Back from the Abyss: Making the Most of Your Bitz Box

Every now and then it'll come to a dormant eBay holiday and I'll be hiding in the bathroom, trying to snag lots of combi bolters and beakie helmets while my cousins drink and talk about their scratch ticket winnings. But I digress... 

For my local post office and I, the bitz market is a huge part of our relationship. My wife kindly gave me two new bitz boxes that she picked up at Jo-Ann's for $1.50 / each, so I was able to spread that grey plastic out and really review what I had sitting in boxes.

I'm loving the new 32mm bases! 

The 6th edition kits, especially, come with more bits than you can shake a stick at, so I challenged myself to make the most of my grey plastic. The three marines featured above are a mix of about five different kits: command squad, sternguard squad, tactical squad, forgeworld MK IV assault squad, and the venerable dreadnought kit, not to mention the head from the FW Captain Korvadae model! 

Just like Rumsfeld said back in 2003, "you go to war with the army you have, not the army you want." In this case, I noticed a few extra grav and plasma guns, some complete heresy era resin/plastic bits, and BAM! Instant command squad! 

Out of the bitz box and ready for action!

With unique compartments for scrolls and pouches, each model can be made truly unique, like the plasma gunner above covered in molecular bonding studs after a nasty run in with the "gets hot rule," or the trigger happy reloading marine whose bad habits see him storing anmo within easy reach on his hips and pauldrons.

Also, I bought this model on eBay, broken and out of the box. Rather than relegate him to the bitz pile, I stuck him together with green stuff and glue! 

Definitely not "For the Emperor!"

I'm a little anxious about painting him due to the detail (and my lack of context for chaos models), but a weekend trip to Michael's saw the purchase of a new paint thinner that may help with the detail. Right now, it looks like the only way to get the lines right is with a flaccid toothpick, so I'm hoping that a 20:1 mix of flow aid will help get me back into the painting world! Stay tuned for a comparison of the Privateer Press wet palette and Liquitex Flow Aid in my next blog post! 

We're back!

It's been a three week hiatus and for some reason or another, it's been very difficult to sit down and paint for prolonged periods of time. I'm not sure if the investment of time, the heat, or just sheer procrastination, but I haven't put brush to model in a couple weeks, now.

Rumors of a codex without honour guard, looks like 7th edition will be one big termie party!

To wax positive, the announcement of a new space marine codex saw me working on my unbuilt space marine models. The Forge World Raptors chapter, Raven Guard successors, has me eager for some squad builds focused on heavy weapons, a contrast to the drop podding, rhino riding cousins of their first founding chapter!

My face when I heard the codex I purchased in February will be replaced next week! 

Stay tuned for Shrike's eventual layering, but in the meantime, I've got some new tools and ideas that I'll be profiling in my follow up post. 

28mm to 32mm Base Conversion

With the arrival of 7th edition Blood Angels, power armored models were packaged with wider 32mm bases, as opposed to the standard 28mm base shared across a range of 40K infantry models. 

Moving forward, I'd planned to use 32mm bases on space marine models. Aesthetically, however, the heterogeneous base size became an issue.

Fortunate, casters stepped up to the demand and Dragon Forge, specifically, created a hollow 32mm base "blank" that seats a 28mm base. After super gluing the based model into the blank, I filled the gap with green stuff and applied basing material over the expanded surface. 

Left to right: 32mm "blank," blank with greenstuff fill and basing material, GW 32mm base. 

Post prime, the re based mini appears roughly similar to the basic GW disc. Although the "footprint" is identical, the re based mini is slightly taller, overall. Please see the image below for a quick comparison! 

Converted Captain Shrike Model Part 2

Following a quick prime and base coat, I washed Shrike in a mix of 2:1 Lahmian Medium and Agrax Earthshade. Although GW prescribes Nuln Oil as a wash for white power armor, I preferred to paint Shrike as he would appear during his guerrilla campaign against the Orks - there's no time for the artificer when you're behind enemy lines! 

As opposed to the Celesta Grey / Ulthuan Grey method of painting white, i applied a base of Rakarth Earth. I imagine 10,000 year old power armor as an "earthy" relic and accordingly, painted the white helmet and arms to are a little dingey and weathered. From there, I layered up with pallid wych flesh and white scar highlights. 

For some of the difficult areas to access, greaves, under the arms, etc. I've used a fine tip micron marker to clean up the lines around black armor and purity seals, sigils, etc.

Stay tuned for the final installment, coming soon! 

Converted Captain Shrike Model Part 1

So let's be honest, The codex entry for Captain Shrike completely sold me on the Raven Guard. A stealthy, guerrilla space marine captain armed with his Primarch's master crafted lightning claws? YES PLEASE. 

That said... the current model slash ten year old model is woefully static for such a dynamic fella. In this sense, My perception of the character, not the model, gave name to the Shrikesong blog and the potential to tweak or convert models to match my perception of their lore.

Enter the Chinese recast market and it's inevitable effect on the authenticity of Forgeworld models purchased on eBay. I picked up a crusty Captain Korvadae and after weighting the option of giving his near-transparent resin arms a go, I decided to use him as a base for my favorite space marine commander! 

You'll notice that he's a mix of bootleg FW (the body), FW Raven Guard sternguard head and pauldrons, plastic 6th edition lightning claws from the Vanguard Vet kit (the converted termie claws are just laughably oversized), termie plastic crux, and some pouches and grenades from the assault marine kit. Finally, he's the sprinting commando that he's made out to be! 

I removed the collar because of its transparently thin cast, "shaved" and smoothed the bumpy finish, and did my best to glue purity seals and Raven Guard brass bits over the miscast areas on the armor greaves. 

The plan is to retain Shrike's Finecast jump pack, which will be added after the pauldrons and helmet are completely painted. 

Stay tuned for Part 2, with a base coat paint list and progress report! 

Blog Kickoff!

I've been struggling with the collector - modeler complex for some time now. Rather than the sage "build as you buy" methodology, I've accumulated a closet full of unbuilt models that range across four different armies. 

Although this may sound like a great start, it's certainly entrenched my decisions for new models or army tactics.  Accordingly, my hope is that this blog will "keep me honest" and on track! 

Of the four armies, this blog will weigh heavily on Astra Militarum (cough cough Imperial Guard), Raven Guard space marines and their Forgeworld Raptor successor chapter, some Space Wolf allies, and hopefully the greatest displays of talent and plastic eye candy through a guest post or two from my wife and her Ork models.