Flames of War German Adventure

I've been a bit of a hobby ostrich recently, burying my head in the sand pretending I don't have a stack load of miniatures to paint! I blame Games Workshop entirely!

In order to ease me out of my 6-month slump I thought I'd take a look at some Flames of War models. World War II has always fascinated me from a historical standpoint, so merging two of my main hobbies (miniature painting and military history) seems a fairly natural thing to do.

Where to start?

There are an enormous amount of options for the budding painter/gamer. I chose Flames of War as the base gameset to use, simply because it uses 15mm miniatures (very common) and is an easily accessible and popular game. There are a number of other rulesets out there that use 15mm miniatures as well, however, so its all good!

A new attempt

So I have a problem. I can't work on one thing for more then a few weeks before moving onto something else. In the last 5 years I have managed to finish 5 models. This year I told myself that would change, that I would paint a small army. Six months in, I have one half finished model to show for it (who I will finish, maybe). In order to brake this habit, I have decided to post my progress on one model, from start to finish, in the hope it keeps me on track, and hopefully inspire me to build more.

So what model? I decided it had to be a centre piece, and one that would be interesting to paint. My preference for Forge World, and especially their Horus Heresy range made the choice easy, I should paint a Primarch. The Primarchs released so far have been great, each full of character, telling a story with this pose. In the end I had to go with my favourite so far, Ferrus Manus, Primarch of the Iron Hands. They are a Legion I have always had a fascination with, but usually dismissed due to how one dimensional they are betrayed in the novels. Recently, however, I have begun to see them in a new light, and reading through their background as presented by Forge World has shown me a new side to their character. But more on the Legion in the future. For now, the model.

Perparation

I began by inspecting the model for any major faults. There was a small problem with the base, and the shoulder pads were missing a little bit of detail, but as it was nothing major, I decided to leave it. I soaked the models in warm, soapy water to remove the resin release agent left over from the casting process. The release agent can make parts difficult to glue together and effect painting so it's best to clean resin models before working on them. I left them to dry naturally to avoid any damage.

Assembly

I carefully removed the parts from the sprue, first attaching the body to the base, then building the rest of the kit. I kept the head separate to make painting easier (and to allow for all the obvious beheading jokes), and also the servo arms, which will be fiddly to paint once attached. These will be finished separately and glued to the main model at the end. I have also left the display base unbuilt. This is because I have not decided how I want to base the model yet. I want to keep away from the black sands of Isstvan V, as Ferrus armour is largely black. The display base has several dead marines on it, and the colour of these Legionnaires will depend on how I choose to base.

That's all I have done so far, tomorrow I hope to undercoat the model in preparation for painting.

Work in Progress: First Legion Predator

I'm not very experienced in painting vehicles if truth be told. I've painted around 60 or 70 basic infantry figures, 30 terminators and 20 bikes, but in terms of vehicles its limited to a couple of Land speeders and a pair of Rhino tanks. Coupled with the fact that black is generally considered to be one of the harder colours to get right on a model (ironic when you think about it!) along with white and yellow, it was with an element of trepidation that I approached this task.

With tools in hand I unpacked the box and set to work. The Predator box comes with many and varied options for modelling, which match its various uses on the battlefield. In order to maximise 'bang for my buck', I decided from the outset to make extensive use of magnets in building the model, to allow easy switching around of the weapon configurations. Fortunately, Elmo9141 of the Bolter & Chainsword forums had kindly written up a tutorial for doing exactly what I needed, so I set about the task with alacrity.

Here's a link to Elmo's tutorial if you are interested!