NEWOBMIJ

Dark Angels Nephilim FIghter. Now in papercraft.

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 17:15:37 -0500

Well, it took a combined total of twelve hours in design and test building after a friend let me borrow the plastic kit to measure, but I can now make Nephilim fighters out of four sheets of letter sized printed cardstock instead of a ridiculously overpriced kit from GW ($75 for two sprues of plastic). Send me an email if you want the PDF. I also have cut files for the Silhouette desktop cutting machine if you have one of those handy. Also keep in mind I’m for hire if you want anything commissioned in papercraft.

More minis from the Emperor's Knuckles

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 23:45:00 -0500

Jarl Kurk Thunderfoot in artificer armor. Since I use pistol weaponry as the rifle versions, I had to hunt down an old style plasma pistol to differentiate between which was which.

Barney here is a Rogue Trader era (1987) Dreadnought with twin linked autocannon arms made from imperial guard heavy weapons team autocannons, greenstuff and some extra eldar weapons shields. I think I went a bit overboard on the knotwork.

People will often criticize the old style of 40k, but with just a bit of conversion, it can still be usable with the newer models. I’m quite pleased with how the conversion part of this build went as well as the final look of it. I will have to go in and clean up the highlights at some point before I can actually call the piece finished.

And last but not least are my sniper scouts. These are completely unaltered Ratling Snipers. I’ve seen the older ratlings, and these guys are much more dwarfish in size than they are. It’s almost as if they were intended for Squat snipers and were quietly reclassified by Games Workshop so they could still be released without causing a fuss. I absolutely love the little sculpted details about the minis here. One has an eldar soulstone as a charm. Another has a half eaten bag of apples and cheese behind him and a discarded apple core at his feet. Some of them have little rat skulls collected as trophies (I imagine they’d be hard to hit at a distance with a sniper rifle, thus would the skull prove their skill with the weapon). They also come five to a $20 blister, which is one of the few bargains you’ll still find from GW.

Emperor's Knuckles get a Librarian

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:09:00 -0500

So I decided my Emperor’s Knuckles Space Marine army (Squats, AKA spess dorfs) needed another HQ choice to go with the terminators I made. My original plan was to get another 2nd edition plastic terminator sergeant and bling it out to make a captain, but then I came across this fellow:

This is a 1st edition Space Hulk Terminator Librarian from the Genestealer expansion. Being plastic was a plus, as converting it was a breeze. I didn’t even really need to shorten the legs by that much since the model is a fair bit smaller than the current terminator armored figs anyway. The arms were another story, as they seemed to have been sculpted in a larger proportion than the legs, so I had to relocate them as well. I got the dwarf parts from this guy:

Unfortunately, Finecast, despite being fragile when you drop it, is actually pretty hard to cut into if you want to do an extensive mod like this. I ended up having to cut off the bits of the guy I wanted in larger chunks with a sprue cutter before whittling out what I could with a hobby knife and finally breaking out the dremel tool to get to the finer points. Freeing up the beard from the pistol was a chore in itself. I wanted to keep the geared hammer and replace the axe head of the force weapon as well as a few of the runic pouches, charms and random bits from the backpack. Here’s how he came out.

And here he is with the terminator squad. Due to librarians wearing blue armor and my characters having little red toboggans, he came out looking a bit reminiscent of Papa Smurf.

Serenity (ship from Firefly) in papercraft

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:27:12 -0500

Here is my build of the Firefly class transport ship Serenity from the sci-fi TV show Firefly. The template was created by Jorge A. Garcia from Mexico. You can find the template and instructions I used to build it at:

http://papercraft.firefly-serenity.de/

The model is made using twelve pages of card stock paper. Unfortunately, it’s a nightmare to build, even for a master papercrafter.

Here are the problems:

A lot of the parts simply do not fit together without customization, tinkering, and in some places straight up redesigning. Even after all the fidgeting I had to do to get it to build, there are some large open gaps between the main body and the “neck” of the ship. The panels on the outside of the side engines do not make sense, and must be custom cropped to fit the same radius as the engines themselves. You have to assemble the rear engine sections from back to front and fudge/modify the subsequent parts to go from there, since the radii of the cylinders do not match at all. The collar thing that goes around it is a nightmare to build, has open gaps you will need to make extra sections for, and will more than likely come out warped. The bracing on the underside helps alleviate some of the warping to an extent. My other primary gripe with this thing is that it does not really match the ship from the show (or movie) accurately.

Notice that the angles in the neck are all wrong as well as the overall shape of the rear collar. The “wings connecting the side engines are also far more tapered on the show ship than the paper model. The copied lensflare solar panels are also a bit of an odd choice, but I’ll chalk that up to styling.

One thing I will say on the designer’s behalf, is that it appears as if this model did not use 3d software and conversion (through pepakura or some other method). Seeing as how the model is flawed, this means the whole thing was designed by trial and error instead of vector design and checking the math on the geometry. Each part on this thing was guessed at, drawn up, printed, cut, misaligned, tossed aside, redrawn and attempted again and again until it fit. That takes some hardcore dedication to get a model this complex done in that method. Kudos, sir. I just wish he’d have known the math to get his parts to line up properly.

Beastmaster expansion for Mini Dungeon Adventures

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 21:43:15 -0500

You can now play MDA with a fifth hero class, the Beastmaster. Beastmasters are aided by their animal companions, the swift falcon, the nimble ferrets, the deadly wolf and the mighty bear. Oh, and that’s a werewolf behind everyone. Werewolves are one of the larger enemies in the Castle of Count Vludd quest, which should be ready shortly.

You can download the expansion pdf with all the extra rules and miniatures (minus the werewolf) here:

http://flipitpapercombat.com/downloads/MDAbeastmasterpage.pdf

I’ll take some better pictures later, but here’s the...

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 20:32:00 -0500

I’ll take some better pictures later, but here’s the first of five terminator armor clad squats for my Emperor’s Knuckles space marine army. I have a standard power armor squat and a Dark Vengeance terminator in the pic for scale reference. The squat terminators are made from the second edition plastic terminators with the thigh from the legs chopped down and the shoulders dropped a bit. A single power armor pauldron was used to close the faceplate. While not being that much shorter overall than a standard terminator figure, they do make it seem as if the wearer wouldn’t be that tall due to the lowered arms and hidden face.

Smash! Monster Rampage

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 20:17:00 -0400

Are you into giant monster movies? Are you into Board Games? Are you into papercraft projects? If you answered yes to at least two of these things then Smash Monster Rampage! might be worth your while to take a look at. This is a print & play boardgame developed by Mike Swindall that brings the colossal monsters of classic films to the tabletop via the printer sitting on your very desk.

This game will be reviewed in-depth along with Phantom Capsule for my upcoming article in Games Magazine, so be sure to pick up a copy when it hits.

http://www.gamesmagazine-online.com/

Visit the website for this great gaming project at

http://www.smashmonsterboardgame.com/

Papercraft Eldar Wave Serpent update

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 22:42:00 -0400

I thought I would be done with this template by now, but parts are getting very difficult. The vanes on the front fins went through several revisions (mainly the little humps they connect to) before I found one that had a good balance between simplicity and looking the part. Now the weapons for the upper turret, the underside weapons and antennae and the undercarriage detail are giving me hell. I also have to take breaks on this to finish my articles and build various print & play games to review, so its going to be another week or two before this thing is finalized.

The paper version is on the right in both pics. The model in the left is a plastic kit I assembled and painted that I’m using for reference.

Another grot

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 11:12:17 -0400

Slowly working my way through painting 23 ork grots/gretchin/snotlings/runtz/whydotheyhavesomanydifferentnames. I don’t even play orks or plan on using them as allies ever, so I’ll probably sell them once I’m done. Thinking about auctioning them off for charity. I usually do something for Toys for Tots every year, so I’ll probably donate the proceeds to that. Heh, “Grots for Tots”, anyone?

Anyway, this little guy is mostly right off the sprue from the kit, minus the extra bits from the base. I drilled out the barrel of the big pistol and swapped out the whackin’ stick for the pointing hand. The base is covered with various grenades, a promethium tank, a small bomb and a meltabomb on a timer currently at 0:03. The gretchin is pointing at his wonderful find of ‘splodey ‘tings and calling out for his buddies to come look. I like making scenes that tell a story.

I do need to get a better camera for macro shots (between papercrafting and gaming its about all I shoot). This was hell to get a steady shot from a borrowed Sanyo X1400. I’m thinking of picking up a Cannon Elph.

Papercraft Wave Serpent WIP

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:49:00 -0400

So here’s the work I’ve got done on making a paper Eldar Wave Serpent today. There is still a lot of work left, but the basic shape is done. The engine intakes need to be adjusted to look properly round from all angles, then the paneling detail around the edges and the vents behind will be worked into the engines. The troop compartment is done, as is about half of the underside. I still have no clue how I’m going to go about making the weapons options for the turret. Flat weapons wouldn’t work for something this large, though rounded tubes would make the bright lances look more like long barreled lascannons. Oh well, I’ll figure something out. I should have the intake vents and the engines finished tomorrow. If all goes well, the kit will be online before I leave for the beach this weekend.

Tyrannosaurus Rex Cake Mk.2

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:07:00 -0400

Here is the cake I made for the North Carolina State Fair. This is the second time I’ve used this template (the first time the cake was a zombie dinosaur) although it has been scaled up from the first rendition. The underside of the body is a bent metal aluminum sheet going from it’s head to it’s tail with a shelf pop-riveted in for the lower jaw. The legs are cake molded to two clear acrylic shapes that support the weight of the top that I cut out at work. The metal plate has two tabs that have holes for the acrylic leg supports to screw into. The tiny arms of the T-rex are made with a thin foam board skeleton wrapped in fondant. The fondant had to go on in segments, which were difficult to hide, so the spots were mainly to distract from the seams. All in all, I’m pleased with the way the cake came out.

Bon Appetite!

Projects for the weekend

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 23:02:58 -0400

Just finished the armature for a larger version of the T-rex cake I’m doing as an entry to the NC State fair cake competition. Going to deliver a flapping butterfly pop-up card a friend commissioned for his wife for their anniversary in the morning.

Oh, and I have an Eldar Wave serpent and some calipers out on my desk with corel pulled up. Guess what’s going to be in paper soon?

Grot with looted Blood Angel armor

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:47:03 -0400

I took some leftover space marine bits and a plastic ork gretchin miniature and kitbashed them together to make this guy. The head had the rounded part of the neck filed flat and the back section drilled out to fit the grethin’s neck. Two holes were drilled in the sides and I carved the ears off of one of the plastic gretchin heads and glued them in. The chainsword had the middle section removed and was drilled and pinned together to replace the metal pipe the grethin was holding. The space marine bolt pistol was an easy swap since I just had to remove the big pistol upper half and could keep the same hand and handle. The backpack was a pain since I has to cut off the lower two exhaust ports, chop out the middle and fuse the left half to the right side. A little bit of sanding and a lot of liquid greenstuff helped. I drilled a hole in the underside of the pack as well as on the gretchin so I could mount it on his back. I added the frag grenade to his belt and modified his feet to fit the sloped terrain I made for the base. This little guy is now my favorite kitbashed miniature I’ve made.

Da Red Gobbo

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:53:48 -0400

Here’s my paint job for The Red Gobbo. A friend over at the local game shop gave me this figure a few weeks ago. I discovered that Gobbo here goes for $40 to $60 online, and the mini I was given was in perfect condition in the box. I told the guy who gave it to me and he lets me keep it anyway provided I don’t plan on selling it.

Phantom Capsule

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 23:55:00 -0400

Phantom Capsule is a papercraft minis game developed by Little Roller Papercraft. The players take control of a CRADLE, which is a type of mecha used to defend cities from horrible creatures spawned from other dimensions intent on devouring the city’s perpetual reactor. I’ve been building a copy of the game to test out and review for a homebrew games article I’m writing for Games Magazine. You can download the rules and all the pieces required to play here:

http://littleroller.blogspot.com/p/play-phantom-capsule.html

Oh, and this is great background music to have playing during a game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5xfIcR4-tA

The Purplecrons now have a MONOLITH. Well, sort of. It’s paper. Twelve sheets, to be...

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 00:27:00 -0400

The Purplecrons now have a MONOLITH. Well, sort of. It’s paper. Twelve sheets, to be exact. Three more and I could have built a ‘friggin Thunderhawk. So many sub-assemblies and layers. Took quite a bit of ink to print out the swatches to match the paint colors too.

Closeup of all dem deathmarks. I first tried out the color scheme for the army on one of them, and it sold me on it.

The plain Necron lord with Rez orb was an interesting piece to build. I never do seem to get any good photos of the sculpting work on the cloak.

a shot showing the regular necron warriors. Painting 32 of these guys was an effort. 8 points of white, 18 points of silver, 7 points of green, 2 shade washes and 2 spots of black were applied to each figure.

The auction is still up on ebay right now. Please feel free to bid on it.

Larry The Haemonculus, some Wracks and T-Pain

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:58:18 -0400

I’ve had these finished for a while now, but broke them out last night for some photos. T-Pain (Short for Talos Pain Engine) works amazingly well with my allied Wraithlord. Larry here usually bites the dust after he and his wracks burninate a squad, but Anthanaz and T-Pain are amazing in 6th ed. Need a bastion smashed? Warlord wrecked? Dominate a daemon prince? They’re up for it.

Selling the Purple Necrons

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 18:11:43 -0400

To help cover the cost of rebuilding and replacing things from the fire, I’m selling my Necron army I’ve been painting for the past few months. It’s up on ebay now at the following link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-painted-Necron-army-Warhammer-40k-/320981244734?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4abbf91b3e#ht_500wt_1414

There’s more pictures on the ebay page. The auction is for 2 night/doom scythe fleyers, 2 Catacomb/Annihilation Barges, a Necron Overlord, a Necron Lord with custom sculpted cape, Two Finecast Cryteks, 9 Deathmark snipers, 32 Necron Warriors and the new Codex: Necrons. I’ve got over $300 and thirty hours put into the project, and while I did enjoy building and painting it, I’m hoping to get a bit money out of it.

I’ll try and swap out the pictures tonight with some more recent ones. The bases have all been covered with black sand drybrushed in dark grey to look like ashes with a few skulls and bones scattered among the many bases. One of the barges pictured here is not finished in the picture, but it has since been completed. All the vehicles are magnetized to accept either vehicle option. The auction included additional paints and boxes to carry the figures and vehicles.

Metal Slug model kit review.

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 16:57:41 -0400

So I discovered this model kit while browsing Ebay a few months ago and decided to pick one up on a whim. It was about $30 after shipping. The box art may say “Metal Bug”, but this is without a doubt the tank from the Metal Slug series of games. I used to love playing Metal Slug back in the day, and thought it would be a great addition to the Emperor’s Knuckles army as a counts-as predator tank. I wasn’t certain about the scale at the time, but as you can see in the photo below, it is in scale with 28MM figures.

The problem with trying to use this tank as a counts-as in 40k comes when you realize that despite being in scale, it is supposed to be a small tank and all the tanks in Warhammer are Xbox huge. I ended up keeping the color scheme from the games with a lot of added weathering.

Now, the name gives away the fact that this is an obvious bootleg kit. Knowing that, I was expecting the parts not fitting together too well, but that wasn’t so much of a problem with MOST of the kit. The vulcan cannons on the side did not fit well, so moving them around would have been impossible without having to constantly pull them off and push them back over the pegs. I opted for using magnets installed into the holes in the round part of the cannons and on the ends of the pegs. This made the cannons stick out to the side an extra eighth of an inch, which is actually a good thing, since the natural placement was too close to the main turret.

Another gripe about the kit is the effort they took to make the turret have a dual ball joint connection that was supposed to give it mobility, yet the design of the pistons does not allow it to move at all. I thought about getting mechanical pencil springs and using them to make the pistons hinged and mobile, but there would have been no good place inside the hull wells to secure them. The makers of this kit would have been better off to either have the pistons not extend all the way into the turret or just design it so it doesn’t rotate in the first place. It was difficult and quite frustrating to get the ball joints in place only to realize the rest of the kit restricts any sort of movement.

One plus of the kit is it’s attention to detail. There are a lot of parts to the engine and suspension that are present, though they are not seen on the finished model. I would expect this from a higher end historic tank kit, and I personally enjoyed the extra detail it provides, but most people who would just want the model to look the part for a desk decoration or game piece will just be annoyed by all the extra fiddly bits. More extras are a little metal bullet that doesn’t really fit the scale of the tank, but the loophole on the back means its probably supposed to be a keychain charm. Decals were included, but I chose not to use them on my build.

Yo ho ho and a bottle of ink.

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 14:09:01 -0400

http://www.flipitpapercombat.com/downloads/models/piratetemplate.pdf

http://www.flipitpapercombat.com/downloads/models/redspaceknightsheet.pdf

Here’s two models I made using the Flipit figurine template. The pirate was supposed to be for a fantasy version of Flipit that eventually turned into Mini Dungeon Adventures. The space knight Started as one of the Boxxorz figures I made:

They were never intended for a game, due to being too large. The template itself was a nightmare of tiny triangular tabs. I may revisit these guys at some point and try to fix the template design to make it less frustrating to build. The legs need to be sealed off instead of just left open and hollow inside. I do like the animated Lego look they had going for them.