'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.

A freebie - Ymgarl Factor markers

I've amended the Ymgarl Genestealer Markers to represent the new Ymgarl Factor mutations. There's not a great deal to say about it but should you feel inclined to spend 40pts on something that'll buff a model on alternate turns then they may come in handy, knock yourself out! Oh and did I mention these were FREE, that's right FREE!

Just a reminder of my Patented method of constructing your own markers:

1. Print
2. Apply double sided tape to back
3. Stick to mounting card
4. Carefully apply sellotape to top if you want them pseudo-laminated
5. Cut out with craft knife/scalpel
6. Amaze your friends and enemies with these awesome Tyranid Psychic Markers
7. Tell them to visit 40kaddict.blogspot.com for their own free markers.

'nids part 121 - PROJECT Y Scratchbuilt Tyranid Skyshield Landing Pad pt4.

2 fers already! Well, what do you make of my Sphincter? I'm really surprised I was able to recreate the one from the top of my Bastion. It's really easy to achieve this, score three lines and then poke with a soft tipped bullet shaped sculpting tool. The outer ring was a clay sausage that was then embossed with a wooden coffee stirrer that had been but through a hole punch to make a C shape. With hindsight I just realised I have a hole punch with a variety of sizes that would have been much easier to create the tool but it still worked.

And the whole pad. When this dried the foamboard started to warp so I will have to weight this down when the next set of clay goes on. There will be even more used and most likely make the whole base much damper.

I started some of my shield wall tests. Quick frames of sprue, I'd be happier if they were curved but they tend to snap so I'll dry run the process. I know the plan was melt plastic but I tried these ideas first, although these pics are before the attmepts dried. PVA on cling film - didn't work, not strong enough and looks rubbish.

PVA on tissue. It's actually OK, not ideal but if everything else fails I may consider it. The end result isn't very durable but it might look all right after painting. The red thread is to add some 3D veins inside the membrane.

Cling film and Vernidas Gloss Varnish. I really thought this would set rock hard but it hasn't. It's just like cling film stuck on plastic sprue, which to be fair is what the PVA and cling film looks like. so another fail.

I've some other ideas to try. Transparent silicon sealant, molten plastic cutlery, blown molten CDs, maybe even molten pop bottle plastic. Oh the fun of melting stuff.

So probably another hour or hour and a half on this. Losing track of time now, sorry.

And here's your second update and the lengths I've had to go to to ensure the pad doesn't warp. There's even a CD under the pad to hold it in a convex position to counteract the concave nature of the centre warp. 

Next up stretched muscle fibres along the six 'webs' but I'll leave it a few days to dry thoroughly before I mess about with it again. I've also got to ensure the tower slots don't get any clay on by sculpting around the areas they sit - very fussy.

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. |