Adeptus Arbites Constables

"They live there in that great plascrete tower surrounded by walls and razor wire, only emerging to seize some unfortunate who has transgressed against the Imperial Laws or to patrol the city to prove that it belongs to them. There are crystal lenses and sound wave detectors on that tower that can watch citizens and listen to their conversations 100 leagues away, Imperial spy satellites watch what they can't see directly and even the Governor fears them. They aren't from here and have nothing to do with us, no more than Orks or Eldar, if they have families or children we don't know about them and we don't care. They wouldn't so much as buy a glowbulb from us and we would not sell it to them. It's ironic that they have the rather benevolent title of Arbitrators."
Vorkas Zolowski (just before his execution for sedition).






I have made a few Arbites Constables as a test and am quite pleased with them. I wanted to do a minimal conversion so I could make a number in a reasonable time. I used Citadel Cadians as a starting point as they look as if they might be wearing carapace armour and are inexpensive and easy to modify.

I made shotguns by cutting down the lasguns so I did not have to heavily resculpture the models' arms. I cut off the muzzle, sights, energy cell and stock to get a simple structure and drilled a new bore. The visored helmets were sourced from Pig Iron miniatures (see sidebar for address) and I put the models on resin stands that I bought from a nice lady on eBay - the order was slightly delayed when she went into labour.

The commander has a bolt pistol and power maul and one trooper has a grenade launcher. Green stuff was employed to make elbow and knee guards.

I have some Foundry riot shields which I have to copy in plastic: More later.

There is a good description of the Arbites here:
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Adeptus_Arbites





Picture by John Blanche

Repressor Final Version

This is the finished Repressor after the excess powder has been wiped off with a damp cloth and the model lightly varnished with Vallejo matt spray

Arbites Repressor

I decided on a dark blue as I wanted a police rather than military look. I undercoated the vehicle with Humbrol dark blue spray and painted it with Revell Midnight Blue. I then drybrushed it with Mordian Blue and reapplied dilute Midnight Blue onto the flat surfaces to remove unwanted brush-stroke lines.

I decided to show only a few paint chips on the front and 'steps' by the application of Citadel Tin Bitz. I reckoned that this APC would be better maintained and subject to less wear and tear as an urban police vehicle that a military vehicle on campaign. The transfers were painted blue and silver to tone down the shineyness.

The APC has been in action ramming open concrete buildings suspected of harbouring heresy so it is covered in concrete dust, courtesy of MIG powders, and has rubble caught in the bulldozer blade, courtesy of Hornby Model Railways.

The vision ports are Citadel orange with a layer of varnish/yellow pigment on top, finished off with a layer of pure gloss varnish.

I now have to model the squad.

Royal Artillery Museum

I ran a Hammers Slammers display game at a wargame show at the Royal Artillery Museum at the old Royal Arsenal at Woolwich in SE London. I have been leafing through my old HS photos recently and came across these pics of some of the more interesting exhibits.




The Museum website is here:

http://www.firepower.org.uk/

Shaun's Scratchbuilt Eldar Superheavy

I dug around in my photo collection and found this pic that I took in 2004 of Shaun's scratchbuilt Eldar monster.

This was taken late in the evening in the car park of a country club in Sittingbourne where we used to run a wargame club. It is summer, as you can see from the light sky and Shaun's T-Shirt.

Shaun's New Cabinet

I popped round to see my mate Shaun's new cabinet and cadge a beer the other evening. Amongst other things that caught my eye, I noticed he has kitbashed a new Orky Superheavy with interchangable superstructure.

Shiny Toys

Santa has bought John some new shiny toy soldiers for Xmas. I didn't know that Forge World was located at the North Pole. Damned clever those elves.

John