Mekboy Junka 28

Meant to get this up last night but for some reason never managed to, so here it is, better late than never after all.

KFF is now done...

And in place...

After I took those pictures I then added the rivets to the top panels on the hull, bit short sighted really, should have done that before taking the pictures above. I couldn't be arsed retaking them so we'll all just have to live with it.

I think next I shall return to the hull and get that finished off (such as the rear and front which still needs some detailing plus some rivets are required). After that I'll need to sort the spikes on the Deff Rolla and last but not least I will then tackle the SAG turret.

Mekboy Junka 27

Work continues on the KFF.

Might have chosen the wrong way to detail up the dome as it has taken me bloody ages to get this far.

As such this is still very WIP. Lots of detailing to do (so many sodding rivets to add) and all of the Orky Techy-no-wots to be added.

Going to take a while I think...

Bridges 1

So while I spent the weekend finishing off my desk and sorting/organising gear in the spare (aka Hobby) room I opened a box to find some bridges I last worked on five and a half years ago...though I did briefly have them out of their box when I was working on the Realm of Battle River Panels

As I had spent so long moving, repacking and so on I decided a minor distraction was called for to work on these.

Originally I planned to keep these very modular and not glue them together, doing that meant I could field on longer than normal - however I decided I was just never going to do that as my rivers only need the standard length of bridge.

My plan was also to come up with a joining strip to allow the bridges to be fielded as one extra wide bridge. But I've now decided I can't be arsed with all that. The bridges are wide enough for a super heavy already so it hardly matters.

As you can see in the pics back in July 2009 I added some lights to the bridges. I admit when I glued the bridges together yesterday I glued them together wrong...the lights were meant to be at opposite corners to each other...oops.

I added a new element to them in that at the bottom of each pole I mounted a ball bearing and inside each bracket I added a magnet.

I plan on adding a little more 40k feel to them by adding something to each corner of each bridge, options currently are:

They are now back in their box. Hopefully to see the light of day again sometime before 2020.

Back to the Junka...

Zone Mortalis 6 - A New Start

So inside those big boxes were...

...more boxes...

...but inside those we have 25 Zone Mortalis gaming boards, enough for a 5' x 5' gaming area.

Not shown are the doors.

Militiaman Frank having a look round the new digs.

I have one board with a bit of damage on, if it was inside the board rather than on the edge it would be easily solved but being on the edge makes it awkward. I'll have to sort it out.

Now you may remember I had plans to make my own Zone Mortalis board. Just before Christmas I decided to really look into what was possible and work out some costs.

This broke down into costs for 3D prints, boards, moulds and resin as well as expected number of casts required.

I then compared this to the cost of buying the Forge World boards.

It may surprise people to find that Forge World were cheaper. A lot cheaper.

Also I worked out I would have had to have done a couple of hundred casts to make the floor and walls. I just haven't got time for that, it would have taken all year to do and cost me £200-300 more than buying the FW boards.

I know I would have enjoyed designing my own version and it would have opened up opportunities of doing some one off special boards but the fact is it just wouldn't be worth it.

You may remember my original set up for playing ZM games was using cast pillars and cardboard walls/doors...

This was a great way to try out Zone Mortalis games and to see if I wanted to invest in a more permanent set up, I would never have spent this much money on a FW board without playing all those games using the set up above. The old casts and walls are now with a friend so that we can still play ZM at his place (no way can I cart the FW boards around).

I of course mention this in passing and in no way to encourage people to buy a Pillar Mould...

One thing the old set up has over the new set up is that all of those pillars and walls took up less storage space than one FW panel, hence me spending so much time recently trying to open up more storage space in the spare room...I may need to do some more work in that area...

Recalcitrant Daze - Sneak Peak

Over the years I've had some pretty big boxes arrive from Forge World.

Armies of infantry, tanks a plenty, super heavies, aircraft and a titan.

However this puts those to shame...

In the red rectangle is Militiaman Barry for scale.

More will follow.

Mekboy Junka 26

Another update, shocking I know.

Track guards riveted up...

And up top more has been done:

As you can see the base of the turret area is done, the washer and tube have been set in place to form the locating lug for the turret and also the means of it staying in place through the use of magnets.

The first 'turret' option is under way, namely the KFF.

Above is the 'turret base', a 25mm base with magnets mounted in it, glued to this is a 1mm styrene disc. A tube is mounted in place and which is used to slot onto the locating lug in the hull shown above.

I've gone with the domed KFF turret as I sketched up in the original designs. Half a ping pong ball will form the core of the turret, this will of course be plated up and become much more Orky. Two 40mm bases form the base of the dome. The lower base has a clearance hole cut into it to go over the 'turret base central tube' shown above, the inner 40mm base has a hole which tightly fits over this same tube. The final shot (bottom right) shows the 'turret base' glued in place.

The turret assembly snugly fits in place.

Lot to do on the KFF yet, lots of plating and the techny-no-wots to add.

Mekboy Junka 25

Managed to get some time in on the Junka last night. I hoped to get more time on it but alas we had the smallest amount of snow fall, no naturally the road system fell apart and it took me four times as long to get home after work.

But I did get some work done...

Drivers area had some work, decided to scrap the visor type arrangement and go with a camera/periscope type of affair. Bit more techy for a Mekboy and matches the details on the mini turret and sponsons.

Think I've decided how to add some spikes to the roller, but need to sort some bits first - and possibly do a mould.

I started building up and detailing the top area - soon i'll start on the turret & KFF.

On the one side I added some Dags and minor details.

And what it looks like at the moment:

Determined to get some more time on this before the end of the week and at the weekend, so there should be more updates incoming.

Recalcitrant Daze - Upgrading.

Another model-less week due to work hours.

But over the weekend I managed to get one project done, something I hoped to do over Xmas but didn't due to being ill.

After a trip to the shops I found myself in possession of a shelving unit and some desk legs, combined with some MDF boards I used to use as a gaming surface I put together a new work area...

This is going to be the 'messy' work area - so doing moulds, casting, using the Dremel, sanding, doing bases and so on.

It is a big improvement to what I had before and will make working a whole lot easier. It will also free up some space on my regular hobby desk.

I still need to do the odd small job (such as adding a bracket to attach the desk to the wall) as well as finalising the place for everything.

A big bonus is that I have opened up a lot of space in my storage cupboard...which will be handy with what I have on order...

Mekboy Junka 24

Well I threatened an update on the Junka and surprisingly it is here...

Only a small one mind, but after two months we can't ask for much can we? I will have to get back into this modelling lark gradually and also try and remember what the hell I was planning to do.


Basically I have glued the sponsons in place which allowed me to get on with the side details, namely riveting up and adding some exhausts.

The idea of a Mek finding a wrecked Baneblade and only stealing the exhausts for his own ride amused me...so that is what I used.

Bit more work still needed but it is progress at least...

I am going to get on with some more little jobs on it to begin with before I get on with the big jobs - namely the turret and KFF set up.

Shipping Container 1

I am slowly getting over whatever crap I have had for the last 'x' weeks.

Hopefully this weekend I will actually be in a state of touching a model (shocking I know).

In the meantime I managed to spend a couple of hours doing some quick mock ups of something I have been looking to do for a while.

Mainly for use on a Zone Mortalis board I have wanted some large shipping containers to give some cover in large rooms big enough to block LOS easily.

So with some card and foamboard we have the mock up for the size:

 

Big enough for an Ogryn to stand up.

The standard size will be 150mm long.

From here I did some very quick 3D models to show how I plan to build this thing.

Basically the main body would be made up out of 'rings' which join up to make the full length, I want to do it this way to allow me to vary the length but also to keep costs down and make it easier to cast the pieces up. At each end would be an end plate incorporating a door.

Keep in mind no details have been done yet - this is just basic shapes, I'll be starting from a clean slate when I come to do the proper model.

The interior will be detailed up and the door will be removable (hinged possibly?) to give the option of having the container open.

This won't be a quick turnaround (due to not having the time to throw at it) and it won't be cheap to get it off the ground due to the 3D printing costs.

However if people are interested in maybe picking up some casts it is more likely to happen sooner rather than later.

If your interest has been peaked let me know below.

Recalcitrant Daze - Ho Hum.

Another post which starts with me saying I am ill. I’m not going to go into details but basically my entire Christmas break has been a write off.

I haven’t touched a single model, not the Junka, any of the Daemons or my Militia.

I had to cancel the games that I had planned including what would have been my first Apocalypse game in years (what a bitch).

So here I am with nothing model wise to show.

I could do one of those yearly review types of posts, but to be honest I can’t be arsed with that. Ditto when it comes to doing one looking forward to the year ahead.

Instead here are some blogs which I recently started following and which are all worth taking a long hard look at.

Metatyrant - Some truly awesome converting, sculpting and painting. 

Between the Bolter and Me - Again great converting on offer, this time for Inq28 and a host of other armies/games.

thenickeninja’s blog - Some inspiring painting and some of the best Necromunda terrain I have ever seen.

All three of the blogs above I discovered thanks to another new blog – The Eternal Hunt

The Gate of Gemana - Epic is what first drew me to this blog but it is well worth exploring the other areas (thanks to Epic Addiction for adding the blog to his blogroll so I could get to see it).

Realm of Chaos 80’s - Full of things that take me back to the old days...

I am sure I have shown the ones below before, but a. they are worth mentioning again and b. I can’t be certain without going through god knows how many posts on RD (and I can’t be arsed doing that).

Officio Convertorum - Outstanding kitbashing and converting with the result of models with real character.

40K Hobby Blog - Don’t let the title deceive you, there is more than just 40K on this excellent blog.

A Galaxy in Flames - Great models and some truly inspiring terrain (I want that city fight board).

Lil Legend Studio - Just go and look.

The Painting Bunker - From Epic to 40k Titans to stunning gaming boards.

And to finish the three members of the 'sort-of-group' I am part of who have (active) blogs..

Forlorn Hope - Sheep's hangout.

Nife's Blog of Occasional Artwork - Nife's abode, obviously.

The Rising Sign - Home of Maelstrom.

I think that is enough for now.