Oldnithopter!

My to do list is simply overwhelming. I hope I'm not alone and this is the story of many of you too. In fact I have come to consider the lead mountain as a must for any self respected geek like us :D

Yeah, I know, I'm still trying to convince myself of that :D

Anyway. Many moons ago, drooling over pics of the Bring Out Your Lead 2016 event I spotted a sweet piece of art. There are many places where to know about BOYL, the Oldhammer Forum being the most obvious one, but I'm giving you this link too as it's where I saw what I am going to talk about right now.

I saw what appeared to be an Ornithopter of unknown origins. What was that, was it scratch, was it manufactured? I wanted one! A few weeks later I happily discovered that mighty Curtis, the mastermind behind Ramshackle Games, was the one to produce it, though at the moment it still was a prototype. Being such a gentleman as he is, Curtis offered me the chance of getting a model, bearing in mind that it still wasn't the definite product and that I may need to do some additional work about the wings. He made it all as easy as anyone could imagine and I finally got a gorgeous Ornithopter. Thank you, Curtis!!
I've recently learnt that the master is from Scalene's talented hands! My bad, I missed that info last summer! Please check his blog!

But you know how things happen. The lead mountain, RealLifetm, lots of stuff to be done... Ahhh, it hasn't been until now that I'm ready to show what I've been able to do with the model!

Time for a pic!

Well, OK, step by step. Assembling the kit was easier than expected (when I first saw all the pieces I gasped in shock!). Pretty intuitive, trust me. I left the wings aside for the moment and, focusing on the hull, I primed it all white and begun to explore this path:

Looks like a weird insectoid space ambulance!

I wanted it to be light coloured, nothing too dark. It deserved to be eye-catching. However, white was... well, too much. After considering creams/greys/beiges, I stuck to the original white idea, but with a heavy weathering work. Making it look gritty and dirty would speak by itself about the Ornithopter's own story. It would give it its own personality and would of course say Rogue Trader like no other colour or effect could achieve.

Now we are talking

I love how it looks. I loved it even in this state, without wings. The lines, the whole concept screams Old School. I think it's pointless to add anything else. You love it or don't.

The wings proved themselves tricky indeed. They need some kind of frame, as the acetate won't stay stiff and the wings would look weirdly sad, falling at both sides :P

All my experiments using wire failed miserably. Either I didn't get the acetate glued properly to the wire or couldn't get any of the structures I built for the wings support their own weight, as the contact surface with the hull itself was way too small. Drilling the resin piece looked dangerous to me, at the risk of totally breaking it.

I then came with an unexpected solution. I had been obsessed with a minimalist approach, using wire so the eye couldn't see any frame at tabletop distance. But for once... more is more! I changed my mind and produced frames made of thin BBQ sticks. Once painted black and glued under the wings, they were hard to see (they are obviously visible, but it's enough at tabletop distance). The frames were solid, no glue issues with the acetate and they were easier to glue to the hull too, using a couple of gluing points for each wing.

A compromise solution between the desirable and my skills

I had to discard any magnet approach for storing purposes (as I originally had in mind) but in the end I think it all works reasonably enough.

A suitable tiny vessel for the modern gentleman

She can adapt to your needings and carry whatever you have in mind

The most versatile VTOL ship in the market

Go get yours!

No much else I can say. I think it is a beautiful oldschool concept and a more than nice model. It isn't on general release yet, but when it comes available you should keep an eye on this beauty. Our boards need to populate with those dragonfly wings!!

Ramshackle minis for a ramshackle district

A new batch of civilians incoming! I'm on fire!

This time they belong to the Ramshackle Games ranges, one of the most daring and interesting companies in the sector right now. The man behind, Curtis, combines his sculpting skills with an amazing sight to fill in market niches with really interesting stuff. Check his KS campaigns, always innovating, always bringing something you hadn't even thought about!

OK, enough ads :D, let's get on the minis.

First of all, this Imperial Clerk, Winston Lofage:

 

Tax collector would be my guess

The white robe identifies him as part of the Administratum (I really wanted to paint him green, but that's the Adeptus Astra Telepathica colour, so white it had to be...). Just the mere idea of having a tax collector is enough for a scenario, in which the Arbites have to escort him before the crazy crowd lynch him...

Now time for some muties, I still hadn't any:

 

The kind face of the district

Nomad wanderer coming from the ash wastes outside the city

Stuff for children's nightmares

 

I had some xenos and beasts, but still no mutants; they are quite an important part of the Warhammer 40,000 urban imaginary, so I was in need of some.

I also needed some more workpower for the docks...

 

Servitor XR 71

I may need some more servitors as well as regular workers, the idea looks appealing.

We also have Hugh Lamorley, another of the usual suspects, looking for anything edible :P

 

There is no bat on the t-shirt, it was supposed to be a two-headed Eagle

 

Now some different goodies. Curtis was so kind to add some extras. I ordered one pack of evil monkeys (Ok, I know, but they looked so funny... I couldn't resist!), but he sent me two! So great! I soon replaced some of the weapons so there were no two identical apes.

 

They know the secret of Monkey Islandtm

 

Still not quite sure of what role they may play, but what the hell, this is all about the fun, I guess I'll eventually figure out something!

I also ordered one Matilda the teacher and got two instead :). I thought of the possibilities. First thing that came to mind was to make two siamese sisters.

 

How disturbing would it have been? Two of these joined by the hip or something

But I learned that it would have been a mess trying to take the mini apart. I came with another solution. I cut the mini so I spared the torso apart. Deep in my bits box I knew I still kept the legs from a Zombicide mini (which I had turned into a crawling zombie torso). So my Diogenes syndrome served me right! ;) Apparently at some time I also had a Necromunda Escher girl which has sadly disappeared through the mst of the years :( I only kept her left leg! Well, so the left leg it is!

 

So new Miss Rottenmeier has become a badass ganger!

She certainly let down her hair!

 

But... What was I going to do with the remaining bottom part of the mini? I found an Eldar female torso and a Cultist head from the Dark Vengeance kit. With some additional greenstuff, this is what I got:

Lady Gaga has come to the Dark Millennium. She never left, I guess

 

So this is it! New population to dwell in the Besenval Port area! This is slowly growing, ain't it? Still more to come!