Lengthy Hiatus, Hobby Fatigue and Image Refresh...

Over the last year and a bit I have had another lengthy Hiatus due to many reasons, mainly being moving house again and a lack of time and enthusiasm.

In this time photobucket decided to break and no longer host my images anymore, this has now been fixed.

Since packing up all of my miniatures yet again, for another move, I unfortunately haven't had the urge to unbox them and delve arms deep into the hobby again.

That being said, with winter looming and 8th Edition now in full swing with the new Codex, I mean Index (Xenos 2 Enhanced Edition), I'm tempted to pick it up and get some minis out again.

During my hiatus I have returned to a number of other more physical hobbies, which in themselves are large time and energy eaters.

However, this blog isn't completely dead yet, think of it as just being caught in the warp!

Until my miniatures hobby fatigue wears off, I bid a temporary farewell until next time.

Killa Kans 1

I've had a slightly converted Kan sat on my workstation for around a year now, recently I finally decided to try out some rust techniques.

I'm still using some Citadel Paints from the early '90s, right through the range up to current date, so have tried to include comparisons to the new range below.

Here are the methods I used to get to where I am currently in the pictures below, apologies for some of the washed out images due to the flash;

1. Base coat Chaos Black/Abaddon Black.
2. Paint the whole model with Tin Bits/Warplock Bronze.
3. Heavily drybrush with Boltgun Metal/Leadbelcher.
4. Wash the whole model with a thinned out Devlan Mud/Agrax Earthshade.
5. Drybrush with Boltgun Metal/Leadbelcher.
6. Carefully and lightly stipple and drybrush random parts of the model with Scorched Brown/Rhinox Hide
7. Repeat step 5 with Bestial Brown?/Gorthor Brown, but apply even less paint this time.
8. Lightly drybrush and stipple the model with Ryza Rust layering the Brown areas slightly more than other areas.
9. Drybrush and stipple again lightly with Boltgun Metal/Leadbelcher, making sure most edges and areas that protrude are covered. (Don't go too heavy with this step as you can find yourself ending up back at step 3 very quickly!).
10. Any colours to be added can then be painted on in whatever areas you choose, mainly covering the Boltgun Metal/Leadbelcher, leaving patches of rust showing through giving a chipped and worn effect. (Here I built up layers of blue, starting with a base of Regal Blue/Kantor Blue, then onto Mordian Blue/Macragge Blue and Ultramarines Blue/Altdorf Guard Blue).
11. Highlight any areas/colours necessary and add detail where needed such as wires and lights etc..
12. (I still need to do these next few steps as follow). Using Typhus Corrosion pick out any areas which you imagine may form grime, and thin down the paint and apply leaving an effect of streaks or drips.
13. If you really want to add something extra to the model and are familiar with pigments, carefully dust them on treating them as if you were drybrushing, if you find yourself going wrong here the just gently dust the pigment off and start again.
14. Finally gently seal the pigments with rubbing alcohol (I personally find this easier to use) or a form of sealent or wash.
15. And there you have it, a proper rusty and Orky looking model!

Killa Kan:

The Close Combat arm here shows upto Step 5.

Here you can see the beginning of Steps 10 and 11.

I Managed to pick up these Vallejo Pigments at a bargain price from Dark Sphere.

Grot Tanks 1

Some time ago I acquired some Grot Tanks in a Job Lot I won on eBay from Ian 'Waz' Wyatt, one of them was a resin mis-cast, (which I'll only use for a scale template for future builds), and the other two were his unfinished scratchbuilds.

Since receiving them I started to pull them apart, I removed the bits I didn't feel would fit in with my current Orks. I then did a quick mock up of turrets, I probably won't end up using them though.

Grot Tanks:

Skullhamma Battlefortress 1

Using the Stormlord as a base for a Skullhamma Battlefortress, I started to chop and hack here and there in the usual Orky fashion! I lengthened the sides slightly and cut away the half wheel pieces toward the inside of the chassis in order to fit full wheels, raising the whole model slightly. This allowed me to use some Blood and Skulls Industry Krusher Pattern 1.0 Tank Treads.

Skull'amma:

Digging through my Bits Boxes, I found some left over Battlewagon pieces and used those to create a Troop compartment towards the rear for some Boyz. The Skullhamma Kannon is made from a mix of parts from the original Stormlord kit, Bommer, Trukk and Stompa. The main barrel is plastic tubing from thermal till reciept rolls! (Space Marine used for size comparison.)

Warbuggies 2

Recently I unboxed the Rat Rod Buggies, this is how they looked.

Rat Rods:

Here is a quick and basic How To Guide:

1. Cut the Chassis length down and remove everything else including the rear leaf springs. 
   
2. Glue the front Leaf Springs to the rear of the Chassis using small pieces of Plasticard to ensure they are level. 
   
3. This should give you enough wheel clearance from the cab. I tend to glue them as far back as possible to help centralise the Axle on the rear section.
   
4. Attatch the front axle to the front of the chassis, generally the further forward the better.
5. Finally build the rest of the the Rat Rod to your desired design.

 As they have been on the workbench recently, I have been trying to get them finished.

Keep an eye out for the next update.

Big Rig 1

Some years ago, I started building a Big Rig out of a Trukk kit and some spares I had left over from the Rat Rods. I built it with a full sleeper cab, dual wheeled rear axles, open engine bay and moved rhe 5th wheel plate amongst other things. Soon after it got to this stage, I had to box everything up as I was due to move house. Recently I finally unboxed it and took some pictures.

Big Rig:

Once unboxed, I set about building a double drop trailer from 2 Trukk chassis to hitch it to!

I placed the Trukk beds on for a rough idea of how it may look (these will most likely be replaced with plastcard). I need to widen the trailer chassis and bed as well as needing to double up the wheels on the trailer.

Trukks 1

I have various Trukks in different stages of build/conversion, most of them are piles of parts awaiting to be assembled! 

Heres what I have pictures of so far;

Half-Track Trukk:

I'm not a huge fan of keeping with the "vanilla", built straight out of the box, stuff with my Orks. So I converted my first Trukk into an old WW2 style Half-Track.
Despite looking "finished" there's still a lot to do.

Forgeworld Flakk/Gun Trukk:

I plan to use the Forgeworld Trukk as a Flakk Trukk/Gun Trukk of some sort, I probably won't hit it with as many conversions as my other stuff.

Rat Rod Tow Trukk/Scrap Trukk:

At some point I had started to build a Rat Rod Tow Trukk to use as a counts as Scrap Trukk.

These will find their way back onto my work space sometime in the near future, so keep an eye out for the next update!