All Your Base

Hello any and all this is the beginning of my basing posts. Before I talk about a simple desert scheme base I wish to discuss what I mean by simple effective bases.

What I mean is that the best is flocked or otherwise appropriately prepared for painting and then either painted or if just static grassed then left alone. That is about it. Just some simple things and paint. What this does is tie the model to its narrative. However there is one rule of basing in my opinion. The more detailed and nicer the base then the model must be that much nicer in general. Why do I think that? Well the point of most bases is to accent the model. If you have a simple painted model on a "pro" base then the base is going to take the eye away from the model and the model then becomes the accent. That works for certain advanced things like camo models but that is not what im talking about.

Alright my first installment is this Meganob. He will be done in a desert scheme. There are 2 reasons I started with this model. First it was what I was working on and second its between a slotted and unslotted model. Meganobz and models like that (terminator chaplain etc) are pegged. I usually like to do these models by first gluing them to the base then basing the model. I will show an exception when i eventually rebase my terminator chaplain. Also this is a nice neutral basing theme that works with any army scheme really. So here we go:

Firstly this is the meganob (sneak peak for the legends of war event). Painted to my ork scheme but on this blank base it looses its narrative.

Ok so this is the basic start for many bases. I added some flock and some rock bits. The rock bits are optional but can add some 3d to the base which can be nice. Be sure to give it ample time to dry and then gently tap off the excess prior to painting.

For earthen toned bases you do not need to base it black. You could but its just an extra step. I based it with bestial brown but any dark brown would work here.

After I let the bestial brown dry i liberally dry brushed the base with bubonic brown. Alternatively a khaki or dirty yellow can work. The point is to set up for the final layer without covering the base coat.

Alright so here is where we wrap it up. The final color is bleached bone dry brushed only on the areas of bubonic brown without covering all of it. After that I painted the sides of the base with graveyard earth to give it a clean look. Any color can work here some people use different colors to mark squads. Other do the color of the armies armor color. I like to choose a color not associate with the model and preferably not the base. Now you could add some patches of static grass here I just chose not to.

You might notice some bits of flock stuck to the model. They are not glued there. Thatll happen when you flock a base with a model on it. You can blow them off or pick them off I don't bother. They will fall off in transport and in game play. They are not overtly obvious and if they are you can just brush them off.

Well next installment will be at some point along with the next outnumbered. until then.

Crusade era terminator shoulders

Alright so this is a mini tutorial on how to make the terminator shoulder pads on the previous post. This really is a lesson in salvaging. Now there are plenty of tutorials on how to make them from the barrels cut in half to dreadnought leg guards to scratch building with plastic card and/or greenstuff. This is just scrounging around through bits.

These are the pads when on a terminator. A little big perhaps but I like that look. Makes it look ceremonial and that fits with the Thousand Sons.

This is the bit off the sprue. Basically you just glue thin strips of plasticard to it to make the pad. its pretty simple. Id suggest using a reasonably thin plasticard so it can bend. I also suggest attaching the plasticard to the pad then paint it up and attach to the terminator. With the thin plasticard it can bend a bit to help fit onto the terminator if the arms are a little in the way.

This is the bit on the sprue. It should be on the same sprue as the bladed prow that i used for the terminators khopesh (which has its own tutorial).

That's basically it. Not much to show. How crazy you go with the plasticard strips to simulate leather is up to you. I don't know how it works with other chariot kits. But these bits can work with other legions such as Death Guard, Ultramarines, World Eaters. It depends on which bit you use of course but it could work.

Some more stuff to come soon. Hope that was a bit helpful at last with ideas on how to use other bits you may have.

What to do with all those bits? Another Khopesh Tutorial

Hey all. Through making my crusade era Thousand Sons I have used a variety of warhammer boxes: the Tomb Kings Chariot box, High Elf Archer box and the Warriors of Chaos box. Being that I do not play Warhammer fantasy i obvious have a lot of bits unused. So I thought I would show a use for some of em namely the warriors of chaos CCWs (Close combat weapons). I used 3 of them to make the sergeants power khopesh weapons so here is a tutorial on that:

Here are the weapons on the sprue. Now this can work for anyone wanting a variety in there melee weapons. The hammers work for Salamanders and the Mace for anyone really. You could do what I am doing and skip the whole make it a khopesh part.

Here are the hands I will be using for the khopesh and the arms ill be using to attach them to. I went with some chaos Chainswords because I have no real use for them as of now anyway. Any arm can work though.

The whole reason I'm doing this are for these 3 weapons. These are from the chariot box.

Alright so onto the meat and potatoes. What I did was cut the wrist off the chainsword arms and i cut the wrist free from the rest of the gauntlet for the warriors of chaos weapon hand. I also cut the khopesh blade off the chariot arm and the weapon heads off of the warriors of chaos hand.
Here they are complete. Basically just dry fit and file until they fit well enough and glue them all together. Now I know there is no powerpack on these weapons but they can still function as power weapons. Maybe the power generator is inside the weapon or maybe it is empowered by the wielders psychic might. They are Thousand Sons after all. Either way it doesn't matter they will function fine as power weapons.

The use of the warriors of chaos weapon hands were an example of utilizing bits as the khopesh was required. Other examples are the chariot and square bases that I turned into objectives or stratagems. Another example would be the high elf instrument being used as smoke launchers on my vindicator. When I do more examples of utilizing more bits that i essentially wouldn't have a use for i'll of course post it. Until next time.

Khopesh Tutorial for power armor

Alright here it is. Its a simple tutorial again on making a khopesh. This time however it is for power armor. This type of conversion is best done with a non-sword weapon. If it has a shaft then its ideal for this. Swords are possible but involve a lot more work.

Here are the bits I used for this. The Khopesh/ glaive is from a tomb kings chariot box. The power axe is from an assault marine box.

Here is essentially how I cut the weapons up. I then trimmed the shaft of the power axe down to the grip for a better look.

And there it is! Simple but effective. Again you can do this for any type of weapon that you want. Its just like the terminator weapon but I figured id post it anyway since it helps to have a visual.

Vehicle insight

Hey all. Before i start some more work on my vindicator I thought id talk about flash. Whether you call it that or anything else i think we all get what it is. In particular though I am talking about it inside the slots where the vehicle hull joins with the bottom of the vehicle as shown in the two picture below:

Now you wont always have a problem with them but Ive only had one vehicle not have flash in the holes. So for those who don't build vehicles often it is important that you check these and make sure there clear. the best way to do it is with an xacto blade or something equivalent. After you cut all the flash out dry fit dry fit dry fit. Either shave it with the blade or file it lightly if it doesn't get a nice fit.

One final important note is that when you do this it is easiest to do it when the two hull portions are not joined together yet. once it dry fits nicely then you can glue to two hull parts together.

Hope that helps anyone. I will post things like this as I make progress reports on the vindicator that will be more about making the vindicator. Until then..

Thousand Sons Heads

Hey all picked up the high elf archer box so I believe its time for a tutorial on how I do my Crusade era Thousand Sons Heads. This method of doing unique helmets for pre or even post heresy can be used by virtually any legion or chapter you would just not do the last step that makes them a Thousand Son or you would use a different item.

Alright firstly you will need a Warriors of Chaos box from Warhammer Fantasy. Any helmet in that box can work really. Also if your going to do a heresy era traitor legion or want menacing looking helmets you could even leave the horns on. Works for Alpha Legion Word Bearers etc. This may seem like a waste of a box but you can cut up the bodies for crusade era legs or use them as storm troopers or traitor guard in general. The cc arms can also be used for ccw's for space marines. anyway moving on.

Clip or cut off the horns from the helmet should you need to depending on the army your doing. Since I'm doing Thousand sons i remove the horns. If you notice that the little bulge thing that comes out of the helmet where the base of horns attach are left in place and are filed smooth to clean up where the horn was cut off. Some people I have seen cut and file those away as well and it can look fine. SO its really a personal choice. Some people also cut off those things to then glue on there own little ear bits punched from plasticard and then add some tubing. I don't do that because its a lot easier to just leave those bulges and use them as your ear bits. There in the general area and are already there. Also those are the bits I will be using for my thousand sons in place of plasticard.
I used to use plasticard to make it look more Thousand Sons like but the high elf bits work really well for that. I got them from the High Elf Warhammer fantasy box. The feather is a bit long but it'll work especially when its painted.
Here is another view. As you saw i did another helmet to show what both bits look like on a helmet. I will use the feather for my terminator I'm working on. Also you probably notice the mold lines on the helmet. If your doing Thousand Sons leave them there as they are in the perfect spot for determining where you paint the gold on the helmet. The second tactical marine I did and the terminator both used the mold lines as a template for how far back the gold should go on the helmet.

Hope that helps. I finished getting my crusade era terminator ready for base coating so i will be working on that. Next time you see the feathered helmet it'll be on a terminator and painted. Not sure how long that will take.

Also just a quick note. If you see something I did that you want to know how or what i used or how i painted something by all means leave a comment and ill try to explain the best I can.

Take care

Space Hulk bases

Here is a group shot of my Deathwing with the teleport homer. I don't have any WIP shots of how I did it but as per request I will do a little how to on how I made the bases including how I painted them.




I got my idea from Games Workshop's Space Hulk terrain article. But when I looked around I did not have any crochet sheets around unless I went out and bought them. I did however find window and door screening and I went with that. I went with plastic screening but i would imagine the metal would work also if not be a little more stubborn to work with.

using a very light spread of PVA glue I glued the bases to the sheet and then after letting it dry I cut and clipped the screen around the bases until it was essentially flush with the side of the base. I then glued down plasticard and some little tube things I had right on top of the screen.

For painting I have the entire thing a base coat of black. I then drybrushed the screen and anything else I wanted with bolt gun metal. For the yellow I used Iyanden Dark Sun foundation because I liked the dull yellow color but that is up to the person. I then dry brushed bestial brown to age parts of the screen and other metal parts I wanted aged. I then used the new citadel washes to complete the base.

I washed Devlan mud over the aged rusted areas sloppily so it went over onto non aged areas. After that dried i washed the entire base with badab black including the yellow parts to give it a grimed aged derelict look.

Hope that helps. If you google Space Hulk Terrain or Space Hulk Bases you will come across other how to's.

Coming soon will be how I make my Crusade era Thousand Sons heads.

Thousand Sons Legion Marking

Hey all I thought since I was working on another Thousand Sons tactical marine that I would show how I achieve the passable legion marking. I am not good at freehand circles on a curved surface so i get a little help:
These things are what you put on paper to repair ripped holes from binders. I forget there name but they actually work pretty well. I must warn that they are a little big then what would be ideal for making circles on these shoulder pads. But until i found a better template that holds to the pad ill make do with this.

As you can see I situate it as center to the pad as i can and gently press it down onto the shoulder. Its meant to stick with paper doesn't have a strong bond to the plastic. This is good because when you take it off it wont leave any residue or take any paint. Just use the inside circle as your template and make your circle.

And that's the finished marking after the template is removed. It is a little big for a shoulder pad but it works. This will work even better on vehicles and dreadnoughts I would imagine as there are more flat surfaces to use this on. I have no tried it on a metal surface and I do not plan to as my goal for this crusade era army is to be all plastic.

Once i have this marine finished ill post shots of him as well.

Khopesh Tutorial

Well here we go a quick little tutorial for making a Khopesh weapon for Thousand Sons. This could be used for really any weapon type and again this is simple and quick.


So here are the bits you will need or rather the ones I used for this tutorial. What we have here are first on the left a Chaos Terminator power weapon arm. Next is a sprue from the Tomb Kings Chariot box of Warhammer Fantasy. It is the bladed prow for the chariot.

Alright What I did was cut off the mace head from the weapon and the bladed prow from the sprue. Clippers or an Xacto blade both work equally well. As always be careful with sharp things. After that some minor light filing was done but depending how clean and straight your cut is that may not even be really necessary.

And here we have the finished product! A Khopesh Terminator weapon. This can work for Power Armor marines provided its not a power sword. It need an axe or mace type weapon to be based off of.

When I do eventually make one for my Sergeants and Librarian I will do another tutorial on that. Also I will be experimenting with chain swords to see if i can utilize those arms for a ccw (Close combat weapon) Khopesh for an assault or veteran squad for example.

Hope that helped. Until next time.