Hobby Atrophy - is This the cure?

 

So.....its been a busy 2 months, just not on the hobby front. Ive moved house - AGAIN! I was asked if id like to head up the renal unit in Worcester, so said 'why the hell not'! By that time id finished setting up the dialysis unit in Llandrindod Wells so needed a new project. So i moved lock-stock-and barrel to a nice new apartment on the Marina!



 

New apartment means a new Forge - and here it is:

 

Same set up as the last one, just a new place really! The bad point is that it has cream carpets! That's gottta be a hobbyists worst nightmare.

I had to donate my Gothic Cathedral to my last gaming club as i now lack the garage to keep it. I did have enough space for the Hab Block and the Defence Laser (which i hope to get painted soon)

 

I invested in some additional storage for  my terrain pieces:

 



 

My babies are all unpacked and back on display:

 

The Wolves have got a look in this time while Praetorian is out for repairs:



These are the casualties of the move! All of the Ghost Arks Gauss Flayers broke off (naturally) and all or Praetorian's limbs came off. Some work will be required, but it wont be to much of a problem.

 

So whats next? I haven't played a game since February or picked up a paint brush in 9 months!! I'm in need of some serious inspiration. But i think my salvation is at hand.....

 



 

My copy of this came through the door the other day, and for £70, i was expecting great things. I wasn't disappointed. The book itself is gorgeous! The content is great and the illustrations impressive. The army lists inside are also interesting, but I've yet to put a list together.

 

The models that are being released for this series are FANTASTIC! Once I've decided on a Legion (which is a chore in itself!) I'll be getting a squad of Marines in Iron Armour, some Cataphractii Terminators and a Deimos Pattern Rhino! I'm hoping that will be the cure for my Hobby Atrophy!

 

The GunGrave

 



I Think my Hobby Mojo just Twitched.....

After weeks of staring at my favourite models for inspiration, assembling new Necron vehicles, and reading through the 6th Edition rules, my lazy gaze finally fell upon my baby-  Heretics Bane!

For those of you who didn't follow its construction, you can see the finished unpainted product here.

This is whats going to get my hobby going again! It hasn't really gone that far yet, but i just got it undercoated yesterday!



I'll also be getting the Twin Linked AA Autocanon turrets done as well!

I'm feeling good about this one!

The GunGrave

Trying to Revive the Hobby Mojo....."CLEAR! - ZAPPP"!

Well hello again!

First of all i want to congratulate all those who've stuck around to see me post absolutely nothing over the last few months!! Since the break up from Mrs GunGrave and the house move, i just haven't found the inspiration in me to pick up a paint brush. That was last done back in March!! Some action  is needed here methinks.....

So - my first attempt was to get some models on the table and try and get inspired that way. I even put some of my fav' Wolves models on there as well for motivation!

But that didn't work! Next up, i bought a Doom/Night Scythe for the oh-so-near-completed 'Crons:

(really liked the kit, another great reason why GW should keep with the plastic!)

That sorta worked! I felt a slight tingling of inspiration, but then it faded again....

The latest effort comes in the form of the new 40K 6th Ed'! I couldn't leave that on the shelf, no matter how uninspired i was!

Overall, I'm really pleased with the new rules set, especially with regards to terrain. As regular readers of the blog well know, i love terrain, and I'm pleased that its got a bigger/more active part to play now.

The new wound allocation rules are interesting, but make a bit of sense. I'm a bit confused about the Flier rules, but nothing a bit more reading wont fix! I'm looking forward to play testing them, but with no gaming club in my town, I'm struggling to find an opportunity. However, I've applied for a new job in Worcester which will see me move there in October if successful. Theres bound to be a GW and local gaming club there which will be sure to breath a bit of life back into the hobby for me!

So that's where i am at the moment. I'm hoping the hobby mojo will return soon, and the blogposts on my blogroll are really helping! In the meantime....

Time for a crappy Nazi-Zombie movie!! Nothing beats a Nazi-Zombie movie!

The GunGrave

What.....What Year Is It...?!

Hello readers, I'm back from my unscheduled break from blogging! Its good to be home!

I made the difficult decision to call things off with Mrs GunGrave after 7 years together. Cue violins! The split was amicable, but severely disruptive to normal 'life' operations! Not only was i on the cusp of starting a new job - which has netted me a cool £800 in overtime this month (ring ring, hello? Forgeworld? 2 Reaver Class Battle Titans please! Weapons? Ah, surprise me dude!) but i have moved out of the house and into a new bachelor pad across the road from work, but 50miles from the old place!

So I've been tackling the new job, house hunting, spending TONNES of money at Ikea, and moving into my new place these last 2 months. There is now light at the end of the tunnel, as the last of the boxes were put up in the attic and i stood back and admired my new Forge!!

I've doubled the space i had in the last house! This is actually my spare room, but my Tech Priests suggested that it would make a far better Forge! I was inclined to agree! I still haven't put up the pictures, posters, and that handy wall-mounted tray thing that i kept my bitz in. Soon....

At the other end of the room are the display cabinets and my babies!! There was minimal damage in the move, but Praetorian lost an arm! Nothing broke, the glue just gave way. They seem happy in their new home!

So whats next on the hobby front? I'll still be taking it easy for a while, as work is chewing through my free time like a Hades Breaching Drill through Nurgle cultists!! I will be going back to the old house to pick up the unpainted 'Heretic's Bane' and get that terrain project squared away. Ex-Mrs GunGrave is kindly storing all my Apoc' Terrain in her garage for me, but with the amount of space i have in this room, I'll be able to run at least 1 Apoc' Terrain project at a time. I also have that squad of SW Long Fangs to paint!! I'm hoping to finally get that army finished so i can concentrate on my 'Crons - and the superb looking models that are about to be released for them!

Watch this space, The GunGrave is back!

GunGrave

Apocalypse Terrain: Defence Laser 'Heretics Bane' - Pt 3

The 'Heretics Bane' build is complete!

Its been a large project, but surprisingly has only taken me 2 weeks to build. I reckon that out of that, only 6 solid days of building have actually been spent doing it. This is encouraging, as all the parts for a second defence laser are sitting under my desk!



So I've just added a few finishing touches since the post last week. Most  noticeably is the railings on the top deck. Originally i was going to use Aegis Defence barriers for this, but they took up to much room. Then i went for Cities of Death building railings, but it didn't look right. Finally i settled on these railings!



They're made from lengths of wooden BBQ skewer's stuck to cut down CoD Basilica Buttresses.





I drilled holes at equal intervals in the buttresses so the wooden rod would sit nicely flush into each piece. It was worth the effort, as assembling it was really easy!

A scale shot here with a Vostroyan volunteer. The railings are the prefect height for minis to see over. 



Where the railings met the main power feeds i decided to use CoD girders, simply because i didn't have enough Basilica buttresses! I sawed off the bottoms at an angle to make them match the angle of the railings.



Other detailing includes an access hatch to the top deck. I found this on an old Leman Russ accessories sprue.

I've added 2 searchlights to the main deck. They're IG Russ searchlights mounted on the bottom half of a CoD lamp post! This made them high enough to reach over the top of the railings, allowing them to be 'maned'.

Below the searchlights Ive also added some vents and wiring.

Here's some more detail on the bottom deck.

I struggled to jazz up the ramp. In the end i went with the 'less-is-more' approach, which has never failed me in the past! I've added a few CoD bits to the sides and a COG Mechanicum as well. I originally wanted to put wire mesh over the whole ramp, but when i did a mock up it didn't look right. I'll get it painted up and see how it looks.

I added some plasticard pieces to the hardboard base to simulate deck plating. It would take to much plasticard to cover the whole base so this will do!

Finally i added the finishing touches to the gun towers. A few Pegasus pillar tops did the trick nicely!

So, another Apocalypse Terrain project nears completion! A buddy from club said the other day that we're seriously going to have to reconsider the number of tables we use for Apoc'! I'm inclined to agree...

Next up - painting!

The GunGrave

Apocalypse Terrain: Defence Laser 'Heretics Bane' - Pt 2

I haven't had much time this week to work on the Defence Laser. Ive been in Birmingham all week training, and with another week of training back in Birmingham next week, I've been working had to make some more progress before i leave again! Setting up a new Dialysis Unit is hard bloody work!!

So whats new? Take a look! The works been progressing well under the watchful gaze of Master Yoda!

The most noticeable work has to be the Laser itself. I didn't manage to find the pluming part i wanted for the main weapon, but i did find a suitable substitute.

I've installed a blast shield in the roof of the weapon dome. I figured that an ancient and powerful weapon like this wouldn't just be sticking up at the sky when not in use!

Weapon detailing was completed quickly, as the pluming parts already had a good bit of detail on them already. The wires were from the main power cable of the doomed Xbox lead that the cats ruined, and the main targeter is obviously from the CoD sets with a large lens stuck on the end. 

The Black cables are from the Xbox power lead while the red t-bits are from the guts of an extension cable, also ruined by the cats! The cat-piss incident turned out OK in the end, as I've now got a huge stock of electrical bits for conversions!



Another large addition is the main generator power feeds to the main weapon. These were made from a generic Outlet Hose that i got from The Range (a really cheap homeware store) for £1.50/1.5M's! I grabbed 2 which was just enough for my needs.

The hose had to be screwed into the main structure, as glue just wouldn't be strong enough to keep them in place.

As the screws really mucked up the aesthetic of the hose, i had to hide them. For this i used some thick cardboard tube and toilet roll! I needed materials that were already curved to make fitting them around the hose easier.

These are the smaller brackets.

And the larger ones made from toilet roll.

Once in place i added a few rivets cut from plastic rod.



The main access ramp. I've been waiting for some sets of stairs off eBay for nearly 2 weeks now which were going to lead up to the main access. I got impatient and decided to build a ramp instead!! I had just enough room on the baseboard to make the incline shallow enough to balance models on!

Other details include some large pipe work around the base.

I've also added some supports to the upper platform. These were made from the CoD Basillica buttresses.

The larger sections will form corner posts for the upper deck railings, while the smaller pieces were used to act as the deck supports.

One last bit of detailing was added around the base. As this section is sloped it wouldn't take a pipe section. I raided the bits box and added some industrial looking pieces instead!

Not far off completion now. I'm going to add some smaller pipes around the base, along with a multitude of vents, fans, and rivets to finish it off! I'm hoping for completion next week!

The GunGrave

Apocalypse Terrain: Defence Laser 'Heretics Bane' - Pt 1

Its one hell of a Pt 1, as about 70% of the main build is already done! I've been hitting this project HARD this week, as I'm hoping to take it to an Apoc' game in March!

So, as you can see, it doesn't much resemble the humble plant pot it started off as! We now have walkways, towers and turrets!

The main entrance is from the Cities of Death Basilica set. I installed an armoured blast door in place of the ornate one that comes with it. As this is meant to be a small fortress, i thought it fitting! The sentry guns are obviously from an Imperial Bastion. I had to take a hack-saw to it to get those off, and luckily they came off intact!

Now the defence towers. Theres two of these, again made from CoD building panels, each with a custom blast door installed in place of the normal doors.

This is just a scale shot for you!



Is it just me, or are the Planetstrike Aegis guns a little...lame?! Well, i bloody well do! Originally i was going to use the cool new guns from Puppets War but two would cost me around £40 - a bit of a large outlay for a couple of guns! So i made these out of the Aegis guns:

Badass! I'm so pleased with them! Wanna know how to make them? Here's how!

Take a barrel from the CoD sets and cut out the middle. You'll need to keep the ends.

Stick the ends onto the middle support. Its almost a perfect fit.

Its a good idea to run a pin through the middle to give the guns a bit of support here.

Now onto the gun barrels themselves. Fairly straight forward here; saw off the end of the barrels and replace them with some copper rod. I would take the time here to file the ends flat, otherwise it will cause you problems later when you try to glue them in place...as i found out! Once the barrels are on, add the ends of the original Autocannons and its done! Pin each gun onto the main support and voila - Hydra Flak Platform!

Back onto the main structure. Theres CoD floor panels running around the circumference of the building with the gaps underneath boarded up with plasticard.

Where there are no slanting building panels to support the walkway, i had to put in some small wooden supports to keep it stable! The plasticard on its own wouldn't support it on its own for very long!

As for the laser itself - well, not much has happened with that. I'm still trying to find an elusive pluming part for the main weapon! I'm hoping a trip to B&Q today will prove fruitful! I have also added a wooden base to the top platform for the whole lot to rest on.

FINALLY, the Comm's Tower! Smaller than the defence towers, this baby will supply a large portion of the installations external communications and also orbital targeting. 

The satellite dish is an old idea i saw years ago! Its a IG Dozer Blade with all the knobbly bits sawed off, with a Multi Laser barrel glued to the middle. The base of the dish is the base of an Aegis platform with a plasticard plug. The antenna array is obviously from the Planetstrike sets - perfect for this role!

I've added some thick cabling between the Sat' Dish and Antenna. I've used soldering wire for this. Its great stuff, cheap, and widely available. Its also very soft and flexible, making it easy to work with.



That's your lot for now! More on this epic project next week!

The GunGrave