Thursday, June 11, 2015

NOCF 2015 - Drop Pod tutorial!


A little while back I posted about assembling some Drop Pods for one of this year's NOVA Open Charitable Foundation Charity Raffle armies - The Sons Of Orar Space Marines, to be exact. At the time I asked if anyone would be interested in a walk-through of my build and paint. There were a few who expressed interest, so here we are : )

After going through and cleaning all the parts for three Drop Pods, I started to create the sub-assemblies. You can see them above. They basically breakdown to:

• Engine and stormbolter
• Center console and harnesses
• Base and doors
• Five fins


Here's what it all looks like when three sets of sub-assemblies are gathered in a pile. After this, all parts (except the fins) were primed black. More on the fins later.


The bases, engines, and consoles were all heavily dry brushed with VGC Tinny Tin.


Everything was then dry brushed with AP Gun Metal.


I then washed the parts with my "super secret wash".


And drybrushed everything with VMA Aluminium.


I flipped over the base and repainted the armor panels black...


...and then masked off the engine base.


I sprayed the tips of the doors with Mephiston Red  (not pictured) and then I used a custom cut mask/sheet of styrene, and sprayed the rest of each door.


Here's a shot of the doors before removing the masking tape.


I then painted the edges of edge internal door with Averland Sunset (shaded with Skrag Brown).


These hazard stripes were hand painted - nine per side, 90 per Pod, 270 in all.


Back to the fins. I primed them white, shaded then with some Mechanics Grey, painted the panels black, masked them off and finally sprayed them with Mephiston Red.


After some detailing on the parts, here's a look at a set ready for assembly.


On each of the center consoles I painted a silhouette of an Eldar Craftworld, with three glowing points representing the three Drop Pods.


They Pods were then assembled; glue the consoles to the base then one fin in place; glue the engine to the fin then glue the remaining fins in place.


I then gave the Drop Pods a healthy dose of chipping and weathering.


And here they are. All ready to deliver Sons Of Orar directly to the heart of the Alaitoc Craftworld.

In the coming days we'll finally have photos of two of the NOCF Charity Raffle armies ready to go up online. When we do I'll be shouting it from the rooftops! : )

Cheers
Dave

12 comments:

  1. Thanks Dave, perfect timing! I'm just about to assemble a few Pods for my Blood Angels!

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  2. Thanks for that... I have three of these kits stuck away in the closet... maybe it's time to paint them!

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  3. Any tips for squaring the fins/doors up properly so the pod clicks closed truly?

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    1. Not really, mate. I haven't come across that issue too much (doors/fins not being square). I guess the best thing to do is that once you have the first fin glued down, close up the doors on either side it, then glue in a fin on the opposite side and close the doors on either side of that, should get you a good starting point.

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    2. After putting together 8 of mine (which apparently means that any of my team members make me put together theirs), the trick is ALL in the placement of the panels on the engine. Those panels create channels that the fins fit into. it is super important to make sure those are square and evenly spaced when you glue them into the engine. That's the number one cause when I look at drop pods that people say are messed up

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    3. Agreed, LordNurgle. That is definitely key in getting aligned fins and doors!

      As I'm gluing that section up I have a fin handy to check the spacing.

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  4. Absolutely gorgeous pods dave! All those hazard stripes...man you are a trooper!

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  5. I applaud your efforts, I did four together and it took months, twenty of this, twenty of that, your speed is enviable

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  6. Have you shared what your super secret wash is? If not, would you? Pretty please.

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  7. Very late question,
    Why do you mask off the tips of the doors to spray the rest of it? The whole door is red; is it two different shades?

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