So, GW comes out with some new bitz for Imperial Guard and I decided I needed some Aquilas for my Vanquisher Barrel Conversion. The ones that come with the Leman Russ kits are a tad long. I contacted my FLGS to get some ordered, and when I picked them up I took a look at the new heads sprue as well. Now, seeing these on the GW site is less than convincing. 
After all, the pic there silver on a white background; you can’t really tell what they’re about. Looking at them through the packaging isn’t much better. So, I took a chance and bought the only set my FLGS had. Thought I’d post them up here for others to view.
My first picture is of the basic sprue, here to provide a better close up for you than what GW offers. The second is the sprue based (white) with a wash of Ogryn Flesh. I painted them on the sprue to make it easier to show here, and perhaps save me a bit of time later. The third shot is painted, minus the finished optics and clear coat. The last two are front and back of the clear-coated, finished set.
Now, I’m not the best minis face painter out there, but I hope I did fair enough to give the curious a better idea as to the potential of these. My plan is to use them on a future veteran squad. Knowing I’d have to do a fair bit of handling after removing them from the sprue, I went ahead and clear coated. I was surprised to see the change it does to minis, like softening up the powdery look from drybrushing, and even lightening up the overall look. 
It also reminded me that one of my biggest concerns with clear-coating is that I’d have forgotten to paint an important detail, like teeth.Now, the Aquilas? Well, they look good from the front, but are extremely thick for my tastes. I’m trying to figure out how to hold them down while I file them a bit thinner. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Just put them in bluetac or something??
ReplyDeleteThanks for the close ups, they still look too techno for me.
ReplyDeleteTry sticking them down to a bit of plasticard using a big dollop of pva, once you're done, you can just peel if off.
Bluetac gives too much, regretably. The PVA just may work, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI was on the fence about those heads. Thanks for the close-up review.
ReplyDeleteEasy,
ReplyDeleteget a small piece of wood and if you want to file the backs of the aquilas down super-glue them face down onto the wood.
file them thin and then simply paint the whole lot in nail polish remover (with acetone in it) to get all the glue off again. if you need to you can soak em overnight in a cup of NPR.
doing it this way will allow you to do them all to the same thickness and have a handle to hold onto. Also it will remove any nasty Mold release agent.
For the Aquilas I'd use two sided tape and mount them on a flat piece of wood, then use a belt sander. Granted, you may not have a belt sander. They are handy though!
ReplyDeleteCHeers for the post. I was not much impressed with the heads originally but seeing them painted, I reckon I will get a set and use them for vets or a penal legion maybe.
ReplyDeleteCheers.