An overheating weapon is the Emperor’s way of telling you you should have killed your target with the first shot.

Brother Hestos, Hellblaster

Finally, a mighty two years and two months after initially starting work on the unit, the five-man Crimson Fists Hellblasters ‘Squad Ordoñez’ is now complete!

Of course that hasn’t been my only hobby focus during that time, as evidenced by my other blog posts. The reason it took so long is that while attempting to make the second model in the unit I accidentally broke four pink LEDs, which was all my remaining stock at the time. After that I rage quit, returned the half finished model to the Shelf of Shame for 18 months and moved on to the Reivers, which are still also unfinished now I think about it!

Don’t be cautious of supercharging your plasma incinerator. Be cautious of the target that requires you to supercharge!

Brother Tiro, Veteran Hellblaster

I’m afraid I don’t really have anything new to say about the techniques involved in making these models. I used my tried-and-tested LED Plasma Weapon technique that can be found in my Tutorials section. I think it’s worth mentioning that if you feel like giving LED plasma weapons a try but that tutorial looks a bit daunting, then I also have my Simple LED Plasma Weapon tutorial, which uses a slightly different and significantly easier technique.

So there we are then, the result of over two years effort and one step closer to completing the 2017 Dark Imperium boxed set! I’m reasonably pleased with the outcome, although I may revisit the very first model in the unit as both my modelling and painting have improved a lot since then. But that’s something for the future – right now I’m just relieved I don’t have to think about or look at Hellblasters again for a while! Now I guess I’d better get back to those Reivers…

“What’s more painful than venting plasma you ask? Failing in your duty to the Emperor.”

Brother Adio, Hellblaster

About three weeks ago I ran a poll on my Instagram and Twitter. The question posed was which of the two Crimson Fists units that I was working on I should finish first: my Hellblasters or my Reivers?

The results were conclusive – although Twitter seemed a lot more certain than Instagram did! So to honour that choice, here’s Brother Adio, the third member of my Dark Imperium Hellblaster squad.

I’m afraid I don’t really have any new techniques to discuss with this miniature. The plasma glow effect was achieved using the tried-and-tested technique detailed in my LED Plasma Weapon Tutorial which can be found on my LED Miniature Tutorials page.

In terms of conversion – besides the LEDs – this was essentially the stock model from the Dark Imperium set. The only changes I made were swapping the MkX helmet for a MkIV helmet, and adding a small ‘battle honour’ to the side of the plasma incinerator to help conceal some of the re-sculpting done to accommodate the LED. Although I’ve used all sorts of helmet varients with my Crimson Fists in the past, I decided to stick with the MkIV for the Hellblasters. This is because the MkIV is different enough from the MkX to add a bit of variety, but also similar enough that it doesn’t draw the eye. With the Hellblasters, I very much wanted the focus to be on their weapons!

So that’s three down from my Hellblaster unit, and two to go! That’s it for this week, but check back soon for even more Hellblasters.

My plasma incinerator is like the sun I never had.

– Ordoñez, Hellblaster Sergeant

Almost two years after finishing my first Crimson Fists Hellblaster, I’ve finally returned to add another member to this unit. I did start assembly work on this model quite a while ago, but rage-quit after accidentally breaking the last two pink 1.8mm LEDs that I had in stock!

The details and pose of this miniature are largely unaltered from the stock Dark Imperium model, although as you can see in the WIP image below I added an extra purity seal to the plasma gun. This was to help conceal an area of the gun I had to resculpt after installing the LED.

The LED plasma effect was achieved using the techniques described in my original LED Plasma Weapon tutorial. If you’d like to have a go at plasma weapons but are worried this method is a bit too complex, I also have my Simple LED Plasma Weapon tutorial.

I’m sometimes asked “why pink for plasma?”. As I explain in the designer’s notes of my tutorial, there are a number of reasons I chose pink as my colour for plasma. Firstly, the range of miniature LEDs I use only has a finite selection of colours available, and I’d used a lot of the other colours already. Secondly, I’ve used argon plasma in semiconductor fabrication processes in a previous job, and that was pink, so I tend to associate pink with plasma. Thirdly, it’s pretty eye-catching, and tends to stand out among the other LEDs.

That’s it for this week. Hopefully it won’t take me two years to get the next member of the squad finished! I’m trying to get through as much of the Dark Imperium box as I can before the Indomitus box (presumably) arrives in July. I’m really looking forward to adding the Primaris Space Marines from this new box to my Crimson Fists!

Never trust a regiment with a spotless banner. These colours have flown over thousands of worlds, and will fly over a thousand more while I still draw breath.

Ancient Sibbick

This Crimson Fists Primaris Ancient is a conversion of the plastic Primaris Ancient found in the Dark Imperium boxed set. Rather than building the standard model with its pristine banner, I decide to change it up a bit to more closely follow some of the classic artwork.,

Images (C) Games Workshop

I didn’t want to exactly copy either the original Rogue Trader cover image or the updated Primaris version. Instead I picked out features I liked, such as the chest cables and firing the bolter one handed. I did consider adding the bandaged head wound, but wasn’t sure I could pull it off, plus I didn’t feel it was quite in keeping with modern lore, particularly for a Primaris Marine!

The “tattered” banner that replaces the original banner is from a Fantasy Orc regiment and has been hanging out in my bits box for ages. I considered making it a white banner as in the original image but was worried it would look too much like a surrender flag!

I ummed and erred for quite a while as to what to paint on the banner. In the end I decided to keep it very simple. In some ways I felt it didn’t actually matter what was on the banner, as it was the overall impression of a well-worn banner being raised in defiance of a hostile galaxy that I was aiming for, rather than any specific details. To paint the Crimson Fists chapter symbol I followed the freehand guide for Imperial Fist symbol that I found here.

For the LED muzzle flare, I simply used the processes detailed in my LED Muzzle Flare tutorial.

That’s it for this week. Come back again soon for more LED fun, including hopefully some Age of Sigmar!