Just a very minor update post.  Despite going to B&Q last night to collect carpet tiles (the growing saga of my brothers flat), I actually got a little more work done.  I’ve redrilled the hole on the base that will take the foot – this is the third time – and ended up with a much more balanced arrangement.  Basically I always felt that the model wasn’t stood centrally on the base, but this latest tweak has fixed my concerns.  Instead of doing more filling on the gun arm, I glued a piece of plasti-card onto it.  Although filling is needed, this will give me a better finish with which to paint.  I do need to add some detailing to this though – mind you the same applies to the other shoulder!  Oh I glued the ForgeWorld power fist together and got that stuck on, it looks fantastic, but currently unbalances the model a little

Tonight I actually have an unexpected evening to myself, so will begin to make the rivets for the torso – with luck I’ll even get them stuck on   I also want to bend the toes of the feet – notice plural, as the foot that is flat on the base now has one toe over hanging the base :s  I’m planning on cutting them from underneath and bending them.  These bits should stand me in good stead for tomorrow afternoon, where I’m going to have to go at the project full tilt.

Running Totals: Time – ~ 75 Hrs; Cost – £38.92

What is it they say “The best laid plans…”.  It has transpired that we have some kind of blockage in the waste pipe at home, which resulted in a pretty substantial flood from our downstairs loo – the water from my sisters shower.  This has meant that we’ve currently got the plumber in, dismantling our fairly new downstairs toilet area.  We’re struggling to get some of the carpet tiles for my brothers new flat (that I have to fit) which means that I’m having to travel farther afield to get them.  Oh and Monday evening got almost completely obliterated with computer jobs.

On a plus point, I have Thursday afternoon, Friday and all of Monday off as holiday where I need to seriously crack on with things.  Last night I managed to squeeze in a bit of filling of the gun arm.  This can be sanded tonight (with luck) and a bit more filling/packing which should result in the shoulder mount for that arm being largely finished.  The Chaos Marine has had both feet repositioned and filled (fingers crossed it’ll look OK as I’m not that great at sculpting).  In order to stand a chance to getting this project done, I need to be in the position to sculpt the cloak on Thursday afternoon, to allow it to dry overnight – giving me Friday to begin spraying the whole thing.  Quite scarily, if I begin with a coat of grey primer, it could be Monday before I actually airbrush anything (ideally 24 hours drying time on the primer).  What this does however is to quite dramatically focus my attention on getting the torso finished.  So it’ll be a matter of adding the stud rivets around the edging tonight or tomorrow and drilling the holes for the wire that will hold the fur/cloak in place.  I also need to make a decision on the exhausts and power plant.

Now if things actually do go to plan (unlikely to be honest), I could potentially get the cloak shape knocked out in an hour or so.  I can then position it near a light in order to cure it more quickly.  If I can get it solid in time to prime it on Thursday, I could potentially grasp back half a day – and airbrush on Friday afternoon.

The weekend’s work wasn’t quite as productive as I’d hoped – bearing in mind that I really should be starting to apply paint this week.

The torso is largely done.  I need to fix the head in, rivet the whole assembly and add wolf pelts over it.  I’ve begun work again on the arm shoulders, the close combat arm will be pretty simple in comparison to what I was intending, although I’d like to add some runes and totems to it to make it a little bit more interesting.  The heavy bolter arm I’ve decided to simplify by having the guns simply glued together, rather than cut up and set within a box.  Although my original idea is still better, too many things could go wrong and I’m concerned that I could end up messing the whole thing up and having to resort to something different.  The spindle for the heavy bolter arm has also been fixed into place.

Although both arms can have work done on them I’ve relativly little that I can do on the main body & legs until I have completed the base and know what actual pose the Dreadnought is going to have.  As such I’ve now begun to assemble the marine that is being stood on.  I’ve had to repose both feet to make him look like he’s struggling, and with luck will have one arm grabbing one of the toes of the foot.  I’m not quite sure how to bend the toes of the Dreadnought, but I’m sure that I’ll work it out :s  Once the marine is in place, I’ll bore a hole in through it into the foot & leg.  This will mean that the Dreadnought will come away from the base, but more importantly I can actually glue all of the items that require directionality on – the wolf pelts, trinkets and most importantly the wolf fur on the Dreadnoughts back.

Read the rest of this entry →