Valkyrie Naming Poll, Vote Today!

Ok, here are the Creme de la Creme of the suggestion box names for my Valkyrie:

"3 Year Gambit" (This valkyrie was my 3 year anniversary present)

"Discendo" (I descend)

"Occumbo Ex Caeli" (Loosely Latin for 'Death from the Skies')

"Nightstalker" (coincidentally the nickname of my old platoon in the service)

"Volatilis Pango" (Flying Hammer)

"Alascadian Glory"

I'll be keeping the polls open for less than one week, so get in there and give me some votes! I need to get this vehicle named, so I can get to painting on some nose art!

Until next time:
--FP135

Valkyrie Update: 1/26/2010

I've been getting some painting done on the valkyrie... in fact I put in 6 or 7 hours worth of it in just today alone! I got the cockpit and crew completely painted, and put in the canopy. Basecoating the gray took FOREVER, since I do it by hand. I had to thin the paint a bit so it would not get too thick and blotchy, and then I had to paint on several layers to get the coverage I wanted. I wish I had done more detail on the interior, but since it was so hard to get a brush in there I had to settle for a quick and dirty metal drybrush. I got some pictures of my modified sponsons, however. I am using the bodies of the gunner crew for a pair of meltagunner vets (pics of those tomorrow, hopefully), so these remain unmanned. The crewman bodies just looked too awesome, and I thought they'd make fitting stormtroopers if anyone wanted to try the conversion.

I am fairly impressed with this kit... it has almost as much modularity as the Demolisher kit. A few things make it fall short of that though: There are no options for Lascannons to make a vendetta, and there should be a way to swap out MRPs and Hellstrike missiles to really make this a truly modular kit. I put the MRPs on, figuring that it is better to have it and not pay for it than it is to not have it and not be able to take it later, right?


(Above text extracted from www.DakkaDakka.com forums)

Now to a real issue... I have not received a single name for this vehicle yet! Nobody has any suggestions? I've got to have at least 5-10 I like by next week to make a poll up.

To make a suggestion, comment on the previous post (http://foxphoenix40k.blogspot.com/2010/01/907th-reinforcements-and-naming-contest.html). You have the power!

I'm off to bed for the night, so I can resume work on painting this tomorrow!

Until then,
--FP135

907th Reinforcements and a Naming Contest: AKA best Anniversary Gift, EVER!

Tomorrow is my wife and I's 3rd year wedding anniversary, and we got each other gifts, naturally. I was quite astounded when I opened up a brand new valkyrie kit, complete with a bottle of Testors Model Master cement with the precision applicator.

I spent all last night (until 2 AM or so) putting it together, and I am nearly finished. All that is left is the canopy, which I am waiting until after painting the interior to finish attaching.

The kit is quite large, and I am impressed with most of it, but there is one feature that bugs me. For the heavy bolter sponsons, they are attached to their rotation mount by only a small linkage arm. This has to be glued to the rotating shaft, and this bond does not hold up well to the shearing force applied when twisting the mount.

My solution: I simply affixed two heavy bolter tripods from heavy weapon squads to the floor near the doors, allowing them to rotate in so the doors can slide shut. This provides a stable platform for the heavy bolter, and still allows the doors to shut.



Ok, now for your part. I need to name this Valk, and I will append the named-unit roster on the previous post. To do this, I am holding a contest. For one week only, I will take all suggested names and put them into a list. At the end of this week (Feb 1st) I will stop taking new names, and put my top 10 picks of the collected names into a poll. That poll will run for another week, and at the end of that week the name with the most votes will be the winner! Please note that I am poor, and have no prizes to give you, but I can give kudos, mad props, and a imaginary cookie!

Until the poll is complete, I will continue to post updates as I get this vehicle painted.

So until next time,
--FP135