Base adapter rings review

Have some 25mm based models and want to change them to 32mm? Try these 3D printed base adapter rings. 

They're a lot cheaper than most you can buy, and very easy to use. I've used the ones that come in two parts and they don't always stay on properly. These ones, however, are one piece, and you push the model down into it. The fit is very tight, and you need to firmly press the base into place. The good thing is you probably don't *need* glue, although I added a dab of superglue to hold it in place. The rims do have horizontal printing lines, so if you want total smoothness, they're not for you. You will also have trouble if your base is ornate and has nowhere to put your thumb to push it into place. However, they're cheap, they stay in place, they're easy to use, and I'll be using a lot of them. 

Protech Painting is based in the UK:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Base-Adapter-Rings-25mm-to-32mm-Warhammer-40K-Age-Of-Sigmar-Effortless-Upgrade/184099548361?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=691804161989&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Bringing some serious firepower

The Minotaurs have thus far not been particularly well equipped with weaponry. I thought it best to rectify that by gifting them this anti-infantry Predator. It was a great eBay bargain that arrived painted black and with some Dark Angels icons on it. I removed these icons and replaced them with a Minotaurs icon from Shapeways and added some additional embellishments. The tank is now ready to crush some filthy heretics beneath its tracks.

Here it is alongside the previously painted Land Raider. Note that the Land Raider looks slightly different now: I managed to weedle out the original top part of the front hatch, and replace it with a Forge World variant. That was a satsifying job to complete, and I felt slightly brave attempting it, like the feeling when you try a really hot curry in a restaurant and you manage not to cry in front of your friends.

Spreading our wings

Today is a great day, for I have reached a milestone with the Wings of Vrayax: I have a functioning army. I have a command squad, a platoon and a valkyrie. 

The army has models from Victoria Miniatures, Bad Squiddo Games, Raging Heroes and of course, Games Workshop. Commander Olenya Heldane is also 3-D printed, thanks to some help from a lovely woman I met in a facebook group.

The colour scheme is based on the colours of the non-binary pride flag, with emphasis on the yellow/gold. Olenya has mostly purple robes to make her stand out, and some of the main characters have cats on their bases. The valkyrie has a base, but it's not pictured, so that I could fit in the frame more easily. 

I am now thinking about what to add next. More infantry? More aircraft? I am tempted to paint up some vehicles I've never owned, like a basilisk, or sentinel, but I have to make sure they fit in with the mostly airborne theme of the army. Not to worry; I have many other projects to be working on!

Enjoy the fledgling force in its full glory:

The platoon command squad all have pink hair to make them stand out from the rest of the platoon. 

The company command squad is not quite finished yet, as I'm waiting for another veteran to arrive in the post. I kitbashed a plasma gun from a skitarii model. 

 One of the infantry squads

The other infantry squad. I plan to add another squad to the platoon, but I'm not sure what kind of squad to add, whether it be infantry, special weapons or heavy weapons.

I also include some pictures of Commander Heldane on her own, as I have recently made her base a little taller, giving her more presence on the battlefield.

Tooth and Nail

Today's update features this fun conversion I made from an Iron Hands model. I added some Khorne iconography, a bolt pistol and two mechatendril arms with a flamer and meltagun (the daemon engine head thingy). Thus we have a new warpsmith for the Black Legion! I'm enjoying painting up more models with the Hounds of Abaddon paint scheme. I might even use that for the Kytan that's on my table.

I also managed to finish a squad of Blood Claws, which effectively means my Space Wolves are done! I'll probably add a dreadnought, such as Bjorn the Fell-Handed, but apart from that, I am done, since I've painted all the old school Space Wolf models I had in my house! I'll do a nice group shot soon.

Stomping you in a shiny new paintjob

This is my Imperial Knight Paladin that I built back in 2016. I originally painted it as a Freeblade Knight in an experimental colour scheme. I liked it at first, but slowly grew to dislike it over the years, and finally decided to repaint it. Since my other Knight is a Custodes Knight, I thought I should try my hand at a recognised Knight Household scheme. I also wanted to include the Knight in my Minotaurs army, so I looked for schemes that fit, or could be made to fit, with the bronze and dark red of the Minotaurs. I eventually chose House Taranis, which has a red, black and white scheme, and for which I had some transfers. I changed the normally bright red of House Taranis to a deeper red to match the Minotaurs. The white was tricky to do, as it always is! I painted a base layer of grey, then built up many, many layers of very thin white to get it smooth and solid. i then blended the white with the grey around the edges to create shadow. The rear of the Knight was not changed much, but I added some colour by painting some of the cables in greens, blues and reds, touched up the metalwork, and added some vallejo rust wash over most of it. I also painted the little eagle heads with vallejo bronze, to tie the model in a bit more with the Minotaurs. Finally, I repainted the base and added some cork rock and grass tufts.

This is what it used to look like! Quite an improvement, I think! I really went experimental on the previous paintjob, which in hindsight was probably a mistake on such a big centrepiece model. I will keep my experimentation to smaller models in future! It's not a terrible paintjob - I think the pauldrons have great shading, which I did with drybrushing, which was a first for me on such a smooth surface. I just don't think the colours worked, and the iconography has no real meaning or design - I just took some random symbols from the transfer sheet and applied them.

The missile pod is missing from the photo, but it did have one at the time - the pod is magnetised and so just wasn't on the model for the photo.