Opus Magna, blocks done.

First post of the new year. Over the holidays I finally got some time and inspiration to spend on the Opus Magna! It is now almost fully blocked out and I have added most of the weapons systems that I  had sitting around. Normally I like to keep things in subassemblies for easier painting, but with this model I needed to get it more or less built so that I can fit each subassembly to each other in the build process. To keep the numbers to a minimum I decided that I needed to attach the small assemblies to the big ones instead of keeping them separately for painting. In cases where I need to be able to removed them anyway I built some sliding holders so that I can attach them (without blue tack) but still remove them later for painting.

Some of the major things was that I needed to attach the air defence pods along the battlements. Since I did not plan for this from the beginning, the platforms where all cut to fit the GW barricades which meant I needed to cut holes in these to fit the pods. This meant getting in there with a jewellers saw and not destroy anything else. Not easy but I managed. One good thig about finally getting these mounted was that I noticed an interference between them and the flight deck. I am thinking on cutting some of the tabs away from the decking to give the guns some clearance. Other option is to pull the pods of and reposition them further out. This will however make them stand out from the battlements in an un esthetical way. Since this is only a problem on one side and for two of the pods, I am leaning towards the first option, might also give the deck some interesting features. Just have to make sure that that part is not needed to place aircraft on.

Once that was done I realized I needed to go back and remove some more parts of the battlements on the inside of the landing bays (and flatten them out) as I came up with the idea of adding some leftover heavy bolter towers at the blast doors. 

Once I had done all the cuts and re-assembly I put everything together so that I could finish of the last block, i.e. the launch tubes (for tactical nukes) beneath the tower. This has been a part I have been working on for many years without coming to a definitive conclusion about how it should work. In the beginning I had the idea of the tubes folding in beneath the tower when not operational. But in the end I just went with a fixed position, which I think was the right decision as it really bulks out the hull below the tower.

I also added all the tracks liks to the bandblade track units that I for many years have thought I would paint separately, but in the end I could not motivate it to have some 48 separate pieces just to make it easier to get to things. It also means that I can add some more detail around them as they are now fully assembled.

One such thing is that I wanted to add something to the front just to give it a more detailed look and decided to go for two large doser blades (which needs to be fitted to not interfere with the tracks). This is something that I have had i my head for some time but never really though to much about. So I just winged it and built something. Not sure exactly how they will end up but at least there is a start. Now that I actually have all parts build (except for the bottom floor of the hangar bay, which needs to be built after the internal panelling and elevators are truly done) I can now "relax" and start adding details to the individual blocks and make sure they fit together nicely. I can also continue the work with the flight wing. Who knows, 2024 might be the year this build gets done so I can start painting (wifey promised me an airbrush for Christmas).