'nids part 123 - PROJECT Y Scratchbuilt Tyranid Skyshield Landing Pad pt5.

This isn't much of an update as really it's just the fact that the DAS clay is dry now and you can get a sense of scale and perspective with the towers. However, it's a two-fer, in fact it's technically a three-fer and there is a bit more progress further down the page.

A sense of scale with the Termagant in place.

A close up of how the Capillary Tower slot interacts with the Skyshield Landing Pad.

And here I am testing just what is visible once the Aegis Defence Line is positioned in front of the pad.

At ground level any Termagants will be invisible underneath , although taller models will be able to get a bead on them. Of course if they're next to the wall they'll be 'visible', that's what the save is for but I'm planning for all eventualities at Throne of Skulls to ensure I've somewhere to hide against Apocalyptic Barrages - under/inside the pad and then against D-Weapons I'll just have to hide behind my Bastion.

The fleshy musculature has been sculpted onto the support fibres from the 6 Capillary Towers. I laid down masking tape on the edges so I could get a flat base for my detachable walls. As you can see each tower slot is labelled and each wall will fit snugly up against the respective Tower. The footprint of the slots are mapped out and everything is coded so I know what goes where. A considerable amount of time has been spent finessing this although there are still gaps in places but the tolerances are acceptable.

Here's a close up of the pad deck. It's considerably thicker than I planned but I've alwasy struggled with fine detail and hopefully this will be more durable because of it. It has bowed a bit, despite my efforts, following the drying of the DAS clay but it actually looks more like stretched flesh because of it. The fibre muscles must have taken around an hour to an hour and a half to do. I think I had all this very clearly in my head but it all seems to have evaporated, so they're guestimate times now I'm afraid.

And here's the third bit, I've added Milliput to the edges and then scored them to look like many layer of fibrous tissue. It's not great but it should suffice when it's painted. In truth the Milliput was far less forgiving than the DAS clay but I wanted something strong to anchor the edges for durability and strength in the whole piece. I think there was about an hours work here.

So sculpting is done, hooray! Next up the painting, Red Oxide spray primer and some fun :)

Tyranid Capillary Towers | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. |

part 10. | part 11. | 

Tyranid Skyshield Landing Pad | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. |

'nids part 122 - Scratchbuilt Tyranid Capillary Towers pt12. TO DONE!

Aside from an application of my Vernidas gloss varnish in the three male towers these are all but complete. Once again Tamiya Clear Red X-27 is awesome, I'll need to get some more at this rate.

I'm less convinced of the tendril vines, they don't show up a great deal but I've already changed the colour  from my first Reclamation Pool I didn't want to introduce another variant.

Each fleshy musculature was gloss varnishes prior to any Tamiya Clear Red X-27. That ensures that the pink of the flesh is still glossy and wet and the highlights painted on get some use. When the Tamiya Clear Red X-27 goes on it's not all over, in joints and at the end, with some Army Painter Heavy Tone mixed in where I want it darker.

Army Painter Heavy Tone [equivalent to Badab Black] makes the Tamiya Clear Red X-27 matt so in some cases a quick dab of extra gloss varnish was required to make it look wet again.

I was dubious about doing the lime green pit throughout, thinking I should have stuck to just the flesh sac versions but now I'm loving the variety and it's a really cool effect with the gloss varnish.

The Vernidas was applied afterwards and filled this baby up, and then somehow shrank down. A second coat though has retained a lot of it's thickness. I'm thinking the underlying material must absorb soemthing from the varnish. I think next time I'll do a thin coat to seal the base and then try a thicker coat.

Ultimately this isn't a 'water effects type substance' there are various resins and water looking substances. Vernidas is cheap in small doses and convenient for me to get although I'm sure 250ml of Vallejo water effects is considerably better value. Howevere, it;s doing the job admirably.

I did have a think about getting some and probably will, not sure what crazy idea had brewed that required more water, maybe it'll come to me

I'm also looking at ways to transport them, I may end up getting a pick & pluck foam tray to store them in.

Currently bubble wrap and some jiffy bags will suffice ;)

OK so this is just the four rotations of the three pairs, just so you get a full view of everything.

I think the one on the left is my favourite, it's got a little more character and heft to it.

And the four and five tier towers, I surprise myself I really do sometimes.

So, next up completing the landing pad. Then I will look at the walls but March is fast approaching and I may have to abandon those [the Mk I Land Raider has been abandoned too :( ] to paint more Termagants :( and maybe fit in something completely off piste - an Icarus Las-Cannon. I've got the bits I'm just not sure I'll have the time. I did want to make some Void Shield Generators too but I can't fit them in my Fortification slot. If ti was a full Stronghold Assault mission I could get three, including the Void Shield Relay Network and the Vengeance Weapons Batteries. Instead I'll have to make do with the Bastion, Aegis and Skyshield.

Here's my big blue tick, for getting it done!

Tyranid Capillary Towers | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. | part 9. |

part 10. | part 11. | 

Support your local blogger - Chucking Monkeys: Magnetising your Haruspex/Exocrine

In a quick search on whether you could magnetise the Haruspex/Exocrine I came across Monkeychuka's blog. There's a great step-by-step tutorial that I couldn't wait to share with everyone. Should I part with the funds and get one I'm definitely going to follow his tutorial. Not only that I found out he follows the blog, and my mate Liam's too and we're in amongst the likes of Dave Taylor miniatures so we're going up in the world.

Anyway, check out the cool tutorial and the other cool Tyranids, Necrons and crazy terrain conversions, lots worth looking at.

 Chucking Monkeys: Magnetising your Haruspex/Exocrine: Many people, myself included, tend to think of the new Haruspex as a pile of shite.  Thats not to say they don't like the model.  They w...

Blog Wars 6 - Just found some Space Wolf pics

I know this was last year but I just found some pics of an awesome Space Wolf army that was at Blog Wars 6. As I'm a little short of content forgive the Fenrisian interlude, well it beats whinging about the Tyranid Codex anway. So just enjoy the pics and hopefully normal service will resume shortly.

Have I shared my Son's dice cube shot? I think boredom was setting in at this point.