Sunday 11 November 2018

"Macragge Is The Homeworld Of The Ultramarines Chapter Of The Space Marines..."

"...And the capital world of the stellar realm of Ultramar."
This 28mm scale plastic section from a crashed Imperial Aquila Shuttle was made by "Games Workshop" and was one of a handful of terrain pieces included within the Nottingham-based company's Battle for Macragge starter set. Produced "for the 4th edition of Warhammer 40,000", yet devoid of any of that wargame's infamous double-headed eagle insignias, I thought the broken metal debris would actually prove useful for any Science Fiction influenced or Post Apocalyptic based tabletop, and resultanly super-glued it onto a laser cut 120mm x 90mm oval MDF base.

The model was initially primed with a coat of "Vallejo" Black and subsequently treated to two layers of "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey. It was then heavily washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil before being enthusiastically dry-brushed with more "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey. I have predominantly seen this piece painted using various military grey colour schemes, but as I wanted it to fit in alongside my "Gamma World" terrain, I followed my usual palette for ancient corroding rusted metal...
Yellow Adder Combat Car WIPs - "The Ion Age" vehicle has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed
As a result I liberally applied some "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash over all the girders, especially focusing upon each of its bolt heads, and later set about blending the orange bits in with the rest of the wreck's paint scheme via a second "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey dry-brush. Lastly, I tried to ensure the ensemble matched the basing for the rest of my scenery by pigmenting its highly-detailed base with "Citadel" Doombull Brown, Rakarth Flesh and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, before applying some "Games Workshop" grass flock to certain areas.

Sticking with a similarly straightforward colour scheme, I have begun reworking the third of my 15mm scale white metal and resin vehicle produced by “The Ion Age”. As with the other two Combat Cars I finished last month, I intend for this model to resemble a motorised unit which wouldn't look out of place within a "Rogue Trader" era Imperial Guard force. However, having been increasingly frustrated and disappointed with how my previous two transports have turned out, I have decided to apply a significantly darker shade of grey upon this particular Prydian Army automobile and lighten it up using a couple of dry-brushes.
US Lunar Force Buggy WIP - The metal model has been primed "Vallejo" Dead White and washed with Pale Grey
Having finished assembling my "Yellow Adder combat car variant armed with a twin Anda 60mm Missile Pod in a turret", I have instead turned my attention towards a US Lunar Force Buggy made by "Ground Zero Games". This particular conveyance is entirely metal and came in several pieces which seemed to take an age to super-glue together. Fortunately, the end result has been well worth the effort, as the little exploration transport's attention to detail is absolutely top-notch.

I have already finished progressing the large-wheeled machine's underbelly with "Vallejo" Dead White and Pale Grey, and subsequently gritted, painted, shaded and varnished its large “Battlefront Miniatures” plastic stand too. Hopefully this should mean the rest of the "Moongrunt" miniature can be simply dry-brushed with some additional white, before I start to 'pick out' its tyres and some of its astronaut's details... 

18 comments:

  1. Nice lòowing wreck mate. Like the weathering on it. Looking forward to seeing that lunar buggy completed I really like the sculpt.

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    1. Thanks Simon. I'm hoping the Moon Buggy will simply require some dry-brushing and a few details being picked out before being finished.

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  2. I still have that scenery piece...around here.....somewhere?

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    1. Well worth digging out then, Fran, imho, as its a nice piece to just potter about with.

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  3. Great work on the crashed parts Simon, your colour scheme should be very versatile. Hope your new colour scheme works on the Ion Age vehicle.
    Nice start on the Luna Buggy, as there is a lot of white you might want to add some weathering around the wheels and sides in the colour you will be basing the model

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    1. Many thanks Dave. The debris palette matches the one I've used for all your rusty resin pieces, so they're entirely compatible. This might seem to be like heresy but I plan to use the self-same basing with grass flock on my Lunar Marines so I can use them against all the other "GZG" forces I own, and won't need to do a load of scenery etc. I'm hoping that'll break up the all-white monotony...

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  4. Nice work on the terrain mate. :)

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    1. Cheers Leon, straightforward stuff as I start my huge 15mm drive for the month.

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  5. Lovely work on the GW terrain, I too think I have that around here somewhere (Myles had that set when it came out) it could even work with your 15mm Ion age stuff as a crashed troop transport or something.

    Like the Adder too, I think the darker shade will work out fine, and if you muck it up you could always add some camo! (hooray this could be my version of your constant Batrep comments!).

    Love that moon buggy too, but grass on the moon! He's a madman! (I'll reserve judgement on this, after you WW1 Madman mobile).

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thank you kindly, Roger. I'm certain the terrain will appear in a future 15mm BatRep for sure. The darker grey does seem to be a lot better, imho, to that of the lighter grey, so don't expect any camo soon - not on the Combat Cars anyway ;-) Hopefully the grass will look okay with the lunar stuff, as its seems annoying not to be able to use these minis with the other helmet-less forces "GZG" produce.

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  6. A very good model, suprisingly very un-Games Workshop-ish.
    Lunar buggy looks a super little model too.

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    1. Cheers Joe. The lunar buggy appears to have dry-brushed well, so I'm hoping to have it finished soon and posted :-)

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  7. That scenery piece is great. Great paint job and it can be used in so many games. Superb. Those combat cars are just perfect for the Imperial Guard, they look ace. Those moon buggies look great sculpts. I find white hard to paint so I will be checking back on what you did and how they turn out.

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. Nice to get a bit of scenery finished for a change. The Combat Car is now finished, and just needs a bit of flock around the wheels - it may be I now go back and re-paint my other two now... Hopefully the Lunar Buggy will make an appearance next week - completed and varnished.

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  8. Whilst not "my" scale, I do like these vehicles and if you hadn't stated they were 15mm, I would have assumed they were 28mm. I'm looking forward to seeing your assembled forces.

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    1. Cheers Jez. I think the "Moongrunt" vehicles in particular would prove very popular as 28mm minis personally, as they are excellent imho.

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  9. I regret not picking up that crashed Aquila lander kit from a bitz seller years ago. Pretty darn cool addition to a 40K battlefield. The pilot mini from that set is pretty cool too.

    Good work matey.

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    1. Thanks Dai. I wish I could locate the rest of the Aquila set tbh. It must be lying about somewhere!?! The pilot is an excellent mini as you say - I need to find him too!! LOL :-)

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