Gaunt's Ghosts

This year I got the box with the Gaunt's Ghosts for Christmas. I have been looking at this set for some time but not really felt connected with them more than that I knew they were famous. But, after finishing all the omnibusses during summer they are no longer strangers to me. So it was a real pleasure to get the box from the wifey, but also a feeling of dread. How to paint them to make them justice? Their fatigues are black and that in itself is problematic as it is a difficult colour to get right. And it tends to  become just a big blob of all the same. Also, the famous camo cloaks were a bit of a problem. On the box are they are green with some light camo pattering but I was not sure that that would cut it, or that I could pull it off.

So, I decided to try to make a numer of different black shades on the bots, jackets, armour paunches etc. I am not sure if it made that much of a difference though. For the cloaks I went with something a bit more exotic. Instead of using traditional camo I went with a "shimmering" effect, were the cloak shifts colour over a gren-bron-yellow scale depending on how it falls. If one could make such fabric it would at least not be your standar type camo cloak.

For the skin I went for a pale pink type, but with enough red to give it some warmth compared to the black. I tried adding some blue tattoos but my brush and hand was not good enough for any fancy stuff.

The bases were blinged out a bit by adding some cork concrete and plaster craters. Over all I am happy with how they turned out.

My favourite of these models is Oan Mkoll. He just looks so cool sitting in his tree and being lite "You are inte the wrong forest my friend" - to quote someone on the internet.

Sadly there are no models for the rest of the core cast, Dorden, Milo, Golea, Soric, Brostin, Faegor, Mk Venner, Daur, Merrt, Caffran, Ayatani Zwail, Anna Curth any many more. Perhaps I will have to try do make some, but I doubt that I can get it to the same level as these with the detail.

Colonel-Comissar Ibram Gaunt

Colonel Colm Corbec

Major Elim Rawne

Scout Sergant Oan Mkoll

Master Sniper Hlaine Larkin

Trooper 'Try Again' Bragg

Opus update

Last couple of weeks has gone by in a rush and I have not had much time to do hobby stuff. So this will be a short update. After finishing the main blocks of the Opus I have gone back and started adding internal wall, door etc to give the model some more detail when presented without the flight deck. This is probably not strictly necessary as it will mostly have the flight deck mounted but it will look nice.

When I started this the idea was to also furnish each compartment, but I realized that I do not have that much time. Instead I added roofs to some of the sections to suggest some purpose to the space without having to actually come up with it and make all the details. I am also finding that the base structures are by no means straight, don't know what I was doing when I started this, but I obviously did not make sure the walls were at 90 deg to the floor or to eachother. So everything I do now has to be fitted to this wonky build. It is that or restart the entire top of the model and that will not happen. I am hoping that the scale of the model will make it less noticeable. Also, I have found that if you just burry things in details it becomes harder for the eye to see asymmetries etc..  there is just to much going. I will add some detail to the roofs in terms of pipes and some fans and general technical details.

In hind sight I should probably have used the side compartments to extend the hangar bay instead. It would have been easier and also provided more space for the air craft. As it is they will be stacked in the core only. There will be two levels where the second is mostly made up of the elevators being parked half way.

Once I am done with this I need to make sure the internal panelling in the hangar bay match to the sections so that I do not have holes etc in the coverage.

Opus Magna, blocks done.

First post of the new year. Over the holidays I finally got some time and inspiration to spend on the Opus Magna! It is now almost fully blocked out and I have added most of the weapons systems that I  had sitting around. Normally I like to keep things in subassemblies for easier painting, but with this model I needed to get it more or less built so that I can fit each subassembly to each other in the build process. To keep the numbers to a minimum I decided that I needed to attach the small assemblies to the big ones instead of keeping them separately for painting. In cases where I need to be able to removed them anyway I built some sliding holders so that I can attach them (without blue tack) but still remove them later for painting.

Some of the major things was that I needed to attach the air defence pods along the battlements. Since I did not plan for this from the beginning, the platforms where all cut to fit the GW barricades which meant I needed to cut holes in these to fit the pods. This meant getting in there with a jewellers saw and not destroy anything else. Not easy but I managed. One good thig about finally getting these mounted was that I noticed an interference between them and the flight deck. I am thinking on cutting some of the tabs away from the decking to give the guns some clearance. Other option is to pull the pods of and reposition them further out. This will however make them stand out from the battlements in an un esthetical way. Since this is only a problem on one side and for two of the pods, I am leaning towards the first option, might also give the deck some interesting features. Just have to make sure that that part is not needed to place aircraft on.

Once that was done I realized I needed to go back and remove some more parts of the battlements on the inside of the landing bays (and flatten them out) as I came up with the idea of adding some leftover heavy bolter towers at the blast doors. 

Once I had done all the cuts and re-assembly I put everything together so that I could finish of the last block, i.e. the launch tubes (for tactical nukes) beneath the tower. This has been a part I have been working on for many years without coming to a definitive conclusion about how it should work. In the beginning I had the idea of the tubes folding in beneath the tower when not operational. But in the end I just went with a fixed position, which I think was the right decision as it really bulks out the hull below the tower.

I also added all the tracks liks to the bandblade track units that I for many years have thought I would paint separately, but in the end I could not motivate it to have some 48 separate pieces just to make it easier to get to things. It also means that I can add some more detail around them as they are now fully assembled.

One such thing is that I wanted to add something to the front just to give it a more detailed look and decided to go for two large doser blades (which needs to be fitted to not interfere with the tracks). This is something that I have had i my head for some time but never really though to much about. So I just winged it and built something. Not sure exactly how they will end up but at least there is a start. Now that I actually have all parts build (except for the bottom floor of the hangar bay, which needs to be built after the internal panelling and elevators are truly done) I can now "relax" and start adding details to the individual blocks and make sure they fit together nicely. I can also continue the work with the flight wing. Who knows, 2024 might be the year this build gets done so I can start painting (wifey promised me an airbrush for Christmas).