Carapace Blood Pact, Baal Pronunciation Guide & Press mold

Welcome back faithful readers, my Blood Pact continues to grow.  They attended a team tournament where my team-mate and I came in third.  I've been working on a carapace armored veteran (death brigade) squad, as well as a halftrack, a valkyrie with rotors instead of wings, and putting parts together to make a 6 wheeled STeG-4. I've also received a request (through my User Profile email link) for a press-mold tutorial for the grotesks and while I think others out there have done it better, none have done this specifically so I thought I would give it a try.

I'll start with my editorial and make it brief.  Since the new Blood Angels codex out and I've started hearing people mispronounce Baal, I am taken back to my misty first experiences in a local gaming store.  People were talking about putting Oh-grines in a shim-ra APC and the god kuh-horn grappled with his nemesis Tiz-neech.  With gamer culture's status based on information and it's application, there is always controversy over pronunciation.  The kinds of games we play and books we read often make up words or draw from obscure references, but this one is easy folks.  The Baal Predator, it's pronounced bayl, or ba-all.  Since I'm not too far out of University I still feel the need to cite so here you go: (there's even clicky sound links so you can hear it for yourself)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/baal
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/baal  (the second one, since I doubt the Blood Angels are naming tanks after Australian slang for "no".)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba'al

Right, now that's sorted and I feel better.  I've needed to get that off my chest since the last codex.

Presenting my Blood Pact Death Brigade assault troops, idea stolen from SpikeyBits.  On to the pictures!

Flamer, shotgun and blood priest in the back- ground.

Squad leader on the left, converted heavy flamer on the right.

The second regular flamer and support.











For those of you that have stayed with me this long I have for you, as a treat, my modest press mold tutorial:

1:  Clump of freshly mixed Greenstuff in a shallow, open container.  In this case a spare base.

2:  Fill up the space.

3:  Oil!

4:  A little oil goes a long way, I use the cap and.. wait that was going to sound wrong.  Just put some oil on the greenstuff while its still curing.

5:  Like so.

6:  Take a small, relatively flat piece who's detail you wish to copy.  The Maxmini heads work even though they are curved.  Press the piece in firmly, the oil is there to help with the removal of the piece as greenstuff is sticky and if it stretches it will distort any casting you do.  Ideally you want the greenstuff to not move or stick except to allow each impression.  I've heard baby powder will also work for this, but have not tried it myself.

7:  There we go, four press molds.  Wait for the greenstuff to dry.  The next step is just to add a bit more oil, and push some freshly mixed greenstuff into each mold where it will take on the shape of the impression.  Wait for it to dry and remove it from the mold.  Cut off any excess greenstuff with a sharp blade and you're set.

And here's an example.  The grotesk hanging from the pacter on the left was actually press-molded from the pacter on the right.