Imperial Knight, Part 3. Magnetizing knight weapons (Retrofitting)

Progress continues on the Knights.  This is my first knight Errant as is.

I assembled this model a while back, but then it sat in my loft (or attic to my American cousins).  With the new kits coming, and all the extra arms, I wanted to make the arms interchangeable for flexibility.  The new crusader build in particular looks quite interesting (albeit expensive points wise).

First up I removed the arms.  I had assumed, Games Workshop would give spare arms including the shoulder joint (silly me) so I have magnetized them already.

I then cut along the joint between the shoulder and elbow connectors using a fine saw.  You need to be careful here as there is not a great amount of space.  Then file the surfaces flat.

I then drilled out the the the centers of the these pieces using a 6 mm drill bit until I could fit a 6 mm x 2 mm rare earth magnet.  Its really important this hole is centered, and I recommend using a pilot hole first.  This was a bit of a pain and I would recommend a narrower thicker magnet in hindsight.

Taking care to get the right polarity, I then glued the magnets in place.  I used the first arm (in my case a chainsaw arm as the master.  Using a spacer magnet to prevent accidental glue issues, I inserted the magnet into the hole to test the size.  If its fine, insert the magnet carefully ensuring it is flush and centered.  If not fill and start again.

Voila, a snap on snap off weapon configuration.

German Army WW2 (6mm / 1:300), Part 1

This is a project I have going in conjunction with my 11th Armoured Division (6mm / 1:300).  The intention is to have three large forces of 6 mm troops to play Flames of War on a 3' (90 cm) x 4' (120 cm) dining table.

These are Heroic & Ros models and while the sculpts aren't as good as the GHQ,  I've been painting these in preference to the British to be honest.  They suit the base coat, camouflage, wash method I'm using perfectly.  To be honest, I think if I was using GHQ miniatures, I would feel the need to do more.

On to the pictures!

Tiger 1C on the prowl!

Imperial Knight, Part 2

Last march, i started building a couple of Imperial Knights.  The reason this build faltered was because for two issues I couldn't resolve at the time.  The release of the new knight kits has prompted me to pull my finger out, sort out the issues and get more paint on.

First up, my issue was the gold was too flat.  It should be really sparkling and gold in colour.  For some reason it looked more cooper.  To this end, I looked too 'Imperial Armour - Model Masterclass Volume two' the Imperial Reaver Titan.  Forgeworld used a product called brass and rub, believing this was the answer to my prayers I promptly purchased some.  I have to say, I have been very pleased with the results.  I can't recommend this enough.  I dry brush over a warplock Bronze base coat, wash with Agrax earth shade, then light dry brush again.  It looks fantastic.

The second issue was the coat of arms.  Now I think I did a good job of painting the quartered checker on the shoulder of my first knight, but  I simply don't like the simple geometric pattern.  This pattern of bone and black is just not my idea of a very knightly coat of arms.  I do however like the rest of the House Terryn colour scheme.  My solution has been to buy some 28 mm Knight Shield transfers from Battle Flag.  These are fixed to the right fore shoulder plate.  As I can't get a smaller size, they won't appear on the left knee, but I will put something here instead.

So far I have the shoulders of three knights completed.  I'm going to hit the armour plates first then the main model.  Reason being, the body is very quick to paint so the model will "come together" very quickly.

Anyway, on to pictures!

Tyranids, part 2

I have small part of the army now assembled.  First a group shot.

Looking closely, you can see my first few Tyranids, with a white body and ice blue carapace.  I was never sold on the colour and prefer the new scheme.

As you can see, most of this group is undercoated, except the carnifexes.

Here's some more shoots: