Manticore missile system update

I managed to make some progress on the Manticore during last weeks. I finally chose to use the 1:48 Phoenix from the Hasegawa kit to represent the manticore missile.

Now it seem more menacing, although it has an A/A feeling. I will try to fix this during painting stages adding some camo scheme to the missiles, instead of the white color we tend to see on A/A units.

Manticore missile system

Well, I suppose I should update my work on the Malcador, which in fact is progressing steadily. However, as I am currently enjoying some free days, I immediately switched to another project I had in mind (you know how it is, fellow modelers...), during the few spare minutes that the Stalker game is leaving me those days, leaving the Malcador temporally aside.

The Manticore missile system is a very interesting vehicle I wanted to make for a long time. In any case, I wanted to build something different to the canonic FW Manticore (I mean, not using that chimera hull again and again), so I glued a spare set of tracks I had lying around to a Ragnarok hull and started working on the antenna set.

I tried to obtain a russian-flavoured vehicle, sporting a huge antenna array to direct those Manticore rockets to their unaverted targets, so I scratchbuilt a large receiver antenna with some evergreen strips and placed an emitter dome at the front.

Rockets will be added later from the Hasegawa 1:48 weapon set (probably the Phoenix missile system, although I am hesitating to use a lower tech-like candidate from the same kit, like the GBU-24 Paveway III).

I added some pics from the progress so far…

Shot down Malcador

The Malcador is a vehicle which fascinated me from the very moment Forgeworld released it. It’s lines are so WWI that I immediately imagined it on a mud-and-razor-wire trench scenario.

I wanted to scratch build one of them, but this time I though about a little vignette in which I could display the tank pondering though razor wire and concrete defenses.

I finally decided to display it shot down (this is the good thing about scratchbuilding things, you do not need to put any constraint on your model). This Malcador was shot down by enemy fire, ammo exploded making the riveted joints to break away.

I have progressed on the right side so far… More to come.

Death Korps of Krieg Trench Digger

(versión en Español)

That was to be my entry at the Lt. Walke's WIP contest. Unfortunately, Real Life issues prevented me to finish on time. Not that this represents a problem for me, as I can now concentrate on the kind of detailing I prefer.

When Lt. Walke asked for support vehicles, I immediately thought on the DKOK and their bias to large maze-like trench systems. I thought that being this the future, and with all those techpriests and engineseers to help, they would have probably developed an autonomous trench-digging engine.

As it was to be set on 40K, it's clear that it would have to had some characteristics like hugeness, "clankyness", armor and firepower (being 40K I imagine that the grim Korps would dig their trenches in the middle of heavy assaults from hordes of xenos, making some last stands on their way and so)(and THIS is exactly what I really like of Warhammer 40000, mates...).

Having said that, I picked a really old and bad industrial scraper kit a bought for 5€ ages ago (I knew I would someday use it, BWAHAHAHA!) and recycled the bucket for my sacred and revered engine of construction.

I used chimera sides for the digging part and resin sides for my Ragnarok-like set. The hulls are scratchbuilt from plasticard, throwing some styrene parts from bargain 1/35 kits I hunted on eBay. As some fellow WIP pointed me, the chimera tracks looked too small and close to the sides of the freshly dug trench, so I added some extra pieces to add a winterketten-like feeling to the rear part.

The most interesting thing is that, incidentally, the front part works really well by itself, so I am planning to make some magnetized add-ons to use it as an independent engineers vehicle.

This is still a WIP, thought, a lot of work remains to be done on the rear part.

Scratchbuilding tip: Barrel Rifling

(versión en Español)

This scratchbuilding tip is intended for those people owning large 40K siege guns (medusa, bombard or even the most extreme example ever: Dora).

If you are real treadheads like me, you would look at your models and feel that something is missing... Yes, those huge barrels of yours are lacking any kind of inner detail. Something very upsetting (if you are like me), but you will see that this can be easily fixed !

I saw this technique on a hobby magazine. The author used it on a sturmtiger, but it can be applied to any large-barreled model.

I am going to add rifling detail to my (still unpainted) bombard.

I first take a thin polystyrene strip.


I cut a curved shape on a thick piece of polystyrene (to use it as a pattern) and paint evenly spaced marks on the thin strip.


I used the pattern to make light grooves with my scriber.

This is the finished piece, although I should have cut the ends following the grooves... Now there is going to be a line where the ends met (next time I'll do it right).

The finished piece once it is glued on place.


There is a nasty line where the ends met... I'll fix it with some putty, although I strongly recommend you to cut the ends folloving the curved grooves shape.

Now, you artillery will shine :)

DIY Punch and Die set (Rivets, Bolts and Nuts tutorial)

(versión en Español)

As I feel too lazy to do a proper post (weather it's too hot in Spain at this time of the year), I will revamp an earlier one I did on WIP about riveting techniques. Hope you like it :)

In fact, I have been asked many times how do I produce all those rivets I use on my scratch built models (about 500 hundred for a medium tank).

Having the right tool at hand helps a lot. However, the tools available at stores are pretty expensive (check this excellent tool from Historex Agents):

Historex's Punch and Die set

If we want to produce simple flat, round rivets (there is also one set for hex nuts and bolts, but it is outside of the scope of this tutorial), there is a simple way to build a homemade punch and die set... This is how I made mine:

We will need the following tools:

1. Low-speed/High-torque drill/screwdriver. You can use a normal drill, but avoid high-speed settings. The one shown here simply excels at making small diameter holes in hard materials.
2. Drill bits. One for each rivet diameter desired. Those ones are already prepared for electric screwdrivers.
3. For diameters under 1 millimeter, you will need normal bits and:
4. Finger chuck for screwdrivers. It is is used to adapt the bits to the screwdriver (you can substitute the screwdriver for another power tool, but I recommend you to use always low rpm's if you don't want to snap bit after bit).
5. Center punch. For marking the start of the hole in the metal.
6. Hammer (same as above).
7. Oil. Used to lubricate bits while drilling metal. Just place some drops from time to time or the bit could get stuck and break.

This image shows the materials I used:

You will need:

• A piece of steel. I bought it at a hardware store.
• A piece of clear plastic of the same size. I obtained it from one discarded bay cover of my PC.
• 2 small brass (or plastic, wood, whatever...) rods with top screws. The screws are nice, but not really needed, I took those from my office.
• You can not see it, but there are four adhesive pads on the bottom to separate it from the working surface.

I put together the metal and plastic plates, securing them with strong adhesive tape, I drilled the holes for the brass rods at both ends of the metal piece, starting to drill from metal to the plastic (this is important) and trying to dril the hole as perpendicular as possible (if you have a drill press, use it).

Then I glued the brass rods to the metal piece. What we have now is a metal base with a clear plastic cover that can be raised. Now, what we have to do is to drill other holes anywhere you like for each rivet size desired.

We have finished our die. To use it, slide a plasticard sheet inside, trap it with the clear lid, put a punch in its hole (as shown above) and use the hammer.

You wil probably not find punches for the smaller rivet sizes (1 mm or less). However, I found a solution in the page of a german guy (Unfortunately, that page no longer works).

He simply used the same drills used to drill the holes as punches (the flat part gets in contact with the plasticard). I have reserved some cheap or broken drills for this.

Time to start riveting our models!

RIVETS

You well need the punch and die set, suitable punches, a small hammer, some glue, a hobby knife and a little (rather thin) plasticard.


You can see that I have made many small plasticard disks, now I will put then in place.

First, I put a small drop of glue in place.


Then I hold a rivet using the point of a hobby knife (if you use a new blade, this is much better than using tweezers, believe me) and put it in place.

The final result:


BOLTS AND NUTS

There are punch and die sets capable of making hex pieces, but for our purposes we will suppose we do not have one of them.

In order to do the nuts we will need hex poliestirene rods of different measurements:

I select the desired width and cut regular slices with my hobby knife.

I put a drop of styrene cement in place

And put the bolt on.

If I wanted to do a nut and bolt, I would then do some rivets, smaller than the nut I have just did.

Then I put a drop of cement in place...

And proceed exactly as I did above with the rivets:

And that is. As you can see it is not very difficult, it just requires a little patience to be done. You can also use those tiny styrene disks as other things instead of rivets: coins, lids, lenses, etc.

Death Korps of Krieg Earthshaker

(versión en Español)

Some busy weeks have passed on real life, meaning that I did not have the spare time or energy to properly update this blog.

I hope to change things a little in the future and add new tutorials... For the moment being, I am going to talk about my Death Korps of Krieg Earthshaker project.

I started this project as I leaved on Easter Holydays. As I was not to be at at home, having limited resources then, I wanted to start something that was simple to build.

I thought that I could buy a 1:35 kit and convert it to W40K standards instead of building everything from scratch. I finally chose the M115 Howitzer from AFV Club as the base for the earthshaker.

The  model's  detail  is  very  fine,  sporting  an aluminum barrel (with rifling detail inside) rubber wheels and many tiny pieces. After building so  many  GW  models,  I  even  found  challenging  to  mount  some parts correctly.

I  thought  that  the  way  of  turning  this model to a 40k one, included building DKOK wheels and a gun shield from scratch.

I built the first wheel prototype, which I did not completely liked. Then did a second one, avoiding the mistakes I did on the first one. I find it is  faster  to  sometimes  start again from zero than trying to fix early mistakes.

Once it was finished, the good wheel was resin cast to make ten copies.

The smaller wheels are intended for my future superheavy tank projects.

Once I had added all custom pieces on the model, I started to think about the leg ends. After checking a lot of references in www.tanxheaven.com I built the ends from scratch. I also added some working detail for making the link to the towing cart.

The result is way bigger than its Forgeworld counterpart, but well, this is 40K after all!

I first thought to use a trojan to tow the gun, but I think I'll build a custom carrier in the near (I hope) future...

Generic modular Fortification Line

(versión en Español)

After many delays, I have finally finished my first modular scenery parts.

For the moment being there are just three different pieces. I plan to start selling them on eBay on a few days, using the brand name "Ultrawerke" (original, isn't it?:)). If they work, I might continue adding new scenery pieces to the range: dragon's teeth, bunkers and craters are some of the ideas I have on mind. What it is sure, anyway, is that they'll definitively have a look that would fit in any techno-gothic siege warfare gameboard...

Once I have some samples painted, I'll update the post.

Scratchbuilding tip: Tow Cable

(versión en Español)

If there is a piece from GW I do not like at all, it's the tow cable from the Imperial vehicle accesory sprue.

Here it is a simple way to do your own realistic tow cables, and in nearly no time.

You'll need copper or other metallic wire. I have been so lucky to have access to a power cable with fairly thick copper strands.

I take five copper strands from the cable.

I twist one end with a plier.

I'll use a chuck to clamp the other end.

I will use my trusty low speed IXO to twist the copper wires.

I firmly hold the free end with the pliers.

And start twisting the wires.

I stop once I feel the cable is twisted enough.

I cut the ends...

Now I make a loop at the ends.

Like this:

Now I take a lenght of cable plastic cover.

And cut it lenghtwise by half.

I put one half inside the loop, cutting the excess.

Now I glue it with cyanocrilate.

I use more copper wire to close the loop.

The finished loop. You can wrap the wire we have added now with a tin strip if you want a better finishing.

The finished cable.

This is how it looks once it is glued on the model.