+ inload: Cracking nuts the Catachan way +

+ 634th Catachan 2nd Co. Command Vehicle 'Nutcracker' +

 

+ T–4 days 'til I set off for Warhammer Fest, and I'm on the closing stretch with the Catachan Guntruck I'm taking along. Last night I started polishing off the details: things like the various lights and wires, as well as the markings. + 

+ The lighting's a bit stark (an unusually bright morning!), but perhaps the most obvious addition here is the multilaser, which came from the new Sentinel. More subtle bits include the wiring leading up to the multilaser turret, and the hazard marking on the turret itself. One of the things I'm weirdly pleased with is the blue cap on the reserve promethium tank (the grey box behind the front wheel). I've been keeping an eye out for little details like this on real-world vehicles to add some verisimilitude to this boxy truck filled with space muscle-men +. 

+ Theoretical +

+ I took a trip to the Tank Museum a few years back, and remember the various organisational markings being bold and simple and clear. They seemed a great thing to add – and offered an opportunity to add some colour and interest to what is otherwise a muted green box. It would also allow me to make clear this is a 40k vehicle, not a real-world one. +

+ The aim, then, for these markings is to give the impression that the vehicle is official, standardised and part of the grinding greater Imperial organisation – but have enough 'pop' to look good at scale. +

+ I've tried to apply the markings with some sense of how people of the same scale would interact with them. From the point of view of realism, there's little point in having these markings unreadable to someone at eye level. Equally, this has to be balanced against the fact this is a model meant to be judged, and so the markings have got to not be hidden away from the judges. +

+ The round squad marking on the door, shown above, is a good example of having the marking at the right placement for the crew. The only people who need to refer to this marking are the various squads who are assigned to Goliaths, so it's relatively small, and only appears on the door. In the company mustering point, anyone from squad 1 (for example), will know this isn't their ride – but that's not particularly important in a battlefield context. +

+ Things that do need to be immediately identifiable during combat are the Regimental and Company markings, as these are what will help friendly forces identify them at distance and at speed. These are therefore larger and more prominent than the squad marking. The big red and yellow square on the front here is also present on the back – whichever way it's travelling, friendly forces will immediately know not to fire. +

+ Partially hidden behind the multilaser's flash suppressor (or whatever the thing at the front is) above is the Regiment's number – 634. This is repeated on the front left of the cab, as shown below; though unfortunately the terribly over-exposed pict-capture here makes it almost invisible... I promise it's there! This is rendered in a simple white stencil-style effect, because it's not particularly necessary for it to be legible for anyone in the field: it's more for the Quartermaster or similar. +

+ Annoyingly washed-out in these pictures, I also painted the various lights and lenses, and am pleased with how they look. I opted for a blue-grey for these, as a balance between real headlights where they're turned off, and being interesting to look at as a model. The blue-grey also complements the orange used for the reinforced armourglass windscreen and windows. +

+ With slightly better lighting here, you can see the start of the leather effect on the knife holster and gunstrap, too. These will be built up with repeated layers of washes and stippling. Note also the company marking on the rear left-hand side, visible from the back and from the left of the vehicle. +

+ The banner remains one of the things to tackle, and I'll likely start on that tonight. I really wish GW did blank banners again, even if just as an option. It's annoying to have the sculpted-on detail force you in a certain direction. I'll use the red and yellow of the Company marking on the pennant banner, but probably as a red top and yellow bottom because a diagonal will look odd on the swallow-tail shape.+

+++

+ To do +

+ All of the markings need to be bedded into the scheme, and this will be achieved with oil washes. Before that, however, I'm going to make the Company marking a bit more interesting with some freehand – and this is a good example of how I've tried to balance having a plan with actually having fun while painting. + 

+ While I knew any such marking would need to be simple and iconic, I haven't really had a strong idea of what would go on there. Consulting the old Imperial Guard tank marking guide threw up some ideas of swords or skulls, but these are so iconic as to almost be meaningless. I wanted mine to stand out a little more. +

+ Taking some inspiration from the Regimental nickname, the 'Ever-Readies', I did some research on animals that symbolised readiness, and have decided to go for a squirrel. Not a particularly fierce creature, perhaps, but it has lots of cultural resonance – variously as a messenger or as a symbol of preparedness, alertness, wit and initiative – all qualities that well-represent the Catachans. +

+ From what little I've read, it seems certain Native American groups see the squirrel as quick-witted and energetic. Given that the Catachans are clearly a 40k pastiche of Vietnam War-era US marines, it seemed fitting to have an oblique nod to America without taking the viewer out of 40k – and the squirrel icon will allow me to include a wonderfully retro 40k Easter Egg – the ptera-squirrel – and give me a dreadful (and fittingly coarse) pun of 'Nutcracker' as the crew's name for the tank itself. +

+

+ Pict-credit: Flaticon [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] +

+ The image above is going to act as the basis for the icon, which will be applied to the red and yellow square below (and the one at the front). +

+ Here's a last shot of the techpriest in position, mainly because I really like him as a detail of the overall composition, but also because it better shows the in-life appearance of the lights on the back (note here that the lower brake lights are in red, rather than the blue-white of the others). +

+ A quick checklist:

• Banner
• Leather
• Develop the company markings
• Glaze of oil
• Flak jackets
• Gun casing and equipment highlights on the crew
• Weathering
• Polyfilla and texture on the base.

+ Actually, yikes – that's quite a lot to do! +

+++