I have another updated tutorial for you this week, a refreshed versionof my Basic LED Soldering tutorial. It now includes better images, extra links to recommended equipment, and some additional technical details. This is part of my effort to update all the old tutorials from 2018 when I first began uploading them to this website.
Please take a look, and as ever, feedback is welcome!
I’ve updated my LED Circuit Design tutorial. It now includes more detailed explanations on circuit design, extra links and additional tips. The previous version was from July 2018, so a refresh was definitely needed.
So please take a look and let me know what you think!
They get in your mind. They make you see things. They make you do things!
Astra Militarum after-action report on Hive Fleet Cerberus (suppressed)
Work continues on Tyranid Hive Fleet Cerberus this week with the Neurolictor. The Neurolictor is a psychic infiltrator, able to project a neural disruption field that causes terror in its prey. I knew as soon as I saw this model that I was going to have to give it a glowing LED brain!
I bought this model on the day it was released in September last year. I planned to start working on it immediately, but the more I thought about how I would illuminate the model, the more complex I realised that task was, which put me off making a start. In the end I didn’t begin work until January. This project has taken around four weeks of hobby time, compared to about two weeks for a standard space marine.
If you’d like to replicate this model yourself, then the techniques set out in my LED Psyker tutorial are probably the best starting point. I began by recasting the two parts of the head that I wanted to illuminate – the front and the rear of the brain – in polyurethane resin, as per my Resin Casting tutorial. You can see the initial test casts in the left-hand picture below.
This miniature uses four 3V Blue 0805 SMD chip LEDs, each in series with their supplied resistor. Two of the LEDs were evenly spaced under the forehead to illuminate the top and bottom of the front brain. The other two were then used to illuminate each half of the rear brain.
This miniature is powered by two CR2032 coin cell batteries in the base. Two of the LEDs are connected in parallel with each battery. In theory I could have run all four LEDs from a single battery, but as there was room in the base I decided to use two batteries. This will give the miniature more longevity on the battlefield between battery changes.
When painting the Neurolictor I used the Hive Fleet Cerberus recipe described in this post. For this colour scheme, simple weapons like claws are black, but more advanced bioweapons are blue. In the case of the Neurolictor, I decided the ‘advanced’ description applied to the feeder tendrils. This also helps them stand out against the rest of the miniature.
When it came to painting the resin brain, I wanted to give it a little texture and depth without dulling the light that was passing through. You can see the bare resin in the left-hand picture above. I played around with a few techniques, but in the end I gave the resin two very diluted glazes of Soulstone Blue, the end result of which you can see in the middle picture. Next I painted the brain with two very diluted glazes of Lothern Blue. You can see the final result in the right-hand picture above. This gives the brain area of the miniature some depth and interest even when the LED is switched off.
That’s all for today, I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing how this Neurolictor was built. I’ll be back with more LED miniatures soon. Thanks very much for reading, and please remember you can also find me sharing my work on Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Mastodon.
We’re in ‘New Year, New Army’ season, so now is the perfect time to introduce my next big project – the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Cerberus! I already have a Tyranid army that has been plaguing the galaxy for decades. In fact, they’re the only army I own that has – in some form or another – consistently seen the tabletop in every single edition of Warhammer 40,000. They took part in the global Ichar IV campaign back in the 1990s, so it has always been my ‘headcanon’ that Hive Fleet Cerberus was a splinter of Hive Fleet Kraken, skulking off to terrorise the Eastern Fringe in the aftermath of that epic conflict. The name Cerberus is intended to allude to the “multi headed” threat of the splinter fleets.
This army has soldiered on with many of the original Tyranid models for many years now, as shown above. These were among the first xenos models I ever purchased, and they will always hold a special place in my nostalgic gamer’s heart. But the arrival of the Leviathan boxed set last summer convinced me that it was time for a long-overdue revamp of this force. I will be adding the Hive Fleet Cerberus tag to my blog, if you want to follow search for any posts relating to this project as it progresses.
If you’re a regular reader, you may also recall I made a ‘soft start’ to this project back in July 2023 with my Leviathan Screamer Killer.
When it came to picking the colours for this revamp project I wanted to stick fairly close to my original Hive Fleet Cerberus scheme, which was also the “official” Games Workshop scheme back in the day. So this meant red for flesh and bone for carapace. After some thought on what colour bioweapons should be I eventually settled on blue. This forms a triadic colour harmony with the red and the yellowish tint of the bone. I find this free Colour Wheel website a useful reference for choosing complementary colours schemes for painting projects.
You can see some examples below of the classic Tyranid colour scheme from the 1990s. This is my main source of inspiration for the colours of Hive Fleet Cerberus.
When I list my painting recipes on this blog, I’m not only recording them for those of you who are interested in using them, but also as a reminder for myself. Below are the paint recipes for Hive Fleet Cerberus, and I’m sure I’ll be referring to this post frequently throughout the project. All paints listed are from the Citadel range and are applied over an undercoat of Citadel Wraithbone spray.
When I’m painting a display miniature or a small model count army, then I prefer the traditional painting methods of base coat, shade, multiple highlights and glazes. But if I was to try and apply that to the Tyranids I don’t think my sanity would hold out (although that would be fitting)! So I’ve decided that Contrast paints and one or two highlights are the best compromise between speed and acceptable quality. You can see the first test Termagant above, and I’m pleased with the results.
Since my Crimson Fists project I tend to specify a limited LED colour palette for new armies. This is to ensure they don’t look like multi-coloured Christmas decorations when the force is fully assembled on the tabletop. Hive Fleet Cerberus will use the following limited LED colour palette:
I expect to use less LEDs in this project than in my space marine armies. My first rule of LED miniature design philosophy is “follow the art”. What this means is that I won’t put effects like LED muzzle flares on bio weapons that launch their projectiles through muscle spasms rather than gunpowder, as that wouldn’t make sense. Pyrovores on the other hand…
Below is the initial 1000 point army list that I’m aiming for. I hope to have this done by the summer so I can start playing some small games with this force. This list uses the ‘Invasion Fleet’ detachment.
Once the initial 1000 points are finished, what will be next? Tyrant Guard and a Biovore will be high priority, as I think they are awesome models. I’ll probably also need more fire power in the form of either Hive Guard, Exocrine or a Tyrannofex. A second Screamer Killer would be great too, as would some Lictors! My army list choice is always based on what I think looks cool, not what makes any tactical sense. I just can’t bring myself to paint miniature I’m not enthused about.
Like all my armies, I’m sure Hive Fleet Cerberus will be a slow-burn project. The Crimson Fists took about three years to complete, and the Flesh Eaters are also coming into their third year. So don’t expect to see a new unit of Tyranids every week! Having said that, here’s a preview of a another Tyranid miniature that is currently on my workbench…
It won’t just be Tyranids all the way down in 2024, I’ll also be continuing to expand my Flesh Eaters, painting a small Age of Sigmar force, plus working on a couple of one-off display projects.
That’s all for today, I hope you’ve enjoyed this introduction to my Tyranid project. Thanks very much for reading, and please remember you can also find me sharing my work on Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Mastodon.
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to have one of my models make it onto Warhammer TV Twitch channel again!
My Red Gobbo’s Surprise featured alongside the work of other hobbyists on this Thursday’s ‘Hang Out and Paint Christmas Special’ episode on Warhammer TV (Thursday 22nd December episode, at around the 1 hour 23 minute mark, if anyone would like to see it).
It’s always an honour to have had my work exhibited in this way, and a big thank you to Em, Lewis, Ollie and the rest of the Warhammer Community Team for their kind words about this miniature!
Chris Buxey Paints 