Stripped models

Alongside building the Hypogryphs, I have also been stripping some eBay miniatures. Most of these were part of a lot of 22 assault marines and a Lieutenant, that I picked up, for far more than I should have, although they were still about half the price of new models. 

There were also a couple of other models in the bath, a biker, a chaos cultist, a couple of old skool marines and a scout. 

The assault marines were split in two two groups, 15 were mono-pose marines, which were either not glued or very poorly glued, as a number of bits fell off while cleaning them up. 

The other seven were MPP kit marines, who also had a zenithal primer job. 

The lieutenant had a blue primer applied, again he is a mono-pose model, from the 9th starter box I believe. 

The other models that were stripped were done for a number of different projects. The old skool marines were stripped for my eldest who wanted to paint them up,  retro style. The bike has been sitting in the stripper for a while, I have no idea exactly how long as I don't actually remember when I put it in, but it was most likely last year sometime! The scout was stripped to add to the existing scouts, even if they are no longer table legal. Lastly the chaos cultist is a possible conversion for a potential Cadian Recon Squad, but a) I'll wait and see if the squad makes the codex and b) I barely have time to build or paint the models I have, let alone make more!

Zenithal highlights on MPP marines. 

White marine

Black marine

 

Hypogryphs

There has been a short pause in posts up here, mostly due to the school summer holidays and our family trip south to see family and friends. However, there has a been a few bits of modeling going on, although mostly of this was at the beginning of the holiday. With the little one now toddling around, there has been less and less time to sit and build, paint or even blog. I'm hoping with the big kids being back at school and toddler groups being back on, I might get a bit of time to blog but I doubt I'll get much time to build and paint, as bedtimes are still challenging!

Anyway, her is the last unit from the Astra Militarium Armageddon box, the Hypogryphs. 

Both units were built pretty much as is out the box, and I really like them. They are very nice looking models with some very nice real world features. 

The rear stowage is the only part that differed from the instructions, with some of the pieces moved around and some bits from the bits box added. 

At the moment, all the options are there, as I haven't glued any in place. I hope that once they are primed, the weapons will hold enough not to need magnetising. 

Battle Cannon

Gatling cannon

Lascannon

Melta cannon

 I don't know how I will field these yet, but I'm leaning towards either battle cannon or Gatling cannons, running them as a pair. This gives them either some anti-marine or anti-infantry. The lascannon is a possible option for anti-vehicle, but I'm always weary of one shot BS4+ weapons. Hopefully I can get some paint on these sooner rather than later, as I'd like to take them to Northern Invasion this year. 

Centaur RSV

One of the last models that I have built is the new Centaur RSV, and I like it. I will definitely have to look at getting a second one at some point. 

There isn't really a lot to say about the build of this model, as it's build pretty much as instructed, the only difference being the addition of the side skirts on the tracks. These are supposed to be for the Commissar Graves version and are not on the standard version but they tie the model to the Rogal Dorn quite nicely. 

The only changes I made were to the passengers. In the box you get 4 guys to go in the box, but I have removed these to add to a kit bashed squad in making for the guard, more on them, as and when I finish!

Instead, I used two bodies from the Field Ordnance Guns, with bits from both kits for the rest. While it's not quite as intended, it still looks like there's two guardsmen hanging out waiting on the back. 

 Hopefully I'll be able to get the other guard infantry project finished sometime soon but it might be a while yet before I get a chance to sit down and finish them. It might also be a while before I get around to getting these primed up and painted! I also still have the Hypogryphs to build. 

Field Ordnance Batteries

Several months ago, I brought a few copies of the Combat Patrol Magazines numbers 75 and 76, two of each actually, thus giving me all the models I needed to build a total of 6 Field Ordnance Batteries, two for each gun type. I had previously built the lascannon versions, built using the Cadian crew supplied with the model, however, the next 4 models would be built as Krieg models, using the Wargames Atlantic Grognards models. 

The first pair were built as Bombast Field Guns, for some long range firepower. Granted with the changes to indirect, it might not be as good as it once was, I still like the idea of my "Krieg" having some proper field artillery. 

I like the fact that the barrels are movable on the models and also the breaches to the guns, it adds some character to the guns. 

These models were built as is apart from the crews, who were replaced with Wargames Atlantic Grognards models. The seated model was a bit tricky, as the legs don't fit very well, but well enough so that you can't tell. 

While the field guns bring some heavier hitting firepower, the Malleus rocket launchers bring massed shots. I still don't understand why these guns aren't indirect, as they are basically rocket artillery, and designed for long range fire support and suppression. Anyway, I think they are the best looking out of the three options available. 

Unfortunately I didn't read the instructions properly when I built the first gun and glued the barrel section in place, so it doesn't move. I made sure not to on the second version, not that it really makes any difference. 

When I was building these, I ran in to a bit of a problem, i only had 3 sitting legs, so initially I made a mold and cast a forth set of legs in green stuff \ Milliput, however, I then discovered I actually had enough standing bodies that I didn't need the legs and so I built this little scene;

It's a little hard to see at the moment but there are two bottles and a cup on the seat and another cup sitting on the left leg rail. When I pair this up, they will be painted as some sort of alcohol \ wine. I imagine the gunners having a little tipple during the down time of reloading the gun, something to keep the spirit up! I do also like the fact that it really gives some more life to the model. 

I should have put the barrels down when I took the pictures, as it looks a lot better in that pose, the guys look like they are loading the tubes, one passing the rockets to the other for sliding into place. 

I had fun building this little scene, I try to make a little scene with all my models like this but this is probably my favourite so far. I just hope I actually get around to painting it at some point!