I'm Back

     After a long vacation from this blog, I'm finally back into putting up posts.  Kind of a crappy excuse for why, but our house got robbed.  They took my laptop, among other items, and I haven't been motivated to write since.  But since I just got an offer for a new job, I'm feeling more like myself again.  SO, WHAT TO POST??????

     I know, I finished my main HQ.  Sammael of the Ravenwing, or as he's know in my White Scars army, Samm'E Khan!!!!  aka Sammy Hagar, aka Sammy Davis Jr., aka your worst nightmare......

Samm'E Khan

     So to build the conversion, I started with the Sammael model in Finecast.  And yes, it sucked.  None of the parts fit together and they all had to be run under hot water and then held together as they cooled.  I am glad, however, that the thing weighs less than 15 pound like the metal model.  That thing could break a flight stand just by breathing on it.

     The next step was the conversion work.  First, I removed the head, which felt kind of heretical.....  Then, I had to cut out the left shoulder pad to make way for the White Scars one.  This was somewhat difficult due to half of it being "underneath" the cape.  I didn't want to have to completely hack off the arm to do it, so there was some skill (read: blood) involved.  Then, I did a simple removal of the eagle head on the front of the bike to make room for the lightning bolt, which was cut from a piece of plastic stock.  The bolt mounted nearly flush with the front of the bike with a little trimming, and I put the head back on to resemble, somewhat, that the eagle was coming thru the bolt.  It ended up cheesier than I had hoped, but it is the good kind of cheese.  Like how everything in 40k is exaggerated.  I then had to remove a few small Dark Angels symbols from the model, but that was easy due to their small size and being raised instead of recessed.

     To add to the White Scars/Mongolian feel, I obtained some bits from the Fantasy Chaos Marauder Horsemen box set.  The heads on about 4 or 5 of these guys scream Mongolian.  From the Fu mustache to the single braid coming from a shaved head.  I got my buddy Brandon to paint the face, as that is clearly a weakness in my painting and I wanted my centerpiece to stand out.  There was some green stuff required to prop his head high enough for the mustache and braid to clear the armor.  I also inserted on of the metal White Scars shoulder pads on the left arm and two round shields that come with the White Scars Bikers on either side of the bike.  I didn't like the feel of the giant book on the top in front of the handle bars, so I scrapped it for use on my Librarian Bike (soon to come) and replaced it with a standard stowage that comes with the DA attack bike.  Finally, I hacked the sword off just above the pommel and added one of the White Scars blades to complete the feel.

     Painting was not too hard, and I didn't try anything fancy.  I spent the most time on the cape, as I can do the look I want, but it takes forever.  I was sketchy on doing the gold thing, but now that it's finished I feel that it is the appropriate level of gaudiness that a Captain should have.  I am not at all happy with the way the sword turned out, so I'll be redoing it when I get a chance.  It's possible it just needs white in it to separate the green from the black, but I don't know.

     So I finally have ONE MODEL in my bike army painted to the standard I'm looking for.  I have been working on my command squad 10-15 minutes here and there in between job searching, apartment searching, and going crazy from living with my in-laws.  Now that we found a place I should have plenty of time and far fewer excuses.  I hope to be able to show off the command squad with thier fancy Plasma Talons and Corvus Hammers soon.  Tell me what you think, why don't ya.....