Dark Angels - Bastion

It's been a while since I featured my Dark Angels Bastion this was mainly due to waiting to get hold of some Army Painter Angel Green Primer, so I could basecoat it real quick. In the end I picked up some Plastikote Hunter Green which isn't quite right but it was in a local hardware store so easy to get hold of. I then found it in a different store for half the price so perhaps patience is a virtue...

As you can see the Bastion has had some Martian Ironearth added to it. I'm hoping it'll appear as rusted paint flecks, I saw someone else use it on a diorama and had to give it a try.

Goodness knows if this'll be realistic enough and I think I'm actually making this more hard work for myself but it's entertaining me and I've got a spare one I can always try and do more conservatively if this goes wrong.

I kind of want some proper crackle medium like what Greg used on his Ork display board but it's £15 a tub here so it's another expense I can't really afford.

Anyway I also decided to try salt weathering - FIRST. TIME. EVER! So I may have got a little carried away.

I did brush some of this off  before adding the next bit of spray, it looked like there was going to be far too much of the Red Oxide on show and I probably should have added some other effects to the undercoat for when it's revealed.

However, moving on from this point I turned the bastion upside down and used a Matt Black to add shadows underneath and in corners. The picture will be forthcoming but really I got carried away, again, and started in with the Hunter Green.

I have to say the results that I'll share aren't 100% what I was hoping for, possibly 50%

Add to that the fact I did run out of Magnolia paint in the shed, nipped to a local shop to pick some up and it turned out to be more cream of mushroom than cream of butter and ended up with a two tone shed my colour choices have not gone down well although I did have some success with some Balthasar Gold, which will be revealed soon.

Ultimately the Hunter Green is a bit bluish and doesn't have the 'deepness' I was hoping for. I applied some more black which helped but we'll have to see how things progress. I may well crack out the airbrush for the first time, I think the strange properties of my Valejo Dark Green might work well in the airbrush as it behaves more like a thick glaze. I'm thinking it might be able to tint the Hunter Green more towards the hue I'm after without doing much else but we'll see what it's like when these spray coats have dried.

SPOILER ALERT

I've since moved on from this I'll share the posts in due course but suffice to say I wasn't as studious at removing the salt as I'd hoped and what I'm now seeing is salt staining on all my painting. Essentially whatever remains of salt is under the paint is bleeding through. I keep saturating it hoping the salt will dilute and not reveal itself as the water evaporates but so far no joy.

Bearing in mind that future posts will reveal this has had a coat of black primer, Hunter Green, airbrushed Dark Green, had most of the salt scrubbed off with a toothbrush, another coat of Hunter Green, shadow washed and then drybrushed Dark Green and soaked and scrubbed repeatedly with a paint brush and still the salt is bleeding through. If anyone  knows how to mitigate this/cover it up I'll be pleased to know as if it's still bleeding through after those coats I don't know how to start again. I have built up a second Bastion just in case but I was so pleased with the what I'd done on the left, which was rescuing the initial basecoats, but to see it  go wrong like this is really frustrating.

40kaddict Towers - plastic magnolias

"The individual man is transitory, but the pulse of life and of growth goes on after he is gone, buried under a wreath of magnolia leaves." Apprently, but magnolia is what I had sufficient quantities of in the garage, hopfeully for two coats. This was a big value brand bucket that we used int he hall and landing and frankly I wasn;t happy with the results, every time we try and wipes the walls the paint comes off. However, I'm less likely to smear the walls with jam, of pencil makrs so hopefully it'll eb alright, unless of course the shed ends up prone to damp...

What I've done in these pics is cover all the pencil marks I made to indicate where internal wooden batons were. I had doubts the paint would cover them up so I thought an initial coat would help the successive coats hide any markings.

Obviously you can still see those initial coats now the first roller coat went on. I was quickly reminded that the very best way to use a roller is on a pole, it's so much quicker and easier. I've also noticed recently that the joints in my fingers and hands have become really sore and using a roller would have been a nightmare without using a pole.

First coat is done although I'm a little concerned there isn't enough to do a full second coat.

It was about an hour and a half all in to get to this stage.

And the door doesn't look too bad either.

 

Now I contemplated painting the central beam but it just seemed unnecessary but if I reconsider I may stain it the same colour as the teak, add some continuity to the interior.

And the view from the otuside. Just the second coat and I can get the electrics sorted.

40kaddict Towers - "There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in."

As Rob Hill was disappointed to see the edge of the door I can now reveal the entireframe I've made. Once again I've applied some dubious carpentry skills to get this done but it's all in one piece now so perfect it might not be but functional it is.

You can see here I used some angled corner brackets, these alowwn the frame to be joined to the existing internal frame, then when I get the teak panel on I will screw through the frame into the door and that will hold it more rigid.

The door closes neat and tidy with hardly any gap round the frame.

There are two 10mm strips on the inside frames, I may add some further strips to that to bulk it out and face the raw plaster edges and 35-40mm of the internal door frame. And onece it's painted draft exluder foam strip will also help with insulating it.

Once I'd got the frame sorted and trimmed the teak panel I screwed it in place to see how well it fit and it came out pretty well. No doubt some will wonder if it'll remain in it's current colour or be painted over, for the time being it'll stay untouched, however odd it looks when the shed is complete.

Now it was time to put the insulation in and I maybe did a little too much in places, what do you think?

I think this oblique view might suggest there is too much insulation in here. Unlike the walls which were 50mm deep with 150mm insulation squashed into it the door frame is only 38mm deep!

However I persevered and managed to get the facing panel on in one piece. The screws are a bit ugly and I randomly only got 20 so it bulges in places but I spent another £6.50 on all the hardware for the door so it's racking up the cost. The door also struggled to close. Once the insulation adjusted the shape of the facing panel I had to then shave the left hand side to fit in the frame. I had a little hand plane that did the job but it was a little frustrating to have made it fit and then had to adjust it again.

I also installed a bolt, this keeps the door perfectly closed, as tightly as possible. It'll be even more effective when the draft foam goes in. I'd actually looked at a deadpolt, which would have been nice but with how well this simple solution works I'm glad I didn't throw in something I have no experience doing, just so I can get on ad complete it.

It's maybe difficult to tell fromthis view but it's the best I could manage to ilustrate just how much the facing panel bulges with the barely contained insulation. In particular around the bolt you should be able to see it cinched in like a waist where the bolt is screwed into the internal frame. I have to admire the teak paneling for it's flexibility. It's amasing how it's seemed to stretch over it. I could add soem other screws to secure it more to the inner frame but I think it'd just be distracting.

So it does the job, the door opens and closes, hopefully as it expands/contracts over time it won't be a problem. I'm sure I recall things usually expand in heat and contract in cold and this was done on a hot day so fingers crossed I don't try and open it only for it to be jammed shut thanks to the weather! I'm hoping it can only contract, not expand. Now, onto painting

40kaddict Towers - Seal of approval

I somehow set two posts scheduled on the same day so I'm a little behind but =with the boards all done it was time to seal up any gaps. I used 2.5 tubes of decorators caulk on it but I’m convinced the expansion/contraction of the shed will probably crack it to pieces.

I'd also tidied up all the windows, if you look at the two pictures below you'll see the one on the left was with the plasterboard and I didn't like the open cut window frame.

So I was going to buy some wooden strips to cap the inside frame but remembered I had some old hardboard/MDF sliding doors for my sons old bed [actually the one before last] so I've had these in the garage for about 4 years but I was using them for basing terrain. Anyway I trimmed these to fit and faced all the insides of the window frames.

 

The windows look really tidy now.

It took a couple of sessions with the caulk as some gaps were bigger than I'd have liked. I had planned to put strips of plasterboard in to bridge the gaps but I couldn't be bothered in the end, which I'll no doubt live to regret.

This was the biggest gap but it all smoothed over fine in the end. With the sealing done it's

• painting the interior, 
• insulating the door, 
• painting the exterior,
• electrics
• moving in

For the door I finally got the facing panel to double skin it. This is a piece of teak panelling, previously this was part of a whole wall seciton in my parents dining room. All my childhood this was on the wall and only now as my Mum redecorates has it been removed. So I nipped round and cut it to size, a quick slash with a Stanley knife and this splits nearly as good as plasterboard.

It was too big to fit in the car but it's incredibly light, if just a little awkward so I walked it back home and then came back for the car. It's well worth it if just for saving a little bit of nostalgia for me.

Otty's other Tyranid Fortifications & OOE

Included with the Tyranid Bastion pics were these other nid fortifications. I've never been a fan of the Venom Cannon design but I do think this use of them looks particularly beastly effective:

The plan is to complete a set of tyranid fortifications,starting with the bastion,which is now complete. This shows my quad gun, it's made from spare Hive Tyrant legs,and original screamer killer body and 4 venom cannons. it unfortunately no longer fits on top of the bastion.

You may have seen plenty of defence lines made out of spare Carnifex Carapaces but Otty has made his different with other nid bioforms to create a living wall of flesh to protect the rest of his horde

This pic is some of the tyranid defence lines. Progress is slow, but when finished it will correspond to the correct length of an imperial defence line. It is made out of old gaunts spare tyranid warrior heads and every spare chitinous armour plate I could find.

I made and painted this version of "old one eye", it's sole purpose to make my army a legal blog wars army, by having a named warlord.

The important aspect of this is that Otty will be attending his first Blog Wars. It'll be great for us all to be there and no doubt he'll do well in the painting competition

If I can't get the Dark Angels to a standard I'm happy with I may go with Old One Eye as my Special Character too. We'll have to see.

40kaddict Towers - Boarding TO DONE!

I nipped out at lunch, got the train from Manchester Piccadilly to Mauldeth Road Station and right next door is a B&Q, and if my train hadn't have been 8 minutes late I'd have got the next train back. As it was I watched it leave the station as I left the store with my bag of screws. Still I got to walk to Levenshulme station and Ingress on the way. And with my screws at home I was able to put up the window board. The plan was to show the insulation too but I got carried away wanting to get on.

I'd even measured and cut the two apex wedges yesterday, I was busy! So this one was screwed in place over the already installed Earthwool.

and so did it's twin on the right hand side.

I measured up the centre-piece, installed the insulation, forgot the double batons then screwed them in place.

And cut and installed the board. The final piece of plasterboard was really fussy to cut so I could get this shape and

The two back wall apex pieces. I nearly cocked up big time too as I initially measure the wedge completely wrong but measure twice cut once. With so much riding on these three pieces out of my last board I had to get it right and these pieces were super snug fits when they finally went in.

So the boarding is done, I did a little more work on the door but the next step will be gap filling and I'll be getting some MDF and trimming it to just face some of the edges on the windows as the bare plaster offends me, even when painted. But despite everything I got his part of the build done. Just those bits, then I can paint it and get the electrician in to power it up and then I can shift all my stuff across. Then I have to paint the outside and look at the back room, luckily no sounds have been heard in the ceiling. So I'm treating myself to a red stamp of approval for work so far.

 

Otty's scratchbuilt Tyranid Bastion

You know me, I love Tyranid Fortifications and I obviously have strong views on them particularly those that claim they're not something Tyranids would do - they absorb and mutate other life forms, steal their tactics and evolve to overcome them if you don't think they'd produce fortifications alongside the rest of their bio-constructs then you're not looking at the same faction I am. And to top it all considering GW have no love for creating nid fortifcations then it falls to the hobbyist to make their own and they can be as easy or complex to build as you like, thanks to their organic shapes. Now my old mate Otty has empited his bitz box here on his Bastion, with enough spares that it propably costs more than a standard Imperial variety. Enjoy the pics and his decriptions

Here are some photos of my tyranid bastion. The first is black undercoat, then onto block colours.

the third and fourth washed

then the last 3 are the layers and highlights.

This is the finished article. The hole at the top, isn't quite as large as I would have liked, it did start off larger, taking the inspiration from tyranid box art ,which appear to show bastions or towers in the background. I extensively modified the original, adding more scything talons and numerous tyranid components. Changed the automated weapons for gene stealers holding death spitters.

I love the way those Devourers poke out perfectly from those gaps in the Carnifex carapces that are there to accomodate it's vent stacks - inspired.

Well what do you think? There's got to be a point soon where we look at another Apocalypse game I hoped I'd be able to field more of my army now but Otty keeps banging stuff out of such an awesome level I'll struggle to fit in my stuff ;) Anyway, he's given me some more pics to share with you  so look out for those and I hope this has inspred you to build your own nid structure.