Minotaurs Chapter Ebay Frenzy.

I've got a bad habit of searching Ebay whenever I'm starting a project to see whats about.

This time I got lucky and a very nice chap happened to be selling a pile of marines painted up as Minotaurs.

While not up to the standard that I like to paint my own stuff at there were a few of major points about the foot troop auctions the bloke had up.

• They were listed as Menitaurs. (Search bonus!)
• The paint doesn't look too thick.
• They had a lot of Anvil Industries Spartan and Roman crests on them.
• They had a lot Scribor Spartan Shields on them. (More than I'll ever need.)
• Cheap. ( Like me, well what did you expect from a guy who does Miser's Guides.)
• I can use them for games as I slowly replace them with my own and restore them as I go along.

With all that in mind the mouse finger went into overdrive a few times and I bagged.

5 Lightning Claw Terminators.

1 Space Marine Captain
1 Librarian.
8 Vanguard marine.
Assault Marines squad . ( 9 I think, jump packs look suspect but I happen to have a few spares knocking about.)
3 Tactical Marine squads. ( 30 SMs)
 Marine Devastator squad. (Guessing 10 marines).

All for £67.50. Not bad considering the Helmet crests are £1 for four from Anvil Industries and Zeus only knows how much the Scribor shields cost. Say approximately £1.05 a Marine no matter what type and 40 pence of which is extra resin Greekness.

Even with the inevitable casualties the restoration process will incur, worth it. 

Also a box of new Devastators, 30 FW Minotaur Power Armour Shoulder pads, 10 FW Minotaur Terminator Shoulder Pads, 1x FW Minotaur Rhino doors, Badab War Imperial Armour 10, 150 lil magnets, matching drill bits bought in various Ebay auctions.

All this means I'm flat broke and hoping that myself or the missus beat a certain spaniel to the letter box every day for the next week or so.

Not only that, I bought a Tactical Blood Angels box to test the paint scheme on ( Also 10 FW Minotaur Shoulder pads) and found about 5 marines in a box of random. 10 Temistokles heads and 5 Temistokles shields from PuppetsWar because of the well sculpted Greek key pattern on some of the bits.

So more Power Armour than I probably need or will get round to painting with plenty of extra Greek detail to keep me busy for a while.

On a cheaper note I found a Predator and Whirlwind in another box of random  that I thought I had sold ages ago. ( I really have too much GW stuff in the house.)

Now to get some painted before that lot turns up..

Minotaurs Space Marines

Where have I been?

Been a bit lacking in hobby mojo recently, after a few failed starts on things I should paint (mainly the big piles of 40k Chaos Marines and Orks). I have found the something I have wanted to do for some time that floats my boat enough to keep motivation at a reasonable level.

Why Space Marines?
 
Something about blocks of Space Marine units on the table has always appealed to me, probably the cohesive colour scheme across all the whole army being visually striking, coupled with the forgiving nature of game play with them. Add that to a low model count and for a painfully slow painter like myself they are a gift.

Last time I started SMs was the end of 2nd Edition although the army didn't get up to playable strength til 3rd Ed. Red Scorpions was the choice then and I enjoyed them a fair bit. Forge World released minis too late for that and I always was regretted the loss of my fairly original choice of chapter as it became a pretty common army as well as the fact I couldn't justify buying into the FW bits for the biggest and most complete army I had duplicating what I had painted already.

Scroll forward in time and my old Red Scorps are gone, 3 rules editions later I'm ready to paint Marine again.

I always had a plan for my own chapter, but after some time have decided that getting the vehicle doors, shoulder pads and other bling sculpted across a whole army was just setting myself up for yet another failed or stalled project.

After a lot of Google I decided on one supported by Forgeworld as a sort of compromise between my own chapter ideas ( A Greek themed army) and my need to avoid getting into a sculpting painting nightmare.
This way I can buy a lot of extra detail from FW, yet still invest a bit of sculpting time into any particular unit of mini I want  to have an extra bit of presence.

Minotaurs Chapter

That decided time to get something started.

I grabbed a box of Blood Angel Tactical SMs from the local GW and a set of paints for the scheme. BAs were chosen because of the Sergeants GrecoRoman bodyform armour and of course the 32mm bases.

Hmm speaking of bases.....

Whilst waiting on ForgeWorld Minotaur shoulder pads I had a play with base designs to enforce the theme.

Home made Greek Key bases.

Starting with a Tactical squad using ForgeWorld shoulder pads seemed like a sensible place and a test mini was in order once the shoulder pads arrived, to work out which was the best way for me to paint them.

Minotaurs test mni.

 Overall I'm happy with the result, just a case of painting more to refine how I get there.

Foamex

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Vash's secret scratch building weapon.

Foamex PVC.

What is it?

I have been using this material for nigh on 15 years now, ever since I found about 20 square meters of it leaning against a bin. Pretty much every project log I have posted will have some in there somewhere.
So what the hell am I on about when I say Foamex....

Most often found being used in signage in shops PVC Foam is an Economic, Versatile and Lightweight material. It has a smooth matt silk finish and high impact resistance. Foam pvc will not rot or swell like timber and can be easily Cut - Sawn or Drilled and even Carved and Sanded.
(Not to be confused with Foam Core, which is a sandwich of lightweight foam between to bits of card.)

Most commonly I have seen it in 3mm or 5mm thicknesses as signs but I have bought a 1.5mm thick sheet before and acquired 4mm sheets.
For most things I have used 3mm as it is nice and easy to work with.


Where to get it on the cheap?

It is pretty cheap to buy in the first place but the best way to get it is for free.

Watch all your local stores to see if they use seasonal signage advertising sales or particular product lines. These are the sort of signs that are quite often thrown away at the end of said promotion.

There are two ways to get yer mitts on these signs the first being ask .
This is the best way, you just go up and ask if it would be possible to collect the signs once the store is ready to throw them out.
Why is it the best way? Well it's legal no matter where you are in the world, it will be clean and if all goes well you might even be able to set up a regular supply of this brilliant material.

The second is bin skimming, skip diving, trash trawling what ever you want to call it.
Basically look around the waste of shops and see if any is about.
Be very aware of the law concerning taking waste in your part of the world and Really pay attention to any heath risks that may apply.
I'd hate to lose a hobbyist to a trash compactor, disturbed tramp attack or some nasty disease like viles.

How can you use it?

Because this material is very easy to shape it's uses are pretty much unlimited, Iv'e made things as small as a bionic eye up to big buildings you can hide Titan in, hell I have even made a Titan that used the stuff extensively.

Here is a rough guide to using it:

First thing is to make clear is Super Glue is a must, I have never found a plastics glue that bonds the stuff.
Secondly, be prepared for statically charged shavings clinging to stuff during cutting,carving and sanding.

Cutting
The easiest way to cut 3mm thick or less is to use a knife and repeat score the line of cutting until you are through, although saws will cut through it easily I find that it is a messier process.

Scoring will work for greater thicknesses than 3mm but patience is the key, fine toothed saws are probably best, for curved shapes I normally use a Jigsaw or Coping saw with a blade designed for metal.

Carving
This stuff is great for whittling or carving, I normally use a scalpel.

Sanding
Treat as a soft wood when sanding and you'll be grand. Coarse grade sandpaper will leave scoring marks, fine grade emery paper should be used for finishing.Will create a fair bit of dust.

Here are a selection of images showing work I have done with this material.

Much of the structure and a lot of the details of this Slaanesh Questor scout titan were made using Foamex, even the base was made from it.

Most of the internal structure of this.

A lot of the details on this

Here you can see Foamex being used to make structure to replace and re model missing tank parts.

Second hand kit rescue

Restorations

Great for Building.... well er buildings.

Home made Bastion

At the tiny end of the scale The larger Banner on these Epic Orks is made from foamex as is the body work of the scratch built Weirdboy Tower and middle Battle Wagon. There is even a Gargant I made from the stuff.

Warboss size Epic Banna

Even tiny details such as the front wheel tread,

The middle Battlewagon only.

Gargants in Epic or 40K scales

Fiddly details Epic scale

Thin enough to make Epic scale Gun muzzles

Random selection of other things I have made from Foamex.

Looted Wagon

Marine Crest

Huge Chaos tower

Carved to make a Zero stylee Fighta Bomma.