Squidmaster's Imperial (renamed)

New additions!

My Deathwatch have been expanding, and not wanting to rely on Artemis all the time I build a new Watch Captain in Terminator Armour.
Most of it is spare actual Termiantor parts, except for the arms which came from standard Deathwatch sets.
The front of the carapace is also different, as it comes from the Deathwatch Dreadnought set. I think it goes quite nicely and provides a unique look for this set of Terminator Armour.
I also quite enjoy the dichotemy of only having a Dark Angels Terminator shoulder pad available for the right arm, and the large Inquisition logo I slapped on his top.




As another Deathwatch addition, some time ago I got some Marine parts together and wanted to try out some Psychic shenanigans, so built up both a Librarius Conclave AND a Wyrdstorm Brotherhood. With my Deathwatch expanding, I made some alterations. The Brotherhood got some new combat arms, and everyone got lovely new Deathwatch shoulder pads. This way I still have the models to make both a Concalve and a Brotherhood, but also have ten Librarians on standby if I want to mix them into some Kill Teams.
All ten are finished and have started to be painted.




I've also recently finished another unit I started some time ago. I built my own Cypher The Fallen (included in the pictures below, second row, on the left) and thought he lacked company so I build a small unit of Fallen (using the Fallen Champions rules in the Cypher Dataslate).
The look is based on slimmed down Marines, with certain elements of armour filed down to a smoother look, with the odd Dark Angel symbol dotted around. The intention here is that they aren't Chaotic Fallen, just a rebel group.
I also covered them in various straps, or belts, to give the impression of their older armour being held together by these belts seeing as they have no other means of repairing.

Nice. I like the idea of outcast marines resorting to 'duct taping' their armor together for a lack of access to artificers.

So. The Deathwatch.


I HAD promised myself I was done. I have nearly 2500pts, and I was happy to end there. Paint what I had, call it an army.

However I recently had a birthdau, and a couple of well meaning family members got me some of "that Warhammer stuff he likes".
And of course ended up buying me.....Tyranids. Nothing against them, but they're just not me.
So I took them to a GW store, and swapped them. I ummed and ahhed over what to get for awhile, mainly because there wasn;t anything that really screamed to me that I needed or wanted for an army.
So in the end I thought "screw it, my Deathwacth are really lacking in an effective delivery mechanism.

So I got a Corvus Deathstar.



As you can see, I've got it mostly built. I think its a lovely looking model, and much nicer than the Stormraven in my opinion, but I am a little disappointed that it lacks interior detail. THe Rhino has it, the Land Raider, and the Stormraven, but not the Blackstar. A shame.

Anyway, I have it as shown so far, an upper and lower hull completely assembled. The front guns are off at the moment so I can magnetize them, as is the rear hatch to allow access.......for what comes next.

Being me, I'm not going to be happy with the model as is, in its basic form. I have to do SOMETHING to it. I'm the Squidmaster. I must convert. With limited options, I decided to do it a bit different. Lights. I'm going to light this baby up.

So its left as is in two part to allow for access so I can drilling out certain areas to stick some LEDs in there. The hull has more than enough space for a battery unit and some wiring, and there should be plenty of space to run wires down the wings without trouble too.



There are several points on the hull where its go sensors or lamps modelled on shown highlighted above in green, and all of these will be replaced with LEDs. The LEDs are currently planned to be green
(If you've seen my earler Deathwatch guys, they're black, but I tend to highlight the black first with dark blue, then in grey. I think it gives a good look, so green lights will contrast that nicely.)



The above left image shows a white spot I;ve marked under the main hull, just under the cockpit. I plan to add a newly modelled piece here, a large spotlight. It makes decent sense to me for a Dropship like this to make use of a spotlight both for finding a landing zone and for searching for enemies on the ground. Modern helicopters have them, so why not futuristic drop ships?
So that spotlight will go on the white spot, and will be white.

The above right image shows a couple of the thrusters. There are a pair on each wing, and another one on each side just behind the wings. These, are well as the main engines at the back of the craft, will have red LEDs in to represent engine heat.


The ultimate plan is to get the lights and prep the wiring early on, but then keep them all seperate.
I can then paint the two hull sections seperately, then puts the lights in place and glue it all together.


As a final note, you can probably see from the first image (if you're familiar with the model) that I haven;t put the cockpit canopy on yet. I'm investigating whether I can neatly remove the area where the canopy should go. I would quite like to add a clear canopy with an interior cockpit section, either showing a pilot within (more complicated) or make it only a semi-opaque canopy so I can add another light behind it and have some illumination from the cockpit (but with no visible interior).
This section I haven't worked out yet, but it will be one of those two options if its manageable.

Canopy area successfully carved out.



I've also successfully magnetized the forward weapons. I've added pins to each as well so that when they are attached they stay in the correct place/alignment.



Finally, I've planned out exactly how many lights I'll need.
THe one flaw in this entire plan is that I'm not much of an electrician, and I have very little knowledge on how best to wire this (and if I'll need things like resistors, etc).
If any of you have such knowledge or expertise, please do share!

Canopy built for the Blackstar:



No actual cockpit going inside, but I've planned for an LED to light the window.
LEDs have been ordered.



Also to add, a Watch Master, built from the Betrayal At Calth Word Bearers Chaplain.
I specifically used this guy because I wanted a Marine not only weho looked vastly different to the normal look, but I wanted the OLD Power Armour version to suggest that this guy has been at this for a LONG time.
Only changes were to replace his pistol with a Deathwatch Boltgun, and add the Inquisition symbol to his staff.




And three bikes finished:



Top one I kept it simple with just a book and some scroll work.
Middle I decided to go for an extra armoured look for the bike, reasoning a possible Imperial Fist mentality?
ANd bottom, a classic Ravenwinger.

Corvus Blackstar progress.

I hit a problem with the rear hatch - namely that the magnets I put in to hold the door in place weren;t doing their job very well. I think its because of the location, and general strength of the magnets, but I opted to replace them entirely with a new option.
I went to my local model shop (read: trains, airfix, etc rather than gaming) and grabbed a set of small articulated hinges. I was looking for ball socket joints, but these were the right size and worked quite nicely.
I've installed these where the magnets used to be, and they're holding much better.



This gives me a much better and easier hold on the door, which will eventually be the access hatchfor getting at the battery back for the LEDs.

Speaking of those, I've started green stuffing to make suitable ares for LEDs to be held. Here's the big one which will light up the cockpit.



So the Blackstar is not in a state ready for the final touches.
And by that, I mean getting the LEDs wired up, and finally painting the sucker.
Here's the inside of the hull, with LED holes highlighted so I put the right ones in the right places.

A quick update - the Corvus is on the table for now while I wait for my mate Steve to have some spare time to help me finish wiring it up.

In the meantime, I've been able to acquire a couple of cheapish Razorbacks to give my Deathwatch a bit of the speed and protections its been lacking. Delivery mechanisms were definitely a weakness.

So I've got them, and am trying to source some new turrets (because one didn't come with any, the other without Assault Cannons), and I also decided that I might from time to time want to use them as standard Rhinos instead. A ssuch, they'd need something to fill in the turret hole on top of the vehicle.
So I whipped up a couple of these:

Librarius done.



And Razorbacks which for some reason ended up in the non-Imperial thread. My bad.

Some progress on the Deathwatch, and I finally have my Terminators finished.

The unit features on member with a magnetized Cyclone Launcher, shown in the closeup.




I've also finished a small grey Knights unit to stand alongside the Deathwatch and all of my Inquisition.

The Grey Knights I put a lot more effort into on the build, so absolutely everything is magnetized. Every right wrist is set so I can swap out Swords and Halberd (with one Hammer prepared as well), and a single special weapon Terminator is set up for any of his weapon options.

Wyrdtstorm Brotherhood, a FOrmation of five Rune priests, done up here to match my Deathwatch:




And two Chaplains. Granted, one of them appears to be a Techmarine, but Deathwatch can't have Techmarines, so he's a stand in Chaplain.

Very nice

The whole 'Deathwatch doesn't have Techmarines so he's a chaplain' thing I find very amusing almost like he rocked up on his first day in full servo-harness, only to be told that there wasn't a vacancy for a Tech Marine. So, he took the only available vacancy left and now he's waving a crozier around erratically while ad-libbing prayers and canticles interspersed with 'umms' and 'errs'

All after knocking the head off of his hammer, and putting it high on his backpack so no-one forgets. NO-ONE FORGETS.

Haha!

In Soviet Vostroya I'm Techmarine. Work on Land Raiders and Thunderhawk Gunships. Years of training with Techpriests of Mars.

In Deathwatch I'm Apothecary. Mop up blood from botched procedures.