Necromunda The ballad of how I lost my mind and decided to paint a ton of stuff

[SuboptimusPrime]

Fine then.

Oooor not quite so fine. See, this is a nice little challenge you posed here, dearest @Stoof and I do happen to have an Imperial Knight kit lying about* that is awaiting the distant future where I actually build a 40K army it can ally with. I figured assembling the kit would leave a weapon to pose on the roof, but man alive is that a complicated kit, I was struck by a heavenly bolt of choice paralysis after I merely took a casual glance at the instructions.

But strapping a giant weapon to the top of the container seems like a good plan, maybe there is another way...

*I got it for about 50€ from a store closure when a local geek den turned into a sex shop. Odd story, don't ask.

 

[SuboptimusPrime]

So I got the MDF parts glued down and pretty much done:

Wip 3.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• Feb 5, 2025

Please excuse the mess, parts of the Prime Hobby Bunker™ are currently being used as furniture overflow zone ζ due to reasons*

And also, well, I really didn't want to sacrifice part of an Imperial Knight, even for something as important as a Necromunda tile (I will build and magnetize it one day, I swear!) but I did have some leftover Tau sprues a friend gave to me, and this was already pretty good:

Needs more Gun.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• Feb 5, 2025

But this, this was even better!

That may be enough gun.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• Feb 5, 2025

With the MDF down, I am moving on to constructing the market stalls and shops. Slightly modified the arrangement of containers to better fill out the tile, but more on that soon.

Spoiler: *Reasons within

Whenever I join a Yakcomp, a thing happens that imperils the Yakcomp. This time at least, it's something positive. Primegirl and I need to move out of our current very cheap but also very well lived-in (read: in dire need of renovations) apartment, and went casually looking for new ones, expecting the process to last us until at least May. Turns out we got the first one we looked at, which is slightly larger than the current one, and very close to my school (my work communte would be cut in half, and that is when I walk) so looks like we're moving house in March, which is at least after the comp closes, so I might get this one past the post before we start packing up in earnest.

 

[cainex1]

Firstly, is that tech heresy I spy?!
Second, congratulations.

 

[SuboptimusPrime]

Firstly, is that tech heresy I spy?!

Oh no, never, that is proper Archaeotech that is, pulled from the sump and all. Why? Are you an Enforcer or something?

 

[cainex1]

Just heard some rumors from a Delaque

 

[SuboptimusPrime]

So, to make it a bit clearer what the next step will look like, I arranged the stuff that will go on the top platform.

WIP 3 Mockup Shop.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• Feb 10, 2025

So that's the security servitor in the middle, with the lasgun rack in front of him, plus the various gun and ammo crates. I will add something for the plethora of flamers, and the as of yet unassembled container will hold the best pieces. That thing on the right is the entry gate, complete with anti-climb barriers.

Also, while digging around for the servitor (part of an old Techmarine set) I found a small pile of models, some of which I might use as a base for converting merchants for the shops, if time permits:

Dramatis Personae.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• Feb 10, 2025

Except for the Primaris Psyker, I was just really surprised I had that guy and can't remember where I got him from.

 

[SuboptimusPrime]

Emperor's colliding schedules, what a dumb bunch of weeks this has been. Cutting a very long and absurd story down to the essentials: We managed to secure the new apartment, the landlords of the old apartment are being very difficult after five years of good relations, two good friends went through a messy divorce from their wife (please don't ask, I couldn't answer) and I have a gall bladder infection I'm currently combating while organizing the move.

The dream of finishing the whole tile for Yakcomp has been lost in the hazy distance, but I will try and hand in the weapon shop as a small entry at least.

Shop proper.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• Feb 25, 2025

Speaking of which, I managed to start painting that.

Pew Pew Pew.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• Feb 25, 2025

And a bunch of flashlights, which can mean only one thing. The moment you have all been waiting for so long, I can finally show you -> My rack:

Racked up.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• Feb 25, 2025

It's really nice how neatly they line up on it.

So I'm not out yet, but time is running very very short.

 

[Biggle_Bear]

Don’t give up! Still a weekend to go!

 

[SuboptimusPrime]

Whoop, been a while. Moving house took all of March in the end, and is ongoing, but order is slowly being restored to the new Manufactorium. Primegirl suggested to convert the largest room into our combined office and hobby space, and who am I to disregard the wishes of my beloved?

Painting time is still scarce at the moment, but I used what little I had to begin a paint tester for my Maggotkin:

Maggotkin WIP.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• Apr 8, 2025

 

[Ben_S]

I have the largest room as my office/games room. But that means my gf complains about how much gaming stuff there is in the rest of the house...

 

[SuboptimusPrime]

After puttering about with my Maggotkin without feeling the slightest hint of spark, and having to step away from the hobby table for nearly two weeks, I came back to my old love, Death Guard. Where I'm currently at the stage where I have to paint a bunch of vehicles. Tanks, in fact.

And you'd think that tanks are easy, they're basically just boxes, right? Right? Wrong, says Mortarion, I am going to create an unholy crossbreed between a tank and a watermill, that when assembled resembles a box from a distance, but up close is all plates and bits overlapping from multiple sides where you can SEE the detail, but not PAINT it without getting overpaint everywhere everytime!

And thus the plagueburst crawler was invented:

Plagueburst WIP 1.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• May 11, 2025

So yes, essentially it's a box, but there is so much detail half-hidden under other stuff, like the inside of those wheels to the side of the mortar assembly, and everything behind that siege-snowplow, if I ever assemble another one, this might be the first model I paint entirely on the sprue.

 

[Ben_S]

I'm currently at the stage where I have to paint a bunch of vehicles.

Don't you mean poxwalkers?

 

[SuboptimusPrime]

Don't you mean poxwalkers?

We have excised these particular words from our memory core.

 

[cainex1]

I love the design on those but they look like a real pain to paint.

 

[Gdolkin]

I'm having a similar dilemma with Fulgrim, I hate painting in sub-assemblies and will almost always go with 'If you can't paint it you can't see it anyway', but ol'fancy-britches is to be painted as a gift for my good lady and kinda calls for the best I can do on his own account anyway, so it looks like body, wings, flappy skirt, head and chest-eagle badge are all gonna have to be handled seperately it's causing terrible second-guessing analysis paralysis.

 

[SuboptimusPrime]

And by the grace of Mortarion (and because I took the day off) I finished the disgusting little engine that could. Kill you. With indirect fire.

Plagueburst Crawler.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• May 15, 2025

Got a Rhino up next, and I'm currently digging around my various bitz boxes for something from the distant past that I KNOW IS THERE FOR SURE.

 

[SuboptimusPrime]

The diseased car park is getting larger. Took an old Rhino I had patially painted up in Black Legion colors, brushed that thing white and covered it in dirt. THEN I remembered that adding some plague-y details would probably be good, so I took my off-brand dremel to it, haphazardly sculpted some tinder fungus on it and added a few tentacles, all as a first step.

Plague Rhino Overview.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• May 21, 2025

Plague Rhino Shrooms.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• May 21, 2025

I also mounted an expedition to the deep recesses of the bits box and returned nearly successful:

Predator Bits.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• May 21, 2025

I knew I still had the parts of an old predator destructor somewhere, and managed to find everything except the turret base. I did find a plastic turret base though, which may not be exactly like the original, but at least it will fit on the new Rhino chassis a bit better. The new turret ring is a bit larger than the old one, but I might find a right-sized plastic ring somewhere, we'll see.

 

[SuboptimusPrime]

So, was back at the old place, trying to clear out the last cupboard still in the old manufactorium (most sprues and random bits) and guess what I found in the very last box:

Lucky find.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• May 31, 2025

In the final box in the last corner of the last cupboard to go out of the old place.

The old turret ring and vent assembly! Also, the horribly mangled remains of the Rhino they were all originally attached to, comically small compared to the new Rhino. Anyway, the plan to use these old metals to assemble a whole Predator could go ahead thanks to this unlucky tank:

Baal Predator (the possible victim).jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• May 31, 2025

I bought the Baal Predator hybrid kit when it came out many moons ago, and then almost went insane trying to get the red to cover right. It eventually did, as evident here, but it turned me off the idea of painting Blood Angels for, well, a long time. With today's red paints it would be a lot easier, I think this thing has 12-20 thin coats of Blood Red on it, or something equally ludicrous.

As mentioned, will never paint Blood Angels, so this thing was gathering dust in the display case. To breathe putrid new life into it, I thought I could convert it to a Death Guard Predator.

Variant 1:

Predator Variant 1.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• May 31, 2025

This uses all of the old parts, but would require a bit of hacking and covering, since the top plate doesn't quite align with the hatches. (sponsons partially visible to the left, the glue on these came apart while I dry-fitted them)

Predator Variant 2.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• May 31, 2025

This just uses the turret ring to give it a bit of height, and would be an easier conversion.

BUT, first we need to answer a question. Does it look ridiculous? Because well, while size isn't everything (unless you're an Orc) the old turret does look a bit weedy next to the newer ones.

Predator Turret Comparison.jpg

• SuboptimusPrime
• May 31, 2025

I found the old Predator sprue while digging for parts for the weapon shop, so I could convert a Destructor using that, but I kind of do want to use the metal parts. I think I might have an old Rhino in a box somewhere, could still go for that and maybe even get two tanks out of this deal. Decisions, decisions.

 

[Punktaku]

Since its death guard, being ill-fitting could be a bonus?

 

[Stoof]

It looks better with the turret towards the front than with it at the rear half, but as you say that's a bigger conversion job.

Size wise I don't think the smaller turret is a problem.