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Wednesday 3 March 2010
612 "Marcus ab Morsus" (Hammer of Pain) - EFTC

612 "Marcus ab Morsus" (Hammer of Pain) - EFTC

As promised here is the next completed tank for my EFTC. This tank is designated as 612, 2nd tank of 1st squadron of 6th company, and has been named "Marcus ab Morsus" by her crew. This translates to "Hammer of Pain".



Once again I put my freehand skills to the test on the bottom of the model, to get more practice and for ease of identification.



I'm going to go into a bit more detail about this tank as it hasn't really been covered in any previous posts, other than it's turret. As with the previous tank, 612 got a heavy drybrush all over the model with Bleached Bone. However, I wanted to experiment with mud a little. Now I've read a few articles on doing mud, and I didn't feel ready to jump into using the PVA mixed with static grass mixed with something else method (maybe on another project). So instead I just went with drybrushing a muddy colour onto the lower section of the tank. The left picture shows the tank before this drybrush was applied and the right picture (as well as some of the following pics) show it after the drybrush. I started off with a heavy brush of Calthan Brown to get the initial level of grime, then a lighter drybrush of Graveyard Earth and then a very light brush of Snakebite Leather were applied. Overall I'm very happy with the results so on to the next pics.



As you can see from the picture above on the left, I also applied the mud drybrush over the tracks and tried to apply a heavy amount on the track guards where the tracks pass under. The tracks themselves received a bit more treatment than normal. I started by giving them an undercoat of Chaos Black. This was followed by a drybrush of Boltgun Metal, then Mithril Silver and then Burnished Bronze. The "mud" coat was then I applied. I also used this method for the grills under the sponsons and also the engine cover on the back of the tank. The end of the battle cannon barrel also got some extra treatment, with a heavy drybrush of Chaos Black and a light wash of both Devlan Mud and Badab Black to simulate firing powder burns.



A few more pictues, which show off the extra equipment I placed on the tank a bit better. On the left side of the tank I added a pick axe and shovel to the track guards. The right side got a compact lasgun on the back of the sponson and also a ForgeWorld piece, the tube thing on the back. No idea what this is actually for. Several fuel cans were added in the stowage rack, altough they look a bit too neat. I also aded the fuel drum to bulk the back out a bit. More can be seen of the "mud" effect on the tracks etc. I used the same method for the exhausts that I'd used on the battle cannon. Things were looking a bit too clean on the engine.



These last two pictures are just close ups to show some of the extra detailing I did. The crewman popping out the turret is made up of FW Cadian crew body and the head from the Cadian sentinel kit. I'm really happy with how his goggles turned out and it's probably the best representation of a reflective surface I've done. A bit like the fuel cans in the storage rack, I'm not entirely happy with my placement of the compact lasgun. Although it looks good overall, unless the crewman jumps from the hatch quickly, someone is likely to steal it as the tank is driving along. Oh well.

So that is "Marcus ab Morsus" completed. Hopefully I'll have this squadron finished very soon, only one more tank to do! And then it'll be onto the next three. Thanks for reading and as always comments are welcome.
Tuesday 2 March 2010
611 "Auctorita" Take 2 - EFTC Squadron Command Tank

611 "Auctorita" Take 2 - EFTC Squadron Command Tank

Sorry for the long winded title to this post, but it's the only way of describing what is to follow. A long time ago I posted some WIP shots of one of the squadron command tanks for my EFTC. Those of you who haven't seen it can take a look here. Now this tank has been listed under my "Recently Completed" title on the right of my blog, which is technically a mistake as it was still a WIP. I am however now pleased to bring you the fully completed model (it's even been varnished!). Tada!



First of all I'm sure you are all amazed at my freehand brilliance. In case you can't tell freehand is not my strongpoint, but everyone has to start somewhere, so I started where nobody will ever look - on the bottom of the tank. Having 12 Leman Russ variants provides some problems when transporting them anywhere, surprisingly enough. With all those turrets and main body's packed away I wanted to be able to quickly match up the right sections. So I took out a brush and some Codex Grey and carefully painted the name of the tank and also the tank ID number on the bottom. Even I was amazed at how crummy my first attempt was, but it has taught me a couple of things regarding planning of text etc. About the only good point would be that the skull doesn't look to bad. Anyway on to the tank itself.



I'm not going to go into too much detail of how I painted this tank as I've covered it in previous posts. All I've done to finish this tank off is to apply the turret transfers to identifiy the tank and the Cadian gate transfers to the sponsons. I also finally got around to protecting the tank with two light spray coats of matt varnish.



I've tried to add extra bits of equipment without making the tank look overcrowded. The compact lasgun on the rear section makes me think that someone was quickly grabbing something from the storage locker and placed their gun on the top while they found what they were looking for. The HK missile received a wash of Badab Black to dull it down, as the Boltgun Metal drubrush was a bit bright.



The weapons all got highlighted with Camo Green and then a pretty heavy wash with Devlan Mud like all the one's I built recently (sort of). The crewman also got the Devlan Mud treatment, unfortunately he's out of focus but at least you can see the hatch behind him clearly. I'll be working on my photography skills as well as those freehand ones. And that is "Auctorita" 100% completely finished! Now that I've got one of these tanks fully done the next one does not seem as daunting. To be honest it's already finished, but I'll post the pics of 612 "Marcus ab Morsus" (Hammer of Pain) tomorrow. So until then, thanks for reading everyone.
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