Warmachine – Thunderstruck #5: Storm Strider Model
Privateer Press was kind enough to send over a Storm Strider model for review, so today we’ll be taking a look at what comes in the box and the preparation process.
The Storm Strider is, like the Arcantrik Force Generator, actually three models instead of one: a Stormsmith pilot, a Stormcaller, and the Storm Strider itself. The pilot attaches to a small platform that glues easily to the main platform, while the Stormcaller has a small plug in its foot that doesn’t seem to have an apparent attachment area. Since I’ll be painting the pilot and ‘caller separately, I’ve put a pin in the bottom of the small pilot platform and I cut the plug off the bottom of the ‘caller and put a pin in its place. This way, when it’s time to glue the finished models onto the main platform, it’ll be quick and easy.
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| Flash, parts needing green stuff, scraping |
The Strider itself took about two hours of preparation time. There are seven resin pieces: the four feet, the “hip”, the back spine, and the “disco ball”. They all required knife scraping for minor mold lines, but five of them, the four feet and the hip, required green stuff work to smooth out inconsistencies due to mold lines creating separate layers that were around about half a millimeter in difference. These all cleaned up fine, as none of the correction work happened in a hugely inconvenient place, but it was a lot more prep time than I was expecting for a model with so few parts. The metal legs also had some layering at the mold line that required scraping as well. One of them had a crack running down it due to a casting error, but two minutes with green stuff and it was filled and smoothed out. Again, it wasn’t complicated work, but it was unfortunate that it had to be done. Overall, the model prep felt like working with a Forge World piece. I’ve done several in the past, including an Eldar Revenant Titan and a Nightwing Fighter, and while I didn’t have to fix a casting error inside a vent (not fun…), what was in the box wasn’t perfect, and did require a healthy chunk of time and effort.
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| Airbrushed and Boltgun Metal applied |
I decided, due to the size of the model and its components, that it would be wiser to paint it in pieces and to glue it together at the end. I’ve been on a big airbrush kick lately, and the Storm Strider seemed like a great place to continue that. The feet, hip joints, and spine were all given the blue treatment. By using an airbrush and creating a gradient with a P3 Exile Blue base coat and then three highlights of P3 Cygnar Blue Base, P3 Cygnar Blue Highlight, and a mix of Cygnar Blue Highlight and touch of P3 Arcane Blue I was really happy with the results, particularly for someone who’s still an airbrush novice.
The next part of the painting process was to pick out parts in Citadel Boltgun Metal and give them a wash with Citadel Badab Black. I followed this up by picking out the “glowy” parts in Arcane Blue, then giving them localized washes around the outside of the “portals” a few times working my way down to P3 Meredius Blue. I gave it one last wash with very watered down Arcane Blue to make the most inside parts of those portals the brightest color. The last bit of work consisted of picking out the golds with Citadel Dwarf Bronze, washing with Citadel Devlan Mud, reclaiming with Dwarf Bronze where necessary, then highlighting with Citadel Shining Gold.
Before I glued the model together, I wanted to get the basing work done; the less I have to mess around with things once the model is built, the less likely I’ll be to slip and set myself back by smacking the enormous thing into my worktable. Once the basing was done, I glued the bottom part (the hip, legs, and feet) together and pinned it to the base, then I pinned and glued the platform to the hip for extra stability. That only left the Stormsmiths, which painted up fast and easy.
* Charger (4pts)
* Lancer (6pts)
* Ol’ Rowdy (9pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
Trencher Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Trencher Infantry Officer & Sniper (3pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)
Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios (3pts)
