build: carcharadon rhino doors

As mentioned in this post, I've spent a good chunk of December and January working on an "undisclosed project" for a secret santa present. Now that I've confirmed delivery of the present, I can share it here.

My giftee, BigBadBull is one of our forum's moderators, and the guy that always posts up the ForgeWorld newsletters the second they hit. For months he's lamented the lack of ForgeWorld kit for his pet project, a Badab War themed Carcharadons army. When I drew his name for "Deep Strikin' Santa III", I knew what I had to do. After a few false starts, ill-concieved and/or ill-implemented ideas, and a little trial and error learning new hobby techniques, I came up with this...

Carcharadon Rhino Kit: front plate, rear hatch, left and right doors

Carcharadon Rhino Kit: rubber molds with resin casts

Carcharadon Rhino Kit: test fit

DSS3 Present: Original sculpts, Rhino kits and molds

DSS3 Present: packed and ready to go

Molding and casting were entirely new to me, and the process has a pretty steep learning curve. The basic process is ridiculously simple, but getting quality results is not. It took a couple tries to get workable molds without major flaws, and then I had to improvise ways to reduce bubbles after pouring the resin. I'm pretty happy with the end results, but even the best of my casts could probably use some Liquid Green Stuff to make 'em flawless.

I'm going to keep working at it, and have committed to sculpting and casting an Iron Warrior Rhino conversion kit for our forum's annual Toys for Tots charity project this year. I plan to document that process more fully and do some how-tos and/or step-by-steps with what I've learned/continue to learn as I delve deeper into casting my own stuff.

miscellaneous: deep strikin' santa iii

Sorry for the significant lack of updates lately. I've been busy, but I've unable to post what I've been working on just yet. As a member of the Freebootaz forum, I participate in our annual Secret Santa drawing, affectionately known as "Deep Strikin' Santa". While I'm still finishing up the present for my giftee, I came home from work yesterday to find this package on my doorstep...

Inside I found primed sprue with Necron-stuffs...

...and underneath the sprue I found a flying stand and partially completed model!

Some unusual wires offered more than one connection point between the two pieces. A little jiggery-pokery later, I found that the base and model's Wonder Twin powers combine to form...

...a totally badass, BigBadBull Special! This guy is a living legend on our forums due to his insane ability to light-up Games Workshop kits like they were designed for it. I've yet to see anyone else with this guy's wiring talent. And now I've got one of his projects. That's awesome.

Not only is it a light-up piece of kit, it's also the first Necron model I've ever owned and an obvious centerpiece for my next army. The question is, do I finish assembling it as a Command Barge and re-jigger my list to include it, or do I try and commission BBB to make me a second one for the dual-Annihilation Barges I've listed up already...

P.S. Sorry for the poor iPhone pics. I'll be sure to pull out the real camera when I paint it up.

P.P.S. I plan to post up pics of my present to him by the end of the month.