Ecclesiarchy Pattern Immolator Crusader Gunner

There is still a long way to go. Will this project take 6 months like the Steel Legion Medusa? Originally the idea was the Ecclesiarchy might hide their armoured power amongst the Adepta Astartes, and indeed they must as they have been banned from having men at arms, yet there are a few crusaders providing muscle for the Ecclesiarchy. Hence it may be possible that the gunner on a transport Immolator might be a crusader if the Adepta were stretched. And so the turret gunner was born. The mini may yet change but at the moment it comprises the seated lower part of the SoB gunner mini with the power armour knees sanded down. The torso is an IG tank crew torso with a Grey knight shoulder shield fixed to the chest as a breast plate. The head is a spare from the Brettonian men at arms, while the arms are from the Empire militia.

Otherwise the basic bits for the delivery vehicle for the Ecclesiarchy assassination squad are fixed together as planned. The key components have now been defined apart from a few ideas not yet crystallised plus and essentially details, details and details. So here they are:

  

Steel Legion Medusa Completed

Its taken 6 months. As there is little time tonight here are some pictures of it.

Ecclesiarchy Pattern Immolator Project

OK, some activity here. Here are the results of making a platform for the immolator turret and some alternative side doors for the Rhino platform.

Rigidity to the plasticard assembly is given by the "girder" from the tanks sprue and the turret assembly cut from the Rhino kit.

Ecclesiarchy Tank Project part deux (part 2)

One happy hour was spent this afternoon chopping bits up for this project. This is an overview photo. Necessary tools can be seen. The yellow tip of the handle of the GW clippers in the top centre. The cheap knife at the mid right, and below the GW saw, while at the top left is the glass of wine, (Yes I am 18+, it is OK in the UK for US readers).

The project took shape this afternoon. Ecclesiarchy bits are from the Sanctum Imperialis kit. Lots of debris created as can be seen in this pic. Chopping bits of plastic here is usually done away from the painting table. Lumps of plastic in the paint is typically a bad idea. Concepts for the side doors, top, front armour, immolator weapon were created.

The Immolator weapon will still be crewed by an assigned Adepta Sororita to technically get around Imperial regulations. The bits box has a spare Immolator turret from the 2 Exorcists the Sisters have here.

Looking at the side doors, the figures have been clipped from the Sanctum wall  section seen below the side doors. The actual door has been cut from the interior doors of the Rhino kit and positioned behind the monkish figures on the exterior.

For the glacis plate of the front Rhino armour one of the complete Sanctum Imperialis wall sections will replace the classic dip and reinforce Rhino front armour.

For the top surface of the Rhino tombs of Saints were carved from the Imperial Doors of the Sanctum Imperialis kit. More tombs might be added to the track covers.




There are more bits to cut out to complete the components and much sanding down of components to complete for assembly. In addition if the rear ramp is to be movable an Imperial Shrine for the interior of the Rhino is needed.

Most of the concepts have been covered so far apart from the weapons.

Steel Legion Medusa Progress

Finally some progress. Life gets in the way of hobby time. So does work. What else gets in the way of 40k?

Still a bit of a way to go with the Forgeworld Medusa but the final shape of the mini is now clear at least to me. Hopefully it will still be playable when the revised Imperial Guard Codex comes out next year.

Making Track Hangers

Part of the Medusa detailing madness has been a desire to make track hangers as shown in the Forgeworld Imperial Armour Masterclass. The problem is brass strip. Where to get some. They suggest waste runners from photo etched sheets from Forgeworld. Not convenient if you do not possess any. This morning between sleeping and awakening the answer popped into my mind. A common material soft but reasonably strong metal, the aluminium used in soft drinks cans. Just cut some out with a pair of scissors and there are easy track hangers.

Armageddon Pattern Medusa Progress

Detailing and assembling almost finished as can be seen in pics. Nothing is fixed in place yet. There has been a bit of detailing madness induced by the Forgeworld Imperial Armour Masterclass volume 1. The cabin rear door/ramp has been hinged so will open and close when the mini is finished. After all there is so much detail in the interior it would be a pity to seal it up in a completed model, on the other hand fixing it open asks for damage to the model.  Likewise the heavy stubber rotates and elevates. The commander figure has his left arm magnetised to allow alteration of position, and he may be attached to the roof of the cabin by a magnet. The remaining detail issue is how to make the hooks to hang spare tracks from the cabin roof as seen in IAM vol 1. Also the question of what the commander should be holding in his left hand is not yet resolved. Should it be binoculars of perhaps a beverage?

One irritation remains is that there is a slight bit of warping or the front of the cabin so that it does not fit the hull seamlessly. Interestingly it appears that Forgeworld also had this problem as the IAM images of their Medusa also show this casting flaw.

Armageddon Pattern Medusa from Forgeworld

Progress here. The fit of the resin components is in some senses excellent and in others amazingly bad. Here are some images of the mini which will be created as several sub assemblies for painting and then finally assembled and detailed.

Sub assemblies allows the tracks to be painted before attaching - something that I find easier than painting them insitu. Can you spot where the fit of the components is amazingly bad?

The medusa cannon barrel is far too wide for the aperture in the cabin top. Some work is needed there.

Armageddon Pattern Medusa Bits from Forgeworld

One thing about the Forgeworld range is that the components often come attached to multiple bits of resin flashing. A bit of warping of the components is also not unusual. So here are the resin bits as supplied by Forgeworld before the cleanup. The floor pan of the Medusa has warped sides and the and the armoured room has a massive bit of flashing attached at as ever a strategically vulnerable part of the component. Anyway off to work with the saw, vise and sandpaper, to sort things out. These Forgeworld conversion kits are not for the faint hearted.

Bane Wolf - Finished I Think/Hope

When is a mini finished. Probably when the ideas for enhancing it outweigh the improvement that they actually deliver to the model.

Anyway the Bane Wolf addition to the Steel Legion is finished for now. The question of additional weathering and or battle scarring has been shelved for the moment. A squadron of these would look nice.

Bane Wolf Progress

So far so good for the Steel Legion Bane Wolf. The drums containing the chem components have been painted brown, grey and blue to indicate the different chemical components used in the Chem Cannon. The model is still not glued together and won't be until all the components are painted and ready.

Steel Legion 2nd Platoon 1st Squad and Bane Wolf

 This week has seen more work on the Steel Legion, with the second platoon 1st squad completed. Only one more squad to do and that will be all the core troops choices. Originally a 3rd platoon was part of the over all plan but a recent post on Faeit 212 : "The Strength of Armour in 6th: Part 2" changed plans, hence the Devil Dog which will be the first of many tanks for this IG army. The Bane Wolf at the moment is unassembled, everything comes to bits apart from the basic hull assembly. This seems to make it easier to paint. At the moment it only has the base colours done. Next for the washes to hopefully produce a result such as on the old style Chimera below.

Exorcist Coming to Completion

On the painting bench is the second Exorcist. In the background fluff these baroque tanks are described as mobile shrines in addition to weapons of war. These tanks have been inscribed over the centuries with imperial texts recording ancient victories and exhortations to the faithful, and incantations of destruction on the enemies of the Emperor.

Sisters of Battle Tanks, Rhino, Immolator and Exorcist Reinforcement Progress

It has been quiet on the blogging front but that does not mean things have not been happening on the painting table. The reinforcements for the Sisters of Battle are close to completion. The Rhino is essentially finished, the Immolator is almost finished as it is awaiting the workshop to make some purity seals. The Exorcist is least close to finished. The periscope view points on the hull need a little touch up. The script on the hull and other surfaces needs finishing and the crew such as they are need to be painted. None the less the SoB are close to completion. Except that another troops choice squad would be nice, plus some Retributors, a few more Celestinians, and another Rhino and Immolator. That is for another day as next up as the Exorcist finishes will be Karamazov to be finished and painted. The "finecast" arms of his seat have been almost beaten into shape with the help of a little green stuff. And at the same time the greater Daemon of Kohrn legacy mini has made some progress and will get a bit more TLC on the painting take ones the current SoB project is completed.

Below are the pictures :

Sisters of Battle Rhinos x3

The third Sisters of battle Rhino is here. Some finishing to complete, such as the purity seals and the battle flag but otherwise it is done. On of the things that makes the Sisters of Battle Immolator/Rhino kit appealing is the opportunities it gives to make each model slightly different when finished as can be seen from the 3 rhinos here. Some magnet fun has been incorporated into the third Rhino. The cattle prod front bumper is magnetised on. It can be swapped out for the dozer blade on the first rhino. In addition an mindful of how easy it is to break ariels or poles attached to tanks during transportation the banner pole has been magnetised on as well.

Sisters of Battle Immolator Progress and Forgeworld Commissar

Firstly the Commissar. Commissar Krieg will be joining the Steel Legion. In his travels he has acquired a hand cannon in the form of a one handed trench shotgun from the Kreig ForgeWorld weapons sprue. Detailing of the mini and splicing of the hand cannon us still to be done

Next the second Immolator for the Sisters of Battle of the Verdant Deed. Still a lot to do but finally the tracks are on meaning that the hull top and extra armour can be fixed on for the second phase of painting.To highlight raised surfaces and add dirt.

Sisters of Battle Tank Reinforcements Progress and Magnets

A pause while the forgeworld MKIIc Rhino Dozer blade was magnetised for the Immolator. The problem was that this blade from forgeworld has short hull attachment arms. This is fine if the blade is glued to the hull.  But with the second Inmmolator the God Emperor had decided to bless the Sisters with a detachable dozer blade. The short arms even with the strongest neodynium magnets because of narrowness of the attachment arms which could not support a magnet more than 3mm in diameter along with the slope of the glacis plate of the hull gave such poor leverage that could not comfortably overcome the weight of the large blade. Various arrangements of magnets and additional clips under the hull were tried until it become obvious that the only realistic solution was to make an extension to the dozer blade arms flat under the hull to give access to larger magnets and a flat surface.


Progress has been made with all three reinforcements tanks as shown. The Exorcist has not quite yet reached the base colours paint stage as some rivets are to be glued to the additional hull reinforced armour panels. Otherwise some satisfactory progress has been made.