Monday, October 31, 2011

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Motor Pool Painting In Progress

As I'd just painted a mess of guard infantry I thought it was time to work on some vehicles. There are a number of Thousand Sons transports and whatnot that have been languishing in various states of disarray, so I settled in to get all of them brought up to the same level of painting.


First up is the group shot. Quite a few vehicles being batch painted at once, but the heavy lifting (the reds) is done, so now it's just a matter of doing all the detail work. Still need to add the Bone and White, but after that they'll be nearly complete!


A pair of Dreadclaw-styled drop pods for the infantry, based on the excellent tutorial by Old School Terminator over at Dark Future Games. The build on these is super simple, and ends up being a rather passable adaptation of the FW variant. ...And half the cost!


I also built two more Rhino chassis using the excellent add-on kit from Machinator over at Blood and Skulls Industry. Unlike the previous Rhino, I wanted to allow for some armament swaps, so I left the top hatches separate, and added some magnetized havok missile launchers (allowed in the TF Age of the Emperor codex I'm using).

 


I wanted to add a Whirlwind to the force (as the upcoming event is set early in the heresy and will pit the still-all-loyalist Marines against a myriad of foes), and went with an old-school approach based on an old White Dwarf set of instructions to build a Whirlwind Launcher out of some plasticard and a pair of 40mm bases. Some decorations and a missile launch in progress, and it turned out pretty decent!

 

The second Rhino will likely serve as a transport, but I included another ringed top hatch for use in the future (or as a turret ring for the previously built Predator, for those times I don't wish to include side sponsons).

All in all, a fair bit of forward progress. Once these are done, all that remains are a further 20 infantry, a pair of Contemptor Dreadnoughts and Magnus the Red himself!
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8 comments:

  1. Dave ClarkOctober 31, 2011 at 12:32 PM

    Very nice indeed my man, I really like the drop pod conversions. And what is that big gun?

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  2. Mordian7thOctober 31, 2011 at 12:37 PM

    Thanks very much! The big one is a Sabre Tank Hunter, one of the predecessors to the Vindicator. Armed with a Neutron Pulse Laser, it proved too difficult to maintain in the field and over time was almost completely replaced with the Demolisher cannon more commonly found in the current era. The model itself is a resin add-on kit for the Vindicator that I picked up from one of the fine gentlemen on the Tempus Fugitives forums (Da Vinci, in particular).

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  3. Luis NievesOctober 31, 2011 at 1:08 PM

    Excellent stuff! the colour scheme really works and there is a lot of depth to the reds which really helps enrich the vehicles, even without any further details!

    Those dreadclaw conversions look great too.

    How much of a difference are you finding now painting the vehicles in batches!!?

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  4. Mordian7thOctober 31, 2011 at 2:56 PM

    Thanks! I've been quite pleased with how the red turned out on the vehicles as well. The gradients are a bit more obvious, but at that scale it seems to work.

    As far as batch painting, it's not been too bad. The base reds were definitely a slog (and there was paint EVERYWHERE by the time I was done), but now they are at this point, it should be smooth sailing. I figure just another session or two and they'll be more or less completed. It'll be nice from a 'completed look' perspective as well, the tanks take up a fair chunk of real estate and makes the army seem more finished than it may actually be. :)

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  5. Hal'jinOctober 31, 2011 at 3:25 PM

    Wow, those drop pods are excellent! Looking forward to see it finished, some more inspiration for my hypothetical future Thousand Sons!

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  6. TJ AtwellNovember 1, 2011 at 9:01 AM

    I really like how the motor pool is coming along so far and I really like where you are going with the pre-heresy vehicle variations. It's really great to see you stick to theme so well and I appreciate the shout out on the pods. I think the FW Dreadclaw is over $100 American, which is a shame really as it is a very nice model, but out of reach for its practicality.

    Keep up the great work!

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  7. Mordian7thNovember 1, 2011 at 9:52 AM

    Thanks very much folks!

    @Hal'jin - they are nearing completion, everything is built and primed at this point (with the exception of a legion Fellsword).

    @Old School Terminator - I appreciate it. The first dreadclaw I built using your tutorial went together so smoothly I had to build a second one! Thank you for sharing such a great idea!

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  8. Col. AcklandNovember 3, 2011 at 6:58 PM

    This is a fantastic project! I'm sure after this we will all be seeing more dreadclaws :)

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