Dark Angels Sicaran Squadron for Legions Imperialis - WIP

 Greetings and welcome back.  I thought I'd make an opportunity today to walk through my process for painting these tiny tanks. They have lots of sharp detail and can be really fun to paint. The scale can change how we approach the models in a way that makes them in some ways easier to paint than the 28mm models.  But one thing is for certain; it all starts with a good primer coat...

I like to use Vallejo Surface Primer Black, sprayed through an air brush. However be warned, this approach isn't for the faint of heart.  Primer paints contain compounds that make them 'gloppy' in a way that easily clogs the airbrush.  I use a mix of Vallejo acrylic thinner and flow improver to make this work.  And even then, I have to pause often to clean out the air brush. But I think it is worth it - especially at this scale. Rattle cans are cheaper and easier, but you'll almost certainly clog and obscure some of the sharp details with them. With the airbrush, I have more control of how much paint I'm laying down.

After the primer has dried (I wait ~24 hours to be sure the primer set firmly - but this is generally because I spray late at night before bed), I hit the models with a heavy dry brushing of Proacryl Dark Warm Grey.  This always ends up looking MUCH lighter than I want - but I trust in the process and stay the course. At the end of the evening, after drybrushing, I then lay on a heavy all-over coat of GW Nuln Oil, straight from the pot. You can see the wash drying in the pic above. If the first coat doesn't darken things enough, I'll add a second.

Then I come back the next day and get to work on the metals.  This is generally Proacryl Dark Silver on tracks, weapons, shoulder trim and maybe a few other details with the tanks.  For the plasma cannons on the Sicarans, I went further to show their technological age and 'special-ness'.  Yeah, I think that's a thing.  Anyway, they got some Proacryl Bronze along with the Dark Silver details. I also shaded the tracks and exhaust with GW Reikland Fleshshade.

Unique to the plasma weapons, I had more weapon work to do than normal.  I followed my usual paint recipe for plasma effects (see my 30K Dark Angels recipe in the tabs above), perhaps with a bit of a lighter hand than I would on 28mm weapons.  I'm typically going for a 'charged up and ready to fire' look vs. a 'peak power - firing!' look anyway.

With metals painted, it's usually time to select the parts that will carry the legion red - in this case Proacryl Bold Pyrrole Red. With the tanks, I choose locations in a way that marks out one squadron from another of the same tanks.  With my collection here, I'm aiming to be able to run all the vehicles in a single squad (rules permitting, of course) if I want.  But I also want to be able to run smaller squads, and have it be clear on the table which tanks go with which squads. So here I have three tanks with front quarters red, and three with side armor red. It helps here that the Dark Angels have a complex and hard to discern heraldry at the best of times. So we can't really say that anything is 'wrong' with our schemes, so long as there is black and silver and red.
 

I actually tried to get cute with some red and black checkers on the front panels.  But it was just painful to paint and looked pretty mediocre with my skills...well, really bad actually, if I'm being honest. So...straight red it is!  With larger tanks and larger panels, like the Spartans, I could play with transfers to get the effect.  Here things are small and the shapes fiddly, so I didn't attempt it.
 

Oh, and I chose to paint in the targeting lenses and lasers while I had the red out. I'll need to go back to the earlier painted tanks and do that at some point. I had thought these areas too small, but it is really no worse than painting in eyes!

Speaking of transfers, that comes next! I like to think of the Sicarans as older tanks in the armory.  So I gave them icons of the hexagramaton to show their pre-Caliban Terran origins.  Plus its just sorta mysterious and all Dark Angelly - yes, that's a thing too! Of course, they get the 1st Legion icons as well.

On the right flanks, I put the usual vehicle numbers to make picking out specific models during games easier and the 1st legion icons. And that was it for these tanks.  There aren't many flat spaces large enough for the transfers I have, but it's fine if some vehicles carry less bling than others. :)

I think I started this with the Predators, but I figured out that the small laurels from the Legions Imperialis vehicle transfer sheet fit on the marine shoulder pads.  Win!  So I'm dropping them on all my command models - squadron leaders in this case. Fun!! The small Dark Angels icon (seen on the side of these tanks) seems *just* too big, so I haven't tried that.  I wish they'd print an infantry sheet with tiny legion transfers for the shoulder pads...

The last step is applying weathering powders to the tracks and bottom of the tanks. I typically spoon out a bit of powder with the GW plastic texture tool (or whatever they call that plastic tool used for applying texture paints...) into a small cup, then add pigment fixer liquid, enough to make a thin soup...?  It's a "feel/experience" thing that I don't know how to accurately describe.  Reminds me of my grandmother who'd describe recipes like, "Put some flour and sugar in a bowl, then a bit of butter and mix it together..."

Anyway, after applying the weathering powder soup to the tracks, fronts, bottoms, etc. of the tanks, I let them dry over night.  When applying the weathering mixture, I try to consider how mud, dirt and dust might accumulate on the tanks...then I back off a little because I want to enjoy the paint job some.  I imagine the paint on a real tank is barely recognizable after a short time operating in a dirty, muddy environment. Anyway, I got carried away on the front of a few of the Sicarans, but I like it. Seems like the slopped fronts, and their increased speed over other armor might make them scoop up a bit more grime on the go.

Somewhere in all that I also applied more GW Nuln Oil to the remaining metals bits.  I used GW Agrax Earthshade on the plasma weapons, prior to painting on the plasma effects. At any rate that's pretty much it; painted tiny tanks! I always finish with a good coat of matte lacquer. That sort of dampens down the weathering powder effect. When it dampens the effect too much, I re-apply the powders.

I'll post up some completed pics from the light box next and take my big ol' stamp of done then too. So check back in a few days to see how these came out, in more detail.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

 

Aeronautica Imperialis Skies of Fire Bases - To DONE

 

Greetings and welcome back.  After completing two Predator tanks for the Horus Heresy game, I decided to turn back to my Aeronautica Imperialis collection.  Last season, I completed the contents of the original boxed set, Aeronautica Imperialis: Wings of Vengeance.  So this time, I'm working on the second boxed set to be released, Aeronautica Imperialis: Skies of Fire.  It the second boxed set, we are introduced to T'au and Imperial Army aircraft along with a few new rules.

 

To kick things off, I base coated all the planes and then got busy with the bases.  The bases are pretty easy to get done, so they make for a quick win. Also, the completion adds incentive to get on with the aircraft.  The base tops can be carefully separated from the bottoms with a screw driver or other prying tool. They clip on three sides; use care when forcing the clips open or you'll bend and/or crack the bases, or possibly mangle the dials in the process.  If things go well, you'll have a bunch of base dials and bottoms as shown above.  Don't get the dials mixed up.  There are two different dials and they need to be on the correct side to function as designed. 

A short time later I had the base colors applied, using an airbrush. When gluing the stems in before painting, as I have done, some masking tape helps keep the stems clear, if that's what you're aiming for.  There are many examples out on the web to draw from.  I originally planned to do themed bases for each force.  However, in the end I felt the game would look less chaotic if all the planes used the same bases.  This is a pretty easy scheme to reproduce (that's important because there are a lot of bases to paint if you run a large collection!), and look striking on the table.

Next, I painted in the details on the backs of the bases. Bright contrast draws the eye and makes it easy to pick out the flight details during a game. It's quite easy to paint these raised details, but you want to go slow and take care to avoid getting paint on air brushed transitions like this. It's frustrating to touch up later.  I keep a stiff, damp brush handy to quickly remove any mistakes while painting.

Next I painted in all the metallic trim, including the triangle at the front of the base.  You could do something more interesting there, but it's not a game aid (other than sorta pointing forward) and so I didn't want to draw attention to it.

Last up was a solid coat of varnish to seal the paintwork and add durability for game play.  Not sown here, I did paint the two thin rails on the back plate of each base that run under each dial when the bases are assembled.  This can be brush painted after assembly, but I didn't want to have to seal it by brush, nor spray lacquer all over the dials.  So I did a quick paint and seal on those portions of the back plates before reassembling the bases.  As shown, they are ready for action.  Now on to the planes.  I'll save my big ol' seal of DONE for the finished boxed set...hard to take credit for a handful of bases while the planes languish on the shelf with nought but primer on them! 

Probably no posts until next week while I celebrate the US Thanksgiving holiday with family. Happy Thanksgiving to all those out there that celebrate. And even if you don't, you might find some time for reflection on what there is to be thankful for in this life.  

Like a healthy hobby backlog to look forward to! 😂

Cheers and Happy Gaming!!

 

Adeptus Titanicus Titan WIP - red toenail polish edition

 

Progress continues on the tiny titans!  I couldn't resist the title.  At this point in the process things DO look a little like these guys just put on the toenail polish.  An in truth, things have progressed a bit farther than can be revealed above.  I started batch painting these titans by shading and then dry brushing the legs.

So, shiny but with a bit more definition perhaps?  Then I started in with the red panels on the legs, which led to the inevitable toenail polish look.  On the war hounds, this got more fancy with the edition of gold trim.

This led me to focus a bit more on the Warhounds since they are smaller and thus easier to complete - oh and much more likely to get used in my games at this point. I may run them to completion before focusing back on the Warmaster.

By now I'm feeling in the groove, ready to assemble the leg armor and move the leg assemblies to a battle ready state so I could move on to the bodies...I'm really moving! So I clip of the lower leg armor, lay it out so I know what goes where and realize this...

The problem (if it isn't obvious) lies with my intended for the Legio Ignatum heraldry for my collection of tiny titans.  The hazard stripes are supposed to be on the *outside* of the armor, not on the inside.  So, only one armor panel above is correct.  Three need to be repainted.  This revelation led to a period of wild gesticulation and much profanity followed by a little sulking, then a mad search through the bits box for extra leg armor parts.  But I had none, except for the unused traitor parts from all my old kits.

Not one to waste an opportunity, I then recognized this was the perfect opportunity to test out a can of Testors Easy Lift Off (ELO) paint remover that I picked up a while back.  As you can see above, the product is quite effective.  Better than effective, though, it is FAST.  I went from disaster to ready to prime in 5 minutes, no kidding.  No over night soaking, no scrubbing and scrubbing, no extra soaking and going at it all again.  Just applied the liquid, let it sit a minute or two as recommended, and brushed the paint off with an old drybrush I had easy to hand (an old tooth brush would have been even better).

The resulting product can be seen above, full of the removed paint.  THIS is something that shall remain in the hobby bunker for years to come.  I can imagine how useful it would be for eBay rescues and the like.  It's both effective and a real time saver.  Now, I will prime the armor again and repaint the heraldry - correctly this time.  I'm pretty sure I even made hay in a prior post about the importance of careful planning to avoid just this kind of issue.  Never let it be said I don't lead by example...even if it's a bad example.

So that was my adventure this week.  I will pick up the posting pace as the project progresses and I have more to show.  The time required to plug through this phase of drybrush and trim doesn't leave a lot of room for sexy progress pics. I'm sorta glad for the little mishap so I had something more interesting (hobby-wise) to post at all!

Best of luck with your own projects.  Go and get some of this Testors ELO product.  If you ever strip hobby paint, you won't regret it for a minute. I should add there is very little odor and my skin appears no worse for the wear.  I'm not particularly cautious with, nor kind to, my hands when hobbying.

Cheers and Happy gaming!

Magnetizing the Warmaster Titan for Adeptus Titanicus

A naked Warmaster Titan Waiting for Primer

The Rites of Construction for Superbia Martis have finally concluded. I thought I'd take some time today to share what I magnetized and how/why. This process will be consistent with the approach I've taken with the other mini-titan projects that I have completed.  The larger AT kits are expensive and take up enough space that it's worth magnetizing a few options rather than building up an even larger collection of titans, which will then need to be painted, just to represent the various weapon load outs you may wish to play with.

Games Workshop appears to have embraced this reality in their Titanicus models by providing sockets for magnets in many of the expected places.  They also provide many options in a kit so you have something to magnetize. The Warmaster Titan kit is no exception.  In fact, with this kit, you are magnetizing things that don't even have options yet (arm weapons) or for which there are no current rules (the "small arms" on the upper carapace, similar to the Warbringer Nemesis Titan's anti-air guns).

So I'm going to start out with the caveat that some of the Magnetization here is purely for the hobby love and not something that is currently necessary for game play (though who knows where things will turn out down the road).  I'll call this out as I go. So let's get started with the obvious arm weapons...

Those are BIG guns...and they never tire! Yes, that isn't an optical illusion - the Warmaster's arm weapons are as long as a Reaver Titan is tall.  We have the Warmaster Iconoclast titan with a different pair of arm weapons, but there is otherwise no optional armaments for the Warmaster at this time.  However, the magnet sockets are there, so why not future proof against the possibility of a future weapons sprue or new resin from Forge World? 

There's nothing novel to discus with the arm weapons.  The arms and shoulders have the expected 5mm x 2mm round sockets ready to go, same as the Warlord Titan.  Just glue the magnets in (watch that polarity!) and you are good to go. Here's what things look like under the "shoulders".

But now let's look at the Warmaster's shoulder mounted weapons.  These weapons DO have a profile in the game, and the kit comes with all of the options - six in total.  Five of the weapons use the same shoulder socket, the sixth, missile launchers, attach INSTEAD of the other weapon socket piece which is a pain. I chose to ignore the missile option for now - but  may look into a scratch modification that allows me to attach the missiles to the same socket used by the other weapons.  If I sort that out, I'll post about it here. I imagine others out there in the blog-o-sphere may have already showed off their solution to that problem as well.

the weapons socket with internal magnet installed

The socket in question looks like this after assembly.  The two halves that form the rectangular weapon mount include enough space inside for a rectangular magnet, 6mm x 4mm x 2mm. This size magnet was not easy to find, but a little web research landed me here. They shipped promptly and the magnets are quite strong.  I expect I'll find other uses since I only needed two but had to buy 50. 😂 An all too typical hobby story for me...

Unfortunately the weapons themselves are not so easy to magnetize. You might consider getting away with some blu-tac or other mounting putty.  But if like me you have a passion for magnets, then there are options.  The male portion of the socket, shown above, is a bit small for a typicall 3mm diameter disc or rod magnet.  I could have saved some time, maybe, by using a 2mm diameter rod magnet, but I had concerns over the strength of the attraction I'd end up with.  So here's what I did.

I carefully sliced off the male portion of the weapon the fits in the shoulder socket, and then drill out two holes for 3mm x 2mm disc magnets underneath it. After the magnets were glued in place (a pain since they want to fight each other due to polarity issues), I glued the male portion that I sliced off back in place over the magnets.  This isn't strictly necessary, but helps the stability of the whole assembly when the weapons are locked in place. This worked well, despite the fidgety work involved, and I was content with the resulting strength of the magnet pull.

However, each weapon is different, so I've only bothered with two options out of the five so far.  I'll come back to that at some point.  It didn't' seem worth holding up the rest of the project for at this time.  Suffice to say that you might find yourself working out five different solutions to get each pair of weapons prepared.  But in the end it's cool to have the weapon swaps since these weapons have stats in the game.

The "small arms" on the carapace (only in the 40K universe could demolisher cannon be considered small arms) have pre-molded sockets, so that was back to easy mode.  One word of caution though.  The magnets in the shoulder underneath these can mess with your polarity, so try to think ahead and align everything in the same direction to avoid unneeded hassles later. In this case, I ignored that advice and arbitrarily put magnets in the weapons first before realizing that I chose an orientation opposite what I had used for the arm weapon socket in the shoulder.  Between that and the shoulder weapon socket which is strong and at a 90 degree angle of  pull to the rest, the little magnets on the carapace want to flip over without another thought.  Had I used the same polarity as the arm weapon mount, I should not have had this issue.  It was no big deal in the end, just a bit more patience with the gluing to be sure the magnet doesn't flip in the socket before the glue sets enough to hold it. And the one socket out of four I had to dig the magnet out of and re-glue when I realized it had somehow gotten away from me and flipped anyway.

Otherwise this is a trivial magnet project if you have 12 3mm x 2mm (measure - they might have been 3mm x 1mm sockets, I honestly forget) disc magnets. The carapace weapons have no rules currently,  so you wouldn't be wrong to just pick four and glue them down, skipping the extra magnet project. You can choose between what look like demolisher cannon or the same AA guns used by the Warbringer. With the sockets provided, and the magnets already in my inventory, it was a no-brainer for me to just go ahead and magnetize the lot. I'll be smiling if rules come out later that cause me to care what's up there in a game. At least the Warmaster comes with two options unlike the Warbringer which I magnetized for literally no reason in the current model line. 😆

So that's my beta on the whole Warmaster magnetization project.  You can magnetize the waist joint as well with BIG disc magnets.  But I am not doing that with any of my AT titans.  I have a floppy, spinny 40K Knight Errant that proved to me why this isn't worth it for gaming.  Best case you use strong magnets and the model holds together but spins about randomly when bumped.  Worst case, you pick up the top and the bottom falls off with the slightest bump.  You'll have enough issues with the arm weapons coming off when you grab the model wrong. It just leaves a fragile/vulnerable point on the model that isn't beneficial unless you have real space constraints for storage. I'm content to store these models on their back using Battlefoam Adeptus Titanicus trays.

So that's way to much to say about magnetizing Warmaster Titans.  I learned most of my hobby skills from many similar accounts on other blogs in the past, so I hope I've provided something useful to you here in return.  Next up will be the first in a series of painting articles on this beast. The primer is already dry and by the time you are reading this, I will no doubt have already put the air brush to work.

Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

 

MonsterMarch6 - Week one progress

credit: swordmasterofhoeth.blogspot.com

So we're into #MonsterMarch6 with both feet now.  This first week was all about priming and setting the base colors for the armor and infrastructure of the titans. The end results aren't much to look at, despite the progress involved.  Before laying down colors, I spent some time noodling on how I wanted the livery of the titans to come out.  The key decisions for the Tempestus were what was going to be camouflage, and what was going to becheckers, and what was going to be black and/or white.  So just a few things to consider.  This led ultimately to piles of sprue with various colors across them...

These bits are either dark steel/silver or black/white in color.  The Legio Tempestus transfer sheet has some white and blue checkers for certain specific components, so those are painted white, along with the things that were going to be white anyway.  I'll have to manage more custom transfers for the leg armor, and possible a couple more bits, but it's a little less than before at least.

 Then, of course, there is those bits that need camouflage.  In the image above, certain bits are totally masked off against the risk of any over spray from painting the camouflage colors.  Other bits are far enough away that I should be able to miss them, so no masking there.  If you click through, you'll see all the various bits of blue painter's tape masking off the first layer of camo shapes.  This is where most of the week went.  It's a lot of individually cut flecks of tape, lovingly applied in a random, pleasing pattern on each tiny piece.  Oh, and lets not forget the titan bodies...

Getting the tiny pieces of tape into all the little areas of the model is super fun.  Honestly, you really must give it a go some time.

No, really.  Just try it out.  You'll be amazed at how therapeutic it can be.  You'll save lots on needless counseling costs - well you would if the models weren't so damn pricey.  But let's get back to the therapy.

It was so fun, I'm including a simple step by step guide here so you can join me in the journey from little tape fleck to mighty completed Titan.  It all starts with blue painters tape and just enough enthusiasm (insanity?) to make the first cut. And while we're on the topic of cutting, this is the time to replace that nappy dull blade from scraping sprue with a shiny new one.  The process to follow will go MUCH easier if you have a sharp blade...

Ok, so you've cut a strip of tape and stuck it down to a cutting mat (if you chose the dinning room table, I'm not responsible for the consequences...).  Now start with a couple long cuts to divide the tape into small strips, this is going to ultimately determine the size of your flecks, so plan ahead.  I've started using 2" wide tape so I can spend more time cutting flecks and less time setting up the tape.  Next you begin slicing off little triangles, trapezoids, rhomboids, parallelograms, or whatever suits your particular condition.  You'll destroy the cutting mat surface so plan ahead and don't use your favorite mat or any other cherished surface. I think the pic above makes the results clear, so 'nuff said there.

Now, I used to use tweezers, but it's fiddly and I scratched a lot of paint.  So now, I gently stick my craft knife into the fleck and lift it up as shown above.  The painters tape isn't that sticky so this generally works.  When you inevitably pierce, tear, fold, crumple or drop a fleck, simply curse appropriately and cut a new one.  You're going to make hundreds if not thousands of these so a few in the bin is hardly a concern.

Now carefully stick the fleck to the model, being careful not to scratch the paint with the tip of the knife. This mostly works, and pressing down with a finger or other device (not the sharp point of the knife!!) is recommended for a good seal.  If you want sharp crisp shapes, you don't want spray getting under the tape much.  Now keep at it until it looks like the pic below. If you've found a better method, please don't share it.  I have wasted far to much of my life doing it this way to hear about any better methods now.

If you made it this far, congratulations! You only have 2645 more flecks to go.  Keep at it, champ!  Note the somewhat irregular shapes and the random placement.  If there is any art here, it is in the placing of each shape to fill the space with interest.  I try to avoid all the lines and angles going in one direction.  Also, there will be two layers of tape, so you need to leave room for the next round of shapes or you won't get much of an overlapping pattern.  Oh, didn't I mention that at the top?  Yes, that's right.  After a coat of the second camo color dries thoroughly, you'll go back and DO IT ALL AGAIN.  Remember, service is its own reward.  If you stuck with the process above, your panels will look something like this.

I applied tape to 27 panels/parts and two titan bodies. It's a lot.  Leave plenty of time, and have a generous amount of your favorite libation on hand.  And yes, you're using a sharp knife so hobby responsibly, or accept the consequences.

This camouflage approach is painted "inside-out" in the sense that the first layer of paint is the top image that appears in the camo pattern.  The last layer of paint is the color that appears to be "under" all the camouflage flecks. The full recipe is in the Legio Tempestus tab above and a longer tutorial on painting dazzle camouflage is here.  Note that after the first two Reavers, I determined that I liked the pattern better with smaller flecks of tape.  Takes MUCH longer, but the look is less jarring (to me at least), with less dark blue showing.

So...into week two, I'm painting the second camouflage layer, re-taping everything and making some progress on the other panels. I'm interested in how the checker transfers from the GW transfer sheet will work on the panels and looking forward to hand cutting my own custom transfers for the rest.  My scheme for these titans is so much more a hobby project than a painting project, compared to the Legio Ignatum engines.

Best of luck for your projects.  Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

On the Workbench [ Bonus] - Horus Heresy 1st Legion Fast Attack

 

 Greetings.  Recent work on heavy support options for my First Legion Horus Heresy force got me excited to keep on assembling resin goodies.  So I dug out the fast attack options I've been sitting on and laid them out on the work bench. 

Three Scimitar pattern jetbikes backed up by a Javelin attack speeder will one day support my force on the battlefield.  These hovering machines can deep strike and easily maneuver into position to outflank enemy units.  I hope to use them as both a distraction and to support other forward units of the Dark Angels.

Assembly was pretty painless, though the riders were a bit fiddly; not due to any issue with the models themselves, just because working with epoxy can be a bit challenging when assembling arms into a specific position. Five minutes is not a long time for glue to set, but compared to superglue, it becomes an eternity. That said, I'm never going back to superglue for the bulk of my non-plastic assembly. Much better overall adhesion with a much less brittle bond.  Using pins could have helped, however then I'd have to be even more precise to get the holes in the bodies and harms just right to be sure the models could hold their handle bars correctly. I liked being able to make small adjustments as the glue set. The angle of the body as it sits on the legs determines the reach of the arms, assuming the arms are properly lined up with the shoulders.  Thankfully, the large shoulder pads cover up most imperfections if the alignment isn't quite right. 

In hindsight, I could have glued the arms to the torsos first, taking care to keep the arms parallel and at 90 degrees (roughly) to the torso.  Then, with that glue set, I could have clamped the hands on the handlebars and just let the torsos drop onto the legs at whatever angle they needed.  As it was, I had the torsos glued to the legs fully upright, with backs to the backrests, and that left the arms just a mm or two too short for the handle bars. So I had to snap the torsos off and glue them again, leaning forward a bit more, to correct the reach.

Here they are fully assembled.  The various weapon options have all been magnetized.  I used 2mm x 5mm rod magnets in the body and 2mm x 3mm rod magnets in each weapon.  For stability, I used two magnets for each as shown in the images below.  Probably not necessary, but I had the magnets and past experience as shown me that skimping can make for some fiddly models with bits dropping off and getting lost when a model is handled..

Lining the magnets up will get you the best effect.  I haven't done a perfect job with that, but the pull is fine and the weapons all snap in solidly.  The rod magnets pull on each other, so while the glue was curing I needed to watch out for one or more of them rising up out of their socket to join their neighbor.  This only happened with a couple, due mostly to the holes being slightly large for the magnet.  This happens when I allow the drill bit to wander while using the pin vise. It's a small issue, but something to look out for if the pull of the two neighboring magnets is strong.

The Javelin attack speeder went together easily too. I was pleasantly surprised to find how well everything fit together, when compared to some other Forge World kits I've worked with in the past. No option come with this kit so nothing is magnetized.  I could have done something fancy with the crewed weapon so I could swap for other options pulled from the bits box, but I decided to stick with the Heavy Bolter.

I didn't take any work-in-progress shots as I was building the speeder. But I have a couple different angles to show.

I got these models when the Dark Angels had special Heavy Bolter ammunition, something that got removed in book 9 when the rules were updated. Otherwise, I might have preferred lascanon and multi-melta for tank hunting here.  I imagine twin-linked krak missiles will do some work, esp. in all the games I'm not playing. 😂

That does it for the fast skimmer support.  At this point, I have assembled most of the units for the army.  All that is missing now is a handful of specialists, like Apothecaries, Techmarines, and the like. And I have plenty of plastic troops to build should I ever run out of things to add to this project. Oh, but how could I forget - of course, I also have to build the Companions and Lion'el Johnson!

Never mind that we appear to be getting something big and new for the Horus Heresy game in general  later this year...I honestly don't need more models for this particular force or game! 

Always great to have new things to work on though.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!