A view from within: An Imperial Fists land raider

Here are some views from inside a land raider conversion.  While I didn't do all the conversion stuff, it did fall to me to get it all put together and paint it. :-)

Painting the insides of land raiders starts out painful, and gets tougher from there.  It's just the nature of the beast.  The front door section is the worst, since it has to be loose as you work on it.  That means that it's flopping around, and you run the risk of messing up the alignment, so that it won't open when it's all put together in final assembly.

Getting at all the rear engine parts was not easy, either, but at least the other side was not so bad!

Here is the raider after the initial assembly, before final weathering and freehand.

There's a bit of the glow of the lascannons as well.  I was trying to make these different from my usual post Heresy variety, thus the glow...

And now for the final result!

A Dragonforge Design flying base

This base is made by Dragonforge Designs.  Like everything they make, it is a very high quality!  It was.  There is a special joint that you attach to your flying vehicle to make the transparent rod work.  And there are no air bubbles in any of them :-)

It also has a decent amount of weight, which can help with the top heavy flying stuff!

Here's their site... go check it out!

http://www.dragonforge.com/

A solid foundation for your flying stuff

I was working on some bases that were supposed to be filmed as little snippets for the Kickstarter, but once I was taken down by that bug, it became a bit of a moot point.

So, here's a little step by step.

This began, as they usually do, with the combination of baked sculpey, cork, oxide paste rock and bits.

I took some greens and reds, mixed them together and smushed that brownish mix all over the base.

I mixed in a little greenish grey to begin lightening it...

As I put more light colors on the rocks, I put some dark grey on the marble surface.  

I roughed in the design (Iron Warriors) with some lighter grey.

Some warmer grey was used to lighten some parts of the marble and the design...

I kept adding more light to the veins, and tried to create a little more shape to the design.  I also started putting some color on the bits.

More development of the veins.  I also added some cracks through the marble design, which is always a fun touch!

Some rust is added to the bits, and I also put some warmer light colors around the rocks.  This would make the grey marble stand out a bit more...

I did some dark glazing and shading, while also adding some stains to the marble, mostly along the edges.  Back in the day, I used to forget to 'age' the marble and tile, adding those stains and such.  Even if it's darker marble, the stains are still important.

These flatter style bases work well for the flyers in 40k, as it gives a nice solid surface to attach your flying stand.  All the heavy cork and sculpey is also a nice counterweight to the top heavy mini.

I have another one from Dragonforge that I will post tomorrow...

Some old time Wood Elf Blood Bowl minis

Here's some 'classic' old Blood Bowl minis.  The good old pajama- clad Woodies!

The fall color scheme was fun to paint, though!

I liked doing a bit of tattoos with the red colors.  Wood elves in particular really need those :-)

A few shots of the team...

The rest of the Alabaster ruins...

Here's a few more images of the Alabaster ruins diorama.

These have a few closer images of the mini... but there are also a few glimpses close up of the exposed brick.

It would be fun to try something like this again armed with all the knowledge and techniques which I have learned since!

What really happened at the Super Bowl

Here is one last piece from Stonehaven.  This is a bit of an 'extra' piece... normally a casualty.

In this case, I made him a drunk, using another little extra piece, the beer bottle.

Somebody should have been keeping their eye on that power relay!!!

Be sure to check out the Stonehaven Gnomes Kickstarter, which enters its final week!!!!!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2087444096/gnomish-adventurers-box-set

Alabaster Ruins

Here's another fun Sculpey diorama from a while back.  This worked on the same principle as the Anastasia diorama, as well as the big watch tower.  

First, the basic shape was done in unbaked sculpey.  Once that was baked, further details were added, and it was baked again.

The cracks and exposed under bricks could then be carved out using a variety of tools.

It takes a little while for this process, but the results are always neat!

The foliage is from Woodland Scenics.  I don't know it the product is still available, but it was called "Realistic trees".  The name was appropriate, because they sure looked real!

It was not the cheapest product, but you could combine it with other types of foliage to get the most out of it.

The rest was standard flock, to give it the overgrown look.  I also put in a few broken pillars...

I will post some interior shots and the mini later!

Perhaps I might actually get a chance to make a piece of terrain (or two or three) for a Bretonnian theme table!!