Sunday 21 October 2018

"From Those Dark Ashes Rose More Than Fifty Worlds..."

"...Who wished only for stability and peace."
This 15mm scale white metal and resin vehicle is made by “The Ion Age” and is model IAF035C Black Adder Combat Car from the company’s Prydian Army Vehicles range. An anti-vehicle variant, I fitted its turret mount with a Fretan-type Railgun so it can punch through other automobile's armour, and provided the ensemble with some additional 'tabletop' stability by super-gluing it upon a large “Battlefront Miniatures” plastic stand.

As I'm ‘modelling’ part of my Prydian Army upon the "Rogue Trader" era of the Imperial Guard, I undercoated the 45mm long kit with a double coat of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey and washed the entire "four wheeled light" transport with “Citadel” Nuln Oil. I then turned my attention to the Adder's incredibly hard to reach underbelly and desperately tried to 'pick out' its axles and exhaust pipes with a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and (more) Nuln Oil.
Retained Knight WIPs - The three Prydian warriors have had all their base-layers finished 
With hindsight, this incredibly frustrating and tedious phase of its painting could easily have been avoided by simply waiting to permanently afix the vehicle to its rectangular stand until after I had finished working on its metallic-coloured supporting frame. However, at the time I did think I had ample room to get my "Winsor & Newton" University Series 233 paintbrush into the resin castings nooks and cranies. Needless to say, I subsequently omitted to glue the two additional Adder Combat Cars I'm currently working on to their "Flames Of War" bases until after I had finished pigmenting their undercarriage.

I picked out the "35mm wide and about 25mm tall" conveyance's lamps with "Vallejo" White and Pale Grey, before applying some "Citadel" Ironbreaker and later, Nuln Oil, to its hub caps and impressive looking Fretan-type Railgun. Finally, in order to better tie the model in with the "Warhammer 40,000" Imperial Guard, I applied an old (somewhat yellowed) "Games Workshop"  decal of a double-headed eagle onto its bonnet.
Sand Worm WIP - The hefty resin and metal model has been modified, based and primed
With so many "Vallejo" Bluegrey models and figures before me currently, I've also been progressing three 15mm Prydian Retained Knight miniatures in order to give me some brighter colours with which to work with. These 'beaky' warriors are my favourite sculpts from the entire "Ion Age" range, and have been base-coated "Vallejo" Heavy Blue and "Heavy Red" in order to resemble early Space Marines from the Crimson Fists Chapter. 

Lastly, I have turned my attention to a fantastic resin sculpt of a Sand Worm made by Dave Stone for "M.J. Figures" as part of their "Sand Wars" range. Originally arriving with six unbelievably fragile metal 'horned teats' for its front, I have made some 'hamfisted' modifications to the 20mm scale monstrosity using grey-stuff, and based the brute upon a "Games Workshop" plastic 80mm circular base... 

16 comments:

  1. The combat car looks great, and Is an easily see the Imperial Guard using that. The knights look really good too, very neat on such tiny models. Well that sandworm is awesome! Can't wait to see that painted. Your modifications seem fine from the photos by the way!

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. I plan to use all the wheeled variants for my Imperial Guard, and keep the light hover vehicles for the Space Marines - it just seems more fitting that way. The Sand Worm has turned out really well, so I'm now pleased I spent so long tinkering with the grey-stuff.

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  2. Nice job on the Adder car. The Worm looks impressive look forward to seeing it fully painted and finished.

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    1. Cheers Simon. Simple stuff for the Adder car. The Sand Worm looks a far more time-consuming beast... and is rather heavy in the hand when holding it for more than a short while :-)

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  3. The Ion Age is a great system, the models are really top-notch. And 15 mm is such a fun skill to work with, you can buy so many models for so little money, then paint them up and they take up so little space! I got sucked into it by Flames of War and never looked back.

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    1. I totally agree Allison. Indeed I have some partially completed "Flames Of War" Commandos which I have been eyeing ever since I stepped down to dabble in 15mm ;-)

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  4. I really like that sandworm, Simon. If you've stuck him to a 80mm diameter base he must be quite a size. Sorry I haven't been commenting much lately but I'm afraid 15mm is not for me and I'd rather say nothing than something derogatory.

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    1. Dave Stone put me on to the Sand Worm when I started painting my "Nercomunda" Goliaths up as House Harkonnen, Bryan, and an awesome size it is too. not one though that I can just 'pick at', so having chopped away some of the detail I didn't like and grey-stuffed over the 'wounds', its currently sat on my painting table waiting for a couple of hour session to break the back of him.

      No worries about not liking 15mm. Some do and some don't, and I think I said in my last posting to someone, I never taken someone commenting for granted. As you say, better to say nothing than something unkind.

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  5. That sand worm needs to get purchased for my Star Wars game 😀

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    1. Due to its size, I reckon the Sand Worm would be great for any scale, Ivor. It is truly a monster!! :-)

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  6. Another great Ion vehicle, surprising really considering the work on these, just how fast you seem to be finishing them.
    Lots too to look forward to and that worm...well, wow!

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    1. Cheers Joe. I did consider both dry-brushing and/or picking out some of the details on the car. But some of the casting is a little rough in places, so settled on just the headlights and a decal :-)

      The Sand Worm is an excellent sculpt, isn't it :-)

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  7. Ooh, I like the sand worm! You say it's "20mm scale", yet if that's an 80mm base then I could imagine it working well for 28mm figures too...

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    1. Hi Hugh. You’re quite right regarding Dave’s sculpt working well for 28mm as I bought the Sand Worm for my own 28mm “Necromunda” Goliath minis; albeit it looks particularly fearsome up against 15mm and smaller ;-)

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  8. That Sandworm looks spot-on for Dune! Good start!

    The Imperium insignia on the Adder really adds that special detail to it to make it fit the 40K setting all the better. Especially Horus Heresy.

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    1. Cheers Dai. I may go back and add some additional details to the combat car at some point - especially as I’ve had a varnishing mishap with a subsequent car which is going to probably result in my doing a spot of camo on it.

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