My journey into 40k

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Ooh, original Rhino, in the days when you got three in a box.

I still have one complete, one​ reconstructed and one lot of bits and​ pieces (two were used for a steam tank).

The How to paint Citadel Tanks book has a blue/grey scheme.

[Predatorpt]

Ooh, original Rhino, in the days when you got three in a box.

I still have one complete, one​ reconstructed and one lot of bits and​ pieces (two were used for a steam tank).

The How to paint Citadel Tanks book has a blue/grey scheme.

Thanks for the tip, I have that book! But I checked and it's only one pictures, very similar to the one I found on Google search. And after a new search on Google images, I found out that all my "inspirational" pictures come from the same source, this blog: http://heavytankbuilder.blogspot.pt/

His Ultramarines vehicles are painted in that scheme - grey and blue 

[Predatorpt]

I'm on my vacations right now, so I've started working on my minis again. Since I was cleaning up a Dreadnought , I've decided to take pictures of the process.

The miniature in question, glued with a mixture of wood glue and super glue and very well painted 



I ended up breaking the arms while removing them


The feet were a pain to remove and they left these marks on the base (they were attached with wood glue mixed with brown paint for the base and the sand)



The torso came apart easily


So now comes the fun part. I went ahead and filled up a glass container with acetone (after making sure it was wide enough to fit the miniatures in)


After 3 dips of 5 seconds each, this is the "sweet point" - the paint is just breaking apart but still attached to the miniature


Then I did the same for all the parts and soaked them in water with dishwasher liquid for a few minutes before giving them a good scrub with my nylon brush. This is the final result:



No loss of detail, no melted plastic, some parts are already with their original grey plastic color, other sill have blue spots and lots of black primer. The acetone is now like this


To further remove the black primer and rest of paint, I've put all the pieces in isopropilic alcohol and I'll let them rest until tomorrow


After a few second in it, there are already some flakes of blue paint floating around and the alcohol is turning dark, a sure sign that the primer is breaking apart. Tomorrow I'll give it another vigorous scrubbing and post the results.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

I hope you got them really cheap.

I did a better job on my first Spitfire ^___^.

[Predatorpt]

I hope you got them really cheap.

I did a better job on my first Spitfire ^___^.

Yeah, they were cheap and the sheer amount of vehicles I got (2 Dreadnoughts; 1 Rhino; 1 Predator; 1 Land Speeder plus a Chaos bike  ) made it worth it, even if now I'll have the trouble of stripping them of paint. And I forgot to mention the 14 Terminators (a mix of the ones from Assault on Black Reach and normal ones) included. 

My guess is that the minis were painted by a very young kid..and maybe also assembled  - that would explain why all the Assault Marines are only armed with chainswords, on both hands 

But my workday finished with the first 40k "official" vehicle. A Razorback equipped with Assault Cannons. This is only a test fit for the vehicle, since I didn't glued it - want to keep sub-assemblies so I can paint the interior:



Of course that working with resin was a pain and I quickly remembered why I hate it.


It took my 15 minutes to glue the ammo feeds into their slots! And every time I look at the pictures I think that the cannons aren't lined up properly


Now to get painting...Wednesday I hope. Until then I need to assemble some Tactical Squads

[Ultravanillasmurf]

If you leave the lid loose, you can swap it between an IFV (Razorback) and an APC (Rhino).

Is that a Forgeworld turret?

[Predatorpt]

If you leave the lid loose, you can swap it between an IFV (Razorback) and an APC (Rhino).

Is that a Forgeworld turret?

Yeah, I'm thinking about not gluing the top part. As for the turret, let's just say it's from another source 

[Elbows]

For additional turrets etc. Bitspudlo is excellent on eBay (they're a 3rd party, not a recaster). 

[Ballardian]

Nice work (you're braver than I am with the acetone, but as you've made it work so well I'll definately consider it next time I have to strip a model).

[Predatorpt]

Spent most of my day working on 2 Tactical Squads. And for the first time, used these 2 tools:



GW's Mold Line remover works like a charm and I find it easier to use than scrapping away with a X-acto blade. The fact that you can't cut yourself with that tool also makes it a total must-use in all my projects from now on.  The razor saw is another great find, it makes it very easy to cut thin lines into plastic, like I did in this base



And why did I do that? Because I found 2 metal SM in the middle of my Ebay haul. After a quick dip in acetone, they were fit to go. By their tabs, they were part of the old Blood Angels Death Company boxed set.


I removed the Blood Angels iconography from them and cut away at their tabs until I only had a little metal peg in each


Then I cut some parts of the bases, used a metal file to make a hole and slotted the minis there:



After that it was only a matter of using the spare arms/weapons from the Tactical Squad sprues



There's a bit of gap in one of the arms of the second marine, but it will be covered with the shoulder pauldron so I'm not very worried.

Here's my first Tactical Squad (heads, backpacks, shoulder pauldrons are not glued in place for easier of painting)


The second one


As you can see, I've mixed miniatures from both "Betrayal at Calth" and the normal Tactical Squad set. Now I just need to do another squad 

[Predatorpt]

Small disaster to end the day. I was cleaning the Dreadnought while watching tv and I ended up dipping it in acetone instead of water. End result...the black primer started dissolving, along with the plastic 

It isn't very visible, it looks like someone primed it with a textured paint




But at least some parts are already clean!


I've dropped the dreadnought back into alcohol and I'll let it rest during a couple of days. Then I'll scrub it again and hope for the best.

[tomrommel1]

nice progress

[Major_Gilbear]

Good progress.

Shame about the Dreadnought though... Especially as that old AoBR model is the only way to get the plastic Multi Melta option which is the basic default weapon they come with in the army lists. 

An alternative option could be to see if you can sand/file all the big areas smooth, and up-armour them to make an Ironclad Dreadnought conversion out of it?

I suppose that worst-case scenario you can chop it up to use as a mixture of basing features, objectives, and terrain?

Anyway, I had a look to see if I could find that blue-and-camo scheme that I mentioned earlier, but I couldn't find it. I have a feeling that I saw it about ten years ago in one of those Space Marine Collector guides that GW put out before they pretty much stopped publishing printed catalogues. I seem to remember seeing a Pre-Heresy Ultramarines army in there too, where every model was converted in some way. If I ever find it, I'll post it up for you!

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Good progress.

You could go for the aged cast hull look. You might need to remove and replace the iconography and the "Best of Show" rosettes.

You might inspire me to finish mine off.

[horridperson]

Nothing in half measure Predatorpt !  You did go all in.  I have been having a wicked 40k modelling craving for a while now and some friends have been pressuring me ( ie twisting my rubber arms) to get to some Shadow Wars and maybe a modest army as well.  I'm up in the air but sorely tempted by the Nurgle models that have been poking around but seeing a big loyalist project doesn't help me commit to a plan.  Great start to an ambitious project but I don't understand why you tear down that "pro painted" dreadnought  .