Imperator Titan: Complete

Finally, the Legio Mortis engine, the Imperator Dies Irae is complete, and ready to lead my Legio into battle. This was a fun project, and despite being a 90's kit, I feel I have made it work for the newer more grim-dark 30k. The original miniature of course is well known as the walking church.

The overall engine stands 155mm tall (a touch over 6" in the old system), making it around 35mm taller than the original kit. This will hopefully give the unit more height to help it stand above the newer Reaver sculpts (which clock in at around 90mm).

A Galaxy In Flames Video: Heavy Rust Effects

G'day guys, and welcome to another AGIF YouTube video. This is our first ever 1080p video, and it marks a 20 minute long tutorial on how to do some pretty extreme rust effects using a Vallejo chipping medium. This technique is excellent for white-washing tanks and other armour, but I have used a home-made fortification to demonstrate. You can watch the video here, or directly on our YouTube channel. I have included the pics from the end of the video, and these will give you a pretty good idea of where you will end up after stage one of the weathering process.

Thanks for watching, keep an eye out for part 2, where I will apply decals to this, before adding streaking and picking a few details out.

~Macca

Perturabo: The Lord of Iron, The Hammer of Olympia, Master of the IVth Legion

G'day, it's been a while in-between drinks here at AGIF, but today I just finished my Perturabo model (which arrived yesterday afternoon. Needless to say, I was REALLY keen to get him done).

The Family

Can you say "daddy issues"?

Ok, point to note here, I magnetised both hand options for Perturabo, but I sunk both magnets deep into the forearm of Perturabo, rather than drill into the hands and risk damaging them. This of course is because Perturabo can take Foregebreaker optionally, however his girly arms mean that he cannot strike with it at initiative like Ferrus. (Even tho Perturabo is fuck-huge compared to all the other Primarchs released so far, Lorgar is like chest high on this guy. Morale of the story: all show and no-go.)

The base is very basic dull tones, light blues and soft greys and bones defined it, as well a splenty of rust-orange weathering powder from Secret Weapon.

The base of course comes in a fuckzillion parts. I have decided that Forge World's sculptors are starting to go insane from being locked up in a resin sweat shop cranking out minis, and the bases are showing the edge of reason. Comparing Perturabo's base to Angron, I can't help but feel that if Angron was released today, his base would be 54mm tall and made up of 40 dead marines. Which is fine.... in any case, every part of the base is magnetised so that it won't fall apart on my shelf.

Lucky thing to note, the magnet in his hand was able to adhere to a hidden one on the base. This means I have a place to keep the hand, and thanks to the location, nobody will probably notice it.

Oh, I also took some quick snaps of Perturabo with the Tormentor. "Yo dawg, we gonna pimp you ride. That busted ass Shadowsword? We went and put a hatch on the rear, void shields on top, and 180" mag wheels on each side. Thanks MTV for pimpin' Pert's ride!"

So another Primarch on the shelf... with the books, my Mrs likes to point to this as my cabinet of financial shame.

So, if you like it or loathe it, let me know,

~Macca

The Tormentor: Part 3, Finished

Well, after a nice little holiday in Fiji, soaking up the blue water, white sands, and most important of all, cocktails, I am finally back home in Australia and able to complete my vision of Perturabo's personal transport, the Tormentor. This project was a labour of love, and took a month and a half from conception to completion. Once again, my thanks to my mate Deke, he supplied me with the kit last minute from his Games Workshop's stock when everywhere else was sold out of them, and also took the extra effort of getting it to me. Deke, if you're reading this, my thanks.

The rust and markings were the big concern for me. While the inner hobbyist is saying, nay, screaming "More. MORE!" I was telling myself that it isn't true to Perturabo. He would have some damage, some surface rust here or there, a few markings, but he isn't Fulgrim. He doesn't do gilded, he does down-to-earth. So, I restrained myself and just kept it to a little rust around the bolts and a few areas to accentuate the look.

The rear hatch is of course the defining feature. I added a little rust here, as it would be slammed into the muddy ground all the time, and I felt it could be a little more weathered.

The Void Shield generator is a bizarre mix of hues. I wanted it to seem a bit other-worldly, and up close, it looks almost like a nebula. The crewman up top is just for the rule of cool.

In Greek mythology, King Minos had a Labyrinth which held the minotaur. Funny enough, Perturabo does too, and his minotaurs are upon the hull. If I had a David Bowie decal, I would have him on there too. (Labyrinth nerd reference)

The custom Iron Warrior icons I sculpted came up a treat too.

There are patterns above the letters on the gun and along the top of the drivers visor slit.

Lastly, the upgraded communication arrays, Void Shields and the exhaust in its new position. These are of course the little things that needed attention to help bring this tank to life.

Well, that's all for now. It's been a blast, I wish everyone who reads this a happy new year, and all the best with your hobby endeavors,

Macca

Armies on Parade 2014: Macca

Well, it took me long enough, but here it is, my Armies on Parade entry for 2014. Most people don't show theirs prior to the competition, but for me, winning or losing doesn't matter, as it's a competition based on the votes of the friends and family of those involved. That said, winning feels good, and if I do make the finals, do feel free to vote for me!

The basic board is a Forge World realm of battle board, with a custom built crane (that was a b%&ch) and manufactorum complex. The theme is a small mechanicum force patrolling down the streets, which is ironic as the force is mostly very big guys.

The Krios Tank and Paladin Knight impose.

Custom crane: such a nightmare.

Of course all 3 Knights have the cockpits I kitbashed and installed, which will display on the day.

So that's that. Please wish me luck on Saturday, as I don't have many friends or family, which limits the people voting for me!

~Macca

Flyer-Sized Urban Rubble Bases: Part 2, the paint.

In Part 1 (find it here), we looked at the construction. Here in part 2, we will cover a very simple paint job. To start, the bases are given a spray primer undercoat. The trick, shown in picture 2, is getting the spray so spatter ever so gently and to not have a single flat surface coat. This means that there is more area for paint to stick to, which will prevent paint peeling later on, as resin, even cleaned, is notorious for.

To basecoat, I used the airbrush, with a mix of Miniataire Charcoal Grey and Raven Black to create my dark grey. The GW equivalent which I tried to match, is Standard Mechanicum Grey. It's a fantastic colour, but I can get a lot more Miniataire ready to spray for the same cost.

 Blurrtastic.

Next, GW Leadbelcher was used on all the metal surfaces, and a mix of Sycorax Bronze and Auric Armour Gold was used for the shell casings.

Out come the weathering powders. I applied a fair bit of powder using a small brush. The green powder gives a moldy look which is just perfect for virus bombed Istvaan III, whilst the browns give a good mix of old and new rusts.

To seal it, I gently airbrushed a little acrylic thinners over the bases. This liquifies the pigment, which then sets in place. Do use low air if you do this, as it can blow it all away. If you don't have an airbrush, just gently touch the areas with some white spirits, and the spirits will flow into the pigments and seal them. Always remember to semi-gloss or gloss varnish the pigments after for a good seal.

After the pigments, I gently drybrushed (yes, that horrible painters curse word) the bases, just to add a little definition to the greys. This was a very subtle step.

Finally, I picked out the details such as the little skulls on the bases and the light fitting. I used this time to apply some rust effects (some Secret Weapon Rust Brown powder mixed with a little blazing orange) and applied with a sponge.

The results:

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, please let me know if you did,

~Macca