13th Armoured Division Sable Knights – Commander Glofski’s Squadron

Tanks, tanks and more tanks… who doesn’t like the Grimdark of Warhammer 40K tanks? I so enjoyed structuring and painting the 3rd Armoured Division Savlar Chemdogs starting last Spring and culminating in nine tanks and some troops for GW’s Armies on Parade after a six month schedule… I’m going to do it again. This time the inspiration comes from reading White Dwarf 366 June 2010 which is a tank fest full publication. On page 99 example colour schemes for tanks are suggested and one has taken my fancy as I can try to improve my freehand painting with the insignia. There is very little I can find on the web re the Sable Knights bar this WD mention of Commander Glofski and the tank dubbed ‘da Black Deff’ by the Orks of Bork. So, I’m going to have a bit of freedom creating  Glofski’s 13th Armoured Division.

For this tank division I already have one Leman Russ Executioner with Forgeworld turret; one Leman Russ Conquerer; one Leman Russ Exterminator; two Leman Russ Battle Tanks; one Basilisk and one Chimera all either needing constructing, repairing, painting or repainting to fit in with a colour scheme that I will think about over the next few weeks once the units are made and gathered together. One thing I will definitely do is use Severina Raine as Commander Glofski… there is nothing to say the Commander can’t be a dynamic woman!

I now remember why I hadn’t used this kit in previous projects. I’d picked up the old style Leman Russ a few years ago in a job lot on eBay not realising that parts were missing or broken on the sprew. Nonetheless I much prefer the old 1994 kit to the more modern version as there it allows much more customisation. With the help of my bits box, e.g. locating enough track pieces and the odd wheel, the build was pretty straightforward.

I’ll add a few more bits of equipment and tank supplies, but have left off side sponsons and a dozer plough to make this a sleeker tank for attacking with. Plain sides will also help with painting the large eagle markings of ‘da Black Deff.’ It’s pretty powerful with a lascannon, plasma cannon and a heavy gun on the turret.

Quick reminder that I’m using Severina Raine as the proxy Commander Glofski. It’s a very dynamic pose and portrays a very commanding position perched on top of the closed turret.

As with a number of GW resin cast miniatures, I find that the parts of the model never really fit snuggly together and the warping of the sprue is sometimes an indicator that this could be a problem during construction. It is still an incredibly detailed miniature but I needed a bit of liquid green stuff to fill the gaps.

From WD366 it’s quite clear that Glofski’s tank will be mainly black with a few grey bits and white and red markings. There can only really be one tank dubbed ‘da black Deff’ so I need to decide on a colour scheme that compliments the command tank and ensure some coherence for the squadron.

This led me to do some more research and plan out Glofski’s back story. It was the Orks of Bork that came up with the moniker ‘da black Deff’ and the planet of Bork appears in White Dwarf 349 (January 2009) with a four part battle report as Imperial Forces attempt to liberate an industrial frontier planet from the Orks.

The third battle report on pages 63-68 (WD349) details the Imperial Guard attempting to destroy the Orks’ airfield. The IG used are all in the bog standard GW studio Cadian green and light brown camouflage. Not that inspiring, but does get me thinking about Glofski’s back story further…

Glofski is not mentioned in the battle report so I’ve decided that her squadron was kept in reserve to tackle Ork units in the more industrial urban areas. So this will dictate a paint scheme that picks out the blue-grey from Glofski’s command tank but will perhaps include a cream/white camouflage pattern.

The painting of the Leman Russ is underway. First up is dry brushing the tracks with Leadbelcher and once dry washing with Seraphim Sepia. Then the lasgun barrel, exhaust pipes, fuel barrel and exhaust vents were all dry brushed with Citadel Colour Blue Grey (OOP). Again when dry these parts were washed first with Nuln Oil and then Drakenhof Nightshade. The tracks were then touched up with dry brushing of Chainmail.

NOTE: the turret has been removed for separate painting and so that I can constantly flip the tank over onto its sides when attempting to do the freehand painting of insignia.

The rear company markings are painted using Mephiston Red and White Scar. I have toyed with creating transfers for the eagle emblem and produced some via the PC. I’ll give them a go to provide a base template that I can paint over white.

Ok, I’m going to give the transfers a go. First attempt was a complete disaster! This was because I forgot that you need to spray the homemade transfer sheet with gloss varnish spray.

Once that was dry (I started work on the turret in the meantime), the second attempt was far more successful. Remember I’m using this as a template rather than the finished effect.

The transfer took nearly five minutes to become unstuck from the backing sheet and I had to effectively soak the side of the tank to provide enough of a frictionless surface to move the transfer around… not easy as the surface is full of bumps and bits. However with careful manoeuvring with a wet brush and needle sculpting tool, I was able to stretch the large transfer out.

I dabbed it dry carefully and coated with a layer of ‘ardcoat. Next will be to repaint white and black elements on the transfer to merge it in with its background. Side two will then follow.

UPDATE: In the cold light of day 24 hours later, I’ve decided I don’t like how the transfer has gone. One should never feel ashamed to admit it looked s**t, so using a sculpting tool and plenty of water I carefully scraped the transfer off the side and once dry resprayed with chaos black in order to go back to my first plan of freehand painting.

LESSONS LEARNED: 

1) don’t be afraid to experiment.

2) don’t fret over having to reject the outcome and to start again with another method.

3) homemade transfers take longer to separate from the backing paper and are very tacky when trying to manoeuvre around the model.

4) rough surfaces such as the side of the Leman Russ make it far more difficult to manipulate and get a smooth large transfer.

I used a .005 fine knib permanent black pen and drew an outline of the eagle using the original pictures as a guide. Using a fine brush I used skull white to paint over the outline and then to block in the shape of the eagle. This required three coats of white to allow a brighter image over the black foundation. This was repeated for the other side and sides of turret.

WIP shows how far I’ve got including painting Glofski on top of the turret and starting to fine detail elements.

The eagle needs black feather lines next and then I can move on to further fine detailing, transfers, insignia and weathering. I hope you agree the freehand WIP has turned out to be a better decision than trying the transfers.

Using the fine pen, I marked out the feather divisions on the eagles and the blocked in with chaos black.

The transfers came from the Cadian Troops sheet, the Imperial Guard Tank sheet and the Bretonnian Knights sheet. NOTE: in the heat the transfers take only a matter of seconds to come off the backing paper once immersed in water. This can prove tricky with the quite delicate transfers. Nonetheless, I mainly applied transfers to the turret, flag and the Commander’s coat.

Once each transfer was applied and dabbed carefully dry with absorbent cloth, I used a small amount of ‘ardcoat to seal and protect the transfer. NOTE: when it comes to the weathering next, I will use Citadel Stormshield as a matt varnish to dull the gloss before applying weathering powder.

Before weathering the tank, I’ve decided to create the base to mount the Leman Russ on.

As with the Savlar Chemdogs project I will be using old CDs (100mm diameter). The CD hole was covered using some gaffer tape on both sides and then on a level surface one side was covered with Polyfilla.

The Chemdogs’ bases represented a toxic landscape, but for the Sable Knights I want to continue the idea that Glofski’s 13th Armoured Division was kept in reserve to fight the Orks of Bork in the overrun urban areas. Hence I embedded urban rubble including an old printer metal spring as razor wire and part of a tank trap.

Whilst still wet I sprinkled Citadel basing sand to give added texture. Next will be spray painting with Chaos Black… once the Polyfilla has fully dried.

After spraying with chaos black, a smorgasbord of paints have been used on the dry round base.

I started with a sepia wash followed by  red, green and agrax  earthshade washes. Rubble was highlighted through dry brushing using a variety of colours. Metal debris was painted with leadbelcher and dry brushed with  chainmail before further washes.

‘Ardcoat was used to create pools of water amongst the debris to reinforce the urban destruction.

Commander Glofski’s Leman Russ is mounted onto the base after weathering. First of all metal chipping was achieved by using a sponge [from an old blister packaging] and dry brushing with chainmail. I selected parts where the tank would encounter potential damage. Once dry, I used Forge World light rust powder to dust around the chipped ‘damaged’ areas and continued the powder weathering on the base, especially on the metallic debris.

Putting Glofski’s Leman Russ Executioner aside, I’ve moved on to the second tank in the unit and named it “Eight Ball”…

This is a Leman Russ Exterminator with Lascannon. As with Glofski’s tank, this is the GW 1994 kit and it arrived from eBay in a pretty poor condition and dark green paint scheme. However, with a bit of TLC and bits from bits box it was resurrected. The main damage was around the turret and it needed a new cupola and some bits of track.

I put track guards on the top as the top tracks were warped and so could be best hidden this way.

The tank Commander is an old, classic, metal Necromunda Delaque ganger with lasgun. I clipped the top of his head off and added a tank commander peaked cap clipped off the plastic head of the one on the tank accessory sprue and filled the gap with a little liquid green stuff.

The paint scheme follows Glofski’s tank by using the blue-grey element as the main base colour but with a camouflage effect included using chaos black, bleached bone and then averland sunset to create a ‘mesh-like’ pattern that feels urban enough for the backstory.

The eagle side insignia from Glofski’s tank was replicated on this tank to tie the two together in the unit (I’m not planning to replicate it on any other tanks in the unit at the moment.) However to make this a unique, personalised tank, I painted an ‘eight ball’ on the each side of the turret and used a standard Imperial Guard black tank number transfer to give it its designation.

So, as “Eight Ball” is waiting for a base to be made – I’ve got some more Polyfilla on order, I turned to the next two tanks to join The 13th Armoured Division. “Big Joe” and “Little Joe” were also acquired cheaply through eBay.

I guess it’s me tuning in to my socially responsible and green motivation to recycle other people’s rejects. I have to see the potential for a refit or conversion. There are always Leman Russ tanks available to buy second hand, but many are overpriced under the misconception that they are painted “professionally” or well, but actually aren’t… obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I prefer to get those tanks that are imperfect and usually state that with some honesty.

So “Big Joe” and “Little Joe” arrived together again rather worse for wear. Not sure about an obsession to paint tanks dark green (like “Eight Ball” earlier) but these two were thick in layers of paint. Both had missing bits of track and cupola and crew. One was missing a side sponson and the other had a severely warped turret.

My bits box came in handy fixing these two up. Track guards on “Big Joe” helped hide glue-melted top tracks. Having bought so many new tanks over the years, I’ve got plenty of spare bits, although I admit it is a shame that the new Leman Russ does not include the tank accessories sprue, which you have to get separately from GW online direct.

Both “Big Joe” and “Little Joe” had problems with their exhaust pipes. “Big Joe” had one missing which needed a replacement and “Little Joe” needed new tops to the existing exhausts – giving the opportunity to experiment and customise with two extended exhaust pipes made from round sprue discards. I’m assuming “Little Joe” has a super-improved engine hence the unique exhaust system.

Both have been painted in the urban camouflage paint scheme to tie in with “Eight Ball” and I’ve added transfers to “Little Joe” which includes a left over small homemade eagle transfer that I didn’t end up using on Glofski’s Leman Russ. Paint job is not finished yet on either tank, but painting and rebuilding them in parallel has been enjoyable so far.

So, like many of you, I watched the excellent Weekender this morning, and it’s just as well I did because it’s set a deadline for the Spring Clean challenge. I now need to be realist in what I can achieve over the next week, although I will continue after the 2020 Spring Challenge has ended on 20-06-20 not just with this project but also my fantasy “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!” which has reached a display board stage.

So whilst waiting for the Polyfilla which arrived today, I’ve beavered away on “Big Joe” and “Little Joe” so that they can be based and weathered, and I’ve refurbished a Leman Russ Conquerer for a Commissar.

Did I tell you the Polyfilla arrived today? Yippee… I could get on and make four more bases in the same way I made Glofski’s Leman Russ base. So remember these are old CD-Roms with a diameter of 100mm with gaffer tape stuck over bothering sides of the central holes.

It is quite a hot day today so I’ve had to work quickly spreading the plaster then embedding urban debris – old computer printer springs, sprue cutoffs, broken pieces, manufactorum spare flooring, wrawl plugs and Citadel Basing sand. I found a couple of 15mm diameter copper 90 degree right hand pipe joiners to embed for something a bit different but within the urban theme.

With one week to go, I’ve settle on a realistic goal to get the five tanks finally finished and mounted and hopefully good enough for the table top. So, here are the final WIP shots in actions.

I’ve completed the bases with the same smorgasbord of colours and washes but maintaining an dark urban rubble theme. With a dusting of Forge World Light Rust weathering powder on the bases and tanks, I think it actually works quite well at marrying the two things together.

Water effects again were created with generous dollops of Citadel ‘ardcoat, but to get the flowing water out of one of the pipes, I cut down the transparent support strut from a flying base and liberally covered in ‘ardcoat.

Finishing jobs to do:

1) Commissar Tank Banner Painting – it’s been constructed with a Bretonnian knight’s banner and a banner top cut from 40k old scenery accessories of a skull with eagle wings. It’s based painted black at the moment but needs colours and transfers.

2) Finish highlights of baggage hanging from turrets.

3) Decide if I need to or have time to add a couple more crew riding the tanks.

4) Get some better photos of the finished final five to upload.

5) Develop the backstory for Commander Glofski.

Dead man’s shoes

The detritus of the road splashed on the Commissar’s boots as the dull thump of a body hitting the pock-marked tarmac dissipated. Commissar Gregorius Owen looked at the young, immaculately dressed officer in front of him.

“Commander Phillipo Ostwald was found wanting. Not only did he manage to lose valuable Imperial resources through ineptitude, but he is a charlatan – a fraudulent narcissist only interested in his own survival such that he will sacrifice loyal servants of the Imperium to sustain his false position and fabricate official reports to deny and absolve his accountability.”

The Commissar paused and peered through the smoke at three battered Leman Russ tanks. Turning back to his audience he addressed the nervous looking, head bowed, slightly built woman.

“You are no longer of an appropriate standing, Lieutenant Anjee Glofski…” The officer raised her head until her eyes met with the cold stare of the Commissar, expecting to see the barrel of his bone-handled laspistol.

“Commander Glofski mount your metallic charge and lead out these loyal units to drive back the xenos scum from Bork. Until your reserves arrive, I will accompany you to provide both critical fire support but also absolute moral support. Do not let me down!”

Battle for Bork

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