Space Hulk Chapel - Build Something Contest 2022

Every year I look forward to the competitions run on the Lead Adventure Forum. This year the theme of the 'Build Something Contest' was 'Rest', and the terrain build had to relate to the theme. I'd been wanting to return to a Space Hulk tile again, and the theme fit with the chapel I'd been wanting to build for long while anyway. I have had a pile of Armorcast church pews for years!

 

I started off by consulting the book to get the room size correct. I'd later have to make another thin wall piece, as the extended chapel I made would not fit the layout in the scenarios. The base is 'Gatorfoam', a tougher version of foamcore that I like to use for terrain. Other pieces are Hirst Arts casts.

The removable relic case set into the floor is a custom piece I designed a couple years ago. I had it printed at Shapeways, and then I made a silicone mold. That was, of course, before 3D printers became viable to the average consumer! I imagine the skulls to be the craniums of past captains.

 

 I wanted to paint another altarpiece for this, and found an example I liked a lot online. I used Adobe Illustrator to trace the image, which I exported into Tinkercad so that I could make a 3D file.

   

I printed the resulting STL file on my Mars2Pro. I thought it came out great at the time, but I was still playing with settings and it does have some stepping that shows up worse later, despite attempts to fill the lines with paint.

 

 

The altarpiece was entirely freehand, with a fairly traditional monochrome layer first. 

An exploded view of all the parts. The last thing I did was make some candle scatter pieces, both alight and extinguished.

Simple room:

Chapel wall:

Extended room with raised platform:

 

Altar and tile that allows for a hidden compartment:

 

The final Imperial Navy Altarpiece:

 

All in all another successful build (made it to semifinals) and another piece for the now pretty big Hulk I have going. 

 

 

 

False Omnissiah - Ironsleet III - Primogenitor Project

Somehow I managed to neglect posting my False Omnissiah build to the blog, which is insane because I spent a lot of time on it. Pretend this was posted in March or April 2020.

I created this for the "Ironsleet Invitational III - The Primogenitor". The setting for this event was a colossal Space Hulk. I imagined a rogue Mechanicus Magos, looking for lost tech to allow him to continue his megalomaniacal pursuit for the throne of Terra.

The base structure is the legs from an Admech Dunecrawler and a shot-off firework I had saved from the 4th, called the "Millenial Falcon"... too funny! The inhabitant is a GW zombie.

This build really started getting wacky once I decided to add an LED light. I ended up designing and printing some custom battery and switch holders.

This was my fluff:

*Behold the Omnissiah!*
------------------------
In the dark days of the Age of Apostasy, a magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus was charged with techno-heresy and sentenced to interment as a servitor. The process was a failure- the interred magos retained consciousness and a latent psy ability was sparked. He believed he was the true Emperor of Mankind, made manifest as a pysker and the Omnissiah both. After gathering a sizable group of followers with the intention of deposing the false emperor on the Throne on Terra, the would-be "Omnissiah" attracted Imperial attention and was driven into the dark edges of galaxy- where Imperial forces could no longer follow. Driven to desperation, in a state of increasing disrepair, the Omnissiah seeks to plunder or commandeer #theprimogenitor and make a triumphal return to Terra.

Hoping to get this guy some zealous followers this year.

40k Adventurers - Ventolin Pirates

My penultimate entry for the 40K Adventurers project (my 2020 resolution) is the Ventolin Pirate. The Ventolin miniature has long been one of my favorites. I recall seeking him out in the early 90s, and managed to acquire a few more over the years. I decided to go all-out for this one- which meant chopping into some old lead.

 

 

I decided to modify four of the pirates, ranging from a difficult headswap (courtesy of a Confrontation Tech Ganger), weapon swaps, and an easy bionic eye. Grinding these guys with a Dremel produced a lot of metal shavings- here's hoping I didn't poison myself! The ones I modified the most are possibly recasts, so old-school metal purists can rest easy. The flamer is of course the one from the plastic Space Marines, and I'm not sure where the melta gun came from. I have to confess that it is likely 2nd or 3rd edition :)

As I was working on these I thought about Ventolin boarding tactics, and when rummaging through the bits box I came across some large shields that came as a freebie with a Kromlech order. I decided to make some breaching servitors that could withstand a lot of incoming firepower, but are also jury-rigged and expendable. The shields appear to be primaris-sized, so I removed about 5mm from the height to fit the servitors. I also added a heavy flamer and fuel tank. The bodies are the still excellent Jes Goodwin servitors.

I also had a mulit-legged RAFM weapon platform from the 'Reaction Marines' range. This thing was missing a leg, and as a result has been in the bits box for about 30 years. It has been on the slate to become a mining laser, but I thought these guys could use it. Not the best facsimile of the legs, but it works at first glance.

I wanted to paint them the dingy brown murky color used on the Ventolin in the advertisement. The leader received a blue helmet.

 

 Servitor shields have an old-school "KIL" painted on, along with the stylized Meobius pirate symbol.

 

  

 

Last but not least, these guys needed a boarding torpedo. I'd been wanting to make one for quite a while (since they showed up in the newer edition of Space Hulk), and Dragon's Rest released a brutal looking boarding craft 3D STL a couple months ago. It took a few days to print (I sized it up 135%) and the painting is fairly simple, but it does the trick.

That's it for the Ventolins!

 

 

 

Space Hulk - Laboratorium Malum Plantae

Now that the 'Build Something' contest on the Lead Adventure Forum has run its course, I have some detail pictures to add to this thread. My entry, fitting the 'Ill Advised' theme of this year's contest, was a ship board repository for dangerous plants which would build onto my existing Space Hulk layout- the Laboratorium Malum Plantae. The backstory is that the section was administered by Adeptus Mechanicus seeking a more virulent form of bio-wire (which some may recall from the olden days of Rogue Trader). Naturally, things got out of hand somehow...

My goal was to create some mini-narratives on this rather large section. The first was a locked cabinet containing anti-plant spray, along with a poor unfortunate adept who was targeted by the bio-wire as it broke free. Why was it locked?

 

Another point of interest would be a carnivorous plant, probably from Catachan. It was made with some lily pods for mouths, wire for stalks, and plastic leaves. This piece is removable, so that it can be used for death world terrain, or removed if it is destroyed so that it can be passed safely.   

  

 

There are two large doors into the section, integrated into the layout. This one closed off in time, snipping a vine that had tried to snake its way down the corridor when the 'accident' happened.

The middle section contains long-dead plants- at some point the automated feeding and watering mechanism must have failed. This dome was never breached.

Some plant life attempting to establish itself in the corner, over a nice vent with warm humid air.

The second large door wasn't sealed fully; plant life has made its way past. The plan is that some further sections will have this sort of mossy mildew look.

 

 

Overall a pretty fun build to make, and one I'd been wanting to get to for a long time.