Space Wolves Dropping In

The Drop Pod is one of my favorite models; when GW starting making them in plastic I was thrilled since I didn't see myself dropping the money to buy a significant number of Forge World DP's.  I love the interior detail of these models so it's a shame when I see folks gluing the doors shut because they don't want to take on painting the interior.  But actually, painting the interior is pretty easy if you plan ahead.



When I built my first one, I painted each piece individually prior to assembly, which made it a pain to assemble because the glue wouldn't stick without scraping paint off of the joints.  On subsequent ones, I built things up to major sub-assemblies that would be still be easy to paint.

Here's how I break them down:  the central column that the restraints attach to, the central engine column and weapon turret, the doors, and the bottom with the exhaust nozzles attached.  I prime everything black.

I usually paint the bottom of the pod first, basecoating most of the metal bits with Tin-Bitz as I'm going for a heat-distressed look.  Then the metal bits get dry brushed with boltgun metal.  Next comes the floor.  I paint the doors next, starting with the hazard stripes.

Since I can't paint a straight line to save my life, I use Tamiya masking tape to mask off the black stripes then dry-brush Iyanden Dark-Sun to create the yellow stripes.  The tape retains its tack pretty well so I can re-use the same strips of tape for at least a full set of 5 doors.

The hinge area gets painted next, followed by the tread area then the main door color, Shadow Grey in my case.  Finally, I paint the chapter and Aquila emblems.  The doors, floor and pod bottom then get assembled together, taking care with the hinges that the doors can pivot.

From here on it's really just a case of painting the individual parts as normal then assembling. I usually file the critical joints on the fins to ensure  a good plastic-to-plastic joint.  I also rubber band the final assembly together to ensure a solid fit.