You read it correctly: not a Light Cruiser but a full blown, cruiser size, Zeus pattern ship design!

This project began following prompting from friends that I need to round out the Zeus fleet with a distinctive cruiser model, different from just slapping a Zeus prow on a plastic GW Imperial cruiser. Scratchbuilding larger ships takes a significant amount of time, something I just don’t have at the moment!

At around that time I was contacted by a fan of my work who goes by the screen name Armand. He wanted to share with me some pictures of Battlefleet Gothic style models that he was creating in 3D and some of which he was even having printed! I was impressed with his work and had an idea: why not get him to create me a 3D model to use for the Zeus Cruiser? I have contacts for getting high resolution 3D prints done economically so it would definitely be feasible!

Over the following weeks Armand and I exchanged many emails as he gradually put together the model and I gave him feedback on certain design decisions. He came up with some really cool design ideas also! There was a bit of a hold up as the printer I had originally planed to use was too busy so I ended up trying out another printing service. The print finally arrived this week so I wasted no time in moulding it up and casting a copy!

I’m very pleased with the result! As you can see I’m using my original Zeus Prow sculpt and the weapons batteries I did for the Zeus Light Cruiser with the new hull. Also note the size comparison with the standard Imperial cruiser: length is quite similar but the Zeus Cruiser is a lot more streamlined.

Thanks to Armand for his fantastic 3D modelling work – it certainly made this project a lot easier than it would have otherwise be!

Enjoy! Following tomorrow will be a Centurion project update!

[I was going to place a picture of the Citadel tool kit here, but Games Workshop would probably harass me for it so I decided not to]

Once again Games Workshop has proven that it reigns supreme when it comes to gouging prices and has now taken things to a new level with the release of their new Citadel Tool Set. Tom Schadle has written a great post explaining just how ridiculously overpriced this is and shows you how to get a better range of tools for literally half the price!

To be fair, I do think the new GW tools and their packaging look very nice, but let’s be honest: the only thing that really matters for tools in functionality. I’m not going to pay double the cost for a tool just because it looks better!

I’ve got a really old thread discussing the tools I use over on the RA forum, however it’s now quite old and out of date. I’ve upgraded a lot of the tools and now have a much more efficient set. I’ll have to do an updated post some time soon…

Gothicomp, the annual Battlefleet Gothic painting competition is on again! I’m providing a pool of prizes for all of the categories so get busy people! I especially want to see some scratchbuilds and conversions.

Check out the announcement on the Specialist Arms Forums and help spread the word.

On the weekend I was Skyping with my mate Dan (Arkangel) and gave him a look at the Centurion. I pointed out that I was feeling unsure about how far out from the shoulder the cannons sit – when viewed front on it didn’t look quite right. Dan agreed with me and I thus decided something needed to be done about it.

I was going to hack up a resin copy of the cannon mount, however the existing mould was really poor and producing kind of warped parts. So last night I decided to take the plunge and just hack up the original master part.

The ball part was cut down smaller, the shaft shortened and the power cables shifted closer to the cannon end. Here’s the original version (in resin on the right) next to the new version (on the left):

Here’s what the cannon looks like mounted with the new version:

I don’t have a great shot of the old version to compare with but this is the closest I can find:

I’m much happier with the result. All up I’ve shaved about 4mm in length and I think it looks much better. Yes, it has sacrificed some of the ability to yaw the cannons independently, but in this case we’ll just go for form over function 😉