Masterclass plasticard work! Quad mortar shells on expanding foam is definitely my favorite although the coal carriage (somehow simple compared to the rest of the entry) is quite charming as well. I do love a good tactical wheelbarrow.
The WIPs tell quite the story here. The hellish hellcannon carriage with the claw grabber crane is another highlight, maniacal bits usage there.
I am deeply impressed by your work, unfortunately it doesn’t come across that way in the pictures in your post.
The work steps tell a wonderful story and I have to admit that I didn’t really appreciate your contribution.
Hats off to you for this truly ingenious masterpiece.
You should be awarded the title of Master of the Demon Forge
Back on my old " Nicodemus’ Forge of Unfinished Business" on CDO I had intimated in 2013 that when I had time I’d post more content of the airship build for Golden Hat XX. GHXX was announced Oct 3rd, 2013 and tasked entrants to “give your creativity and skills free reign while showing off just how cool Chaos Dwarfs can be! That’s it. Think of the coolest thing(s) you can paint and go with it.” Heady times, back then!
Without further ado, it is now that time - to post the full creation process for the Indefatigable. And fear not my stalwart Dawi brethren, there is method to the madness.
Pre-build:
8th Edition came out in 2010. Despite being a fan of Chaos Dwarfs I had never played before, but got into the tabletop game with 8th Ed. Probably like a few others, I was taken with the Dwarf thunderbarge, that showed up in the rulebook.
Not to be outdone by the Dwarfs I spent time off and on in 2011 and 2012 looking for inspiration online and saving images
Day 1 (Sept 7, 2013)
I played around with some paper and cardstock for an evening and decided on some basic shapes that looked interesting, but didn’t worry too much about practicality. Then I set to work transferring the templates to plasticard and attaching everything together…
Day 2 (Sept 8, 2013)
I hadn’t settled on the entire look so I took a while testing out different sizes and shapes for the buoyancy mechanism, but I wasn’t happy with any of these attempts. That Citadel plastic glue that’s in the second image I would learn to despise later. Absolute garbage. Within a year everything gets brittle.
Day 3 (Sept 9, 2013)
Working on the hull and still faffing around with the air sacks. The idea with the plasticard shell was that these would be armoured plates, but I never liked the look of them, and the size was wrong too I felt.
Day 5 (Sept 11, 2013)
The large acrylic rod I ordered for the flying stand arrived and it was time to give some thought to the base. I had always assumed I’d make a diorama base for the airship…
Day 6 (Sept 12, 2013)
Filling out more of the body of the airship, including placement for the bow cannons, trying out some ideas for the shape of the deck that looked more interesting than straight edges, as well as testing out the openings for firing, and closing up the stern.
Lots of additional testing out of shapes and trying to get a feel for whether I was going to be happy with the overall design and profile. I also left the deck of the bridge accessible - which was some clever forward planning for painting, and other steps later.
Day 7 (Sept 13, 2013)
Looking at those octagonal balloons the day before really made me commit to finding an alternative, so I decided to make them out of insulation foam, and I cut out the insides to bring the weight down even farther. They were roughly trimmed down to the general shape for later sanding.
Day 10 (Sept 16, 2013)
Just testing how these might go together again.
Day 11 (Sept 17, 2013)
I decided it was time to figure out how to attach these to the body of the airship. Since I knew I wanted a heat source on the deck that supplied hot gas to the balloons I decided to take advantage of the need for some heated gas pipes to help with the mounting. Wooden dowels were screwed into a metal plate that was hidden inside a styrofoam ball. At least this approach would let me sneak in some stronger building materials. The wooden dowels were hidden with slightly larger diameter plastic tubes.
Day 14 (Sept 20, 2013)
I knew I was going to be struggling with propellers and engines. While I scoured the Internet for kits I could raid for parts, I wasn’t really happy with any of them. In the end I opted to make my own propellers. Each fan blade had a crescent cut where it attached so it would marry better with a small piece of plastic tubing. This was the path I was more or less stuck with for propellers - 2013 was still early days for 3D printers and I certainly didn’t know anyone with one… so it was tedious making so many matching propeller blades and attaching all of them at a slight angle, and then repeating the process to get matching pairs. They were always flimsy too, they were glued and re-glued may times over the years to come.
Day 15 (Sept 21, 2013)
Over two weeks into the build at this point (building at night after the kids were in bed)… I decided to make pieces for the balloons to help the airship steer, and over-complicated the process by making them actually move in unison instead of just gluing them in place.
I also got he balloons sanded down most of the way (which took an evening on its own just to make them match).
Separately it was time to give more thought to how the balloons would attach to the deck of the airship, and I also needed to give some thought to progressing with other details, such as the layout of the bridge. I also decided that the main deck was too small, and it needed to be extended slightly, so I started making little bracings to go under the deck so it didn’t look completely unfinished when I extended the deck out over the cannon ports.
Day 16 (Sept 22, 2013)
A glimpse into the madness that was my craft table at the time, along with the fevered sketches of an infernal Daemonsmith 
Further refining the steering flaps, as well as putting in more of the heated gas pipes extending from the furnace (the old Dr Pepper can) on the bridge, along with the bracings installed under the widened main deck.
Day 18 (Sept 24, 2013)
Just a quiet day agonizing over the shape of the bow of the main deck. I decided it wasn’t imposing enough and needed to be more prominent.
Day 19 (Sept 25, 2013)
I decided the upper bridge needed some further chaotic details and decided that flaming braziers mounted to the stern at an angle would add some interest, so I raided some tyranid parts and a couple of round bases and threaded some 5V lights into the braziers as well. The third image was me testing out the look of the mounting arm and the final angle I decided to go with. Lots of times you just need to build part way and then test to see what’s going to work!
I knew I wanted to harken to the design of maidens on the bow of vessels by having something on this one, so I went with one of the minotaurs, as they’re suitably bull-headed enough to fit with the Dawi Zharr themes. I also added a flaming end to his weapon so there could be some illumination at the tip. The third image shows the access hatch below the bridge for where the battery pack is stored. You can also see a finecast Hellcannon wheel dangling there - it will become the top of a slave cage in the days to come… It was cast in such terrible condition (chunks of the mold still embedded in it) that it was absolutely not usable as a Hellcannon wheel.
And with day 19 down we’re just over 22% of the way through the build, although things are going to start picking up now… I’ll continue this over the course of the next week or so.
In memory of the Indy - Rest now your hull in the Plain of Zharr, secure in the knowledge that the armies driven in terror before you all met their ruin to a man.
~N
Really cool, buddy!
I love large builds like this: very inspirational!
I’d love to do something like this one day, but I’m not sure what I’d make. Maybe a Siege weapon of some kind. Hmm!
Day 22 (Sept 28, 2013)
Wiring up the various lights on the vessel and feeding them through to the interior space below the bridge. I didn’t plan any of this, it was all very much ad hoc. It was so unplanned that I used laps I had on-hand, which were 12 V bulbs, DEFINITELY not what I’d use these days… which would be lower voltage LEDs. Nevertheless, it was unplanned enough that I didn’t have a battery box so I had to make one myself.
You also get a nice view of the layout of the bridge here, with the notch cut for the magnetized lift, as well as the more forward section of the bow that has stairs going up from the main deck. The circular pattern was the first planning step for the slave cages…
Day 23 (Sept 29, 2013)
Just reassembling and closing everything up to confirm the lights all work as planned. I also started compiling miscellaneous detail bits from my collection that I’m thinking will get incorporated into the build - currently spread across the deck.
Day 24 (Sept 30, 2013)
Piling on more pieces for incorporation, and giving some thought to the front of the balloon bodies. I was also suitably concerned about stability at this stage that I wanted a rigid structure going from the balloons through the main body and down into the acrylic rod… not the most elegant, but it worked out OK.
Behind the scenes, the things you don’t see captured in the photos (except for the one pic above that shows my quick pencil sketches of the layout) are the other planning steps that take place on the computer. For some of the detail pieces I will often go back to older projects and look at styles I’ve used elsewhere. One such example is “Artisan’s XIII scenery - The Long Road to Zharr Naggrund” (from Sept 2012) For that contest I had a number of pillars that were topped with Chaos Dwarf designs that I had traced over top of images in Power Point (source references long since lost) and took some efforts to make the designs symmetric.
Day 25 (Oct 1, 2013)
Some slow and steady progress. Still checking the fit of everything. Today it’s checking the additional hot gas pipes feeding the balloons from the central furnace on the deck, as well as making the bowsprit and two of the engines that will be mounted to the sides of the airship. You can also spot one set of steering fins mounted on the side of one of the balloons.
Day 26 (Oct 2, 2013)
Further work on the pipes and engine body. While these days I’d likely do better with heating and bending the plastic tubes, given the tools I have, back in 2013 to get a precise curve I needed to do it in segments. The drawing helped with getting my shapes cut correctly. I also added some details for the doorway leading off the bridge, making it resemble a Chaos Dwarf face and you can also make out part of the safety railing (upside down) on the deck as well.
Day 27 (Oct 3, 2013)
Agonizing over the look and how to mount the faces, as well as incorporate them into the airship’s design better, as well as ensure the horns were well supported with extra bracing that was unobtrusive.
This was also the day GH XX was announced. Oh jeez. It was at this point I made up a timeline in Excel to track how many days I had to submission and how much time I thought I could give myself to finish various steps - oh my!!
Day 28 (Oct 4, 2013)
This day marks the start of the 33% point in the journey. I also went back to some of the source material looking for inspiration and designs. Tamurkhan furnished us with some great stuff, including this little overlooked gem:
While I didn’t incorporate the compass design as fully as I wanted to, it was there nonetheless. The cannon ports needed some hatches that could be closed and then opened when needed, but all that flat surface was just too much real estate for me to look at, so I decided it needed a fresco or something similar. I spent several hours sifting through artwork I liked and then traced them out in Power Point for making stencils:
On this day you can also see the deck railing is installed and I was also getting to work on the anchor cannon/harpoon, made from a spare Earthshaker cannon barrel I had. I put a magnet into the base so it could swivel freely without coming loose in the process.
Day 29 (Oct 5, 2013)
Testing out the 1:1 templates for the hatches to see how they look. It’s at this point I decided that I didn’t like the MM90-1 sorcerer face-on (which I was already wondering about) and went with my alternate view of him in profile. Much better! In this orientation I was just testing out the holes in the deck for feeding anchoring chains through for the balloons.
Day 30 (Oct 6, 2013)
Just the next iteration in the process. Cutting out 1:1 paper segments so I can trace them on thin plasticard and then cut out the plasticard to create some relief on the hatches. I’m not sure I’m anywhere near as well dialed-in with my devices these days to match the template sizing to the exact millimetre as easily as I did here. Included is a reference shot of the airship from this date for reference… as it has now been 30 days since the project started
Day 31 (Oct 7, 2013)
Have the segments of the hatches complete. I cut the full width of the group of hatches as a single 1x4 strip of plasticard, but then only scored along the separation for each one, so that it was still intact. When the relief was built up I was very careful to only glue to the base layer underneath and not get any glue on the adjacent pieces across that scored line, this way when the whole thing was finished I could just flex the main 1x4 piece and snap each one apart… I figured that was far easier to get everything aligned than trying to do it panel by panel 
Wiring in a spare switch I had for the lighting (switch will live out of sight inside the body of the ship and can be accessed by a hatch. You can also see from the aft view the two hanging chains for the slave cages.
Day 32 (Oct 8, 2013)
More little details for the hatches… I found it also helpful at this stage to lightly sketch over the pieces with a pencil to highlight what parts would be painted differently and to ensure I was happy with were edges/seams/etc fell on the cut plastic components.
In the end I was very happy with how they turned out, but because I had to do it in duplicate… what a slog!
Day 33 (Oct 9, 2013)
Just a few touch-ups here and there and reinforcing areas and adding some exterior paneling to the body. For the curved panels at the bow I just held a sheet of plastic against the odd shape of the hull and pushed it down until I liked the curvature, then held it in place and traced the backside edge of the deck and hull with a pencil. This then allowed me to cut very specfic and non-linear shapes that could be glued down, which looked more impressive than I could have planned out by cutting first or just going with a totally flat piece. You can also see where I snuck some Green Stuff in underneath because I wasn’t sure how good that particular glue joint was.
Day 34 (Oct 10, 2013)
Bow hull is now closed up.
Time to move on to those slave cages. I wanted brass rod for the cell bars, and decided to make a template to ensure even spacing (that paper template circle I was making back on day 22). To do this I drew everything out on a very thick piece of plasticard, measuring from a central hole so my spacings would be even. Then in the Hellcannon wheels (that serve as top and bottom of the slave cages) I also drilled a hole in the centre and used a piece of brass rod to keep the template centred on the wheel. After drilling the first hole at the edge I’d put in a short piece of brass rod to lock the template in place and stop it from turning, and drill the remaining holes. Once complete, every evenly spaced pre-drilled holes for the cage bars. I’m as surprised as you that it worked so well! These days someone would just do all of this in a minute or two in Fusion 360 or something - which I really wish I knew how to do… but if I made these again I’d be doing it the same way!!
Day 35 (Oct 11, 2013)
Rechecking the alignment for the hanging slave cates. Nice.
The old peasant from the Giant kit is an absolute requirement in something like this! Another place I used the same model was in my Doom Engine … sorry for the bad lighting
Time to review some drawings before getting down to making the Tzeentch Flamers that are trapped inside the furnace that powers the ship!
And the first look at the pieces I’ve been saving off to the side to consider for the crew… and a sketch of some kind of structure that would sit above and between the two balloons, partly to add stability as well as to allow linkage between the fins for steering.
Day 37 (Oct 13, 2013)
Passing the 43% completion mark today…
Finally building the upper platform, based on tracings of the head of Cinderbreath from the Legion of Azgorh. The 1:1 paper template laid over the two balloons is shown. This level also needed to be able to provide adjustment of the fins, so I tried a few mechanisms to try to allow for this…
The initial pieces of the platform were cut and space for a lift was cut into the edge to provide access to/from the bridge below, which required handing a chain down to ensure they were well aligned
In memory of the Indy - For over a century, the skies of the Darklands were not ruled by gods or winged beasts, but by the greatest of all the Dawi Zharr airships - the Indefatigable. Proud and implacable, the Indefatigable spread terror wherever its shadow fell. An instrument of annihilation, she crushed armies beneath her infernal cannons, thus ensuring the Dark Father’s will was known across the world.
~N
Completely speechless. What a project!
Day 38 (Oct 14, 2013)
Deciding to revisit how the fins can be moved simultaneously, I started with a cardboard mock-up. After settling on a possible working option I made the pieces out of plasticard and brass rod and incorporated the mechanism inside a set of ribs for the balloons.
Checking the placement for the top level, ribbing, and marrying the brass rod with the fins.
Finally gluing up the brass rods in the slave cages, to ensure the rods were as perpendicular as absolutely possible in the first half of the cage I kept them locked in place by using the drilling template.
Day 39 (Oct 15, 2013)
A rather quiet day of re-assembling all of the parts so far and checking how well balanced and level the airship is… not to shabby!
Day 40 (Oct 16, 2013)
Populating the slave cages with carious victims… just raiding my spare models and bits for convincing victims. No weapons, minimal armour, and looking either subdued or upset about being imprisoned
Putting together the basic shape of the side engines. They look rough now, but they’re still incomplete.
Checking the pose of the planesman that goes atop the airship, controlling his lever as well as holding out a hand to the display that shows whether the ship is level. Beside him is the tube used for communicating with the other parts of the ship. If you look close you’ll see these in other areas of the ship later on
And starting to assemble the captain of the Indefatigable. I knew I wanted something perched on his shoulder, kind of like a pirate’s parrot, but I wanted it optional, so I put a small magnet under his shoulder armour.
Day 41 (Oct 17, 2013)
Checking in on the timeline today…
Continuing work on the captain tonight. He’s the most important member of the crew so I felt I needed to spend extra time working on him and make a concerted effort. Spikes on the backs of his gloves, a backpack that harkens back to Astragoth, some medals dangling from his armour, etc.
I felt long weapons were a necessity for the crew to have when attacking foes from aboard an airship, such as attacking dragons, gyrocopters, etc in melee combat
Day 42 (Oct 18, 2013)
Continuing to add to the crew and chipping away at small details on the airship.
Captain is nearly complete, and comparing him with some of the other crew in situ.
Day 43 (Oct 19, 2013)
Working on more of the deck guards. Again, long weapons to ensure they have some reach from the deck of the airship. I figured for this weapon it would be cool to suggest that once someone is caught in the man-catcher the guard would sling the hook over the railing on the deck and let the victim just hang by the chain from the deck
Working on more of the speaking tubes for communication.
Day 44 (Oct 20, 2013)
A couple more additions to the deck guards. The heads are from the 40K Grey Knight Terminators kit, as are some of the weapon tips. As you can see on one of the models I hide a lot of the helmet details with a hood. I will eventually also cover up the iconography on the one side of the face plate of these guys as well.
Day 45 (Oct 21, 2013)
Another crew member… as well as finalizing the brass rods for the steering mechanism for the side fins.
Finishing up the side engines, and I also created some plumes of smoke from expanding insulation foam that I then put some plastic rods into once they were set.
Day 46 (Oct 22, 2013)
Finalizing the mechanism for the steering fins … this turned out fairly simple, but good grief - SO unnecessary!!
Finishing up the previous crewman (Daemonsmith) and placing the side engines with the propellers.
Setting up the upper level where the planesman operates the leveling mechanism. I figured this should double as a lookout deck, since it was up to high - hence the need for a high-powered spyglass.
Day 47 (Oct 23, 2013)
Found a Hobgoblin model that looked like it belonged with the spyglass!!
Checking the placement for the upper level and the planesman’s deck, as well as adding an extra control wheel for the planesman.
Day 49 (Oct 25, 2013)
Not may pictures of some of the other models, like the Orc furnace slave. Here you can see him with his heat shield face mask swung up and getting ready to thrown a Gnoblar into the furnace.
Day 50 (Oct 26, 2013)
Making the central propeller for the airship. I felt it looked too boring just as a propeller, and I wanted it to be able to point side to side, then added extra pipes for some visual interest. Why so many pipes? I have no idea.
Finally getting back to the hatches for the cannon ports. I cut a length of hollow tube, with an inner diameter close to the diameter of brass rod I had. I cut the tube into segments and then glued every second segment to the top-centre of each panel. Then I flipped the whole segment over, being careful to keep the tubes in the same orientation, and held the panel up the ship and manually glued each tube into place, ensuring that the spacings were all maintained.
Once the glue was set I snapped the panels apart (remember this was made as a single long piece) and then fed the brass rod through the tubes. Not too much play side-to-side, and each port operates independently.
Day 52 (Oct 28, 2013)
Being aware that time is marching on I needed to get a move-on with things. The balloons still need work. I used expanding insulation foam to fill in the larger gaps and then carved and sanded these down.
It was also time to start pulling parts off the ship and doing more of an inventory and assessment of how the segments are coming along and how the layout looks.
I also went through all my bits and found lots of hooks, which will be needed for securing the balloons as well as the chains for the cannon ports.
That takes us to just over 61% complete at this stage! What a marathon this was!!
~N
Day 53 (Oct 29, 2013)
After sanding the balloons relatively smooth I applied some wall filler over the surface and left it to dry…
Reference photos from this day with everything re-assembled and back in place, as well as making a few touch-ups here and there.
Day 54 (Oct 30, 2013)
Finally attaching the chains to the ports. I cut a small diameter hollow plasticard tube into thin slices, then cut these in half to give semi-circles, gluing two of them to the bottom face of each port. Then I put a larger metal loop through the plastic and connected it to the chain. I’d have preferred smaller loops for this attachment but couldn’t source anything and couldn’t get anything to look this circular by bending wire myself, so I just went with it. The chains feed in through the holes above and get hooked on to the walls within. There’s a larger metal loop on the far end of the chain as well for the hook, and that loop is large enough that the end can’t fit back out the hole. Since my Chaos Dwarfs can’t actually open the ports, I have to do it manually with tweezers each time.
Reviewing more bitz for conversions and such…
After sanding the dried filler from the day before I applied a thin coat and let it try, and then sanded again at the end of the night once it was dry.
Day 55 (OCt 31, 2013)
Took the girls (at this point 5yrs and 2yrs old) to settle after all the Halloween excitement and candy… so not much happening this night, just some final sanding!
Day 56 (Nov 1, 2013)
Patching some large gaps in the side engines with GS, as well as hiding some of the rough pieces for the exhaust ports.
This was also the night to get back to working on the crew. Here’s another shot of the Black Orc furnace slave, with a view of the other Gnoblar he’s about to feed to the furnace daemon. I’m super-pleased with how this Hobgoblin conversion came out as well. Although it’s not evident in this short his right hand that’s resting near is leg is actually resting on the backside of a weapon, and you can see the brass rod for its handle sticking out at the back.
A few more updates to the deck guard as well, including hiding some of the 40K Grey Knight symbols on their helms.
Day 58 (Nov 3, 2013)
Working on the lift for the main bridge. You can see on the bridge is a long triangular piece with a square backing, that’s hiding a rare earth magnet within, and beside it is the platform for the lift - you can see I free hand cut some gears for an imaginary lift mechanism, and included a small safety guard rail to stop the crew from placing a foot into the gears… I don’t know if there’s ANY other shots that show this stupid detail, LOL. You can see my pencil drawings on the railing for the bridge that I was using to measure and define the shape that was eventually cut. I’m still happy with the railing design.
The lift has two positions, there’s a magnet at the top and bottom, so it can be placed in either position. The second pic was testing the magnet strength with a metal mini. Luckily most of the Chaos Dwarfs are resin or plastic… again, stupid detail, because it’s not like we’re doing RPG games with the terrain and might ACTUALLY need someone to use the lift in a tabletop game of WHFB! LOL
Day 60 (Nov 5, 2013)
More details on the deck guard, including blending in their helms and beards a bit better.
The upper level is also coming along. In the background you can see one of the hooks that’s connected to a chain, which goes all the way down and is anchored to the deck of the airship. I also made a ladder for the Hobgoblin lookout to access the top-most level. You can see the brass rod used for adjusting the steering fins. In the second close-up you can see the lift mechanism a little better. Those mouths in the background have to be drilled and then hogged out to get the chains to fit, but I like the look for Chaos Dwarf stuff. I’ve used this same element in my Chaos Dwarf Arcane Fulcrum… my Daemonsmith’s forge for Warhammer Quest, and a few other pieces.
Day 62 (Nov 7, 2013)
Fretting over progress and the timeline to submission… so it was time to consult the calendar again (and yes, I DID actually put "X"s in each day into this Excel spreadsheet just to force myself to be mindful
A bit more work on the anchor cannon at the bow. The cannon is magnetized, as is another special base that the cannon sits on, which is magnetized to the deck. The base for the cannon has a protruding piece that has its own mini engine for running the retraction mechanism for the anchor chain. The drum the chain wraps around doesn’t turn with any mechanism, but the drum is also magnetized and will turn freely, or (as shown in the second image) can be removed for quickly wrapping the chain back up.
Day 64 (Nov 9, 2013)
I pulled all the pieces off the ship, and this was a critical phase… none of the various light sources were wired in a way that was sustainable, the wires needed to be tucked away and contained, and there was still soldering to do as well - poor planning on my part!!
I took the opportunity while everything was pulled off to make further refinements to various parts of the ship, such as the furnace. I didn’t like that these gas pipes just terminated in the styrofoam ball (the ball is coated in several layers of modge podge)… to to give a more purpose-built design feel I made collars for each of the pipes where they attach to the ball, which I guess is kind of a boiler for the hot gas… hence the inclusion of the pressure gauge Good gravy but 10 years on I STILL remember how long it took to make those collars fit perfectly… because they had to be ovals, nor circles, and needed to also match the curvature of the sphere at an odd angle. Ugh!!
And so here’s the scary stage, basically open-hull surgery on the airship, except it can’t be fully pulled apart because everything needs to stay wired and there’s not enough play to set anything down, so the helping hands needed to get put to work. The paper towel was there so the teeth of the alligator clip didn’t bite into the plasticard on the deck. You also have to be careful soldering in these confined spaces, good chance of burning finger tips, or MELTING some of the hull. You will all be pleased to know, in true Chaos Dwarf fashion, the airship was unscathed, and I willingly made the flesh sacrifice for the vessel.
Day 65 (Nov 10, 2013)
Had the Green Stuff going this night, so it was time to do some work on the captain’s backpack etc.
I also used some GS to help affix the Finecast Hellcannon mouth pieces to the bow cannon barrels.
And then used the remaining GS and a roller to make a banner. Sadly a chuck of partly cured GS from where the two halves were attached was embedded in, which you can see near the banner pole. Sadly I didn’t have enough GS to re-make the banner so I had to go with it.
Day 66 (Nov 11, 2013)
I decided the main deck was a bit boring, so I went with a Chaos star pattern to have across the deck. Having these transparent measuring tools (they’re popular with quilters, for example, and you can find them in fabric/sewing shops).
Since the airship was still in drydock and being held apart from when I was doing the soldering I had somewhat easy access to the deck to check placement and size. Great!!
Day 67 (Nov 12, 2013)
At the 79% stage today!! A nice overview of where we’re at with this stage. You can see I’ve been doing some GS filler to the hull (near the cannon ports) to hide the gaps in the plasticard. While I didn’t get any specific photos of it, I added a number of Tyranid spikes to the ship for that pseudo chaos-y daemon feel, which you can see on the railing of the main deck in the upper right.
Interestingly… the plume of insulation foam in the upper middle of the above image would become the smoke for the smokestack of my land train
It was also on this day that I set aside all of the models I’d planned to be part of the crew, many of which weren’t photographed when they were made, such as the conversions of the metal Hobgoblins… I mean, those old Citadel Hobgoblins are basically a dime-a-dozen, so who cares if someone chops them up for conversions, right??
In memory of the Indy - Deep within the forbidding mountains that crown the Falls of Doom, a vast, stygian forge burns with endless fire. Here the forge masters craft vessels greater than those tethered to the seas. The great cavernous mouth of the mountain seems like an impossible wound upon the mountain range — wide enough to swallow whole dragons, and open to the suffocating sky of the Darklands. Within, the forge masters work their dark magics. Their hammer strokes echo through the hollows, as they construct strange infernal ships that will rival the great wyrms for dominance of the skies.
~N
Incredible stuff! I’ll be following along!
Day 68 (Nov 13, 2013)
Back in 2010 I did some brass etching and posted it to the old forum to make some cool Chaos Dwarf patterns. I still dip into my reserve from time to time. Here one of the pieces is used on the lift platform for accessing the bridge (also checking out placement for the crew and components)
More crew filling out the deck:
One of my favourite models on the whole airship is the deck-swabbing Hobgoblin
I mean… look at these two cool dudes. They turned out great!
Day 70 (Nov 15, 2013)
Getting the chains installed that connect from the hull of the airship up to the balloons above.
Installing the slave cages… weight is still good with those metal miniatures on deck
Day 72 (Nov 17, 2013)
Small updates on lots of parts this day. Extra detail to the faces that will go on the front of the airbags and getting GS to fill out the horns.
The hooks on the upper level are aligned with the position of the hooks below on the hull so that the chains hang straight, and getting final touches on the Deck Guard.
Day 73 (Nov 18, 2013)
Finishing up GS work on the horns.
Time is marching on and things have progressed far enough along that it’s time to pull everything off the airship and prep for priming!!
Speaking of time marching on, there’s another significant piece of the project that hasn’t been working on much yet - the diorama base for the airship! Here you can see I decided to harken back to Warhammer Quest and include a hint at a dungeon entrance on the base. I deliberately made the pathway up to the entrance laid out as a 2-tile wide path, potentially compatible with Warhammer Quest dungeon tiles. These tiles are 45 mm wide, matching my up-scaled 3D Warhammer Quest tiles.
Day 74 (Nov 19, 2013)
You can see I’ve got a piece of paper near the entrance. I usually use paper templates as a guide to match the piece before I start cutting plasticard. Once all the basic tile pieces are cut I then get to work with an X-acto blade cutting the edges of the tiles down and adding random detail so they look more like worn and cracked stone tiles.
I think cut a small indentation below each tile, slightly smaller than the tile itself so the cuts wouldn’t show, and then cut some metal sheeting to fit into the recessed spaces - to allow for magnetized models to attach to the pathway. Even with the plasticard in the way there’s enough ‘hold’ that models don’t shift even when it’s flipped upside down.
I also used expanding insulation foam to fill in some of the wider gaps on the backside, and then I carved these down.
Day 75 (Nov 20, 2013)
On this day everything got an overall spackle spray… I maybe over did it, but as you’ll see it turns out OK later. I also find that the best way to make stairs is to carefully cut a segment out of the piece, then carve the stairs out of that segment. Since it was cut from the parent piece it will slide back in perfectly, sans the cutaway for the stairs.
Day 76 (Nov 21, 2013)
Making some additional modifications to the columns for the base, and filling in the holes through to the empty inside with GS. Second pic shows everything primed. Notably - the plastic of course needs to be spray-primed, whereas the foam pieces are just painted with black acrylic paint. In the background you can see the bull-themed entrance for the dungeon.
I started priming the ship before getting pictures, so I stopped abruptly… too much excitement getting to this stage! In these images you can see where the magnets are located below the deck. You can also see that I covered the ends of the light sources with clay. Once the primer dries I just pull the clay off - scraping primer off bulbs risks emergency electrical work
I also decided to just call it - I wasn’t coming up with any better control for adjusting those damn steering fins, so I just attached plastic tabs to the brass rods with some CA glue, so that I can just manually shift the rod left-to-right.
~N
So much crafting! Very cool stuff.
Day 77 (Nov 22, 2013)
Starting at the 90% mark now…
On Nov 21st and 22nd in 2013 we were hovering around -20C or so. Hobby time was at night, so priming had to happen in doors and this was a few years before I had a spray booth… not a good setup! I wore a respirator, but Holy Hannah… those filters were BLACK by the time I was done priming the individual pieces and then using the airbrush to get a head start on the hull of the ship with metallic paint.
Better on the filters than my lungs… but I also had a dusting over everything in the room I was spraying in too. Took about a year to get it all cleaned up.
All the pieces primed… and… oh my… what is that I see??? Miniatures primed black with a highlight of white??? It can’t be. Not a ‘zenithal highlight’ in 2013!!?? If you’ve been watching YouTube the past few years you’d think this was only some brilliant idea we were gifted with by the YouTube hobby community in the past decade
Day 79 (Nov 24, 2013)
Not a lot of pictures at this point… but I’m also only a week away from the deadline now. I was painting everything at a fever pitch… it was “Paint or Die” time!!
The finished base, with the acrylic rod inserted into the foam. Not shown in the additional plate I built into the bottom of the foam piece for the rod to insert into so it had strong support at the base and wouldn’t just tear through the foam if the airship was buffeted.
Day 80 (Nov 25, 2013)
Continuing on with miscellaneous components for the airship. This was before the blue glass pieces got some high-gloss coating applied.
Painting up the Hobgoblin crew and the billowing exhaust. You can see in the exhaust smoke I inserted two plastic pegs (painted black). There are two so that they don’t rotate and instead always stay fixed at the desired position.
Day 81 (Nov 26, 2013)
Finishing off these components…
Painting up the furnace and boiler pieces for the bridge. Yes, the giant Flamer of Tzeentch was also painted… you just can’t see him very well without getting right down and looking in the view port This angle shows off the plasticard hinges I made for the Hellcannon firebox doors.
Day 83 (Nov 28, 2013)
Past the 97% mark… nearly there. Now at this stage it’s worth pointing out that a smarter Dawi Zharr would have NOT glued the slave cages together before painting the trapped slaves, but instead I gave myself the added challenge of painting the slaves through the thin openings between the bars. 
The problem with leaving things for ‘Future Nicodemus’ to sort out… is that in the fullness of time I am that ‘Future Nicodemus’ 
Getting the rest of the crew slowly painted.
Starting to put more brass details on the ship. In the end with how close I was for time I couldn’t do an insane level of painting and had to keep it pretty simple.
Day 84 (Nov 29, 2013)
Slowly starting to re-assemble pieces as I go… You can sort of get a sense of the chaos on the background of that second shot… there was a lot happening!
Continuing progress on the crew.
A few small detail pieces getting close to finishing. The small pieces at the bottom are old shields from some 4th Ed plastic Chaos Dwarfs, with bucklers from a Dwarf kit - those are end caps to hide how the spinning propellers on the airship are attached. There’s also the parts for the anchor cannon here too.
You can see the clay still covering the bulbs for the fire sources at the back of the ship…
After removing the clay and making sure the wires aren’t obvious I do my old trick for illuminated flames - scenic water effects over top of the bulbs, sculpted into flames with a toothpick. When I’m about 50% of the way to shaping it I dip the toothpick in paint and stick it into the paste. It leaves the colour behind, and when it dries clear the paint still shows through so it still looks like flame without needing to be covered by paint and the light shines through it better than if I painted over it.
Day 85 (Nov 30, 2013)
Finishing up detail painting on the crew and smaller components, etc. Continuing re-assembly. Interesting to me… probably not to anyone else - Nov 30th was a Saturday, which explains why my pants for my karate gi are still hanging over the chair in the bottom left. I would have been at class the night before and they always have to dry after class because the canvas is soaked through LOL
Now that the flame effects from the night before are done I can test them out… That’ll do!
Day 86 (Dec 1, 2013)
GHXX SUBMISSION DAY!!
Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap
Not enough time to finish everything. In the end those cannon port hatches were going to need at least a night to complete so I had to just leave them off. I also didn’t have time to sort out something interesting for the big banner at the front so I had to just paint it a solid colour and leave it blank.
First up - The official GHXX submission pics:
I’m terrible at composition and actually taking decent photos. Here’s some more:
Well… that was the Indefatigable on GHXX submission day!
Post GHXX Day 1 - Build Day 87 (Dec 2, 2013)
I took a few additional photos the following day. Maybe the Captain should be my new CDO avatar?? He looks suitable, and is channeling Brian Blessed with that bellowing look and posture!!
Post GHXX Day 7 - Build Day 93 (Dec 8, 2013)
Finally getting around to painting the hatches for the cannon ports.
Post GHXX Day 9 - Build Day 95 (Dec 10, 2013)
Finishing up the colouring of the ports. They look very unimpressive here for what they should have turned out like. With more time and paint transitions instead of rough blocks of colour I could have done better - and would like to think that if I’d re-done these today they’d have a significantly improved paint job.
Nonetheless… I found adding some definition back in by defining the lines and edges better made a world of difference to my so-so paint job. Let that be a lesson to all of you out there… if you can’t do it by time, do it by crime
Post GHXX Day 10 - Build Day 96 (Dec 11, 2013)
And there they are… ready for the Indefatigable (just need metallic paint on those tubes at the top.
Installed on the airship. Good. There’s where they belonged and NOW it looks complete!!
A few last photos… although I have no idea why I took the upper viewing level off the upper deck for this second photo.
A couple more views of the completed airship:
And with that, the 96-day build of the Indefatigable was completed. Sadly she is no longer with us and this series of posts is in her memory.
Now, if you will all indulge me a little farther, my Dawi Zharr brethren and sistren, I will leave you with this final parting record from the Darklands:
Forging the Eclipse
In the heart of the Great Skull Land, towering above the Blasted Wastes and the cursed Plain of Zharr, the malevolent force of industry churns ceaselessly. The Dawi Zharr—engineers and sorcerers of unspeakable cruelty—breathe life into their vile contraptions and twisted abominations, forging machines beyond the comprehension of men or the enfeebled minds of their reviled former kin, the Dawi. Below the ominous shadow of the Falls of Doom, an underground river surges with an unholy vitality, feeding the forges of the shipbuilders whose craft is known only in whispered rumors among outsiders. Their vessels, monstrous and defiled, traverse the water as shadows—hidden from the gaze of prying eyes. Dreadfully, from the depths of the waterways and seas they surge forth to breach the surface, striking fear into the hearts of those who dwell in the light. The wreckage of their enemies serves as both a source of slaves and treasures, plundered from the cold depths of the world. Those at sea know better than to speak of the black ships of the Dawi Zharr, lest they wish to tempt the fates. But lo, there are far more terrible vessels made by the Dawi Zharr than those plying the watery depths of the world.
Deep within the forbidding mountains that crown the Falls of Doom, a vast, stygian forge burns with endless fire. Not to be outdone by their water-faring brethren, these forge masters craft far greater vessels still than those whose ships tethered to the seas. The great cavernous mouth of the mountain seems like an impossible wound upon the mountain range — wide enough to swallow whole dragons, and open to the suffocating skies of the Darklands. Within, the forge masters work their dark magics. Their hammer strokes echo through the hollows, as they construct strange infernal ships that will rival the great wyrms for dominance of the skies. This is the Grand Hangar - The Mouth of Hashut - a darkforged citadel of metal and fire, a fortress of nightmares. Within its bowels, a vast cavern holds the very heart of the Dawi Zharr’s greatest war machine fleet. Ancient forges, powered by magma drawn from the very veins of the world, are overseen by indomitable Daemonsmiths who perform black unholy rituals. Here the most terrible and fearsome of abominations from the warp are bound by ancient rites into the engines of the Dawi Zharr, where these creature’s baleful might and endless hellfire are harnessed to power the grand airships of the Dawi Zharr.
For over a century, the skies of the Darklands was not ruled by gods or winged beasts, but by the greatest of all the Dawi Zharr airships - the Indefatigable. Proud and implacable, the Indefatigable spread terror wherever her shadow fell. An instrument of annihilation, she crushed armies beneath her infernal cannons, thus ensuring the Dark Father’s will was felt across the world. The Indefatigable was the embodiment of Dawi Zharr might, and none dared oppose it.
On a day shrouded in mystery, the Indefatigable fell from the skies. Its dark form, once invincible, was shattered upon the Plain of Zharr, its wreckage strewn across the wasteland like the bones of a dead titan. The cause of her fall remains a closely guarded secret, one that is seldom mentioned within the halls of Zharr Naggrund. In the wake of the Indefatigable’s demise, monstrous things began to stir within the poisoned sky once again. Dragons, their scales blackened by the fumes of the land, and horrors worse still than any terrible wyrm, now plied the skies of the Darklands, seeking to fill the power vacuum left by the mightiest of the Dawi Zharr air fleet.
The Dawi Zharr would not allow this to stand. The seeds of vengeance, sown the day the Indefatigable fell from the skies, have taken root deep within their dark hearts. For too long have their skies been bereft of their full might, but that is about to change. The Grand Hangar stirs, its quiet demeanor deceiving none who know its true purpose. From deep within the Mouth of Hashut, a new ship is being forged - one that will reclaim the skies. Supplies, slaves, and cursed materials flow inexorably into the citadel with an unrelenting pace. The bowels of the citadel are no longer silent. Every forge is now alight with dark intent, for within the grim recesses of the Mouth of Hashut grows a blackshard behemoth. It’s hulking form forged from malice and balefire. Growing in might and terrible purpose, it waits. Soon, the skies will tremble once more under the iron fist of the Dawi Zharr.
~N
A black Dwarf warband from Mordheim is making its way to the Darklands as I write this message…
A few of you will recall the Border Town Burning supplement that was released back in 2009 for Mordheim, which featured the Black Dwarf warband. The supplement is massive and quite a feat. It was also featured in our Word of Hashut ezine…
One of the luminaries of the time (besides Cianty, who released the BTB supplement) was Dirk Opper (D.O.O.M.) who posted his sculpted Black Dwarf warband and had some cast in metal and made available in limited numbers to the community. He also sent some to Cianty to paint up and these were featured on a number of different sites and even shown off on CDO back in 2010 or so.
I was late to the party (as usual) and Dirk had already stopped selling the models on his eBay store. I contacted him directly and got 3 Black Dwarf models, plus a few odds and ends that couldn’t be sold (miscasts and such). Honestly gang, small independent casters - if you just ask whether or not they may have spares parts or poorly cast pieces still lying around that haven’t been melted back down or discarded sometimes you get lucky and people will be happy to send them along!
Anyway, I recently contacted Cianty, inquiring about details about the Black Dwarf warband and what information he had from that era, and after chatting with him he offered to give me his Black Dwarf warband… the very one I’d been salivating over since 2009! I absolutely love the hooded robed look in particular and have mimicked this on a few of my own Chaos Dwarf models.
Soon these guys will be arriving to bolster my growing army:
And since they’re already painted they’re not going to count against my BATG score Feels like Christmas here!!
~N
Nice one! I’ve not seen these cds before. The hoods go well with chaos dwarfs. Hats helms masks and…hoods! I like it
Now… the question is what lie beneath the hood - helmet or hat? 
And farther still we must then wonder - below that hat or helm does there lay luscious locks or a bald pate??
Perhaps some of our Chaos Dwarf creeds haven’t been as disparate and unrelated as we once thought!! Could it be, for example, that there’s room for the bald, helmet-wearing Dawi Zharr fans who prefer hooded coverings to finally find common ground with the bald mask-wearing faction?
The real thing that may divide us might ultimately be whether our Dawi Zharr belong in the smoking vs non-smoking section of the restaurant
~N
Well, well, well … for once I’m a bit ahead of you! 
I bought several of Dirk’s models back then and I still think they’re great! Back then I put together my Mordheim warband together with models from Confrontation, Gaspez Arts, Black Tree Design and Chronopia.
This is fantastic Zanko!!! I love it. That taurus shield back there is awesome… and I’ve got one of them from Dirk… are those his Bull Centaurs?? I can only find a couple of WIP shots of his BCs and there’s a completed painted on on Tom’s Boring Mordheim Forum I think… sadly Dirk’s old blog is gone and very little was archived by the Wayback Machine. I see the female Black Dwarf there too… excellent. There’s several of those coming my way
If you look through his old stuff that’s still accessible from 2009 this image of what he was casting shows up (May 2009):
There’s clearly two Hobgoblin models - one with a sling (~7 o’clock), and the other with a knife (~1 o’clock’). And DAMN… that model with the big round shield at ~10 o’clock I’ve never seen anywhere else 
~N
The BCs are from Gaspez Arts, I like them a lot. The CD with the round shield is really awesome.
