Tamiya 1:25 scale German Soldier

So guys, its been a long time since I came in to do blogging. Have been playing lots of Neverwinter and also with the new school term, my time is pretty much limited. But that does not mean I will stop my hobby.

For a school project, my friend brought me to a specific Tamiya store to get some motor parts and gears. When I reached that store, I was looking at all the scale model sets they got rather then looking for parts for the project. Guess this is in my hobby enthusiasm.

With limited cash in my wallet, I spent all of it onto one scale model that I found was pretty awesome. It is a German Panzergrenadier metal model:

Sorry about the photo, as I am unable to rotate it. This is the figure that I bought. There are like 3 other designs to this metal model series, but I decided to get this as it looks pretty cool, similar to dashing to cover or stealth advancement to enemy position. The scale of this model is 1:25. As I have not handled miniatures of this size before, I was more inclined to grab this model.

When I opened it and read the instructions, I was unsure whether to start building this model up or only do it when I have more time to spare. 

Enclosed within the aluminium pack is a special type of cement that came with the model. At first I was just thinking to use super glue, but after much thought, I decided not to. There must be a reason for them to give this special cement. Thus I have yet to build up this model.

Majority of this model is made of metal, except for the weapons and accessories. It comes with a stand for the model too! How cool is that!

I cannot wait to build up this model. One last component I am waiting for is to get the drill to drill a hole for the stand and I would start building it. Hopefully within the month I would be able to at least build this model.

That's all for today's post, hope you guys enjoy it. Be sure to look out for the fully assembled version of this soldier. And I will see you guys in the next post.

Winters

Codex: Astra Militarum review

Alright! After devouring through this book for a few hours, I managed to  get how to use this codex!

First impression of this codex was pretty good. Apart from the cover being Astra Militarum, the contents of this codex still refers the Guards as Imperial Guards rather than Astra Militarum. As I read on, there was one thing I took note of though: several pages of the printing in the codex is poorly done. MANY PARTS OF THE TEXT AND PICTURES HAVE THEIR INK SMUDGED. I do not know if this is a rare case or not but I hope I can return it and get a new one. Chances are slim as this book was wrapped up when it arrived.

MANY PARTS OF THE TEXT AND PICTURES HAVE THEIR INK SMUDGED!

On to the contents. One thing I noted when I started reading the codex is that there were more fluff included than the previous codex in my opinion. It took me about 1.5 hours to read through the fluff, stories and all that. As expected the pictures are all printed in colour. This is a great plus point as it makes reading the codex seem more appealing. Plus it makes the settings of the pictures more clear, unlike the black and white pictures of the previous codex, where it is hard to see where the soldier is fighting and all that kind of stuff.

PICTURES ARE IN COLOUR!

To the army list, one difference that really caught my eye is that there is now a wargear list. This means that for every unit which I want to upgrade with cooler weapons, I have to keep referring to the wargear list, which is something of a trouble, especially when I am new to the codex and making a new list.

I HAVE TO KEEP REFERRING TO THE WARGEAR LIST!

Nothing much have changed for the points cost, except for some plus and minus here and there.

Let's start with the HQ. One thing that caught my eye is the drop in points cost for Commissar Yarrick. Only veterans in the command squad get to be upgraded with carapace, which is kind of sad as it means our Master of Ordnance will be more vulnerable on the field. There is also the inclusion of tank commanders, which is kind of cool as it gives the fluff of an armoured company supported by infantry instead of the other way round and so on. Rules for the servitors are now also available in the codex, which I don't remember seeing them in the previous codex.

DROP IN POINT COST FOR COMMISSAR YARRICK!

Next, the troops. They switched the troops with elites, thus having the troops in front of the elites rather than the other way round like the previous codex.Nothing much have changed for the infantry platoon besides the lower points cost for Heavy Weapons Squad. Conscripts are cheaper but still very squishy. Veterans are cheaper with a revised points cost for their doctrines. We see the loss of penal legions, though I don't use them so it doesn't really matter to me.

VETERANS ARE CHEAPER!

Dedicated transports still includes chimeras but at a higher cost with also the inclusion of Taurox an Taurox Prime. So I guess GW wants us to get more Taurox, since they have cheaper points cost.

CHIMERA IS MORE EXPENSIVE NOW!

Ogryns are more or less the same in the elites section with bullgryns being more expensive. Their points cost can be found in the white dwarf weekly. Ratlings and psykers look the same to me. Militarum Tempestus is under the elite section too but we see the loss of storm troopers, one of my favourite units. Since they always help me get at least one kill point each game. Marbo is gone too, so it is pretty sad to see a pie plate guy disappear.

STORM TROOPERS AND MARBO GONE!

For fast attack, rough riders are still around along with the sentinels. Armoured ones are now cheaper, thus it is a plus point to me as I love to bring armoured sentinels in my list. Nothing much changed except now Vendetta can only carry 6 guys and is much more expensive, way more.

VENDETTA IS MORE EXPENSIVE!

Revised Leman Russ tanks points cost is good, with 120 points being the cheapest. But guess what, I don't even know what that tank does as I don't even want to use it. Hahaha! We see the lose of 3 of our artilleries apart from the Basilisk and the inclusion of the wyvern battery (The mortar guy).

REVISED LEMAN RUSS TANK COST IS AWESOME!

\

The orders look pretty sweet, I must remember to use them. But effectiveness of it is still unclear as I haven't got a game yet. The orders cards are not a must buy as you will see it in the codex and it is only for reference. But if you are a hardcore gamer, get one, you do not want to forget to give an order.

ORDERS CARDS ARE NOT COMPULSORY BUT THEY ARE COOL!

Now you get to choose whether to use warlord traits from the rulebook or from the codex. That's right Guard players, we got out own warlord traits table.

WE GOT OUR OWN WARLORD TRAITS TABLE!

That's all for my review on the new Codex: Astra Militarum.

If you have  any questions, feel free to ask. 

Time to work on a list. Muhahahaha!

Winters

New stuff in to paint!

Headed down to a local Game shop earlier today at lunch time to collect these awesome miniatures that one of my friend decided to let go of as he has too many models at home. So I decided to get some from him, since they are quite worth the money to me. $110 for everything below! 

1. 19 Starship Troopers Mobile Infantry miniatures.

These miniatures are a must buy to me when I have the chance as I can't find them anywhere else any more. I liked these models too as they are in metal, since I always preferred metal to plastic models, also with something new to paint.

Furthermore, they are all mounted on 25mm bases. Hence they are also a great boost to my current Imperial Guard army. 

2. Chaos Terminator Squad.

Always wanted to own one of these set at the very least. It included only four plastic terminators but there is the good part where I get another terminator body in metal. Not only is it metal that excites me, but it is the metal body of Abaddon the Despoiler! Thus this model is going to be fun to work with.

Night Lords have also been my favourite chaos force. They dislike the Imperium very much but they dislike chaos just as much too.

3. 24 Genestealers.

Tyranids are models which you would want to collect even though you don't play them, especially genestealers. I liked them because of all the Ciaphas Cain novels that I read. They are fun to pose with your current models and look great even when you proxy them in your army! (That's what I plan to do!)

16 of these models are normal genestealers, 6 of which are normal genestealers with rending claws. The remaining 2 is also with rending claws, but what makes them so special is that they both have the heads of a tyranid lictor. I remember I saw this image somewhere but I can't give a name to this kind of genestealers at the moment.

Furthermore, bits bag! He also included four cool scenic bases for miniatures, probably to use for decorating and all that kind of stuff. Many heads and arms of the genestealers. I can already see my bases of the Imperial Guard Veterans to have those as war trophies and also have them on the base, like they are fighting against tyranid genestealers!

With so many ideas coming into my mind, I can't wait to get started!

Winters

What to expect soon!

I know I know it have been a long time since I last posted. So here is an update on what is possibly to come!

As from the picture above, chaos chosens of the crimson slaughter is definitely on the list. I got these six guys quite some time back from someone who is selling it for 20 dollars. Now I finally have them built up and will be ready to paint after I get my hands on those colours!

What happened to the Valhallan Ice Warrior Winterial?  

Well, the pictures are a little incomplete but I would post up the Winterial on this blog as soon as I figured out how to make the Winterial understandable. Plus I might have a video of it that may come up shortly so that it would help you all in the process of the Winterial once it is ready.

So this is the update for today, hope you all will look forward to it. And with the Astra Millitarum new releases that I believe would come very soon, you should be able to expect some unboxing. 

No, I am probably not going to get any scions for the time being though I must admit the models are cool. Looking at the Taurox vehicle I already have some idea on some conversions I can do with it so you can expect me to get one soon.

That's all for today, see you all later!

Winters

Shopping List Status: Complete

The last shopping have finally been finished with all the materials needed to paint a Valhallan Ice Warrior. Though it may not be as good as those you see out there, but it could at least give an idea on how you could go about to do it.

Went to look for some inspirations on the Internet yesterday and I realised something crucial: I found no tutorials on how to paint a Valhallan Ice Warrior. Plus there are quite a few colour schemes to get around and try out with. As for my colour scheme, it is going to be quite unique. I spent an entire day figuring out what paints to use.

(The last items to get)

In other news, the knights are already out at a local store near me. Though the boxes are stacked up and the prices not really visibly seen, I managed to peek find out what is the price of the knight. That is $190 after members discount. 

*Sighs*

Guess I have to safe faster to reach a budget to get one of these. Seeing how some people bought four at one go just makes me tempted to follow suit.

Ah well, time to work on my Valhallan guy. Catch you all in the next blog post!

Winters

Unboxing Bretonnian Men-at-arms

Hey all!

Here I am today doing a short unboxing for the Bretonnian Men-at-arms for Warhammer Fantasy. 

The picture below shows the box of this set. Though the box at the top right corner is a little damaged but it is still recognisable.

Let us take a look at the contents in the box. 

From the box, there is a Bretonnian transfer sheet decal, a packet of 16 square bases, and 8 sprues.

This allows you to build up 16 men-at-arms.

Let us take a look at two of the unique sprues:

This two sprues comes attached together. This allows you to make a standard bearer, champion and the musician if I am not mistaken. As you can see, this two sprues includes 4 men-at-arms body with shields and some awesome weapons and bits to customize your miniatures!

For the next sprues that we are talking about, they are repeated. So let us take a look at the first one first, which is the weapon sprue.

The weapon sprue includes six halberds and some bits in which you could include as the gear in which the men-at-arms where to battle.

The halberds are all uniquely designed, though there seemed to be two which are of almost the same design.

You will get 3 of this weapon sprue.

Next would be what I call the body sprue.

This sprue includes 4 bodies of the men-at-arms, 4 shields and 8 heads.

The four bodies are uniquely posed and are of different designs.

For the four shields given, there are 3 different types. 2 of which are unique, one of them with a spike below and another with a clip at the edge of the shield, the other 2 are whole shields that are similar to each other.

Each of this sprue allows you to choose from 8 different heads, giving you a wide variety of combination for your men-at-arms during assembly.

You will get 3 of this sprue too.

So this is just a short unboxing, hope you all like it. 

I got this at a discounted price due to the condition of the box, but I do hope you will all get one of this awesome set. I highly recommend this set.

This is my first unboxing post so do let me know what to improve on.

I shall see you all in the next blog post.

Winters

The Hydra

\

Hey all!

So it's been quite a while since I last wrote on the blog. Sorry about that. I was busy with the application for further studies and all. Plus my laptop screen broke (I accidentally broke it) and I am currently down with a flu (Hence this gave me a chance to take a break and write on the blog).

Recently I have been working on this guy:

Yep, it is the Imperial Guard Hydra Flak Tank.

I dug it out of my storage when I was packing the boxes. I guess I bought this a while back but never had the chance to push myself to finish it. Until now.

It took me more than half a day to complete it. Now, the hatch, head of the tank commander, the turret and its awesome guns are all bluetack as I want to remove them later to paint. 

Though it is an awesome kit, it is hard to build.

I damaged the upper hull piece and the top of the turret. Hence now the Hydra has become a one and only because it is damaged. But it should be fine as it gives the tank a more unique look.

I love this kit, but it is kind of expensive. You could either just buy the conversion kit or buy the complete set. You would need a basilisk tank battery if you only buy the conversion kit.

So here are the pictures for it: 

I could not make a Winterial for it as I made some mistakes along the way aand I guess you should not follow them. Hence maybe wait till I get another kit and get a Winterial made up.

Aftermath:

There are lots of bending of the parts, especially the guns. But that is unavoidable. Hence you need hot water to make it straight again.

Do not use too much on the resin parts. Surprisingly the hatch on top of the turret became powdery and white and hard, like as if they were deformed.

Never ever do this without a professional help or do this without someone who never did this before. Lucky ones would get it right, unlucky ones like me would have to make do with the damage done to it.

So, with nothing else to add, I shall end this here. See you all soon. And hopefully have some Winterials up.

Winters

The Removal 03

Hey all!
So as you all should know by now I am working on my Leman Russ Battle Tank. So here is the result.
I barely made any changes to it, except fixing it up with some greenstuff, adding a heavy stubber sponson and switching out the tank commander's arms.
I hope you guys like it. Do comment on how I can improve this tank and any ideas you would like to give on it.
Winters

The Removal 02

Hey all!
So based on the part 01, you should have an idea on what I was working on. So here I am with the results.
Personally it wasn't up to what I had expected the outcome to be.
I had to use a small screwdriver to forcefully break it up to some of its components. Though it was a little easier, it was still hard work. Took me about an hour to get it into its components as shown in the image.
It is very hard to wash off the dettol soap that I used. Some of the dettol is still lingering on some of the components, especially the tracks.
The paint failed to be removed. I tried scratching it off only to leave loads of scratch marks.
What I found rewarding however, was that the rear door behind the hatch turned out to be metal. To let you know, I am a big fan of metal or part metal models.
Though finding a metal part on it isn't surprising au.ce afterall, it is said to be a 3rd edition tank.
Reflection: This failure could be due to the possibility of using the wrong dettol soap type, or probably accidentally adding more water then the intended 1:1 of the desired mixture.
So most probably I may give it another go some time or leave it as it is, fix it back, and go on to my next project.
Winters

The Removal 01

Hey all!
After considering for a long time, I have decided to debond this tank shown which I got for second-hand.
Hopefully it too strips the paint off too.
I have left it soaked for 18 hours in a mix of 1:1 with dettol soap and water. In maybe 2 or 3 hours more, I would remove and take a look to see if it works.
Hopefully it does work as I removed the turret an hour earlier only to realise it is going to be tough to remove and the main hull does not seem to budge at all.
Hence let us see how this goes in the end, whether is it a correct choice, a wrong choice, or a very stupid one.
Stay tuned!
Winters