#I bought it entirely for kitbashing

[doolallymagpie]

once I’ve got the railgun printed, the whole beast painted, and the commander in it, I think I need a tank crew for this thing

wish I could find some good 40K-themed beefcake pinup decals, though (I could draw some, but the problem is coloring and digitizing them), this thing just feels like it needs a handsome fella in a skimpy uniform near the turret

[a-cowboy-and-a-catman]

Gunpla #13 - HG Gundvölva

"oh you have little gun drone swarms? that's cute. My drones are ENTIRE OTHER GUNDAMS"

What absolute joy of a kit. Great to build, looks fantastic, pretty good articulation.

The yellow effects and the extra long gun are from optional kits. The Gundvölva seems like a great base for kitbashing, and I'm cooking one up at this very moment - I even bought a second kit just because I love the base model so much that I couldn't bear to chop it to pieces.

Regarding its role in Witch From Mercury, I don't think Gundvölva ended up doing much. But then you could say that about a lot of suits in WFM (hi schwarzette).

Oh well, if sunrise won't appreciate it, I'll just appreciate it on my own.

[gasha40k]

Progress is being made, slowly but surely, as per usual! I’ve been getting VERY into kitbashing and converting minis recently, so I’ve got some cool stuff to show off this time around.

This is my old Primaris Apothecary. I bought and built him nearly a year ago, when I was still very new to kitbashing and conversions. He’s unique, which is good. The sword and tilting plate makes him stand out, but it’s a largely uninspired kitbash that doesn’t have a lot to it. The paint job is also… not great, to put it lightly? It wasn’t my first time painting white, but it was my first time painting Corax White, and it obviously didn’t go well. To put it simply, I kind of hate this model, and stopped using it largely because it simply did not really make me happy to look at.

My own fuckening isn’t the only reason I dislike my Primaris Apothecary, though. The stock standard model that GW sells for this unit has so much shit going on that it’s kind of hard to look at to me. There’s fifty thousands fucking baubles on him, and it’s very distracting! It’s a fine enough model, don’t get me wrong, but it’s way too busy for my tastes.

The Firstborn Apothecary, specifically the one depicted in Dawn of War 2, on the other hand, is simple but distinguishable. It’s very pleasant to look at, and not just because I’m a Mark VII enjoyer. There’s a certain level of visual clarity present here that the model really lacks. The paint scheme on the Firstborn model looks better in my opinion, as well, since it fits more cleanly into a uniform army scheme.

Because of all this, and the fact that I’m already reworking the majority of my army, I decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to did my least favorite model by cannibalizing it and making a new one.

This as of yet unnamed Primaris Apothecary is my take on what that Firstborn Apothecary would look like if he crossed the Rubicon Primaris, and didn’t look like the stock model. This model is a mixture of Intercessor, Assault Intercessor, and Primaris Apothecary. I really like how he looks! Simple but distinguishable, just like the Firstborn model, with a clear visual clarity. This was an incredibly basic kitbash, but one with incredibly satisfying results, and I’m much happier with him than I was with the old one.

That’s not the only kitbash I’ve done recently! Meet Inquisitor Nullhame, the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor currently investigating the Calthradia Crusade. Inquisitor Nullhame is an overly heroic, fanciful fellow with a small but close cohort. This was my first time building a custom model wholly from scratch, subsequently being my real first time using greenstuff. Nullhame isn’t a Psyker, but he’s a charismatic warrior with a keen mind, naturally resistant to the whispers of Chaos. On the tabletop he’s represented by the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor in Terminator Armor datasheet, and he’s equipped with a force stave (more of a glaive), a storm bolter, and psyk-out grenades. Interestingly enough, though, Nullhame doesn’t actually wield a storm bolter.

He leaves that to a little goon in custom human sized power armor. This guy’s entire purpose in life is to follow the Inquisitor around and shoot aliens for him. He doesn’t have wounds or a datasheet and is purely decorative on the tabletop. Obviously, the mini isn’t done, but once I slap a Skitarii Vanguard helmet on that dome, it will be, and Nullhame will be ready to battle even the biggest of daemons.

Beyond this, I’ve been working my way through getting the Thunderbearers battle ready again. It’s going slowly, as a recent move has me lacking both time and table space, but I got a good half of my men primed today, which is pretty exciting.

In the time between now and the last post, I also read the entirety of Horus Rising. Good ass book! I think I like it more than Helsreach (the only other piece of 40k literature that I’ve read), which I thought was absolutely not going to happen. Dan Abnett, however, has an incredibly vivid way of painting scenes. He strikes me as a very detail oriented author, which I appreciate immensely. ADB, however, seems to focus much more on punchy, jargon-based scenes, which is equally captivating and makes for a lot of very intense moments. I’m currently at the beginning of False Gods, and after I finish the trilogy, I’m going to read as many World Eaters books as possible, and there’s no ulterior motives behind that decision.

And on the subject of Horus, I’ve been doing a lot of very chaotic shit recently. Some evil is happening around here. The end of 2022 was suitably Chaotic. I’m biting my tongue for now, but I’ll just say: new year, new army.

[whirligig-girl]

The game's modding community is insane too.

We got every possible historical american rocket and permutation of historical american rocket proposals ready to be kitbashed together into the Ultimate Machine

(just a taste of what you could make within the realm of historical proposals only)

We got mods to make nuclear rockets and nuclear-powered electric rockets.

And my personal favorite (because all these examples are my projects except for RSS)... we have entire new solar systems to explore. Obviously they remade the real solar system, that was one of the first things they did when they invented planet mods. But why be more realistic when you could live on the batshit crazy airless whirligig world Mesbin, which spins around once every 28 minutes. No parachute landings, and escaping to interplanetary space from a planet this huge is really tough, but you do get to set up refueling infrastructure on the inner moons!

or why not launch from the moon of a gas giant? Five worlds right in your back yard.

or why not launch from the night side of Armstrong, the tidally locked planet in a solar system with three suns and literally over a hundred worlds.

(above picture is just the most zoomed out view, and doesn't account for the many inner planets of Ilio and Pyri).

I bought KSP1 for like 18 dollars back in 2012 and it was probably the best video game purchase I've ever made in terms of the amount of hours i've put into it and still keep coming back for more, despite its flaws. And it does have flaws. $10 feels like a steal. So you know. You may as well go all the way, put on your eyepatch and go sailing. Just don't go sailing on Armstrong /ref.

MY PSIONIC WARRIORS THE FUNNY ROCKET GAME IS ON SALE AGAIN FOR 75% OFF

it is TEN DOLLARS (22 if you want the DLC too) for a rocketry sandbox where you can build wonderful things such as:

PENIS ROCKET

LITTLE GUY IN A WEIRD CAN, HALFWAY ACROSS THE SOLAR SYSTEM (TRAPPED FOREVER)

TWO TRUCKS THAT HAVE SEX

HUGE FUCKING SPACEPLANE

LESBIANS ON THE MOON

AND WHATEVER THE FUCK THIS THING IS

[segersgia]

Looking back: Part 1 - Primaris Space Marines - Infantry

The excitement for 9th edition has been growing and growing. People are happy with the upcoming units for Space marines, and Xenos fans are rejoicing at the return of the Silent King and the introduction of new Necron units. 

What I want to do is take a long and hard look at what 8th edition gave us in terms of miniatures. 

To start of this series, we have to begin with Games Workshop’s favorite poster-boys; The Primaris Space Marines

The Primaris debacle:

If you didn’t already know, Games Workshop is somewhat obsessed with Space Marines. This hasn’t changed at all in 8th edition. In fact, it kind of got worse.

8th edition introduced us to the new and improved Primaris Space Marines - Extra cool Space Marines. 

For a lot of people, these were just a lame excuse to resell you an army that most of their costumers had already bought. Lore-wise, they came out of nowhere, and for some they were an affront to what the Imperium stood for: an autocratic, dogmatic and fascist regime that saw innovation and progress as something evil and dangerous. 

Fortunately, the Primaris have begun to become a little more fleshed out, and hopefully, this will continue for the better in 9th edition.

Before I start my overview, I have to explain my main gripe that I have with the ENTIRE range.

The Helmets:

With their redesign, the Space Marines gained a new pattern of Power Armour. This included a new design for their helmets, and I absolutely hate it. Gone is the iconic respirator, and instead we get a return of the Mark IV helmet, A.K.A. my least favorite pattern of the range. 

Kitbashers prove my point. The Mark VII is so much better looking on the new range. They look proper evil and merciless.

So always keep in mind that with every model in this range, I will have the same complaint; I don’t like the design of their helmet.

Intercessors:

The Primaris line was a way for the design team to re-imagine the space marines in a new way. Their size got updated to what might be considered “Tru-scale” and lore-wise, they gained a better crafted kit than their predecessors. Though what they gained in upgrades, they lost in group flexibility. 

Intercessors are equipped with Bolt rifles, which are basically slightly upgraded Boltguns. These can be retrofitted in the usual way with scopes or under-slung grenade launchers. 

Lore-wise, Intercessors take a surprisingly defensive role, mostly described as using suppressive fire to slowly advance to a position or hold the line.  

Their design, specifically their proportions, is what many expected the actual proportions of a space marine to be. They are hulking masses of power armour that should dwarf humans easily. The original Space Marines were a little “ill-proportioned” and the new Primaris have fixed that issue very well. 

One complaint I’ve seen appear is the fact that Intercessors lack the ornateness and religious aspects that the old marines had. If you’d actually compare them with Tactical Marines, it kind of shows that this isn’t the case. 

In fact, it just shows that normal Space Marines aren’t that ornate to begin with. 

Intercessors are a good re-imagining of the Tactical Marines and share the same feel that their predecessors have. What the Intercessors lack is just their weapon options.

7/10

Hellblasters:

The Primaris doctrine seems to hark back to the olden days before the Horus Heresy. Instead of the highly adaptable formations that we see in the Tactical Squads or the Devastator Squads, the Primaris decide instead to have specialized squads.

So while the Intercessors favor trusty bolt weapons, the Hellblasters make use of the the Plasma Incinerator: an improved version of the Plasma Gun that doesn’t overheat unless its fired in its overcharged setting. Hellblasters have the role of providing covering fire, similar to Devastators.  

The Plasma Incinerator is what makes this my favorite unit from the mainline army. It is such an improvement in design over that of the Plasma Gun. It makes for a great silhouette and the miniature looks more powerful because of it.

9/10

Reivers:

Reivers are part of the Vanguard line of Primaris troops; units specifically designed for long covert and stealth operations. 

(The rest of the Vanguard will be looked at in a future post.) 

Reivers themselves act like terror troops; sneaking into combat before yelling “OOGA BOOGA” and murdering everyone in the room like an Eversor Assassin. 

Primaris power armour has a very interesting quirk. It comes in different variants that can be mixed and matched to serve a certain role. Reivers and most of the vanguard line use Phobos Armour; a pattern that is lighter, more lightly armoured and features servos that allow it to be almost silent in combat. It features Grav-Chutes, which allows Reivers to safely descend from heights, similar as to what Elysian Drop-Troopers utilize.

They go into battle with Bolters and over-sized knives. They can also take a Grapling Hook, so they can cosplay as their favourite DC hero. The skull helmet they wear has an in built voice amplifier, allowing their battle chants to turn into a police sound cannon. They basically stole the idea from Eldar Howling Banshees. 

The poses from the “Easy-to-build” kit are just ugly, but their other kit fixes that issue. I still am not sure about the skull helmet, and would’ve preferred a better way to visualize their voice-amplifiers. I kind of like the Phobos pattern, but I do have some gripes with it, such as the exposed metal abs(?) they have. 

6/10

Aggressors:

I really don’t hope this is what will replace Terminators.

Aggressors are a fire support unit that slowly advances while providing covering fire from mid to close range. They wear Gravis Armour, which is the more heavily reinforced variant of the Mark X. They have Power Fists that have either Flamers or Bolters attached to them, and some are equipped with shoulder mounted grenade launchers.

Gravis Armour is my least favourite of the three patterns and Aggressors are my main reason for it. They look very clunky and are way too cluttered with weapons. I don’t like the rounded design as well. It looks like they would take one step and then fall face first into the dirt. Even the artwork doesn’t do them justice and makes their over-sized armaments even more over-sized. A wider belly and smaller gauntlets would’ve fixed this unit’s design.

4/10

Inceptors:

Remember the intro of the Space Marine video game? Captain Titus leaping off a Thunderhawk and flying through an air battle to land on an Ork ship? Inceptors do just that, landing in the thick of the battle, with guns in both hands like B.J. Blazkowicz.

They are equipped with either Plasma Guns or Assault Bolters, and fly through the air with an over-sized jump-pack. To soften their landing, they have these funny looking boot plates, so that they don’t die during the impact.

If the boot plates weren’t a thing, I would have no qualms with this unit. Their version of the Gravis Armour is what I would’ve preferred the Aggressors to have. They also look like they would actually do well in low gravity environments, such as space battles. What I like most about them is the fact that they seemingly resemble Assault Marines from the artwork of Rogue Trader.

Games Workshop has kind of gone back to looking at Rogue Trader, and figuring out how certain aspects of it could fit back into 40k. I’m 100% behind that trend and want more of it.

7/10

-----------------------

The Primaris range is already massive and I’m separating the range into different parts. So far though, it has been a varied bag of good and meh. I do want to keep these varied, so next up, I’m going to tackle a different army; the Death Guard...

[shanie-the-toyaddict]

Shanie Action Figure Update - 8/4/2020

Top 2: Undertaker as Kane Ringside Exclusive with and without mask

Middle 2: Basic 106 Carmella and Elite 75 Mandy Rose

Bottom: Ultimate Edition Becky “Two Belts” Lynch

So I received a package in the mail today from Ringside Collectibles. And in it were three figures that I had ordered at the beginning of July (they were on backorder). They were: Undertaker as Kane RSC Exclusive, B106 ‘Mella, and UE Becky Lynch. 

And for the record, I know I ordered two of those as “Damaged package” items, but damn it’s a good thing I let my figures breathe. My box was horribly *STOMPED* and all three figures had badly damaged packaging. Thankfully the figures were intact. However, Becky’s ankles were extremely loose and I literally had to super glue them in place so she would stand. 

I #@$&% HATE MATTEL’S ANKLE JOINTS!!!!

Honestly, people - collectors - ask me why I mess with the basics. Well bub, frankly all I do is stand my figures on a shelf like statues and with the elites, half the time the ankles are weird and they won’t friggin stand!

Of course, then sometimes you get figures like Basic ‘Mella who were molded wrong across the entire run and you CANNOT stand them up without a peghole stand. OOPS. (Oh well, I always use stands)

Oh and, yes, I’m aware that UE Becky looks NOTHING like Becky. I know. We all know. It’s getting headswapped with my other “The Man” becky figure.

Anyway, on top of that, I finally caved and bought the Elite Mandy Rose. I didn’t want to for the longest time, but I decided to go for it. Honestly, the figure has a great likeness and while I hate the fact that her attire is mostly black and her expression is air-headed, it works and I’ll add it. Besides, Wal-mart lowered their prices on Elites, so she was 16 bucks. Can’t beat that.

As far as online purchases go, I may have mentioned buying the entire Classic Trek Bridge Crew set loose on ebay. Can’t remember if I did or not, but I’m saying it again here. They don’t come with stands but I’m sure I can make it work with a bit of sticky tack. Besides, at 20 bucks for all 7 figures, it was a steal. In reality, I just wanted the Uhura, but the Uhura from that set alone cost 30 dollars complete, so why not get all 7 loose for 20??

Finally, I purchased a Doctor Who figure. I haven’t bought a DW figure in ages, but I broke down and got the B&M Romana 2 figure from the 2020 set. I couldn’t resist, even as a repaint, it’s the perfect figure in the perfect attire and I’ve wanted that particular Romana for 10 years now. I wasn’t passing it up. I hope to *attempt* to get the 13th Doctor Team TARDIS figures as well, but they are hard to come by. Actually, who am I kidding. There were 8 new characters revealed in the Character Options line this year and I want all 8.

So far, I have Romana 2 coming.I still need.

Graham

Yaz

Ryan

Yates

Benton

Romana 1

70′s Sarah Jane

I don’t care if they are all kitbashes I really don’t. The headsculpts are all fresh and I can customize what I don’t like. I NEED THESE FIGURES STAT!!!

Anyway, that’s the update for today. I will probably keep yinz further informed if and when I get my hands on the Series 1 AEW figures that are due to arrive this week.

Till then!

[nukenai]

I haven’t documented the past few days’ Fenice Saga here so.... I will proceed to do so.

I ordered a HG kit of Fenice because well, me. I wanted one. I was happily building her at work with no problems until it came to fully assembling her and I realized I was missing the entire base hip joint piece. Meaning she couldn’t be put together at all. I searched for the good part of an hour at work - the only place she had been opened - to no avail. I’d found much tinier pieces that I’d dropped (such as the tiny round cap things on MG EW Sandrock’s thighs...) so it was pretty obvious that this had fallen off during production, or something in sane like that.

The seller didn’t accept open returns, of course. That made total sense. I had bought her with mostly gift card money from Christmas, so I bit the bullet and just ordered another kit and figured having the extra parts would be fine, I could kitbash something maybe, for my first one of those. So I pay for 1-day shipping shipping, except it doesn’t ship for another entire day, and it’s obvious it’s not gonna get here at the “guaranteed” time.

During all this: I lost part of a very important keychain that had come in the mail the day before it disappeared off my purse, it was for my anniversary with my girlfriend, so I was already having a very rough day. That day I went home and took my Fenice (Rinascita) and R-100 Gerbera outside for some photos in the snow. When I came back inside, Gerbera promptly broke in 2 places. I was jaded at that point and didn’t care, and just glued his antennae (that I don’t like anyway) and lower sturm booster back on. He looks fine. No one cares. I don’t care.

Fast forward 24 hours. I email Amazon wondering if I can get reimbursed for the $5 extra shipping I paid - it’s just $5, but I explained the situation to them and said, well, I could’ve gotten regular 2-day shipping for free. The guy - not the seller, the Amazon help guy - refunds my entire order for the original Fenice because the piece was missing. Then I contacted the maker of the keychain on Etsy, asking if I could purchase just another of the little charms. She tells me she’ll send another one in the mail ASAP, free of charge.

SO, then. Turns out, my second Fenice came in the mail that night as it originally said it would. I got home to the exciting news, and was also immediately told that Oma found my missing keychain piece. Things got much better very quickly.

So today I brought both my Fenice kits to work to assemble. I managed to put together original Feni, and had also brought my Wing Gundam Honoo(Flame) for a possible kitbash. That.... didn’t go well, long story short, so... I decided to make myself a custom Fenice instead, as Ricardo often does. This was the result. I basically just evened her out. The only thing I couldn’t do was give her even head-fins, which is honestly fine to me. I think she looks really neat. To get her extra wings, I took the extra part that attaches her wings to her backpack and had to like... reverse it. I cut one ‘nub’ nearly in half, then sanded it and glued it to the other side’s nub so I could turn it upside-down and have it face the correct way. It works! Somehow!!!!!

So that was a shitton of words but. Fenice’s a very special mech to me. All day I’ve been wracking my brain over a customized name for her - in line with “Rinascita”, “Liberta”, and “Alba”... After typing all this up, I finally figured out a name.

I’m gonna call her Wing Gundam Fenice Fortuna.

She may not be the most fancy of “kitbashes”, but... She makes me very happy.

Also I’m gonna replace that horrible chest sticker with metallic paint because fuck that repulsive nonsense. Yuck.

[simon-newman]

Honestly I am getting lost at this point.

Old Marines had Assault Squad and Vanguard veterans. Both were ground melee units you could upgrade with Jetpacks.

Jetpacks were bought separately as more units could be upgraded with them - like Captains or Chaplains.

For a time Jump Vanguard vets with a nearby Chaplain were real monsters in melee if you had enough lightning claws to equip them with.

They were gaining bonus attacks per claw, per charge and chaplain provided bonuses.

Then the Fire Nation att... I mean. Cawl GW created primaris with a counterpart to both those units in Assault Intercessors that initially had mostly chainswords and no jump pack option.

With 10th edition Assault Squad got removed and vanguard vets were nerfed into obscurity (or removed entirely already? I didn't check in a while). They also released a whole separate kit of jump pack assault intercessors. IDK if they made a simple&cheaper upgrade frame for regular assault intercessors and I doubt the old ones would fit without some kitbashing skills.

I'd like to ask someone who's up to date on GW bullshit to verify what I just said tho.

Generally GW turned the Space Marine range into a huge mess by first introducing separate primaris range instead of proper re-scale replacement and then retroactively removing units to "clean up" the marines range.

Except they just released a redundant kit. Some cleanup...

So I had a think on it, and even though I have ordered them, I'm not going to use the jump packs to make some new jump pack wearing Assault Marines.

Since the three models I have with chainswords and bolt pistols are done as foot Assault Marines, I'll just build up two more Marines in the same style so I've at least got a squad.

My other two Assault Marines with jump packs have to be somewhere. I know it. And failing that, I'll just see if anyone is selling online.

[mffanrodders]

This stunning Millennium Falcon model was displayed at this years Star Wars Celebrations. Based on the five foot model, it’s built by Lee Malone from Rogue Studio Productions, it’s incredibly detailed and has several nice features, including a really detailed cockpit with lighting a swap out rectenna dish of both the Original Trilogy and the Falcon as she’s seen in The Force Awakens.

So good, even John Knoll (ILM model maker) is impressed.

Wow, just wow.

Lee was kind enough to give me an interview by email exchange.

What’s the background to you and Rogue Studio Productions and your incredible models?

I started RSP in 2012. I had just came off a long career in large company and I needed to find something new to do find a new path. I have done licensed work in the past and I wanted to keep going and building. I derived the name from the movie ‘Jaws’ there is a scene where they describe a shark that swims alone. I thought describe me very well.

You were the ones behind the fabulous 44″ Eagles from Space 1999 for Anderson Entertainment. I lusted after them for a long time, but as a Millennium Falcon focus collector, i had to stay strong, you know? How did you get involved with that project? Did you make the initial model “template”, or did you build the entire run?

I was searching for something to build and then sell it and make a copy for myself. I came across the print masters that a builder had made and I really thought they were accurate. At that point I had it all molded and casted and I built and Eagle. I took photos of that Eagle to San Diego Comic Con and Jamie Anderson saw them and wanted to know if I wanted a license. I didn’t hesitate and I said Yes!. We had to to tweak a few things for productions but everything was in house and built from the ground up and we hand built every one of them.

I see that you helped with some of the Master Replicas props. A lot of collectors saw the Master Replica years as the pinnacle of the prop collecting. How did you feel about their demise?

The last item I turned into MR was a studio scale X-wing and at the time they were becoming EFX. It was a rather smooth transition however I my X-wing was not selected as the paint master since I painted in such a way that it would be difficult to reproduce. It’s all part of the business.

What are you working on at the moment?

Moving the Falcon into the house and resting and spending time with the kids. I plan to ponder the next build as I chill out for a few weeks and finish up some commissions.

Were you nervous tackling something as well known and loved as the Han Solo’s iconic star ship? The modeling fraternity can be a pretty fickle bunch.

Actually no I just picked up and moved forward I had not time for nerves, sounds crazy I know. It can lock you up and prevent you from moving forward.

I see John Knoll and Lorne Peterson visited your stand at Celebrations. Were they able to give good feedback?

John did visit the booth I do not believe Lorne was at the show. He was very approachable and and mostly looked it over and we chatted briefly it was nice to have him stop by.

I saw that you started shaping the body for the Falcon as far back as 2013. How long were you planning and designing before you attempted to take her on? How long before you’ve identified all the pieces needed to build her. What sort of research did you do?

I started the basic hull in 2013 I got about 3 weeks into it and I had to start the Eagle license. I really just picked up and started at it no plans except for an overlay but that was it. I started collecting models while I was building Eagles. Once I completed the last Eagle I picked the Falcon back up. I gathered as I built since there was no need to wait until I got the last model part to start.

The research I did was to look at images that have been released showing the models on the shelves in the model shop at the time. I bought every model I saw on the shelves. Then I went through it all and I found a lot of parts that way. I had a list of parts from way back I’ve had for many years no idea where it came from but I also picked from that. One builder contacted me when I was almost half completed and he had compiled a few kit lists but I knew most of them already and some parts were yet to be identified however it was most appreciated and helpful as well.

The Falcon has a lot of kitbashed parts. With a vast majority of these kits long since out of production, i’d imagine that 3d printing has a massive impact for you on a project like this?

I only printed parts that required multiples of kits that were impossible to mine from. For example the shovels or flaps on the back that is from a kit from the 1960’s and you’re not going to find 26 of those and if you do your budget is going through the roof. So I had those molded and casted with one real part glued to the Falcon. They also did this on the original as well. I tried to use 3d printing as an enhancement and not a crutch. And pretty much every model kit part you see is a real model part (except for a few where the kit was impossible to locate). I used printing to print the cockpit interior and wind screen, radome, guns, escape pod rings. Now the parts were printed with no detail and I added the appropriate pieces. On the windscreen of cockpit I glued on the Tee trim around windows so I wanted to keep as much as I could original.

I see that you’ve tried to be as accurate as possible and i appreciate that must be extraordinarily difficult. Did you have to idealism any parts of the build?

I did not cut corners or try to guess at anything. I feel that would be a compromise and I did not compromise at all. I did have to get creative with the engine exhaust area though. I modeled best I could after the TFA exhaust since I found it more interesting than other incarnations.

I thought that building both rectenna dishes was a nice touch. How are they attached onto the model?

I have them mounted to an ABS cylinder and it is secured with rare earth magnets allowing dish to to turn as well.

I was always a little disappointed that the MR cockpit was a piece of back lit cardboard, so I’m particularly impressed by your build, as it looks like you’ve built every button, dial and panel from scratch. That must have been pretty tricky. Was that the toughest part of the build?

This one is best answered by my CAD artist Chris Arnold. I provided him all the reference I could find as well he provided some too. I asked him to recreate the life-size cockpit best he could. He did an amazing Job. I then had the cockpit painted by Steve Radler since he’s a good friend and a great miniature painter. I couldn’t do this and not include my friends in some way.

I see that the engines are illuminated. Did you also go for lighting on the cockpit and mandibles?

The model is ready for lighting in most of the appropriate places as well as lower permitter lighting for when in landing configuration. I’ll continue to complete all of that now that celebration is over.

Finally, what happens to the model when you’ve finished touring with her?

She will perch in my living room.

Check out the Rogue Studio Productions Facebook page, there are a lot of good photos of the build along with other models made by them, including some fabulous shots of his Eagles from Space 1999.

Below are more photos of the build taken directly from his Facebook page.

Millennium Falcon model by Rogue Studio Productions. This stunning Millennium Falcon model was displayed at this years Star Wars Celebrations. Based on the five foot model, it's built by…

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Doc Savage, Gothic novels, Underwater, Appendix N

Horror (Cemetery Dance): Up until the publication of The Monk in March of 1796, the Gothics mostly followed Walpole’s formula. The books usually featured a mystery or threat to the main character, an evil villain threatening the virtue of a virginal female, supernatural elements such as a ghost or an ancestral curse, and secret passages in crumbling mansions or castles. That template carried over into the next century, as evidenced by the bulk of the stories published in the pulps during the 1930s.

Cinema (cbr.com): MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: A Doc Savage movie was cast and ready to go when they abruptly changed to an entirely different film at the last minute. In the mid-1960s, the success of heroes from novels and comic books like James Bond and Batman led to producers looking to see whatever other 20th Century heroes that could be adapted into films. Producers Mark Goodson & Bill Todman (best known for their TV game shows) decided to pick Doc Savage to turn into a matinee idol.

Westerns (Six Gun Justice): Gordon D. Shirreffs (1914 – 1996) started writing in 1945, after serving in World War in Alaska and the Aleutian Campaign. Coached by published boy’s adventure writer Frederick Nelson Litten at the Chicago campus of Northwestern University, Shirreffs broke into the young people’s market with pieces in Boy’s Life, Young Catholic Messenger and the later pulps like Dime Western, Ace High, and Six-gun Western. Experiences at Fort Bliss during the war served Shirreffs well in nailing down the gritty scenery of the Southwest, a setting that served him well throughout his career.

Cinema (Bloody Disgusting): While William Eubank‘s Underwater kicks off with immediate intensity, wasting no time plunging Kristen Stewart and the rest of the cast into the deep sea nightmare we bought a ticket to experience, it admittedly lags a bit around the middle, and unquestionably could’ve used a tad bit more monster mayhem to pick up the energy. The film’s monsters, with their massive gaping maws and spindly, Cloverfield-reminiscent legs, only actually kill one character in the entire movie, and for the most part we only catch glimpses of them in the darkness.

Science Fiction (Gizmodo): Futuristic militaries are a staple in science fiction. With their powered armor and laser guns, military science fiction novels are among the most exciting reads out there. Except for one problem. Most are not really about warfare. While military SF involves military personnel and technology, the cores of the stories tend to focus on elements other than warfare. Before I’m tracked down and shot for saying that, let me qualify that statement.

H. P. Lovecraft (The Mary Sue): When it comes to adapting the works of H.P. Lovecraft, it can be hard for some creators to decide whether they should ignore the racist politics that are embedded into the work, or address it head-on. As a Black fan of Lovecraft, I have long come to terms with the fact that he would dislike my existence, but still, find it endlessly frustrating when his “fans” insist on making excuses for his behavior.

Robert E. Howard (Black Gate): When I was around 12 in the basement of a friend’s house, I found an old copy of Weird Tales (I’m not sure about the magazine, but it must have been a pulp) and read my first Conan story. I loved it; not just for the action—I was a big fan of action stories—but because Conan was a barbarian. He was outside the settled boundaries of propriety and decorum. He made himself up as he went along. He wasn’t a woman, but I was already so sunk into the abhorrence of womanhood that that actually worked in his favor. Conan was outlaw fiction. I knew my own path forward was to be an outlaw.

Appendix N (Goodman Games): John Anthony Bellairs was born on January 17th, 1938 in Marshall, Michigan, which he described as “full of strange and enormous old houses, and the place must have worked on [his] imagination.” A shy and overweight child, he “would walk back and forth between [his] home and Catholic school and have medieval fantasies featuring [himself] as the hero.” He found refuge in books, excelling in college as an English major and even appearing on an episode of the TV quiz show G.E. College Bowl in 1959, where he recited the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales in fluent Middle English.

D&D (Jon Mollison): It’s time to break the seals and talks bout why you should run your D&D crew through Autarch’s Nethercity.  But first we need to tuck all the sensitive and classified data behind the fold. Don’t click next unless you want to have the Secrets revealed through antiseptic blogging rather than rich play at the table.

Biography (DMR Books): Well, Crom willing, I’m here to celebrate Robert E. Howard’s birthday, despite the slings and arrows and technical glitches of outrageous fortune. I thought it would be fitting to review David C. Smith’s Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography which came out just over a year ago. I’ve had several people ask me online about it and where it rates alongside the other two big REH bios. Let’s take a look.

Blogging (Brain Leakage): Doing that forced me to create some regular columns, like my ‘Pocky-clypse Now reviews and my Kitbashing D&D series. Both of those proved to be popular, and have managed to get me some regular readers. Several posts of mine got shared in regular PulpRev and OSR gaming blog roundups, like Castalia House Sensor Sweep, The DMRtian Chronicles, and Jeffro’s Space Gaming Blog. Each time that happened, I’ve reached a wider audience and gained new readers.

Art (Dark Worlds Quarterly): When you do find something new, it is usually very new. But every once in a while you stumble upon something old that is new. Blue Book’s covers and interior art were such a delight. Here was a collection of Burroughs artwork that you just never see. Not in the old fanzines, not in the non-fiction books. It is almost like we all forgot they existed.

Fiction (DMR Books): Pulp magazines are just plain awesome. For readers of old-time literature, they’re colorful time capsules of the nostalgic past that any time traveler would love to visit, and they’ve held a fascination for me since I learned of their existence.  I couldn’t say how many times I’ve fantasized of stepping into a turn-of-the-century Five and Dime and plucking mint issues of Argosy and Weird Tales off the racks–imagine gazing on freshly printed copies of the February 1912 issue of The All-Story which contained the opening chapters of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Under the Moons of Mars… holy freaking smokes!

Robert E. Howard (Adventures Fantastic): I don’t know when “The House of Arabu” was written. It wasn’t published until 1952 in The Avon Fantasy Reader #18 under the title “The Witch From Hell’s Kitchen”. I like Howard’s original title much better. The story has been reprinted several times, but it isn’t as well known as much of Howard’s other sword and sorcery. I did notice that the version reprinted in The Ultimate Triumph had a slightly different closing line than the version in The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard.

Tolkien (Tolkien and Fantasy): Christopher Tolkien has passed away in the night of 15/16 January 2020 at the age of 95. These two men taught me more than I can express about the literary life and what it means to be, and how to go about being, a literary scholar. I became friends with Humphrey in the summer of 1978 when I attended a summer program in Oxford. A few years later Humphrey put me in touch with Christopher. Though I had some excellent and helpful teachers in college, none of them affected me as profoundly, or as lastingly, as did these friendships with Humphrey and Christopher.

Leigh Brackett (Wasteland & Sky): As an example, I just finished reading Leigh Brackett’s Last Call from Sector 9G and had some thoughts about it. For one, the story was written in 1955 and it doesn’t quite feel like it. The era was full of misery and strife in her field, and yet she produced this gem in Planet Stories that could have just as easily come out of Weird Tales in 1929. It has a more timeless feel.

Fiction (Frontier Partisans): I woke up this morning thinking about old-school historical potboilers. Yeah, I know. But you all know by now that my mind functions this way…Actually, there’s a straightforward explanation for why I roused from my slumbers with visions of F. van Wyck Mason dancing through my head. I hit the pillow after scrolling through a Kindle series of novels set during the French & Indian War.

Pulp/Cinema (Don Herron): I didn’t have anything particular in mind, but then pulp expert John Locke jumped into the fray. “One of my sub-hobbies is spotting pulp mags in movies,” John just wrote to inform me. “My latest is a doozie. “It shows a Navy man reading a Fight Stories. “Better yet, the issue has a Sailor Steve Costigan story by Howard.

Writing (Emperor Ponders): Well, sure, but before my mind was even able to process that, what struck me the most was how uncomfortably written the entire thing is (or, at least, the first paragraph.) And I don’t mean typos, grammar errors, and such, but something that is deeper and harder to explain but is quintaessentially modern.

Gaming (R’lyeh Reviews): Conan the Barbarian is a supplement for Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of published by Modiphius Entertainment. It is the first in the ‘Conan the…’ series of supplements which focus on and take their inspiration from Conan himself at various stages of his life and what he was doing. Over this series, the supplements will track our titular character’s growth and progress as he gains in skills and abilities and talents. Thus this first supplement looks at Conan as a young man and his life among the people of his homeland, at the beginning of his career which will take him from barbarian to king, essentially the equivalent of a starting player character.

Sensor Sweep: Doc Savage, Gothic novels, Underwater, Appendix N published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[gasha40k]

With the fall of Cadia, the opening of the Great Rift, the currently raging campaign on Calthradia, and the impending arrival of the Arks of Omen, more and more often are the Thunderbearers finding themselves at the end of a proverbial searing Hellblade. Consequently, my blossoming Chaos collection from a few posts ago has been growing at a rapid pace.

A very rapid pace. I’d already been collecting disparate boxes of Bloodletters just as a set of little daemon goons for the Calthradia Crusade, but after realizing that I’d accrued nearly an entire Combat Patrol’s worth of red bodies, I decided to take the plunge and grab a Daemons Patrol. Does my soul now belong to Khorne? Yeah, probably. Is it worth it for 21 attacks with native -3 AP? Yeah, definitely.

This is about 40 Bloodletters, 3 Bloodcrushers, 10 Khornedogs. Leading this roving murder tide of crimson is a vicious Bloodmaster of Khorne, equipped with the Blood-drinker Talisman and sat atop a pile of, frankly, way too many skulls.

The Bloodmaster is a really sick model. I think he’s one of my favorites purely on look, he’s absolutely radical, and both his datasheet and performance on the tabletop makes him more than worth his meager points cost.

This model, as with the rest of my daemons, is noticeably lacking in the unnecessary kitbashing that’s come to define my Space Marines army. This, frankly, is really refreshing. Being able to simply buy and build stock goon models to throw at other players is really satisfyingly simple. Khorne doesn’t really require me to think at all, just to kill, and that’s a fun switch! I figure this’ll be an army that I can add to when I need a break from Astartes and Custodes. It’ll also serve me really well in my narrative campaign, as things are getting very Chaos-y atop Calthradia.

I’d like to note that, while I’m yer to get my hands on the Daemons Codex, the rules contained within are some of my favorite in 40k. The ability to fuck with enemy Leadership and deepstrike from super close based on enemy morale is so fitting and fluffy, it really invokes images of daemons breaking through realspace to fuck shit up. Their aura reduces Leadership, as well, which is really cool and fluffy. It’s like simply being near them is an attack on human sanity, which wavering resolve results in more daemons breaking through using the Manifestation rules. The unmodifiable saves, as well, are super cool, and makes them essentially unaffected by 9th Edition’s terrible AP bloat.

This is a little squad of tertiary cultists I built a while ago. They’re just fun Chaos goons that I figured I’d show off alongside the daemons. I could use them in Killteam, but I much prefer to use them as Traitor Guard for CSM.

Anyways, besides all the evil shit happening, I’m about ready to sit down and paint for the first time in actual fucking months. This Firstborn that I inexplicably have despite not having bought a Firstborn kit in a year will be my first test subject for an updated Thunderbearers color scheme.

[seeminglyseph]

like this is honestly true, I've compulsively bought a lot of the Rainbow High dolls, but I've got a disposable doll budget that I've set aside for them and I'm in a unique position to have that. And even then I've been stretched thing and been forced to pick and choose when then flooded the lineup with too many dolls for an extremely inflated price on the international market (seriously, while in America they were like $25, in Canada they were hitting $40+. Sometimes just because it was scalpers because things didn't ship international, or because the online market was entirely screwed for international shoppers. Why are the costume party dolls over $60???)

the fact that they've had to remarket the brand to like bargain basement children's playline that as far as the International Market is concerned is maybe a few bucks cheaper in price than the regular articulation dolls, is definitely a side effect of making too many too fast for the big spending adult collectors to even buy. And whatever the lawsuit is that made them have to pull the full Shadow High line.

I understand that hands can be choking hazards for kids, but I also feel like that doesn't explain the thigh joints which are usually hidden by clothes and so many people are voicing surprise about which means that it's been fully hidden from people.

to be clear I am soooo not arguing with you, like you make so many good points and it's making me think out loud, and kinda complain a little lmao I like having the flat feet option. I love the beach dolls and Lila and Meena who have swappable legs for pointed and flat options, I just wish it didn't come with such limited body alternatives.

I feel like when the PJ Party dolls go on sale they're really good options for kitbashing because their limited articulation could be could for crafting, but as someone who scrolls Etsy all day for doll crafts... like. I have an RH Kigurumi sewing pattern, and the props are familiar to ones from Korean or Chinese dollhouse miniature shops. which isn't to say they're rip offs, I only have Sunny and Bella, and they have a Karaoke machine and a skincare set. which are kind of... Korean and Asian Skincare is a major thing and besides Sunny being an anime fan, Karaoke is Japanese and popular in Asia, there's gonna be a lot of overlap... Sunny's PJs are *severely* underwhelming though. I kind of feel like if anyone should have a kigurumi it would be Sunny.

Now, I know part of the issue is that the slumber party dolls are much cheaper made and so they’re probably not working hard on consistency or quality.

But all things considered this is just courting controversy and disaster considering how much stupid shit Rainbow High is pulling with their recent lineup.

And I might just have a darker old Sunny here. I haven’t checked her against all my Sunny dolls. But I hope it’s not noticeable when I stick her head on one of the bodies with more articulation because I desperately need wrists on these dolls or I go insane.

[queenbeez-blog]

1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems “TIE/E” Escort Fighter, “801”, based on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer ‘Vehement’ during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing)

+++ DISCLAIMER +++ Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background: The TIE/LN starfighter, or TIE/line starfighter, simply known as the TIE Fighter or T/F, was the standard Imperial starfighter seen in massive numbers throughout most of the Galactic Civil War and onward. The TIE Fighter was manufactured by Sienar Fleet Systems and led to several upgraded TIE models such as TIE/sa bomber, TIE/IN interceptor, TIE/D Defender, TIE/D automated starfighter, and many more.

The original TIEs were designed to attack in large numbers, overwhelming the enemy craft. The Imperials used so many that they came to be considered symbols of the Empire and its might. They were also very cheap to produce, reflecting the Imperial philosophy of quantity over quality.

However, a disadvantage of the fighter was its lack of deflector shields. In combat, pilots had to rely on the TIE/LN’s maneuverability to avoid damage. The cockpit did incorporate crash webbing, a repulsorlift antigravity field, and a high-g shock seat to help protect the pilot, however these did next to nothing to help protect against enemy blaster fire.

Due to the lack of life-support systems, each TIE pilot had a fully sealed flight suit superior to their Rebel counterparts. The absence of a hyperdrive also rendered the light fighter totally dependent on carrier ships when deployed in enemy systems. TIE/LNs also lacked landing gear, another mass-reducing measure. While the ships were structurally capable of "sitting" on their wings, they were not designed to land or disembark their pilots without special support. On Imperial ships, TIEs were launched from racks in the hangar bays.

The high success rate of more advanced Rebel starfighters against standard Imperial TIE Fighters resulted in a mounting cost of replacing destroyed fighters and their pilots. That, combined with the realization that the inclusion of a hyperdrive would allow the fleet to be more flexible, caused the Imperial Navy to rethink its doctrine of using swarms of cheap craft instead of fewer high-quality ones, leading to the introduction of the TIE Advanced x1 and its successor, the TIE Avenger. The following TIE/D Defender as well as the heavy TIE Escort Fighter (or TIE/E) were touted as the next "logical advance" of the TIE Series—representing a shift in starfighter design from previous, expendable TIE models towards fast, well armed and protected designs, capable of hyperspace travel and long-term crew teams which gained experience and capabilities over time.

The TIE/E Escort, was a high-performance TIE Series starfighter developed for the Imperial Navy by Sienar Fleet Systems and it was introduced into service shortly before the Battle of Endor. It was a much heavier counterpart to the agile and TIE/D fighter, and more of an attack ship or even a light bomber than a true dogfighter. Its role were independent long range operations, and in order to reduce the work load and boost morale a crew of two was introduced (a pilot and a dedicated weapon systems officer/WSO). The primary duty profile included attack and escort task, but also reconnoiter missions. The TIE/E shared the general layout with the contemporary TIE/D fighter, but the cockpit section as well as the central power unit were much bigger, and the ship was considerably heavier.

The crew enjoyed – compared with previous TIE fighter designs – a spacious and now fully pressurized cockpit, so that no pressurized suits had to be worn anymore. The crew members sat in tandem under a large, clear canopy. The pilot in front had a very good field of view, while the WSO sat behind him, in a higher, staggered position with only a limited field of view. Both work stations had separate entries, though, and places could not be switched in flight: the pilot mounted the cockpit through a hatch on port side, while the WSO entered the rear compartment through a roof hatch.

In a departure from the design of previous TIE models, instead of two parallel wings to either side of the pilot module, the TIE Escort had three quadanium steel solar array wings mounted symmetrically around an aft section, which contained an I-s4d solar ionization reactor to store and convert solar energy collected from the wing panels. The inclusion of a third wing provided additional solar power to increase the ship’s range and the ship’s energy management system was designed to allow weapons and shields to be charged with minimum loss of power to the propulsion system.

Although it was based on the standard twin ion engine design, the TIE/E’s propulsion system was upgraded to the entirely new, powerful P-sz9.8 triple ion engine. This allowed the TIE/E a maximum acceleration of 4,220 G or 21 MGLT/s and a top speed of 144 MGLT, or 1,680 km/h in an atmosphere — almost 40 percent faster than a former standard TIE Fighter. With tractor beam recharge power (see below) redirected to the engines, the top speed could be increased to 180 MGLT in a dash. In addition to the main thrusters located in the aft section, the TIE Escort’s triple wing design allowed for three arrays of maneuvering jets and it featured an advanced F-s5x flight avionics system to process the pilot’s instructions. Production models received a class 2, ND9 hyperdrive motivator, modified from the version developed for the TIE Avenger. The TIE/E also carried a Sienar N-s6 Navcon navigation computer with a ten-jump memory.

Special equipment included a small tractor beam projector, originally developed for the TIE Avenger, which could be easily fitted to the voluminous TIE Escort. Models produced by Ysanne Isard’s production facility regularly carried such tractor beams and the technology found other uses, such as towing other damaged starfighters until they could achieve the required velocity to enter hyperspace. The tractor beam had limited range and could only be used for a short time before stopping to recharge, but it added new tactics, too. For instance, the beam allowed the TIE/E crews to temporarily inhibit the mobility of enemy fighters, making it easier to target them with the ship’s other weapon systems, or prevent enemies from clear shots.

The TIE Escort’s weapons systems were primarily designed to engage bigger ships and armored or shielded targets, like armed freighters frequently used by the Alliance. Thanks to its complex weapon and sensor suite, it could also engage multiple enemy fighters at once. The sensors also allowed an effective attack of ground targets, so that atmospheric bombing was a potential mission for the TIE/E, too. . The TIE Escort Fighter carried a formidable array of weaponry in two modular weapon bays that were mounted alongside the lower cabin. In standard configuration, the TIE/E had two L-s9.3 laser cannons and two NK-3 ion cannons. The laser and ion cannons could be set to fire separately or, if concentrated power was required, to fire-linked in either pairs or as a quartet. The ship also featured two M-g-2 general-purpose warhead launchers, each of which could be equipped with a standard load of three proton torpedoes or four concussion missiles. Depending on the mission profile, the ship could be fitted with alternative warheads such as proton rockets, proton bombs, or magnetic pulse warheads. Additionally, external stores could be carried under the fuselage, which included a conformal sensor pallet for reconnaissance missions or a cargo bay with a capacity for 500 kg (1.100 lb).

The ship’s defenses were provided by a pair of forward and rear projecting Novaldex deflector shield generators—another advantage over former standard TIE models. The shields were designed to recharge more rapidly than in previous Imperial fighters and were nearly as powerful as those found on capital ships, so that the TIE/E could engage other ships head-on with a very high survivability. The fighters were not equipped with particle shields, though, relying on the reinforced titanium hull to absorb impacts from matter. Its hull and wings were among the strongest of any TIE series Starfighter yet.

The advanced starfighter attracted the attention of several other factions, and the Empire struggled to prevent the spread of the technology. The ship’s high cost, together with political factors, kept it from achieving widespread use in the Empire, though, and units were assigned only to the most elite crews.

The TIE/E played a central role in the Empire’s campaign against rogue Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin, and mixed Defender and Escort units participated in several other battles, including the Battle of Endor. The TIE Escort continued to see limited use by the Imperial Remnant up to at least 44 ABY, and was involved in numerous conflicts, including the Yuuzhan Vong War..

The kit and its assembly: Another group build contribution, this time to the Science Fiction GB at whatifmodelers.com during summer 2017. Originally, this one started as an attempt to build a vintage MPC TIE Interceptor kit which I had bought and half-heartedly started to build probably 20 years ago. But I did not have the right mojo (probably, The Force was not strong enough…?), so the kit ended up in a dark corner and some parts were donated to other projects.

The sun collectors were still intact, though, and in the meantime I had the idea of reviving the kit’s remains, and convert it into (what I thought was) a fictional TIE Fighter variant with three solar panels. For this plan I got myself another TIE Interceptor kit, and stashed it away, too. Mojo was still missing, though.

Well, then came the SF GB and I took it as an occasion to finally tackle the build. But when I prepared for the build I found out that my intended design (over the years) more or less actually existed in the Star Wars universe: the TIE/D Defender! I could have built it with the parts and hand and some improvisation, but the design similarity bugged me. Well, instead of a poor copy of something that was more or less clearly defined, I rather decided to create something more individual, yet plausible, from the parts at hand.

The model was to stay a TIE design, though, in order to use as much donor material from the MPC kits as possible. Doing some legwork, I settled for a heavy fighter – bigger than the TIE Interceptor and the TIE/D fighter, a two-seater. Working out the basic concept and layout took some time and evolved gradually. The creative spark for the TIE/E eventually came through a Revell “Obi Wan’s Jedi Starfighter” snap fit kit in my pile – actually a prize from a former GB participation at phoxim.de (Thanks a lot, Wolfgang!), and rather a toy than a true model kit.

The Jedi Fighter was in so far handy as it carries some TIE Fighter design traits, like the pilot capsule and the characteristic spider web windscreen. Anyway, it’s 1:32, much bigger than the TIE Interceptor’s roundabout 1:50 scale – but knowing that I’d never build the Jedi Starfighter OOB I used it as a donor bank, and from this starting point things started to evolve gradually.

Work started with the cockpit section, taken from the Jedi Starfighter kit. The two TIE Interceptor cockpit tubs were then mounted inside, staggered, and the gaps to the walls filled with putty. A pretty messy task, and once the shapes had been carved out some triangular tiles were added to the surfaces – a detail I found depicted in SW screenshots and some TIE Fighter models.

Another issue became the crew – even though I had two MPC TIE Interceptors and, theorectically, two pilot figures, only one of them could be found and the second crewman had to be improvised. I normally do not build 1:48 scale things, but I was lucky (and happy) to find an SF driver figure, left over from a small Dougram hoovercraft kit (from Takara, as a Revell “Robotech” reboxing). This driver is a tad bigger than the 1:50 TIE pilot, but I went with it because I did not want to invest money and time in alternatives. In order to justify the size difference I decided to paint the Dougram driver as a Chiss, based on the expanded SW universe (with blue skin and hair, and glowing red eyes). Not certain if this makes sense during the Battle of Endor timeframe, but it adds some color to the project – and the cockpit would not be visible in much detail since it would be finished fully closed.

Reason behind the closed canopy is basically the poor fit of the clear part. OOB, this is intended as an action toy – but also the canopy’s considerable size in 1:50 would prevent its original opening mechanism. Additional braces on the rel. large window panels were created with self-adhesive tape and later painted over.

The rear fuselage section and the solar panel pylons were scratched. The reactor behind the cockpit section is actually a plastic adapter for water hoses, found in a local DIY market. It was slightly modified, attached to the cockpit “egg” and both parts blended with putty. The tail opening was closed with a hatch from the OOB TIE Interceptor – an incidental but perfect match in size and style.

The three pylons are also lucky finds: actually, these are SF wargaming/tabletop props and would normally be low walls or barriers, made from resin. For my build, they were more or less halved and trimmed. Tilted by 90°, they are attached to the hull with iron wire stabilizers, and later blended to the hull with putty, too.

Once the cockpit was done, things moved more swiftly. The surface of the hull was decorated with many small bits and pieces, including thin styrene sheet and profiles, steel and iron wire in various strengths, and there are even 1:72 tank tracks hidden somewhere, as well as protective caps from syringes (main guns and under the rear fuselage). It’s amazing how much stuff you can add to such a model – but IMHO it’s vital in order to create some structure and to emulate the (early) Star Wars look.

Painting and markings: The less spectacular part of the project, even though still a lot of work because of the sheer size of the model’s surface. Since the whole thing is fictional, I tried to stay true to the Imperial designs from Episode IV-VI and gave the TIE/E a simple, all-light grey livery. All basic painting was done with rattle cans. Work started with a basic coat of grey primer. On top of that, an initial coat of RAL 7036 Platingrau was added, esp. to the lower surfaces and recesses, for a rough shading effect. Then, the actual overall tone, RAL 7047, called “Telegrau 4”, one of Deutsche Telekom’s corporate tones, was added – mostly sprayed from abone and the sides onto the model. Fuselage and panels were painted separately, overall assembly was one of the final steps.

The solar panels were to stand out from the grey rest of the model, and I painted them with Revell Acrylic “Iron Metallic” (91) first, and later applied a rather rich wash with black ink , making sure the color settled well into the many small cells. The effect is pretty good, and the contrast was slightly enhanced through a dry-brushing treatment.

Only a few legible stencils were added all around the hull (most from the scrap box or from mecha sheets), the Galactic Empire Seal were inkjet-printed at home, as well as some tactical markings on the flanks, puzzled together from single digits in "Aurebash", one of the Imperial SW languages/fonts. For some variety and color highlights, dozens of small, round and colorful markings were die-punched from silver, yellow, orange, red and blue decal sheet and were placed all over the hull – together with the large panels they blur into the the overall appearance, though. The hatches received thin red linings, also made from generic decals strips.

The cockpit interior was a bit challenging, though. Good TIE Fighter cockpit interior pictures are hard to find, but they suggest a dark grey tone. More confusingly, the MPC instructions call for a “Dark Green” cockpit? Well, I did not like the all-grey option, since the spaceship is already monochrome grey on the outside.

As a compromise I eventually used Tamiya XF-65 "Field Grey". The interior recieved a black ink in and dry-brushing treatment, and some instruments ansd screens were created with black decal material and glossy black paint; some neon paint was used for sci-fi-esque conmtraol lamps everywhere – I did not pay too much intention on the interior, since the cockpit would stay closed, and the thick clear material blurs everything inside. Following this rationale, the crew was also painted in arather minimal fashion – both wear a dark grey uniform, only the Chiss pilot stands aout with his light blue skin and the flourescent red eyes.

After an overall black ink wash the model received a dry brusing treatment with FS 36492 and FS 36495, for a weathered and battle-worn look. After all, the "Vehement" would not survive the Ballte of Endor, but who knows what became of TIE/E "801"’s mixed crew…? Finally, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish, and some final cosmetic corrections made.

The display is a DIY creation, too, made from a 6×6" piece of wood, it’s edges covered with edgebonder, a steel wire as holder, and finally the display was paited with semi-matt black acrylic paint from the rattle can.

A complex build, and the TIE/E more or less evolved along the way, with only the overall layout in mind. Work took a month, but I think it was worth the effort. This fantasy creation looks pretty plausible and blends well into the vast canonical TIE Fighter family – and I am happy that I finally could finish this mummy project, including the surplus Jedi Starfighter kit which now also find a very good use!

An epic one, and far outside my standard comfort zone. But a wothwhile build!

Posted by dizzyfugu on 2017-08-19 18:32:22

Tagged: , mpc , tie , defender , escort , fighter , interceptor , star , wars , sw , endor , battle , two , seater , chiss , pilot , tandem , heavy , sienar , imperial , empire , sith , ral , grey , fictional , kitbashing , modellbau , whif , what-if , non-canonical , tri , three , dizzyfugu , science , fiction , group , build , whatifmodelers

The post 1:50 Sienar Fleet Systems “TIE/E” Escort Fighter, “801”, based on board of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer ‘Vehement’ during the Battle of Endor (Whif/kitbashing) appeared first on Good Info.

[gasha40k]

A lot has happened since my last post!

Firstly, the second game of the Calthradia Crusade has concluded! This time the mission was much more narratively skewed and, uh, much more unbalanced. I’ll have a battle report up on my YouTube someday™.

(A lone Battle Sister valiantly holds back a Lokhust Heavy Destroyer to buy her Sisters time)

The third game will be my Thunderbearers(!!!) defending against an incoming Ork horde. I’m excited to see how that goes, and I’m more excited to finally put some Marines in the Crusade.

Secondly, I finished assembling the ten man Intercessor squad for my Order of Battle, which I’ve named Strike Force Starglaive. With the assembly of Squad Arctos, the army is pretty damn close to being fully assembled. Once I finish making a cool Primaris Lieutenant for our HQ choice, Starglaive will finally be finished.

(Sergeant Arctos and his boys)

These dudes are the backbone of the Crusade, so I wanted to keep them pretty uniform & standard. That being said, there’s just enough model variety for each Astartes to look like an individual with their own personal accolades and experiences.

And speaking of variety…

As I fall deeper into the kitbashing rabbit hole, I inevitably spend more money on shit that I don’t need to spend money on. So, when I saw the Chaos Space Marine kit, some of the bolter designs really caught my eye. The belt feed shit has always been what the Thunderbearers are all about. So, like a total genius, I bought a whole fuckin’ CSM kit just so I could axe two guns from it.

(What our Tau player friend, the fine fellow who runs Vior’la in our Crusade, had to say about my kitbashing adventures)

Was it worth the money? Absolutely not. Do the models look sick? Oh hell yeah they do.

Here’s Sergeant Arctos, himself. He’s pretty simple looking, especially compared to Sergeant Cambarn and especially Sergeant Taranis, but that’s on purpose. Arctos is a fledgling Sergeant with minimal experience, much like many of the other Primaris Astartes being sent to Calthradia. While he’s a gifted and disciplined soldier, Arctos is still struggling to find his voice of command despite his talents, whether due to his lack of experience or his mild nature. As such, his promotion to the rank of Sergeant for the Crusade is more a test of him than his men. Will the campaign fan the flames of greatness within Sergeant Arctos, or will it be snuffed by the pressure of the war?

And on the topic of both war and Chaos Space Marines, let me introduce you to the Luna Reavers.

I had a lot of Chaos Marine bits lying around. Well, not really bits, it was more of, uh, an entire unbuilt kit, so I decided to put them together for fun. The Luna Reavers are an enigmatic Chaos Undivided Warband that plague Calthradia I. They really like plasma weaponry and they don’t talk a whole lot.

I’m particularly proud of the weathering. This was my first time ever attempting paint chipping and scratching, and I think it came out really good. He looks grimy and old and Chaos-y, and he’s maybe one of my favorite models.

But the Luna Reavers aren’t the only Chaos goons coming to Calthradia!

Accompanying them is a lot of very miscolored Bloodletters. My friend says they’re wearing stockings due to the leg coloration, and to that I say: if he wants to serve, let him serve.

This certainly isn’t my best model, but it isn’t anywhere near my worst, either. It’s solid. I dry brushed the gross back pimples black so as to make them pop (no pun intended) and I slathered him in Nuln Oil because, frankly, that’s the only way I know how to make my models look nice. But hey, it kinda worked, and now our Luna Reaver has a gay little Chaos buddy.

Other than all this, I’m chipping away at painting the remainder of my army. Next post will probably be Squad Taranis in its finished state. Stay tuned for Astartes shenanigans.