Mechanicum Thanatar Siege Automata

The latest addition to (what I hope will be) my assorted collection of Horus Heresy Automata is the big daddy of them all. The Thanatar Siege Automata!

I just love this thing.

The Thanatar is armed with a Hellex plasma mortar which just might be the best weapon name in the entire 40k universe. I left the mortar off for painting and then glued it on afterwards. As you can see, I went for my usual pink colour for the plasma effect.

Stripy!

I laid down some hazard striping on the left shoulder using Tamiya masking tape. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and I think I'll carry this through the rest of my 30k models.

Cool ammo feed.

The model wasn't too difficult to construct. Although bending the twin ammo feed for the bolt cannons did give me some headaches it was easy enough with the application of some hot water and a few pins to hold it in place. Honestly I wish I had used more pins on this model because the ankle joints aren't that sturdy and they could have used some reinforcement. Still, if it breaks I can always drill some pins in during the repair.

Left side!

As you can see, I added a handful of transfers from the Skitarii and Armiger transfer sheets to give a bit of interest. I've really been enjoying transfers lately and I feel it's a shame I didn't use them in the early days of my Adeptus Mechanicus army. Still, every model is an opportunity to expand your repertoire of techniques and I feel I have been able to do that with these.

Since finishing the Thanatar (only two days ago) I feel at a bit of a loss of which model to pick up next. I might do another 30k model or go back to Adeptus Mechanicus and add some more infantry or a Dragoon. Ah well, such is the joy of having an extensive hobby backlog I guess. Tune in next time to see what I decided to do!

Mechanicum Vultarax Stratos Automata

A bit of an odd one out this week. As some of you may know, I have a bit of a backlog of Mechanicum automata for the Horus Heresy. Well, I decided to start making some headway with it! First up, the amazing Vularax Stratos Automata.

It's just so damn cool!

I just love the Mechanicum units; they're similar enough to the 40k Adeptus Mechanicus stuff that they look good alongside it, but they have a really ancient, mysterious feel to them. The Vultarax shares a lot of cues with the Nurgle drones but with a more streamlined, less pustulent aesthetic. Basically, I think it's awesome!

Sorry about the glare.

The Vultarax did prove tricky to photograph though. No matter how I positioned it I couldn't get rid of the annoying glare on the hull. What you see here is the best I could manage.

Did a bit of water effect on the base.

It was a delightful thing to paint though. I'm really happy with the hazard stripes on the front canopy. So much so that I think I will make them a repeating motif across all my 30k units. That should allow them to look distinct from my 40k stuff whilst still remaining a unified whole when together.

The rest of the scheme is my normal green/brass/pink which I'm sure you're all sick of by now. Special mention has to go to the lenses however; the Vultarax is absolutely festooned with them and I really loved painting each and every one.

Profile shot.

Now, to address the slight stumbling block of this project. These days I pretty much only play 40k; I don't really have the time to commit to other game systems (much as I would like to) and the Vultarax only has official rules for 30k. Hopefully Forgeworld will release some rules for their Horus Heresy Mechanicum range for use in 40k in the near future. For now, there are some excellent fan made rules available online which my gaming group has agreed to use to allow me to field this thing from time to time. Thanks a lot guys!

Anyway, that's about it for the Vultarax. I'm hoping to crack on with some more Mechanicum units and get a few more painted up very soon.

Skitarii Onager Dunecrawler - Fully painted

Well, I'm back from a couple of weeks away from work, away from the blog and away from pretty much everything else! I managed to fins plenty of painting time, so things have moved on well. First off, I finished an Onager Dunecrawler for my Adeptus Mechanicus army:

Crawl those dunes baby!

This is actually the Onager from my first Start Collecting: Skitarii set bought way back when. Some of you may know that this is the second Dunecrawler I have painted, the reason for this is that I excitedly started building and painting this model when I first bought it, only to realise quickly that I had made a mistake! I should have built it in sub-assembles for painting and it would have been far easier. After a few shoddy brushstrokes, it was shelved fro a later date.

Neutron Laserrrrrr!!

As a result, the half painted model has been part of my army for years. As the rest of the force has grown around it, it began to look more and more of an eyesore. But, with the Mechanicus points drops from chapter approved I was hard pressed to make an army that didn't include it. Thankfully, I managed to push through and get it finished.

Aren't transfers fun?

I also tried something a bit different with the base on this one. I attempted to build a kind of toxic waste outflow next to a bunker hatch. I used some clear pouring medium for a water effect and I'm reasonably happy with how it turned out. I think I will attempt something similar on future projects. The base design was inspired by my friend Anna over at The Ashen Pair. We had some conversations about my sandy bases and she gave me a gentle shove to try something a bit more adventurous.

The base itself.

Waste outflow detail.

Anyway, another model added to the army and another fun project. More than anything I'm just really pleased to have this one done and to be able to use it on the tabletop.

Check in next week to see my next project which is also Mechanicus themed!