Though it is 12 years since I started the hobby- I have never used a varnish before. Up until today, my models have always gone into the world with just their paint- exposed to the elements. (Or, more realistically for my earliest time in the hobby- just base-coated). I suppose I had never seen varnishing models as something that was necessary as a teenager, but since returning to the hobby after my university hiatus, I've been considering protecting my miniatures more seriously. Reading up on varnishes, it seems a lot of people consider varnishing models a necessity- something which can assist with the finish to a paint job as well as protecting them. As I've got a project which involves a lot of metal miniatures, and metal chips paint very easily, I finally decided to take the plunge and try some out. I decided just to go with Games Workshops offering for the first varnish I would buy. I suspect that this probably isn't the best varnish out there, but as Games Workshop...

  The Thunderhawk Gunship I had been waiting to get one of these since it was announced last year! Despite a bit of a delay in actually getting my hands on it (out of stock for a while), its finally here- so what is the plastic Thunderhawk like? Value- 2/5 This one was tricky to rate. I have to admit, I had been slightly put off when the kit came out to see a single Thunderhawk for £26 (as of writing, it is about to see a price increase in March 2022). In a way, I view the Aeronautica range a little more like an Airfix kit- part of the joy is seeing the details of the larger aircraft recreated in such a small scale, but the cost of this is vastly higher than an Airfix kit.  Perhaps this is an unfair comparison- how does the Thunderhawk compare to another Aeronautica kit? The Thunderhawk compared with the Grot Bommer The Thunderhawk is large, and if it weren't for the wingspan, is starting to dwarf the Grot Bommers. However, I think the Thunderhawk feels like slightly worse val...

  As an addition to my Epic Eldar force, I wanted to include a Super-Heavy tank, but I wasn't massively keen on paying £20 for a 2nd hand, and metal, miniature. Looking through my bits-box, I came up with the solution- the Eldar Guardian kit for 40k already comes with a mini-tank, the support weapon. With a few tweaks to the 'turret,' it already looks like an Eldar tank of sorts. The parts used The 'turret' is the underslung weapon from an Dark Eldar Venom The kitbash was very simple from here. The front thruster(?) was cut away to form the cockpit. The base for the turret was clipped away to provide a flat surface for the weapon. From there, a bit of milliput helped smooth over the gaps, connect the 'cockpit' to the main body of the tank and create a viewpoint for the gun operator. Before the basecoat goes on The platform for the support weapon scales quite well with the Falcons And that was that, from there the painting followed the same scheme as the Falc...