Carnifex (Warhammer 40000)

Apparently I must be really fed up with winter, COVID and life in general, because my painting got pretty weird and colorful recently. 

And if pink Autoblinda was weird even for my standards, that Carnifex is just acid! 🤪

Acid or not - I like the final result: good acid... 

So is the model: it's true eyecatcher in my mostly monotone display case. 

In fact I wanted to paint this model for quite a long time. In my opinion it's one of the coolest piece from old Tyranids line:

massive, menacing, fu#king badass! Not even mentioning that cutie-cutie mouth! 🤗

I had some ideas for painting the thing but after spotting some rainbow crabs photos decision was made to follow the path of Slaanesh. Which actually brought the model pretty close to the official paintwork from the 90's.

The model is big and colorful so I gave it bright, beach base for stronger contrast. 

To present the scale I added tank turret from M4 Sherman tank (parts from proper 40k vehicles run out long time ago - most of them were used for Dagon,  Mjolner and Beast 666). Fluffwise I imagine if leaving the nest / den / whatever is where these bastards live, to examine what emerged from the ocean of sand: 

there still might be some meaty snack inside after all! Told you it's cute! 🥰

The base is pretty large, but the model definitely deserves it. Not mentioning the fact it prevents if from falling, during the heat of battle (I really hate fixing chipped paint). I got the base with M2A1 howitzer - it was too large for medium  artillery piece (didn't fit ruins and buildings) but it's perfect for self-respecting alien creature.

So here it is, hope you like it:

After uploading the pics I see the bone parts are way too clean and flat - they are getting additional layer of wash and pigments for stronger contrast. I also realised I run out of gloss varnish / water effect - it should be used on underbelly and mouth - crabs (and cosmic crabs in particular!) should these areas  seem to be wet. 
Added to the list...

A Forest (terrain piece)

Hey again,

This time some raw nature: piece of wargaming forest.

We actually have been using these trees for a while but their bases were kinda f#cked so I decided to refresh the terrain piece. 

I always wanted the forest to be thick, so it looks nice on battlefield, but in such a forest there might be a problem with placing models - especially larger ones.

The solution is making part of the foliage removable.

In fact planning took more time than execution itself:

1.    I prepared base large enough for ~20 trees,

2.    Got lasercut round bases for the moving trees + slots for the bases,

3.    Glued the slots on the base and finished it with pva glue and sand,

4.    Attached trees,

5.    Airbrushed paint on trees, added some washes and pigments on the base, 

6.    Applied some drybrush on the sand and Voila!

See?
Nice forest! It surely is safe!

Especially with necromutant park rangers staggering around...

And Hellcat to prevent cartoony bear from stealing picnic baskets!

And the same forest with trees moved out:
now there's even enough space for Necromunda / Ash Wastes "Mjolner":

The walking trees - good enough for loosely growing foliage:

Hope to bring some painted junk next time...

"The Beast" - converted Necromunda tank

Hello,

This time it's about reanimating and actually finishing the old project.
So a while back there was an idea to build some vehicles for Necromunda gaming.
These were supposed to be conversions rather just models painted straight from the box.

Long story short I already had Chimera painted long time ago which was dismantled and turned into mobile flamethrower ("Dagon").
Some time later I also got used Rhino and Predator (probably): Rhino was turned into mobile mortar ("Mjolner") so there was the last vehicle left to work on.

Here's the current result of works. Deeply hope you can see two pics below - most older photos on the blog got fucked after damn Photobucket changed is fucking policy...

You can also see more pics of these here ("Mjolner") and here ("Dagon").
Hopefully that is...

Anyway below you can see photos of the latest tank, named by terrified ratskin and mutie savages: "Beast 666" or simply "The Beast" (there's no time for full name in the heat of raging battle).
I tried to keep the same color scheme so whole battlegroup is as coherent as possible. Initially I tried to apply "rectangle" camo just like on models above, but glue on mask was so poor it kept falling off before I managed to spray paint, so stripes of ordinary masking tape were used instead. Me likey.

As you can see there are Valhallan riders on the hull - I have dozen or so of these which were supposed to form another Necromunda gang.
Fluff wise it shouldn't be a problem to transport 12-15 men in 3 medium tanks after all.
Really would love to see whole Valhallan armored squad painted one day.
Cleansing those dirty, dirty xenos with fire...

I am glad the vehicle is finished but don't like the missle launcher set:
I mean initially it was supposed to be something looking similar to Calliope launcher but after the support column was drilled and glued to the turret I realised I don't have enough parts...
Yaaay me!

After quick (and bit desperate) excavation I found placy deff kopta, spare killa kan missles and some other bits. The more firepower the better.
The missles are way too short for anti-tank weapons, but should be just fine as high explosive ammunition.
You know - to crush whole dirty, dirty xenos gang with a single blow...

Dirty, dirty, dirty... 

Hope you like the result:

Xenos go to hell!!!

Tutorial: "Mjolner" - Necromunda siege tank

Hey,

Last night, while waiting for washing machine to finish the job, I managed to paint the tank commander and therefore - finished another Necromunda dedicated vehicle: "Mjolner".
It's another tank after "Dagon" Hellhound which will join very slowly arising warband based on Valhallans models. I've always liked siege tanks - Vindicator, Griffon or Demolisher but converting own model is bit more fun than just painting, so here's short walkthrough.

It already has some fluff, stats and spec rules made up but I'll keep it for further post - the beast has to pass some serious field tests in the gaming spot.

So I started by getting secondhand Rhino - previous tank was based on Chimera so it was now time for change. Not much more to add at this stage.

Lucky for me the previous owner wasn't too generous with applying superglue - ripping off all the junk was no problem.

At this stage I had more less the idea what do I want to achieve in the end - story is field mechanics replaced front crew section with cannons, engine was moved to the middle and the 2-men crew sits in the back. Cannon exhausts were made of steel mesh.

PCV sheet was used to fill the front gap and back wall - it's cheap, easily available and really easy to cut and glue.

And some more bits were added:

dozer blade from Chimera, Rhino hatch, Hellhound fuel tanks, oldie Imperial Guard commander plus some other small bits. I tried to keep the construction simple and believable (that it was constructed in the field etc).

I tried to apply paint similar way to Dagon so the job was done with airbrush, 3 brown tones and some masking filter. The idea is simple: you paint basic tone, then apply some masking filter, another tone, more filter, final tone aaand...

Voila!

Model was way to cute so some decals were applied, some chipped paint applied and washes.

More chipped paint...

Mooore... This time also some chalks were added.

And it turned out I've overdone the dirt. Wanted to keep it more-less clean but what the hell, it's fully operational, working battle engine.

Model waiting for the commander...

And here it is!

Once again I had some problems with getting proper camera settings - I think taking pics while daylight is available might be better idea than working with artifical light about midnight.

All in all I think I like the final result, the next time I'll try to apply less chalk. Hope you like it.

Laters!