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

Defence Laser and Mag-Lev Terrain Projects

Now I'm back from a long weekend in London catching up with some school buddies, its time to get some terrain projects off the ground!

I mentioned an idea of a Mag-Lev Track in my last post, but first up is another long standing idea - The Defence Laser!

Since i saw the defence laser Duty's Fist that GW featured in the Apocalypse book I've been in love with the idea of making one myself! Now  I've begun to do just that! The reason its taken a while to get going on this is because i was struggling to find the right shaped plant pot for the base of the laser. It appears that hexagonal pots are heard to come by! However, last weekend i found some!

I also bought this Hamster Lab from a pet shop! The dome shape is perfect to house the bulk of the laser itself!

I'll only be using the top half of the dome. The three openings in the sides will be perfect for running power cables thorough.

I'm still waiting for some materials to arrive through the post before i can begin building. In the meantime I've started preparing what I've got. I've trimmed off the rim of the pot as well as the 'feet'.

I've also mapped out the footprint of the Laser onto some hardboard. The inner Hex is the base of the pot, while the outer Hex is going to be a raised platform running around the base. The connected squares to the top and bottom of the picture will be defence towers, and a Comm's Tower will be attached to the bottom right of the picture.

On a more tragic note, one of the cats pissed on my Xbox power cable, frying it!! I've got a replacement now, but the old cable will be great for adding detail to the Laser!

So that's it for the Defence Laser for now. I'll be pushing on with this as the week goes on.

Now the Mag-Lev! I'm at a similar stage with this as i am with the Laser, in that i have a load of parts, but cant really progress with the build at the moment. I've managed to find suitable materials for the tracks. Below is a plastic curtain rail (about £6) on which my Mag-Lev train will run! 

It comes with the plastic runners on which you would normally hang your curtains on! I'll be modifying these to fit to the base of the train so it can run smoothly on the tracks!

The plastic runners are to flimsy to support themselves, so I've bought some 6mm steel rod to run beneath the tracks and give it support.

The main problem I'm having with this project is the train itself. I cant begin building the stations until i know the size of the train! Because of this, the Meg-Lev is stalled for now. However, i have it on good authority that 'O' gauge hobby trains are around the right scale for 40K, so I'll be searching for a suitable train to convert over the next few days!

Phew, that's it for now! Hopefully I'll have made some more progress on both projects by Friday!

The GunGrave

Death Korps of Krieg Lascannon Squad

This is just a quick post to give you loyal readers something to look at while I'm away! The 'nearly complete' Lascannon teams I showed you in the last post are now done!

This is one of two squads attached to my infantry platoons for my Krieg Siege Regiment.

I've got this week off work now, which will be spent working on the next awesome terrain project: Mag-Lev System!

The GunGrave