Sunday 28 July 2013

Base coat done, 15mm DKoK armour.

 Hi guys, the base colour done, it's hard to tell in the light, but there is a nice subtle shading on these, the blue grey has come out just the way I wanted, what do you think? These will get the works when it comes to weathering, just need the base to dry.






Saturday 20 July 2013

Update on 15mm DKoK armour.

Hi guys
The first batch of DKoK armour is getting close to the painting stage, I decided to base them, I like making little vignettes, so added some supporting grunts, advancing under cover of the tanks, the last 3pics show the design for my Chimeras, I will build up the hull slightly under the turret so it is horizontal, i have added a mantlet to the assault gun, still debating the colour scheme for these, I'm now thinking blue grey, or field grey, I want a plain single colour because i plan to go the whole hog with weathering, and single colour will bring out the effects, the infantry are yet to be converted, all ideas and comments welcome.











Tuesday 16 July 2013

Shapeways review

Hi guys

I had a 15mm Dark Century, Shadow Rifts legion order from shapeways arrive today, (sorry for the poor pics, its night here and it's hard photographing white under poor lighting, I will take better pics next time I am home during daylight hours), these are pre heresy style space marine types, I won't go into the IP issues here, needless to say, there is an issue.
I bought these more to investigate the capabilities of shapeways then for the models, I new from the sample pics that the infantry would be a lot smaller than my own, although I was hoping the vehicles would be usable.
Weight and material - The first thing that surprised me was the weight, I thought these figures would be a more solid resin type consistency, however the material is an extremely light plastic, and the vehicles are hollow with thin walls, the models feel very fragile, however I have not broken any in my handling, I have no idea at this stage if they would stand up to gaming.
Detail - most of the models have three options of material, 1) white strong and flexible 2) ultra detail 3) ultra frosted detail, I chose the cheapest, white strong and flexible, because I knew they would be on the small size, I thought I would use the figures as armatures to build up detail with putty, I should have chosen the frosted ultra detail for the vehicles, the surface is quite rough, not sure how they will paint up, I might try sanding the surface back a little, there are some very bad sculpt lines on the underside of some of the figures, this is not a problem on the vehicles, the infantry have very delicate and detailed weapons, frosted ultra detail would have been better for the weapons etc.
Size - they are quite usable as 15mm power armour figures, standing 18-19mm tall, the main issue for me is the heft of the figures, they are thinner than what I would like, but would be usable for others, the vehicles are in scale with the figures, there are measurements for these on the shapeways shop.
Poses - the poses are all very usable, the jump pack troops are all standing on 1leg, I'm hoping they will be strong enough, they all look fairly natural.
Price - at the present time price will be a real issue with this type of miniature production, 10 figures were between $8.95-$17.50US depending on the material used, I would not buy more of these until the best detailed material was $8.95 instead of $17.50, and probably not even then due to the material used, you can get 10 good metal figures for $8, the drop ship was $31.50, again far to expensive for what you get, but I was happy to pay the price for a sample of this type of technology.
Conclusion - due to cost, and fragility, I don't see this type of production being any competition  for the current mini manufacturing, I would class them as an interesting but expensive oddity, however the technology has uses (as we have already seen) for making masters that will later be caste in a more appropriate material, if you do decide to buy something through shapeways, I would recommend using the better detailed frosted ultra detail, even if it will cost an arm and a leg, can not recommend minis through shapeways, terrain may be a different matter, I have seen 15mm furniture and what not on TMP that looked pretty good.















Wednesday 10 July 2013

WIP 15mm Death Korps Siege assault gun.

Hi guys

Some pics of my WIP 15mm Death Korps of Krieg heavy siege assault gun, which barrel do you think I should use? This is the Emhar. 1/72 Mk IV female, its already a little larger in length and width, but not hight, then the Airfix model, I have stretched and widened it, added 4 heavy flames for close support, i also left the side profile lozenge shape alone, as i had re shaped the airfix kits slightly, what do you think?






WIP 15mm Nurgle Demon Prince

Hi guys

Started a Demon Prince for my 15mm Death Guard army, he is about the size of a regular GW Space Marine, will post a size comparison pic later, he still needs a lot of work, any ideas on details to add? All comments welcome.




Sunday 7 July 2013

15mm Death Guard plague marine squad finished

Hi guys
This squad is finished, pretty happy with them, the next 10 will have more mutations and head swaps,  my favourites are he champion with his tongue out and the plasma gunners, all comments welcome.