Heldrake in black, base finished

Well, now we're getting somewhere, aren't we!  Welcome back everyone to SB40k and my continuing journey to complete just one Heldrake I converted from a Soul Grinder's legs and building materials.

I don't have a lot to show, really, but it is starting to at least look impressive.  I've been able to get some work done on the base and even set up the black base coat.  Lets get right to it, shall we?

I really should have worked on the lighting and diffused the light from the top, but for our purposes this should work fine.  Overall I'm happy with how the top of the vehicle looks, almost spine-like in nature but not so much it looks unrealistic.

The base turned out great, though.  Really happy with how the water effects looks on the base and even tried out mixing green permanent ink and it hasn't hurt the water effects.  This gives me hope for the red ink I plan to use for the bloody water on the Horror models and was a fairly safe test.

Anyways, hope you like how it's going so far and I'll try to have something for next week.  Till then, happy building!

Time for Heldrake Engines

It's that time again, scratch build fans!  Time to give a small update on the progress I've made on those Heldrakes, focusing on the engines I've put together.

I opted for a simple design, hexagonal in nature.  I decided not to worry about making sure each of the angles was the same, but made each side the same length.  In this instance the engines are wider than they are tall.

The most difficult decision was deciding how to proceed after making this piece.  I ultimately chose to use the ridged caps from my Alumilite resin bottles.  They have a great stepped ridge in a circular pattern, perfect for the exhaust portion of the engine.

So far, the heldrake is looking pretty good.  I'm not sold on the top, though.  I may tear it apart and try to fix the upper portion, perhaps try to make it look more like a spine and less like pieces added to the top.

Heldrake Gains a Tail

Hey all, welcome back!  Today I'll be continuing to share the progress on my Heldrakes.  We've all seen the, ahem, 'rear hole', on the official model, and I really wanted to avoid that look.  After I took pictures a couple weeks ago, I realized the model needed something at the back in order to balance out the model.

Additionally, I needed a way to incorporate the Baleflamer into the model, and putting it in the front like the official model wasn't going to work for me.  This is what I came up with.

As you can probably tell, I used a copy of the upper leg piece, modified with circular pieces made from plasticard and duplicated, to create the segmented tail.  I then made my own tail shields using plasticard and duplicating each side separately, gluing them together at the angle I needed.  I finished it off with a cylinder with holes drilled.

What I still need to do is make the flame piece to extend past the tail, detail the wings, and create the engines which will rest under the rear wings and extend out slightly.

Overall I'm quite pleased with how things are turning out so far, but there still feels like a ton of work to do before these are ready to be primed and painted!

Making Soul Grinders Heldrakes

Hey all, going to keep things fairly short and just share what I've been working on.  Not long ago I finished (mostly) the Tzeentch Daemon army I had been putting together and felt it might be neat to put the finishing touches on the Chaos Space Marine army I had wanted to put together.

Regular readers might remember the Land Raiders I put together using plastic signs, copper tubes, and cardstock (that styrofoam sandwiched between paper).  Well, what I really wanted was a couple Heldrakes to go along with those Land Raiders.  I finally had the desire to start working on them.

Well, this is what I have so far.  This is only the first one and I have another set of wings to put together for the second.  What I would like to do yet is add some detail to the wings yet and create some enginesto be placed on either side of the larger wings, nestled up close to the body.

Anyways, it's getting there!

Two steps forward, one step back

Hey all, welcome back to SB40k.  Been a while since I've updated, so I thought I'd at the very least share the un-progress I've made in the last three weeks, starting with the UFO Lord of Change.  After watching the 11th Company live streaming of the Nova Open, I was inspired to do more with the army and this model in particular.

Sure is a mess, isn't it?  You may remember it being an actual space ship with one gun, all put together and domed.  Well, that wasn't good enough for me anymore and I felt it was high time I make it so it could be easily duplicated so I can have Lords of Change and Daemon Princes of Tzeentch should I choose.

This required I first remove the dome at the top, cutting carefully along the edge.  I then removed the brain glued inside and carefully took off the gun you see at the bottom right of the picture above.  The plan is to have multiple guns on each shit, not just the one underslung like before.

I also created a sort of seat for the brain in the cockpit so it can be similar to the tentacles I have on the brain horrors.  When I'm done adding everything I want to this, I'm going to cast each side in rubber molding and duplicate to my hearts content.  Right now this feels like it should be super easy

My other obsession has been the idea of collapse-able terrain.  This is what I have so far, a hut without a roof.  Yeah, I know, not impressive.

What I'd hoped to do with it was make terrain which wouldn't be in my way.  I admit, it folds up easy, but with the paper on the back of the styrofoam it curls and looks sorta funny.  This is very frustrating, and from now on I'll just peel the paper from both sides and save myself some aggravation.

This base is to basically hold the walls in place.

And here are my walls.  Overall they look decent enough and if I find time I'll do more with it to fix what I am unhappy with.

On the Horror front, I've found a resin I like which shouldn't be too expensive and will harden clear and properly.  Now to see if it will look good with red ink mixed in to give it the murky blood look!

Wish me luck, and good luck with your own scratch build/painting projects.