couldn't see a few issues with the Leman Russ Demolisher before I purchased it on eBay. The right-hand track assembly was very mis-alinged and the two plasma cannon sponsons were both out of position and in one instance so badly assembled as to have big gaps all over. I could quite easily have filled the gaps, ignored the rest and just painted it but I just *know* that down the track I'd have been annoyed with it every time I looked at it.

Before I could do anything about said issues I was forced to deal with this...

You don't have any plans to work here tonight right?

Once Olivia Jigger has been removed I was able to do this...

Getting that track assembly off was a bit of a nightmare and the balance between not doing damage to the model *or* myself was a fine one. The sponsons were even harder. Based on how it was assembled and the glue used I can only assume the previous owner was a juvenile chimpanzee with learning difficulties and motor control issues. Or maybe just someone who didn't care that much at all. Honestly, I don't really mean any of that but I am terminal cynic and love to overstate things :-). The way it was assembled mystifies me a bit as it would be harder to bugger it up than to get it right given the grooves and lugs that align things (or should)?!?

Three hours of work later and we have this now...

Straight tracks, correctly aligned sponsons and no more gaps. Even better all my fingers are still in place and most of the extraneous super glue has now peeled off (me that is). Winner! Next stop is the paint station.

Before I go a couple of quick things...

I woke this morning to the horror of what is going on in Paris. My thoughts are with all the emergency services workers there and especially the victims and families of these terrible acts. If there is any justice in this world the individuals responsible will be found and made accountable for their cowardice and cruelty.

Secondly, if you can spare a [insert your currency here] or two I'm doing Movember again this year. You can sponsor the hideous creation adorning my head here...

Til next time...

Cheers,
Millsy

More Frostgrave Zombies, or A Song of Frost and Gravy

Some more work on the jaundiced ice-mummy zombies of Frostgrave. You'll remember how I did the skin tones on the test fig; well, here he is with his mates, suitably bloody and looking like they've been dragged through a glacier backwards.

Now all I have to do is get some snow on the bases, and complete another nine or ten zombies, and we should be right for a game...

Oh! And I'd better paint up a warband...!

Stay tuned...

Ev

Paint Table Saturday - 40K Commission Time...

This week I've been back at work on a whole-army commission I'm doing for a mate - a Dark Angels Space Marine chapter for Warhammer 40K.

The last seven days or so have seen me painting a small 5 man squad of Veterans, an Apothecary and a Dreadnought. It's chucking down rain again and quite dark for 6:00pm so the pics are fairly ordinary but they give you a good idea on progress....

Weapon arms on the Dread are all magnetised with the ubiquitous rare earth numbers and can be swapped out as desired.

Just the Chapter Master to go in this batch and I can get back to my own stuff for a while.

Thanks for popping by...

Cheers,
Millsy