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[Image]Crashed Aquila Lander and pilot from GW's "Battle for Macragge" Box Set - FINALLY painted after years, and years, and years...

Another overdue finished project from the late summer to share - here is a crashed shuttle, along with pilot. This model of the wreckage, and the pilot, are plastic sci-fi terrain from GW's 40k setting. The shuttle is a crashed version of the Imperial "Aquila Lander" (a flyer model that was, at one time, available from Forge World, although I think it is gone now). [Image]Rear section - one engine has detached.

[Image]Another view of the smashed components.

This terrain set is quite old...it came from a box set called "The Battle for Macragge". This was back in the time of 40k's 4th Edition...which was quite a while ago - and back in a time before GW issued a new 40k edition every other year. The box set included Tyranids and Ultramarines - neither were of interest to me at the time, but I do remember seeing the crashed shuttle and the pilot, and thinking they were cool. Downed craft and pilots always make for great scenarios, and I thought it would be great to have these items for my collection. I went to eBay (remember, this was a long time ago) and just ordered the bits for the downed shuttle. I recall at the time regretting that I did not get the pilot...just the downed shuttle...but I never did follow up to get the pilot.
[Image]"Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing - right?"

The eBay order arrived promptly, and I promptly...did nothing with it. Unpainted miniatures and models are a fun thing to joke about, but wow, did this ever sit. For years. I am terrible when it comes to painting terrain. Just terrible. I think this thing was sitting in my pile for like...13 years? Something insane like that. I would come across the bits, determine that I would paint them, them promptly get distracted by something else. At the same time, I would never throw the components away either...in fact, they moved house with me in a primed, unpainted state - TWICE. Sheesh.
[Image]Another view of the pilot...probably hoping to scavenge something else from the wreckage...

So, it's 2021, and I have had the crashed shuttle bits primed, but not painted, for more than 10 years. A participant in Curt's Painting Challenge named Stuart L posted a submission which included a copy of the pilot figure from the Macragge box set. I made a comment about how I wished I had picked up the pilot figure back when I had the chance all those years ago. A few weeks later, totally out of the blue, a small package shows up in the mail - from Stuart L himself, and inside was a spare copy of the pilot figure!This was a rather solemn signal from the hobby gods. So I painted the pilot, then dug out the crashed shuttle, and finally painted it too. Here are the components, completed at last.[Image]Some detail on the front section. Many similarities on the nose design between the Aquila Lander and the more common Valkyries.

[Image]Most of the port side wing assembly is still attached...emphasis on the word "most"...

GW really does do a great job on their terrain, and there are many neat terrain kits and models out there. Several continue to...sit on my shelf, as I promise myself I will paint them one day (hello Void Shield Generator box). I wish I wasn't so useless at getting terrain painted, but this shows that I can, in fact, get it done - it is more than a theory! Hopefully it will inspire more terrain work later this year.
The crashed shuttle terrain and the pilot nice addition to my collection. Useful as an objective, or just an extra model/piece of table flavour for a scenario. Anyway, a BIG thank you to Stuart for the generous gift - I hope he sees this blog post. I also hope this terrain can be part of a 30k or 40k game with friends some day - the hobby spirits among these bits will add a bit of extra fun, I expect. That's all for now - cheers!