Massive WIP need much help!! (thank the new york lottery)

[soul drinker]

(Disclaimer: This post is in no way meant to offend anyone or belittle anyone in any manner. I was a lucky guy that just happens to play warhammer 40k)

First of all let me introduce myself. My name is Michael Thompson and I have the mother of all projects ahead of me.

In April of this year I won the New York lottery a total lump sum after taxes of $275,879. Having taken care of my personal debts and establishing a household (and yes getting married...im that guy i guess), I have started into warhammer 40k for the first time since high school.

Forgeworld has become my best friend in the last two months. I placed an order of a total $4,980.78 in anticipation of my grand return to the gaming community.

I have a list as follows:

Chaos reaver titan x1

Chaos reaver titan power claw x1

Vulcan mega laser Titan x1

chaos reaver titan apocalypse missile launcher x 1

Valdor tank hunter x2

Imperial Minotaur with twin earthshaker cannon x1

Imperial mecharius vulcan Heavy tank x1

Full Imperial trench system x4 (including corners and 4 bunkers)

Heavy artillery carrage with meduse seige gun x2 (including Chaos renegade artillery crew x2)

Imperial guard superheavy tank upgrades and filters x3

Imperial trailer generator x2

Imperial generators x4

Imperial fuel trailer x2

Heavy lifting equipped sentinel x2

Khorne blood slaughterer x1

Renegade militia stubber team x3

Khornate renegade ogryn with hounds of xaphan x 2

renegade militia command x 3

renegade militia rogue psyker x 1

renegade militia enforcers x 3

etched brass renegade militia symbols x 4

renegade ogryn beserker squad x 1

renegade militia sabre defense platform with heavy stubbers x 4

renegade militia artillery crew x 2

renegade militia tank crew x 2

renegade militia icons and assault weapons x 4

renegade militia weapon arms x6

renegade militia conversion set x 8 (with accompanying boxes of cadian imperial guardsmen)

khorne world eaters lord zufor x 1

khorne world eaters terminator conversion set x 2 (with two boxes of GW chaos termi\'s)


Khorne world eaters space marine conversion set x 2 (with two boxes of GW chaos space marines)

Forgeworld chainaxes set x 2

Dreadclaw assault pod x 2

Imperial minefield set x 6

Imperial mines set x 4

Cities of death booby traps set x 2

warhammer 40k tank traps set x 10 (forgeworld)

underground building enterance #\'s 1,2,3,4,5. x1

Imperial fortress walls x 1

Defense line set 2 x 4

defense line set 1 x1

tank emplacement x 2

Imperial ammo and fuel dump terrain x 1ea.



(also including all of forgeworlds ruined cityfight terrain, and two tower pillboxes with autoguns)

From modelling suppliers I have stocked myself with the GW paint set and the entire vallejo model color sets, a case of gw super glue,2 cans of GW white primer, 5 cans of gw black primer, 6, 4by6 sheets of pink insulation foam,
1 dremel tool with 32 bit box. many assorted size razors and clippers, the entire sable model fine brush line, about 10 feet of 25mm scale barbed wire, 1 gw foam cutter (the D-cell battery thing)
Iawata custom cs airbrush (single action) with many spare needles,
Iwata Power-Jet Lite Compressor IS-925 with replacement tubes and service kit.



I have listed these things with the intent not to anger people, or make people jealous, but with a cry for help.

I am in over my head. My ultimate goal is to create a 6\' x 5\' gaming board with the crown being a chaos held ex imperial bastion. the look and feel is to have the force well occupied and dug in, with alot of artillery.

I was planning on making this bastion on a cliffside with one area of approach, with overlapping fields of artillery fire, minefields on the low lands, and a load of trenchworks and tank traps.

The idea is to make it look like the world eaters have taken this bastion some time in the past with a small marine force, and accompanying renegace chaos guardsmen.

!!I AM CALLING FOR ANY AND ALL ADVICE!!
for:

MODDELING
ARCHITECTURE
PAINTING SCHEMES AND TECHNIQUES


My goal as of now is to separate the mass of models i have recieved so far, before the larger stuff arrives, and next month the reaver titan -drool-

Thank you for any and all help.
I have a feeling this WIP will be a few years in the making.

goodnight all!





:beer:

 

[PegaZus]

Well, since it appears you\'ve got money to spend, have you looked at http://www.hirstarts.com/? Probably could mix the gothic line with the sci fi line and come up with a lot for the imperial bastion.

Depending on exactly how much you\'d really like to do this all yourself, you might think about sending out some commission work to the members here. Maybe not all of it, but get you a couple really top quality paint jobs for the higher value units. Hell, even commissioning the mere assembly of the models themselves might be worth your money. Anyway, get those high value models painted up to a high level, then you can either continue yourself with the grunts trying to match the paint style roughly, etc.

As for any tips and techniques, that\'s what the article sections are for. Read up, start posting a WIP forum topic for anything you\'re doing yourself, and have fun with it.

Oh, and congrats on winning big. I\'ve always fantasized that if I every strike it big, I\'d probably have a lot of fun with painting things too.

 

[ScottRadom]

AWESOME! I bet you still can\'t believe it happened, eh?

I have nothing to add, but it\'s super cool that you won a lottery. That\'s my dream too, only I\'d like another zero on the end of my winnings.

If you need anyone to paint some of your character models or anything I\'d be glad to help. WHat I lack in quality I can make up for in over charging the bee-jeeziz out of you!

 

[freakinacage]

bastard!! living the dream there!

i would say keep the terrain modular, that way you can move individual bits like bastions, mine fields and other obstacles around, gives you variety and the opportunity to move stuff around in case you cock up something (like make it too one-sided)

enjoy it all mate!

 

[A Luna]

Wicked sick!
If I were you, I would first draw out your idea. the board itself and later add where everything is going to be. Also, before you are going to start modelling models + symbols on terrain stuff, I'd recommend you to find out what kind of chapters you are going to use for bot sides.

If you want a true display piece that isn't supposed to be moved around much, make it 1 big board, as a modular board will have ugly edges where a board ends and where a new one starts. Or you should try to get rid of those.

I also highly suggest that you magnatize or pin models to the board so you can use them for later on different things too. The last point of advice: take your time. This is one epic huge piece and you don't want to mess things up or rush things.

Good luck

PS: $4,980.78 :O:O I bet you got free-shipping for that and FW must really love you now.

 

[soul drinker]

Thank you all.

first off in response to PegaZus:
http://www.hirstarts.com/ is a great site, which i order from frequently for those kiche pieces that are hard to make. (i work as an architectural modeller) but you are spot on with that website, i advize any and all modellers to order from them. in response to the commission comment. I think that half of my passion for what i do lies in the building and painting and care put into all of my work. so i look forward to doing it all, even though i may curse it in the future hahaha.

to A luna:
yes the shipping was free, but they didnt send it in one large shipment, rather several, three of which i have not recieved yet but will be soon. and the reaver titan will be a few weeks yet, as it was a preorder, to be shipped somewhere around november 10th. as a bonus although, they put a copy of their "siege of vraks" collection of books, with a rather nice map and poster, with a hand written letter thanking me for my purchase.
the guys at forgeworld have their work cut out for them with my order, and they are surpassing my expectations every shipment i recieve.

to freakinacage:
i considered making a modular table, but after a while decided to keep it one smooth piece of terrain, as it is going to look like a good gaming table, and a dislay piece when all the models are on it. and my plans are not to make it a once sided table (though i also thought about that haha, but to rather make it even sided, even if it may look impossible).

and to scottrandom:
Thank you very much, i appreciate the congradulations, i am happy however with the sum that i won, it was just enough to straighten my life out for a long time, and allow me to continue working for the company that i have come to love. my advice for winning play every week. (i did for 5 years, just a one dollar game every wednesday) other than that its just blind luck and commitment.


Thank you all for every comment, and i hope to get pictures of the boxes up at least. just to convey the titanic proportions of the wip.

have a good sunday everyone!

 

[Farin]

@Souldrinker:
Congratulations to your epic win ! - and no, it´s not offensive in any way, you just got lucky.

My first Advice would be: Make a sketch: You got a pretty solid idea of what you want ( and i think it will work quite nicely ) but talking about it and seeing it is quite a different thing, so take some paper and make a sketch/ amateur blueptrint, maybe in the scale of 1:2. Doesn´t matter if it will look good ( trust me mine never do ), but it will give you a better idea of the whole composition

ok i just see , that Luna already told you that ... XD

somne random advice:

magnatizing models works really well

try to find someone to help you. Shouldn´t be to hard to find someone willing to help

get a camera, start a WIP on this site. It´s the best way to get every step of the way

commission work might be a good idea - i remember that Skeeve lives in NYC, maybe he´s interested in painting one or two minis

invest in an airbrush. You got a lot of big tank models, airebrush is the eway to go imho



good luck

 

[mud duck]

Wow, firstly Congrats, it's good to see a fellow get ahead, and if he/she is a fellow Geek, WOOT!

Ok, to the meat and bones.
Firstly set up a room/space that is yours! The future wife has no say in cleaning/organizing/paint color or curtains! This is your space!

Two, keep that area/room organized. This is a lot of stuff and a grand plan, let it not fail because everything gets lost!

Three, Be careful of distractions in your room. WoW and websurfing (including this site) has killed more painting time and projects then the Nazis killed.... No, no, I'd better not go there. But you get the picture.
The PLAN (tm). Have one, write it down. Follow it. But don't be afraid to change it. Yes, the PLAN(tm) sez that you have to paint four twenty man squads of red on red, with a highlight of red Korne troops before that really cool, brown and earthy colored tank. Try 2 squads then the tank, lets not wear yourself out and get sick of the whole thing. That's a bad thing.

Four, Enjoy this project, but also enjoy the rest of what life has to offer. Moderation in all things. This is for fun, the wife is (hopefully) for life. Hell see if you can get her involved in painting, or the layout, or something. You know, suck another soul in the dark abyss that is GW. =D

Five, drill out your barrels and clean those damned mold lines.

Six, post pictures. I'm curious to see what 4k of Forge World stuff looks like.

Seven, clean the resin in a mix of water and soap. Cleans off the release agent.

Eight, Some people come off sounding like jerks when giving criticisms and comments/improvements. We're not trying to, we just have piss poor writing skills.
Nine, again pictures. maybe a thread here or elsewhere.

Ten, magnets can be your friend. Spruce can be your friend. The dollar stores, Junk stores (we have a place called Ax Man's up here), Hardware stores, Bead stores, and places that you wouldn't think have some of the coolest little stuff at works so well for X that you'd never think of looking there.

Eleven, write down your colors that you are using, and where. This helps you remember that it was Gore red and not Blood red that you have been using as a base for the first 75 Korne troops. Some uniformity, even in Chaos, is a good thing.....

Of course this is probably a half baked and rambling list, but it's a start!

 

[funnymouth]

lol, i think youll be hard pressed to find anyone offended. maybe jealous. your project sounds amazingly fun.

>for the table design i like the single piece (looks nicer) but i think you should include some modularity, so the game doesnt get stale - keep some small terrain pieces moveable.
>always plan first when working on a project of this magnitude.
>start small, e.g. test your paint scheme on a lowly trooper, not your favorite model

cant wait to see some pics.

 

[soul drinker]

Ok quick update!

1) have taken photos,lots of them, mainly boxes and a tone of unassembled stuff (obviously)

2) i havent figured out how to get them on my computer yet. I just bought this sony hd camera, and it is like tying to disarm a nuclear bomb just to turn it on.

3) I have also sketched up a few ROUGH ideas for the bastion/part of the approach, which will be uploaded soon, because i know how to use my scanner better than the techno-heresy that is my camera.

4) i plan on sharing my wealth with the CMoN community by donating some money to the web master. hopefully this will ensure that the site will continue to be the best scale miniature site on the net.

5) i recieved an email from forgeworld this afternoon stating that I am recieving the second chaos reaver titan ever produced with a certificate stating so. (AWESOME)

6) I do have a large room in the house that is dedicated to my modelling for my job (airbrush station, mold stuff, sink ect.). My wife actually is a moderate warhammer enthusiast, and enjoys watching me do my stuff. so i dont have to worry about her. haha.

and finally a quick question to all.
Does anyone know where i can find the old armorcast khorne skull tower cannon thing? i dont know its exact name, but have come across pictures of it in the past, and would love to tear into it, modernize it kind of like a massive ww1 artillery cannon (with skulls ). i have tried ebay, to no avail.


well thats it guys, hopefully by tomorrow i can get some pictures up here. im off to watch some football and get to sleep. UNLINKE SOME MULTI-MILLION LOTTERY WINNERS, i still have a job to go to on monday. hahaha. g'night boys.

 

[A Luna]

We can't wait for teh pixx Would love to drool over the picture with all the resin stuff If I would ever get the philosopher's stone, metal would turn into resin.

 

[COG]

Are you talking about the Khorne Cannon (always thought it was a funny name).
was going to say ebay but they dont seem to have any ATM.
http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Image:Armorcast_Cannon_of_Khorne.jpg
hopefully this is what your talking about.
if not IGNORE ME!
^vague venture bros refrence

also congrats on the win. totally not mad but happy some is getting money is this craptacular economy.

 

[soul drinker]

hey, thanks for the pic, that IS what i mentioned, but what i actually meant was the warhammer fantasy "hell cannon" i thought it was armorcast. i havent really been active with warhammer in so long that I find myself more and more ignorant. my idea was to tear down the fantasy looking parts, and the stupid jaws and such and make it more fine detail 40k. hahaha Khorne cannon i get it. oh and by the way totally not an obscure venture bros quote, i love the show.

 

[COG]

Ah !
check this out.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/MuteAssassin/bobdefiler.jpg
not sure if this is going to work as far as linking the picture.
also heres the link to the direct only hellcannon on GW
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat1440005&prodId=prod1170002
yeah and i too love the venture bros
havent gotten season 3 yet.
heck i havent seen season 4 cept the tidbits on youtube.

 

[nels0nmac]

Congrats on the win Mr Soul. I do the UK lottery but have yet to come anywhere close to a win of any substantial amount. The advice above is all good, and from my experience of FW kits you could be spending a whole lot of time sanding and filing to get the kits up to standard; might be worth spending a bit getting some help with the preparation.
When it comes to paint I would suggest getting the basecoat on the majority of the pieces so that you have something that looks like a gaming force on the table. Then go back and finish one piece/squad at a time. Don't start doing lots at the same time as you will spend ages getting to a point where you still haven't finished anything, which can be draining on your enthusiasm, and boy are you going to need it to finish that list off.

Good luck with your project and once again congrats.

 

[hestan101]

Congrats! thats a helluva lot of stuff. jsut remeber, if you cant finish it all yourself, you've got the money to hire painting lackeys!

 

[A Luna]

...And don't use it to light your sigarettes (stop smoking okay?)

 

[soul drinker]

quick update!

hey all,

sorry i havent been on lately, i have several projects at work that are being wraped up within the next two weeks.

Bad news: i havent gotten pictures up (obviously)

Good news: I have recieved all packages from forgeworld, except for the chaos reaver titan and arms ect. because they are not set to ship until tomorrow (nov 2nd) so i will recieve them somethwere near nov 14-20th.

pictures are currently being taken care of by my wife, who has much more free time than I. so any complaints and gripes about that, can be directed to her HAHAHAHA. (sorry honey!)

well thats all guys, hope to get this rolling soon.

p.s.

I have a friend at work drafting up some cool concept designes on his CAD machine. (which is an architectural program, very cool, but beyond my skill level)

 

[In Chigh P.I.]

wow, this sounds like its going to be something really special, and given your profession im sure it will be just that. Ive dabbled with CAD myself in the past (no expert tho) and the thought of ever using it in for a modelling project had never crossed my mind.

Great stuff! looking forward to seeing this get underway :good:

 

[hamhamlunchbox]

and finally a quick question to all.
Does anyone know where i can find the old armorcast khorne skull tower cannon thing? i dont know its exact name, but have come across pictures of it in the past, and would love to tear into it, modernize it kind of like a massive ww1 artillery cannon (with skulls ). i have tried ebay, to no avail.

if you cant find one,make one out of cityfight buildings.
ive seen some great conversions,also a leviathan made out of cityfightbuildings.