Veteran "Rhino-back"

The Veteran "Rhino-Back" (as I believe I will now call them) has been completed.  Nothing special here; just highlighted the raised bits and corners, painted the special doo-dads I attached to it in the first place and that's pretty much it.  With removable top plate (shown above) it's ready for action as soon as I put one of many Rhino doors or Razorback weapons on.

One minor aside, but something I thought worthy of mention in a weblog of this type.  A few days ago, I showed my 3-year-old daughter that I paint and what I paint.  She found it interesting enough that the next day, we (her, my 21-month-old, and I) had art time together, them coloring in their sketchbooks, me paint this bad boy.  The jury is still out on whether I want to attempt such a thing again.  Though they like art time, they get bored fairly quickly and the older one kept wanting to get into my brushes and paints and whatnot.  Fun time was had by all, but I'm not sure I want to join them in Art Time again quite yet.  We shall see.  I do not foresee painting again until this weekend, however I think real progress will be had since the kids will be visiting their grandparents and my wife wants to spend a sizable amount of time writing.  Guess I'll just have to start painting that Vindicator...  Actually, I think I'll base the other Vindicator tonight and tomorrow and work on them both at the same time.

"Whirlwinds"

So, I got the launchers finished and another frame done.  Did another set of top doors.  This means that I have two Whirlwinds that are ready to do double duty as Rhinos or Razorbacks.  W00T!

I will also say this: I'm really liking the wet palette I made.  It's a little annoying how the paper in it rolls up, but it's been quite useful.  I'm glad I've got it now.

My only other thought for the moment is that I've been looking at my paints and they have been a little wanting.  No more, though.  Five drops of water and some vigorous shaking seems to do the trick for bringing them back.  Considering their age (2-3 years with 1.5 years in storage), they're turning out pretty good.  It also is a testament to the paint pots.  From what I understand the paints in black fliptops and the old school Citadel fliptops will last forever.  On the other hand, I was given a Warhammer paint set a week ago with all screwtop pots.  They were all in terrible shape.  Just tossed the entire thing.

Oh, well.  Time to call it a day for now.  If I can find some more time this weekend, I may try that Veteran Rhino.  If not, it can wait.  I'm happy with my progress at the moment...

Rhino Frame and Top Plates

Holy crap!  Does this mean that I actually applied pigment to plastic?  Why, yes it does! 

So, I got one frame about 95% painted.  All I have to do is paint some chapter symbols and do a little highlighting.  I also drybrushed a top door so I can run it as a Rhino, and painted two weapon mount panels so I can run it as a Razorback, Whirlwind, or sponsonless Predator.  I think this weekend I will paint up my Whirlwind launchers and see if I can get another frame done.  Then I think I will be cooking with gas!  That would just leave me with, what, five more to paint?  One will be easy.  I have it doled up with bits to be a Veteran Rhino/Razorback.  Since my Veteran stuff is black, all I really have to do is paint appropriate black top plates so I can switch between the two, paint details and flair, and highlight.  Heck, with luck, I might even be able to squeeze that one in, too.

That, and it felt good to just paint again.  There have been a lot of things in my life that have kept me from doing it.  Even if I had the time, I've suffered from an overabundance problem.  I have more than enough painted to play almost any size game so it is difficult for me to get myself to paint more stuff.  That's why I have three or four speeders unpainted for almost a decade.  I already have 5 painted.  How many more do I need?  When I first started out, I decided I would acquire/paint enough so that I could field whatever gonzo type of army I wanted to field.  Of course, that was three editions and twelve (?) years ago.  I'm now a little short on some things (Vindicators) and quite long on others (Tac squads, Vet squads, Assault squads).  But as long as I have stuff, I'm going to paint.  I may take year long breaks, but painting never stops.  Not as far as I'm concerned.

Vindicator and Based Vehicles

Look at all those Rhino Frames!

So, i assembled my last Vindicator tonight.  Nothing special there.  Over the last few days, I've been basecoating all the other stuff I've built over the last couple of weeks.  Not pictured here, but soon to be added to the pile, are two Rhino frames I basecoated forever ago (at least two years).  One of them is rigged up as a Veteran Rhino/Razorback, but has never been finished.  The other is meant to be a convertible Whirlwind.  I've got two Whirlwind launchers also so they'll be painted along with the others.

Most importantly, I believe that covers all my Rhino frames.  Once I paint these, I'll have no more tanks to build or paint.  So, I think, after I'm done with these, I'm going to go on to the four or five speeders I've had sitting around for more than a decade.  Jeebus willin' an' the crick don' rise, I will actually apply pigment to miniatures this weekend.

On a slightly different thought, I know that Games Workshop is coming out with new paint pots and new colors.  I have no doubt that they will have some approximation of Ultramarine Blue, but there's a little part of me that is afraid that they won't.  Stupid, I know since the boys in blue are one of the most important armies in the game, but these are the things you think about when you're me...

Predator and Two Rhino Frames

Geez!!!  I forgot how much a pain in the ass tracks are for new Rhino frames.  As a result, I only got the Predator and those two Rhinos in the background done.  I found my Razorback gun mount plates so those frames are almost ready for their double duty assignments.  Once they're painted, they'll serve as Rhinos or Razorbacks or Whirlwinds.  I thought about doing something similar so they could also be Predators, but I think I'll have enough Preds anyway...

Started today on an old-school Pred, but I'm out of superglue to assemble the metal top and sponsons.  I also found my Venerable Dred that I haven't assembled yet.  I think I'll finish up all the vehicles/armored whatnots I have extant.  Then I'll handle the bikes.  I've got eight or ten bikes in various states of construction/priming.  I also inherited a few Templar bikes and am deciding whether to repaint them or not.  I keep thinking I'll keep all the Templar stuff as an ally contingent, but I also wonder what the point would be.  Realistically, it'll be forever before I even get to them so I've got a ton of time to think about.  Besides, I'll probably be too lazy to do it, anyway.  Oh, well.  Hopefully, I can find some time to clip my new Vindicators off their sprues in preparation for assembly.  With a little luck, I can have them done before the weekend is over.  We shall see...

Yes, it's been THAT long...

Yes, it's been over a year since I have had the chance to paint, build or anything approaching 40K.  Today, that changes.  For how long, I'm not sure, but the new edition has got me a little more motivated.

If you remember, quite a while back, when my wife was away for a weekend before we had kids, I had what I termed Dreadnought Saturday, assembling and painting a bunch of Dreds.  Well, tonight is going to begin Tank Friday.

So a few days ago, a friend of my divested himself of some stuff he never assembled.  Among other things, I received a Linebreaker Squadron, bringing my total number of Vindicators to four.  I've also got two unbuilt Predators (one new, one old), a couple Whirlwinds assembled and primed, several unbuilt Rhinos (that are going to do double duty as Razorbacks), and four or five Speeders I've had since 3rd Ed. came out...  I think it's time to assemble some stuff!  So tonight and tomorrow, I'm going to assemble (and possibly paint) all this stuff.  I've got tomorrow off so I may actually get something done!

Here's to tanks and painting!

Razorback & Rhino

Well, there they are... A Razorback and a Rhino done and ready. I took my hour and pretty much got most of it all done. I was so close to being done that I stayed up a little late to finish the job by finishing off the lascannons and doing a little highlighting. The funny thing is that I never feel particularly happy with my paint jobs when they're done and I'm looking at them, but when I photograph them and look at the picture, I tend to be quite impressed. Maybe I just can't see the little niggling things that I only I can see... Or maybe it's something else entirely. I don't know but it doesn't matter. They look good to me and that's what really matters in the end.

So, send me a little good luck auction karma... I found a guy on Ebay selling a lot of Razorback hatches and Rhino doors. About a year and a half ago, I bought some cheap Rhinos from the Warstore. Since they open up Razorbacks, Predators and Whirlwinds and part out the special sprues and parts, they probably have a lot of Rhino chassis sitting around. So they sell the left over Rhinos for cheap without doors (which they also part out). So I bought a couple with the intention of making doors out of plasticard (which I may still do later). If I win this auction, however, I'll outfit both of them as Razorbacks with convertible hatches so I can turn them into Rhinos as I did with this one. I might have some sponson parts floating around so I might turn one of them into a Pred since the top mount for a turret is the other side of the Razorback hatch. Thanks for your universal parts, GW!

What's next? I don't know. I may go back to the webway gates, but I'm not sure. we're getting ready for in-law visits and a 4th of July party so I'm not sure. Be assured, however, that something will get done... I won a Suppression Force a while back so I have a couple of Whirlwinds I could assemble... On the other hand, I could do the Speeder but I have four or five unbuilt speeders from 3rd Ed. so I'm guessing I won't get to those anytime soon...

Razorback

So, despite my wound from the night before, I assembled my Razorback last night. Obviously, it was pretty simple since it's just like a new school Rhino but slightly different. I appreciate the tendency of GW to use the same parts and sprues over and over in the different things. After taking a good look at the rotating disk that the heavy weapon is mounted on, I realized that I already have a twin-linked heavy bolter and a twin linked assault cannon from Land Raiders that I have and rarely ever field. I guess a little repurposing is in order... I also put together the Rhino doors so if I ever decide I need to run this as a Rhino I can (though
when am I ever going to field the twelve Rhinos I have and decide that I need a thirteenth?). I think I'm going to spray paint it today so I can work on painting in the next week or so.

I have just been given an unparalelled opportunity. My wife has been try ing to get me to watch Titanic for years. I have taken pride in being one of 10 people on Earth who has not seen it but I have been given a wonderful offer. If I watch it with her today, taking care of pressing baby needs so she doesn't have to stop it, she will watch The Killer and another movie to be named later. More importantly, mocking and painting during the flick are completely allowed. Of course, by the time breakfast and child care and all that have been tended to, there will be little time to paint, but one takes what one can get. I have some craters I spray painted that I haven't touched yet. I think I'll start on them...

A Cautionary Tale

So, remember when I said I wasn't going to work on that Razorback for a few days? Well, I lied because I decided to pull it out tonight and work on it. But I was missing my clippers. I searched but could not find them. Oh well, I thought, I'll just do it old school with an exacto knife.


Bad idea. I wasn't careful and as you can see, gave myself a good slice.

The moral to this story is always use the right tool for the right job. That and no matter how much you've done something with a bit of danger, stay careful. You only have to mess up once. I guess that Razorback will wait until tomorrow night...