Aaron's Gaming Blog Gaming, geeking and gadgets.

Crashed Imperial Aquila Lander

I've been on a buying splurge lately (typical wargamer, no self control) and bought up a metric tonne of Warhammer 40,000 scenery.

One of the pieces I bought was the Crashed Imperial Aquila Lander off eBay for £5. The lander came bundled with the previous edition of 40K so there was no way that I was paying the £18.50 that Games Workshop want for it. Since it was by far the cheapest piece of scenery I bought, I thought I'd test my painting skills on it first.

The hull stuck to a sheet of thin plasticard.

All of the pieces are hollow like an Easter egg. For most pieces this is fine - except for the hull. I didn't like the look of the open gaps so I based the piece on a thin sheet of plasticard.

A sharp knife later and Bob's your uncle.

After a Chaos Black undercoat, I got to work with two Games Workshop foundation paints - Dheneb Stone and Mordian Blue.

Base-coated with Dheneb Stone & Mordian Blue

From there, I filled in the metallic sections with Boltgun Metal and slapped on a few of the other Games Workshop metallics as fitting. The result was a clean finish with bold, bright colours. Far too clean for a crashed shuttle!

The next step was everyone's friend - Devlan Mud. I slapped this on very liberally. I actually think I overdid it (yes, it's actually possible to put too much Devlan Mud on a model!). The result looks muddy and messy but also a little bit sloppy. It's a tough line to walk at times, especially with larger models.

The final result.

On a previous project I tried out one of Forgeworld's powder paints and I was impressed by the results. Plenty of manufacturers do similar ranges of powders so I picked up a pot of MIG's Rocket Exhaust. I applied Rocket Exhaust liberally to the front of the hull section. Using water in long, straight strokes is was easy to create burn marks from the shuttle's entry into the atmosphere. Going the Ronseal route, I also applied it to the exhausts of the lander. The powder was easy to use and I was impressed by the results. Highly recommended!

The hull section.

Fuselage

Notice the use of Rocket Exhaust on the exhaust.

I'm still a terrible photographer. Most of the above photos were taken with the flash off. This one is with the flash on.

The bases were undercoated in Scorched Brown, followed by drybrush layers of Graveyard Earth and Fortress Grey. I wanted to make it look like the shuttle hadn't crashed that recently, so I used more static grass that I usually would to make it look a little overgrown.

After a spray of varnish, the final touch was to use some glass varnish on the windows.

Next up? I want to say Space Hulk but I say that every post!