Replacement Flying Bases

Good evening worshippers of the Plague Father and thank you for joining us again. Today I would like to offer up a simple alternative to the small flying bases from Games Workshop. I have made this as I have broken more than my fair share of these on Destroyers, Hammer Heads and Crisis Suits.

I was going to attach a magnet to the plastic rod but then I saw a set of Geomag toys on ebay for a couple of pounds which came with 36 rods and a large selection of ball bearings. The rod itself is a hard plastic with a rare earth magnet stuck in each end so you could easily make something similar yourself with a bit of dowel and a sunk magnet though with the cost of magnets alone I liked them.

I started by priming the rod black, as the ones I have are a mix of red, blue and yellow. I stuck this onto the plastic base with super glue as I wasn't sure how poly cement would behave with this type of plastic.

To attach it to the destroyer in this case I used a flat headed screw, if you go this route remember to check they are magnetic before attaching. You could easily swap this out for another magnet or a piece of steel rod which would work nicely and could be made to sit flush with the model if you attached it inside.

I have used this stand on my Destroyer Lord in a couple of games now and is has served me wonderfully compared to the standard ones I used to break on a regular basis.

Until next time keep spreading his word to every corner of the universe.

O'Shashar

O'Shashar's Misadventures With His Airbrush - Starting Out

Good evening and thank you for joining me once again in the Cupboard of Nurgle. Today I would like to talk to you about starting out with airbrushing and depending how much I learn as I go along this may become a regular series of tips. Now I am new to airbrushing so my tips will really only be good for people who have just started or are thinking about starting out.

Firstly I would recommend you ask yourself why you want an airbrush, it seems to be a bit of a stupid question but by asking myself this I had put this purchase off for a long time based on the knowledge that most of the painting I would do could be achieved with a paint brush. Personally I got an airbrush as I wanted to paint a large amount of terrain and vehicles as well as apply base coats in batches.

Once you have decided this is something you want to invest in it is time to either ask someone who knows about airbrushing miniatures at your local game club or search the internet for information. I went the internet route as I know a lot of people interested in airbrushing but like me have held off. The internet is full of useful information and differing points of view so try to read as much as you can to get an overall view of what's out there.

After my research I decided I would need the following:

• Airbrush ( To start I got a cheap double action one to test with before I get the higher quality one I have my eye on purely so if this went badly I wouldn't have sunk too much money into it)
• Compressor with an air tank ( to prevent pulsation in the air pressure and over heating )
• Airbrush Holder ( I got a combined Airbrush holder & cleaning jar and has served me well )
• Cleaning Tools
• Cleaning Fluid
• Moisture Trap
• Respirator ( Acrylics are not toxic by nature and without the chemicals of propellant they are not as bad for you but I don't think breathing in something that is a nightmare to get off your hands is a good idea )

This is by no means a comprehensiveness list and if you find anything you feel will make your experience better go for it. You will also need to think of where you plan to spray as it will need to be well ventilated and spray booths to buy or build can be found online. A lot of people recommend buying a second needle for the brush as they are quite delicate and even a small bend can render them useless, I would like to add to this they are sharp enough so you won't feel them go stick in until you hit something solid.

So now you have your set up and are eager to get started you should stop and read the instructions for all the equipment you bought, now I know this goes against everyone's favourite method of trial and error but keep in mind that you have just spent a fair amount of money on equipment you haven't used before and there is a good chance something is going to go wrong.

Once you are familiar with the instructions you want to disassemble and reassemble your airbrush a few times to make yourself comfortable with doing this for cleaning. I did not do this and while using my airbrush I took the needle out to clean it causing me to flood it all with paint. Due to this I had to disassemble it, coated in paint and with no idea how it went back together I do not recommend that to anyone.

Next time I will be talking about using your Airbrush for the first time, paint choices and all the fun and failures I have experienced so far.

Until then keep spreading his gifts to all you encounter in your travels through the warp.

O'Shashar

Magnetising My Land Speeder - Tutorial

Good evening children of the Plague Father I am pleased to once again welcome you to his domain, tonight my offering is my first attempt at magnetising a Land Speeder. After looking around the internet there is a lot of different views and opinions on how to do this ( and I am not above using other peoples experience to avoid ruining my own models ) which varies by each individuals personal approach.

Now as good as so many of these are I did find that the lack of detail did get a bit annoying, I know some things you can assume but when you haven't done it before I find I want to be 100% sure and not making assumptions. I found it would jump from here is a pile of plastic and magnets, one or two quick steps and there you go the finished product. What I am going to try and do is provide a little bit more in depth guide ( yes it will be a long post sorry ) as I found it took a little bit more time than I was expecting.

 Firstly I glued the seats and the central pillars in place so I was able to dry assemble the rest as it was needed, allowing me to make sure everything fit while I was working from a rough idea of how I was actually going to make this work.

I decided to tackle the Typhoon missile launchers first as with my Templars I imagine it will get the most use due to being cheap ranged fire power. I took a lot of my inspiration from †Talonstrike† ( which sadly seems to have stopped posting ) and started by building up the inside of the wall with plasticard. I used 5x1mm magnets so I only had to use 2 filler pieces and then the back piece, I tried with one but it bowed worrying me that one day it would ping off inside the model. When building this part up try and keep on the columns as I ended up having to trim the plasticard at the bottom & sides when I assembled it due to catching on the grooves it slots into.

Next up I assembled the missile launcher and the door before adding a 5x1mm magnet and then trimming the part that looks like a support beam with a pipe on it ( the part that slots through the hole of the door if my "amazing" description lacked clarity ) to be flush with the magnet so the door could sit flat when in place.

So that I could line the inside magnet up with the outer I blue tacked the missile pod in place before adding glue to the plasticard and letting the magnet align itself by dropping it and relying on its mysterious powers ( being careful to keep my fingers off the glue and out of the way of the free falling magnet )

On the inside I cut a piece of plastic card to fit over the supports I had made. It was easy enough to see where the magnet should sit and where to add the glue to let it fall into place, it actually worked better than I was expecting though I do plan to cover the inside magnets with green stuff just to be safe.

To match up the alternative door I waited until the glue was dry and dropped the magnet on the other side, marked it up to get the polarity right and glued it in place, I used the missile door to line it as they are similar but not identical annoyingly so wanted to be safe.

 
Pleased with my efforts I then moved on to adding the Assault Cannon / Heavy Flamer options. The first step was to drill a hole in the base of the model. I chose this spot as it was between the lines and let me line up with the grooves for the gun mount. My magnet of choice this time was a 3x1mm which while the magnet seems small the drill bit seems bigger than I would like to use on such a thin bit of plastic ( I actually made a little hole which I filled with green stuff from the other side trying to get it snug ).

 
The Bottom part here is the weapon mount which needs to be magnetised on both sides, one to attach to the bottom of the ship and one to attach to the guns. I could have glued this in place and saved two magnets but then it would always be on the model though it is fairly small without a gun attached. This was fairly easy to do by centring the magnets however this did lose me the use of the light which is suppose to go on one side ( looking back if I had been careful I could have cut away at one edge to fit the magnet for the gun on and had the light as a permanent feature ).


Drilling in to the top of the assault cannon was a breeze however the flamer is hollow so be very careful you don't drill too far down or you have to build the inside up so you don't lose your magnet. On a side note neither of these came with the barrels predrilled and would recommend no more than a 0.5mm for the assault cannons rotary barrels as the two closest to the extended section are slightly narrower and a 1mm could ruin it.

 

I think the missile doors shut flush especially considering that it isn't all nicely glued in place yet and the extra distance from the hull the weapon mount gives was worth making sure I added it over magnetising directly to the hull. 

Now I know you will all be asking yourself "O'Shashar you traitorous T'au dog what about the Multi Melta / Heavy Bolter?" and this is a good question. At this point I haven't decided yet if I am going to use spare parts to make a second gunner and just swap them out at the torso or use one guy, I would love to hear your experiences with this and which gives a better result.

Currently I am leaning towards torso swapping as I do not put the marines sticking out of my Rhinos as they just don't look like they fit out the hatch properly so have spares. Though it would mean sacrificing another two BT shoulder pads to try and keep the feel of the army as Templars not just black marines ( considering the only icons on the ship are two crosses sides behind the missile doors in place of the included icons which do not include any for Templars).

Over all I do like this model even though it is smaller than I was expecting, I was expecting more piranha sized ships. The Aquila on the front is part of the cast which was a little disappointing as I hadn't planned to use it ( I would have cut it off but with the model being smaller the sword from the upgrade box looked out of place ). It has been a good learning experience for me and I hope that my guide helps at least one person and any feedback on this would be appreciated.

Until next time drink deep from the cauldron and spread his blessings to all you encounter.

O'Shashar

How To Make Urban Barricades

Hello again and we have another treat for your visit to Father Nurgle's cupboard, another terrain tutorial. This week I will be telling you how to make some urban barricades from left over bits. For this terrain you will need to gather:

• Masonite or thick card for the base
• Sandpaper
  
• Scrap pieces of polystyrene or high density Styrofoam
• Straws or any other type of plastic tubing
• Corrugated card (I got mine from the 'sleeve' of a Starbucks coffee, but it can be bought in craft shops)
  
• Left overs from your bitz box or anything else you can scrounge
  
• Green stuff
• Mesh
• Crafts knife
  
• PVA glue

OK, step number one is to cut some Masonite to your desired length and width. An important tip here is to cut curving shape, so it is not too straight and rectangular, this makes the edges of the Masonite stick out less. Once you have cut it out sand the edges so that they are rounded.

Now the next step really allows a lot of freedom on your part because basically you will stick random stuff onto the base, try an imagine the defenders have hastily constructed the barricades from whatever is at hand. For example rubble, scrap pieces of metal and tubing, parts of vehicles, sandbags, barrels, etc. Do a 'dry run' first placing the items the best you can before gluing them to make you are happy with the layout. I used a model to make sure the wall was the right height. Once you are happy with the layout start to glue your bits along one of the long edges of the Masonite using the PVA glue.

In my urban barricades I used some left over barrels from some stuff I bought off eBay, straws for the pipes, polystyrene and Polyfill for the wall sections, corrugated card and some left over tank bits from my bitz box. I had two little rubble sets from one of Games Workshops old corner ruins set and some barrels and half a barricade from GW's Battlefield Accessories set that I got cheap off of eBay. Once the glue is dry your barricades should look something like this.

Once the glue was dry I decided to add some sandbags to the barricades, further enforcing how they had been hastily thrown together. I followed a tutorial I found on Miniwargaming on how to make a sandbag barricade and strongly suggest you watch it for this next step as I cannot describe it any better. I have attached the video below.

Once the sandbags are in place, the next step will be to base them. I just based them with sand. Just before it time to base coat them your urban barricades should now look like this.

I did not use a spray primer to base coat the barricades as this would melt the polystyrene. I used a tin of matt black paint i got off eBay that I have used before. At this point I have a bit of a confession to make. You may notice on my finished barricade pictures that the rubble walls look different. The paint I had used before, I had not used on polystyrene and guess what happened. It only went and ate my polystyrene! I had to pick off and clean the sandbags and then use Polyfiller to build up the walls. This took 3 lots and then carved it and sanded it. Put in some bullet holes. I think it looks OK but some areas do not look very good at all.

Now obviously I will be giving you a tip here. Always and I mean always test your paint before using it on some scrap piece of the material you are about to use the paint on. This will avoid the frustration of your models or terrain getting eaten up like a virus only Papa Nurgle can be pleased about.

Anyway, once you have finished paint your barricades, they should look like mine below. I took the photo's with the barricades in my light box (the same one O'Shashar uses) with a spare Chaos Space Marine model I had lying around for scale.

And so there you have some lovely looking Urban barricades for your game board for any type of 40K game, especially for Planetstrike or Cities of Death. Until next time my fellow plague bringers.

How to make smoke/wreckage markers

Good day minions of the Plague Father. Today you get a little treat for your continued visits, if you remember from my last post you may recall that I mentioned about the wreckage markers on the board. Today I am going to tell you how to make them. If I do say so myself they look pretty amazing and take little effort. I remember seeing a tutorial on these about a year ago, but I can't remember where. In case you have forgotten or you are new to this corner of Nurgle's garden here is a reminder of what the markers look like.


As mentioned this project is really easy and really cheap. The materials you are going to need are:

• A pillow or cushion with polyester hollow fibre filling (try and use an old one or you can use cotton wool as an alternative)
• PVA glue and an old brush
• Elastic bands (optional)
• Scissors
• Matt black primer spray (or any other colour you fancy)

Now I have seen people paint on the flames over the top, but I have also seen people use LED tea lights inside the polyester, this is the method I opted for. I got mine from my nearest Poundland and got 4 in a pack for £1 including batteries, bargain! There's some images below of them in the packet and when they are assembled and turned on.

OK, the first step is pull off or cut off with your scissors a general amount of the polyester pillow filling. Enough to wrap around the width of the tea light, making is thick or tall as you want your marker. Once you have done this assemble your tea light and turn it on to test it to make sure it is working. Then generously cover it with PVA glue using the old brush. Wrap the polyester around the tea light. For the polyester that is not in contact with the tea light (the part 'above the tea light), use the brush to apply PVA and then glue it to the polyester sealing up the entire seam. Once this is done apply an elastic band around the base of the tea light and another around the top on the polyester that hangs above the tea light. Then leave for the glue to dry.

Once the glue is dry remove the elastic bands. It is now time to trim and shape the 'smoke'. Using your scissors trim the base of the tea light so that the polyester level off with the bottom of the base. Then using your scissors trim the top to the designed length. Shaping the 'smoke is quite easy just pull, twist and tease with your fingers until you get the desired shape.

Once you have shaped your 'smoke' the final step is to spray it using your primer spray. The trick to this is spray from a further distance than you would when spraying your miniatures. You only want it to lightly coat the polyester. By changing the distance between the can and the polyester you will have varying amount of blackness to the 'smoke'. You could even try out your technique on some left over from your pillow or cushion beforehand. Once the paint is dry your markers are done and when turned on should look like this
 .

And there you have it my loyal followers of Nurgle a simple yet very effective marker to use on wrecked vehicles. When the tea light is turned off you can also use them as counters on your vehicles to say that you have 'popped smoke'. Until next time my friends.