Super heavy progress, and a discovery...

My wife's working nights this weekend, so I decided to take a trip to Games Workshop in Oslo and sit there for the day an work on painting.
The good thing about being there is that if I get distracted from my painting it is to build a new set and that is also helping my armies grow. If I get distracted at home I might sit and read a book or watch something on TV or on my computer and that does not finish armies.

Today I brought with me the hull of my second Baneblade Super heavy, Steel Fury, and managed to get a lot done. I would say the tank i about 75% painted now. There are just a few details left on the hull, but there are a lot of small details on the tower and this will take some time to do.

While working on the hull I discovered there was some places where the grey spray hadn't covered the black primer well enough. So I took out a pot of the same grey color and started to paint, only to discover that the grey spray called Mechanicus Standard Grey is a lot lighter and a little more blue than the pot with the same name. So I ended up painting the entire hull again with a brush trying to make it a thin coat.

I have also done some work on the turret, painting the top and the top hatches. Tomorrow I will start to work on more details on the turret, I have some plans to paint some of the armor panels on my tank turrets in different colors marking their designation in the squad, and I will look for a way to do that with my super heavies. I know how to do it for the Baneblades and the Hellhammer as they have normal looking turrets. But the Shadowsword and Stormlord have turrets that just extend up from the hull. 

I think I have an idea how to do it for them as well, and I will try it on the Stormlord tomorrow.

Progress on th Super Heavies

I started to paint up my Super Heavy tanks this weekend, and decided on the color scheme for all my vehicles. The sides will be black as they have been for a little while. The hinges at the bottom will be Caliban Green, this has been decided for a while but not implemented before now. Also this weekend I decide that the side sponsons also should be painted the same color. This will be done for both the Super Heavies and the Leman Russ tanks (all my Leman Russ tanks have side sponsons). For the vehicles based on the Chimera chassis, there is a square plate where they have the Imperial Eagle or the winged scull and a banner where you can add a vehicle name, and this plate will be green on these vehicles.
Also all the turrets will have a black background color, but then some parts will be painted in other colors. For my Super Heavy tanks I think the top of the turrets will have the same color as the main body of the tank, and that is Mechanicus Standard Grey.
For the Chimera style chassis I have used XV-88 to paint the soft cover around the front gun. I will also use that for the seats in the cockpits on the Valkyries and the driving compartments of the Manticores (if I choose to make them open topped).

For the Baneblades and the Hellhammer the armorplates between the hull and the turret will also be painted black. I have not yet decided if the curved cover over the viewports will be painted black like they are on the picture below or if they will be Caliban Green. The part of the viewport that is supposed to be the armored glass will be painted in a very light blue, but I don't remember the name of the color right now.

This is the front of my only Stormlord. This has a different tower that is raised directly on the hull, and here the armorplates around it are all painted black, and this will also be done on my Shadowsword.
I've added a green shield on the front of the main gun, as I just thought it would look good. Here you can see how the turrets on the side sponsons are also painted black like all other turrets.

The light is not the best, but here you see the side of a tank with the side and sponon painted.
The Imperial Eagle will probably be painted silver, and the ladder at the back will be Leadbelcher.
I will also use  Leadbelcher for the tracks, and I might use it for the "wheels" as well but I might also fin another metal color for those.

At the same time as I am painting these, I am working on my first Manticore that is not done anything with from before, so it is being painted from the primer as the Super Heavies. And I am also putting my final touches on the first Hellhound I built.  

Pics will follow (hopefully in better light) when the vehicles are done.

New Super Heavy tank in the making...

This is the hull for my second Baneblade Super Heavy tank. I had sort of forgotten that I started writing this post, so now it is waiting to be painted up after I primed it this afternoon.
This Baneblde has been given the name "Steel Fury" and will be commanded by Captain James Johnston Pettigrew. This picture gives an impression of how big these tanks really are as there are Imperial Guard officers standing on each side of it.

On the left of the tank is Captain William Joseph Hardee, he is nicknamed "Old Reliable" and is the commanding officer of the 1st Ratling Auxillia who is part of the 1st Abhuman Regiment.

He is armed with a sniper rifle and is an expert marksman. One needs to be in order to have the respect of the Ratling snipers. 

On the right is a fellow captain, but I am not yet sure who he is or what regiment he serves with. 

Astra Militarum recovery vehicle

I finally got around to build my recovery vehicle for my Walpurgian 3rd Army. I am not sure if I can use it in a game, but if so it must be with Forgeworld rules for the Trojan that they produce. 

After all I've made my own because I can't afford buying from Forgeworld and because I am not too happy working with resin.

I originally wanted to use the big crane from the Galvanic Servohauler set, but it looked too big no matter how I tried to fit it. I thought of cutting it down, but I would have to cut it so much it wouldn't be functional so I gave it up and decided to use that crane on another build in the future instead. There was an article in last month White Dwarf on how to use it as part of the industrial scenery so I might do that instead.

At the front, the vehicle has a big dozerblade that will help it to get to the stranded vehicles that needs service or recovery. It doesn't have lots of weapons as it needs to be light and carry a lot of equipment. But they do carry a heavy bolter mounted in the front and a heavy stubber by the hatch that can be operated by the driver when the vehicle is standing still.

This is what it looks like from the sides. It is mostly identical on both sides except one side has a pick and a tarpaulin that is folded up, while the other side has a shovel and a missile.
On both sides there are heavy chains so that vehicles can be rescued.

Here is the view from behind. I wish I could have found a better back gate for the vehicle, but I think I found an ok solution to it. Because of the grappling arm you can't see that there also is a towing hitch on the back. 

Here is a view from the top of the vehicle, details are sort of hard to see at the moment, but when it's painted up then hopefully everything will be visible. In the back there is a big toolbox on the floor and on the wall hangs a hook for when they need to tow a vehicle and a lasrifle for personal protection.

On the other side there are an oil barrel and fuel cans for refueling vehicles to get them back to base or just refill missing hydraulic or motor oil after damage. There is also a smaller lasweapon (the one that comes with the Basilisk sets) for personal protection for the other man in the back.

On the back wall I added an industrial sawblade that I believe is part of an ork set originally, and a fire extinguisher that came in the Galvanic Servohauler set. The middle section that the crane is connected to is the middle section for the Manticore missile rack that you don't use if you build the Deathstrike missile.

Here are the two men working in the back of the recovery vehicle. The man on the left is still missing rank and name, but he will get it before everything is painted up. I suspect he is a sergeant.

The fellow on the right is Captain Thomas Egenton Hogg, and he is a Squadron leader in the army all though he doesn't have much of a squadron to lead yet. But I might add some other vehicles at a later time, maybe a tanker of some sort, and he is probably also in charge of the crewmen working on repairs at the base.