Knights of House Caro Mea - The Dark Hand

The Dark Hand, or Manus Tenebrae in High Gothic, is an ancient war machine that traveled the galaxy after The Overgrowth. Eager to reclaim their home world and the forges that wrought these old machines, the knightly house of Caro Mea has joined the Mechanicus expeditionary force. Its pilot keeps the restless machine spirit at the heart of the Dark Hand busy with forest-taming operations. And while the trees of Pholos IV are more hostile than most, recent skirmishes suggest it will be called upon to enter the fray against more heady foes.

After being assembled for 5 years, I finally got the courage to paint this lumbering mech of a Father's Day gift. The under-carriage was a straightforward Leadbelcher with Nuln Oil drybrushed to highlight, and the panels are where I spent most of my time. I'm particularly proud of the blue stripes that give the flat blocks of color subtle depth. In addition, this is my first attempt at decals in some time, and Micro-sol was a miracle-worker at keeping them from being shiny. I used a black Sakura Pigma 005 for writing the name on the chest scroll. The base was mostly an afterthought, and I hope the Necron that was tread underfoot makes a speedy recovery.

 

 

 

Details

  

 

 

Skitarii, Mashal, and Tech Priest Dominus

Just finished these 12 minis, all with a similar palette. I only paint right now, so they are probably not playable on the tabletop, lol.

A different Dominus is the mini that got me back into painting 5 years ago, so it was refreshing to take another crack at this mini after having learned so much! I have learned a ton about blending and layering since then. The robes are richer, the metals poppier, and I am much more precise.

The marshal was a little disappointing, honestly. I wanted so much more from this mini in terms of greeblies and detail. It ended up being a scaled-up squad leader with a scepter. Literally, their leaders are just taller? Maybe I'll take another crack at his robes and add some trim to liven up the back of the mini. Big sigh.

The squad is where I took all my chances. Again, I painted a squad of these guys about 4 years ago, so the second chance brought many opportunities for improvement. I loved the purple glow, but I still think I can improve my technique. Tips appreciated. I'm not sure I have the heart in me to do a third squad. Going to try some Sicarians and other Ad Mech units instead.

A bit anxious about what to do to make my Next units stand out but mesh with this scheme:

• ⁠Sicarians can basically echo the black jumpsuit with metallic bits, but I feel like going with that will lack some pop. Maybe leaning into the purple energy on their blades and finding accent pieces to pop with yellow and green?

• ⁠Pteraxi are the same conundrum, but a wing vein with a green on yellow pattern might be fun. I intend to do the flamer squad. I can really amp up the muzzle burn with purple hues rather than make them glow to match.

• ⁠Dunecrawler, ironstrider, and robots: I still haven’t done any armor. I don’t want green tanks. I need a good primary color. Was thinking a brown would pull in the base colors, but drab armor is not very 40k, but I’m planning a smooth ivory for my knights. That would tie all the big boys together visually. I’ll have to think on that.

Regardless, no more AdMech for a bit! After painting a big batch like this, I am going to take a break and paint some one-off RPG figs and smaller squads with more painting variety and skill-tests. A batch of Harlequins with their diamond tights and trailing streamers would do me well.

Star Wars Legion - Clone Wars Core Set and Commander Rex

 After painting Rex with my son, he convinced me to get the core set (what a fool I am). The kit was good for a first offering for new players and new collectors. And I got to take Citadel Contrast for a spin to add another skill for my painting belt.

The models were decent. ObiWan and Clone Troopers were supplied in bags, basically clean except for mould lines.  Owing to their spindly bits, Grevious, two Droidekas, and the  B-1 Battle Droids were still on sprue. The plastic is definitely different from Games Workshop sprue. It was less solvable than GW plastic when using Testors and Tamiya plastic glue. Parts kept coming unwelded, but a little super glue put it right. Detail was tight and almost always movie/animation accurate, and the extra parts for Grevious even allowed for some simple conversions (see below for an extra surprise; you can blame my son for it). After assembling them, I realized the 28mm accurate scale is so much more fiddly than the 28mm heroics I'm used to.  Hands and guns are smaller.  Weapons are smaller too. But the accurate proportions make for great squads. In a crowd, they look like right even when base to base.

I was not interested in spending months painting these minis.  Especially since my son had lost interest in playing almost immediately after purchase. I was delighted to find Sorastro's painting guides for Legion.  He helped me get from prime to table-ready in less than a month. This was my first adventure with Citadel's Contrast paint, and the advice to thin with medium and how to handle flow was excellent.  His colors were spot on too. After spending the pandemic bemoaning my mistake, it was refreshing to go so fast from concept to finished product.

Flames of War - SS Army Pics

This weekend, I returned briefly to the world of miniature war gaming.  My father is putting up his Flames of War army for sale locally.  He's a history buff, and I learned a lot about the German WWII army composition by helping him catalog these.  I built some of these pieces, but mostly I just took the pics.  No detail shots, unfortunately.

Artillery

I love the frozen ground effect on these bases

Misc Infantry

Misc Command 

Heavy Machine Guns 

 Mortar Half Tracks

Tanks

 Panthers

Reconnaissance Car/Tanks 

PIVHs with Skirts 

Tigers

Mechanized Infantry

 Platoon 1

Platoon 2 

Platoon Command 

Obi-Wan Kenobi Light Saber Mod into an E-cig

Recently helped a friend modify an Obi Wan Kenobi .45 scale light saber into an e-cig.  The model is similar to the one in this Ebay listing, and is getting pretty rare.  They got the idea from a forum post that did a much less elegant job, but contains a slightly bigger battery.  Here are brutal steps for our build:

1. Get the model disassembled.  You should end up with:
• An end cap
• Chromed plastic 6 spoke pommel cap
• A die cast metal shroud
• Plastic insert for metal shroud
• Belt loop with screw
• Red and brass buttons with screw
• Die cast fore end
• Plastic insert for metal fore end
• 3x chromed plastic pins that hold the plastic insert inside the metal fore end
2. Find a battery.  We were able to fit a 180mAh long cylindrical 3/8" diameter one into the case.  It had a button on one end that fit just right so the fitting just comes to the fore end and a hole can be opened in the plastic insert for the metal fore end to allow access.
3. Vice the metal fore end by the wider cap (and not the base) into no-mar jaws and drill out the central hole with a 3/8" bit.  I would suggest a drill press for this operation, though a hand drill will do in a pinch.  A Dremel did not work for this due to hole size.  The metal is aluminium, so it shouldn't be too rough to do on most metal bits if you go slow and break your chips.  NOTE: we busted the spindly base off the wider fore end and snapped the 3  connecting bars by holding the fore end in the vice by the body of the fore end and not the cap.  They went back on with superglue after we matched up the shear patterns, but avoid this if at all possible.
4. Gently vice the plastic insert to the fore end and drill it out to 3/8" as well.  While you have it disassembled, drill the hole for your the button on your battery as well.  NOTE: be careful not to deform the plastic insert in the vice.
5. To reduce rattle inside the case, wrap some electrical tape around the parts of the battery that don't precisely fit (and are hidden in plastic).
6. Attach a wooden or metal extension on the battery cap and drill it so the belt loop screw can be reinserted.  We used wooden dowel screwed onto the plastic cap at the end of the battery, then epoxied in place. The belt loop screw holds the metal shroud and plastic fitting to the battery in the same manner as the fitting and battery button hold the fore end tight to the battery.
7. Attach your fitting and vape!

Fully Assembled

Coil Removed

Side View with all Vape connectors removed

Heirs of Vulcan Heavy Support

Land Raider Crusader "Throne of Vulcan"

This centerpiece model is the culmination of all my bitz and conversion work. I didn't drastically alter the hull of the model, though I did deck it out with little detail bitz that keep me looking at it from all angles.

The most noticeable conversion is the dozer blade.  Though no longer providing any benefit while playing, this adds bulk to the model (though it will be tough to paint).  As a smal;l detail, I added an extra row of frag charges to the front (because I had them, that's why), fuel/promethium tanks and spigots on the rear (including an externally stored hose), ventilation fan, an extra comms unit, and a set of winches and chain to the top/rear. 

I like to call this the fire truck.  Not sure if it is putting fires out or starting them.  However, it is well kitted to do either.  In addition, the dover blade and winches make it the perfect lost technology recovery vehicle.  All around, the Fabricator General's personal vehicle will make all your battlefield woes vanish when he and the Vet Squad comes tearing out of it, followed by his personal servitors sporting power fists.  Ah, it's good to be king...

Whirlwinds

The floating tank concept is very impractical.  To this end, I gave stabilizers to the artillery.  These Whirlwinds have custom payloads and optics only to be surpassed by their custom feet.  They fly with armor down, but the armor hinges out as they touch down, and provide much needed ground support when launching endless barrages of hell fire.

The conversion itself is very simple: hinge up the extra armor from the Vindicator kit, add several pistons from dozer blades as well as 2 dozer mounting kits (easy to come by should you be copying my plow blade design for the Vindicators) make one Whirlwind.

The conversion really speaks to me, and the model itself is static while telling a dynamic story.  That is a recipe for miniature love, right there.

Vindicators

This was the first vehicle model I converted.  The FW extra armor and smoke stack from Cities of Death's Manufactorum fell into my hands at Blue Table, and somehow I conned Shawn into giving me two dozer blades to mutilate.  This was also the inception of replacing the front plate of the Rhino chassis with CoD vents.

Together, it makes sense.  The wildly inaccurate mortar chell lobbed by a Vindi could only come from a mobile, floating mortar  Extra bling in the form of a pop-up HK Missile and custom floating using superglue caps and specialized flying bases rounded out the conversions.

When I started this army, I had no intention of building a coherent force out of it.  However, the concepts that appeared here wormed their way into every inch: ubiquitous geared skull, floating EVERYTHING, Storm-bolter positioning, on and on.  Not only is the Rhino chassis preserved, but it is enhanced in a way that is not totally outlandish and quickly recognizable.  In other words, I am not putting down a Dr. Pepper bottle and calling it a Carnifex, I'm building my own little corner of the universe, related but unique.

Thunder Fire Cannon

OK, so I saw the newest Space Marine swag before Games Day oine year and said to myself, "Self, you're broke.  Make a choice."  Instead of buying the Thunderfire, I bought the limited edition Techmarine which became my beloved Librarian HQ, the Archivor General.  This piece was then started to fill the new slot.

Clearly, the scale compared to the real thunderfire is way too big.  This makes it a sitting duck.  Stripping the battery cells (Leman Russ Wheels) down to the single large cell and reducing height and width would give it a much needed playability bonus.  However, as far as goofy contraptions goes, this is it.  This could easily serve as an Anti-Aircraft Mount for Apocalypse or be re-engineered as the big gun on a converted Bane Blade.