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TFW you're halfway through converting and painting a miniature when its rules are removed from the game . Oh well, now it's a tech priest proxy. It has parts from 5 minis, bonus points to anyone who can guess them.
Slowly working my way through a _BUNCH_ of vehicles and finally decided to bite the bullet and do the camo. Still a lot of work to go, but this is a huge jump in terms of _looking_ done. Masking tape took 8x longer to put on than actually painting did. As someone new to an airbrush, I must say that it's definitely faster and smoother than using a brush, but I really need to improve my aim. There's some nasty overspray in various places which is going to have to be touched up by hand, but I'm generally very happy with this.
pictured above: an unnecessarily dusty closeup of a sniper mech's chest window (for better situational awareness i guess?) with the pilot inside visible (he has a grey head) note: i will try to break up more of this post into comments than previous posts  - tall, agile, but heavy scout mechs, with advanced sensor-heads, big ol' sniper-style cannons, and even modelled interiors with rear hatches. designed to be lightweight for their size with almost skeletal limbs, these have a surprisingly low profile in the field due to their ability to crawl, go prone, and sprint at great speed. this comes at the cost of their fragile, thin limbs, but the upper torso, where the pilot and important machinery are, is still well-protected, meaning vital intelligence can still be retrieved after a mission-kill on the vehicle, if the pilot survives and can evade capture. also equipped to self-destruct on the pilot's command, or on a signal from their command.  - closeup of one of the rear hatches opened, with the pilot inside. the other mech with the grey-headed pilot is identical, except for that the front piece has a window instead of being solid like this one.  - two large mechs with long limbs, big ol' guns, camera pod/sensor 'heads', and radio antennae  - closeup showing the remote sensor head on the front of the hull, and the crew compartment and access hatch at mid-hull, with a large radio tower. this craft is like an armored moving watch tower, armed similarly to the sniper mechs above, designed to take advantage of range during combat and to have an imposing psychological effect on enemies or occupied peoples. long range comms equipment means it can report threats and call in support from anywhere, or operate longer range drones - but this kind of sensor emissions can attract attention as well, meaning this is better suited for defensive and sentry roles rather than scouting or assaults. usually crewed by at least 2 and can a passenger or two, but often deployed with just the pilot in places where threat levels are expected to be low. TO BE CONTINUED IN THE COMMENTS
note: cylindrical doodad next to the mech is a pilot in this scale i think of these dark grey guys as some kind of mercenaries, with a bit of a medieval and ww1 british steampunk vibe, but the designs are inherently a bit open to interpretation at the 3-plate fig scale  - some 3-plate-fig scale people. at this scale, designs are a bit more impressionistic, and different shapes can be interpreted in various ways, such as different clothes, body shapes, armor, androids, etc.  - some smaller mechs/power armor. these guys and the similar light grey ones from the earlier post are loosely inspired by the larger power armors/smaller mechs from Brigador, with tank-like torso/hulls with hatches on top, but with arms. the one on the right here is up-armored. these things are probably about as maneuverable as a man with a heavy backpack, but more sturdy and better able to aim. the hatch being on the top means you won't get trapped if the mech falls on its face or ass, and the crew compartment could comfortably fit probably 2 people with the rest of the torso taken up by fuel/engine/etc. Could be deployed with 1 pilot and supplies but i would want a radio/electonic warfare/drone operator personally.   - an armored hover-car with a multi-barrelled turret. note the slat armor (cope-cages) on the roof.     - an armed MRAP style cargo hover-truck and a missile artillery carrying variant. more small multi-barrelled turrets (probably remote-operated from the interior), more rooftop cope-cages (it isn't stupid if it works)   - a kind of a light hover-tank that carries a large hull-mounted cannon. aiming can be accomplished with hover controls, aided by the length of the lower hull surface and the large rear engine. has another small multi-barrel turret for defense against infantry and drones. probably not much room for more than 2 guys in this thing accounting for the cannon and the rear engine. note the hatch in front of the multi-barrel turret.   - a medium sized mech, with a cute lil backpack lookin thing, a big ol' revolver, and a big ol' whackin' stick for melee. inspired somewhat by front mission and those wide british ww1 helmets. honestly not super well armed looking, but it looks sturdy/armored. who knows how many dudes and/or cargo you could fit, but i'd be surprised if it needed a crew of more than 2 at max, with a pilot and a radio/drone/electronic warfare systems operator. similar to the light grey ones from the previous post with the shields and bazookas, but without the cannon heads to maintain the ww1 helmet loot.     - a big ol' classic hovertank. it's got a big thruster in the back, enhanced hover-dishes to bear the weight, a heat sink and/or shell ejection hatch on the side of the tank, and a hull mounted frontally-fixed minigun and another hull mounted cannon with pitch maneuverability as well for indirect fire. the only thing it really lacks is a missile launcher, the light grey guys love putting one of those on everything but these dark grey guys prefer simpler munitions it seems.    - a larger sized mech, with a big ol' axe/halberd in one hand and a big ol' cannon in the other. complete with a helmet for its 'head' and a chest-bag for whatever useful junk a mech crew could need. notice how the hatches and crew compartment are in the back away from the head, the hatch presumably has standard tank periscopes or equivalent, while the head is a remote camera system. this things crew compartment could probably fit about 4 dudes, or less with more equipment stored. you would want at least 1 pilot and a radio/etc. operator imo.
note: 3-plate fig scale is a lego modelling scale where 3 studs stacked vertically are used to represent 1 minifig/person, so the little ribbed cylinder thingy next to the mechs and stuff in these pics represents a pilot or crewman in this scale. i have no real headcannon/lore for these other than maybe these light grey guys are a space-borne rapid response military force/peacekeeping operation specialists, loosely based on UNION from LANCER, the federation from star trek, with a bit of aesthetic styling from the Empire in Star Wars.  -a variety of 3-plate-scale pilots/crew/soldiers/androids  -the pride of the Grey Guys and probably one of my favorite mechs i've built  -a 'capital hovership' ultra-heavy hover-tank (inspired by Brigador and the Spacer's larger units)  -a missile-carrying variant ultra-heavy hover-tank  -troop transport/IFV  -the doors open (the rest of these don't have real interiors)  -MRAP/light tank-style utility hovercraft  -an armed military hover-truck  -view from the back showcasing demonstrating troop transport capabilities  -my first mech idea for this series, and probably the smallest   -a mid-sized mech with a shoulder-carried cannon, shield, and dual-cannon turret 'head'   -a truck-style bipedal medium mech  -some monuments to Dear Leader and a pavillion I have SO MUCH MORE of these in various colors but i don't want a repeat of  so this is all i will post for now, tune in Sometime In The Future for further legoposting, next up is the Darker Grey Guys
The kit wasn’t as well designed as the other gunpla kits I’ve done so far but the build was straightforward and easy. Also, just because I don’t think I’ve ever posted this here, this is a 30 Minute Sisters kit I finished a little while back:  For this ”Ilshana” kit I painted the skull wands but everyone else is out of the box. The kits are good quality, relatively cheap (compared to similar stuff at least), and have interchangeable parts with other 30 Minute Sisters/30 Minute Missions kits.
I got back into Lego after a 20-year hiatus. The new pieces are really quite fascinating and open up a lot of new built options, particularly the SNOT (Studs Not On Top) brackets. These are the result of a few months' of casual building. Lego isn't as affordable as I wish it could be, but there are KO brands available, and the Lego company actually makes it quite easy to order specific pieces. I haven't named these models yet. I'm hoping to eventually have a series of multi-coloured mecha which resemble industrial, exploratory, or scientific models, retro-fitted for combat (The People's Revolutionary Mecha Force). They'll face off against another series of B/W/greyscale combat models (The Corporate Fascist Oligarchy). (Names pending). 1. Mining mech with inspiration from Ripley's loader. The backpack is removable.    2. Combat/law enforcement model. Heavy inspiration from Patlabor.      3. I didn't develop the frame for this one (instructions located [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLacAr300I0)), but I did the plating myself.     4. This model was my first mecha attempt, and has now been dismantled since I've learned some new building techniques and acquired a much larger parts budget.    5. Another early attempt with a more Mechwarrior feel.   
youtu.be
So this guy designs, 3D prints, hand paints, and assembles his own giant Gundam models, including electronics/LEDs. Looks like he also uses embedded magnets to attach everything which is very cool. I just found this channel and I'm really blown away by it.
www.youtube.com
 I could never make something like this lmao, but I can't help but admire it.
Also I’m going to attempt a custom paint job on the pink bootleg Gundam. Wish me luck.
Here it is next to the Aerial I did before it. Might try to do panel lining, but I’m also going to start on another one soon.
How does it play? Do the armies feel sufficiently different? Any other comments/tips for someone who has only played 40k?
EDIT: Here's what I initially thought... Hobbies would be anything hobby related, like videos on 3D printing, figurine painting, gundam kits, electronics, etc., while DIY would be for actual projects. So things like home remodel/repair and anything self-designed and self built. Does that seem correct?
marketable slop, oh well  A blue LED behind the green lenses actually gives a more interesting effect than a green LED, sincs it seems these lenses fluoresce subtly under the blue light. I still have to paint, weather, finish the wiring, etc. which knowing me will take me a few weeks/decades . Usually, I'd just attach this to a base and run all the wires along the base arm to hide them. Only recently I found out about powering the LEDs wirelessly, which sounds way cooler...
This zoomed, in it's pretty easy to tell that all the fabric needs more blending, but this was a nice break from the rest of my army's usual white and grey-blue color scheme. Sadly some of her fingers on the right hand snapped off in transit and I was never able to reattach them. Even so, I'm generally proud of this one. Base is transparent crackle paint over a blue basecoat, then drybrushed with grey->white grey->white to get an icy look. RIP Astropaths ever being used in 10th, Nightshroud was too funny against Custodes. Mini is Astro Witch, by Victoria Miniatures. 
Technically it was done a while ago, but now there's a comm for it! The hull gun on the front is magnetized and can be swapped out for a laser, and the sides are magnetized as well so I can put sponsons on if I ever get around to having some 3d printed. The turret-hull connection is just a giant circular hole so it pops off real easy and I have taken to blu-tacking it in place for transport/games. The actual name for the model is "Mars Alpha Leman Russ Incinerator", and I run it as an Executioner in 40k. Behold, the warm glowing warming glow of the turret gun (which I'm still not really happy with even after like 10 revisions):  The last thing space fascists see before being run over: 
It's so posable and can actually support its own weight unlike my more booj models