Predatorpt "makes" a painting table! And some other stuff

[Predatorpt]

Another year, another thread. Hope this one doesn't get killed by Photobucket (not using it) or by my lack of interest (so far so good, ).

Started 2018 by finally making myself a decent table for my airbrush painting. It was an old Mikael Ikea desk that I had in my attic and that my ex didn't want when we separated.

I reinforced it with some screws and angle clamps so I can move it freely without having the top coming loose. Also added some screw hooks on one of the sides so I can prop my airbrush, and some acrylic boxes to store the paints while painting. To finish everything, I nailed a small Ikea storage box on one of the corner (to store the various parts of the airbrush, plus some things that I need while painting) and a lazy susan so I don't need handle the minis directly.



And today I used it for the first time. Just need to add a support for the larger bottles (with the windshuild fluid I use to clean the airbrush) but I'm satisfied that everything went according to plan, specially the airbrush stand - it supports it even with connecting hose.

[Predatorpt]

I guess you guys noticed the tank on the painting table, right?   This is where the Future Wars theme enters.

It's a Lucius Pattern Baneblade, one of the last Forgeworld resin models of that particular model before they made the plastic version. I bought it on Ebay at a very nice price even if it had a warning saying that it wasn't in a very good shape. As soon as it arrived, I opened the box and saw what I had received (and there's another sponson, it simply wouldn't stay in place for the beauty shot ):









The seller tried to clean it (the main body of the tank at least) and did a fairly good job at it. But I wanted to clean it a bit more, so I went ahead and used some acetone and alcohol (the one I usually use to clean the paint from my plastic miniatures) and some stiff brushes. And I separated all the parts again.

[Predatorpt]

Here's the main problem of the tank... There's only one pair of tracks and even those aren't that great. Plus it's missing two of the main wheels 



I decided to detach all the wheels, which was rather easy



It's pretty obvious its previous owner didn't really clean all those resin gates...



Since I mention resin... I'll have to make resin copies of: various pieces of tracks/2 road wheels. Need to buy more silicone and plan how I'm going to copy those parts :\

But that's a goal for the near future. Right now I'll just repair some of the other damage. Like the missing cables on this lasercannon turret. I just used some guitar string:



And I also glued both parts again (after scrapping all the old superglue):



And filled some rather large gaps:

[Predatorpt]

And back to the painting table from the first post.

Today I decided to give it a bit of primer, just to see if the paint sticks to it and if the previous paint job (and the various attempts to clean it) doesn't show. It was a success 




I even tried some Panzer Putty (that's what I'm going to use to do the cammo pattern) on it and the paint didn't peel off so that's a positive point for me.

In other news...I need to kitbash a pair of those big fuel drums that the old Baneblades use. Since I have zero skills to do something with plasticard...I just cut a suitable substitute (those sweeteners containers are just wide enough). After some fiddling with it, I'm going to use the left one 

[von Lucky]

You have more patience than me, looking forward to you polishing that chunk of resin.

[Vanvlak]

Nice to see the resin beastie getting all that attention. Hope the rebuild of the tracks turns out right.

[Predatorpt]

Thanks for the comments guys. Yesterday I decided to take my chances and make a copy of the missing drive wheels. Broke out my trusty Legos and did some gluing...



And then, after some hours of swearing and wondering why do I do these things (had to add more silicone twice, since it didn't fill the mould) everything seemed to be working out ok (I could remove the Lego bits, a sign that the silicone was set)



What came next was a disaster and there are no pictures of it. Since the drive wheels are very complex ones, it had to cut up parts of the silicone mould to take them out. That forced me to improvise and do two 2-parts moulds. Then I poured some resin into the smaller one (and found out that my usual resin supplier stopped tinting their components, now I have white resin instead of my usual grey one) and hoped for the best.

It was a mess, I had to keep the 2 parts pressed together with tape and rubber bands. Ended going to bed at 5 in the morning, wondering once again why do I bother doing these things. 

Some hours ago I checked the mould and the resin was solid as a rock. So I had - once again - to cut up everything to take my copy out....and I was suprised to see that the parts looks good enought to be used!



Now I just need to clean it up (carefully, I can't make another copy, ) and pour some resin on mould number 2. I'll update once I do that.

[Predatorpt]

Ok, dropped the idea of casting the missing tracks. I'll just use plastic Baneblade ones. With a bit of work I'm sure I can do it.

Meanwhile I haven't been idle. Since I need to detail and repair some bits on the old Baneblade, I decided to scratchbuild some parts on my Shadowsword:

Searchlight (made from several bits, including a wheel from a Leman Russ, plastic tubbing and a support from a LR dozer blade)




Wheel support (made from old photoetch sprue and nail decorations rivets)



Both of them applied on the model




Later today I'll show of my Infantry

[OSHIROmodels]

Cool 

[Vanvlak]

Nice detailing work 

[Calimero]

Pretty cool stuff!

[Predatorpt]

Thanks guys! It really means something to me reading your words. I've been having some very rough times in my life and the hobby is my only escape.

Of course since they work that way, it means I spend an insane amount of time fiddling around with the minis. Here's some of the stuff I did:

Made a hand (it's the one from the Command Squad box, without the helmet and with a thumb from a grenade launcher hand)



so I could do a women for my force, holding a helmet (Anvil Industries one - like the torso; head from Statuesque Minis)



In fact, I really love the Statuesque heads...one of my flamethrower ladies (homage to Gaunt's Ghosts novels - I'll also do some female snipers)



Other small mods that I did - a chainsword on the right hand (and most of my sergeants will have bolters)





Someone trying to change a magazine on a heavy bolter instead of pointing/holding something:




A guy pointing at something (mix of Anvil hands)



More to come soon...

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Just (re) run through this thread.

Nice air brush table, what do you do to keep the spray from decorating the rest of the room?

Your dedication to that Baneblade is amazing. I look forward to seeing it finished.

Nice figure conversions, very creative.

[Predatorpt]

Just (re) run through this thread.

Nice air brush table, what do you do to keep the spray from decorating the rest of the room?

Your dedication to that Baneblade is amazing. I look forward to seeing it finished.

Nice figure conversions, very creative.

It's my garage so I don't have any problem with overspray.  But to be honest, I work with very low PSIs, so I don't get that much. I have two cabinets full of minis and paints near it, but they are closed and protected by plastics.

Glad you liked those figures. That's why I don't do many miniatures. I spend 1 day just to convert and assemble 10 minis