Imperial Navy RE-45 Lander

Side shot showing lateral, fast-exit, troop hatches, heavy thruster baffles, underwing air intakes and the rotatable jet nozzles used for hoverflight and fast lift offs.

It is a largely plastic model built over  a balsa wood chassis.

I made this scratch-build Imperial shuttle some time ago but had no idea what it was. However, the recent novel, 'Watchers of the Throne', cleared the matter up.

It's an Re-45 shuttle!

The RE-45 was a commonplace lander used to put Imperial Guard infantry platoons on-planet in hot drops.

It was phased out as developing Guard strategy required the immediate application of crushing force: the lander was just too small and so was replaced by massive landers capable of carrying entire companies (or even regiments) with heavy weapon support.

Most of the RE-45 landers were demilitarised to be used as civilian shuttles but, the Imperium being what it is, a large number of the original military landers are still found in use by various dodgy organisations like Rogue Traders and The Inquisition.

They are of course a bit beat up but that suits Inquisitors travelling incognito.

Bow shot showing the fixed lascannon and twin bolter turret used for point defence and to shoot up the landing zone prior to touch down.

Most RE-45s have acquired various additional blisters of equipment over the years on the outer hull - causing much teeth-gnashing in the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Stern shot showing the three primary thrusters, heavy blast baffles and vertical fins: note the heavy air brakes (located in front of the baffles) used for controlling steep descents.

Dorsal shot showing various augurs and void-vox ariels, dorsal twin thrusters, tail horizontal and dorsal fins and a pilot's hatch.

RE-45 parked alongside a Fury and Inquisition gun cutter.

Another size comparison shot.

The RE-45 is a much more robust piece of equipment than the Avis shuttle or a rogue trader space hauler. his makes it an Inquisiton favourite for insertion into problematic situations where armour, and a servitor controlled twin heavy bolter turret, are more important than comfort or convenience.

Forge World - Poor Quality Control

These pictures were posted on twitter by someone I follow - I won't mention his name. They are cockpit components for a Forge World Marauder Bomber and this is what Forge World sent him.

This model is £190. By any standards it is a premium product and yet Forge World were of the opinion that components so warpt as to be unusable were acceptable to be sent to a customer. And this is not a one-off. I have experienced similar issues with Forge World.

Now this customer was an experienced modeller so was able to fix them using boiling water but why the hell should he? Warping like this happens because the resin is removed from the mold before it is properly hardened. They do this to increase productivity and hence raise profit margins on fixed capital equipment and labour costs.

Games Workshop should in my opinion show a little more espect for their customers. We are not a captive cash cow to be milked.

Or are we?

Imperial Navy Hardstand

Imperial Navy hardstand in the harsh actinic sunlight of planet Mybackgarden.

I have built a number of ships over the years but these are the ones I decided to keep. Note the pics are moderately high res and can be blown up to show detail of the models.

The VTOL hardstand. Two Vulture gunships, a Vendetta and a Valkyrie transport are on the ground. A Valkyrie gunship circles as perimeter protection.

The shuttle hardstand. From right to left, an armed fleet shuttle, an armed Avis light shuttle, and an assault shuttle. A Thunderbolt and Lightning have just taken off and are moving to forward flight.

Imperial Navy Thunderbolt On Strike Run

Thunderbolt on a low level strike mission in heavy jungle terrain. Note the missile weapon pack under the fuselage.

Good view of the business end of the strafing fighter. Note the twin-linked lascannon in the wing roots and the cluster of four autocannon in the nose.

Same vehicle pulling up after the strike.

Flak detonates over the climbing strike-plane.

But it disengages and safely leaves the target area.

Dragonlord Warships

Spartan Games Dragonlord warships. These are three frigates, a cruiser and a Dragon Carrier.

V is for Vendetta

V is for Vendetta, call sign Beach babe. This is the Forge World upgrade on a Citadel Valkyrie



Looking down the barrel.




Nape of the Earth flying.



View from a heretic fighter's gunsight as it tries to hit the low flying target.


The stand is a resin model from Black Cat.



Up close and personal.



An attack run on Benjamen Bunny.

The sand coat is from an Army Painter Spray. The pink-red overcolour is Humbrol Terracota, diluted with Car Wash and sprayed through an air brush. Metallics are Citadel Tin Bitz overlaid with layers of Shining Gold. And the soot is by Forge World Powders, stuck on with white spirit using brushing and flicking.

And over the Medway

It's sneaking in below the Flak Towers.

Avis lands on Englefield Green

Be afraid, be very afraid
An Avis Lighter has been spotted skimming over Englefield Green.
The Imperium is coming

Paint Shop Pro

I have purchased a copy of Paint Shop Pro to play with. I have not used this program in a decade. It has not got any easier to use. I am not very good at graphics.

I still can't workout how to place a foreground image over a background to make a composite.

But I have been playing.

Imperial Navy VTOL Scales

As requested by my many fans, all two of them, I hereby show a variety of scales of VTOLS from different manufacturers. The pictures are a bit grotty, as I had to use a flasgun. It is dark enough here at midday for cars to need running lights. Some of them are unfinished but they will give an idea of relative sizes.

The models are:
1. GW Valkyrie being modelled as a Vendetta using Forge World bits
2. Two Old Crow Crows modelled as Valkyries
3. Two Old Crow Ravens modelled as Vulture gunships
4. Arvus Lighter with Old Crow gatling added to give it a defensive weapon (treat as twin linked autocannon)

The last pic shows my larger models that I use as terrain.
1. Space Fighter based on a Y Wing from Toys 'R Us
2. Scratch Built Assault Shuttle

Old Crow VTOL as Valkyrie

I have finished respraying another Old Crow VTOL rebuilt as a 'Valkyrie' with Sand and 'pink-brick' camoflague.

I will probably add a bit 'o soot to the heavy bolter barrels, two underwing missiles and some kill markings below the cockpit but it is essentially finished.

Titan update

The leg and hip assembly is more or less finished. I will get bogged down now as I paint the detailed interior, which has five compartments.

It is painted with a mixture of acrylics, oil paints and MIG powders sealed with artists sealant spray.

Onward, upward.

Rogue Trader

I think this is a Spyglass Pirate Captain model but I thought he made an excellent Rogue Trader dandy or even an Imperieal Naval Officer. Now all I have to do is figure out how to make his bodyguard

Old Crow VTOLs

These are a couple of Old Crow VTOLs. The kit is a VTOL and a cargo container. I have built one pretty much as it comes except to put the container back a little and fill the space in with plasticard to give a smooth fusalage.

The second model has been more worked. I discarded the cargo container and built a hull with plasticard and Robogear walls. Then I fitted two Cadians with heavy bolters to make a gunship.

I basically use Valkyrie rules.

Like all Old crow kits, these are superbly finished and very robust. They are also good value.

John

Old Crow Vultures

Old Crow are a small resin model company that I got involved with over the Hammers Slammers Project.

They make a great range of 28ml vehicles. Compared to Forge world, they are simpler, chunkier, much cheaper, and much better finished. Jez machines each part of the resin kit to fit and he uses a non-warp resin. That does mean less detail but the models are great for wargaming as they are tough. A word of warning, machined resin fixes in about one tenth of a second with superglue and the bond is stronger than the resin.

These models are Raven Gunships, which I use as Vultures. The kits cost £20 each.

I have fitted out two. One is a tank buster with a GW Heavy bolter in the chin turret and twin lascannon on the fusalage hardpoints. I hung six GW Imperial Guard hunter Killer missiles under the wings. The tiny missiles on the wingtips (GW Guard rockets) are representative of decoys.

The second gunship has the same gun choices but carries two hellstrike missiles as flak suppressors. The missiles on the wingtips are GX old-style hunter killers from my bit-box. I use them in games when we have air-to-air combat. They count as hunter-killer missiles with an AA mount. They can only be fired at aircraft.

The rules are getting a bit mixed up about what counts as an AA mount on an aircraft. There are three conditions. All three must be met to claim an AA mount.
1. The aircraft must be an air superiority fighter, i.e. small, light, fast and manoeuvrable. That rules out Vultures, which are ground attack aircraft. Ork Fightas and IN Lightnings are fighters.
2. The weapon must be in a fixed, forward-firing mount only.
3. The weapon must be rapid fire, e.g. autocannon or shurikin cannon etc. That rules out lascannon, which are one shot ground attack weapons.

Specialised air-to-air missiles are an exception. They can be fitted to anything. RN sub-hunting Nimrods used to carry sidewinders in case they met a Russian Bear. However, an aircraft that does not meet the fighter criteria, such as a Vulture, fires at BS-1 against true fighters as the latter are more manoeuvrable.


My mate, Sean, kindly made the stands for me.

You can find a link to Old Crow on my sidebar.

I have used these vultures in combat against the Tau. They attracted massive amounts of fire and did not last long.

Imperial Dropship Data Sheet

I did promise the data sheet for my Dropship model. So here it is.

There are rumours of a Planetstrike supplement coming for 40K so I'm getting ready.

I hope you can read the writing. I know it's rubbish but I am a doctor and we spend years learning to write like that.

New Valkyrie Kit - photos

Here it is folks.
The new plastic Valkyrie kit.
It is a lovely model. Rob of GW Maidstone is holding it so you can see the scale. The other pics were taken in a patch of sun on the pavement outside next door's employmeny agency - much to the interest of the staff.

The model has been assembled and spray undercoated ready for painting.

In the new Guard codex a three-plane flight of these is a single Fast Attack choice. There is a heavy weapon Vendetta version in the codex.

John