Year: 2020

T’au Barracuda AX-5-2

This beautifully painted T’au Barracuda AX-5-2 was on display at Warhammer World.

To combat the ever-increasing diversity of enemies faced by the expanding T’au Empire, the AX-5-2 Barracuda was developed as a multi-role fighter by the Earth Caste of the Vash’ya Sept. This new pattern maintained the unmatched agility and manoeuvrability of its forebears, but benefitted from an improved power grid and enhanced combat avionics systems, as well as a variable weapons fit so that it could be rearmed swiftly between missions.

Teeny tiny planes

When I went to Warhammer World in January of this year (well that was a different time back then) this was the first time I had actually seen the Aeronautica Imperialis models in the flesh. It gave me a real idea of the size of the models. When the Aeronautica Imperialis game had come out, it was apparent from White Dwarf that the models were the same (new) scale as Adeptus Titanicus and were bigger than the models which were released for Epic back in the day and the original version of Aeronautica Imperialis. The bigger size makes for a more visually appealing game and the models can be more detailed (and a little easier to paint).

This is the Imperial Navy Marauder Destroyer.

Sacrificing a portion of its bomb payload in favour of nose-mounted autocannon and an increased complement of Hellstrike Missiles, the Marauder Destroyer specialises in low-level assaults on ground targets.

This is one of the small Ork Dakkajets.

Among the smallest and most numerous of Ork aircraft, the Dakkajet is built for speed and firepower, capable of unleashing devastating hails of buffets from its arsenal of quad big shootas.

A bigger Ork plane, the Grot Bommer.

The diminutive Gretchin have long been enthusiastic supporters of Ork aviation, whether gleefully pushing bombs out of open bays, crawling into tight spots to fix engines, or acting as spotters and even gunners on ork planes. It doesn’t take long before they become obsessed with flying just like their bigger kin, begging for their own turn on the control stick. Some enterprising Ork meks decided this arrangement could be mutually beneficial, and created guided missiles that could be flown like a tiny, gretchin-sized airplane. Fitted with a short-burn rocket engine and stuffed with unstable explosives, some rabid grots are happy to climb aboard just for the (short-lived) thrill of speed and freedom. They’re loaded into the wings of specially-fitted Grot Bommers, and launched in support of the Air Waaagh!

See more tiny planes in the Aeronautica Imperialis Miniatures Gallery

See how I am painting my own tiny planes. in the Aeronautica Imperialis Workbench.

Tau versus Adeptus Mechanicus

This diorama was on display at Warhammer World in 2018.

T’au battlesuits flew over the attacking forces attempting to stop them.

The Reaver Titan was marching forward despite being repeatedly attacked by T’au forces.

Imperial Warlord Titan engaging the T’au.

Another view.

See more photographs of the diorama.

Handley Page Victor XH648

The Handley Page Victor is a British jet-powered strategic bomber which was developed and produced by Handley Page, and which served during the Cold War. It was the third and final V bomber to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the other two being the Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. The Victor had been developed as part of the United Kingdom’s airborne nuclear deterrent. It was retired from the nuclear mission in 1968, following the discovery of fatigue cracks which had been exacerbated by the RAF’s adoption of a low-altitude flight profile to avoid interception.

Handley Page Victor XH648 is being restored at Duxford.

Victor XH648 was originally built as a B1 model. Its first flight was on 27 November 1959 and it was delivered to No.57 Squadron at Honington on 21 December that year.

In October 1960, it returned to Handley Page at Radlett, Hertfordshire for conversion to a B1A status. This involved equipping it with new electronic countermeasure equipment, improved radio and radar equipment and changing the engines to Sapphire Mark 20701s.

Following conversion and test flights, XH648 was delivered to RAF Cottesmore on 11 May 1961 to join No.15 Squadron. Flown as part of the Far East Air Force during the confrontation with Indonesia in 1962-63. On return from Indonesia, XH648 remained with 15 Squadron until it was delivered back to RAF Honington to join 55 Squadron on 3 April 1964.

Less than a year later, in 1965, it was converted by Handley Page into a two-point tanker, making it a B (K) IA model. This involved the fitting of Mark 20B refueling pods under each wing. It then returned to 55 Squadron, who shortly afterwards moved to RAF Marham, where XH648 resided for the next ten years.

On 23 June1975, Victor XH648 was transferred to 57 Squadron, also based at RAF Marham, where it supported the Squadron’s final year as a Mark I tanker squadron. It was retired to Duxford on 2 June 1976.

Chaos Knights at Zybos

Chaos Knights in the Assault on Zybos diorama at Warhammer World.

The industrial world of Zybos has fallen to the Black Legion. Now it’s massive foundries produce countless foul Daemon Engines.

This diorama was originally built for the Warhammer 40000 Apocalypse Book and featured Ultramarines. When it was moved to Warhammer World, it was extended by the team and the Ultramarines replaced by the Imperial Fists.

See more photographs of the Assault on Zybos.

Grot Tanks

The lunatic product of the deranged imaginations of grot riggers and scavs that have spent far too long basking in the insane genius of the Big Meks, Grots Tanks are diminutive armoured vehicles made to imitate the far larger Ork Wagons and Tanks.

I bought these Grot Tanks ten years ago and I built them quite quickly and then they were undercoated. However for most of the next ten years they were kept in a box. In the last few months though, I got an itch and decided to finish them. I painted them all different colours

I am quite pleased about how they have turned out. Here is one of them with a Killa Kan.

I think I would like to have some more of these, but hopefully I can build and paint them quicker than I did with these.

Here are the workbench guides on how I painted the four Grot Tanks.

 

Vickers VC10 at Duxford

As well as military aircraft there are a fair few civilian aircraft on display as well. I posted photographs of most of them before in August last year, but I hadn’t included this Vickers VC10.

The VC10 at Duxford is in BOAC livery.

The Vickers VC10 is a mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The airliner was designed to operate on long-distance routes from the shorter runways of the era and commanded excellent hot and high performance for operations from African airports.

Grot Tank on patrol

The lunatic product of the deranged imaginations of grot riggers and scavs that have spent far too long basking in the insane genius of the Big Meks, Grots Tanks are diminutive armoured vehicles made to imitate the far larger Ork Wagons and Tanks.

This is one of my Grot Tanks. I bought these ten years ago and I built them quite quickly and then they were undercoated. However for most of the next ten years they were kept in a box. In the last few months though, I got an itch and decided to finish them. Here is one of the four that I have finished on my desert scenery tile.

Very bright for a tank, but I do like how this one turned out.

The model was then given various shades and washes before being slightly drybrushed. I did use contrast paints on the rockets on the back.

Here is the guide to how I painted it.

S-Tank

S-Tank at the tank museum at Bovington with anti-HEAT slat armor on the front.

Stridsvagn 103 (Strv 103)

The Stridsvagn 103 (Strv 103),  also known as the S-Tank, is a Swedish post-World War II main battle tank, designed and manufactured in Sweden.[3] It was developed in the 1950s and was the first main battle tank to use a turbine engine and the only mass-produced tank since World War II to dispense with a turret. It has an unconventional design with a unique gun laying process: it is turretless with a fixed gun traversed by engaging the tracks and elevated by adjusting the hull suspension. The result was a very low-profile design with an emphasis on survivability and heightened crew protection level. Strv 103s formed a major portion of the Swedish armoured forces from the 1960s to the 1990s, when it was replaced by the Leopard 2 variants Stridsvagn 121 and 122.