Project - Der H's Custodes

Bit of a crap week this week...my little cat, Sam, was hit by a car and killed on Monday. Died instantly, no pain, didn't suffer, etc, etc. Our other cat has been looking for him and needing a lot of support so not had much hobby time.

Sam when he was about 12 weeks old. He would be one year old next month.

My wife and I have been supporting each other and trying to distract ourselves (and Lyro, our other younger kitten). I haven't managed to paint anything, but did sit down and build for a few hours to distract myself.

I'd seen some great conversions of Ixion with shield (see below) or with different weapon options, and If you've watched the video/read my earlier blog post then you'll know I intended to use some small magnets to given him the shield option.I didn't have any magnets small enough, so a small 1mm brass rod has served well enough.

Ixion Hale with shield - Marcel Kinrade found here

The project started with some VERY careful drilling and dry fitting to make sure I could preserve Ixion Hale as is.

Few pictures of the options!

What do you think guys? Good use of spare plastics?

I've also built my Aquilon pattern terminators. Need a bit of gap filling, might get to that over the bank holiday!

....and finally I have my plastic Custodes built (Brother Handro: "How long have you had these now?.....")

 I went for 4 with spears, 1 with standard and sword, and 5 with sword and shield. One of them has a magnetised arm with a converted chaos power talon - I'm not sure if I like this given how nice the actual talons are...I have a Blood Angel power fist somewhere that I might convert to a claw instead...more bling and all that!

What do you guys think? check out a video for Ixion and the Terminators below:

Hoping to get some more painting done - end-of-the-month pledge rush and all that!

Der H

Thought for the day: "Yime spent with cats is never wasted"

Project - Blood and Plunder - HMS Project

Some of you, who have read Patrick O'Brian's work on the Master and Commander series will have come across the HMS Polychrest based upon the Dart and Arrow:

"Hobbs & Hellyer built six vessels to Bentham's design. Dart was the second of a two-vessel class of vessels that the Royal Navy classed as sloops, and she and her classmate Arrow were the largest of the six vessels. The design featured a large breadth-to-length ratio, structural bulkheads, and sliding keels. The vessels were also virtually double-ended"

The picture shown is that of the HMS Project. It demonstrates the overall shape quite well. Being a Butterfly I thought....I can make that!

The basic form is taken from the diagram above, shortened by one segment from the central section, and with a scaled down version as the base. This was sanded into polystyrene and fore and aft (fore and...fore?) decks added.

Going to be slow progress (Brother Handro: "When is it not!") but we will perservere!

Der H

Forge World Open Day 2017 - Golden Demon Highlights!

Each year we go to Warhammer World we take in the exhibition hall - this time was no exception. The things that really caught my eye this time were the Golden Demon entries! Here are some of our favorites!

Battlefleet Gothic has a special place in my heart...because it is amazing. The detail on the effects is stunning!

A favorite for Brother Handro!

Don't want or need a Titan...how about a claw as a scenic base!

This was a stunning entry....speechless!

There were some fantastic models/dioramas/armies on display this year - more than I can photograph!

Inspiration to any Hobby Butterfly with a pile of grey models to get through!

Der H

Unboxing - Warhammer World Exclusive Librarian in Cataphractii Armour

Another quick article to link in with a video due to appear on our channel this week: an unboxing, review, and my plans for the Warhammer World-exclusive Librarian in Cataphractii Terminator armour.

This is is a contentious model which initially received mixed reviews due to what was seen as legion specific detailing. The Cataphractii armour is the most popular, but the spiked pads, the skulls and the tattered cape all screamed Night Lords (probably influenced by the midnight blue paint scheme...)

Hope you like skulls...

As an Emperors Children player I didnt pick this guy up last year; partially as I had other purchases in mind (Brother Handro: "whatever happened to those Crimson Fists?"), partially due to the legion specific issues mentioned above, and partially because the IIIrd legion didn't make use of librarians....that one is a stumbling block really!

Not to worry, I have a plan! Fulgrim did support the Librarius project at the council of Nikea, and so early to mid-Heresy I imagine those flawed members of the IIIrd legion who consorted with the forces of Slaanesh might be rebranded as gifted. I have no back story yet, but it shall come...

Lets take a look at the kit!

Nice details with the skulls, the scrolls and the face. The small skulls around his head are really well cast!

You didn't want this in focus right?

The flame effect is also inconsistently received by most hobbyists - SFx on models is difficult, but this works (IMHO). The bloodletter though.....less so....

What ever could these parts be for....watch the video below to find out!

Overall a great kit guys - if you were holding out on picking this chappy up then.....well....don't. Hopefully this week you will see a blog post demonstrating that he might not be as legion specific as you might think!

Der H

Unboxing - Legion Sicaran Punisher

The second of our un-boxing articles is the mighty Sicaran Punisher - this time added to the mighty Word Bearers for Brother Handro (Der H: "Add it to the wall of shame!").

We've done a YouTube video on this one - check it out over on our channel The Hobby Butterflies and check out our other videos as they arrive!

Ooooh, a nondescript box!

The new white boxes from Forge World are quite nice - makes things feel more cared for than the bags of loot!

The hull for the Sicaran hasn't changed (as expected!) and is still very crisp considering the age of the model. The attachments for the track/sides is still unfortunate in that this rear panel is often warped and needs some TLC after de-spruing!

The parts for the new turret are really nice - crisp detail (the mould is BRAND new so should hope so!) and a relatively straight barrel. The detailing on the ammo feed is particularly sharp.

Overall a very nice kit - check out Brother Handro's progress in a future blog post!

Der H

Thought for the day: "Heresy grows from idleness"

Unboxing - Bolt Action US Army infantry (Winter)

A two part review today guys!

First off we have the Bolt Action US Winter infantry.

A slightly old kit than the others reviewed so far - 2015 it seems! A nice box of miniatures indeed!

I have these guys to mix in with my plastic airborne to make an early Battle of the Bulge force with poor supply of winter gear.

Rather than bombard you with photographs, check out our video!

The second part I did not film, this is the Winter army HQ set.

This set comes with an HQ, a medic/stretcher beared, a radio man and trooper carrying said radio, and an additional trooper.

Carrying a stretcher!

These are nice casts with a good amount of detail. The single separate head will be helpful - I hope to use a plastic head on him, and use the metal head elsewhere to add to the feeling that this platoon has grabbed what little gear they can before marching into Bastogne.

Hopefully you'll enjoy the video - we have a different style lined up for a few more unboxings this week!

Der H

Shame! - new toys

Shame! Shame! 

Well that joke will start to wear thin this weekend!

As if the upcoming Forge World open day wasn't enough of a money pit, I've gone and bought more Bolt Action!

These guys will be scattered throughout my plastic Airborne to build on the feeling of a rag-tag 'grab what you can' Battle of the Bulge force.

I might well use the HQ section as Winters and the others as scattered characters. 

Plastic weapon sprue to add variability and make a bazooka team. I'm also hoping to beg a Luger or two from my good buddy Handro to make a few conversions!

Keep your eyes peeled for my second attempt at a winter flexible mat, updates to my Airborne and news from the Forge World open day tomorrow!!

Der H

Project - ArcWorlde Battle for Troll Bridge Board

One of the other games I play (Handro: "Bit free and easy with the word play today aren't we?") is ArcWorlde by Warploque Miniatures. Alex Huntley is the guy who runs the show, and they've now had three successful kickstarters (ArcWorlde - The Fantasy Skirmish Game, ArcWorlde - Battle for Troll Bridge, and ArcWorlde - Troubles in the North).

The game has a small but very keen fan base, and the latest kickstarter was HUGE. I came late to the ArcWorlde party and missed the first KS. Since then I've backed the Battle for Troll bridge set and more recently the Trouble in the North set.

Being a sucker for terrain, I've been building a Battle for Troll Bridge board - which is almost complete!! (God forbid!)

The Board started out with a VERY thick piece of foam - I wanted there to be a waterfall (still currently without water....), a bridge, roads and some fields. Blue foam is great, but without a hot wire cutter it is a pain to sculpt.

Here you can see, not only the carved out board and the bridge itself, but also the desperate state in which I so often find my bunker!

The game it self comes with a paper 'bridge' with the dimensions recommended for certain scenarios - Those measurements were used to make a card base, and build up with crude blocks to form a fantasy bridge.

Brown paint, flocking and some stones gave the terrain more detail, and (after several missing steps) we have the near finished board below!

The fields are the good old fashioned coir doormats - made 'famous' in my trench board. The bridge was sanded, painted grey and drybruhsed for a basic but effective finish. The plastic plants have since been toned down and the fences further stained. The river bed was given an additional layer of sand also.

It is nearly done I think! Just need to do some water effects and a final layer of sealant in the form of PVA glue.

What do you guys think?

Der H