Back to the Future

Welcome Aboard

Meanwhile, in the grim darkness of the 41st Millenium...

I've left the various hatches unglued, because the kit instructions tell you to. It allows you to show off the functional doors and fully modelled interior. Which, having painted, I am totally unable to photograph usefully. 

This door is a boarding ramp in disguise, with sliding doors behind it. They really slide. Really slowly on account of all the paint and varnish. 

You might have spotted my painting speed has decreased a fair old bit over the last month. That's because I'm back in nappy land, we've had a second baby. Outrageously, my wife won't let me paint this newest miniature in made-up Space Marine Chapter colours, so I'm venting elsewhere.

This side has a ladder to the roof...

...under which is the maintenance hatch, replete with the mysteries tools of the Techmarine's trade. Like, a monkey wrench. Wreathed in dark and heretical possibilities, that. 

Namely on General Kas's Space Marine army! Over the coming year, when I'm not knee-deep in infantile shit, I'll be changing my babies' nappies ho ho see what I did there painting several thousand points worth of mixed marines and renegades.

The sponsons are in the front slots, giving it a more aggressive look. And the top hatches (which aren't glued) have a spotter and a gunner glaring out. 

The plan is they can be fielded as Chaos Marines, Original and Best Marines, Blangels, Dangels or Spolves as required. A tall order, you might think, but General Leofa is doing the conversions while Kas does the maths. It's going to happen.

Blunt and brutalist, the Land Raider has a very distinct outline. Somewhere between a shoebox and a bulldog. 

Starting with this previously glimpsed Land Raider, which has donned the red and black of the Crypt Angels, Kas's home brew chapter. The Crypt Angels will eventually have a fluff article to explain their background, but the plan is that they aren't particularly fussy about what tech they use as long as it wins fights for them. So this Raider might look Chaos (and is the Chaos kit), but they're Loyalists at heart.

Open wide. 

I don't have much to say that the pictures won't manage better. I'm a tired tired man right now. The newborn might have managed nine hours of sleep last night, but they weren't exactly consecutive. Jigsaw slumber is not easy on the brain.

Painting Guide:

• Red - Khorne Red base, washed with a veinous Drakenhof Nightshade, then shaded up through Wazdakka Red to Blood Red. 
• Black - Chaos Black spray (now costs even more than ever before! Thanks, GW!), Eshin Grey and Dawnstone layers. Abaddon Black for the stripes, which I also used masking tape to get properly straight. And still failed. 
• Transfers - GW's own, straight out the box, with occasional cover work from me to produce the Crypt Angels 'flying fangs' logo. These usually work pretty well with varnish over the top, but this batch went a bit shiny after the Purity Seal, which is annoying. 
• Metal - Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil, Chainmail and Runefang drybrush
• Brass - Tinbitz, Runelord Brass, trims of Auric Armour here and there
• Corrosion - Typhus and Ryza Rust for the bottoms. It's a pretty factory-new Raider, this one, but a bit of scraping here and there was achieved with Abaddon Black on a sponge dabbed on the edges, then finished with Chainmail for the metal. 

A flock of Dreadnoughts next. A stomp of Dreadnoughts? A clang? What is the correct collective noun?