Snapper and the Blowfish

Mechanical wonders abound!

The Court of the Fisher King

This week saw me finish two new units for The Court of the Fisher King; the Skorpius Dunerider Blowfish and the Sentinel walker Snapper.  The Court is really coming along nicely, with only 2 Skitarii squads, 2 more knights and the Knight Scions for 5 of the knights to go!  If I finish them in the next few weeks, I may even rewards myself with one last Knight and some Kastellan Robots before finally sealing the lid on this long-term project!

The Blowfish

It took a while to complete, but I have finished finished my Skorpius Dunerider, The Blowfish.  I am really happy with the final look of this miniature; I did make some small adjustments to the model including changing the crew and removing the long whip aerials, but in general, I didn't need to make too many changes to the kit.  The main build challenge was the base which was covered in a previous post - painting it was really enjoyable and I would highly recommend a Skorpius kit to any Mechanicus collector!

For a simple concept, this miniature took a lot of effort to complete!

The large resin base is a little excessive, but it is only meant for display, detaching from magnets within the hull when I want to remove the Dunerider

I'm really happy with the waves and spray on the finished piece - it really is skipping over the waves!

The split wake from the turbines works really well

The crew were intentionally all replaced with servitors - they won't get seasick like normal humans!

The Blowfish is painted in the same colour scheme as its Knightly companions

All of the servitor crew are armed with harpoons as is the custom with this force!

I really enjoyed painting this miniature; I really went to town with the rust and weathering! 

The rusted deck and internal hatches all showing signs of water damage

The sea base in all its glory - not the metal tipped flight stems which the hull magnets attach to

The two removable Servitors ever vigilant at their respective portholes

Grim and implacable, the Servitors exit the landing craft

Sacristan Nautolex hitches a ride

Even the Fisher King himself sometimes requires transportation!

Snapper

Snapper was built shortly after The Fisher King but has sat unpainted for almost 2 years!  I finally finished him at the same time as painting the Blowfish.  Working on them both simultaneously allowed me to get them done quickly as I painted similar sections on both miniatures at the same time.

He may be the smallest walker in this force, but he's packed full of character!

From this side, you can see the front facing tazer on the main hull and the additional railing added next to the driver's hatch

Snapper has had his traditional Sentinel missile armament replaced with a multi-shot harpoon launcher!

The rear exhaust ports have filtration caps for underwater operations

Large air tanks fuel the harpoon launcher

Snapper's hull bears multiple yellow lamp lights like his larger Knight cousins in the Court

The King's Court Grows

The Fisher King's Court has now grown by two new Knights and there are more reinforcements on the horizon!

Hail to the king baby!

Deep Dive

I finished most of Deep Dive some months ago, but never got round to tweaking the last few elements and taking some decent pictures.  Unfortunately I didn't take any WIP images, but you should be able to make out most of the details in the images below...

Deep Dive is an ancient Knight Magaera pattern Knight armour piloted by Mad Old Baron Pellinore.

The additional armour plating on his thighs makes Deep Dive appear heavier and thicker set than other Questoris knights.

Deep Dive's huge Siege Claw is complemented by a prehensile tentacle which can be used to pull smaller prey toward his crushing grip and a rad cleanser to 'purify' areas at range.

The bronze plating at the back of the hull is intended to give the impression of a diving bell.

The deadly lightning cannon...

Deep Dive's face was a straight swap for one of the now out of print Forgeworld alt heads.  I think this head really fits the theme of the force, having the look of a modern robot submarine about it.

At Deep Dive's feet is a combination of industrial plating and sand - a common sight on a world where artificial and natural land masses go hand in hand.  The base is finished off with a little sea snail!

While at the back of the base, a small eel-like creature is hiding in the grates

Reef Thresher

Reef Thresher is piloted by Countess Caelia Hiralden, wife of Count Octillus Hiralden.  The Yin to his Yang.  The cheese to his pizza, etc...

Reef Thresher is a Cerastus Knight Lancer which I converted from an Atrapos chassis in a similar way to the original Fisher King conversion.  I needed a second Lancer class knight in order to use a Cerastus Knight lance (minimum of 2 Knights) at the next Titan Owners Club walk in June.  She was a lot of fun to convert and I'm really pleased with the final result!

I wanted Reef Thresher to be a little more feminine to contrast with her counterpart.  The pose makes here appear lighter on her feet than the Fisher King.

Putting the knight up onto the toes make it appear to be skipping forward lightly.

Reef Thresher is armed with a brutal looking drill which I converted from the Genestealer Cult Tectonic Fragdrill set.

The large torso lamp was an intentional nod to Gypsy Danger from the Pacific Rim movie

I installed a pressurised hatch into the Knight carapace, adding a nice feature to the clamshell armour

I used individual links to make the hanging chains on Reef Thresher - they look great but drove me slightly mad by jingling the whole time I was painting her!

I wanted the gauntlet to be different from the Fisher King, so I added long talons to the fingers; this had the added benefit of looking more feminine than her partner's stumpy digits.  Note the kill markings on the inside of her shield.

Again, I came up with a transparent shield design to bring her in line with the theme

I added extreme rust and weathering along with some sculpted barnacles to Reef Thresher's shin and knee pads, simulating the look of a machine that has spent long periods of time knee deep in sea water.

I added a lot of texture to the rusty areas to replicate the fuzzy look iron takes on when it starts to disintegrate 

Here are some WIP images I took while making Reef Thresher...

I spliced the drill with armour plating from a Knight Warden Gatling cannon, adding a small harpoon gun where the heavy flamer would normally live.

Stage 1 of painting Reef Thresher - spray silver then texture and weather the whole model liberally...

...this stage is always scary as it feels like you could ruin the miniature if you go too far!

This image shows all of the sub assemblies used to make Reef Thresher's shield.  Each component had to be fully painted before assembly otherwise I'd be risking marking the delicate transparent plastic

Getting everything to line up when assembling the shield was very tricky - there were a ton of dry-fits before anything was glued!

Much like the Fisher King's shield, I made sure that all of the parts fit together mechanically rather than relying just on some glue to keep it together.  This is important when you're working with clear acetate as it can very easily warp or cloud if you use too much glue

What the future holds....

Mudskipper is the third Armiger class knight which I've made for this force, adding the long-range armament of a Helverin Knight

I have a further two Knights in progress, but I'll be saving them for a future post.

For now, enjoy a couple of group shots - thanks for reading!

One big happy family!

I can't wait to use my Lancers to take on a titan!