Graia-pattern light freighter - Making the legend

So as a follow on to the previous post this is my latest terrain piece and how it was made.

I've aimed to create a nicely weathered lander that not only functions as a believable bit of scenery but could also be used as a counts as Aquila Lander.

The model itself was inspired by Mr Hemphills work (check out his pintrest here ) and is based on a Transformers Autobot playset. This is how the beast arrived.

As you can see its a nice model to start with but the colour doesnt quite scream 40k! So time to hit it with some paint, some coloured plastic window inserts and finally some transfers from various sheets.

So the model looked nice and worthy of a Rogue Trader, when the plastic windows were mounted I also added a couple of LED lights inside with a 9v battery just for that extra bit of fun (although the noise and lights that were originally inside the toy still work :) )

I then hit it with some of the Forgeworld Weathering powders to give it the look of a craft that had not just sruvived atmospheric re-entry once but several hundred times. I think the weathering came up well but then varnishing was when things went wrong! Despite all the shaking, checking tempurature, humidity and praying to the modelling gods things went ploin shaped :(

Furrier and dustier then a peice of 200 year old taxidermy! Still luckily one of the helpful chaps online recommended using Olive oil to rub the model down and take the fur off. As you can see from the pics in the fluff article that has managed to save the model and give it a bit more depth.
For those of you interested in that sort of thing here is the model before the varnish incident:

So my first terrain piece in ages and the first of many interesting and new things to come!

Graia-pattern light freighter - The "Glory of Trade"

Under the banner of the Rogue Trader Shalini Andraxis and her younger brother Florian this Graia-pattern light freighter (MK2a with grey market modifications) is a regular sight in the spaceports of the Britarius sub-sector on the Eastern Fringes. 

Know as the "Glory of Trade", or more colloquially within the fleet as the "'Emphill Elevator", the tenacious craft has been flown by nine generations of the Hemphill family, indentured pilots to the Andraxis dynasty and rumoured discoverers of the Graia Pattern Freighters STC. 

Its captain, Anreaus Hemphill, operates under the Andraxis families Rogue Traders warrant, who have been rumoured to have conducted business with the Tau, which may well explain the two very non-standard and unidentified pattern railguns on the vessels fuselage.

The vessel is often employed for escort duties as well as light cargo transportation, thanks to this ship's considerable armament and is often in the vanguard of trade negotiations escorting down the numbers lighters and flyers that are used to demonstrate the capabilities of the Andraxis family.

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WIP pics to follow soon :)