Space Marines: Tactical squad #2

I haven't made any progress on the Marines for a while so I thought I'd pull my finger out and complete the updates on another squad.

They've had their bases tarted up and decals applied so are in their finished form.

It's the usual mix of older and newer models. Some of these guys are metal models from the Rogue Trader era (notably the "beaky" marines with the decals on their leg armour)

The power-claw on the sergeant is of minor interest too - it's actually from the first "Imperial Guard" plastic set that GW produced.

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Space Marines: Terminator Captain

Here's the head honcho (terminator variant) of my force.

It's only a matter of time until that Iron Halo falls off, unfortunately. It's already wobbling.

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Space Marines: Landspeeder Typhoon

This was bought as a junk lot from ebay as a regular landspeeder without looking at the photo too closely.

When it arrived in the post I was both surprised and disappointed.

The doors were missing. So was the bumper/fender arrangement that normally surrounds the front of the model. No weapons either.

However, there was a good reason the bumper/fender was missing! The previous owner has extended the nose of the 'plane and elongated it. He/she also added a nifty canopy over the pilot! Neato!

So I added a magnet (like on my other 'speeders) so I can swap weapons around. One problem solved.

I picked up some weapon pods from a bitz store to sit in place of the missing doors. Problem two solved, plus it also made the 'speeder typhoon look different than a regular speeder. Bonus.

The canopy made painting it a little tricky as I had to disassemble it in order to paint it and then rebuild it afterwards. 

All good fun and well worth the effort.


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Space Marines: Terminator squad 1

Here we are again with another mix'n'match unit - this time Terminators from various eras.

Three of these are metal models from a while back (the two on the left and the one rear-right).

The one in the center of the photo is an old model from the original Space Hulk/Deathwing game equipped with a heavy flamer. History? Yes, but let's go back further...

Check out the guy front-right: a casting of the first ever attempt GW made at issuing Terminators! Very different, I trust you will agree. The Terminator Honours on the left shoulder has been added by me (greenstuff).

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Space Marines: Landspeeder Squadron

Landspeeders - gotta love 'em (well, apart from the Landspeeder Vengeance which hase basically got parapets on - ridiculous and the aerodynamics are clearly shot).

Anyway, I bought these as junk lots from ebay and applied a lot of time, knife-work and some plasticard in places (like the spoiler on the leading model in the photo below which was completely missing) to get them up to snuff.

I think they turned out OK.

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Space Marines: Bike squad 1

More Marines. There always seem to be more Marines.

This time a squad of bikers - the bike squads are among my favourite models I think. They epitomise the highly maneuverable nature of the Space Marines in my mind. 

Plus I think they look cacking hard!

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Space Marines: Tactical Squad 1

It occurred to me that I haven't actually posted any troops yet! It's all been armour so far.

Let's correct that:

All sorts of stuff going on here - there are metal marines and a plastic marine from back in the Rogue Trader era, Marines from the AoBR boxed set and the chap with the plasma gun is actually carrying an Ork plasma gun from the first Space Ork plastic boxed set.

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Space Marines: Land Raider

Actually it's a Chimera.

"No!" You cry "It's a Land Raider!"

Look again. A Chimera (not the tank, the mythical creature) is a hybrid of two other creatures. Well, so is my Land Raider.

The main tank is an original Rogue Trader model but - as those of you with long memories will know - the lascannons on that old model were prone to snapping off.

So I picked up a weapons sprue from the newer marque of the model and did some chopping and changing, added some foamboard moved some hatches and ended up with this bad boy.

It's wider than it is long. Enough said.

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Space Marines: Dreadnought 2

The third and final dreadnought in my Marine force is this chappy who I'm sure many of you will recognize from the Assault on Black reach boxed set.

I like this model - I know it lacks in poseability when compared to regular dreadnoughts, but the out-of-the-box pose is quite dynamic and it's nicely to boot. Nice model.

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Space Marines: Predator

Another vintage model - one of the earlier Predator models from waaay back.

The "original" earlier Predator's had a turret that was rounded as opposed to this angular version so I think this is probably a second edition predator kit.

The predator kits were basically metal add-ons to a Rhino so the turret, sponsons and "roof" behind the turret are all metal on a plastic tank. It's a hefty model and wouldn't enjoy being dropped!

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Space Marines: Drop Pod 2

Mobility.

That is what I had in mind when I was putting the Stormcrow Chapter together. I recalled reading a description of the Marines as being a "Highly mobile" force. It got me thinking...

Everything in the Marine army can shift! Bikes. Landspeeders. Rhinos. Drop-Pods. Deep Strike, Assault Marines - everything about this army is geared towards getting troops where they can do their job fast!

It was an eye-opener.

So I decided to gear my chapter towards being as mobile as possible. Drop Pods seemed a good way to do that - I have Rhinos to move troops so how do you move something bigger like a Dreadnought?

Drop Pods (or Stormravens).

So here's my other drop pod:

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Space Marines: Venerable Dreadnought

For my Venerable Dreadnought I am using a model that is literally a venerable dreadnought. It's one of the original Citadel dreadnoughts from back in the Rogue Trader era,

I like these models when they first came out. They're lacking in detail compared to the newer dreadnoughts and they have a few silly details on some of the chassis (like teeth, for example) but there was a certain something I always liked about them. In fact when the newer "brick on legs" version came out I wasn't keen on it at all (it has grown on me since, though).

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Space Marines: Vindicator

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I'm a cheapskate.

I've also mentioned that I love mucking about with models.

And that I have a liking for older models too.

This tank ticks all three boxes for me - a home-made Vindicator tank built out of old bits of wire, plastic tubes and an original Rhino model.

I started work on the siege shield for the front of the tank but haven't got around to finishing it yet.

The rungs were simply made from some bent wire - I dismantled the model, drilled holes and passed the wire through the holes and hot-glued it to the inside.

The main weapon is simply two plastic plumbing tubes cut down to length and one slid into the other.

Those of you with longer memories will remember the problem with the original exhausts on these older models - the bent-over sections at the top are prone to snapping off. I drilled into the main exhaust barrel and replaced the missing parts with some bent wire coathanger (a great modelling aid - keep some handy). 

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Space Marines: Dreadnought 1

I have a small number of dreadnoughts in my Marine army - some more interesting than others.

This is actually a very old model - when Citadel first redesigned the dreadnouhgt design away from the Rogue Trader classic this was what they came up with.

This sucker is  metal and weighs in at over 1lb.

I've added a few details in green stuff (like the scrolls) to perk it up a bit.

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Space Marines: Drop Pod 1

The facelift of my old Space Marines is underway.

Decals, weathering and bases updates are the order of the day.

Here is my first offering - a drop pod.

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Space Marines: Stormraven (Part 5 - Finished!)

As you will see from photos below, I've completed the outstanding work on the Stomraven - that's decals, weathering and the pilot and his canopy.

As you will no doubt notice, this model is sporting decals for the Raven Guard chapter.

My intention was to embellish the decals with lightning flashes (Stormcrow/Lightning Raven - geddit?) but after shelling out a bunch of cash for the decal sheets I just couldn't make my experiments of adding lightning work satisfactorily so I've kicked it to the kerb and just applied the decals.

I'm going to press on next with adding the decals, weathering and updating the basing on the rest of my completed Marines. I've got a bunch more Marines to add to this force (Scouts, more Terminators, more Bikes, Command and Honour guard) - I'm not sure at this point whether I'll do any of those as I have so many other projects waiting in the wings that I want to get cracking on.

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Space Marines: Stormraven (Part 4 - Servitor turret)

I've got a little more work done on the Stormraven - the Servitor's turret is now in place.

That saw me make a decision on the battlefield role of the 'plane which I've decided will be primarily anti-personnel (hurricane bolters + assault cannon) with a pair of meltas to give some anti-tank capability if required.

So that leaves me with just the techmarine pilot canopy to complete. Then it's decals, weathering and I'm finished!

Almost there!

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Space Marines: Stormraven (Part 3 - detailing and further assembly)

I've still not decided what to do regarding my problem with the hatches, but have pressed on with further painting and more work on assembling the model too.

I'm pleased with the overall look of the model, but will be the first to acknowledge that some of the work I've done with drybrushing the highlights on is messy. I may overpaint some of it, cover some parts with weathering or maybe slap a decal on it. Not sure yet.

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Space Marines: Stormraven (Part 2 - some assembly and drybrushing)

Well, I've created a problem for myself!

I've partially assembled the fuselage for the plane and added it's tail. The issue is that the front and rear hatches (which both hinge in different ways) are both struggling to operate due to being pre-painted before assembly.

The front hatch has a "pin" either side that sits into a hole. The paint makes it such a snug fit that operating the hatch is very stiff and won't fully close. I think when I'm finished painting and varnishing a spot of oil might actually sort this out.

The rear hatch is different and more concerning. The hatch has a rod that runs along the hinge-edge which clips into a set of u-shaped receptors. The paint on the hatch means that although you can clip it in it pops back out again when you try to operate it. I'm worried that the u-shaped receptors may eventually spread open to a point where the hatch won't stay on at all and will need to be glued into place. That would be a pain simply because I'm planning to attach the hurricane-bolters rather than the side doors and that would limit the amount of light getting into the inside of the model making all the detail I painted on the inside invisible.

Ah well - I'm sure something will occur to me.

I've made a start on the drybrushing of the fuselage - I'm drybrushing turquoise over black and it gives a pleasing effect I think. It worked nicely on the rest of my Marines. I'll do another layer of turquoise near the apexes of the places where panels join up, and then a small spot of white on the very tips of the corners.

Loads to do.

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Space Marines: Stormraven (Part 1 - Interior detail)

Hi all

Time to start another small project.

It's long overdue for me to spend some time on my Space Marine army. I never finished them off:

1. I have a few units to complete (Bikes, Terminators, Veterans and the majority of my Command models)
2. I never got around to applying decals (mostly due to indecision - I wanted the Raven Guard decal to form the basis of my "Stormcrow" chapter badge but was going to apply a lightning detail to it but have never managed to decide exactly how to apply that detail).
3. Since I built them I have settled on a basing scheme that I like so they all need their bases updating.

I've been nudged out of inaction on the Marines because I've obtained a Stormraven Gunship model as a birthday gift.

So my intention is to paint up the Stormraven and then inch my way through updating the rest of the army with basing and decals before working on the outstanding units.

I'll not be working on this project exclusively as I want to interleave it with some Epic-scale stuff too so it may take me a while to finish. Wish me luck ;-)

Front and rear exit hatches

Left side and roof

Right side and floor (which I've just realised I forgot to weather!)

The cockpit

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