Kit-bashed Damoclese Command Rhino

I found a rhino from my failed Blood Angels project, and dedcided to build a Damoclese for apoc/friendly games. Made from bits from the Bastion, Rhino (of course) and some doors that I am not to sure of where they came from, only that I have them.

The Sarge sure digs the treads

Ravenwing Killhawk WIP

Did some more work on the killhawk including pulling the wings back, green stuffing some spaces and adding in some plasticard.

I'm really impressed with how versatile the Storm Raven kit is. Its a really modular set of parts thats really asking to be messed around with.

Ravenwing Killhawk

So I got it into my head that a flying transport for Bikes would be pretty cool, and to take advantage of the Stormraven and give me a new hobby project, I have begun work on the Ravening Killhawk. The WIP rules for it can be found here. To make this I am using the parts from the Stormraven and Valkyrie.

Basing Trench Works

Basic tutorial for getting rid of all those spare sprues lying around and getting a more flavoful base than the standard rocks and grass.

What you'll need:
Plastic Glue
Green Stuff
Clippers
Spare plastic sprues
Some sand

 I'm using a Cygnar Trencher on a 30mm base.Grab some sprues and set them aside, try and keep them about the same length, and at about shoulder height to the model you are basing.

updated Haemunculi Raider,with crew

Alright, I got some green stuff and some glue. so its back to work. I added on a claw to the grotesque holding the disintergrator and bulked out his neck a bit.

Haemunculi Coven raider

I have a few Coven units in my army, and after looking over some of the BoLS DE plogs, I got inspired to modify one of my old raiders with some Skaven buts I have lying around.

Updated Wracks/Master Beliel Conversion

First up, 4 converted and painted wracks, two with special weapons:

Talos/Chronos Pain Engine

Painted him up today:

Converted DE Wrack

Quick Friday update: Now working on my unit of wracks, a picture of one is down below. The pain engine has been based, work will likely start tomorrow.

Lets break down how he was painted:

Step One: Primed black
Step Two: Skin wetbrushed Tallarn Flesh, Drybrush Skull White
Step 3: Cloak Mechrite, then Scab, then Blood Red highlights, loincloth is Snakebite Leather highlighted with Iyanden Darksun
Step 4: Weapons drybrushed Chainmail, armor highlighted Blood Red
Step 5: Washes. Ogryn Flesh and Red Oak Stain

Painted Grotesques, sneak peak at (converted) Talos/Chronos

EDIT: My camera has come down with a case of the sucks, I shall try and get it fixed, sorry for sub-par photo quality.

To celebrate at Boxcars getting its 5,000th view, I give you this:

Dark Eldar Grotesques conversion.

More conversions up today, this time using Ogre Kingdoms Gorgers, some green stuff and, and various new plastic bits.


Here is Grotesque Number One (He/She/It hasn't been named yet), using the Gorger as a base, a prow from a Raider/Ravager for a head, Several splinter weapon barrels for his Flesh Gauntlet/Scissorhand, and some green stuff tubing and added flesh sacks on his back.

Assault Cannon Razorback conversion

Heres a conversion I did awhile ago, using the rhino from the Blood Angels battleforce, the assault cannon from the Land Raider Crusader that I destroyed for a trerrain piece, and a bit of elbow grease.

Here is how it came out, unpainted So far:

Now, how did I do it? Well, the first thing you will need, if you have them lying around, around:
A saw and file, I used these, specifically:

And after you get these, you'll need an assault cannon. I used the bits from the LRC, and hacked off the ammo chain thing it had on the bottom. Alon with that, I sawed down the inside edges of the two cannons to allow them to fit over item three, specifically the turret mount from the Imperial Bastion kit. Making sure they fit snuggly over the center bar, as this will serve as the anchor to keep the guns on the razorback. Apply some glue and you'll get something like this:

And that is ready to fit on the Razorback weapon mount roof option from the Rhino/Razorback kit. Congratulations! You now have an effective,WYSIWYG, and, if you have tons of buts lying around like I do, cheap, conversion for an awesome vehicle.

Dark Eldar Kabalite Trueborn conversions

Thats right folks, here is another set of conversion I have done, this time they are ten Kabalite Trueborn. I wanted to make these guys look more skilled and better equipped than their Kabalite Warrior "brothers". To get this look, and in keeping with my space pirate theme, I used a mix of Dire Avenger and Kabalite Warrior bits, and tried to make these guys look really individualized.

First up, Kabalite Drachon with a spear stolen from an Exarch, pointing at something.


Next up we have three heavy support dudes, all decked out in their "borrowed" Dire Avenger armor suits and Dark Lance weapons.


Another Drachon, with a blast pistol I think, and a nice sharp arm mounted blade thing, possibly used to WYSIWYG a Ghostplate Armor suit's shield generator.

A splinter cannon wielding trueborn, turning about to open fire on the poor fool who got into his cannon's range.


A couple of sneaky 2 hand weapon Trueborn.


Double trouble double pistols to represent a Shardcarbine.


Another guy, posed shooting a gun one handed, blade at the ready.


As some may be able to tell, I wanted to make these guys look very dynamic, so that is why they are in such odd poses, but I think the unit turned out all right.

Ork Looted Valkyrie, stage 1

Right. My brother (who I am painting this army for) really like planes. As such, I have acquired, and begun the painting of, a IG Valkyrie. First Impressions: Whoa, this model is huge, really, I did not expect to get a hunk of plastic this big on my desk. Lots of open space for freehand (if one feels so inclined), and the model presents ample opportunity for detailing and weathering. However, as I am working on a two week schedule to paint up about 25 Orks, 3 deffkoptas and finish Warboss Karkrusha, I have forgone the more fancy brush work for straight up silver highlights and an eventual coat of Devlan Mud.
WIP shots of the model, piloted by two trained Grots, taught the basics of flying by captured Air Caste Tau.




Planning to run it as a fighta, or fighta-bomba, depending if I get a Storm Raven on my hands. If it goes the rought of the fighta-bomba, it'll have some Bomb squigs or Grot Bombs coming out the back. If it goes fighta, then some wing mountain orks on guns will likely be added.

Here is an updated Warboss Karkrusha, now with more highlights and shading on the arms, newly painted trousers (snakebite leather, followed by Red Oak stain, the highlighted with snakebite again). Started work on the, er, rear end of the model.

Void Raven Conversion, part 2

The falcon arrived in the mail today, and I took a hack saw to it as soon as the chassis was built. Here is what I have got, so far, primed, and waiting to be painted:


Sawing off the wings off the Falcon according to the diagram from two posts ago, I arranged them as I had originally planned, then used left over aether sails to cover the huge slashes that are where the fins used to meet the chassis, as well as to add some dark eldar spiky-ness to it. Along with those, Extra rudders from the Raider and Jet Bike kits where used to get some ore blades on there, and two left over desintergrators form the void lances.

Whats left to do:
Cover up the hole on the roof, maybe with a plasticard tray, painted with the Kabal's insignia.
Missile racks. I'm trying to create a rack of missiles (to represent the various optional ones available to the bomber, but am struggling to find a way to keep the dark eldar sleek, bladed look while having the damn things LOOK like missiles.

Well, thats about it for today, possible pictures of a new terrain piece I have been working on tomorrow

Dark Eldar void raven/Void Dragon Phoenix conversion: Stage 1 (Planning)

I have decided to begin work on a void raven conversion, using the falcon chassis as a starting point.
The basic idea is to work out a design that will mimic the look of the Void Dragon Phoenix, a ship used by Eldar Corsairs. This will let me use it as either a Void Raven (until the plastic kit comes out) or a Forge World Void Dragon Phoenix in Apoc. games, without having to spend $120 on the damn thing.

So, we are trying to make this:

Into this:


Basic Plan:
Saw off the fins from the chassis,sand till smooth, and then, through green stuff and super glue, form wings from the fins on the side of the chassis.
See the diagram:

Cutting along the white line, the areas labeled "1" will be removed to be used as wings, while the areas labeled "2" will be the general area where the wings will attached to the chassis. From there, well, I've always been good at coming up with things on the spot. Work should begin tomorrow, if FedEx is a timely as they usually are.

Dark Eldar Wracks, Blood Angels Librarian and High Examplar Kreoss

The line up today:
Wracks, made from random Dark Eldar kits (mainly wyches/Kabalites), wads of green stuff, and Empire Flaggelants.



I have several more of these guys, but most are primed black, and I wanted to show the conversion work involved. What I did was filed the neck down on the collars on the Flaggie torso, then cut of the round neck-stub from the DE heads and then glued them on. Now, they each have varius oddities on them, as I wanted to convey that the Haemunculus making them was just bored, and was messing around on his servants for kicks.

Codicer Varro, A Space Marine Librarian I had lying around.


I wanted to show that this guy has been in the thick of the fighting for a while, so I drilled several holes in his armor, "bullet holes", cut up his face, using a mix of scab and blood red, with some Dwarf Flesh, as well as dirtying up the model with Devlan Mud and Badab Black.

The Force weapon was an exercise in lighting, and I think its glowy look turned out well.


High Examplar Kreoss, first painted Warmachine fig, and exercise in the frustration of painting white.


This guy really exemplified the biggest issue I have with PP models, and that is that the details on them tend to be very shallow, and even a slightly thick basecoat will make you lose a lot of them. However, this was a blast to paint. The flowing robes give lots of opportunity for shading practice, and there are plenty of pieces of armor to practice metals on. The fire I sculpted from some Green Stuff.

Akira Dark Eldar Reaver diorama

Just like the title says, I started work on a diorama based of the poster for Akira, here is the poster as a reference:


And here is the diorama after the base coat has been applied:

Dark Eldar Venom conversion

To round out my army to a balanced 500 points, I built myself a Venom transport for my Archon and a handful of Kabalite True born, using the chassis of an Eldar Vyper, sails from the Raider kit, and bits from the Reaver Jetbikes kit.



The riders will represent the standard twin linked splinter rifle, and it has an under slung splinter cannon if I choose to take it as an upgrade. . Plenty of room in the back to place or remove a mini to represent if a unit is mounted in it or not.