Finally finished something...

all three together - initial one (3) on left and latest two (6, 9) on the right

Sweet!!  A combination of seeing G.N.O.M.E.s painted space shark rhinos and being put to shame by Ricalope has spurred me to finish my second and third magnetized rhino chassis to complete something and gain a huge 20 painting points.  Fortunately they were pretty much 90% done, so it didn't take too much effort.  A few decals needed to be applied, the teeth and decal areas fixed up and the banners for the rhino doors completed.  You may notice I used my second TLLC razorback turret on the original chassis (#3).

chassis 6 configured as a predator

This is probably the first time I took some close ups of the additional magnetized bits.  They have been painted for a while but until I finished the chassis I wasn't too chuffed about showing off just a predator sponson.  Up next I want to build a couple LasPlas turrets, do a proper heavy bolter turret (I have one I hacked together similar to but not as nice as the TLLC) and I have another predator turret (need another set of sponsons) and I also have a couple whirlwind turrets.

chassis 9 configured as a vindicator with extra armour

I am still on the fence about whether they should be worth some painting points, especially the vindicator bits since they are almost 3 sides of a rhino.  I still have more bits to paint, a dozer blade that is half done, I obviously need more "blank" hatches, more searchlights and H/K missiles.  Since I am on the fence I will wait before awarding anything other than the 10 painting points for each chassis, and it let me post about it sooner rather than later :)

B-day present JPG

Here it is - my birthday present. Gavin sent me some formatted jpgs - look at all the detail on this thing. He even included a dead Mantis Warrior in the ground. All kinds of details from my tank are in the painting; kill markings, army badges, etc. Love it!!!

Best Girlfriend EVER! happy birthday to ME

It's been a great day. I turned 29 today, got some nice prezzies - but top of the pile definitely is what my beautiful girlfriend got me. She had a friend of ours who's a great illustrator to base a gorgeous piece of art on my Space Sharks Razorback. He's going to send me some jpgs to use as wallpapers and stuff, but here's a pic of me holding the painting and my model.
It's absolutely gorgeous and there are tons of great little details in it. I've spent about half an hour poring over it and am just beside myself with how cool this is. Can't wait to mount it on the wall above my painting area. I'll wait until I have jpgs to post to remark on all the little details, but I couldn't help myself making a quick post.

LOVE YOU BABE!

Space Sharks - BoLS Badab entry comments

I would really appreciate constructive criticism for my BoLS entry. Not in terms of "winning" next time, but in terms of really polishing her off with the little details.

So far here are some ideas I've had, let me know what you think of these or any other ideas you might have.

• "Danger/Hot" symbols around exhausts, rear of H/K missile, etc. (seems that space marines wouldn't need to know or indeed even care but ??)
• Naming the vehicle. Definitely not along the line's of "Blood of the Deep" but I was thinking more like just a generic female name, like Eileen or Susan.

Please tell me your thoughts!

Badab APC challenge - 4th place

Well the Badab APC challenge voting is over. I placed a respectable 4th out of the amazing entries, scoring just under 300 votes out of the near 2500 votes received. Nate's highly detailed Salamanders twin heavy flamer razorback just edged out Andy G's Raptors twin heavy flamer razorback by 14 votes in the final hours of voting.

Congrats to all the competitors, just goes to show the quality of 40K community - all of the entries were fantastic! I hope this spurs BoLS to hold more contests (especially Badab war related as many of my planned marine chapters fall into that category) and I especially can't wait for the scenario pack to make use of my guys in fun games.

ps. 50th blog post. :)

Badab APC Challenge voting starts

The voting has begun at BoLS for the Badab APC challenge.
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/03/40k-voting-badab-apc-challenge.html

Currently in fourth place, some gorgeous models have been submitted, even another Space Sharks razorback with a dorsal fin!

Head over and vote!

Space Sharks - final Badab APC challenge entry

Here's my final entry I just sent in to BoLS.

Fluff
This vehicle was designated APC 3 of the Space Sharks - Green Company at the beginning of the Badab war and operated as a transport for Squad 3. During the war, the Captain of Green Company ordered functioning sponson weapons recovered from wrecked Land Raiders to be assembled as firepower turrets for available Rhino APCs. APC 3 was retrofitted with a turret and tallied 7 tank kills over the course of the war.

Final 3 pics

Space Sharks - on track for Badab APC hobby challenge cut-off date

Well I managed to get quite a bit more done today. All the basecoats are fully done, and I've gone ahead and added the decals. I have to touch up one of the side teeth and then touch up all the grey areas before doing some edge highlighting and weathering. Definitely pleased with the way it's turning out. :)

Here's a quick half dozen shots in various configurations.

Rhino config




Razorback config



Plus a close up of gunner and kill markings on turret

Space Sharks - more rhinozerback progress

Well I had the day off and mostly to myself so I made sure I got quite a bit done on this puppy.
Finished drybrushing the armour and have given a basecoat for most extra details (except metal, did black last and needed to let it dry) tonight I will hopefully get another coat on each (and the coat of metal) so I can look to start with decals and weathering soon.

Single storm bolter, dozer blade & hunter-killer missile.


Twin storm bolter and razorback configuration (both with searchlight).


I'm particularly pleased with the way the front 'teeth' came out, so it looks good whether the dozer blade is added or not. I need to sort out the side 'teeth' as well, and I was thinking the headlights could maybe be red to look like eyes? Comments/criticism welcome.

Space Sharks - razorback turret.

Well the masses (all 30 of you!) have spoken, nearly 3/4 of you voted for the razorback (73%) so I've begun work on one of the turrets I had started (twin lascannons were done).

Now this has been made from a LR sponson weapon, so it's not a proper razorback turret. I don't care as I want my Space Sharks equipment to look well used and sometimes thrown together. However I'm not sure if this will help or hinder my entry to the BoLS Badab APC Edition hobby challenge, so I'm asking you to vote again (sorry!) based on the look of the turret - would you enter it as a razorback?

Here's a couple pics to show it off.


I'll update the poll now. So... what do you think?

Space Sharks - rhinozerback (now for entry in BoLS Badab APC edition hobby challenge)

As promised here are some pics of my Space Sharks magnetized rhino. Not yet glued together, am ironing out the kinks in painting the interior. I want to glue it together before I drybrush the outside to try and get it looking smoother.

Please vote as to which direction I should take it for the BoLS Badab APC Edition hobby challenge.

You can kinda see the blue wash I gave the windows in this pic


Detail of interior


Two shots at rear-ish angle to show the turret magnet.



All the bits plugged in

BoLS Badab APC Contest - PERFECT TIMING

Some of you may have seen my post about magnetizing a rhino for my upcoming Space Sharks army.
I have made some progress on it to this point, it is primed, washed with some drybrushing/detailing on the interior.
I will take some more pics tonight to show you my progress, but how happy was I to see this post (http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/02/40k-hobby-challenge-badab-apc-edition.html) on BoLS today.

Great timing. Now I have some decisions to make - I have 3 razorback turrets I built from Land Raider sponsons, however they are not completely ready as I need some big washers to mount them to the magnet, and something to cover the rest of the hole in the turret rhino top (as used for preds/razorbacks/whirlwinds).

So do I put some effort into getting at least one of the turrets completed, so it can be displayed for the contest as both a rhino and a razorback? Or do I just run with the bits to make it a rhino for now? I've created a poll - cast your vote!

I should have no problems meeting the March 4th deadline. Need to get some decals printed, and resolve my method for painting the armour. Wish me luck!