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...

Death Korps of Krieg Heavy Mortar...

I have been working on this piece for a little while but shelved it to work out how I was going to make a base. I came across Secret Weapon's hollowed bevel bases- perfect for a support for what I had wanted to do. 

Bits and pieces like Tamiya barrels and sandbags were added with some Eduard razor wire for the details. The mud is a mixture of Gyprock topcoat with sand, flock, white glue, paint and water. This mix is coarsely applied and then sculpted with damp brushes and tools.

The ground plates were created with plasticard and once a master was cleaned up and primed, cast in resin (for another terrain project I have on the backburner).

Finally after priming I noticed a large amount of cracking from the plaster mix. I wanted a more muddy finish so mixed up some white glue, a very small amount of Hydrocal, paint and water to fill in the areas and unify the mud. Next stage- painting and weathering along with the final weathering of the mortar.