Spleen's Adventures in the New Leyland Colony

[spleenrippa]

You did better than “okay” mate! This looks great! What’s your stone recipe?

Thank for the kind words.

I didn't follow a set recipe or anything. To the best of my recollection, I:
Primed in black
Base coated in Vallejo Sombre Grey, then stippled two or three progressively lighter greys on
I flicked a black-grey of some sort at it to get the spots
Weathering was just GW contrast. A couple shades of brown and green put on, then pushed around with a really wet brush until it looked okay

Yeah, the whole thing was extremely scientific 

[spleenrippa]

Being a rapid response force, I am ruling that a Vesta Pact Spaceborne Assault Team travels light. The typical SAT has several varieties of BMD-esque AFVs in its inventory, each of which is only a fraction the weight of an actual MBT. They also eschew large mecha, preferring to allocate mass in starlift capacity to power-armoured troopers instead.

To support this bit of worldbuilding I picked up the "Nyx power armour unit" from user Crimson Steel Mechworks on Myminifactory and printed off a squad. They're cool models and not an outright 40k ripoff, which is nice. I found them a PITA to assemble, though, as each section of the body is a separate piece (torso, each arm, legs) and the arm pegs are too shallow to really lock into the torso sockets. In the future, I'll take the unsupported versions of the models and kitbash everything in Blender so I can print each trooper in a single piece and save the crazy glue frustration.

Also, I'm not sold on the ginormous rifle. I think I'll lop the hand off entirely and have the arm end in a weapon, like an SAFS from MaK.... More Blender work

Anyway, here is my painted test mule on a WIP base. Some gripes, but nothing major. It's certainly a chonky bit of kit!

[Pattus Magnus]

That’s a very cool model! Despite the assembly headaches you made it look great. With the consistent paint jobs across the different model lines, it fits right in with the conventional infantry.

[OSHIROmodels]

Nice 

[Grimmnar]

Crimson Steel Mechworks got some nice models. Followed his shop for now.

Spleen I like tge gun for what it is. It's a hunting gun for a large set of power armor that is a rifle with a round  mag drum that holds a support weapons amount of ammo with an userslung grenade launcher with a multiple round  magazine as well. But that's just my take.

Grimm

[v_lazy_dragon]

Very nice power armour - I wonder if taking the 'carry handle' off the gun might help dechonk it a bit. Like Grimm it reads as suitably sized to hunt larger mechs/light vehicles rather than mowing down infantry

[Grimmnar]

Like Grimm it reads as suitably sized to hunt larger mechs/light vehicles rather than mowing down infantry

I never said I wouldn't shoot at infantry as well.

Grimm

[Pattus Magnus]

Anything that will take out light vehicles will probably be more than effective against infantry. Just look at the Browning M2 as the textbook example…

[Spinal Tap]

Amazing and realistic looking world, impressive stuff indeed.

[Metternich]

Love the Power Armor (in fact, love everything about your collection).  I guess the large weapon makes some sense if you consider: 1) in Power Armor the trooper can lift and fire it, and 2) in that size, it is really equivalent to a heavy tripod-mounted support weapon, or even light auto-cannon, so maybe it has AT capability.

[spleenrippa]

Again, thanks to everyone for all the encouragement.

I'm going to do some modelling on a new PA arm this week. I'll post some Blender screenshots to get everyone's opinion and see if it's worth putting on another print run.

I had houseguests again this weekend (I'm basically the "big city" waystation for my rural friends, ), so no hobbying. However, I did pull out the lightbox to show off a recent project. In my quest to find an AFV for my New Leyland Security Forces, I modelled a sort-of-sci-fi CVRT:



Hmmm... It basically just looks like a poorly modelled CVRT,

I went back to the drawing board with the goal of producing a similarly sized tracked vehicle. I ended up with this:



Unlike most of my models, which are just big hunks of resin, I broke this one up more along the lines of a conventional model kit. This has the added benefit of saving resin and reducing the chance of warping. Also, painting roadwheels is a pain in the ass when the running gear is one piece.


I modelled some skirts as well. In the foreground is the base and camera head for the aux equipment install. The idea is to model a bunch of remote weapon stations and equipment, which will sit in the slot in the turret bustle.
This particular one fits a 3mm acrylic rod, which will give the vehicle a recon mast for scenario use.

I've also got a mountain of scatter pieces to get started on this week. Like, I used an entire kilo of resin printing barrels, pallets, and boxes. I get palpitations just thinking about it.

[Pattus Magnus]

That’s a great light combat vehicle. You could make a series of specialist turret variants, too. It’s amazing to me what a skilled 3D modeler like you can create.

[v_lazy_dragon]

I like the re-modelled tank, as the first really does look just a bit too much like the inspiration!

[Manu Miniatures]

This thread is very inspirational. I would like to do something similar one day, when I'll have enough old Warzone chunks painted.

What is this tall-grass mat made of?

[spleenrippa]

This thread is very inspirational. I would like to do something similar one day, when I'll have enough old Warzone chunks painted.

What is this tall-grass mat made of?

Thank-you for the kind words. The mat is a faux-fur blanket that I've brushed a bunch of yellow/brown/light green craft paint into. It's the "green" variant of this item on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B09GXGP597/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
I've got 2 twins and a "throw" size 

Even though I've been negligent in updating this thread, I haven't been (entirely) neglectful of my miniatures. Here's a quick update on what's occupying my workbench right now:


I've got a million plastic palm trees and bamboo plants mounted on fender washers. Previously, I was using a system whereby the washers would slot into sockets on terrain bases. It works, but I've never been happy with it so I'm transitioning a lot of my trees to smaller "LoS blocker" type bases where everything is fixed in place.


I wanted larger center-piece trees that wouldn't shed buckets, so I picked up five large ones meant for decorating aquariums from AliExpress. The trunks have been treated with the same AK ground paste as the base to relieve a bit of the plasticky look.


While shopping for the big trees, I noticed these weird aquarium decorations and purchased four of them. Again, the tendrils were coated in AK ground paste and dry brushed. I think they're suitably alien looking!


Corks on strips of floor tile = cheapo anti-tank obstacles that are also super easy to make.


Your standard tile spacer + seal wire barbed wire obstacle. I need to finish adhering the wire to the base and give it a wash on this one 


I've been puttering around in Blender, too. Here's a project from the last three nights. I figure that the mercenaries hired to assist in the uprising against Morris-Ingram would have to transport armour to Seline for the assault, and for the mass-price of a single tank you can transport a lot of Space-Ferrets. Sure, they're lightly armed and armoured, but it's not like the corporate forces have real AFVs to oppose them... probably