Somebody start the countdown timer music!

Tick tock, tick tock...
Countdown To GT

The Kan is complete apart from the ancestor mask and a little bit of detailing:

The last three Bikes have been assembled and pinned to their bases.

At this point there are no more empty bases!

The Boys (now known as Da Good Ole' Boys, led by Ole' Bushy Brows) have changed from being used as Shoota Boys to Slugga Boys, so they needed more CCWs.

Before & after:

Close-ups:

I really like the one with a chainsaw accessory and a telescopic sight on the same gun...

Looking very good Ian. Liking them a lot

I just found a couple of round shields which are the exact diameter of the fuel tank, so I can cover the ends and the very noticeable joins between the two halves.

Now working on bigger guns for the Exo-Armour Warlord, and putting together the two Biker Nobs.

Ian

Next - creating a Bosspole. I used a couple of small ancestor faces and a 2nd ed. Marine backpack with a hefty banner pole on it.

The skull faces on each side of the Imperial eagle were cut off and replaces with ancestor faces. On the right you can see before-and-after versions of an arm for one of the two Biker Nobs. Cut at the wrist, shortened and the hand turned 180 degrees.

Next, the guns on the Exo Armour models are the poorest bit of the model in terms of sculpting quality, and in terms of size. Oversize Kombi-skorchas aside, they're just too wimpy to look like they count as twin-linked Shootas, especially one wielded by a Warlord! A bit of searching through the bits box and I found a twin Storm Bolter from somewhere, which looks great.

I also found a couple of old round shields the exact size of the fuel tank, so the gaping crack between the two halves is now covered:

Ian

The arm that we just saw, now in place:

Now from the other side. I'm going to mount both of the Nobs/Guildmasters on larger bases to make them stand out more from the rest of the units. It's not too clear in this photo, but the front wheels will be lifting up off the roadkill Ripper.

The oversize Skorcha arm is now finished - the Attack Bike Multimelta is pinned thoroughly into the shoulderpad, and due to the model looking so front-heavy I added a bipod to the front end. I wondered about wheels on the bipod but though that would be silly. ;-)

This member of the Hearthguard will have an Ork theme to his base, standing on remnants of a Warbike and a Loota, with several severed heads at his feet.

Right. Warlord time!

Construction-wise, the model is finished, ready for undercoating. The base is another matter...

Note the drilled out barrels and the dangling ancestor mask under the barrels, and the 'mini-me' Epic Exo Armour model standing on the anvil at the top of the Bosspole.

I'm hoping to have a different theme for each of the Exo Armour bases, in this case Tyranids - aiming for 'standing upon the heaped corpses of his enemies'-style, including a Carnifex.

Since taking the photo, I've had another go at the base, adding a 1st ed. Genestealer body to bulk it out and raise the Warlord another 5-6mm up in the air. In case it's not clear, this Brotherhood did not get eaten by the Nids, rather the other way around...

Partly for painting purposes, partly for easy transport and partly down to indecisiveness when it comes to weapon options, everything is magnetised. The mounting pins on the shoulders were just under 3mm diameter, so I drilled the holes out to 3mm wide and 2mm deep, cut the mounting pin off the body, then glued a 3x1mm magnet into the bottom of the hole and another onto the body where the pin was.

This gives invisible magnets and accurate registration because the 'body' magnets actually go partly into the shoulderpad. The banner pole was filed flat on one side at the bottom and a magnet glued on, with the other magnet going into an existing depression on the back of the body. A couple of 3mm magnets easily keeps the arms in position, so keeping the banner pole upright is no problem.

And a couple of lower views:

Also done but not photographed is attaching Wazzdakka's/Exo Armour Biker's Heavy Bolter to his arm, again with drilled out barrel.

Progress so far:

I've swapped out yellow for purple for 'constructed awaiting painting', as it's a bit hard to read on a white background...

Warboss in Mega Armour (construction done, needs basing)
Meganob 1 (still has wimpy gun), Meganob 2 (oversize Skorcha, just needs gluing), Meganob 3 (painted, needs rebasing)
Trukk

12 Boyz inc. Nob
Trukk

Exo-Biker/Wazzdakka (gun arm done, lance arm done, banner pole and base to go)

12 Bikers inc. Nob

7 Bikers inc. Nob (some riders still need cleaning, Nob still needs a Powerfist/klaw)

14 Lootas

Killa Kan 1 (robot, just the ancestor mask to go)

Killa Kan 2 (Carnifex) OR Killa Kan 2 (robot)

That's all for tonight...

Lol...I sense a mad feverish assembly and soon to be painting production line in the Wood household!

Something like that, yes. ;-)

Biker Nobs/Guildmasters - I'm happy with Mr. Hammer, but not totally sure on armament for the other one.

With axe:

With left-handed Powerfist:

Opinions? The 'Fist is much more WYSIWYG, and will also make for a less fragile model.

The revised "Pile 'O Corpses" base for the Warlord:

More views of the base:

And, while I was at it, a close-up of the banner pole magnets:

You can see the filed down area at the bottom of the pole, with magnet attached, and the other magnet tucked into the indented area in the middle of the back.

Squats really are growing on me now, nice job Ian!

A quick question: where do you get all the magnets?

The magnets are either from eBay or from assorted tools websites.

I put in an order for loads of magnets yesterday and am planning to offer the spares to club members, much cheaper than buying ten at a time...

Ian

Awesome, i'll most definately be interested in some, I'm planning on magnetising my heavy weapon marines and possibly my dreadnought though I'm a bit scared to break the arm off him : P

They are called rare earth magnets. I got mine from a website http://e-magnetsuk.com/

got a fair few spare I'll bring some in on Tuesday for you to look at

Awesome, thanks dude!

http://www.shop4tools.co.uk/acatalog/Neodymium_Magnets_Disc_Sphere_Block_Gold_Silver_Magnets.php

is about 20% cheaper but has slightly fewer options.

Ian

Hmm, is there much difference between the strength of the magnets from the two sites? I'd prefer the stronger ones as I can get a bit accident prone :P Also, i'm pleased to see theres ones as small as 1mm, now I can magnetise arm options on me sergeants too! :D

They should be identical as long as you get 'rare earth' or 'neodymium' magnets (different name, same thing). Hav e alook at the ones James has on Tuesday, if mine have arrived by then I'll bring them and we can compare. Mind you, they are so cheap when bought in bulk that 20% doesn't really matter.

Ian

Next update.

I decided on the Powerfist for the second Nob/Guildmaster Biker, he's now been pinned to a base.

Holes drilled in wheels and pins glued in:

First hole drilled in resin base:

As resin doesn't have lot of flexibility, the holes have to be placed quite accurately. After drilling the first hole, I used a felt tip to mark exactly where the pins touched the base, to know where to drill the back wheel holes:

In a similar vein, here's the first Nob/Guildmaster plus the roadkill ripper. You can see the pin running from the wheel, through the ripper and into the base, but once undercoated black this should be near-invisible.

Same deal with Exo Biker/Wazzdakka. The lance arm has been glued in place, the gun arm is magnetised. Note the drilled out barrel. The rider isn't glued in place on the bike, but has a pin sticking out directly underneath ready for gluing after being painted. In the first photo you can just make out the 3mm magnet on top of the engine block, ready for the banner pole.

The Skorcha bodyguard is cleaned up and glued on to his base. The gun arm will be glued in place once painted. The two Ork heads will be attached when adding texture to the base, so that they can be placed slightly 'in' to the base material rather than looking plonked down on top of it. One of the bipod legs overlaps the front edge of the base by about 2mm.

The Warlord's base is finished apart from a bit of texturing around the edges, again to make the bits of Nid to 'sit in' to the basing material, and create a bit of a crater around the edge of the Carnifex head.

Rear view:

All components of the Warlord. The base is drilled out all the way through to the bottom, ready for the body to be glued down once painted.

I tried to dig out enough of the top of the pile so that the Warlord's feet appear to be pressing them down:

Finally, all the components in place.

P.S. Does anyone have one of those twin Storm Bolters? I don't even know which kit it's from. :(

An idea for an objective marker:

Plus the last two Exo Armour Hearthguard/Meganobs. These two will just get 'plain' bases for now, with a view to coming back to them if there is some time remaining before the GT. The unpainted one has a magnetised gun arm, but the left arm is glued in place.