How I learned to Strip (not as hot as it sounds).
Painting is variable. Usually you get better over time. What happens, then, when you look at old models and say “that’s not good enough anymore”? Or, what happens if you buy some bitz or models off of ebay that were painted by a blind idiot with a toothbrush? You need to get rid of that paint.
Stripping models is important for any model gamer. There are several methods, some of which work better than others.
The first models I stripped used a high pH liquid soap called Super Clean. This was incredibly inconvenient, and only worked after repeated soakings and scrubbings. The next thing I tried was pure toluene. It worked fine, but only for pewter minis. It ATE a plastic base I threw in by accident. Plus you need to do it outside as toluene has awful fumes. For a while I tried Isopropyl Alcohol. This worked almost as well as Super Clean, and with less hassle but more scrubbing.
Then I was stripping some Necromunda gangers I bought at Gen Con. I used undilluted Pine Sol. The painte FELL off the minis when I barely touched them. It was the greatest success I’ve had stripping. Lexington said he tried Pine Sol on plastics and it lost a little bit of detail when soaked overnight, but it stripped the old pewter Land Speeder he’s had for decades.
For a final verdict, I choose Pine Sol. If I need to strip plastic, I’l try diluting it 50/50 with water and scrubbing after a few hours rather than letting it soak all night. But on metals it works WONDERS.
Space Marine Battlefleet Gothic Fleet
My Azure Flames Battlefleet Gothic fleet. 2 Battle Barges, 5 Strike Cruisers, 6 Nova Frigates, 6 Gladius Frigates and 10 Hunter Destroyers.
Jelnac, Master of the Forge of the Azure Flames with Conversion Beamer
Modeling
Jelnac’s torso is the Blood Angel Techmarine with Jump Pack torso. Standard bike and legs. Modded left palmtop to be textured like the right one, from Torquemada Coteaz with the Thunder Hammer. Backpack is a standard old Techmarine Servo Arm.
The Conversion Beamer was based on the old Conversion Beamer (see pic above, the blue gun). The Sidecar was a standard pewter attack bike sidecar. I used a Chaos Defiler Battle Cannon mount for the hinge. It is attached to the sidecar with a filed piece of Defiler armor and some putty. The Chaos star was filed off, and a seven-toothed cog sculpted. Into this cog, I pressed the filed down skull from a Servo Skull which looks like the Ad Mech logo.
The central plasma coil is a Gene Seed canister from the Battle For Macragge box set. Sprue and plasticard rod made the rest of the body. The lower cable is guitar wire. The dish is a Tau Battle Suit Shield Generator, filed and puttied to be a smooth dish. Part of a Space Marine Radar Dish antenna (the small one from the new sprue) comes up from the bottom. The antenna is an old antenna from the 2nd ed Space Marine Vehicle sprue.
Painting
The only painting flourish I’m proud of is the screen on Jelnac’s bike. I painted a Matrix-code-like pattern of falling green characters, blending from Scorpion Green to a mix of Snot and Dark Angels green.
Backstory
The Azure Flames are barely 400 years old as of the end of M41. How, then, did they get a Pre-Heresy weapon in their arsenal? This conversion beamer belonged to the Myridian Suns Space Marine Chapter. When they fell to Chaos, the Azure Flames cleansed their homeworld of Myridia and destroyed every last Myridian Sun. Their Geneseed was quarantined and their wargear studiously poured over by the Techmarines and Librarium of the Azure Flames to prevent the taint of Chaos from touching the chapter. Few artifacts were salvaged, most were corrupted beyond hope of salvation by the traitors, but Brother Jelnac brought forth the remains of a Conversion Beamer taken from the Master of the Forge of the Myridian Suns. The Beamer was damaged, as Jelnac had smashed part of it with his Thunder Hammer during the fight.
After being declared free of taint, the Beamer was given to Jelnac. The old power source was damaged beyond repair, and the matter inversion coil was totaled. Jelnac modified a plasma coil to replace the matter inversion coil, and mounted the beamer on a Space Marine Attack Bike to provide power. Now, one of the most ancient weapons of mankind is at the disposal of the Azure Flames.
Manik Upzindownz, da Mad Mek
Modeling
Manik uses the Assault on Black Reach plastic Warboss. His Big Shoota was cut out of his hand, and his hand was cut off and turned 90 degrees to hold the handlebars of the bike. The wrist was joined with putty. The legs were modded to fit a bike, which included destroying the tabard. The Arrows are cut from plasticard.
The Trike Conversion entailed using a regular Ork Bike wheel for the third wheel and a Trukk wheel for the front wheel. The third wheel was held on using the ammo belt as an extension. The guns include two Ork Bike guns and an Imperial Guard Autocannon. Extra Ammo canisters were added. The Front shocks of the bike were sawn apart, and the main bars replaced with bent brass rods. The Plasma Cannon comes from the old pewter Chaos Space Marine Dreadnought. The bit was sawed apart using a jeweler’s saw which was INTENSELY PAINFUL to do. The jaws are standard Ork Bike fronts.
Painting was done using the standard dipping method. Extra care was given to the reds and yellows to make them pop. Boltgun metal was added to edges on the back banner to make it appear worn.
Background
Never challenge a Weirdboy to a Staring Contest. Not even if the prize is the tastiest squig you’ve ever seen.
Mag da Mekboy made this mistake. For two years he hung out with the Madboys, making as much sense as a Grot Warboss, until he attempted to open up his head to fix his broken wires. Amazingly, he succeeded, and put his brain back in, half upside down.
Ever since then, he has managed to be at least coherent on good days, alternating with barking mad on bad days. Some boyz say that he even talks different when he’s gone off the deep end, like a different Ork altogether. This earned him his name, Manik Upzindownz.
Years of madness honed his imagination, and he is responsible for Smartyskull’s one Gargant, a massive smoking monstrosity called “Da Gentul Teddy Bear.” Do not ask Manik why; he will shoot you in the kneecaps.
In battle, Manik is rarely seen without his Shokk Attack Gun (on “stable days”) or his souped up Dakkabike 9000 (on less than stable days). He fights for Smartyskull because a half super-ork-brained, half humie-machine-brained hulking warlord who enjoys tea and smashing stuff is the obviouschoice for a leader. He is the only one of Smartyskulls Lieutenants that requires absolutely no bribery.
Often, this forces Smartyskull to put Upzindownz in command of raids he cannot attend, though Smartyskull is often afraid Upzindowns will not follow orders and instead lose it entirely and orate about the beauty of the squighound’s bark for hours on end, as he does bi-weekly at scheduled speeches attended by the bored or stupid.
Cozamalotl, Skink of the Konquata Monitors
Painting
Cozamalotl is my test Skink for my new color scheme. He was painted with an undercoat of Games Workshop Ice Blue. His scales and crest were given a light coat of Vallejo Hawk Turquoise. He was then given a full body wash of P3 Turquoise Ink. His skin was then highlighted with Vallejo Jade Green. His shoulder pads are GW Mechrite red with a Blood Red drybrush and a Blazing Orange Highlight, finished with Skull White for the numerals. His claws are Snakebite Leather with Bleached Bone and Skull White highlights. His eyes are Sunburst Yellow with Chaos Black pupils. His mouth was very carefully inked black. The base is Goblin Green with static grass, Chaos Black and Skull White for the Name and Number.
Cozamalotl is an authentic Nahuatl name, and the numerals on his shoulder pads read “32” in Mayan numerals.
Gotz more trukks, boss! Job’s a good’un!
Here’s my other three trukks. The first you saw before was an Evil Sunz Trukk, so it was red. Other clans are more subtle with their red paint job.
The Goff trukk with the black and white checkers has some red panels. Red’s a good Goff color too! For extra combattyness, this trukk has a wreckin’ ball!
There’s a yellow Bad Moons trukk with a wicked red racing stripe. Added black flames for more style.
Then of course there’s the Deathskull trukk. The red paint job is UNDER the fresh blue paint job that was put on minutes before the battle started. So no one will know it’s stolen.
In remembrance of loves lost: my Flesh Tearers army
Once you’ve been gaming long enough, been desperate for cash enough, or simply let that fire go out for one particular army, you’ve sold off an entire force. Sometimes you put a lot of effort into a force of models, only to let those minis go for some cash you could have gotten by taking some overtime or selling blood. To every thing, turn turn turn.
I have only sold one army: my Flesh Tearers Space Marines. You may recall from previous entries that I won the initial seed of this army in the very last auction held at the Games Workshop in Novi, Michigan (now out of business). That was a huge emotional high. After years of seeing Joe’s Angels Sacrosanct take on all comers, I wanted to start some Blood Angels. It was originally my idea to have a Space Marine army for each primarch. Blood Angels seemed like the next logical step as a second army.
First I had to figure out WHAT Blood Angels to play. Joe’s army was a “normal” Blood Angel army, and so I wanted something a bit different. I remembered the Flesh Tearer list from the Index Astartes article and thought that would be perfect. Lots of great conversion opportunities, neat color scheme, and a doomed, heroic background. Plus, the extra chance of Death Company made it so I wouldn’t need a lot of Elite troops, as they were less worth it to take because they would be Death Company more often. It would keep the Tearers from getting out of control like the Azure Flames, who are barely contained in their new case.
The Index Astartes article had an “Imperial Chain Axe” and so I thought that would be my signature. I begged, borrowed, and bartered for Khorne Berzerker chain axes and used my trusty multi-tool file to file the chaos-y details off. I then custom sculpted double-eagles or Flesh Tearer logos on each axe. These details were 1/8″ wide and looked fantastic. These Axes would go on every sergeant, as by the rules the sergeant was the FIRST chosen for the Death Company, and I didn’t want to pay for power weapons. When these rules changed, I simply painted the teeth of the chain axes bone and said they were the teeth of the Dinosaurs of Cretacia, the Tearer’s homeworld, and they counted as power weapons.
At the time, Chapter Master Seth had no special rules of his own. (he now has some and a bitchin’ ass model too!) So I used the Salamanders Chaplain Xavier model, Dante’s Melta Pistol, and a wicked looking jagged sword. Seth was my stand-in for Dante, just as my modified Tigirius (the OLD Tigirius as the new one has a stupid face) was my Mephiston.
I also had (not pictured below) four Rhinos with the Razorback hatch. When I wanted a Razorback I popped in a gun. When I wanted a Rhino, I popped in a custom hatch with a berserk Flesh Tearer popping out, or a hunter-killer missile! These Rhinos had custom rear doors and openable side doors!
All of my Death Company were modded onto flying stands so that they flew. My greatest triumph (sadly not pictured) were my Veteran Assault Marines. These were all RIDICULOUS conversions. Almost all of them had Woo-style pistols. One was modeled after the art of an assault marine kicking two orks in the face while shooting two pistols. Another was actually shooting a pistol BEHIND HIS BACK. One was diving to the side, another had two plasma pistols firing two directions. One had a flamer, holstered to the side, while he was wielding a chainsword as tall as he was! One had a Dante melta pistol and a melta gun! I modded all of these during the power outage of 2003 to keep from killing myself from boredom.
Sadly, I lost interest in the Tearers as the White Dwarf list came out and made them a little boring. Yes, the list was more balanced and fair, but it also took some of the randomness out of the army and therefore some of the fun. I took them to Adepticon 2009 and sold them piecemeal. One guy bought the Rhinos, saying he was going to strip them. They had fully detailed and painted interiors. *sniff* My painted characters and Death Company went like hotcakes. The converted Assault Marines went almost immediately. Finally, the remaining Tactical Squads, loose minis, and the custom made case was sold to a kid who was buying his FIRST ARMY. I felt a lot better about selling them at that point. I made a kid really happy and and made a bunch of money.
The bottom line is that I sold the Flesh Tearers because even though I owned them, they weren’t MINE. The Azure Flames were MINE. I made their stories. I rose and fell with them. I felt the pain of their losses and the joy of their victories. Some other dude created the Flesh Tearers and it was fun to play them. But I realize that it’s hard fo rme to want to build, paint, or play with an army that wasn’t my own creation. So I abandoned my dream of owning a Space Marine army for each Primarch and instead found armies that I could create. This led to Poindexta Smartyskull’s warband and the Saratogan 58th.
Sometimes I miss the Flesh Tearers. I did some INCREDIBLE paint jobs and conversions. But I don’t regret selling them, no matter HOW overpowered the Blood Angels are now. For your viewing pleasure, here is an image dump of all the pics I took of the Tearers.
Ol’ Dok Gillgivva
Modeling
Dok Gillgivva was made mostly from an Assault on Black Reach Nob. The Klaw and Bionik arm are from the plastic Nob box. I carved down a Slugga for the left bionik arm. To both arms I added syringes made from thick plasticard rods, paperclips, and Space Marine Meltabombs with the middle square bits carved out. The Head light was custom sculpted. I cut the goldfish out of plasticard, and added plasticard gills and used a pin vise for the eye.
Gillgivva was painted like my other orks, with dipping. I then added some dynamic lighting effeccts from the green liquid on his left arm to make it look like it was glowing.
For the ‘Ard Boyz, I used wooden spheres for the heads and custom sculpted the victorian grilles. The tubing is Lego Pneumatic tubing, and the air tanks are Imperial Guard Flamer tanks.
Backstory
Ol’ Dok Gillgivva earned his name when he realized that the skin of a slime squig, carefully applied to an incision on a Boy’s neck, could filter “da good stuff” out of water, essentially giving an Ork gills, allowing him to breathe underwater.
His first experiments did not breathe water well, so to compensate, he used multiple slits, all around the neck. This improved water breathing efficiency, but made the Ork unable to breathe regular air. To compensate for this, he sends them to Manik Upzindownz, the Mad Mek, who sells them an expensive apparatus designed to let them carry around a water supply. Designed by Gillgivva himself, this system incorporates water containers coated with that same slime squig skin, allowing the water to be re-oxygenated and sent to a helmet where the Ork can breathe it in.
To protect their new weakness, most of Gillgivva’s “patients” become Ard Boyz, armoring themselves and their water supplies. Though they can breathe underwater, this prevents them from being amphibious as the armored packs are heavy, and without them they could not leave the water. These Ard Boyz tend to hang around Gillgivva, because after all, gills need maintenance and he has not found a way to give you gills twice.
Gillgivva was the Dok who put Poindexta Smartyskull’s brain(s) in, and Smartyskull keeps him around, protecting him from his victims in exchange for a promise never to give Smartyskull gills.