100 Posts! 40k Cat's Greatest Hits

Today's post is the 100th that I've published here on Hand of Junk and I have decided that there's no better way to celebrate this than to go over some of 40k Cat's finest moments over the last couple of years.

Regular readers will know that 40k Cat - real name Molly - can't resist getting involved when I am taking pictures of my minis for this blog, or when we are playing 40k. I've managed to get some really fun pictures, and I am quite proud that she features several times in the top Google Image search results for "40k Cat"!

Here are my favourites:

This picture of 40k Cat biting my converted Stormtalon is far and away the most popular, and when I looked today was the top result on Google Images for "40k Cat". This picture was also picked up by some sort of Cat-forum in China or Hong Kong at one point too...

...this picture of 40k Cat inspecting the troops before a game is my personal favourite...

...this sort of behaviour during games is entertaining, but she needs careful policing to make sure that she doesn't bulldoze too many models out of the way...

...here she is towering over some vintage Space Marine Captains...

...another "in-play" shot, this time an Ork's eye view...

...another model getting bitten, this time my rather mediocre Orange and Red Stealth Suit...

...this is what I often have to put up with while I am typing up my posts...

...and here she is intently watching a game of Space Hulk.

Finally, here is a very rare picture of Warhammer Fantasy Battlecat - 40k Cat's sister, who is a great deal shyer about having her photograph taken, and much less interested in eating Citadal Miniatures! As it happens I am currently working on a fantasy mini - a Dwarf Troll Slayer - which should be ready for post number 101 next week.

More Space Ork Raiders

Just a quick post this week. I've been clearing a couple of things from my painting queue including two more 1980s Space Ork Raiders which have been an ongoing project for some time now.

The painting time for these two was approximately 2 hours per model. I was a little bit disappointed with this as I was aiming for more like 90 minutes, and I have another  8 minis to go on this project. As usual I am painting these as closely as possible to the box art. It can be a bit tricky because the main picture on the box isn't actually of the models.

There is a picture of the minis on the back which is what I'm working from, but it is rather small. The two mins that I have completed today are on the back row, second from left and first from right.

The box also includes a very simple painting guide... Of course all these colours are long obsolete. I am quite pleased that with my effort to reproduce the scheme, although the 1980s Games Workshop scheme has a bit more neon green to it which I haven't quite nailed. If I was starting again I would try introducing something like Moot Green from the current range into the scheme.

Here is my collection of Rogue Trader Orks. Most of them are from this Space Ork Raiders box, except for the Warchief "Boglob" who is from my Combat Cards project.

Of course, 40k Cat came to join me when I took my photos.

Imperial Guard Commissar

This is another of GW's impressive plastic character minis which I've been really enjoying since they started releasing them. I've even been tempted into painting some fantasy minis. The official version of this mini has an amazing paint job, particularly the face which looks really grizzled and battle-worn. I was very impressed with this and set to recreate it as closely as I could, although for the rest of the mini I've deliberately done something different to the GW version, because as much as I enjoy doing scheme-matches there is more to life than just trying to recreate what someone else has already done better!

I'm trying to paint these singles to the very best standard I can. Here I've tried something new by using a bright green mixed with some metallic used sparingly for the glow of the plasma cell and a touch on the power sword too. I am told that this is called Object Source Lighting but I think that glow is a perfectly good word! 

Recently I have been really trying to improve the quality of the metallic areas on my minis. The back face of this sword and the hand-guard have come out particularly nicely. The idea of using the darking metallic from opposite ends of the two parts of the blades was nicked from the official scheme and I will definitely using that one again!

The coat was inspired by British Army WWII desert uniform, although when you see it on this mini it ends up looking like a fairly standard Cadian-type scheme. It's based around a 50:50 mix of Steel Legion Drab and Zandri Dust, moving up to to pure Zandri and then highlights of Kislev Flesh which I find works very well on top of a creamy brown like this. 

Readers who know this mini well will notice that there is a power cable that stops abruptly. It should be connected to the bionic arm but this piece is very fragile and broke when it was cut from the sprue. Unfortunately it couldn't be salvaged. I would recommend a very sharp knife and a very careful hand when assembling this one.

As usual 40k cat was on hand to oversee the photoshoot. Although I've photographed my last couple of minis on a white background, I couldn't get a shot of this mini that was anywhere near decent enough without reverting to the trust old green backdrop. I'm continuing to work on my photo set up and hope to back in action with the white background shots soon.

Painting Time: Approx 6 hours.

A new toy: Mecalight LED-480

Until recently when I took pictures for my blog I had to unscrew my swing arm magnifying lamp from my hobby desk and move downstairs into the room where I take my pictures. This was getting to be a pain so I treated myself to a portable light, a Mecalight LED-480.

These are really intended to be used with video cameras, and at £75 I am sure that there are cheaper ways of getting my hands on some portable lighting, but as soon as I saw this in action I had to have one.

It comes with two diffusers, which snap on with magnets in a very satisfying way. I don't think that they make a great deal of difference in the pictures that I take, but anyway here are a few comparison shots of the different diffusers in action:

No diffuser

White Diffuser

Yellow Diffuser

I think that the differences in these shots are more to do with the autofocus/brightness adjustments etc. on the very average camera that I use than the diffusers. I think my next investment may be in a new camera, although I am bit nervous about spending lots of money and getting no real improvement in the pictures that I end up with...

Something that I've found really useful are the points that can be used to connect it to a tripod. This isn't that useful for photographing minis, but it makes a great portable hobby light. I set it up in down in wargarage while I was watching a game last week.

Here is a bonus picture of 40k Cat getting involved with the same game. She was very interested in the Dakka Jets and decided that they were hers. She commanded them to great effect, SuperShootering a Rhino and two Vindicators to pieces.

Finally here is a bonus bonus picture of 40k Cat keeping a very close eye on me while I write this blog post, and getting my green mat all hairy as is tradition.

Ork Flash Git

I mostly paint ancient models that the vast majority of people have forgotten about, but for a while I've been waiting for GW to release a brand new kit that I really like so that I could paint it the minute it was released and be up to date for once. The Ork Flash Git kit fitted the bill, so I took one of Poot's into protective custody for painting. As usual, he wanted it as close as possible to the GW scheme.

Regular readers will now that I'm a bit of a closet Ork fan, although I don't think I will ever have the patience to paint an entire horde (ain't nobody got time for that). All the orky accessories on this mini are great fun, particularly the bionic arm, pirate's hat and targeting squig.

I spent an inordinate amount of time on this model and it felt like my hands were going to fall off at one point, but I still forget to drill or paint the barrel. Poor show. I did do a nice job of the squig's cross hair though I say it myself - although it is far from perfect I decided to leave it rather than redoing it and making it worse.

The highlights on the leather are based around matt black with increasing amounts of GW Stormvermin Fur mixed into it as you go up through the highlight levels. I think I even added some bone to pure Stormvermin for the final highlight.

In this shot the light makes the leather highlights look pretty unsubtle but they are nicer in real life I promise!

This shot shows how far the spent shell casings stick out of the model. This is a lovely bit of detail in the kit; Poot described it as "dramatic" which sums it up pretty well. However I don't think that they will stand up to play wear as they are very delicate and are held on with the tiniest dab of poly cement.

As usual 40k cat felt the need to investigate the photo shoot.

A Fifth Edition Dinosaur: Rifleman Dreadnought

This model has been sitting looking at me sadly from the back of modelling desk for far too long... so long in fact that things have moved on in the 40k world and he is now a lot less likely to feature in my marine lists.

When the sixth edition rules came out, one blogger described the Rifleman as a "fifth edition dinosaur", because the addition of hull points to the game would make them much less durable and no longer competitive. This comment has always stuck in my mind, hence the title of this post. They are a much rarer sight in our games nowadays, but this is probably more due to the fact that there are far fewer AV11 transports for them to open up like tin cans.

Anyway, tactics and list-building aside this is a really nice model that deserved to be finished. He's kitted out with the excellent, albeit very expensive Mark V Mortis Dreadnought Autocannon Arms from Forgeworld which are designed to fit onto the standard GW plastic Dreadnought kits.

I think 40k Cat was a bit bored today because she was even more "helpful" than usual when I was taking these pictures. No wonder my green mat is always covered in cat hair.

1990s Dark Angel Captain

I am working through a set of six Space Marine Captains with capes which were released in about 1990 or 1991, and the latest to be finished is this Dark Angel.

Finishing this model marks the halfway stage in this project. It is six months since I finished the Ultramarine, and seeing I have just started two new projects with vintage models, it is time that I got my act together.

Below is the whole set. Next is the Blood Angel who I am going to clean up and spray immediately... I think that he's going to be pretty quick to get done if I put my mind to it. The Space Wolf is just about to go off to Poot's airbrush station to be oil-washed like the Space Wolf Terminator that we worked on together. Finally, I think that the Captain with the power fist is going to be painted up as Mentor Legion. I am bit scared of painting white armour so I think that a test mini is in order first. I have a white metal beakie veteran lying around who fits the bill. Might as well get him sprayed too.

As usual, 40k Cat's input into the composition of these photos was essential to getting this post fit to be published.

Test Mini: Red and Orange Tau Stealth Suit

This model had been lying around on my painting table for months so I decided to grab it and stick some paint on it, thinking that it would be fun. Actually it ended up being a bit of nightmare and taking me a lot longer than I had hoped, but it has been worth doing - I've got two Riptides to paint, and although I won't be using these scheme I will apply some of the stuff that I've learnt here.

In this last view you can see that the black lines on the orange helmet are a bit of a mess, but I'd have enough of doing and re-doing them and it was time to move on!

If I manage to tidy this scheme up a bit when I get around to painting the other two models in the squad, I may post a tutorial for this scheme. It is based around Vallejo Heavy Red, which I found incredibly frustrating to work with and I switched back to GW Khorne Red to finish him off. This is unusual for me because I normally find Vallejo paints much more reliable.

Despite my frustrations, this paint scheme did get the 40k Cat seal of approval.