Opus AEW and skitarii

I finally started work on the last (I think) member of the Opus flight wing, an airborne early warning (AEW) craft, similar to the E-2 Hawkeye. I have had the model for some time but I could not figure out how to make the wings fold as the need to fold back along the body. This was extra tricky as I was using the Valkyrie as a base, and the model has wings that angle down so they had to fold with the tips going inwards and not outwards. That meant that the wings needed to fold downward and rotate, and that is kind of the same way gravity works on the wings which makes it tricky to keep them up. I solved it by friction and two small latches that can swing in beneath the wings to prevent them dropping when I want the model in flight mode.

Another obstacle was what to make the radar disc from. I did not have any suitable disc that could be used. I was thinking about using a large round base, but I did not have any spare so I decided to make the disk from scratch. The center is a plane 2 mm thick 10 cm diameter plasticard disk. The top and bottom disks were made from disks of 0.5 mm plasticard, with sections cut out to make them angle up a bit. Over all I think it is coming together nicely. Need to make a more permanent attachment for the disk and start with the wheels. Then I need to make some internal operator stations where combat command can lead the airwing operations and guide the Opus Magna's artillery. There is still a lot to do on this, but I guess that it will have to mature a bit at a time as the rest of the flight wing.

I also started work on the 30K Skitarii I got for my birthday from the Wifey. I really like the look of these models. Sadly there are only four poses, and there are 16 models in the box, but it turns out the arms are interchangeable so basically the four set of arms can be permutated through the four poses to get all individual looks. The bodies were prepped and painted in my standard rusted metal look. For the coats I tried a new technique, egging. This was also a present from the Wifey, it is a makeup sponge in the shape of an egg that has very fine pores so that one can get smooth blending's on flat and textured surfaces without dry brushing. I hope this can be a solution to a problem that I have been having, namely that to get smooth blends with dry brushing I usually need to use 6-10 layers of paint, and it has a tendency to stripp the paint back to the base coat on raised sharp surfaces. In this way I can get a base blend without wearing the layers down. I am pretty happy with how it turned out, but I still need to do some more experimenting with this to see how far I can take it. I also need to see how long the sponge holds upp before it is to clogged with paint to work properly. 

Random builds

Since I finished the Dreadtober challenge I have been building things. However, nothing is painted yet.

Building and painting the Saturnine dreadnought really got me inspired to paint more walker, and since I had a whole bunch of Armiger war glaives sitting half build on the shelf I decided to try and get them done so that I finally can close the Armiger project. First of I build the legs. The Armiger legs are very boring and possibility is almost zero, unless you start cutting. So this is what I did. Some legs are still in the original configuration, others are cut at the upper joint to re-angle the lower leg and some got the full treatment with separation at all joints. The hipp joint also needed some modifications to allow changes in the leg angle. Then I went for as dynamic poses as I could, as I would like these to be charging forward at full tilt while the Hellverins are providing suppressive fire. I also extended the torso joint to allow the upper body some more movement. I also built some bases providing some things for the Armigers to jump on, further empathising the running motion. Once that was done I rebuilt the glaives, extending them so that they can hit something at ground level. As soon as I have cleaned up the legs and glaives I will start painting these, while I finish up the armour panels, which needs a lot of GS sculpting to bring everything in line with the previous models.

In parallel to this I had another idea concerning the Opus build. The accelerator cannon turret that came with the Saturnine box is really cool but it is kind of a strange model with the legs. If it had been mounted on some movable/vehicle platform I would probably have left it alone. But as it is I thought it could come to better use on Opus. The top of the island is already a gun platform with battel cannon turrets and AA guns, so another big gun would not look out of place. Problem was that I had already built the communication disk onto the back, which was the only place this could go. So I had to join them. This was not easy as I had already glues the disk support together, and that is a solid piece of plastic. So I had to bring out the jeweller saw and cut it free. Then I could insert the accelerator turret beneath it and re-sculpt the supports to fit on top of the gun turret. The ascetics is not super matched as the communication disc is more crude compared to the design of the accelerator cannon turret. I might need to do some small alterations but in the end I am happy with how it turned out. I really gives the top platform a 1st/2nd world war battel ship vibe to it. I still have not tested it mounted on Opus as opus is still disassembled as I am also working on the underside and internals.

Another thing I also did for Opus was to build some alternate weapons for the gunships in the form of twin linked assault cannon pods. First I intended to use these on the air superiority fighters but I changed my mind and are going for missiles there instead. That meant that I hade some left over for the gunships (in the end they are interchangeable so I can always swap things around). And I really like this load out. It is what you need to get infantry to disappear, so I might keep to of they like this. I also have other weapons that I do not have enough of to equip all of them with so I might do other special load out versions.

Well that is what I have done so far. Now I just need to get something build far enough so that I get something to pant.

Opus flight wing update

I realized that I had not updated the progress on the fliers for the Opus flight wing. This is something I have been working on in the background through out spring and part of the summer.

Last time I mentioned that I had remade the wings of the fighter bomber so that they folded a bit better. I was very pleased with how this worked out, but I still thought that the wings were a bit skinny so I decided to add some leading edge flaps to give them some more area. I think they turned out ok, perhaps not as neat as they were in my head, but I guess that once I get some paint on them they will look ok.

Once the wings were sorted I added two hard points on each side for the weapons (these can be removed and switched out for other loadouts). The kits that I use for these builds does not come with any separate missiles so I decided to use the missile pods instead. In the kit there are almost parts for two types of pods so I built the missing parts so that I can have two sets, one for the fighter bomber and one for the close air support ship. The pods still need some work, as I am thinking on adding some extensions at the back to represent some longer missiles in the pods.

Once the fighter bomber was sorted I started with the close air support. This was supposed to be the closest to the original model and I thought it would be a quick build, but the folding wings once again took way more time than I thought. These also got two hard points on each wing to carry missile pods or other weapons (I am working on some twin linked assault cannons to go on the outer points). I also decided to add some skinnier versions of the heavy bolter to the side mounts were the original pods sit. I also need to fix the shin mounted assault cannon. I was going back and forth on if this should be twin linked or not. In the end I think the profile looks better with a singel gun (not in these pictures, so I will have to get back on that).

Basically the build of all the fighters for Opus are now done. I need to clean them up, make sure all wings are symmetric etc and add some details. Then I can start to paint, and that will be interesting as I need to switch to air brushing (as I am not brush painting 14 aircrafts +4 landspeeders) which is something I have not really done before. Perhaps getting some paint on these will motivate me to finish of the Opus build itself so that also can go to paint.

Dark commune, and Opus Storm speeder

This spring has been crazy at work, so I apologize if I do not update as often and don't have the much to show. This means that what i usually do in a week I now do in a month. So this month I did the two guards for the Dark commune. These look more like some fantasy models rather than scifi models, but I do like them. The helmets are reminiscent of the Nazgul helmets from LoTR and the poses are equally threatening.

For colours I choose the same as for the standard bearers, grey under robes and purple over robes. The armour was done as rusted metal with some bronze. When taking the photos I realized I need to go back and work on the blades and hands a bit more. Nothing that will change anything drastically though. 

When not painting I have been building on the opus. This is also painfully slow. I have finally managed to get the internal panels pinned to the external, which means I can start with the details as they are now related to each other.

I have also started work on some gunboats, in the for of some Storm speeder. These will be defending the ground around the Opus and pick up any downed pilots, at least until I get a nice recovery ship (haven't figured out what would be best for this). The buy was a bit of a mistake. For some reason I still had the old Land speeders in my mind, and that was also what the opus was built for. So the loading bays on the sides, blew the deck, where I first intended to dock undock these is now to small and they can not fit through the doors. So I will have to find another purpose those.

Well, I did not really like some of more Primaris like designs of the storm speeders, so off course I had to make some alternations. First of was the air intakes for the jets. The grills were a bit to restrictive, so off they went. I will add some visible turbines inside that I have as leftovers from the aircrafts. I also added som cowlings to define the air intakes a bit more. Then I also added some larger exhausts for the jets as the original ones looked a bit small. Then I exchanged the winglets for some larger wings and added hinges to them so that I can fold them for storage. This meant that I could use to original wings as vertical stabilizers. I think these alterations brings a better balance to the model, less front heavy as there is now more going on at the back.  I will also remove the extra gunner from the turret and exchange him with some targeting arrays. It thought it would look strange with a guy sitting in there while it is in storage (I made the pilots removable). I also added some landing gears for the same reason. They can not just hover all the time. There is still more details to add but so far I like the build.

I guess that this version of the Storm speeder is more of a flyer that the standards ones, and it ties in better with the rest of the aircraft I have (it is also as big).  Even if it would have been nice with a canopy for the pilots. 

Dark commune banner and some Opus

Well, well. Once again I have been neglecting my updates. Not that there has been much to post lately as I have been traveling and doing other stuff than hobbying (like sleeping). But once in a while I have been dragging my self into the hobby room to ship away at the pile of things to do.

One of the things that has been sitting on my desk it the Dark Commune that I got for Christmas from my wife. These are gorgeous models with a lot of detail and a lot of small fragile details. That means that they have to be painted in sub-assemblies and then put together and a lot of touch ups where the glue melts things off or were the colours do not match. That means it takes some time to do these models justice.

I choose to paint them up to match the Dark Apostle I got earlier, which meant that I went for a grey and purple look for robes and pants of the models. The metal parts got the usual rusted treatment. I also tried my hand at some OSL from the flames, but I think I need to go back and enhance it a bit. I also thinking about doing this on the Apostel model to match. Not sure yet if I can pull it off.

I have also been working on the Opus, and it is slow work as it so big. I am currently working on the hangar bay. I decide that it would be better to add an internal skin of panels rather than trying to detail all the external parts internally. Now all miss matches will be cowered in the area in-between and will hopefully not be visible. To help with the detailing I bought the Necromunda columns and walls kit. This will be applied at various places but primarily for the access arches to the  gun ports and as emergency dividing walls for the different sections of the bay.

I also started out on the flooring. At the moment it is one large piece to make sure it all lines up along the hull. I might cut it up at some point (depending on how the details end up) to make it into more manageable sections. Once I hade it and the walls in place I put some of the flight wing into the storage to see how many I could fit, and it turned out to be 8-9 aircraft, a bit depending on how I want to treat the elevators. This is more or less what I did expect. With the second floor I guess I could fit another 6-8 craft which would mean that all craft I have fit inside except for the heavy fighter who are to tall to fit on the levels. I could probably get two of them onto some elevators and park them at an intermediate level, but that would seriously limit the space on the second floor.

So I think that the storage area in the hull is not meant to store all craft, but just a way to make space on the deck for flight operations. If the Opus needs to be lifted into orbit or the deck cleared for other reasons the craft would just have to relocate to a land based base instead.

Opus wheels and turrets

When I am not painting I am slowly shipping away on opus in the background. Lately I have been working on the wheels for the flight wing and some extra weapons turrets for Opus (as you can never have to much guns).

The wheels have been something I have been going back and forth with for some time. The aircrafts are originally VTOL and as such only came equipped with landing pads. As I am building a carrier with a flight deck and an angled recovery strip I have been thinking that they should have wheels instead of the pads. But the big question has always been where to get the wheels, and in quantities that I need. In the end I ended up making them from scratch. I took 0.3 mm plasticard stripes and made 5 mm wide rolls. I then sanded them flat on each side and rounded of the edges using sand paper and a power drill. In the end I ended up making 28 wheels to make the main landing gears. Now I just need to make another 18 smaller versions for the tail wheels. Once the wheels were done I made some struts using palsticard rods. I angled them slightly form the wheel hubs as I thought that made them look more dynamic. Over all I am very pleased with them.

I then set about mounting them to the aircraft. On the main fighters I used two of the mounting points for the downward jet nozzles which turned out to look great. I also added some nozzles behind them to improve handling. These aircraft have the main gears at the front and will have a tail wheel.

On the fighter bombers I made the main gears at the back and a small dual carriage at the front, in a more modern set up. I really hope that the wheels will be able to take the weight of the craft as they have quite a slope (I was inspired by the F18 superhornet set up).

The remaining wheels will go onto the close air support planes that I just started to assemble. These will be mounted similarly to the AH64 Apache set up.

For the Opus I made to new cannon turrets for the front battlements. I had the turret bodies and some barrels left over and was initially thinking about mounting them on the main island but it is already very cramped with the main battle cannon turrets and all the AA emplacements. So when playing around I just tested some alternate positions and this turned out to look very good. It also solves the problem that I had with the horns on the flightdeck. With these to the sides the horns does not look so bad. Just need to beef them up a bit. I also had some heavy bolter sonsons left over as well as some las cannons, so I decided to make some underslung turrets for the battlements. I think they turned out ok and will complement what is already there.

I also made some progress on the main island where I added some lights and speakers to the siding. Still need to go in and clean them up a bit. I am also thinking about adding another row at the bottom but I am not sure. 

Well that was some updates on the Opus Magna. There is so much that needs to be build for this model. I am seriously starting to wounder if it will ever be done.