049 - Istvann Five Salamanders Tank

I really love the Salamanders Legion. They exemplify everything that is good about the Space Marines and are true heroes in the grimdark that is 30k and 40k.
Vulkan is a fantastic Primarch in the fluff and the Forge World model in my opinion is one of the best Primarch models they have done.
I have wanted to do a Salamanders army for a while but can't really fit it in with my other projects. I also had some old Rogue Trader models floating about which need refurbishment that I also didn't have time to do.
I have been doing a Word Bearers army for the Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge 2016. The Independent Characters website is here.  I started the army in February and had to do a commitment a month until I have 10 completed commitments. As an extra achievement you can create a themed display board for your army. I wanted to do a Istvann V board to match my bases.
I wanted black sand dunes but I didn't want the board to be featureless. So I took  a battered old Predator tank and started painting it in Salamanders colours. After a hefty amount of weathering I had a suitably battered opponent for my Word Bearers.

The completed model came out quite well. I am just finishing off my display board and hopefully it will all come together. Glory to the Word Bearers!

005 - Dreadnought Bargins

I'm a big fan of 40k Dreadnoughts. I have three painted  Helbrutes for my Iron Warriors and a couple to go. I also have  a standard Dreadnought to go with my Grey Knights contingent.
I have always liked the Rogue Trader Dreadnoughts which seemed mystical and come from a far off time when I started in the hobby. I remember the model in the second edition books being totally different to the standard one which we all know and love.
Hunting around on Ebay for a few months and my patience finally paid off. I got 5 metal beaky marines, a Rogue Trader attack bike, a few Terminators and a complete metal Dreadnought for just over £20. As the Rogue Trader Dreadnoughts go for more than that. I thought I had got a right bargin!
I had a look at some old scanned in White Dwarfs and these guys used to be £3.50 for a complete model when they came out! Not quite the same as £28 for a plastic kit now!
They do need a bloody good scrub but I feel like I did well out of this. Better get the Dettol out!

001 - Retro Model Rampage

I love the older style of 40k miniatures. Anything from the 1980s madness of Rogue Trader to the mid 90s trend of red weapons on everything!
I've had a good go on Ebay searching out for decent deals for older models. It pays to not "Buy it now" but to take your time and have a go on auctions. After all if you have waited 25 years to buy a model another couple of weeks won't hurt! I have slowly amassed a decent space marine army consisting of two squads of the second edition boxed set tactical marines, a squad of RTB01 style marines, a squad of 1989 Space Hulk terminators, a Rogue Trader metal dreadnought and one of favorite sculpts of all time, the Librarian in terminator armour.
These are the models I fell in love with when I was about 10 reading White Dwarf for the first time.
I saw some really good blogs on collecting retro marines and I am definitely going to get these guys painted up! Thanks to the ongoing popularity of space marines I can field a legal force that is still really characterful. Although I will have to paint them up now!
Stay tuned for updates.