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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Frostgrave: Pirates! (Part 15 - Finished - whole warband)

Thanks to everyone who has shown an interest, commented or +1'd this series of posts.

The mini-project is complete and here is the end result - my warband of Pirates for Frostgrave.

Felstad here we come!

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Frostgrave: Pirates! (Part 14 - Another treasure hunter)

Well, probably another treasure hunter. like most of the rest of these models their role isn't fully settled until I've had a chance to actually play the game and decide.

More importantly though, she's the final member of my warband! Woohoo - it's done!

I'll post a group shot in due course, but for now...

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Frostgrave: Pirates! (Part 13 - Thief)

The penultimate member of my warband is complete. He's another lovely model from Black Scorpion Miniatures Pirates range.

This time I'm using a Cabin Boy miniature to represent a thief - a sort of "Artful Dodger" character if you like

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Days out: The Wonderful World of Trains and Planes

A few weeks ago my family and me went for a day out to a place in Birmingham, England called "The Wonderful World of Trains and Planes".

Now I'm not a model train enthusiast beyond the fact that as a modeller for wargames *anything* hand-crafted in miniature is interesting to me. Neither do I fly model aircraft, but I can see and appreciate the skill that goes into making and flying the models. So off we went.

There's a lot to see at the venue. They have several layouts each of which replicates a different period in Railway history. Some have special features (like allowing you some control over the trains or being fully illuminated).

The venue have also cleverly produced an activity to get younger children looking more closely at the models: checklists of "things to find" are produced for each layout so you need to hunt for "man with wheelbarrow" or "3 foxes" and so on. It's a great idea and turns viewing the models into a game where everyone can get something out of it.

The 1950s layout

The 1960s layout

Sodor for the Thomas the Tank engine fans. This layout is operable by visitors.

Now as the name of the venue would suggest, it's not all about trains. There are also various model aircraft (unfortunately none of the pics I took were worth reproducing here) - some are purely "cabinet display" models and others are genuine flyers. Also in the aircraft arena are a bank of flight simulators - four (maybe five) booths where the Microsoft flight sim is set up with proper flight yokes, pedals and throttles for visitors to have a go on. There are staff supporting guest's attempts at flight so everyone will get off the ground.

In addition they also have Scalextric layouts on different floors, one of which is more challenging than the other.

My son Noah running a McLaren F1

And of course more trains:

The venue also has a cafe, disabled facilities and lifts and the ubiquitous shop where you can purchase various modelling, railway and Scalextric supplies.

All in all there's enough there to sustain interest in a visit for 3 - 4 hours. The staff are helpful and overall I'd definitely recommend it as worth a visit.

Check out their website for prices and opening times: "The Wonderful World of Trains and Planes". It's a bit misleading for school holidays where they tend to be open throughout - phone to check before setting off. 

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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