Happy Thanksgiving!

For all of you who are still feeling the effects of too much Turkey or Pecan pie...

  I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving and were able to spend it with family and friends.  Spend some time with them over the holiday weekend and for heaven's sake DISCONNECT FROM THE INTERNET!   I'll be back next week with some updates on my Mantic terrain painting progress, and and the status of my first month on the FTGT Hobby Budget Challenge.

  Please also remember those who are stationed away from family and friends this holiday season, as there are thousands of them standing the watch across the world so we can celebrate in safety here at home. Semper Fi, brothers!

Crashed Lander

   Thankfully the weather here in the Carolinas has warmed up, offering me a chance to go outside and get some models primed.

NOT SO FAST!!

(insert torrential downpour here)

Okay, so just as it warms up it starts pouring rain which relegates me to working on a few other projects that have been lying around unfinished.  TIme to repaint the Crashed Aquilla Lander I picked up off of eBay and match it to my terrain color-scheme.

Mantic Terrain

OR

Your terrain isn't gothic enough !!

  My friend and fellow photographer +Matt Genuardi gave me the Sci-Fi Landing Pad kit from Mantic Games as a retirement gift. He picked up one of their larger Kickstarter packages for the Battlezones terrain kits which provided him more than enough terrain to keep him busy building for months.  LUCKY ME!

Sternguard Build-up

(or why I hate tabards and robes!)

   If you remember when I was working on the Eisenkern-kit based Heavy weapons, I had this silly notion to make them practical.  That same though process explains why I really don't like the new Sternguard models with all of their tabards, robes etc.  I mean really, who can't see a Marine running uphill triping over those ungainly things and landing face-first in the muck?  Inspiring? I though not!

   So I am all for weighing them down with iconography, and various useful add-ons to make the Sternguard veterans look like they have earned their Veteran status.  It all started with a pile of bits, like most of my brainstorming projects!

Eisenkern Guard build pt2

Heavy Weapons mods, or why I couldn't leave well enough alone...

   Okay, so it should come as no surprise that I was going to modify the heavy weapons in the Eisenkern boxed set, right?

   I know it sounds strange to have a need to make the miniatures for a game set in the 41st Millenium "More Realistic", but I just couldn't see the basic Heavy Weapons emplacements as "2-man portable" So off to the drawing board I went to modify these weapons to fit my view of what the future should hold!

Inquisition build-out

Who says I had enough Inquisitors?

   Since I needed to make a 'counts-as-Coteaz" Ordo Malleus Inquisitor, I wanted to do something a little different.

My new Ordo Malleus Inquisitor

Tarox conversion wheels

Okay, so I screwed up...  I forgot that I had some detailed photos of the kit from Blood and Skulls Industry, showing how the kit fits onto the GW Taurox kit.

So, in the interests of the rest of you who might want to "de-track-ify" your Tauroxes, here are the images and a little commentary.

Tires and axles before modification

Taurox Conversion (pt1)

Since I can't seem to just build a kit right out of the box, I decided to take on a conversion of the Taurox kit to replace those horrendously ugly treads with a wheel kit from Blood and Skulls Industry. Additionally I wanted to magnetize the weapons loadout and make it somewhat modular.  I wasn't really excited about the Missile Launcher version of the Taurox, either in stats, or in looks, so I opted to not build out the missile racks. (I'm sure I'll find a good scratchbuild use for them soon!)

Wheeled Taurox with battlecannon installed and  optional weapons 

Hobby Budget Challenge plan

Plan? We don't need no stinkin' PLAN!!

   Okay, maybe that isn't true in this case, because the fixed budget is $525, with a time frame of 6 months to complete the models.  I can do this... really, I can!

So, in that case, here is what I've been thinking...

Where does the time go?

Wow, almost three months and I haven't posted!  I guess my real life has been getting in the way of my gaming.

TIME TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT!

Anyone who has scanned through this blog for more than one post realizes that I have a terrible time staying on task and completing a full conversion.  I guess I had better accept a modeling challenge to keep me on task for the next 6 months!

So without futher ado, I'll be accepting the Hobby Budget Challenge from the crew over at Facing The Grey Tide (FTGT).