Forge World Executioner

My brass panniers came in today and I wasted no time in getting one onto the Executioner!

Of course I also apparently wasted no time in making sure that the edges were square. I'll fix that.

The detail on the engine is from the panniers frame. The bits on the side are cut brass that will form the top half of the side skirt armor rail.

The panniers are, of course, a Secret Weapon product -- and you get EIGHT panniers in three sizes on the frame. Oh yes, I will have a use for these....

New Plastic Ork Deff Dread - Final

My local nerd store was kind enough to pass along another pre-release when I dropped off some Secret Weapon product. I had a technique for oxidized metal that I've been wanting to try and what better model than an Ork dreadnought?

There are things I'd do differently next time - namely the use of brown as a base instead of red - but I'm really happy with the end result.

Forge World Executioner

I spent the weekend detailing this bad boy with the intention of finally entering something into the Games Day competition. Assuming I can justify the air fare expense I plan to make it out this year and take this, and possibly my Empire Steam Tank, with me.

I am processing a set of etched brass panniers that will go on the turret. Once those are on I'll look at adding a whip antenna. I'm also finishing the design of a set of etched brass side skirt armor I plan to add.

The model will be painted in the Krieg greys and then whitewashed for winter camo. I will add wall-to-wall litany text to the side skirt armor.

I plan to make a base of broken cobblestones and urban rubble and will, of course, give the whole thing in a generous coating of snow and mud. Lots of mud.

Blood Angels Venerable Dreadnought

My local nerd store asked me to paint up their plastic Venerable Dreadnought preview and I jumped at the opportunity. With the new Blood Angels codex and models on the horizon I decided it would be an opportunity to play with more red paint.

I still have some work to do - and I desperately need better photos so you can see the chipping - but I have to say that I really, really like the model itself.

It is, of course, standing on a base from Secret Weapon Miniatures because a little plug for my baby company never hurts!

Vostroyan Army: ROUGH RIDERS!

The incredible conversion work was done by John at Santa Cruz Warhammer -- and they have been a real pleasure to paint so far!

Yup, my army is getting Rough Riders. Ten of them at the moment. These five are unbased as I'm working on a set of new bike bases for Secret Weapon Miniatures. The urban series should work quite nicely for these guys - although I may put them on "Runic Mountain" bike bases... we'll see.

The Sergeant will keep the red coat to match the command squad and the rest of the unit will have cream coats to match the infantry. The Sergeant is also on an WFB Empire Outrider horse which turns out to be slightly larger than the stock Rough Rider horse.

I love these models and really couldn't be happier with the conversion work that John did for me. He put in a lot of extra little touches - such as the lens on the Sgt. - that have really kicked these up from Rough Riders to VOSTROYAN ROUGH RIDERS WOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!

Vostroyan Army: First Infantry Squad

I'm nearly finished with the first infantry squad and decided it was time for an update. I've included a close-up shot of the five finished troops and a super zoom of the WIP Sergeant.

Things have been super crazy and I haven't gotten to do as much painting as I would like. I lost my job three weeks ago and have been looking for a new one - and trying to build Secret Weapon - ever since. I'll get some painting done though because I really want to see this squad finished.

I decided to use a red stripe on the left shoulder armor to identify this as the first infantry squad. I'll use similar marks on the other squads so I can tell them apart on the table.

The bases are from my "Urban Streets" line - although these are from the now defunct mold. I'll put the next squad on a set of the new version.

Vostroyan Army: First Finished Infantry

I still have 43 infantry models to complete for my 1k army... but it's nice to have one finished.

The rest of the infantry will look more-or-less like this fella. I'm fairly happy with the end result and like how the snow works with my "Urban Streets" bases.

Vostroyan Army: Infantry Squad 01

I've made a solid start on the first five of my infantry. I still have a long way to go, of course, but given that this is the first time I've seen the colours on anything other than a single test model I'm reasonably pleased.

The melta conversion was made by snipping the end off of a Vostroyan flamer. The flamers will be made using the grenade launcher models - but that will happen later.

There are forty infantry - not counting the Command Squad - which includes four flamers and four meltas. I'd like to have the whole thing completed by the end of March. Between the day job, casting and sculpting that might actually be pushing my timeline a bit tight... but that's the goal all the same.

Tra la la, double post....

Okay, I know, you're not here to hear about Secret Weapon Miniatures. I keep a separate blog for that. But I did think you might like to know that I've launched a 10% off sale through 4-Jan-2010.

That's worth a bit of double post action, right?

Go, spend money, help me quit my day job! I promise many neat new toys if that ever happens!

Okay, back I go to working on bases for the upcoming FTW post....

From the Warp: Basing and Weathering

In the off chance that someone reading this blog doesn't already know about "++ From the Warp ++ let this stand as a long overdue plug. "From the Warp" is one of two hobby sites that I visit daily. It includes original posts from a small collection of authors, an incredible blog roll (of which I am a member), collaborative posts, a massive archive of tutorials... and more.

Come January 2010 FTW will also have a regular dose of misterjustin. I'm joining the author roll to post a monthly series on basing and weathering techniques. This will cover a variety of products and methods for weathering models and/or putting them on unique and expressive bases.

My hope is that readers will barrage me with questions and that my series will become a reflection of tutorials based on community request.

I'll post an update here when the series launches - and in the interim go check out FTW and bookmark it if you haven't already!

++ From the Warp ++