'nids part 384 - Terrain is everything - 3D printed capillary towers - shade and BASE - TO DONE!

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on the 3D printed capillary towers. First up sepia washes, and you can see it has not gone well. My Vallejo dipping wash is behaving just like Seraphim Sepia. It's starting to do this more often now. But I was sure it wouldn't be a problem as the AP Strong Tone wash [Agrax colour] would cover the dried out powdery bits. Except I ran out of Strong Tone.

So my solution was to mix Dark Tone [black] with my sepia to give it the higher quality glossy finish. 

For the most part that worked. I was able to cover up most of the patchy bits.

But I definitely need to start making a list of paints I need as I keep forgetting. The I order something, throw in a few paints and then when it arrives I suddenly realise there were a couple more I needed. 

Oh, and I did the Red Planet BASE! 🔴 too.

Which secures me a Great Big Chrome 'BASE' Stamps of Approval.

'nids part 383 - Terrain is everything - 3D printed capillary towers - prime and basecolours

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer. I got these 3D printed capillary towers on the 6th September 2025, just 8 days after I published my TO LIST, at the time I talked about terrain and said:

I have some other 40k terrain to do which I would mention but as we don't play it seems misguided to allocate time and resource to it with so many other things [that equally we don't play with but y'know...?] to do.

And I think this was the terrain I wasn't planning to do, but here we are. As I look back at that list I realise how I have managed to ignore the vast majority of it and just do whatever the hell I want. But that is OK. It's only a guide afterall, but maybe I need to get back on track after these...

 I started with one of the medium sized towers. Primed it with Red Oxide and then used a yellow 'filler/primer' to try to smooth some of the print lines. But how drop dead gorgeous does that look? I think I need to invest in a yellow primer for when I do my Mechanicum.

Anyway, the print lines are still visible, apparently multiple coats of the filler/primer are more effective. But, I suspect this will be less noticeable when I do the actual aquamarine and turquoise striations as they will run in a different direction, causing a baffle effect 🤞

This is the first one. I know we just did Old Stuff Day but I can't help being reminded of Warhammer 39,999's own pre-dipping basecoats.

Anyway, they've all had Vallejo Game Extra Opaque Heavy Red on the fleshy bits. Bone colour on the bone bits and Bahama Blue craft acrylic on the chitin plates. Rest assured, this will be the 383rd time we have basecoated a project, and we have become exceedingly efficient at it

So  much so I got the rest [mostly] basecoated.

However, it was at this stage I started to lose my mojo. Having just got it back with pushing the Osgiliath Terrain over the line I couldn't face the Red Planet BASE! 🔴 Which is why I painted the Goblin Town goblin I shared yesterday. But that wasn't the only avoidance miniature. I had a few other things too that I used to distract me from getting these done.

'nids 314 - Tyranid Void Shield Generator part 15

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've finished #paintingwarhammer my #Scratchbuilt #Tyranid Void Shield Generator. All that's left is some white background shots, for those that like them, first a 360 spin

And static shots...

Not a lot to say really, as the highlights 2 post is very similar pics.

However, I was trying to add links to all 15 parts of my build and add them to my tutorials and showcase pages.

But I discovered that somewhere along the line I got my numbering convention mixed and there were 9 posts prior to these 15 that featured the VSG build.

So, 24 posts in total! That's more than the Skyshield and its 6 capillary towers and walls!

Rather than go through renumbering them all I've split it into 2 chapters in the Tutorials page, not that there's a reason for where the chapter break came in.

Anyway, it's done now, so just enjoy the rest of the pics.

 

 

Tyranid Void Shield Generator Chapter 1. | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. |

Tyranid Void Shield Generator Chapter 2. | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. | part 10. | part 11. | part 12. | part 13. | part 14. | part 15. | 

'nids 313 - Tyranid Void Shield Generator part 14 - TO DONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've finished #paintingwarhammer my #Scratchbuilt #Tyranid Void Shield Generator. As you can see, it matches my previous scratchbuilt Tyranid terrain perfectly.

I was a little sparing in the end with the Tamiya Clear Red X-27 as it didn't seem to do much. Thankfully though I don't think the gloss varnish has 'ruined' it.

 

It's part of my scheme afterall - the mix of matt and gloss finishes to create additional textures and visual queues.

With hindsight, I may have considered the base of the battlements in the same fleshy colour as the folds around the well. But I wanted it to match the Skyshield.

 

I have this idea that the 'sprout' emitter moves up and down on the stalk and can be retracted all the way through the folds of flesh 🤮

I mean it is pretty grim, I wonder if it sets off people with Trypophobia? Sorry.

And although it's not the glowiest of orbs I've ever done and is very much a sprout in appearance I'm pretty happy with the emitter. The stalk is a little too uniform. I should have added some bits to it to mask the uniformity of the cylinder. A lesson learned for the future.

I thought I'd pop some Termagants on the 'battlements' just to illustrate the original plan.

 

Of course this is now unfeasible in a tournament list, definitely modelled for advantage. However, it depends where you centre the effect of the void shields. If its aura is from its centre it's probably at a disadvantage, because the model itself takes up space that units could use.

 

But if the aura is from the model then it's added a further 2" to the effect. I'd go from the centre, but even so, it's footprint is pretty large and provides a lot of LoS blocking elements that probably wouldn't go down well. 

There's only so much 'rule of cool' can overcome. Then again, I'm not the best of players and this is overcosted and far from optimal. Someone might object initially but by the end it would be seen for what it is.

So I'm chuffed to bits with completing it. I have identified this intense satisfaction is in part because I BUILT THIS FROM SCRATCH! Indeed that creativity from concept through to completion is beyond compare.

Now there was a lot of effort to get to this point but I definitely need to think about another scratchbuild project, as I have nothing in the pipeline... and the Prometheum Relay Pipe is the natural solution.

So, I'm thinking more seriously about it, thanks to this experience, and I urge any and every hobbyist to consider trying some form of scratchbuild in the future. It's is hugely rewarding and creative, I promise you won't regret such an undertaking.

And so I gets me my Great Big Granite Stamp of Approval - TO DONE! One that is unbelievably special to me.

Tyranid Void Shield Generator Chapter 1. | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. |

Tyranid Void Shield Generator Chapter 2. | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. | part 10. | part 11. | part 12. | part 13. | part 14. | part 15. |