Budget wings for DIY Hell Blade/ Talon or Heldrake: Cheap doesn't have to be flimsy or ugly!

TJ here with a budget minded tutorial on building Chaotic Wings for a Do It Yourself Hell Blade, Hell Talon or Heldrake. The size of the wings I make in this tut will be more appropriate for a Hell Talon, but can easily be trimmed down either before or after construction. I ended up making mine for a Hell Blade by modifying them.

Before we get too far, I am not a handy man. I take bad notes and those of you who may have OCD will likely dislike my ADD methods! Condider this a journey and less a tutorial if it makes you feel better.

Anyway, let's talk materials and get on with the tut.

The Project Hellworm is Complete! Time For Paint!

Old School here to say - It is Done! Yes, I have finished the Hellworm and it actually just got primed before I sat down to post this. I figured it wouldn't be right to not post the completed model pre-paint, so here she is!

Project Hellworm Update 5: We Have Lift-Off! ScratchBuilt Nurgle Heldrake!

Old School here and the Hellworm (Nurgle Heldrake scratchbuild) is ready to take flight! He got his shiny new rotors last night and minus a few small elements on the rotors and a couple little things I want to do to the body, I am finished with the actual model itself. Let's take a look at it with some shot for size comparison as well.

Hellworm Part 4: Progress! Screw Drakes, We Got Worms!

 Old School here with another update for Project Hellworm, my Nurgle Heldrake scratchbuild! For those of you just tuning in to this series, the last update had me stumped and the project had hit  a speed bump. With the help of some reader opinions, inspiration from the web and warp induced dreams, I found my path. Let's take a look at what we have so far.

DropZone Games Painting Competition

Hello everyone Wolfson here bringing you full photo coverage of all the models entered in the DropZone Games painting competition that took place during their grand opening September 7-9.  The amount of amazing minis entered approached 70 by the cut off period on Saturday night and made the judges job very challenging the following day as there were a lot of great pieces to choose from.  Lets take a Look!

The $25 Tervigon Project Part 2: Baby Got Back!

 Old School here with an update on the $25 Tervigon Project. Last night, I whipped out the rubber gloves and some milliput and had some fun (now that sounds nasty). Anyway, I have some pics of the upper carapce and the model as it stood, still dripping from last night's activities (nasty again), let's take a look:

The $25 Tervigon Project: Part 1

 Old School here and I am embarking on a project that may either be genius or may be so stupid that I may get carted away and locked up for crimes against modeling! I have challenged myself to build a Tervigon on a budget of $25 max with the exception of any bits I have laying around. So far I have invested $3.99 on a foam egg and $15.98 on packages of Milliput Grey/Yellow. Now, to achieve this on a budget as well as to seperate the creature's appearance from the Carnifex, Tyrant ect, I am going for a disgusting wormy look. Let's take a look at what I am talking about.

Reinventing the Ork Battle Fortress

Until the latest batch of ork vehicles, released by Forgeworld, the collection on their website was grossly outdated. I recently had a client approach me with a project involving the original battle-fortress from forgeworld. Essentially, I was asked to update the model to be used as an ork super heavy vehicle. The customer had few specifications in mind (grot riggers, wrecking ball, big gun...) The project seemed simple enough. But what I would get in the mail changed all that.

To begin, this was no out of the bag forgeworld model. It had been purchased off ebay and had been previously assembled and painted.

LAW OF WILL states: any forgeworld ebay purchase that has been touched by un skilled hands will be an unholy abomination of misery to the buyer.

Having received the forwarded package in the mail. It was time to assess the damage. The entirety of the upper half of the model was in a crumbling state of decay. The model was not properly heated and shaped to fit together and the adhesive of choice was what appeared to me to be gorilla glue. Great if you wanna glue your drunk unconscious roommate to his computer chair, but not the least bit ideal for models. The model's original paint was red spray on top of un primered un scrubbed resin. Yikes. I began by ripping off everything on the model until only the tracks and the underbody remained. Knowing what original part of the model I could use in this update, I sketched a rough idea down on paper. I wanted this model to encompass the design updates that gw had made to the ork miniature collection. Sheet Styrene and would allow me to realize this vision.

To ensure a clean and sturdy restructuring, I rebuilt the deck of the wagon with styrene and anchored it into the resin with thick brass rods. Once I had built the frame of the new cockpit and integrated it into the original chassis, I was ready to add panels and walls to the structure.

The solid construction could now be given the "big mek's touch". Different gauge Hexagonal styrene rod sliced thin created the menagerie of different bolts and screws that appear to hold the structure together. A couple of reinforced plates and metal teeth were the finishing touches on the model. All was not lost from the original piece. I magnetized the zzap guns and and added magnetic mounts to the deck of the vehicle and created an option for a cannon on the top deck that could be swapped for a wrecking ball.

All in all this was a very successful salvage/ scratch build. Considering the steep price of the model 190.00 BPS new, it would have been a shame to let it go to waste.

I hope you all enjoyed my experience with this project and please comment or ask questions. This is my first post and I am happy to be a part of the site. If you are more interested in what I do or would like to inquire about my services feel free to email me at willtopaint@yahoo.com or check out my photobucket Page.

-Will

WilltoPaint

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