Lucky 88th: June 2009

Friday, 12 June 2009

This week I are been mostly... Building a Valkyrie

Firstly, what a kit!

complex, great detail, sticks to the forgeworld valk really closely, and so many parts you have to paint before assembly, the mind boggles.

but guess what, ive decided to magnetise everything!! just to make things more complicated. also, this is the frist time ive ever magnetised anything... well, here goes

ive bought myself a range of diameter magnets from ebay. check out the neodymium magnets online, they are VERY strong for their size, and a fantastic size range

Firstly i set about choosing some decent magnetising points.

using a pin-vice drill, i drilled some small diameter pilot holes, around 2mm into the plastic, then using a larger diameter drill bit, made the holes big enough for my smallest magnets

by stacking several magnets into drillholes, you increase the magnet strength, ive gone for stacks of 2 in most cases

on the recieving part of the hull, Ive lined up magnets correspoding to the wings, drilling small diameter holes through the plastic.

To keep the small magnets in place and to increase the magnetic strength, Ive placed larger magnets on the inside of the model where they wont be seen

Ive been using some seriously strong industrial super-glue to glue them in, which means mistakes will be permanent :S so Ive been extremely careful. (I did make one mistake, but through the lords own work I managed to pull the magnet free by jamming a knife around it PHEW!!)

i'm magnetising the wings for ease of transport, and i'm going to be magnetising all the weapon points, so i can change the armament, and when i get the foreworld vendetta uprade i can switch to those as well.

Thoughts on paint scheme:

ive decided that painting them white, for that awesome elite strike force look.

im thinking of undercoating them fortress grey, working up to bleached bone, then drybrushing with skull white. i would then wash them over with a watered down brow ink as per my other models...

any suggestions to make that better, is the grey necessary? would the brown ink ruin it? if so, what should i doinstead to get that battle worn look.

im thinking of doing some seriuos battle damage effects on the valks, maybe smashed cockpit glass, blast marks along the wings. possibly some extra crew, loadmaster at the rear of the vehicle. filling the area with discarded heavy bolter shells.

whaddya think?

cheers, TSINI

The Lucky 88th History

The Lucky 88th

The Royal planet of Borlina is just off the Cadian gate, once a thriving hive planet with a high percentage of royal and rich descendants from Terra itself. Now a diseased, war torn hell hole, home to a twisted secret the Inquisition would rather not recount.

The Curse of Borlina

During a Chaos incursion (Blood & Bile of the Rich Invasion 960.M41) Inquisitor Payne ordered the Orbital Bombardment of the entire planet, choosing Viral Bombing as the means of execution of the foul beasts and corrupted Governors.
Unfortunately the Borlina PDFs were also sentenced to death, whilst deeply in conflict with the Chaos forces.
Under pressure from Inquisitor Rayvenn (of the Black Storm), Inquisitor Payne mercifully ordered areas with high concentrations of loyal forces to be bombed with a weaker strain of the virus. Whilst the planet was bombed with Virus 1, a highly corrosive airborne agent which subsides after 1 day. Virus 13 (a Plague like virus with no corrosive element) was deemed legal for use over loyalist troops, who were forewarned, advised to find cover and don gas equipment. Low on supplies, deep in conflict and without gas equipment the lucky 88th miraculously fought off Virus 13 as if it was a bad case of flu.

Affirmation

A nearby Commissariat fleet jumped at the opportunity to put together their own personal force and made planet fall to gather together the pockets of loyal troops into a fighting regiment. This proved quite difficult, requiring the aid of the nearby Space Marine chapters (“Dragon Marines” and “Black Storm”) to seek out loyal forces.

The largest surviving regiment had barricaded themselves in the Master Palace, which impressed the commissariat no end, for it was a disease ridden nightmare, the very palace itself was a Nurgle infested monstrocity.
Having already adopted the name “Lucky 88th” due to the large amount of survivors from the 88th regiment the troops added a Lucky Ace symbol to their armour and vehicles, much to the annoyance of the commissariat who view it as graffiti and unofficial. In return the more senior commissars keep their gas-masks on when in combat to stir anger into the men, making them fight harder for the injustice caused to them. Lower Commissars tend not to test such practises, wary of the men turning on them when cut off from high command.

Recruitment: The Virus Run

Any outsider coming into contact with any surviving member of the Borlina virus attacks must first be inoculated from the infectious version of the virus which can be fatal to weaker immune systems. New Recruits however are not so lucky. Firstly they are put through a year of heavy training wearing gas masks. Graduation into the Lucky 88th is only complete after a gruelling month fighting through the Virus Run, a heavily infected area of the former Borlingrav Palace, now a Bastion of pestilence and disease. The survivors of this infamous death zone gain the respect of the rest of the regiment, except for the veterans who hate all outsiders including the commissariat.