Thursday 26 May 2016

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Scourge: Corruptor

As mentioned last week I would either be posting about the Scourge Corruptor or the Shaltari Firebird.
I felt it was time to give Scourge some attention again and started with the Corruptor; this will  also prompt me to paint the Razorworm stands I have.

So without further ado...


The Model

As most of you should be aware (unless you've been living under a rock) the Corruptor comes as part of a multi pack with the Reaver heavy gunship parts giving you the option to build either. Although a savvy wargamer could easily use magnets to their advantage...

Each Reaver consists of: Intruder body, bulkhead, and 2 plasma lances
Each Corruptor consists of: Intruder body, bulkhead, and 2 launch tubes

I already have two Reavers and don't foresee needing any more (a phrase I may live to regret) so I will be building the Corruptor.

These have the same level detail we expect from Hawk, and unlike my Shaltari war striders I can't see any quality issues.



Although the quality isn't called into question I do have to ask what was going through "Hawk Dave's" mind when he designed these yonic looking launch tubes...or maybe it's just me?!

Building the Model

As with any model these had some resin tags, flash and a little mold lines that needed to be cleaned up before being built. These didn't cause many issues although one tag was covering some of the front part of a launch tube which meant a bit more was removed than desired.

The model itself when together very quickly after a simple application of superglue from the intruder chasis to the bulkhead. Then a little glue was added to the holes in the bulkhead for the launch tubes and then the tubes were applied.

There we have it, all built (mostly: I haven't glued in the flight stand widget yet) and ready to be painted.

Friday 20 May 2016

Miniatures & Painting: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari: Ronin

To add to my Shaltari force I purchased some Metroid suits, sorry I mean Ronin.

In my excitement to build them I forgot to take pictures of them on their sprue, and due to their small nature I will combine the build aspect with the painting.

Building the model

Essentially the bodies come on a sprue and the left/right arms come on their own sprue.

As you can see by the picture below these are metal, so wire cutters were requires to remove them from the sprue, then further cutting/sanding/filing was required to clean up the base (this resulted in shards of metal pinging in all directions - something that I haven't had to deal with in a long time).

The arms however came off the sprue with ease, with very little cleaning required.


Painting the model
So keeping in theme with the rest of my army, I used the white scheme, which I have described below




  • I started by undercoating white using Halfords white primer.
  • I then liberally smothered the model in Army Painter Strong Tone
  • Then once the Strong tone was dry I drybrushed everything except the Gauss guns, several times with Bonewhite (72.034)
  • The Gauss guns were painted Chainmail Silver (72.053), then coated with GW Nuln Oil, once dry I lightly painted the areas Silver (72.052).
  • Next I drybrushed all over with GW Ceramite White., i reverted back to my flat drybrush and that produced the result that was missing from when I painted the Jaguar
  • The canopies were painted with Black (72.051)
  • The models were then cleaned up where needed. After which they were coated all over with Matt Varnish (70.520), followed by Gloss Varnish (70.510) which was applied to the black canopies, and the Gauss guns barrels.

I'm so excited about what I'll be posting about next week I have to mention it now...next week will either be building of the Corruptor/Reaver or the Firebird/Thunderbird.

Thursday 12 May 2016

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari: Dreamsnare

As mentioned last week I have added a Dreamsnare to my collection for the last part of the escalation league I'm running.

So this week I'll be reviewing the building of the Dreamsnare.

The Model

The model consists of 9 parts: 3 legs, 1 leg support, 2 dragon cannons, 1 cockpit, 1 main body and 1 shield boosting relay.

The majority of the model is to the usual Hawk quality standard with the exception of the cockpit, which seems to have the same issue I encountered with some of the fins on one of my spirit gates; In the sense that the part isn't a clean cast overall. It's slightly rough to touch, raising concerns on how it will turn out when painted. But despite that I felt it's acceptable.

I just hope it won't ruin the overall atheistic of the mode when painted.

Building the model


As per most Hawk resin models there was a little flash, tags and mold lines that needed removing, all of which were removed with ease using a craft knife.

Much like the particle cannon of my ocelot I wanted to be able to remove the shield boosting relay for storage. So I removed the resin plug with a craft knife and stuck a magnet in the dead centre. I then drilled a small hole into the recess of the body to the same width of the magnets and added another in there. There we have it, one magnetised relay.

I started with gluing the leg support to the body, then the legs to that part. Afterwards I glued the cockpit down and then the dragon cannons on. Within minutes the Dreamsnare was built and ready for painting!

Thursday 5 May 2016

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari:Ocelot

As we enter the final month of the local escalation league I'm running we move to tournament sized games (1.5k) points and as such I have expanded my force to include an Ocelot, Dreamsnare and Ronin. Of course I won't be able to include all the Shaltari I own in my 1.5k list but at least I have options!

This week I will be reviewing the construction on the Ocelot.

As mentioned in previous posts I am skipping the review of the packaging as I've covered it many times and it hasn't changed.

The Model

The model consists of 10 pieces (3 legs, leg support, body, cockpit, 2 targeters, gun support and the particle cannon)

The quality is to the usual hawk standard but with the same unfortunate blurred detail of the underbelly of the cockpit that I have recently experienced.

Building the model


As per most resin models there was a little flash, tags and mold lines needed removing. These were removed with ease using a craft knife.

I want to be able to remove the particle cannon for easier storage so I have drilled a hole in the tab in the gun support and in the recess of the body to add magnets. This took a little while as I needed to carve out the hole before I started using my drill. I probably could just invest in some thinner magnets. The magnetised cannon should also be useful when the Panther is released.

Since building the previous walkers (Coyote & Jaguar) I'm finding building walkers quite easy now.
I start with gluing the leg support to the body, then the legs to that part. Afterwards I glued the cockpit and then the targeters. I left the particle cannon unattached from the gun support so I can paint all areas.