Scratch Build Thunder bolt

A few days ago I met up with a friend and we started talking 30k. If I were to play 30k, I will finally have a chance to use my scratch built Thunderbolts.  Using the Solar Auxilia list, the Thunderbolts will fit nicely in the fast attack slot. Building the Solar Auxilia will be a whole different story but for now, let’s go down memory lane on how I made these fellas.

Now I built these flyers a few years back and I have only used them 4 times. Fortunately I did take some pictures when I was building them and they were mainly built like my Hell Talons Flyers - out of card board.

I used a template I found in the net but did some off my own modification. I wanted some uniqueness to the flyers so instead of following the usually wing shape, I change them to the classic v shape to mimic the forgeworld mk1 lighting flyer (yeah they don’t sell that model anymore)

I did not go for the bending straws this time for the engine bit (the inter cooler system), but instead  I decided to use reticulation sprinkler heads which kinda pimped the engine a little. It reminds me off an injector system on a V8 motor car. Nice!

The thunderbolt primarily uses twin linked autocannons as its main weapon, so instead of using the imperial guard heavy weapons spru, I opted for the autocannon from the chaos defiler kit which looks nice with the gun-belt look, feeding from the ship. The turbines are from the space marine drop pods (yeah it was hard to source these parts as I went ebay for some)

After basecoating the miniature in chaos black, it finally looks like a decent flyer. I hastily painted the entire ship in codex grey and behold, a scratch built thunderbolt. And yes, I made two at the same time.

Here is a comparison between the real Macoy and the scratch built Thunderbolt which I will dub the MKXT Thunderbolt, which is probably a forgeworld planet prototype of somekind…lol.

40k Apocalypse 2012

With Christmas almost upon us and some people saying that the end of the world is near,  I figure it’s only fair I  post a picture of an apocalypse game, which I had the privilege in participating a couple of years ago in a local gaming club called “Armadale Wargames” which runs almost every year now (near Christmas time), an annual apocalypse tournament since 40k Apocalypse was introduced.  

http://www.westgamer.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=24

 

This also brings to mind my very first vehicle conversion when White dwarf promoted the Vehicle Design Rules. I had the inspiration to build this monstrosity after reading one of the Gaunts Ghost novels which featured a traitor guard warmachine. Unfortunately as time passes by, I tore the model apart for parts since most of my friends were afraid to go up against it and there wasn’t much use for this model in a standard 40k game. So parts were recycled and made into other things. But today with the introduction of 40k apocalypse, I wondered how this model would have fared? 

Lucky for me I took a picture of this conversion before disassembling it in the chop-shop :P

Merry Christmas!

Capt. Stainguard

Steel Legion Heavy Weapons Team

During 4th edition, it is not uncommon to have a heavy weapons team like the missile launcher team, to have the loader and the shooter based separately. With 6th edition however, they need to be based on a single large base. Here is a simple way to make your miniatures current (if they are base separately), as well as avoiding the pains of ripping your existing miniatures from their original 28mm bases.

I used a 5mm thick foam board and traced a circle off the large base with a pencil. Cut the foam board out, using the trace as a guide with a stanley knife. Then take the small 28mm base and have it traced inside the larger base.  Cut these out as well.

Glue the foam board to the large base (I used the old thin large base. This technique is also applicable to the new larger bases. This will no doubt make your overall miniatures stand taller). You can score the foam board using the stanley knife and a pencil to create a tile pattern or just leave as is. Texture and paint the base to finish off.

Now you have an interchangeable large base that fits two existing 28mm based miniature.

As always good luck in your scratch building
Capt. Stainguard

The 44th Steel Legion Commander

I converted my own captain dubbed Captain Stainguard at the time to lead my 44th Steel Legion army.  This is basically a Morheim based plastic miniature with both arms from a generic commissar model. The head is replaced with a metal head from the tank commander miniature. I have to confess I did not paint this model as it was painted by a really good friend of mine. (and it is still the best painted model I have in my collection).