Primaris Master and a Pile of Late Christmas Gifts

This past week I needed to submit my army list for the LVO 2019. After putting together a new Dark Angels list, I realized I only needed to paint up one new figure. This is the promotional Primaris Captain figure, repurposed as a Primaris Master. 

He fits in nicely with the rest of the army.

So, two weeks ago, I got a message from a hobby friend in the city. He acquired nerve damage from a herniated disk that now prevents him from painting. He has been a big collector of GW products over the years...and a lot of stuff was just sitting in boxes in his basement. Well, he decided to get rid of it, and asked me to distribute everything to players in our local club.

Well, here's what the pile looked like...

And now, the recipients of his generosity!

Thanks to Preston Watamaniuk, for giving these local hobbyists and game players such great post-Christmas presents!

'Til next time.

Weathering a Servohauler

This sweet little model is one of the ski-fi tractors in the Galvanic Servohauler boxed set from Games Workshop. I really liked this guy, so I thought I'd spend some extra time on it and turn it into another sic-fi vehicle weathering tutorial.

Assembly is first, and straightforward. There are only a handful of parts in this model. Next, the whole thing is base coated brown.

Next came a sponge application of latex mold builder. The latex was focused on raised edges, and areas that would have seen a lot of wear.

In a few minutes, the mold builder was dry. The model was then oversprayed white to prepare it for the yellow base colour.

Spray yellows!

In a few minutes, the yellow paint was dry, and it was then time to rub away the latex. Using my thumb and fingers, this was just a matter of rubbing away the rubber. This revealed the "rust" brown base paint underneath.

Next, all other details were painted in. This included the tracks, antennae, exhaust pipe, engine block and so on.

The fuel tanks for the torch-laser thing were painted red and blue. A lot of weathering paints were coming next...so the bits I did not want weathered were left to be painted at the very end. This included the rubber hoses, headlamp and external wires.

To start the weathering process, the model was sprayed with a clear gloss lacquer. The whole thing was then given a light wash of Agrax Earthshade.

Much weathering ensued...and you think I would have taken some photos. Well, here are the colours used in progression instead. Left to right. Where ever there was going to be rust, Snakebite Leather went down first. This was watered down, applied, and then "erased away" with a damp brush. Same for the Orange Brown that went down next. And the Scorched Brown. Walnut Brown was used for deeper pits on the chassis surface. Finally, Yellow and off-white were mixed and used to highlight the upper edges of the major rust chips in order to represent caught a reflected light.

The model was also treated with Corrosion and Rust technical paints. Corrosion in the deepest recesses, and Rust on the end of the exhaust pipe. The engine block, and some greasy areas of the model surface were also treated with these vallejo weathering acrylics to represent oil and fuel spills.

I should also mention that the tracks were painted with Vallejo Track Primer, washed with Nuln Oil, given a few spots of rust, and then finally dry brushed lightly with silver.

And, there you have it. As mentioned, at the end, hoses, wires and the headlamp were painted in.

Really a fan of neat little models like this. They add a lot of character to a game table.

As you can see, when the rust colours were applied, they were streaked down the sides of the chassis.

There are two other models in the servo hauler set. I'll do one other for sure (have it assembled and primed now).

'Til next time.

Fokker D.VII (OAW) 1/32: Part 2

Continuing on with the Wingnut Wings Fok D.VII (OAW). Minor progress this week...just put the engine in.

I also have one other photo of the plane's pilot, Fritz Schliewen. Here is a group photo of Jasta 6 pilots in the late summer of 1918. Schliewen, who would have been 20 or 21 years old at the time, is identified as the pilot 4th from the right.

This is a 21-piece model of the Daimler-Mercedes 180hp D.IIIa engine. The fit and engineering is excellent.

And the current state of the interior assembly...comin' along. Fuselage halves are next!

'Til next time.

Fokker D.VII (OAW) 1/32: Part 1

Well, I've decided to undertake a display model project. I really haven't done something like this for decades...building a model just to have it and put it on display. No gaming application whatsoever. It feels weird.

A few weeks back, I was digging around in a pile of WWI magazines, and was drawn (once again) to the myriad articles featuring Wingnut Wings models. This is Peter Jackson's model kit outfit in New Zealand. All their WWI planes are in 1/32nd scale...enormous by my gaming standards. But no one can deny the beauty and engineering perfection of these kits.

I decided to acquire one and build it. But which one? There are already numerous kits available, ranging from the early war DH2s to Gotha bombers. If I was to only do one of these kits it would have to be: a) a popular subject, b) rigging light and c) relatively uncomplicated in general structure. Hmmm, sounds like a Fokker D.VII.

It arrived in the mail and I dug right in. Wow...big kit. And beautiful.

When I was placing my order, I wanted to do a largely lozenge fabric example. So many Fokker D.VIIs had elaborate paint schemes and these have been the subject of many modelling efforts. However, most D.VIIs were simply covered in lozenge fabric and then just painted with jasta-identifying tail and/or nose markings.

Wingnut Wings supplies numerous decal options for their kits. The closest I could come to my desired end product was an OAW Fokker (built by the eastern Albatross factory under license) flown by Fritz Schliewen, Jasta 6 in the fall of 1918.

That's his plane at the bottom of the decal sheet lineup.

A very pretty plane. 4-color lozenge overall. Jasta 6 tail, wheel and nose stripes, and then a simple but distinctive personal marking...the Bavarian diamond band around the middle of the fuselage. 

Here's Robert Karr's painting of Schliewen's D.VII.

There are only a couple of known photos of Fritz Schliewen. Here he is sitting on the back of his D.VII. This was likely taken in late August, 1918.

Researching WWI pilots is difficult at the best of times. So many records have been lost or destroyed over the past century. Schliewen turned out to be very tough to get background information on, particularly since his last name had two spellings. He was also known as Fritz Schiemann.

Here's his history, as best as I can reconstruct it. He was born in 1897. He entered the German air force at age 17, in 1914, and became a two-seater pilot. He flew artillery spotting aircraft for most of the war. However, at the beginning of August, 1918, he entered Jastaschule I (fighter school). He graduated in mid-August and was immediately posted to Jasta 6 (part of Jadgeswchwader I, Richthofen's famous flying circus). There, he earned two air combat victories.

His first was at 3:25 PM on Thursday, September 5th, shooting down a British observation balloon while on a mission with fellow Jasta 6 pilot, Richard Wenzl. The balloon's observer, Sgt Woolgar, jumped to safety. See the painting above for an image of that afternoon's action.

His second and final victory came on October 29th at 4:25 in the afternoon, when he downed a SPAD XIII (likely French). Little is known of this particular action.

Schliewen survived the war. Although details cannot be confirmed, it seems he died in 1945, at age 48, while fleeing with his family from the Russian advance through Eastern Europe near the end of WWII. That was certainly a dangerous time, and a bitter end.

On to the build.

This week, I started into the cockpit. The Wingnut Wings instruction book is wonderfully put together, and very detailed. The parts are small (and there are many of them), but construction is clear and straightforward.

Here we are at the end of week 1...

Love all the details in this kit. Too bad a lot of it will be covered up when the fuselage goes together!

One final view of the assembly.

Taking on this project will certainly eat into my game model productivity for the year...but it's nice to change things up for once. Looking forward to getting deeper into this project.

'Til next time.