Police Tactical Response Vehicle: 31 January 2018

And now the ride for the Arbites! This is a Miniature Scenery model - their Police Tactical Response Vehicle. It is laser-cut MDF and is assembled with wood glue. I am not sure if (with the exchange rate - it is an Australian company) it is any cheaper than plastic, but this was a unique model I couldn't find elsewhere. I need to add a cupola weapon and a commander peering out of the hatch - but I think it looks pretty good even without these details.

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Arbites: 30 January 2018

Some more work on the Arbites today - I assembled the sniper and the leader (with her double eagle-shoulders and the book of THE LAW!) and glued the remaining bodies together. The modeling is better than the photography, I think . . .

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Arbites: 29 January 2018

So, update on the computer situation; lit the incense and chanted the canticles and managed to recover the files from the hard drive using a device the tech department at work calls "the toaster" (as it looks like one) and an old laptop I have. All files recovered! New computer ordered! All is good.

And even managed to get a bit of hobby in - some more Arbites. I didn't do all these tonight, but I did some and here they are.

This doing just a little bit on the weeknights is, I think, going to be the norm . . . but slow progress is progress!

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So my computer crashed HARD today . . .

Just stopped working. Was literally running one second and then the next, poof! Black screen, all lights off, did not boot up. I suspect the motherboard or some small, delicate part got fried by a static shock. It had suddenly shut down like that before, but it always booted up.

Mondays are sent to try us.

I have a new machine on order and am going to recover the hard-drive using a device known to the tech team here at work as "the toaster" ...

... but that means blog updates might be late as I won't have a computer to make them from. I will post pics in the Facebook group from my 'phone but making blog updates from there is too much of a faff. I will make posts in the morning from my work PC, which means if I do the hobby in the evening there will be a delay here.

I mean; not that you care, right? :)

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Arbites: 28 January 2018

Another day of very little done - I organized all the parts I would need to assemble the Arbites and managed to put arms on two and a head on one! I thought weekends were when you had time to spend on hobbies?

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Robo Horse: 27 January 2018

As I said yesterday, a busy time for me these few days and little opportunity to do hobby. But, rather than have a day when I don't hobby and say I will "catch up" (which just encourages you to let it slip - as I had before), I did something.

It's a Copper Mine Miniatures (now, I think, no longer producing models) heavy robo horse. I am using them as mounts for some Arbites - mounted police is just such an iconic image!

So, not much hobby today - but something! Shut up, woman - look at my horse.

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Arbites: 26 January 2018

Another night when I am only doing something just to say I did something - certainly NOT an hour! In my defense, the reason I had no time tonight was because I was running a 40K RPG for some friends. Does that count? I suppose not - it is hobby, but not hobby, you know?

There will always be days like this - days when you simply cannot get to the workbench for any meaningful length of time. Yesterday was like that, so was today, and so will this weekend (I have a full calendar). I suppose it would be perfectly fine - and make no real difference - to simply do nothing, to miss a day. I mean; really? Sticking four sets of legs to bases and putting four torsos on them will make a difference in how quickly these models will be finished?

Well, no - but it will make a difference to me. If you don't do anything, you didn't do anything - you made no progress. You might be able to say "Well, I will do more tomorrow - or did more a few days ago" (I've spent much more than an hour a day during the early part of the week). But we are told to pray "give us this day our daily bread" - not give us bread to last the week on Monday. Like religious devotion, painting is a discipline (and, for some, a religious devotion!) and needs to be worked at.

At least, it is for me (a discipline, not a religion). I know if I don't do something I will fall back into the habit of doing nothing.

So, there it is - four legs-and-torsos assembled. They are Dreamforge infantry, and are going to be some Dredd-inspired Arbites. For now, however, they are just armless torsos. Perhaps they can start a Black Crusade?

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Sister of Battle Canoness: 25 January 2018

I knew a day like this would come; very, very little done. Don't let the picture fool you - most of that was already painted - all I did today was maybe a dozen little white fleurs on her cloak. I had things to do this evening and was feeling tired. No motivation.

But I did something and that is better than nothing. And that was all the goal was - to keep on keeping on!

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Sister of Battle Palatine: 24 January 2018

Another conversion of the plastic Geminae from the new Celestine kit. This is a conversion I have wanted for over 20 years (and, I think, the original conversion was started about 20 years ago!) This is Throne-Agent Palatine Alicia Laertes, Daughter of Verity. She was one of my very first 40K OCs, predating (I think) the invention of the Order of Our Crystal Lady. She's gone through many revisions, but the central concept of a Sister of Battle with a Blood Angel power axe remained.

Most of the conversion is new, but there are a few pieces which I took from the old (incomplete, and unsatisfactory) conversion - her cloak and combi-weapon (and backpack - but that is just a backpack). This model is much more dynamic (even precariously posed!) and I am much happier with it.

Another day, another bit of hobby! Only five days so far, but I haven't missed one (and, perhaps more importantly, I haven't let my room turn into a horrible mess!)

Tomorrow, I think I might bust out a paintbrush or two . . .

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Sister of Battle Sniper: 23 January 2018

Well, all the pieces for this one were on the sprues or kicking about in the bitz box when I started this evening (okay, full disclosure - I'd assembled the Anvil Industries sniper rifle already except for the scope and magazine . . .)

The model is based on a bit of background for my Order which you can read (together with some editorial about my views on the standard Repentia models) here. She's one of the Geminae Superia from the plastic Celestine kit converted - it was really fairly easy to get her pose into a standing sniping position.

She is magnetized, so she can be removed - both for painting and to set her on a smaller base. This larger base is supposed to represent the corner of a larger building with the edges representing where the diorama ends rather than what is actually there. You get the idea.

She needs a bit of Green Stuff work and some neatening up, but there she is!

Another day of success!

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Sisters of Battle Flier: 22 January 2018

Another part-finished project - this one had been sitting part-assembled (and asymmetrically assembled - I'd glued pieces on one side but not the other) in a box together with the kit's sprues and an eBay lot of bitz from various GW Marine fliers.

It is the Dark Angel Ravenwing flier - the Nephilim / Dark Talon or whatever they call it. I've used all the cool "gothic church" pieces on it and mixed-and-matched the weapons quite freely to get a cool look (it's not a gaming piece as there is no Sisters flier). There are some little conversions of the various Dark Angels symbols of iconography to better match the Ecclesiarchy.

My dad paints military models, and I have a new-found respect for aircraft - to be able to reach the cockpit with a brush, you need to leave the thing in many different pieces. And there is a VERY specific order to put this together in - when dry-fitting it, I've mucked that up more than once so I am going to have to make a list and check it twice!

For that reason, this thing might get called the Saint Nicholas plane . . .

Another successful day! Let me know what you think if you have such thoughts!

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Sisters of Battle Exorcist: 21 January 2018

Two days into the resolution and I am still keeping to it! A fair bit of work to get the first stage of assembly of this Sisters of Battle Exorcist finished (everything is glued on, but I need to gap fill). I'd already got it about half-done, and so getting it to this stage gets rid of a pile of parts in a box on the floor!

Man, hybrid (metal & plastic) tanks - we all hate those, right? I'd forgotten just how annoying they were! Filing and filling, insufficient contact surface, mold slippage . . . I am giving great thanks to some "extra thick gap filling" superglue which made it much easier. Even so, a lot of faffing about for what - had it been a purely plastic kit - would have been so much easier.

Minor conversion to this model - I've flipped the gunner around so she is facing the organ pipes (classic "Phantom of the Opera" look, there) and changed the model for the Immolator gunner. I am using her legs (with the old, metal, Immolator gunner torso) for another vehicle, and the metal Exorcist gunner to make a unique Seraphim. Pics of those to follow later but - for now - here is my #1HourANight!

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Ladies of Battle: 20 January 2018

These are some models for my Warhammer Empire army; as an indication of just how long these models have been languishing unfinished, when I painted them there still was a Warhammer Fantasy Battle and an Empire faction within it!

These models are all based on two figures from Hasslefree Miniatures - Tiriel and Dynamic Tiriel (with one Kneeling Tiriel in the middle) with lots and lots of conversions. The idea for the unit was heavy-armored sword-and-board warriors (in previous editions known as Lords of Battle, hence the name!) with strong religious overtones. So, there are lots of candles, books, icons, statues etc. in the unit. The unitfiller / backdrop is made of blocks cast using the Hirst Arts Roman Temple mold. I was inspired by the Lion Gate in Mycenae for the design above the door lintel.

This unit was all-but-complete; the only thing I had to do was base the movement tray and add some grass to the unitfiller! Still, it is something for the hobby and it is something I did today - so, the first day of my new resolution is a success!

=][= Danforth Laertes