Old lead, new resin...

The printed backpacks cleaned up and drilled to mount on the Rogue Trader marines...

Death Korps of Krieg Mortar Team...

To add to the growing army of muddy trench warriors I have recently finished this two man mortar team. A lot fiddlier than the larger, heavy siege mortar but a lot quicker to paint. Finished with AK Interactive and Mig enamels and powders over Games Workshop acrylics.
Melbourne Museum currently has a quite somber exhibition from the Imperial War Museum on the Great War. Worth a look if you are in town for some first hand references...

 

Krieg Turret Emplacement...

My recently completed turret...

Dust shook loosely in the air as the pounding autocannon turret spewed flaming shells across the trenches toward the Vraksian heretics. The firing signaled the charge and the Krieg infantry launched across the gap in the trench into the closing fray of horrors.

Orks...

Twenty something years ago, long before Games Workshop had arrived at our shores I was a keen collector and painter of little lead Orcs. After a childhood of Tolkien it was a natural progression. I'm only just rediscovering some of these minis that have been hidden a way in boxes stashed at the back of cupboards and in attics. And discovering that Kevin Adams still sculpts and is creating new pieces in the old style (some refer to Oldhammer).

Last year GW commissioned a few new illustrations for their Ork Codex, I was happy to oblige and keen to bring an older more feral approach to these paintings...

An exercise in weathering...

Death Korps of Krieg Hades Breaching Drill

Shelving a couple of my Krieg tanks to focus on the Hades drill allowed me to experiment with some of the techniques I plan to use later. This was airbrushed with Minitaire and AK Interactive acrylics with the odd GW paint pot also. Being Forgeworld resin, after a clean, it was primed with a dusting of autoprimer and then a smooth coat of Tamiya Fine Gray. This is then a perfect surface for AK's rust colours, a coat of chipping fluid and then the main colour. Brushes and toothpicks cut back the finish to a nice weathered heavy construction machinery look. This was all sealed well with a satin acrylic varnish ready for detailing and decals. Once sealed again with a matt varnish AK enamels were used to stain, streak and leave dirt/sand deposits. Final metallic surfaces were scribed with a 8B lead pencil and the pistons were finished with True Metal wax paint. I highly recommend the AK dirt and dust deposits for tanks and vehicles.

Thunder Warriors...

Some of my favorite minis are the old Rogue Trader era metals. The first Space Marine I picked up around 1991 was a Marine in Thunder Armour along with a Crusade Armour marine- see below. I've always liked the John Blanche artwork for the Unification Wars depicting these hulking proto-marines. With those images in mind I started to put together something that could do them justice...

These prints are done at 30micron resolution from a B9 Creator. The design is based on the old Crusade Armour Bolter with some modifications.

Old School Metal...

Always a fan of old Rogue Trader era sculpts. Here are 3 white metal oldies that I think still stand as great sculpts amidst the new range of Games Workshop releases.
The first is a marine in Crusade Armour from 1991. The next is a Plague Marine from 1993 and the far right is a Space Adventurer from 1988.

Death Korps of Krieg...

In action...

Death Korps of Krieg Heavy Mortar...

The mortar is almost complete. The icing on the cake will be some Forge World decals when they arrive. This has been weathered with acrylic washes- then sealed, then AK Interactive enamels with pigments/ground chalk pastels and fixative.

Hydra...

Disappointed by the new open top Astra Militarum Hydra kit I jumped onto the Forge World site to pick up the old closed top kit only to find it out of stock and after an email discontinued. I've always been a fan of this kit obviously taking its design qeues from the German Gepard.
After a couple of months I was able to find some parts on Ebay but with a major problem with the guns. They were damaged, bent and would require heavy remodeling. Next step was to source the parts from the new plastic kit. Here is the Hydra made from a Chimera, old Forge World parts and new plastic GW guns all magentised. I plan to modify the guns to look more like the original Kit and add some exhausts and extra details...

Updates...

More Guardsmen finished and a slight update to the dragon's teeth tank traps- broken rebar. I am pretty happy with this piece and was thinking of re-sculpting the aquilas for a more generic/non GW look.
The old metal Cadian was great to paint- nice solid details and great gesture. More to come...

It has been a very long break from modelling and this hobby...
20 years down the line and it seems white metal/lead is on the way out and plastic is in. I'm still not sure what I think of this. It sure makes scratch building easier but the weight and sense of permanence seem to be lost- as is the emotions of the train ride into the city to look at the walls of blister packs in the couple of independent stores before the Games Workshop expansion on these shores.

I've always been interested in the aesthetics of the modelling hobby- from the box and book illustrations to the complex scratch building and sculpting of some on the amazing WWII dioramas and kits. I have dabbled in military modelling and garage kits and sculpted them myself. But the Warhammer IP has constantly held my attention- mostly due to its deep, epic fiction and the miniatures by some of the best artists in the industry.

This is a blog tracking what is on the shelf in progress and the small projects I have planned. The gaming side has never been the draw card but I am starting to appreciate this as I delve deeper into this hobby.