Little Things and Talky-Talky

I took a much-needed break from worrying about the hobby for the past week. It's necessary after a long build up to a big event. I've gotten over my general malaise about the Standoff, which is good.

Instead of drafting up lists or planning the next, big unit addition, I'm building and painting some stuff that I think I'll enjoy because they're fun models or projects.

I've made some very minor forward progress on my Genestealers. These guys are nice and simple to paint. I'm using the same general green recipe from the Tyrant, but applying it much quicker and with less minute attention to detail. They lack any brown chitin, so they paint up faster. in fact, the only brown you'll see on them is their little head plates. I think they'll turnout quite nicely for basic troops models once the ivory on the claws and talons and the purple of the ribbed flesh is done.

I also built and magnetized my first drop pod using the From the Warp tutorial. It took several days to get everything glued properly and assembled. Unfortunately, I somehow leaked glue into the pivot disc for the interior gun mount, so while it is magnetized, it no longer rotates. Bah. I've been using Testor's Liquid Cement instead of the usual plastic glue, and it has a capillary flow that is sometimes maddening. Lesson learned. The magnets I used for the doors help them stay shut, except for one. I'm not sure what happened, but one door just flops over without the magnets working. I triple-checked the polarity, so that can't be it.
Overall, it's a really neat kit that is a bitch and a half to put together. I have two doors that keep making contact with those little binding struts near the top of fins, though that does help them stay shut. My concern is that it'll chip off paint with repeated use. I also wish they'd included five of each chapter symbol for the doors, instead of four, but I understand that the sprues were crowded already. I'm pretty sure I already have a couple spares from past bitz trades anyways, and they're plentiful enough on eBay and Bartertown that it's not a huge issue. I was actually a little surprised at how hefty a model the drop pod is. I'd seen them on the table a hundred times, but never actually lifted and held one.

Forgeworld sent out an email about the revised Imperial Armour 2, and while it would have been a good idea for an XMas present from the wife, I went ahead an bought it for myself. There's just so much great stuff in there. I'm hoping the updated rules for the Deathstorm Drop Pod have been fixed to allow them to fire on landing.

Of course, all of this rambling is pretty pointless without some pictures. I need to sit down and take some properly-lit shots of the Tyrant and the Genestealers (maybe just one). It's been a while since I took any shots of anything! I'd tried to do a step-by-step on the process I used to make the Tyrant's base, but got so caught up in trial-and-error that I stopped taking shots a third of the way through.