Category: LEDs

Goff Rocker, Ork Musician

On By Chris B.In LEDs, Orks, Warhammer 40,000Leave a comment

‘Ere we go, ‘ere we go, dakka all the way!

The Goff Rocker

When I first saw the Goff Rocker, I knew I’d have to add it to my collection eventually. The model is just so full of character, I love the call back to the classic Goff Rockers miniatures, and the awesome tie-in Christmas song just sealed the deal!

Modelling & Painting

I didn’t make any serious alterations to the model itself, other than giving his bionik eye the LED treatment. To achieve this I used the same technique as for my Eradicator sergeant’s bionic eye, including the 3V red ultra nano SMD chip LED. The metal stage texture is from a very old Games Workshop battlefield accessories sprue that has been languishing in my spares box for years. Originally it was a large square pallet for stacking ammo crates up, but I cut, filed and sanded it down into a circle.

My first “draft” of the base was a 50mm circular base with LED fire pyrotechnic effects on each side. But I decided it dominated the actual miniature too much, and revised it down to 40mm, which is the base size that the model is supplied with. I also swapped out the fire for two stage footlights, one in purple and one in blue. This change took it closer to the light artwork painted on the base of the box art model, and of course following the existing artwork is one of my key design philosphies when using LEDs in miniatures.

The stage footlights were made from small comms speakers, again taken from a battlefield terrain sprue, drilled out, and with more 3V SMD chip LEDs inserted, one in blue and one in white, as I didn’t have any purple LEDs in this size. To finish off the footlights, I filled them with acrylic gel and once it had dried glazed them with blue and purple glazes respectively.

When it came to painting, I followed the “offical” scheme fairly closely. The majority of the colour choices came from the WarhammerTV Citadel Colour masterclass painting tutorial for this model. The only exceptions were the ork skin and the squig hide. I used my own recipe for these to match other recent ork models in my collection, such as the Kommando Kill Team (the skin and hide receipes are in this linked article for anyone interested).

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed this detour into greenskin territory! If you’d like to see more of my orks, search the ‘ork’ category on this site. Also, don’t forget to stream and download the Goff Rocker song and who knows, maybe we can get it to Christmas number one in the UK! As always, thanks very much for reading, and please don’t forget you can also follow my work on social media at Twitter, Mastodon and Instagram.

Zevaboa, Skink Priest

On By Chris B.In Age of Sigmar, Grand Alliance Order, LEDs, SeraphonLeave a comment

Float like a terradon, sting like a well-crafted simile.

Zevaboa, Skink Priest & Warrior-Poet

This week I’m returning to my long-running Seraphon project with Zevaboa, skink priest & warrior-poet, equipped with a star-stone staff and mystical cloak of feathers.

Painting & Modelling

This is one of those projects that seemed like a good idea at the time! I spotted this model on the shelves in Warhammer World when I was up there for Golden Demon, and bought it on a whim since it’s ‘Direct Only’ and not normally available in stores. Plus I thought it might be a fun model to enter into the Shattered Brush painting contest. Of course it’s no secret that Finecast can be tricky to work with, but I feel like I got there in the end.

The LED staff follows the basic principles of my Simple LED Muzzle Flare Tutorial, with a few minor difference. The LED used is an ‘Ultra Nano’ 3V blue LED from Small Scale Lights, connected in series with its supplied 10Ω resistor. The circuit is powered by a single 3V CR2032 coin cell battery and switch hidden in the base. As you can see from the ‘work in progress’ pictures above, the LED emerges from the neck of the staff, while the wires run through a 1mm hole that I carefully drilled through the shaft of the staff. The wires then pass down through the torso, right leg, and then into the base.

I carefully drilled and cut the original Finecast ‘star-stone’ out of the head of the staff before inserting the LED. Once the tip of the staff had been undercoated and painted I began replacing the ‘star-stone’ with my own version made from acrylic gel. This gel can take a few hours to dry, so I had to build up the spherical shape in layers over a number of days. When the final application of gel had dried, I applied a shade of Drakenhof Nightshade and then a glaze of (the now discontinued) Guilliman Blue. If you’re interested in a more detailed explanation of working with the gel, then I have a further explanation of how you can achieve similar effects in my Simple LED Muzzle Flare Tutorial.

For the paint scheme, I used my standard Seraphon recipe found in my post about the Terradon Alpha, but with a few more layers of fine highlights, since this is a hero model and I’m entering it into a contest. The only part that gave me pause was the lining of the cloak. On the stock model the lining is red, but I didn’t want to copy that as it would be too similar to the skink’s skin. I did briefly consider a ‘flayed human flesh’ effect, but in the end settled on ‘terradon skin’. This was partially so I didn’t have to extend the purposely limited palette for my Seraphon project, and also because it fit thematically with the flight-granting abilites of the cloak of feathers.

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed revisting my slow-burn Seraphon project. If you’re a fan of the Seraphon then you may like to check out the other models in this army project. As always, thanks very much for reading, and please don’t forget you can also follow my work on social media at Twitter, Mastodon and Instagram.

Demios Predator, 15mm scale

On By Chris B.In Horus Heresy, Horus Heresy 15mm, Imperial Fists, LEDs, Space MarinesLeave a comment

Death has arrived!

Predator tank commander motto

It’s a quick diversion back into slightly unusual territory this week with a 15mm scale Demios Predator! This cool little model was printed as a gift by a good friend who owns a 3D resin printer. He also included some 15mm MkVI Space Marines and several other vehicles, including a 15mm Land Raider that I shared a few weeks ago.

Models at 15mm scale sit somewhere in between the 6mm scale of Epic miniatures and the 28mm scale of Warhammer 40,000. They’re small enough that they don’t take super long to paint, but large enough to tackle some interesting details. I’m using this cool gift as an opportunity to paint-up a small 15mm scale Horus Heresy Imperial Fists army. Below you can see comparison shots of the Predator next to 15mm infantry, and my trusty 28mm Guardsman ‘Sergeant Scale’.

This particular model was very high-up the painting priority order. For me, the Deimos Predator Destructor is one of the most iconic Space Marine tanks. In fact I think the very original 1980s plastic Predator was the first vehicle I ever encountered on the 40K tabletop!

Painting & Modelling

The 15mm Horus Heresy project is quite light on LEDs – if you’ll excuse the pun – compared to most of my other armies. But many of the vehicles are just too tempting not to wire up! As you can see from the above left image, the Predator autocannon barrel came out of the printer slightly ‘droopy’, so I decided to replace it with plastic rod. This also made it easier to drill the holes for the muzzle flare wires.

The Predator autocannon has a 3V Yellow 0805 SMD Chip LED (available from Small Scale Lights) at the muzzle. The LED is in series with its supplied 100Ω resistor. The circuit is supplied by a single 3V CR2032 coin cell battery and switch in the 50mm base. The muzzle flare effect around the LED is made from acrylic gel. I have a full, detailed explanation for how this whole process is done in my Simple LED Muzzle Flare Tutorial.

If you’re interested in my yellow paint receipe, you can find it in my previous post on the 15mm scale Land Raider.

As mentioned in my previous post on 15mm Horus Heresy, my plan is to use these models to play a few games with my regular gaming buddy Apologist who is building up an Emperor’s Children force. If you’d like to see how that’s going, then search his blog for 15mm Horus Heresy.

That’s it for this week, I hope you’re all finding this slightly unusual project interesting! I’m sure there will be some more posts about 15mm Horus Heresy again in the future. As ever, thanks for reading, and please don’t forget you can also follow my work on Twitter and Instagram.

“Pacification of Logan’s World” Flesh Eaters ‘Armies on Parade’ 2022

On By Chris B.In Flesh Eaters, LEDs, Space Marines, War of the False Primarch, Warhammer 40,0004 Comments

“The War of the False Primarch was a dark and bloody episode of the Imperium’s history, now largely lost to myth and purged from all records, that plunged the Segmentum Pacificus into anarchy from 780.M33 to 860.M33. The conflict was finally ended when the High Lords of Terra convened the Pentarchy of Blood and tasked five loyal Chapters to destroy eleven others that had been declared Traitoris Perdita for their actions during the war.”

– IMPERIAL ARMOUR VOLUME TWO – SECOND EDITION PG. 17

The Flesh Eaters space marine chapter, a key member of the Pentarchy of Blood, bring the will of the High Lords to the Partisan frontier planet Logan’s World on the border of Segmentum Pacificus. Brother-Chaplain Uriah Grimm leads elements of the third company in a purge of the population. Resistance is put down and captives are taken for interrogation. Clues are sought regarding the whereabouts of the Abomination, the so-called “False Primarch”, and his Silver Stars chapter.

Concept

The concept for this board was fairly straightforward. The Flesh Eaters have come to a world loyal to the False Primarch, and are conducting a purge of the citizens while looking for clues to the whereabouts of their enemy. The local population are mounting a resistance, but without space marine support of their own they don’t have much hope…

The Flesh Eaters have chosen the ruined Sanctum Imperialis – an obvious symbol of Imperial authority – as their base of operations. Brother-Chaplain Uriah Grimm directs the purge from the balcony. The colour scheme of the Sanctum subtly echoes that of the chaplain, with a lot of red, black and white on the details. The red backdrop behind the building is a cardboard miniature photography background that came free with White Dwarf a few years ago.

The Partisan Population

The Partisan resistance are all made from the Necromunda Hive Scum boxed set, and the market stall and accessories come from the Underhive Market set. I wanted to give a “Jesus kicking the merchants out of the temple” vibe with how the Flesh Eaters were dealing with the locals who had dared to use the Sanctum as a market place. A small easter egg, you may have spotted the market stall has a Silver Stars helmet for sale! The Sotek Green – more of a turquoise despite the name – of the Silver Stars’ helmet is also used in the clothing of the Partisan population. This was used to help visually associate them with the Silver Stars’ cause, and also to give a contrasting “red versus blue” vibe to the display board.

The graffiti artist being captured for interrogation is based on the artwork below from the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader rulebook. The Hive Scum box didn’t have any arms in this pose, so I had to sculpt them from scratch myself.

What’s Next?

There we have it, another ‘Armies on Parade’ project concluded! I hope you’ve enjoyed all the photographs of the display board. Don’t forget you can click on any of the images to open a larger view. So what’s next for the Flesh Eaters? This certainly isn’t the end of the project. I’m still aiming to reach at least 1000 points. I have at least one more squad, one character and two vehicles planned, so stay tuned over the coming months to see this army continue to grow.

That’s all for today, thanks for reading, I hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s Armies on Parade project. Don’t forget you can also follow my work on Twitter and Instagram. I’ll be back again with more miniatures soon!

Golden Demon 2022 – Aftermath

On By Chris B.In Flesh Eaters, Golden Demon, LEDs, Space Marines, War of the False Primarch, Warhammer 40,000Leave a comment

This past weekend I attended the Golden Demon painting contest at Warhammer World in Nottingham. In the pictures below you can see my entry packed and ready to go, along with my extensive emergency repair kit and plenty of spare batteries!

Below you can see my ‘Flesh Eaters Ancient’ entry in the entry display cabinets. I decided to enter him in the anything-goes ‘Open’ category, as I worried that the LEDs were a little be “out there” for the 40K Single Miniature category. In hindsight though, I think it would have been fine. At the last minute I also decided to enter Assault Squad Levers just for fun. They’re certainly not painted to a Golden Demon standard, but they are one of my favourite units that I’ve made to date. This really was a last minute decision though – I built the display base from an old picture frame the day before and was drybrushing the small rocks in the hotel on the morning of the contest! You can see a picture of the unit in the ’40K Squad’ cabinet below.

There were so many great entries that it would be impossible to do them all justice with a quick camera phone photo. I had to snap quickly so I wasn’t holding up the lines of viewers. Here are a select few highlights!

We also checked out the Warhammer World exhibition hall while we were there (twice in fact). It was free entry to the exhibition with our Golden Demon tickets, but even when you have to pay it’s definitely worth the money. A new Horus Heresy display had been created since our last pre-Covid visit, highlights of which can be seen below. I loved the tunnel-fighting cross-section below the main board!

And of course I had to pay my respects at the classic Crimson Fists display on the way through.

We also checked out Apologist’s retro-inspired Blood Angels army which was on display in the hall. You may recognise them from White Dwarf 479. Check out Apologist’s blog and Instagram, if you don’t already follow him, for some excellent hobby!

As you may have guessed there was no trophy or finalist pin for me this time! However, I did buy myself myself a Golden Demon mug as consolation prize (wooden spoons were not available)! Joking aside, we had a great time and it was well worth the trip. It was also nice to briefly meet and say hello to other hobbyists from the Warhammer Community social media sphere, such as Spencer and Gonders.

I’m not too disappointed I came away empty-handed considering the level of talent on display was so incredibly high. The whole experience was incredibly positive and has left me feeling inspired to try and up my game. In fact, I’m already in the initial planning stages of several entries for next time!

That’s all for today, but I’ll be make with more painted miniatures soon. As ever, thanks for reading, and please don’t forget you can also follow my work on Twitter and Instagram.