1500 x 7 players - Breaking in The Claw

I happened to meet up with a pretty relaxed and mature group of Warhammer 40K players a month ago (May The Emperor's Light Always Shine Upon Meetup.com)

Drinking Mead - Raise a glass to the Stormcaller's Grannie!

Done my second bi-weekly meet, now.  The take-away lesson is that I ought to always upgrade to 10 models worth of termies for a squad, and when you play 7 players on a table it's easy to drink a lot of beer.

I need to brush up on the rules, also.  Maybe finish painting these sisters and IG.

More on that, later.  The upshot was, our combined Space Wolves/Dark Angels/IG force won out against a Tau/Nurgle-ites force.  I enjoyed myself, even tho' I left about (apparently) half the way through.

 

This was the Dark Angels contingent I brought to the game

Adam's table permits of an attack bike picking up some speed.  My coil reached the green line!

Still gluing bits to the frame of the WW2 bomber.  Trying to think of a suitable base for it.  More pictures to follow.  Also, as a freebie I give you this (Pinterest is for girls and heretics, yes, but surprisingly useful for hobbyists):

http://www.ironhands.com/h2rivet.htm

If you take the Leap of Faith you will find a way to generate rivets like a Gobbo with a lick of red paint - that is to say quickly and cheaply and if it explodes then, hey, start again.

The Emperor's Dauntless

My next dumb little project is to bring this heathen Revell SBD Dauntless into the Emperor's service.  The Dauntless was a cool plane back in the day, a successful dive bomber and (most impressively) about 16.00$ at Michael's Hobby Store, and they always always seem to have it. I think I've been considering this project for like 5 years, now.  The 1/48th scale means that a 33mm fig ought to suit it nicely, but it looks like my plans might fit a little bit... Tightly.

For your comparison, the original pilot, here next to his IG Sentinel replacement

A cool thing is I get some free flight crew but they look a little weak and slight compared to their chunkier brethren.

I plan to magnetize this puppy up for various swaps out. I don't know why - the thing will never get play but I want to do it as a conversation piece and a homily on kit bashing; and of course it will be relaxing and fun.

I'll probably have torn out my hair by the end of it but wish me Luck.

Edits:  took a couple of hours an there's glue everywhere but here she is:

Ol' Betsy or Delilah or Daphne

A SBD-Harpy in the service of the Imperial Guard, Home Defense Force patrol squadron, call sign SBD-HH

Captain Hank Hadrian (call sign "Henry")

Gunner/Spotter Alfred Alfgrim (call sign "Grouse")

Bomber Francis "Fuligin" Goreson (not pictured, below)

It's been a good long time since I've put together a non-chunky model, and there's a good deal of flash and poor design (taking it off the sprue with nippers should eat a part of the seam where the wing joins)

Lots of bits and greebles to add tomorrow night or something, but I'm gratified in that the magnetic tape strips fit nicely inside the wings, so the neodymium magnets sit on the surface as tight as a harpy's, uh, beak

Also, the landing gear retract and deploy. That's pretty cool.  Now to figure out some flight stand and to affix the purity seals and strike the rotary engine runes

Let the Litanies of Liftoff commence, and warm the Blessed Promethium!