Death Korps of Krieg Platoon Command Started

I haven't been hittin' the hobby too hard the last couple of days- I blame Red Faction: Revolution and the need to run excessive errands in mad Malaysian traffic. Nonetheless, progress continues with the noble men of Krieg:

The squad is basically assembled- painting will start this weekend for sure. I've also got a Churchill video to do for early next week. I assembled that tonight as well. With any luck I'll have both fully painted and sexy by the end of next week, and well into the platoon command Chimera.

I hope your hobby endeavors are kicking much butt- take a moment and tell me all about it in the comments. Until this weekend, may the hobby gods favor you all...

Death Korps of Krieg Engineer Squad COMPLETE

Woo hoo!

After I finished their Chimera transport on Sunday, I decided to keep going and try to knock out the remaining five members of the squad undone. That consisted of the Watchmaster, Vox Operator, Engineer with Demo Charge, and two standard Engineers.

The Watchmaster

This was a simple conversion- no fancy tricks or anything like that. I just used a pair of arms from the Krieg Officer Upgrade pack to hook him up with a power weapon. He turned out decent enough...

The Vox Operator

This was my favorite one to build, without a doubt. I took a regular Engineer and added a Krieg Vox Caster from their equipment pack. It comes with a vox caster (duh), as well as a little microphone doo-hickey that attaches to the left side of his helmet. I didn't realize what the tiny bit was until I checked the Forge World site and closely examined the Command Squad vox operator. While I was doing that, I noticed that there is a cable that's supposed to run from the vox caster to his helmet, and then another one from his helmet to the gas mask. Since these cable weren't included, I went ahead and rolled some really thin sausages of green stuff and made my own cables pictured above. They turned out decent enough. I'm certainly happy with the final results- the antenna is a bristle from a plastic broom

Demo Charge Engineer

This one was pretty easy, too. I shaved away a bit of material from each of his back mounted gas filters until the demo charge would snugly fit in there.

The Last Two

No conversions necessary on these- regular ol' Engineers to round out the squad.

So, the entire squad AND their transport is done- HUZZAH! Up next I've got to do another Battlefront vid- I'll have that squared away by mid week. Once that's done, it's time to build and paint the infantry platoon Command Squad. I'm really looking forward to that one!

I'll leave you tonight with a shot of all three vehicles finished thus far- good night and thanks for checking this out....

Death Korps of Krieg Engineer Chimera COMPLETE

Whew! This one was quite a bit more work than the first one, but it was well worth it. I'm happy with how it turned out. The scratch built assault ramps and the Forge World Mine Plough really do a nice job setting this theme for a badass Engineer squad. Without any further ado, here's the pics. Thanks for checking this out- comments most welcome!

More Engineer Chimera Progress

First off, apologies for the "old school" poorly lit table pic. I had to take down my light tent/photo table to make way for a high speed internet installation today. I'll get it set up again later this week and get back to taking better pics. In the meantime, this will have to do.

I got a good amount of progress done- I think one more solid hobby session will see this thing done. I block painted UK Bronze Green on the top hatches and front left fender to identify it as an Engineer vehicle, and then masked them off for company markings. Turret got the "114" squad number courtesy of the DKOK Decal Sheet from Forge World.

I painted the tracks, and that was a pain. This is the last time I glue on tracks and then paint them. It's way easier (at least for me) to airbrush them seperately and then glue them on at th end.

I painted all the base colors for the assault ramps, and then glued them both to the hull. This way, they'll get the same chipping/dusting/etc at the rest of the track and "blend in" a bit. Right now they look quite disparate, but I'm sure with some weathering they'll look a lot better. Hazard stripe masking was a bit of a chore on these, but at least this is the only Chimera getting this kind of detail. Here's a close up- again, keep in mind I still have shading and weathering to do. I know it's quite bright right now...

The only thing now missing is the searchlight and heavy stubber- searchlight gets airbrushed and glued on first thing next session, and the stubber will go on dead last.

This is really coming along, and I think it's going to turn out great once it's finished. Maybe tomorrow....

Starting to Look Like an Engineer's Ride

I REALLY like Forge World's Mine Plough- that thing looks seriously badass. Thus far I've only basecoated the camo on the vehicle, and have done hazard stripes on the lower part of the plough (sorry the pic's a bit blurry):

Obviously I've got a lot of work to do with washes, weathering, markings, etc. Still, it's looking good so far...

Engineer Chimera Progress

Well, I've done all the detailing I'm going to do, so this week it's time to put some paint on it and get it done. The only thing missing from these pics is the Forge World Mine Plough I'm going to add to rep a dozer blade (but way cooler!)

I added some rivet detail all around, along with sculpted gas proof hoods for the port firing lasguns. Track detail in place of the usual ammo boxes, as detailed before as well. I drilled a hole in the side of the resin turret that will be the mounting point for my searchlight (not pictured). I added thin strips of plasticard on the 8 vision blocks for the passengers, as you can see is this photo:

The new Chimera actually has this detail done already, but the old one didn't. One minor bit I really like is here:

I bent up a piece of fret from a brass etch frame to use as a track section hanger, and added a chip of 1mm styrene rod on it to show where it's "bolted in". The track section I cut the cast outside track pins, drilled a 1mm hole though both sides, and then put in a proper track pin with 1mm styrene rod. I pinched this trick straight from the Medusa build in Forge World's Model Masterclass book- thanks guys!

Oh My!

After all this time of little Salamanders love, ForgeWorld starts to really kick it off with shoulder pads, and now a Venerable Dreadnought and brass etched goodies. I'm going to resist, and stick with my Krieg.

Nonetheless, it's cool, and damn tempting.

Auster AOP Done

Well, I've got the second video done and uploading to the Battlefront server as I type this. This is a nifty little blister, and it gave me a chance to use Silly Putty for hard edge camo. Should be a cool video after they work their production magic and post it on Battlefront TV...

One more to go, and then it's back to full time Death Korps!

VIDEO- Painting Desert Bases

At last! After two days of failed attempts to upload this thing, I've finally gotten my first humble video done for the blog:



This video covers in detail how I base my Death Korps models, which are themed with a "rocky desert" idea. I had a lot of fun playing around with editing and painting the base (of course!), and this is basically the first trial run. Future vids will include more tutorials, future Legio Malaysia battle reports, campaign video newsletters, and other wacky stuff I'm sure we'll think of in the future. In the meantime enjoy, and I'd love to hear comments! :) If you liked the video, be sure to click the subscribe button so you'll be the first to see all of my future efforts.

Thanks for checking it out guys

PaK40 Nest Done

Well, primary filming and photos are done for my latest video- huzzah! I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product on this one. I changed the orientation of my webcam and my lights to try and get a better picture, and I think it's a bit better. The background isn't quite as "clean" as in previous videos, but I don't think that's such a big deal.

I love the resin nests you get in this box- it was a lot of fun to paint up, and I even added a couple of empty shell casings and an ammo crate for more interest. This boxed set comes out soon, and I think folks are gonna love it.

Good News and Bad News

Bad news first- gotta take a break from the Death Korps! Just when I had some mojo going, another project has come along that requires my attention...

That's right, Battlefront has asked me to film another three videos, though this time the editing pros at Battlefront's New Zealand studio will be doing the intro, final tweaks, etc. So, it looks like my vids are getting the bling treatment, and a metal intro to boot! :) I do love doing the video thing, hence the "Good News" part of the equation. One of these days I really need to do some vids for my blog...

Be sure to visit Battlefront's Flames of War YouTube channel, and subscribe! Product reviews, new releases, and yes painting videos are all there with more being added all the time. Who knows, maybe you'll learn a new trick or two.

If I can manage it without too much hobby burnout, I'll keep slugging away at my Krieg Engineers and their soon-to-be kickass Chimera transport. After I finish the videos this month, I'll be right back on Krieg full time. Until, enjoy the upcoming 15mm madness- I know I do!