Kit review, magnetizing, adding LED lights to the Hippogriff and Centaur... also painting

I haven't bought Warhammer in a while... and of course they went ahead and released new Guard vehicles. Well here they are! 

Adding blinking lights, magnetizing, converting and painting an Astra Militarum Valkyrie

Ride of the Valkyries starts playing in the background. 

Adding LED headlights to, magnetizing and painting an Astra Militarum Taurox/Taurox Prime

This took a lot of thought, so bear with me.

LED streets light on the scout sentinel bases

I wanted to LED up the sentinels, but the miniature itself has no interior space to hide the circuitry. I decided to experiment with something new. I bought these ages ago when I started doing LEDs in miniatures. I decided to hide everything in between the basing material. Buckle up.

Adding LEDs to a Rogal Dorn tank

After long deliberation on where to place the LEDs, I decided on the front plate. The turret will be busy enough as-is, without a searchlight.

Assembling a magnetized Plagueburst Crawler with LEDs

I somehow got a hold of a second Plagueburst Crawler. I already magnetized one - I did the same steps here, not detailed again. However, I did decide to do LEDs this time. Just because.

Adding a LED light to a Lord Discordant

I learnt stuff while doing the Venomcrawler. I decided to put the switch on the side, instead of underneath.

Adding a LED light to a Venomcrawler (by making a huge base)

Unlike the Astra Militarum tanks, this model does not have a large and accessible interior to hide the inner workings. Time to get creative! I learnt a lot here, the process was unwieldy, I'll do something else for my following project.

Smaller LED searchlights for Astra Militarum tanks

I loved the LED lights in my tanks, but I disliked the wiring coming out of the back of the searchlight bit. I looked for a better way, and found smaller LEDs.

Adding a LED searchlight to an Astra Militarum Leman Russ

Introduction

After a month and a half sitting in subassemblies... both of my tanks are now complete. Doing the second one was a lot faster; I took inspiration from the Chimera.

LEDs revisited in Be'lakor's lava base

I took Be'lakor to a game and just from transport and play all the LEDs and the battery dislodged and all the duct tape started coming off. It was a hot mess.

Painting a necromancer/vampire

Introduction

For the Halloween-themed painting competition I decided on painting this necromancer from Reaper Miniatures who had been sitting in a box for way too long. For extra spookiness, I took inspiration from the vampire lady and painted her skin deathly white.

Note: I mixed up the specifications and the mini got way too tall for the competition. Oh well, next time.

Adding a LED searchlight to an Astra Militarum Chimera

Introduction

My most ambitious LED project to date. A lot of thought went into this, as I had to figure out where to hide the switch and the battery, and how to lead the wires through it all.

Obvious precondition: have the Chimera in subassemblies, finish all magnetization tasks.

Adding LEDs to Be'lakor's lava base

Introduction

My first ever encounter with LEDs in a miniature. It took some basic research to find out what I need. A primer by a friend who lent me his soldering iron reawakened some memories from physics class about circuits and thus I skipped watching youtube tutorials. A quick search in the local-ish Warhammer community revealed a couple guys who did this before, and were also kind enough to provide some advice. Finally, I asked around where to buy supplies, and in the end I found a local store downtown with all the things I need.