Magnetizing the Furioso Dreadnought

Hello again everyone. As promised, here is my guide on magnetizing the Furioso Dreadnought from the Space Marines: Blood Angels Codex. The furioso is a titan on the battlefield and I have had great success. The problem is that the kit comes with so many goodies, it is impossible to choose a layout. Therefore: this guide. In many sections of this article I use something called core steel. Core steel is specifically engineered for its magnetic properties. It is also hard to find. With that in mind, anywhere I use core steel, you can use plasticard and a magnet. It will work the same. If you are interested in acquiring some core steel, send me a message. I magnetized 3 parts of the dreadnought which I will show you. I have not magnetized (or even attached yet) the under arm guns. I am playing with the idea of not magnetizing them as I always take the default loadout. If I do decide to magnetize them, I will do a second post on it (it looks easy enough anyway, just 4 1/16 magnets). Anyway, here goes:

Torso

When building your dreadnought (from now one, simply DN),be sure to put two 1/8″ magnets on the top piece (underside) near the back. That will be for the magna grapple later. When placing them, try to match it to the divets on the magna grapple. When building the torso do not glue the face plate on. Be sure to put the faceplate in place so the body glues together correctly, but be sure you can remove the faceplate afterwards.Once the torso “box” is dried, I glued a strip of core steel across the front (this will be for the face plates). You can sub in a piece of plasticard with 1/8″ magnets instead).

Looking in the picture above, you can make out the magnets in the back for the magna grapple. Sorry they are so hard to see. I put this together and then decided to take pictures. This is all the modification we need to make to the torso.

Faceplates

The faceplates are super easy. I just put two 1/8″ magnets on the backside of the faceplates that lined up with the core steel band, and done!

Now your DN can have any of the three faceplates at any time.

Magna Grapple

Another easy job here. Since we already have the magnets inside, we just need to match the polarity and attach magnets to the grapple.

The magna grapple already comes with 2 divets in it, and it makes the perfect place to put the magnets. You may need to drill a little bit, but not too deep. After that, the piece just snaps on all perfect and such. Notice how those sneaky people at GW made it so that the magna grapple wouldn’t fit on when the librarian faceplate was on. Clever.

Arms

Interestingly, the arms go on and off just fine without magnets, so that makes it easy. If yours do not fit on, then you just need to glue 1/8″ magnets inside the arm (sticky tack is your friend here, just sticky a magnet to the end of a thin tool and push it into the arm hole) and put a 1/8″ magnet on the arm stub of the torso. Like I said though, I didn’t need to. The librarian arm and the flak cannon are complete without any need to change. When making your “hands” you will notice there aren’t enough “thumbs” to make both “hands”. What I did is just make the close combat weapons with the 4 short fingers and the blood talons with 3 claws (ignoring the extra slot). It isn’t perfect, but it doesn’t incur any more cost. Then, if you notice, the hands and hole are the perfect dimensions of 1/4″ steel washers. Go get some of them (I’ll wait). When you get back, glue them onto the hands. Then, on the arm stubs, glue two 1/6″ magnets and watch and the hands snap into place perfectly. Now you can swap them out with ease.

 

And that’s it! Like I said before, I have not made a decision about the under arm guns. If I do add them, it will be in a second article. Enjoy!

Here are some pics of my assembled DNs

Magnetizing the Blood Angel Stormraven

Hello everyone, its been a while. I figured I would come back strong. In case you don’t know (not sure how you found this article then), the Stormraven is the new Blood Angel and Grey Knight flying transport. It has a huge hauling capacity (12 men and a dreadnought) and a crazy amount of firepower. Unless you are very sure of yourself and all of your future endeavors, picking a single load out and gluing into place seems silly. That is why I am going to be showing you how to magnetize the Stormraven for maximum awesomeness. In many sections of this article I use something called core steel. Core steel is specifically engineered for its magnetic properties. It is also hard to find. With that in mind, anywhere I use core steel, you can use plasticard and a magnet. It will work the same. If you are interested in acquiring some core steel, send me a message. There are 4 areas that I customized and I will show them in the order that I did them.

The Wings

I chose to magnetize the wings because I wanted to be able to fit the Stormraven in my foam trays. Gluing the wings into place ensured that I had to make a large, goofy tray to store it. The first thing I did was to drill two .25″ holes on each side of the Stormraven chassis. I drilled straight through. Then, using greenstuff, I made a backing to the holes inside of the body. When it is all said and done, the greenstuff is incredibly difficult the spot (so don’t worry about it making the model look bad).I then glued .25″ magnets into the holes.

Make sure everything is flush before letting it dry. I then put a piece of core steel into the square divot in the wing. This could have also been done with 3-4 1/8″ magnets. Once that dried, the wing stayed on perfectly. The bond was so strong I could turn the SR upside down without the wings moving at all.

After dealing with the wings, there was the air vent to take care of. If you look 2 pictures up, you will see the two 1/8″  magnets I glued to the body of the SR. I then bent some core steel in a n “L” and glued it to the inside of the air vent. This could also have been done with plasticard and another magnet.

Hurricane Bolters

The hurricane bolters weren’t nearly as difficult as I originally assumed. This Video covers it nicely. First, you assemble the hurricane bolters. When they are all together, you cut off the small tabs. Then you line up one of the doors and mark a notch where the top of the door protrudes. Once that is done, everything should fit flush together. Put a magnets on the inside of the door and glue it into place. On the HB, put a piece of core steel or another magnet. If done correctly, the HB should stick to the door and you can chose to leave it on or take it off.

Front Guns

The front guns of the SR can be very tricky. Depending on your kit, you may not even need to magnetize because the pieces will just fit snuggly together. I had a single piece that was loose, so I had to magnetize the whole thing (though it was pretty easy). On the back of the plate that holds the front weapons, I drilled 2 1/8″ holes and glued in 2 1/8″ magnets.

I then trimmed down the pegs on all of the weapons (about halfway) and glued a piece of core steel on the end. You can get by with 1/16″ magnets if you don’t have core steel.

The pieces now fit snug and are easy to switch out.

The Main Turret

The last bit of magnetizing I did. The main turret originally looked challenging. I wanted to retain the articulate of the guns that the rod gave you. Eventually though, I stopped caring and did a basic job on it. I am happy with my decision (and I kept the rod unharmed in case I get any future bright ideas). Assemble the turret body without the rod in it, and you will notice an almost perfect 1/8″ hole. If you guessed that we are going to put a 1/8″ magnet in there, you guessed right. The weapons have a square notch in them. Without assembling the weapons (in case something goes wrong), drill a 1/8″ hole directly over the square notch (don’t go all the way through, the plastic is thick and you shouldn’t have to). Put in a 1/8″ magnet and your done!

And that’s it! You have a kick-ass Stormraven with gobs of potential. Just try not to make people cry too hard. Coming up next, I will show you how to magnetize the Furioso Dreadnought

Eye candy:

New Blog, New Look, New Content (Sort Of)

Howdy everyone, long time no post. I am back to do a little bit of Fall cleaning. First and foremost, I have changed the look and the name of the site. This blog is now called War Builder and is dedicated to all war gaming, not just Privateer Press games. I recently decided it was time to change up the direction of the blog to be more broad when I was overpowered by the Hive Mind. That’s right, I have started playing Tyranids. Oh, here they are now!

I have several other projects finished and underway that I will get posted here soon. Thanks to all of the people who read my blog. Let’s get this stuff underway.

Moment of Zen

I made a Haiku
For you, so you would know that
Legion is awesome

Call Me… Manticore!

So I just finished my Manticore for the “A Tale of Warmahordes” painting challenge on the Privateer Forums. This is the first jack I have done for the Retribution of Scyrah, and so far I am digging the theme. The jack meshes very well with my sentinels color theme. I took the normal front and back pictures, and then I added an angled pic because it looked menacing! Check it out:

DIY: Warmachine Gaming Table

So, with the advent of a child, I have been trying to play at home more often. This, of course, is much more difficult when I cannot find a 4′ by 4′ table anywhere in the house. After thinking through all of my options (folding tables, caps for my current tables, etc) I decided the easiest (and cheapest) solution would be to just build a solid freestanding table. I managed to build one for about $15. The key was finding a cheap, fairly decent 4′ by 4′ board for relatively cheap. I lucked out in that a buddy of mine had one in my garage he was willing to give me. From there, I bought a 2″x4″16′ and two 2″x4″x8′ boards. I cut them like this:

2 – 48″
2 – 45″
4 – 36″

The 48″ and 45″ boards made the 4′ by 4′ frame and the 36″ where the legs. $10 spent on wood.

Before attaching the table top, I picked up a piece of 5′ by 5′ green fleece for about $5 at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I sprayed the board with a spray adhesive and pulled the fleece tight overtop of it. then I lifted the board and tucked the remainder of the fleece underneath. Finally, using a razor, I cut slits in the corners and sides of the boards. I ran screws down to attach the board and then used glue to hold the slits closed. This creates a rather seemless top:

And thats it. Enjoy!

Sentinels: Apply Directly to the Forehead

So here is my first painted RoS models. The scheme was stolen (borrowed heavily) from Larkin Vain. So far, only a min unit, but the rest are soon to come.

Need More Thrust

Here are some pics of the Angelius I finished a little while ago. I really need to work on my greenstuff-ing as the joint lines on this guy are terrible. You may notice that his name is Maverick. I have decided to name my four big fliers after Top Gun: Maverick, Ice Man, Goose, and Jester.

DIY: Paper Mache Trenches

So as a follow up experiment with paper mache, I have decided to make a trench system. Actually, its not so much a trench system as a modular fortification system. I say this because the walls only go up to a trooper waist (so line of sight can be drawn in both Warmachine and Warhammer). Anyway, before making a full trench (ish) system, I decided to do 3 peices as a prototype. Its a good thing too, because so far the whole thing has been littered with mistakes and regrets. Hopefully the 3 I am doing now turn out slightly good, so that the rest can be much better.

I started out cutting the masonite bases 4″ by 4″. I only beveled 1 edge (1st mistake). Using some basswood rods (I think 3/16″) and popsicle sticks, I made my trench walls. Hot glue attached them together.

Next I mixed up my paper mache. Now, in an effort to not repeat my previous mistake, I made another mistake. I did not drain enough water from the last batch of paper mache, and it was way too wet and unruly. This time, I drained almost all of the water from the paper mache. The result? It was very difficult to work with. As it is drying, I question its durability.

After applying the paper mache to the base, it looks mediocre. I am hoping it looks better after drying. The last bit I made didn’t look all that great until after it was sanded either. Here you can see how they work together to create a nice system

I am going to try and not include too many minor details here. My process hasn’t really changed from my previous terrain articles. Once the mache dries, I coat will kitty litter and sand for texture. I did do something new here. After the sand dried, I applied another layer of glue ontop of the terrain for added durability. The extra strenght was really apparent in the final product.

Next was my standard paint job:

Finally, I add the static grass and consider it done.

These are actually alot of fun to do and use. I may make another tutorial covering making corner pieces or bends for the trenches. Another great learning experience for me. Now that the prototypes are done, I can start mass producing. Oh, I almost forgot the bottom line (I am cheap, remember?). Given that I found a cheap piece of masonite, I can make roughly 20 of these pieces for $10; maybe a little less depending on glue prices. Thanks for reading!

Paper Mache Terrain – What I learned

So, after spending a few days and making my first pieces of paper mache terrain (the post can be found here), I figured I would write down some notes about the process.

What I would do differently:

1. This is number one and single handedly the most important: make sure you drain the excess water from your paper pulp before adding glue. This changed the entire project for me. It caused slow dry times, warping, and excessive shrinking.
2. After the glue / sand / rock layer dried, I should have re-coated the entire piece in another layer of water / glue. This would have added strength to the sand and rock that was there. What happened in my project is that certain rocks weren’t held tightly, and after painting, they came off and left unpainted spots. Another glue layer would have helped hold everything firm.
3. The first layer of c0lor I painted (the dark brown) was put on over the black too sparingly. It made the base too dark. The result was that the whole piece was very dark, and if I added more highlight to it to brighten it, there was a stark contrast.
4. In the future I will be more careful (aka, stingy) with the static grass. Too much of the stuff just does not look right, and it took my “woodland” piece from being my favorite, to my least liked instantly.
5. I wish I would have built bigger. Considering how much everything shrank (probably because of #1), the finish product wasn’t big enough to be affective to scale.

What worked for me:

1. I very much enjoyed my color choices, and while bare they looked odd, once I added the grass they really popped.
2. Paper mache is cheap and very durable, I will definitely use it as a sculpting medium again.
3. The pieces are very modular while also matching. They would look good alone, or with each other.

All in all, the project provided for a great learning experience. I can’t wait to make some more terrain and share it here.