Some serious pipes

While there will eventually be many more hours of painting on this, for now, it is done :-)

Most of you already saw the WIP post with the scratch built turret.

I still wish that I could have put the Sister in the turret playing the organ.  It was going to be a conversion of a Dark Eldar figure.

However, I think this gets across the point!

I was glad that I included those bits from the rhino interior.  The screens were fun to paint, and added a bit more color interest in what could have been a boring area visually.

I was also glad that searchlights come with Exorcists, because I had one, and the sponson added a nice a-symmetrical element to the turret.

I wanted to post this after the Hydra to show just how different this is from the 'standard' RAV 6 x 6 from Secret Weapon.

I will do some side by side shots as well, and a scene with a Battle sister's squad that I almost done!

It always looks so different from the unprimed raw version :-)

All the extra armor plates that I added were great for showing the Sisters of the Raven iconography.

Hopefully it will last past turn one!

I guess this will attract a lot of attention.  I think I will really need it if there are lots of baby titans out there!

Bird hunting...

A few images now of the Hydra.  I have some of the Highland Moss Guard around it for scale.

I have heard a rumor or two that Victoria's Miniatures and Secret Weapon are teaming up at Adepticon... :-)

I really do enjoy the shape of the turrets.  I have some special Highland Guard figs that will be sitting on one of the Chimera versions of the RAV 6 x 6.  You can even put the new resin 55 gallon drums on the sides of the RAV for extra effect.

The kit is so easy to assemble, it creates more opportunities to 'add on'.

Let's see how many pesky planes this guy can shoot down!

The two Chimeras under way...

I also have the Exorcist finished, so pics of that soon as well!

A bit of Marble again...

As I get into more of the Sisters, I require bases!  So, I painted the other 8 bases for the rest of the squad.

As you can see, they are designed to match the bases you have seen in the color test figures.

For those not familiar with this process, it is baked Sculpey sheets that have been carved and placed on top of cork.

There are many posts on that topic here in the Basing Section... with a few step by step articles.

These really are my favorite bases.  I enjoy the more three dimensional bases that have bitz, corpses, skulls and so on, but I love painting marble!

Still two more squads worth of bases to paint!  Stay tuned!

Another Music Man

We got trouble... starts with 'T' and ends with 'E' and that spells trouble.

For the poor saps on the wrong end of 100000 flashlights!  Hah.

Sorry for the odd pictures here.  The battery ran out on the regular camera, and none could be found, so I had to use the phone.  It does some odd things.

Anyway, here's a regular piper from the Highland Moss Guard set.  I believe I put a Voxcaster in every unit, even though the most likely deployment will be Big Blob.

However, there may be certain missions where secondary of tertiary points might require splitting the Blob into constituent parts to cover more terrain pieces or objectives.  It's another reason I tossed in a few Chimeras.  At least a few of the squads could get to an area quickly if needed.

A no fly zone

I have to say, I am really looking forward to shooting some clay pigeons this year.  Of course, the meta may have changed so much that nobody takes them anymore... or not span them as much.

It is my belief that this year's tables are going to see much more terrain on them.  Along the lines of previous years.  That would have been way more helpful last year, but I think it can still assist this group.

While the crazy conversions/scratch builds look fun when they are in the unprimed stage, I really like seeing them all painted!

This was a fun little project, and one that will make the army board look even better.  It should also help out a bit during games.  The ADL was huge in the test game that we played.

Yes, the Highland Moss Guard approves!  Victoria's finest have claimed this for themselves!

Ready, aim FIRE!

Up on the rooftops

After allowing the glue to set up for a while, it was time to start working on the roof.  I used a half inch thick piece for the base of it, since that would let me set the LED lights into it very easily.

I need to be able to get at those things very easily, and I learned last year that cutting the holes a tiny bit short means the flexible foam will hold the lights in place.  The flexibility of the foam has just enough give so that I can pull the lights out of there to replace batteries and so on.

The roof is going to be fairly basic.  Most importantly, it needs to have some flat space to hold more miniatures.

By making all the elements hollow cuts down on the weight, but will provide some extra strength.

I will be using some heavy paper on the angled roof pieces to create a little texture.

In the original plans, there was supposed to be a landing pad on the army board.  The drawings had it in a separate area from the cathedral, but the changes in dimensions meant it had to go somewhere else.  For right now, that is up on the roof.

I tried to keep a squad size of ten in mind as I cut that piece.  Once again, I used a thicker piece to make sure it would be strong enough.

There will be a number of little extra pieces put on the roof for effects.  I planned to put some ribs on the top of the angled sections, so I had to keep the tops as flat as possible.

In the late afternoon, the sun actually came out, and it flooded the kitchen.  The cathedral was also flooded with light, which was very fun!

This was very fun!  It is pretty wild to see the concept of the tall thin walls opened up with windows work in miniature (and pink foam) as it did in the Middle Ages. :-)

Always police your brass

A few items here.  First, another wonderful mini from Victoria, part of the Highland Moss Guard series.  The kneeling versions offer so much flexibility.  They can be used for weapons teams, or for fun poses such as this, interacting with the base.

In addition, there are some shell casings from Secret Weapon miniatures on the base (which was made from backed sculpey, by the way!).

The shell casings add a wonderful extra detail.  Just a few here and there enhance the theme greatly.

I am working on the last tartan pattern now... pics of that either late tonight or tomorrow!