Skaven engine guard

I had to get busy scratch-building and kit-bashing to create adequate protective gear to protect them from the deadly gases leaking constantly from the engine they guard.

I played around with bits to make a mask and air-filtration tank …

The first mask came together like this …

And milliputted up like this …

I messed about with bits for the tank – sprue, Plastruct tubing (or) wooden rod, tiny brass pins, and knitting wool!

In the end I made two main varieties of air tanks – original and the ‘improved’ version.

Here are the four mask types.

1. Original (with the much better thread that I soon ran out of for the feeder tube).

2. Pointy version (as I ran out of original shapes, taken from ogre sprues!)

3. Globe-ended, using the musician’s beater end!

4. Mark 4. These actually have real screws inside to counter with the non-stick plastic band.

Ranking them up was hell! (Here they are part complete and already I was aware it wasn’t going to be easy.)

Here is the whole regiment, a small one (for skaven) at 24 strong, ready for priming, from front and rear.

Here they are almost fully completed. Just a few bits need the anti-shine varnish, and I had yet to put some flock on the bases.

They were truly nightmarish to rank up. I double based 16 of them (so, 8 pairs). Then I had to cut individuals off the bases to angle them very carefully behind a figure that they could just fit behind!

Here are a couple of the air tanks …

You can see the eye lenses here …

Here is the command (musician x2 – I think I got muddled up) and a standard. The standard bearer does not have a very long arm. That’s an ornamental brass had on the top!

They are Clan Skryre so I researched to correct rune!

Two close up …

These last few show how well the dip (used as a wash) worked. Well, I think so. This is a major departure from my normal black lining technique, but I love the way it has come out …