Dr H wrote: Thanks guys, glad you like. Done the brass on the other side and letting it dry before the gold.
Lo Talizvar. That's quite close to how The Scientist will look with a few changes. Where'd he come from, or did you make him?
I made him, wanted to make something outside of the 40k universe.
Thanks for the interest (and the opportunity to show off! )
Head: Sentinel driver head (bald with glasses added round dowel disks)
Body: Command pack - Using "great coat" bottom. Used small dowel disks for the oversized buttons.
Big Rubber Gloves - put a band of green stuff around the wrist and start smoothing it back and make an undercut near the back, make sure there is a visible ring.
I'm sorry Overlord Thraka. Orkses will appear one day as will all the other races/species that have varying degrees of fluff written for them (some of which is written but is waiting for the models to accompany it). Money is one of the many limiting factors in this as, if I had the money, I would buy all the battleforces in one go and then I could mix and match. Their day will come.
On a brighter note... The Circuits ARE DONE!
As I said before, when I get going on something it tends to move quickly.
Not sure if they need the black dots on the contacts or not, what do we think?
A few more transfers next and then gems/lenses, then weathering... Moving ever closer...
Dr H wrote: Yeah, I think I might just stick to paint on the model and solder on real electronic circuits. lol
Oh no you don't. Push that envelope mister, people keep challenging me, so now I'm throwing down the gauntlet of course test it on something insignificant and not this.
Dr H wrote: Yeah, I think I might just stick to paint on the model and solder on real electronic circuits. lol
Oh no you don't. Push that envelope mister, people keep challenging me, so now I'm throwing down the gauntlet of course test it on something insignificant and not this.
If it was my soldering iron that could potentially end up covered in burnt, molten plastic, I'd show you to prove a point. I know that the paint doesn't react well to the heat of molten solder as the last time I did any soldering it was on my painting board and the thick paint layer on there didn't fare well and neither did the wooden board where I accidentally touched it with the iron...
nerdfest09 wrote: Very interesting, very cool! :-) very well done DrH!
Thanks NF. Glad you like.
Update:
Gems on the underside done (except for the white dots). Tried a couple of orange ones for a change. Couple of blue ones as I can't put any on the upper hull and some red ones.
So that's 10 down, 20 to go (found another one under here so that's a round 30 total).
cormadepanda wrote: It really is coming together. So much detail your doing, its awesome.
Thanks Comrade. Hopefully I've stopped short of too much detail (I think it's enough).
It's sad to think that one day I may run out of transfers, but I don't think that's going to be any time soon (I had 30 "No Step" transfers alone, now minus 4. Should keep me going for a while).
shasolenzabi wrote:Ah, mad scientist concept, lobotomized minions doing his bidding
Lo Shas. Welcome. Indeed, the freedom of not having a care in the world... I like the modifications and details you add to your tanks.
Theophony wrote:Loving the look of the gems, good hinting of using the blue on the bottom, I wouldn't have thought of it until I tried it on the top first
Thanks Theo. I think that my gems can sometimes be a bit hit and miss, but I'm trying to improve on them (by the time I finish this I should have had plenty of practice).
Yep, and there may be purple ones on the top...
Theophony wrote:That's looking great dr. H, the jewels really pop, and the circuitry is amazing.
Thanks Theo. They add a splash of colour amongst the sea of blue.
Camkierhi wrote:Looking fantastic.
Thanks Cam.
cormadepanda wrote:haha weathering, turning a perfectly fine scheme into damaged. Be nice to see how it plays out.
SelvaggioSaky wrote:Finished (almost) product is great!
Don't go OTT with the weathering please, this look so good already
Thanks Both. Welcome Saky.
Worry ye not. I don't intend to go heavy on the weathering. Just a little to make it look lived in (and cover up any rough bits I don't like the look of ).
OK people. Final update on the Wave Serpent.
Weathering is in the form of a few scratches, some blackening near the exhausts and a little wear on various edges, nothing drastic.
It has also been christened. I wanted it to look like the code was stencilled on and as I didn't have any transfers that would give the right look (what are the chances of that ), I had a brilliant idea for getting the right look... Use a stencil.
The plastic stencils I had for typical pen and pencil work couldn't be used as I wouldn't get them close enough to the surface to use them and they would get covered in paint...
So I made some from masking tape by drawing on the tape with the actual stencil and then carefully cutting the letters and numbers out with my scalpel. This was not easy, but I was eventually left with masking tape stencils which I stuck in place and then dry-brushed / stippled on white over the tape, removed the tape and bingo... I had to use a little blue to get the breaks in the zero and slightly touched bits up with white but tried to leave them looking a little rough. I'm pleased how they turned out though.
I will now set to work getting a selection of good pictures from every angle and then I'll compile them with all the pictures of the inside and post them up as soon as I can. This one will have to do you until then.
Today's final Wave Serpent update is brought to you by;
The Letter, Ahh (that's better).
The number, 3 (months, well just over, is how long this build took).
And the music of Deep Purple, hit play and take your time to look over the pictures. Enjoy!
Front and Pilot details:
Spoiler:
Upper and Lower Hull details:
Spoiler:
Turret Details:
Spoiler:
Door and Hatch details:
Spoiler:
Interior details:
Spoiler:
Engine details:
Spoiler:
So that's it done. Next up will be something smaller (and therefore quicker...3 months...).
Let me know your final thoughts on Tr01. I hope you enjoyed the ride and you'll stick around for more in the future.
Bless you. I'll take that as a big compliment. She's freehand, just don't look too close. I covered her painting, step by step, earlier in this thread.
Is... that shag carpeting on the interior seats? (not an insult, I think it looks amazing)
I love this vehicle. The turret reminds me of the 40K days of yore, and the paintjob just makes the entire thing even cooler. The pointed nose of the cockpit is a great touch.
Johnnyhorse wrote: Is... that shag carpeting on the interior seats? (not an insult, I think it looks amazing)
It's leather. It came off of the top of one of those cushions from inside an ear-ring box. Pretty sure it's faux-leather but looks the part, cut out the shapes and folded them around a rectangle of card to give them a bit of a leather cushion look and shape. It was originally white, so I gave it a wash with dark brown, a dry-brush with light brown and then another wash with dark brown. Gently scrubbed at the middle of each cushion while still damp to make them look a little worn.
I love this vehicle. The turret reminds me of the 40K days of yore, and the paintjob just makes the entire thing even cooler. The pointed nose of the cockpit is a great touch.
Thanks a lot.
I must be old-school 40k at heart, because quite a few of my builds have been compared to the early days of 40k. I like.
The paint-job was a big learning experience and came out quite nice.
Glad you like the nose. I did that because I didn't like how it was just cut-off on the original model, not very streamlined.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
cormadepanda wrote: The free hand on the inside of the cabinet is extremely topnotch. Love it and its sexy
Wow, that is one different update! music and a plethora of great images! I simply love that freehand inside the ship too, all in all you've made one individual model that no one will come close to replicating.... ever! great stuff dude can't wait to see what you do next?...... so?
SelvaggioSaky wrote: Thanks for the detailed picture report It looks even better now that I know what exactly took to build this one
Thanks SS. Yep, a lot has gone into this one model which is also apparent from the page count (I started this on page 4!). I wrote a brief list in a post here, of all the modelling changes I'd done, somewhere after I'd finished building and before I started painting and it surprised me at the time with how long it was...
I was bored of knocking out plastic model kits, word for word from the instructions and wanted a new challenge, which is why I tried these models for a change. Then I found that you could modify them and with the freedom of not being based on real life things, I could turn a model that would normally take a few days and turn it into a few months of very challenging modelling.
I've just tidied my modelling space ready for the next thing...
Automatically Appended Next Post:
nerdfest09 wrote: Wow, that is one different update! music and a plethora of great images! I simply love that freehand inside the ship too, all in all you've made one individual model that no one will come close to replicating.... ever! great stuff dude can't wait to see what you do next?...... so?
Thanks NF. High praise coming from one so gifted with brush-fu as yourself.
Yeah, the music happened as that song came on during one part of the building or painting process and it really matched well with how I envisioned the feeling of the model. Sounds a bit bohemian of me really to write that, but it captured something of the spirit at that time. I could see The Scientist and his brain-washed engineers tinkering with the Wave Serpent with this song blasting out in the background and I thought I should pass on that feeling to all you lot out there.
That's exactly what I wanted to achieve with this model and the whole army. So many times I've seen armies painted differently, but all with the same (obviously popular for gaming purposes) model in the same pose, carrying all the same stuff, in the same way... and I wanted a completely unique army that I could call my own from the lowliest trooper to the largest tank. All in the name of modelling.
Will have to see what's next, I have many plans and much plastic at hand. I'll probably do a few smaller models and build up to the next large piece, as I've been doing throughout the blog (well the first few pages of the blog before I started the WS), alternating between a couple of small, simple troops then something bigger/more important and then small troops again... I shall decide when I next sit down in front of my desk to start the next modelling adventure.
Righty-O, I've updated the list of army units in the OP with some useful links to the landmarks of the (so far) two larger builds of the blog to make life a little easier for anyone new. Copied below...
I've started selecting and cleaning mould-lines from the bits for the next models. I'll share pictures of them once built (before paint) if people are interested...
Theophony wrote: Thanks for the speed links Dr. H, really enjoying the progress of your work.
No worries. I just thought that as I had a squad of tactical marine, a squad of terminators, 3 Ttyranid warriors, 12 Termagants, 12 Hormagaunts, 8 Genestealers, some rippers, 8 (and counting) Eldar guardians, a few Dire Avengers and the War Walker all within the first 4 pages...
...and then the Wave Serpent taking up 8 pages by itself, it would be a good idea for people to be able to find the more important steps quicker if they're not bothered with looking at innumerable pictures of a partially blue pill bottle while I prattle on about what painting steps I threw at it to make it look slightly different to the last time...
And I know that future builds could become just as big so it would be good to get into a good habit of doing links for them as I go along. The troops are more mixed up, however, so it's not so easy to link them all up like that, maybe I will one day when I feel motivated to do so...maybe...
Oh I've missed so much! Wonderful work man, so many layers of detail in modeling and painting! The freehand pinup is very impressive and stood out to me! I've really enjoyed following the process start to finish.
Casey's Law wrote: Oh I've missed so much! Wonderful work man, so many layers of detail in modeling and painting! The freehand pinup is very impressive and stood out to me! I've really enjoyed following the process start to finish.
Thanks Casey. I'm glad people are enjoying what I am doing.
I'm happy how she turned out. Just need to work on doing a better face for next time... Let's just say that the trooper that painted it inside his favourite transport was less interested in her face and more interested in other details...
As I'm quite pleased with the progress on number 9 I think I'll share with you what is to come.
More to do on the rifle yet, but should give you an idea of where it's heading. Can you guess?
Number 10 is currently missing a ccw that I will need to build (it may be axe-flavoured as I've been looking at pictures of the Wraithblades...).
Guardians with boomstick . At first I saw the torso and didn't recognize the legs seperate I thought they were servo arms of a unique design. I've been thinking too much about servo things.
Theophony wrote: Guardians with boomstick . At first I saw the torso and didn't recognize the legs seperate I thought they were servo arms of a unique design. I've been thinking too much about servo things.
Got janitors on the mind as well
The legs are just propped up there, not decided what I'm doing with them yet. I'm trying to get them all away from the "please kick me in the crown jewels" pose, but I need to sort out what these two are doing with their arms before I start chopping legs up...
Theophony wrote:Feel free to make a eldar janitor with your spare bitz.
Maybe one day, when I get round to making some terrain for him to clean.
cormadepanda wrote:Man that gun is epic! simply want that for my orks.. send me a few? haha
Thanks. You should be able to make your own, it's only a Kroot rifle, minus spikes, with some added bent copper wire and a scope made from two sizes of tube and another ring that I had laying about after squaring off the end of another tube and one final ring for the foresight. The hardest part was making the cog on the side by using a file to make the teeth in a disk cut from some sprue, it would be easier to buy some watch cogs off ebay but I'm being very tight with money for now.
SelvaggioSaky wrote:Really like that rifle man
Thanks SS. I've added another wire to it and what will become a pressure gauge-like thing. See below.
I'm going to call it done for now (may add some little touches later, like valves or rivets, will see) and look at a melee device for number 10...
If hat guns not steam punky enough for vik then I don't know if he ever could be satisfied.
Janitors don't need scenery to clean, they just follow the troops around cleaning up shell casings, blood splatter and body parts.
next inspiration just hit.
Theophony wrote: If hat guns not steam punky enough for vik then I don't know if he ever could be satisfied.
Will have to see what he thinks when he gets round to poking his adorable little steam-powered nose in here...
Janitors don't need scenery to clean, they just follow the troops around cleaning up shell casings, blood splatter and body parts.
next inspiration just hit.
Look forward to seeing what you have come up with. Also, just thought, Cleaning and tidying are not really in with the fluff of this army; The Scientist is all about increasing entropy, cleaning decreases it I'm afraid... I'll file away the idea for the future though.
Ah, but every good scientist needs to research the findings after a battle to improved the killyness of the next battle. If they are practicing in their target range then they must clean the walls to get proper calculations of how destructive the shots are. Even nurgle grows gardens in his realm to test how toxic his brews are. rant done. My C.S. . Squad will just have to be your nemesis.
Theophony wrote: Ah, but every good scientist needs to research the findings after a battle to improved the killyness of the next battle. If they are practicing in their target range then they must clean the walls to get proper calculations of how destructive the shots are. Even nurgle grows gardens in his realm to test how toxic his brews are. rant done. My C.S. . Squad will just have to be your nemesis.
Ah but there is a few little holes in that logic;
You said "Good Scientist", Whereas The Scientist is a Mad Scientist, "good" don't enter into it...
So long as after a battle there is more disorder (higher entropy) The Scientist is happy. Even if his entire army is defeated and only broke a few windows in return, that is still a victory for him.
All the army members have transportation devices installed in all their armour, gear and bodies in order to be recovered if they can no longer move under their own power, so that they can be reanimated to fight again.
I was thinking that all members of the army had spare transportation devices for placing on defeated foes to recruit them after a battle, but I could make a dedicated team of recruiters (or specialists at least)...
That just shows how un-chaotic nurgle is in The Scientists view..."testing effectiveness is a symptom what's wrong with this galaxy"... (that's part of the reason I want to do the Orks justice when I come to them, as they are actually very chaotic in nature).
Fantastic... So much love for this Army... The paint schemes aren't to my taste, but I couldn't give a toss when you use such beautiful fluff and funky ass conversions to justify it!
Truly, you are a man of Science!
You have just received one new Follower of Entropy !
shasolenzabi wrote:Theo, that skull looked like Nerdfest/Damo!!!
Ha ha, yeah it does.
Bloodhorror wrote:Fantastic... So much love for this Army... The paint schemes aren't to my taste, but I couldn't give a toss when you use such beautiful fluff and funky ass conversions to justify it!
Truly, you are a man of Science!
You have just received one new Follower of Entropy !
Thanks Bloodhorror and welcome.
Glad you like the fluff and conversions.
Yeah, I may have a little passion for science...
You can't fight it, Entropy ALWAYS increases (in a sealed system...)!
True. I have read that and it is a little thorn in the foot of my fluff. But the thing to remember is that the God of Entropy/Disorder/Chaos that The Scientist worships doesn't actually exist and it's all in his head (and not in an actual, chaos god, tainted way). He is actually just completely loopy.
Dr H wrote: True. I have read that and it is a little thorn in the foot of my fluff. But the thing to remember is that the God of Entropy/Disorder/Chaos that The Scientist worships doesn't actually exist and it's all in his head (and not in an actual, chaos god, tainted way). He is actually just completely loopy.
True, but even that is enough to fuel a new chaos entity, or power Nurgle via one aspect of his many natures. And thus, this Mad Scientist would be on the targets list of Heresy by the Khadrovian Konfederacy for his crimes.
Dr H wrote: True. I have read that and it is a little thorn in the foot of my fluff. But the thing to remember is that the God of Entropy/Disorder/Chaos that The Scientist worships doesn't actually exist and it's all in his head (and not in an actual, chaos god, tainted way). He is actually just completely loopy.
True, but even that is enough to fuel a new chaos entity, or power Nurgle via one aspect of his many natures. And thus, this Mad Scientist would be on the targets list of Heresy by the Khadrovian Konfederacy for his crimes.
As the power of the chaos entities are (I would assume) proportional to the number and strength of the believers, whatever entity that may exist will be extremely weak as The Scientist is the only person that believes in it (what with the whole rest of the army being brainwashed one way or another).
I don't doubt that whether he believes it or realises it he will be helping the chaos gods spread a little chaos. But in the grand scheme of the whole galaxy and the war between the Imperium and the forces of Chaos, The Scientist and his army are actually only a small pinprick in a backwater star system.
You'll have to find him first, the planet he generally resides on is hidden from all known sensors, psykers and even the Tyranids... Whereas he has little tendrils throughout the galaxy collecting information direct from the sources. He knows about the Khadrovian Konfederacy and what they can bring to bear, ever lost a soldier in battle and couldn't find the body? Have a guess who may have found it first? and would you notice if this soldier walked back into the fold at a later date...?
All missing soldiers who have returned are scrutinized by the S.C.H.M.E.R.T.Z. for any signs of taint, tampering, cultural contamination, chaos influence, etc. Very paranoid are the Konfedrates.
Has the Scientist implanted all of the other peoples minds into his or just their Knowledge and experience?
Because if its the latter, him worshipping this god that only HE believes in would create a whole chaos god, as he has a whole plants worth of people in his head thus in one fell swoop causing a whole planet to believe in the God of Entropy!
shasolenzabi wrote:All missing soldiers who have returned are scrutinized by the S.C.H.M.E.R.T.Z. for any signs of taint, tampering, cultural contamination, chaos influence, etc. Very paranoid are the Konfedrates.
The Scientist could find a way, it only takes one to get through. Edit: The Scientist knows all about your Special Committee for High-function and Mutant Eradication and Retraining Traitors to Zeal...
The soldier in question wouldn't know the difference if that's how he'd been programmed, it could include an electronic device hidden in a bionic implant that he already had or be done through a sort of hypnosis leaving no physical trace. The man himself would act exactly as he always has until hooked up to a mainframe terminal that is...
I'll refer you to this bit of fluff (that I don't believe I've shown in this blog):
Spoiler:
The savant awoke in his bed chamber, a tantalising glimpse of a dream fading as he sat up;
"We want information...information..."
"Who are you?"
"...You are number 6..."
The last of the dream faded as the savant whispered to himself "I am not a number..."
He forgot about the dream and prepared himself for the work ahead of him, he had to go into the archives and process the latest data received from across the galaxy. He was not the only savant working on this, there were many men who spent the vast majority of a standard day processing and cataloguing incoming data. Today though, he somehow felt more alone than usual as he took his place in front of the cogitator.
As was usual, he took a deep breath and muttered a prayer to the Emperor before connecting the multi-stranded, purity-sealed cable from the socket at his temple to the cogitator and began to access the databank. What wasn't normal was the strange feeling of warmth that started at the back of the savant's skull and slowly spread forward as if his head was slowly being immersed in warm water.
Before he knew what it was, the muscles in his neck jerked slightly to the left and his whole body froze. His consciousness however was unaffected and he watched as his right hand moved by itself and started to type commands into the cogitator, there was nothing the savant could do to stop it, he could do nothing but watch with horror as his body accessed the mainframe of the archive.
Then, as if something had unlocked in his mind the savant knew what was happening, it was like remembering something that you didn't even remember that you knew or had known.
But still, the savant could only watch as a small piece of AI intelligence was transferred from his own mind into the database. Immediately alarms started sounding and the savant could hear people rushing and shouting in the room around him. And still, the savant could only watch as his hand laid false leads and covered tracks, burying the AI deep in the mainframe.
He watched intently, trying to remember all the steps so he could lead others to it, to remove it, to destroy it, before it could do what he knew it would do. If that AI could not be found quickly it would transmit the entire contents of the imperial archive to whomever it was that had implanted this thing in his head. He could not allow this to happen, but he could not move.
The savant heard the noises of people approaching him from behind and then felt a hand on his shoulder. His hand stopped moving, he could just about sense that someone was talking to him but could not tell what the words were. Then his whole body shook, he stood up and then everything went black and the savant knew no more.
Excerpt from an interview following the incident:
"What happened next?"
"We traced the illegal access to the savant concerned and approached him with caution, he would not respond and then he stood up..."
"Go on"
"...he...he screamed...I can still hear it now, it was inhuman...and then...and...then his head exploded"
"Hmm, the blast injured many people, not least yourself, could information be found from the remains?"
"N...none sir, his entire cranium was atomised and we could find no trace of what it was that he was doing on the mainframe"
"Keep looking, there must be something, he did something"
"Yes Sir"
Bloodhorror wrote:Wait a second though..
Has the Scientist implanted all of the other peoples minds into his or just their Knowledge and experience?
Because if its the latter, him worshipping this god that only HE believes in would create a whole chaos god, as he has a whole plants worth of people in his head thus in one fell swoop causing a whole planet to believe in the God of Entropy!
Would this be a logical deduction?
That is a good point, but I was just seeing it as The Scientist was just implanting the knowledge, memories and experience. So he's the only sentient mind in his mind and it's not like the sisters of the Bene Gesserit with their "other memory" where the past sisters are still concious (if you've read any Dune books).
I think I prefer it that the army is led only by a madman and is independent of any god. Just shows that sometimes it's not that someone is being manipulated by higher powers, he might just be nuts...
I used to watch the original Prisoner with Patrick Mcgoohan, awesome brit show on one of NY channels. Public TV gave me Dr, Who, Blakes 7 and Red Dwarf along with Are you being served? and Black Adder
Regular TV gave me access to The Prisoner, The Avengers(Not the marvel comic ones) UFO/Space 1999, another aliens invading the planet forgot the name, So, I like that idea of his methods of infiltration to gather data.
Fair enough then. Its just one "man" with the knowledge of millions of Humans. And Tyranids. And Eldar. And Space Marines.
Yeah... Feth god worshipping nut jobs...
I want plain ol' normal immortal army cloning nut jobs!!!
Yeah, that about sums him up...
shasolenzabi wrote:I used to watch the original Prisoner with Patrick Mcgoohan, awesome brit show on one of NY channels. Public TV gave me Dr, Who, Blakes 7 and Red Dwarf along with Are you being served? and Black Adder
Regular TV gave me access to The Prisoner, The Avengers(Not the marvel comic ones) UFO/Space 1999, another aliens invading the planet forgot the name, So, I like that idea of his methods of infiltration to gather data.
Yeah, that whole bit of fluff came from that one bit of The Prisoner (and is also used for a certain Iron Maiden song) and ballooned from there. I'm a big fan of Red Dwarf and Black Adder, but I have seen a fair amount of most of the other shows there (some of which are entertaining for reasons that perhaps were not originally intended).
Glad you like the idea. I've also written a bit of fluff for The Scientist getting access to the Black Library, but is linked to recruiting Harliquins, so not released here yet.
I was also thinking of certain costume decisions (purple wigs come to mind) and plot devices. But it's easy to laugh at 70's TV having grown up in the 80's...
Not a lot of progress recently, been doing a bit of 1:1 modelling (crack filling) and looking for inspiration and ideas for a ccw for number 10.
So, I have a couple of concepts for an axe head.
You can probably see the inspiration for the one on the left...
The tubing is just standing in here for the handle.
These are just thin plastic cut roughly to shape. they will get bulked out with putty for final use.
Question is, which do people prefer?
Or any changes you may add/subtract from these to improve them?
Or any other axe shapes you think may work? I have other ideas, these are just the first that I've made so far.
Also, I'm not definite that I will go with an axe for this, I have some sword-shaped ideas as well. So any thoughts on that side of the sharp implement selection are also welcome.
Theophony wrote:I like the simple ness of the one on the right. He left one looks too ornate and over thought if were just looking for entropy and killyness.
My thought of the Wraithblade axes exactly. But I thought I'd give it a go and see it in the plastic(flesh).
Was also an exercise of how small and tricky I could make the details. Further thoughts towards variations under-way...
cormadepanda wrote:ima vote for left. It looks choppy.
Interesting. Is that the Ork or the Eldar talking in you?
One for each, so far. I'll put more up once I've cut them...
That flying eldar thing looks really cool - You are getting my respect with this! My random suggestion is to print off a nice background of clouds and blue sky maybe and take photos on that.
weetyskemian44 wrote: That flying eldar thing looks really cool - You are getting my respect with this! My random suggestion is to print off a nice background of clouds and blue sky maybe and take photos on that.
Also cool gun. Very
Hey Weety. Thanks a lot dude. Yeah, the backgrounds I had printed off before (that I have used for some of the previous models) were all too small to make any sense behind the WS. I'll take another picture once I've found a suitable background and printed it off large enough.
Also:
More choppin' device concepts. I've cut these from card, so were much quicker and easier than the first 2.
A few notes;
1 and 2 we saw earlier.
4 and 5 show different, very simple, designs with a couple of options for holes (more options are available).
7 is more of a large machete type thing.
8 is meant to have cutting surfaces on the front and underside of the curve on the left.
The holes in 9 should really be smaller and appear to act like the large breaks you have in wood saws (but for blood and guts, if you know what I mean).
10 and 11 didn't really come out that well which is why I've included the inspirational pictures I used for them.
Yeah, I thought that (and 3) were self explanatory. I quite like the shape and the underside of 6... Others also have their good points though, and there's many more I have yet to consider...decisions decisions...
Theophony wrote: Still liking number 1 the best, but number 6 is good as well, but I would move the haft up closer to the front, and have the back side be larger.
Cool.
Yeah, the balance is off on a few of these and will need looking at if and when I do the final sharp implement.
Also some of these have become perhaps a bit big for the little guardian that's going to have to lug it about, that will also be looked at for the final build.
shasolenzabi wrote:9 being double sided has some nice possibilities
Cool. Yeah, I think 9 would really benefit from being double sided (or at least doing something more with the other side).
cormadepanda wrote:Got to vote 6. It is simply my favorite.
Good O. Thanks.
Nothing new to show as yet (been doing some 1:1 painting and there's more tomorrow), but I have been thinking and will take some time to poke things and should have something to show tomo', possibly sword-flavoured as well as some variations of the axes.
Breaking the trend a little I really like 7 but with a little more development in the design. I love the elegant scythe design but it needs a little something extra.
shasolenzabi wrote:Of course 9 would look cooler as a 2 blade! I have an eye for such things!
Good to have your eye about for these situations.
Casey's Law wrote:Breaking the trend a little I really like 7 but with a little more development in the design. I love the elegant scythe design but it needs a little something extra.
Keep at it H!
Ah, 7 was nearly in the reject pile. It's based on a Khukuri/Kukhri if you want a better idea of what it should look like, just made a little larger for added choppiness. Would it be better more scythe-like or more Khukuri/Kukhri=like?
Still no picture update yet. But I have been researching chopping devices, I had almost forgotten how much I like swords and the like...
Casey's Law wrote: Stick with the Khukuri design I think but I'd add some sort of embellishment to make it a bit more Eldar styled.
I got you.
Most of these designs will get some sort of surface embellishment and/or holes/slots/grooves. There's so much inspiration out there for sharp implements...
Casey's Law wrote: Perfect! I think it'd be a great two handed weapon, maybe use the grip that you get on harvesting scythes with the jutting out handle?
Ah well. This is for a storm guardian I'm afraid.
Which I was going to do before but somehow failed to give the guardian I did in Ulthwe colours (Number 5) a pistol and ccw.
As these are the last two in the box and one of them is going to be a ranger/pathfinder/sniper (whichever one it is) then number 10 has to be the storm guardian and he's got a pistol arm ready.
However, I suppose if the Kukhri-alike is used, then it could still have the side handle for when he puts the pistol away to chop some followers of order...
Casey's Law wrote: That'd work! Also, have you considered mounting the pistol on the forearm like the BA and GKs?
If I hadn't already used the wrist mounted Shuriken Pistol for one of the Dire Avengers (that I also carved a second sword for) I'd have used it for this chap in a heartbeat.
I suppose I could try to modify this arm/pistol to make it wrist mounted, but that's a lot of tricky chopping and reconstruction for a minor change...
Or entirely scrap the Shuriken pistol and scratch build a wrist-mounted pistol-alike...That could depend on how the above removal of the current pistol goes...
We'll have to see what ccw I end up giving him first. I think I'll probably be building many of these ccw concepts and use what fits/looks best and then save the rest for future uses.
Thanks Shas. More blades to consider... Handle positions are shown, but not necessarily the whole length of the handle, no pommels shown.
1. Blade on the left. Serrated on the rear up to the underside of the curve. No guard. Single hand. 2. Blade on the left. Short blade in curve on rear. Single hand, maybe hand and a half. 3. Double edged. Symmetrical. Single hand. 4. Single edged on left. (Very elven in style, based on Arwen's sword). Single hand. 5. Single edged on left. Possible grooves or holes/slots in the blade. Serrated at lower rear side. Single hand. 6. Single edged on left. Hole near top rear. (Based on a Dadao) Hand and a half. 7. Single edged on left. Half leaf shape (Based on Orcrist I believe). Single hand. 8. Single edged on left. Possibly a bit too curved. (Based on a Greek Kopis). Single hand. 9. Double edged. Symmetrical. Slightly wider at "tip" than at base. No guard. Single hand. 10. Double edged. Symmetrical. Classic leaf shape. Single hand. 11. Single edged on left. Hand and a half. 12. Single edged on right. Single hand, maybe hand and a half.
Thoughts, opinions, suggestions, discussion? (Don't forget the Axes...)
Theophony wrote:I like number 8 this time, they are savage
Yeah, there is a certain message that a sword with a forward curve says that other swords don't...
It's probably a little too curved here compared to the reference picture I have.
SelvaggioSaky wrote:4 and 11 for me, curved swords are my favorite.
That's no bad thing. 11 also came out more curved than was intended, but is a nice concept.
Casey's Law wrote:4 and 8 for me I think! 4 is particularly Eldary.
Eldar-y it is. shows that LoTR produced some good designs. However, do I want an Eldar carrying an Eldar-like weapon in this army? It is cool though (and proving popular) so probably not an issue.
nerdfest09 wrote:8 this time dude! gurkha knife ftw!
8 is also proving popular. Similar to axe number 7 in a way. Certainly a design to follow up.
Perhaps there is something to this Ork/Eldar collaboration then if Orks seem to gravitate towards the curvy shapes, not as uncultured as they may seem...
Thanks for the opinions guys.
and Shas. What is up with that bloke's hair? I know he's into aliens, I've seen the programmes. But really, he's hardly representative of the human race...
Dr. H mayhaps the Aliens have a far more subtle way of taking people over? I mean the images about to be shown are the only presently plausible theory anyone has regarding him not the changes to his hair and looks
Casey's Law wrote:4 and 8 for me I think! 4 is particularly Eldary.
Eldar-y it is. shows that LoTR produced some good designs. However, do I want an Eldar carrying an Eldar-like weapon in this army? It is cool though (and proving popular) so probably not an issue.
Perhaps there is something to this Ork/Eldar collaboration then if Orks seem to gravitate towards the curvy shapes, not as uncultured as they may seem...
Casey's Law wrote:4 and 8 for me I think! 4 is particularly Eldary.
Eldar-y it is. shows that LoTR produced some good designs. However, do I want an Eldar carrying an Eldar-like weapon in this army? It is cool though (and proving popular) so probably not an issue.
Perhaps there is something to this Ork/Eldar collaboration then if Orks seem to gravitate towards the curvy shapes, not as uncultured as they may seem...
Kind of. I've read a bit about Orks (as for all the armies while writing the introduction fluff), so yeah, I'm aware of something about brain-boys(?) and links to, or fighting with Eldar as they were about at the time.
I do a lot more detailed research on each race as I come to make those models, so not got to Orks yet, in detail...
That was actually a poke at Panda's fluff though (check it out if you haven't, it's worth a read).
Dr H wrote: Kind of. I've read a bit about Orks (as for all the armies while writing the introduction fluff), so yeah, I'm aware of something about brain-boys(?) and links to, or fighting with Eldar as they were about at the time.
I do a lot more detailed research on each race as I come to make those models, so not got to Orks yet, in detail...
That was actually a poke at Panda's fluff though (check it out if you haven't, it's worth a read).
Dr H. Your the best. Brain boys is the not the old ones, however.
The old ones are a fantasy thing at least to my understanding, Old ones are 4 gods, created a bunches of races. Made lizardmen to police all the races ect. In 40k it is only briefly mentioned of the old ones as the Emperor rises to power. Makes me wonder if the Old ones were. That said their were four, but their are five that could of fit the bill at the time. Gork and Mork, Nurgle, Zeetch and Khorne. Be an interesting back story to try to fit that they were once ok-ish gods who would manipulate the universe, then when their creations rose up against them were banished to the warp and filled with evil mental energies becoming chaos gods. That is just a crazy idea I have.
Also, fun other ork fact. Our gods are much more powerful than chaos's based on the numbers rule.
Power = number of followers Orks = greatest number Gork and Mork = greatest and most powerful gods.
Sadly Gork and Mork are to busy fitting indefinitely with themselves over who is more kunning and brutal or brutally kunning.
But as an Ork I pay more for curved choppas and noisy ones that glow. In that order.
I see. I hadn't gone that far back in the history. Thanks Panda.
Just had a quick Lexicanum for Old Ones.
They were the first space-faring species, followed by the C'tan.
The Necrontyr fell out with the old ones.
C'tan and Necrons team up against the old ones.
Old ones create Eldar, Humans, Krork and a few other races to fight back.
C'tan and Old ones mostly go bye bye.
Necrons go to sleep.
Krork become Orks and things end up where we are in 40k... In very very basic terms...
I've added panda's fluff to my growing list of 'threads to read', thanks for the heads up!
Actually my information is a bit different to yours, panda. Probably due to the ever evolving fluff which requires extensive cross referencing between books. The best source of info is the Lexicanum since it's all canon and compiled into subjects rather than books.
The Orkoid races are believed to have been genetically engineered millenia ago. Ork legend attributes their creation to the Brain Boyz, a diminutive but extremely intelligent subspecies of Orkoid, who bred the Gretchin to be servants and the Orks to be warriors.
Later evidence establishes that the Ork races may have in fact been created by the Old Ones, who are described as creating the Krork as part of a last-ditch attempt to fight off their enemies such as the Necrons and Enslavers.
The Brain Boyz are believed to be an ancient subspecies of Greenskins that are related to the Orks and were believed to be a master or ruling caste of their kind who shared a similar physique with their cousin species.
From cracks in reality, the denizens of the warp sought entry into the material universe which forced the Old Ones to bring about the emergence of new species to defend their last strongholds. Among their creations included the green-skinned, hardy Krork and the technology-mimicking Jokaero.
There are two theories relating to why Orks have such a unique biology. The first is that they were adapted by their masters the Snotlings, a race that soared to intelligence upon eating a particular species of mushroom, spread across the galaxy with the help of their less intelligent Ork slaves, and were then deemed stupid again when the Orks consumed all traces of the mushroom which only grew on their home planet.
The more modern one is that they are the Krork, created as a survivor race by the Old Ones (referred to in Ork legend as the Brain Boyz) in their wars against the Necrontyr. The fact that an entire ecosystem can be constructed of Orkoids, and their total war-readiness, suggests that this is the more likely of the two. In early forms of this theory, the Brain Boyz were an Orkoid subspecies, along with Orks, Squigs, and Gretchin.
The exact nature of the Snotlings is the subject of some controversy. Ork legend tells of a lost race of Orkoids that were highly intelligent, called the "Brainboyz" by the Orks. The Brainboyz created the other Orkoid species as a means of protection, while at the same time directing Greenskin society. What happened next is unknown. Some legends indicate the Brainboyz died out during a great plague (giving the implication that the Brainboyz were really the Old Ones). Other legends indicate that the Brainboyz reverted into the Snotlings.
As far as the Necrons are concerned, the Old Ones are extinct, long dead.
There is fluff that adds to the idea a few may still be around, one the Laughing God of the Harlequins is a possibility, and that they may have shielded the Tau to fight the new awakened Necrons, and the Krork w/o the Brain boyz are all lead by the warrior Orks Gretchin still act as servants, but with some hint of rebelliousness
With Orks, it is in da blood!
And yeah Grigorio Tsoukalos staarted normal looking, and became the meme we know today
Thanks Casey (good job collecting all the references together) and Shas for your fluff buffing.
Bloodhorror wrote:Number 2 for me this time Cap'n!
Looks wicked and Nasty
Aye lad, that it be. Thanks.
Viktor von Domm wrote:just to make sure... i am lurking... but i need to find some weeks to read all your fluff...*sighs* man you have a busy pen
the falcon looks very cool... in fact i think you have a distict urge to go fully steampunk but you surpress it way too much
Welcome Vik. Enjoy the read. If it makes it easier, all the fluff that is spread throughout this blog is collected together in an article (link in sig').
Thanks. I like to sneak in bits of Steampunk here and there (to see if anyone notices), and I also like to have a little Cyberpunk as well. But something in the future may go fully one way or the other.
Sorry Doc I hadn't seen the post of yours directly before mine! It's interesting stuff though, I think some of those sections are being rewritten so there is stuff missing. I distinctly remember something about Snotlings being ridiculously lucky in a not very mortal fashion. Always ducking just and time and the like but it catches up with them eventually because they can only be so lucky.
No worries Casey. Mine was the short short version, that perhaps misses a few minor points of interest.
Speaking of fluff, and in celebration of reaching page 15, and as I haven't added much to the fluff here since starting the WS.
I have a little more fluff that isn't really connected to a model so I can share it here:
Spoiler:
In the deep-space radio-frequency inspection suite of the Ordo Xenos:
The acolyte in charge of the scanning equipment picked up a weak signal that, at first, appeared to come from Mars; but was found to have been bounced through many systems on many allied planets before being directed at Terra. After scans and checks for safety of the signal itself, a recording was sent to the Inquisitor-in-charge for assessment. This is what he saw:
The signal was decoded into a video format and the initial frames showed one end of a room with wooden panelling on the walls, some metal filing cabinets that look like a guardsman had spent 15 minutes introducing it to the blunt end of his Lasgun, and two pictures on the wall. One picture showed an underwater photograph of a large water-bound mammal seemingly minding it's own business. The other was a painting that showed, in the lower left corner of the canvas, a beautiful woman standing at a fence-like structure that came up to her hip and in the background, a huge battle scene complete with large explosions, tanks, troops and blood and gore where possible; this was clearly the focus for the painter and took up the majority of the space in the picture's frame. In front of all this was a desk made of a dark, red-ish, wood. The desk was clearly well used, but well loved, as it was highly polished but worn at the edges. On top of the desk were untidy piles of paper a few test-tubes in a rack containing various liquids of differing colours, writing equipment and various clutter including a bowl with a plant in it. The plant was in flower and was displaying small, bright, flowers of many colours.
As the Inquisitor regarded this view a figure walked into the scene and seated himself at the desk. This person was wearing a white lab-coat with many tools and pieces of equipment hanging out the pockets, opening the lab-coat to sit down he revealed that he was wearing a brightly coloured shirt underneath and khaki shorts with extra pockets (also bulging with tools etc...). On his head, the person was wearing a very badly made mask of a man's face with wild grey hair. After sitting at the desk for a short while, the figure held up a sign on a stick that had been laying on the desk, which said "Allow me to make myself more comfortable?", the question mark was emphasized. The figure threw the sign over his shoulder and pulled the mask off his head to reveal that his face looked exactly like that which the mask had been representing badly, the figure smiled widely and addressed the camera...
"Hello. If my calculations are correct you should be reading this at 15:34 local time, if not, your clock is wrong or your subordinate is not working hard enough. Ha Ha."
The Inquisitor glanced at a clock in his office and it read 15:35, he frowned.
"I'm sending you this message to inform you of what is wrong with the Universe. You may think that this Galaxy is messed up, but it's nothing, a tiny speck of dust compared to the Universe, so insignificant that it may as well be named after a chocolate bar for all the difference it makes. Ha Ha. It can and it will get worse if nothing is done now."
The Inquisitor thought about stopping the video and doing something more important, like going for a leak, but the next thing the figure said, and the way it was said, stopped him in his tracks and he forgot all about his bladder.
"I know, Inquisitor Vrek, what is wrong with everything and how to prevent the problems the galaxy is having with these warp incursions and the endless fighting. I can stop the problems you have with your enemies and return the Galaxy and the Universe to a favourable equilibrium."
Inquisitor Vrek had to rewind the video to make sure he didn't just imagine or mishear that this strange man had used his name, there was no way that this nobody could have known that this video would find it's way to him and at a time that he also seemed to know...
The video continued "You are likely thinking, what does this man know that we don't, and you are right to be sceptical. But I know, for want of a better word, everything."
He reached out and prodded the plant on his desk. "Take this petunia for instance. Sat in it's bowl, not a care in the galaxy you might think. BUT..." said the man, raising his voice "...You'd be wrong. I know what it knows. I have... methods... that allow me to read, record and implant the knowledge and memories of ANY living creature, and I have."
The bowl of petunias thought to itself "Oh no, not again"
The man on the video leant forward and whispered to the plant "Yes, this again"
Sitting up and looking back at the camera he continued calmly, while caressing a leaf, "You see Vrek, I know what this plant knows, and from that I know what it is thinking. But I won't bother you with the philosophy of a petunia, it's not something you would understand" with that, the man pushes the bowl off the desk and a smash is clearly heard on the video. Inquisitor Vrek felt himself relax a little.
"You want to know how to stop those nasty, filthy xenos and daemons and their accomplices from making a mess of your imperium. I can help, you see. I have extensive knowledge from every corner of the galaxy, every race, every species and I even have a contact on the other side. You would like him, he's bright and shiny and a smashing chap, very talkative. I know their plans, their motives, their drives... and their weaknesses. This information would be incredibly useful in anyone's hands as I'm sure you'd agree." Vrek felt himself nod gently in agreement.
The man shifted himself in his chair. Inquisitor Vrek, now didn't move a muscle even as a small fly landed on his cheek and a bead of sweat ran down the side of his nose. He felt comfortably numb.
"So we come to the nitty-gritty, the point, the deal..." the man lifts a small orb from within his desk "This, is what you want. It will allow you access to the information that I have collected. However, I couldn't just stick this in a box and risk some courier being waylaid and shot in the head over. No, I could only hand this over in person, to someone of your stature. I have included with this transmission, the data to find a small star-system where I'll be awaiting your arrival. To access this data you will need the passwords, they are your mother's maiden name and your first servitor's name, that should be plenty secure enough...Ha ha."
The figure started to rise and then sat down again heavily "Oh, and one final thing, I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but bring all the assistance and security that you feel necessary for the gravity of this information. I'll be waiting."
There was a pause and the figure appeared to be contemplating something. Then with a click of his fingers he reached below the desk and retrieved a large revolver which he aimed at the camera and fired. The video stopped with blackness.
Inquisitor Vrek sat in silence for a while and then seemed to come out of a dream with a start. He reached for the comm' device on his desk and set about arranging for troops and transport to the star-system in question...
Can someone out there give me the rough measurements of the Wraithblade's axe (length of shaft and size of head) and the height of the Wraith (sole of foot to shoulder) please? I'll be able to scale my axes accordingly then.
Or even measurements of other 40k axes that may be relevant (that's hand-axe / war-axe size, not battle-axe size)... I don't have any axes on this scale.
I may start sculpting the swords in a bit (from sprue) as I know their scale is fine (compared to the dire sword).
Actually, while I'm at it. Here's the first sword sculpt.
Take your chosen piece of Sprue, cut to length and cut it in half, lengthways.
I do this with my scalpel and the pieces end up bent, but can easily be straightened.
I tend to draw a rough shape of the sword on the plastic to get an idea of what bits I don't want. (to get the curve for this sword I have had to carve in diagonally through the sprue)
I then roughly sculpt away with the scalpel to remove the majority of the plastic I don't want.
Then I refine the shape by scraping with the scalpel edge (as for mould lines). (You can still see here that the blade has a straight bit in the middle)
Then the final shaping is done with a combination of sanding and scraping.
Whoa, that's surprisingly good! Not your work, that's always good, but the use of sprue. I definitely need to reconsider using sprue as a medium for some things. It clearly lends itself quite well to objects like this.
cormadepanda wrote:Great work fluff and all! I can do that axw for yoy when I get home on the 25
Thanks and thanks.
Casey's Law wrote:Whoa, that's surprisingly good! Not your work, that's always good, but the use of sprue. I definitely need to reconsider using sprue as a medium for some things. It clearly lends itself quite well to objects like this.
Thanks Casey.
Sprue is a ridiculously useful resource for modelling.
I've used it somewhere on all my most heavily modified models from small spacers, to bulking or framework to the actual shape of whatever I'm making.
I found you could use it for things like swords when I decided to try a spare for one of my Dire Avengers.
Chap on the left. The handle and guard are made from scraps of plastic and putty with wire wrapped round the handle, but the blade is carved from one piece of sprue.
I also used sprue in the same way for the rear spoiler of the WS and the hinges (amongst other things) are also made from sprue.
Things to remember when using sprue like this, I've found, are that there is quite often small bubbles down the middle of the sprue which can lead to holes in things like swords (I had this with the first sword above, but filled it with putty and you can't notice it). This is why I am cutting the sprue down the centre for these swords.
Also, don't go too thin as it can be quite weak to work on. Just found this out on one sword where I've snapped the tip off, that's one design to try in putty instead.
Automatically Appended Next Post: It's also tricky work, potentially dangerous for fingers and thumbs and quite time consuming.
Yeh thanks for the tips, I'll be trying this out. I might try a scythe shaft at some point soon. Have you tried bending the sprue after dipping it in boiling water? You'll need asbestos fingers but it's the best way to bend plastic from what I've tried.
SelvaggioSaky wrote:Great tips for "waste material", I'm going to try out
Yep, and you get loads for free with every model.
Casey's Law wrote:Yeh thanks for the tips, I'll be trying this out. I might try a scythe shaft at some point soon. Have you tried bending the sprue after dipping it in boiling water? You'll need asbestos fingers but it's the best way to bend plastic from what I've tried.
I haven't yet, but it's on the list of useful things to know. I believe we talked about this in regards to Tyranid tails on your blog a while ago...
I know a good way to get realistic looking helicopter rotor blades at rest, e.g. bent downwards slightly, is to use a hair-dryer carefully.
Few more swords carved. You can see the bottom left (sword concept 2 for those of you keeping track) didn't come out well, the sharp features weren't working and then I snapped off the tip and gave up on it. The other two I'm quite happy with. Top left (concept 8) I made slightly less curved as I intended, I actually bent the sprue for that slightly before starting and then carved it as is.
A little touching up here and there maybe and then thinking about the grips and guards later. I actually paid attention to the time while carving the sword on the right (concept 11) and it took me about half an hour to get to this stage. I think the first eldar-looking one (concept 4) took nearer to an hour, but I wasn't watching the time...
Too bad shipping would kill the point of this, but if you ever need sprue, let me know.
I have more still. I threw out about twice this amount when we moved. At one point I thought of making a sprue necron army, can't find the pics now, but it would be glorious.
Ha Ha. I have plenty of my own sprue thanks Theo. I even have some non-GW sprue for variety. Even with the many uses I have for it, sprue does seem to last quite a while.
I'm sure you could find a suitable terrain use for that pile. Internal structure for a building, or even actual scaffolding for the outside... Watch-towers, ladders, stairs, fences... The list is endless.
Terrain? No, I will build the army to fear. An army of lost stc, that will rise up again and again. They have come to assimilate your unused sprue.
I wish they guy who built these painted them and took them to a grand tournament. I'd love to see GW post an addendum to their rules saying that armies must be made from parts and not sprue.
Thing is, with careful carving you could get them to look even closer to the actual models than just the basic shape. Maybe I'll add that to the "to do" list, make a realistic model from only sprue...
The blades look good, pal. As for sprue, I remember reading in an old White Dwarf that they used an old hand turned meat grinder to chew up sprue to make tonnes of rubble for cityfight boards.
Thanks Casey. I've read something like that before, although not having a meat grinder or a gaming table (yet) I haven't tried that.
I'm not short on basing material either as I mostly use dried paint for the rocks and sand. I don't know if Acrylic paint does this when it dries out, but when the Enamel I use dries up in the pot it usually ends up either in one hard lump that you can cut up into chunks or (if you catch it before it's solid) you can scrape it out the pot and let it dry to a variety of rock shapes and sizes.
shasolenzabi wrote:It does, after first thickening up to a putty like consistency if it is left sitting too long
Yeah, probably the same then.
It was just when I was cleaning out some pots that I thought I may find a use for, I ended up with a pile of dried paint that sat on my modelling board for a while and one day I was looking at it and I thought that some of it looked like small rocks and importantly was also free and at a time that I needed to think about bases.
So, some PVA glue, add a few large lumps and then sprinkle on the smaller stuff, paint up to look like mud and rocks, job done. Perhaps not the best of bases, but bases none-the-less.
SelvaggioSaky wrote:Good job on the spueblades mate, great for my INQ28 adventure
Thanks SS. I look forward to your's and other's attempts. I am lurking on your INQ28 thread at the mo. Will comment soon.
I've done 2 more sprue-swords and some pose/scale pictures with Guardian Number 10.
These are swords 5 and 10.
and this is Guardian 10 blu-tacked together in a possible pose (imagine more dynamic legs though) to show the carved swords (in scale) and how they look with the guardian's body.
Swords (l to r): 4, 8, 11, 10 and 5.
I believe these were the popular swords, let me know if I've missed one (I do know that I'm missing number 2, that is waiting for a putty remake as it didn't work in plastic).
What do people think?
I'm planning to actually cut the hand off the arm used here and making it out of putty, combined with the hilt and handle of the sword/axe that is chosen, so ignore that particular area for now.
i like the design 4 and 10... and i must say... you are very ambitious... carving sprue like that... that is truly inspiring... i have a ton of sprue sitting under my desk and it is work like that that keeps me from even thinking about getting rid of these...!
my only suggestion would be to be nmore in scale with the available swords for eldar... elves per se are a thin breed... hefting such big cleavers is a bit OOT... if you manage to get them a "BIT" smaller than you are golden!
Thanks guys, that pretty much covered all of them between the two of you
I'm aware no-one here actually picked number 10, I just have a thing for leaf shaped swords. But that doesn't mean that I'm bias towards that one, I just wanted to make it (it will definitely get used at some point, maybe I'll do something in suitably classic armour to go with it...).
Yeah, I thought some of them did look quite large when I stuck them on the model, but I was basing the scale on 40k weapons, so I'm not surprised that they turned out big (I don't think any are too "too big" though).
and don't forget that there are the axes still to be made... I have options coming out my ear-'oles...
Viktor von Domm wrote: i like the design 4 and 10... and i must say... you are very ambitious... carving sprue like that... that is truly inspiring... i have a ton of sprue sitting under my desk and it is work like that that keeps me from even thinking about getting rid of these...!
my only suggestion would be to be nmore in scale with the available swords for eldar... elves per se are a thin breed... hefting such big cleavers is a bit OOT... if you manage to get them a "BIT" smaller than you are golden!
Thanks Vik.
Yep, I'm really trying to make my modelling money go as far as possible (I have tons of random household "rubbish" that I've squirrelled away for possible model use) and sprue is no exception. It's just so useful and it's made of polystyrene, just like the models, and therefore you can use the usual glues for the jobs. I even have a pot with add off-cuts from sprue and other plastics that could prove useful...
It's also a nice challenge trying things like this.
I see what you mean, maybe if one that is a little too large gets chosen I could always carve a Ver.2.0 and make it a bit smaller.
yup... to use the same glue is a blessing really... you then know what you work with and have a profound confifence that the parts wont fall off all of a sudden... it is a nightmare for me to have this happen... superglue is often a fail... and i have tow very different kinds of plasticcard with my materials... the fist round i got to the stuff... it doent take any plastic glue even ??? so i had lots of misfortune... i wish i had known about materials what i know now back then^^... but you are totally sure when you deal with sprue!... which still wants me to do that mechanical steed out of sprue...
yup... to use the same glue is a blessing really... you then know what you work with and have a profound confifence that the parts wont fall off all of a sudden... it is a nightmare for me to have this happen... superglue is often a fail... and i have tow very different kinds of plasticcard with my materials... the fist round i got to the stuff... it doent take any plastic glue even ??? so i had lots of misfortune... i wish i had known about materials what i know now back then^^... but you are totally sure when you deal with sprue!...
Yeah, I have quite a selection of glues on my board (Thin, brush-on poly' cement, thick poly' cement, superglue, PVA and even some araldite at the moment although that was for some other use apart from modelling), so if one doesn't seem to hold I'll throw another at it.
which still wants me to do that mechanical steed out of sprue...
so you´re collecting glue, eh?...a two component glue is something i need to try some day too... epoxid i used but the thin, liquide stuff... that would be a first one
and yep... a mechanical steed... who wouldn´t want one?^^
so you´re collecting glue, eh?...a two component glue is something i need to try some day too... epoxid i used but the thin, liquide stuff... that would be a first one
and yep... a mechanical steed... who wouldn´t want one?^^
Yeah. The trouble with epoxy glues is that they take ages to dry. Good for a strong, flexible bond, but you have to keep it held in position for ages and (more importantly) you have to wait all that time before you can do anything else...
The thin cement is my first choice for model work, then I will use the thicker cement for when a join is load bearing. Superglue is for when one or other of the surfaces is not polystyrene and the PVA I'll genereally use for basing. But sometimes, when one glue isn't doing the job, I'll add one of the others to help out (the thick poly' cement is good for this, just because it is thick and dries to a hard structure). I've even filled small cracks with the thicker glues rather than mess about with putties (I've even got putty options, a one part modelling putty and a two part milliput).
Casey's Law wrote:I really like 4 and 11 matey. I still love 8 but I still think it'll be nicer as a two hander for someone later on.
Cool, thanks. I may try and make a slightly smaller version of a couple of these and see how they look.
Viktor von Domm wrote:I never really tried conscious glue mixing... when I just added in a non thinking way some superglue to whatever cause I was at... for now it worked^^
and yeah... heman had one... (that model soon gets ton be made a transport by the way...as I got me an old warhorse at a fleamarket^^)
If something's not working I'll try everything I have at my disposal to get it working. I've seen somewhere that for a typical superglue join, to get round the problem of it being brittle and falling apart in the future was to use a little PVA with the superglue (mixed at the join), as the mixture bonds as well as superglue but retains some flexibility and therefore doesn't break so easily. (I'm sure that's what I've read, but could be making that up... )
Even yesterday, I attached the arm for the sniper to the gun with a pin (as I need to sculpt a hand from putty) and superglue, and then glued the wrist and elbow to the stock with plastic cement. They are not going to be separated...
Viktor von Domm wrote: cool... superglue and PVA mix i only know off as a cool looking way to get basing done...now that is something i need to try...
Yeah, I've seen that and filed it away for future use.
looking forward to yon sculting skills of hands... make a step by step if you can education is important
Not done hands before, so will be a learning experience for me as well. I will try to remember to take pictures though. I have the hand that was removed from said arm that I have set aside for reference and will attempt to copy, however, that hand it closed around a pistol grip and I'm going to attempt a more open/relaxed hand...so will be interesting...
Thanks Vik. Very useful indeed. At least I don't need to do the fingernails as he'll be wearing guardian gloves (there's enough fine detail there to worry about).
Thanks Comrade. It's easy to have at it and carve away when you have loads more free material laying about. That's why I'm happier to do these from sprue and not the milliput that cost money, but the axes will have to be done with putty as they are wider than the sprue (the only limitation really).
Caught up 6 pages, mised most of the text but stopped on the pictures.
Rifle- awesome!
Axe- #1
Sword- #3
Boss is out from today to next Friday so I'm hoping for some goof-off time, but work has been brutal w/ storms / outages / etc. Ugh. Will be around as much as I can.
Greta stuff as always. You have respectable skill and it's cool seeing it come out more and more.
I'm going to have to carve sword #3 now. As well as the slightly smaller versions of some of the others, and then I should really get on to those axes...
In other news, I have thought of a pose for Guardian number 9 that may only require a little putty work around the groin area.
and I think Guardian number 10 may be posed mid-charge...
These were the original concepts for ease of viewing:
I have so far eliminated those swords and axes that didn't seem to grip anyone.
Those are; Axes 2, 3, 4, 10 and 11. and Swords 1, 6, 7, 9 and 12.
I decided to give Axe 5 a go, despite not receiving votes, to see how it looked.
Not sure If I'll do Axe 7, as it's similar to Sword 8 and that seemed to draw more excitement (but I can if people still want to see it).
I also wanted to do a much smaller version of Axe 8 to see how that goes.
I've actually cut a concept of a double sided Axe 9, but it again seems a little large for a single hand...
Sword 2 proved tricky to get right in sprue and so I've cut a plastic template for trying in putty, but it needs slimming down before I do that.
Sword 3, having just received a vote, will be given a go in sprue.
Swords 6 and 12 I decided to leave for a future, larger, manual operator as they seem to fit that method of delivery better.
Swords 8, 10 and 11 I may do smaller carvings after seeing them on the guardian.
You may have noticed that I'm saving up putty jobs. This is because I tend to mix up too much milliput whenever I do a job, and as these are all small jobs I want many of them so that I can just mix up one batch and do the lot in one go with minimal wastage.
Let me know if I've discarded a weapon that you actually liked, people. I may have forgotten/missed a vote.
I'm also waiting for a certain person or persons to let me know some measurements of some certain axe-shaped objects and related models when they get the chance...not mentioning any names...
Theophony wrote: Those keep getting better and better, good work, liking them being a little smaller.
Thanks Theo. 11.2 has ended up a little thin and flimsy, it's ok, but wouldn't take much to bend it.
Not too sure about 8.2, may need to slim down the lower curve a little more to make it more top heavy looking as it should be...
Oh Initiative 5 is actually very good. Faster than Space Marines for the most part, the slowest Eldar is as fast in HtH combat as a Marine and can hit before a Guardsman blinks. BUT for the most part the Eldar is around the same strength as a Human, Space Marines still hit harder
and now for the 500th post here in my blog and to celebrate passing 1000 posts myself I can reveal what is to come next...
Spoiler:
From a speech in the headquarters of the Tau Empire:
"We have received a message from the members of the Earth Caste that went missing in that strange, apparently stricken, craft 12 rotaas ago. It says they have escaped capture and are hiding out on a small moon where a faceless enemy is amassing a large army and plans to invade T'au space. The message originates from just outside our empire controlled space. We must take this message seriously, a strike force has been assembled from the Fire and Air castes and a band of our Kroot allies. We will crush this treat before it starts and rescue our brethren, for the Greater Good."
"The Greater Good"
"We expect a report from the strike force in two rotaas time of the reconnaissance mission and, unless there is something we do not expect, the strike force will engage and destroy the enemy. For the Greater Good"
"The Greater Good"
*5 rotaas later*: "We have picked up transmissions from the strike force, the entire force has been lost, no survivors that we can tell and no further transmissions have been received. I shall play the recording for you to hear, the quality of the signal is not good as something seems to have been interfering with it."
Signal: Received.
Recording:
Code: 3243434C
"...Recon team approaching moon...report..."
"...small moon orbiting...planet. No obvious defences...too far to see details on the surface..."
"...clear. When will you...tell us? It could be dange...dvise caution..."
"...coming into range...sensors online...scanning, please wait..."
"..."
"...That's no moon! It's a..."
"...Come in recon. Come...don't receive you. Oh...it's...this way...It's a T..."
Transmission ends:
"We have not been able to locate the moon since receiving this transmission, the area of space where it was originally located is devoid of planets and moons..."
Yes, you can blame GW's release schedule that I've picked up the Tau Empire (old) battleforce, as I wanted what was in that box before they changed it and removed all the Kroot from the box... Plans are afoot but I have a few other things to do before getting into them.
The mad scientist is like a spider, waiting for his experimental victims to fly into his web.
Therefore since very little is noted of this strange and anomalous area, the Khadrovian Government declares it the "Anomalous Quarantine Zone" aka A.Q.Z. they have done this to the old Germania system as the GPQZ, or Germania Plague Quarantine Zone as I and that friend are isolated from playing any more 40k as we are now on different coasts, therefore the area is forbidden by Khadrovian traffic, monitored and well, as the GPQZ is a known area of heretical Chaos worshipping evil, bombarded from long range by PP-2000 Long Ranged Interstellar Missiles to disrupt their manufacturing as they would likely be a problem for other neighboring systems. That ships disappear and no planets or moons are visible, something is afoot so just quarantines are in effect Dr. H.
shasolenzabi wrote:The mad scientist is like a spider, waiting for his experimental victims to fly into his web.
As well as dangling juicy bits of bait to lure them in... Mwa Ha Ha
Therefore since very little is noted of this strange and anomalous area, the Khadrovian Government declares it the "Anomalous Quarantine Zone" aka A.Q.Z. they have done this to the old Germania system as the GPQZ, or Germania Plague Quarantine Zone as I and that friend are isolated from playing any more 40k as we are now on different coasts, therefore the area is forbidden by Khadrovian traffic, monitored and well, as the GPQZ is a known area of heretical Chaos worshipping evil, bombarded from long range by PP-2000 Long Ranged Interstellar Missiles to disrupt their manufacturing as they would likely be a problem for other neighboring systems. That ships disappear and no planets or moons are visible, something is afoot so just quarantines are in effect Dr. H.
There's nothing to say that that area of space is where The Scientist resides though...
Casey's Law wrote:Oooh! I'm looking forward to this. There is a Devilfish in that box is there not?!
Glad you are
There is indeed. It was replaced with a piranha in the newer box, which was also a motivation to get this one.
Interestingly the instruction booklet for the models has the piranha instructions at the front, and as I'm clearly not going to be using the engines for the Devilfish on the Devilfish (Vis; what happened to the WS), I thought they would serve as a good basis for a piranha (mostly)scratch-build.
Here is two scaled down axe heads with their larger originals above; 1 and 1.2, 6 and 6.2.
The smaller axes are quite rough (it's very tricky cutting plastic neatly when they are less than 1cm square), but these will only serve as the scaffold for the putty that will form the final surface of the axe you will see.
And axe 5 is there to show that it's scale was ok to start with... This one is still only made of card though.
And I also present Axe 9.5, the double sided axe 9...(also in card) However, as you can see, it's quite large and I don't think I could make it any smaller, so may well be saved for future use.
Thanks SS. Good to know, but will have to see once I've "fleshed" (Ironed? Steeled? Puttied?) these out and see if the putty works out: I used this technique to make two of the fins on the missile for the WS (as it only came with 3 sets of fins to be attached in a recess in the underside of a Tornado), so they should work out fine...
I hadn't thought about spears. I've not seen many about 40k (there's a few Halberds), I suppose they can be classed as a generic ccw. Shouldn't be too hard to knock one out of sprue, but there's not a lot you can do with a spear (sculpting-wise), they all look pretty much the same from spear to spear...
It's a thought, cogs are turning...
cormadepanda wrote: I like the sprue blades, their really starting too look like swords. I hopefully will mail that package today, I gotta pack it really quick.
Thanks Panda.
Hopefully, they will look better once I get round to adding the hilt etc... As will the axes when they have handles and some 3D shape to them. On that note, I've found something to use as handles for the axes, so should be able to make some progress on them soon.
shasolenzabi wrote: Well, maybe one day, I an a portable force might wind up in your neck of the world, so maybe then a little dice tossing may occur Dr. H
I would need to learn how to play first, write some rules for the army second and create a warzone (table with terrain) third, not to mention finish enough models to actually create a working army... Then I'd be ready...
LOL! game is simpler than it looks, most movement is 6" or based on that, roll dice, subtract the result from 7, so as long as the weapons are in range, roll the dice. the book in the US cost 75dollarsso likely about the 45-50 pounds sterling range? A codex for each minis army as well, so you know their strength, but oh wait, this time they have the stats in the back of the main book so less worry there! A good local game shop ought to have the tables if there is one nearby
shasolenzabi wrote: LOL! game is simpler than it looks, most movement is 6" or based on that, roll dice, subtract the result from 7, so as long as the weapons are in range, roll the dice. the book in the US cost 75dollarsso likely about the 45-50 pounds sterling range? A codex for each minis army as well, so you know their strength, but oh wait, this time they have the stats in the back of the main book so less worry there! A good local game shop ought to have the tables if there is one nearby
I have .pdf files of a lot of out-of-date codices and a 5th ed rule book.
So I've read the rules in general and am aware of how it works, but that's different to knowing how to play the game if you know what I mean...
I've been using these to start the construction of a Codex for this army, but this is from out of date books, so will need a little fiddling to bring up to date.
I do intend to buy the books once I have money to spare and that would be all the books as any single codex does not encompass all the models that will be in this army. This is again, limited by lack of funds at the moment...
Yeah, there's not a lot local here, other than fields...
Yeah, GW and their pricing scam,,,,I mean scheme! sorry there is no local store to play in for you, then you could get some ideas and practice in to test the army out as that helps a LOT for playtesting helps see if the army is overpowered or weak or balanced. Mainly seems so far to be not too bad and in the context of his mind control and all, would do right for the concept, then again there are those who would avoid playing against it as they are lock stepped in what is printed and only build there models as sen in the books and art. Example; Landraider, for a while the codexs were showing them side guns behind a door so that the marines were effectively popping out the sides IN FRONT of the bloody guns! I am old school, and the initial landraiders,,,also backed up by retro landraider kits from FW these days) have the guns in the forwards position. I explain this as I went to some tourney where players were telling me the guns were in the wrong part of the Landraider, I had to explain that I arranged my landraiders according to the way they used to and can be made,,,they said it did not look like the art in the codex so it was wrong.....Lemmings I say!
shasolenzabi wrote: Yeah, GW and their pricing scam,,,,I mean scheme! sorry there is no local store to play in for you, then you could get some ideas and practice in to test the army out as that helps a LOT for playtesting helps see if the army is overpowered or weak or balanced.
If I had money coming in, it would be less of an issue... I'll work something out when it comes to it. I'm more into it for the modelling, but I do want a usable army in the end.
Mainly seems so far to be not too bad and in the context of his mind control and all, would do right for the concept,
If anything I want the army to be on the weak side. I've said before that it would be very easy with this concept to pick the very best from each codex and I'm avoiding that as I want to make unique models and not huge groups of the same thing over and over again. and who would want to play against an army of all the best models... Also, an army led by a madman is not going to be a strong army in any setting...
then again there are those who would avoid playing against it as they are lock stepped in what is printed and only build there models as sen in the books and art.
Yeah, I was actually surprised that I didn't receive a lot of abuse for creating a silly army that just wouldn't work and is illegal with respect to nearly every rule in the book. But I've seen over the time I've been on DDakka that there's equally mad ideas floating about and there's only a few that get any abuse at all.
Although I expect I'll get a lot more when I get round to putting my home-made codex in the rules section, as that seems to be where the stricter players seem to hang out.
Example; Landraider, for a while the codexs were showing them side guns behind a door so that the marines were effectively popping out the sides IN FRONT of the bloody guns! I am old school, and the initial landraiders,,,also backed up by retro landraider kits from FW these days) have the guns in the forwards position. I explain this as I went to some tourney where players were telling me the guns were in the wrong part of the Landraider, I had to explain that I arranged my landraiders according to the way they used to and can be made,,,they said it did not look like the art in the codex so it was wrong.....Lemmings I say!
lol. Yeah, I've seen that argument thread (or at least one of them) on here. I did always think, when I first saw that model, that it was silly to have a door in front of a gun, that's just common sense. And really, if it's not meant to be attached there, then it wouldn't fit without (knife- or saw-shaped) modifications (I am assuming it doesn't require modifications). e.g. a warwalker is only meant to have 2 guns that fit on the "shoulders" and only certain guns will fit there, I had to do a fair amount of modifications to get 4 guns on it, two of which didn't come with it... Likewise the WS and it's missile...
1. Take one matchstick and cut it to length.
2. Shave away the corners and sand smooth (if required).
3. Split the end and insert axe head.
4. Take photos and show people to see what they think.
So here is the bare bones, dry-fit of axes 1.2 and 6.2.
Couple of things to note;
Axe 1.2 I smoothed the handle to a nice smooth finish, but axe 6.2 I did not. The thought behind this is that with a handle like 1.2 I could add details to make it look as any material whereas a handle like that on 6.2 would look like a wooden handle.
Also, I realise that the rear spikes/hooks will need lengthening as they barley make it through the width of the handles.
Additional details will be added in putty.
With that in mind, what do you think?
Is the scale ok?
Do we like how they look?
Wooden look, or other material look?
but... to show them in the hands of an elf... that is against some definite rules...... no elf is using axes... swords are ok... but axes are for dwarves, men and beastmen...
as for the current swords...very good looking and way much closer to scale!
but... to show them in the hands of an elf... that is against some definite rules...... no elf is using axes... swords are ok... but axes are for dwarves, men and beastmen...
as for the current swords...very good looking and way much closer to scale!
Cool. Thanks Vik.
He'll use whatever The Scientist "programs" him to use and anyway, have you not seen the new Wraithblades?
and anyway, have you not seen the new Wraithblades
wasn´t fully available info in my head it seems... but my point is still valid axes are brute weaponry... not really befitting for frail elves... even in power armor^^
They're looking good, but I still think 6.2 needs to have the haft further towards the center of the blade. The blade end looks too far away from the haft, looks unbalanced. Also moving it more center will give a bigger spike on the back for piercing armor, and the front blade for chopping flesh.
Theophony wrote:They're looking good, but I still think 6.2 needs to have the haft further towards the center of the blade. The blade end looks too far away from the haft, looks unbalanced. Also moving it more center will give a bigger spike on the back for piercing armor, and the front blade for chopping flesh.
I see what you mean, however, when I stitched the following picture together I spotted a bigger issue with it...
That's it next to the inspiration picture. You can probably see the issue, I'll re-cut this one...
You can however see what I was going for though.
Viktor von Domm wrote:
ah.... you trying to get through to me with reasoning and logic...
Theophony wrote: Ah! The picture helps out, and if you get the angle right I think you have it! Points if you hollow out the bit.
Yeah, I've been thinking it was looking wrong somehow for a while, but couldn't place it until I made that picture.
I'm thinking that holes/slots will be easier to do once covered in putty (I'll be able to drill them then).
Not sure a cross would work in 40k though... will see, need to get the shape of the axe right first.
Theophony wrote:The cross could be he Templar cross, could have been looted from a fallen marine.
Ah, true. That's more of an equal sided cross than that Christian one. Unless I've missed something?
Could have brought it with him (in a way), I have a Black Templar already.
shasolenzabi wrote:No worries Mad Scientist in an Apocalypse game needs 3k points base to play and no one would worry as much in such settings anyway.
Well, I'm only about half way to 3k. But that's only with troops, I don't have any HQ yet (although the Tau box does have one, and that box contents is not yet included in my points count).
shasolenzabi wrote:Then the addition of vehicles will pad the points
Oh yes, indeedee. I have a tank-flavoured vehicle that I may squeeze in before I fully crack open the Tau.
and I have plans for a very large, completely scratch-built, vehicle that I really want to do justice to, just not sure on how I will do some bits of it yet... and I will (in time) collect at least one of everything in all the ranges.
cormadepanda wrote:Vehicles are a nice touch for points to game use. The bits still haven't shipped, I will get them out on Friday. Gotta celebrate my country tomorrow!
No worries, when you can, you can.
Go fourth and celebrate escaping our mighty kingdom's clutches... (but seriously, enjoy) and keep an eye out for any large flying saucers...
Edit: Saw those axes.. maybe a slightly bigger and longer axe head?
The putty may add some to the size (might not, will have to see), will have to see how these turn out. Thanks for the input (keep it coming people )
Oh yeah. I will of course share when I have the preliminary design ready and the right materials to do the job. I already have a fair chunk of fluff ready and waiting to introduce it. And I didn't necessarily say "tank"... but will leave that as a tease for now...
There will be plenty of madness to keep us all occupied in the mean time. (It is, after all, only one of many ideas I have written down. There's no chance of me running out of things to show and do here for quite some time)
As it turns out, it helps to have the picture of what you are trying to copy in front of you when actually doing the copying, as it ends up nearer to what you intended then if you try to do it from memory (especially when your memory is as bad as mine).
May I present Axe 6.3.
It should please you Theo, as I made the rear spike larger so it's more balanced (yes?)
and should please you panda, as it came out slightly larger.
hey doc... seeing the dillema with your axemaking and as you will stick to that concept... i need to lend a hand here... well i say hand but in essence i will suggest using this:
for making these rather round and complex cuts... i bet you will get some amazing results that way!...as for the templars cross issue... have you tried drilling the blood groove in the blade? with a 1 mm drill bit you probably will get quick and easy results?
Thanks Vik. I think there is one of them knocking about the place somewhere. I shall have to have a rummage in the garage when I'm next out there.
Yep, I intend to drill any holes/grooves once I've got the milliput on, as any holes now, will likely get filled when I cover it in putty (and any rough edges will also be smoothed out at this stage).
I have thinned the handles for the axes (mostly) successfully.
I did shave one of them down too thin and had to make a fresh one, which I again shaved down too thin, so I made a fresh one and that is what you see.
Also you can see the start of the pose for Guardian number 9.
Next up is the putty work, including; the axes, filling the gaps in number 9, sword number 2, the hand on Guardian 9's rifle, and maybe hands and hilts on the other swords...
Theophony wrote: I think the inside curve of the third axe needs a little work, but otherwise spot on
Thanks Theo.
Which third axe (l to r; 5, 6.3 and 1.2)?
Well, actually doesn't matter which, they all need their curves and edges tidied up, that will happen once they are puttied and I can throw some sandpaper at them.
Dr H wrote: I have thinned the handles for the axes (mostly) successfully.
I did shave one of them down too thin and had to make a fresh one, which I again shaved down too thin, so I made a fresh one and that is what you see.
Also you can see the start of the pose for Guardian number 9.
Next up is the putty work, including; the axes, filling the gaps in number 9, sword number 2, the hand on Guardian 9's rifle, and maybe hands and hilts on the other swords...
Third one in this picture, far right, not the one being held.
I've thrown a bit of putty about and some of it stuck...
Guardian 9's groin has been filled, needs smoothing, nothing to see here.
Had a go at his hand on the rifle as well, didn't go so well. Turned out much too big. See below.
Will have a look at it in a bit and see if i can thin it out a bit, if not it'll come off and I'll try again.
The axes however, have progressed nicely.
On the left, you can see how they look when I first put the putty on (I used a bit of superglue to aid attaching it).
On the right, you can see what they look like after the first, rough pass of scalpel and sandpaper.
A bit more work to be done on them, to sharpen a few features etc... and then a pass with the fine sandpaper to smooth them out.
damn.... you sunk my battleship... that ex-kroot rifle looks damn sexy! steamy punky archeo tech! the wire pipes are a very craftsman work of yours! (i think i should skip english today as my mind is in a weird frame... but then again this is quite fitting for this thread )
at first i was a bit afaraid of the bubblegum look of the blades... but then my eye shifted to the right pic and... the edges look very sharp (pun intended!) can´t decide which looks best... two way tie between 1.2 and 5 i think... 6.3 is cool too but i am still lacking the real world examples to reall get my teeth into that shape...also... now after the putty work and the filing and shaping of the edges... i think the ratio between blade and handles is way better!
Viktor von Domm wrote: damn.... you sunk my battleship... that ex-kroot rifle looks damn sexy! steamy punky archeo tech! the wire pipes are a very craftsman work of yours! (i think i should skip english today as my mind is in a weird frame... but then again this is quite fitting for this thread )
Thanks Vik. Glad you like it. Did you see the earlier pictures of the other side with the pressure gauge and cog?
Weirdness is very welcome here.
at first i was a bit afaraid of the bubblegum look of the blades... but then my eye shifted to the right pic and... the edges look very sharp (pun intended!) can´t decide which looks best... two way tie between 1.2 and 5 i think... 6.3 is cool too but i am still lacking the real world examples to reall get my teeth into that shape...also... now after the putty work and the filing and shaping of the edges... i think the ratio between blade and handles is way better!
Yeah, most of my putty work goes like that, I can try and get the right shape while it's soft and sometimes it works. But usually I have to do some "subtle" adjustments (with the scalpel, file and sandpaper), and with these I knew I was not going to get close to the right shape so didn't try.
Thanks. I'm glad they are working out.
There will be some added extras to the handles (of some description, as yet unknown ) as they are quite plain at the mo'.
i think you made the curves a bit crisper since then, or is it just me seeing things?
and well i am far the lest person to judge sculpting... i am not really even a layman here^^
hmmm... what will these axes be? just blunt objects of mauling peeps to death or some powerweapon-ish device?...
i think that defines the needed additions...
No, not changed anything since then (other than the arm), but because of all the right(ish) angles in the pipes the angle of the camera can change the look of them quite a bit (so it's a much more side on view with the axes that make them look sharper).
I hadn't done any GS or equivalent sculpting before starting this blog, just takes practice and a will to push yourself (once I'd done my Venus de Milo, I have been very happy to push the limits of each sculpting attempt).
I'm still very much a novice in this and it doesn't really help that I'm working with a blunt scalpel (usually reserved for poking and scraping things) as my sculpting tool.
hmmm... what will these axes be? just blunt objects of mauling peeps to death or some powerweapon-ish device?...
i think that defines the needed additions...
And that, is the thing...
1.2 and 6.3 could be either, I think. Whereas 5 is definitely more of an "unplugged" variety.
Still, some sort of grip will be needed on all of them. Maybe even a rivet or two...
Guardian 9's groin has been filled, needs smoothing, nothing to see here.
Turned out much too big.
What do we think now?
I think I've been reading through nerdfest's blog right before yours and certain lines just jumped off the page. Seems old age hasn't given me any more maturity.
Good work on the putty, just a little smoothing to go
I may have rescued the guardians hand on the rifle, it's better than it was anyway.
May have another look at it though, after zooming in on the below picture. I included the hand that was attached to the arm for comparison.
Also, after knocking off the foresight the second time in as many sessions I decided that it needed to be attached in a more permanent fashion, so I drilled through the ring, glued it to a piece of wire and used that to pin it to the gun. That should work better.
And I've also finished the sanding of the axes (alright a few small rough patches are left, but they'll be covered up or made to look like battle damage) and drilled a hole in axe #5.
I shall now look at what additional details to be added (and maybe drill some kind of cross in axe #6.3) and have another look at that hand...
i hadn´t realized you actually scupted that hand... eldar hands of that class are very detailed and you totally fooled me that this was just a GW replacement hand!... by the way... now with that lighrer colored putty hand this arm reminds me of micheal jackson
and the drilled blade totally prooves the point here... so with three more precisly drilled holes you would get yourself at least a cross...
oh and now the foresight actually got half of a crosshair^^
Viktor von Domm wrote: i hadn´t realized you actually scupted that hand... eldar hands of that class are very detailed and you totally fooled me that this was just a GW replacement hand!... by the way... now with that lighrer colored putty hand this arm reminds me of micheal jackson
and the drilled blade totally prooves the point here... so with three more precisly drilled holes you would get yourself at least a cross...
oh and now the foresight actually got half of a crosshair^^
Thanks Vik, I'm glad it passes off as a "real" hand. A little more work to be done before I'm happy with it though.
lol at wacko jacko.
Yeah, I may attempt a cross on 6.3.
True, but now the glue has dried you can't really see through it. Will have to be painted.
I think I've now finished with the hand. There's not alot more I can do to it and would probably only make it worse if I did.
Hopefully, painting will do the rest (or just show up how bad it really is...).
And, yes I did the cross in axe 6.3. Was very tricky to get the plastic out from the middle of the hole and this led to the angles you can see in the horizontal sections of the hole (Which I will make a feature of).
nerdfest09 wrote: The cutout in the axe is brilliant! a small detail that makes a huge difference in overall aesthetics! the power axe is shaping up well too!
Thanks NF.
Four carefully drilled holes with a 0.4mm drill bit and then a lot of swearing at a stubborn piece of plastic later and you have a nice hole.
Thankfully, there wasn't a lot it could do when it was largely encased in putty and I was poking at it with a razor-sharp scalpel. I wasn't giving up first...
Lol. No, I didn't. But, he deserves to be thrown out of an airlock for more reasons than that, he'd be whining all the way up to when his head explodes.
nerdfest09 wrote: Lol I know all about the swearing at plastic! sometimes it helps but sometimes the plastic takes offence and decides to screw you over!
Amen Bro!
Dr. H, are You able to cast those axes of yours someday?
I could have use of them , they looks already awesome
And anyway Theo, that there is pretty acceptable science compared to some of the things that were in Star Trek...
Organometallic polymers are possible, I know some people that were making them.
and those polymers were able to transfer electrons, so with a little development could be used for wires.
Self-healing polymers are possible today.
And Osmium is in the same group as Iron and so is very usable in an alloy.
/ I just mashed them together a little.
nerdfest09 wrote: Lol I know all about the swearing at plastic! sometimes it helps but sometimes the plastic takes offence and decides to screw you over!
Amen Bro!
Dr. H, are You able to cast those axes of yours someday?
I could have use of them , they looks already awesome
I don't currently have any casting materials, I'm afraid.
But I may do one day or I could make some entirely unique weapons for the right person. Thanks.
Also, I've detailed the low-tech axe number 5.
The rivet does "go all the way through". and again the grip is still to be done.
You could check with galorn to see if he would make copies. He might even be able to sell them on rivetzone.com you might be able to one day say that your sculpting skills allowed you to be on the same page as Dave's nuke cola machine
Theophony wrote:You could check with galorn to see if he would make copies. He might even be able to sell them on rivetzone.com you might be able to one day say that your sculpting skills allowed you to be on the same page as Dave's nuke cola machine
Dunno if my sculpting skills are that good. But maybe I'll give him a shout when I've finished them.
Viktor von Domm wrote:wow... nice details on both axes! the powerline specially looks very cool!
Thanks Vik.
That's a sausage of putty, a comb and a flat surface. Some turn out better than others, but practice is making them better.
a comb good enough for a tune or two... and for combing my hair it is absolete...(verging on the bald) so making tubes that way seems rather appropriate
Viktor von Domm wrote: a comb good enough for a tune or two... and for combing my hair it is absolete...(verging on the bald) so making tubes that way seems rather appropriate
Well I've powered up axe 6.3.
I went for battery powered to differentiate it from 1.2.
Also notice the Space Marine addition to the handle, it was meant to dangle free, but the glue had other ideas...
Oh yeah, contact points. I'm with you there. Got a couple of those small wires to add the axe #1.2 and then when I next have the putty out I'll do that.
Thanks SS.
In other news, I popped into the (not so) local ModelZone and picked up some more milliput and some plasticard as it was all 30% off. Could have spent a fortune in there, but it would have just been buying things for the sake of buying things and I can't afford to do that at the moment.
Theophony wrote: I like the powerlines, but not the battery, but I'm sure you'll pull it off with your paintjob , just not sold on he current look.
Interesting. What don't you like about it?
I am thinking of adding a few more details to the battery, But I did look specifically for an odd shape for it rather than a cube or cylinder.
Could have spent a fortune in there, but it would have just been buying things for the sake of buying things and I can't afford to do that at the moment.
ha... so you´re not a hoarder yet^^...
and those axes look very good... tho one minor point still needs to get fixed... batteries look like pustules... not really what you are aiming for... so a bit f filing is in order...make them a bit more fabricated looking instead of just grown from the handle like they look now...
Could have spent a fortune in there, but it would have just been buying things for the sake of buying things and I can't afford to do that at the moment.
ha... so you´re not a hoarder yet^^...
Well there's two sides to a hoarder; Collecting more things that you don't need and Not throwing away things that you should not need any more. I'll be the latter kind. At least until I have some money coming in that I can burn on things. If I had had the money, I would have told them that they could have shut up shop as I would take the lot...
and those axes look very good... tho one minor point still needs to get fixed... batteries look like pustules... not really what you are aiming for... so a bit f filing is in order...make them a bit more fabricated looking instead of just grown from the handle like they look now...
Ah, I see. It will look more fabricated and less organic in time. Thanks Vik.
Theophony wrote: I like the powerlines, but not the battery, but I'm sure you'll pull it off with your paintjob , just not sold on he current look.
Interesting. What don't you like about it?
I am thinking of adding a few more details to the battery, But I did look specifically for an odd shape for it rather than a cube or cylinder.
i think it's a combination of odd shape and the size of it relative to the axe head. But keep going, you have a vision of it in your noggin, and I'm sure you will pull it off....the vision, don't pull off your head you'll get messy stuff all over.
I see. I could probably make up some excuses for the shape, but in reality I decided to add a battery pack instead of a power line and had a rummage for something to use.
I looked at regular shapes (and even put a piece of cylindrical sprue to one side) and then came across some beads.
It nearly had a fullerene / football (that's soccer to those of you with your own football) shape, but that was even bigger than what I ended up using (which is only half a bead).
So there wasn't much of a vision involved, just an idea and a pile of odd shapes...
I will poke it later and see what happens...the axe, not my head...
So there wasn't much of a vision involved, just an idea and a pile of odd shapes...
I will poke it later and see what happens...the axe, not my head...
That's how most of my current tuff starts out. I see a bit that I have and say....that would be a neat xxxxxxxx.
Yeah, I tend to think that and then file that bit away in a pot/box/bag for future use, make a note of any ideas and then carry on with the project at hand...(rather that start a new project like quite a few people around here that shall remain nameless... )
Then later, when I'm doing something and think "I need a xxxxx" I then go to the particular pot/box/bag of suitably sized objects (yes, not only do I hoard random junk, I classify it by size/shape) and pull out a few bits to see what fits best.
but that not throwing away just saved my current work...you´ll see later on^^
You see, it's times like that, that confirms that you are right to think "I'm going to keep that, it might be useful in the future".
People that throw stuff away never get that feeling...
cormadepanda wrote: That pun it hurt my brain... Its ok.. i am returning now.. I live!
Oh axes! I love me a good Axe and those are some good axes.
Ha ha, hope it didn't hurt too much.
Thanks Comrade.
Ok people. A bit more fiddling with 6.3.
Whatever plastic this bead is made of, it's tough stuff. However...
I've flattened the sides of the battery, but you won't see that from these pictures.
I tried to cut a groove in the top, that didn't really work (just put a slight dip in it) so I may just flatten the top as well.
I've added some rectangles to the front and sides, where the wires attach, to tidy that up and square it off.
I've added a large round dial/gauge/thing to the right hand side.
And I've added a small round dial/gauge/button/thing in a recess (drilled) on the left hand side.
As it turns out, it's quite difficult to get a good picture of a white circle in a yellow dip in a yellow blob (to the extent that you could barely tell there was anything white there at all, never mind a recessed button/dial/gauge/thing), so I slapped on some primer to make it easier to see with the upshot of the battery not being so yellow and therefore not looking like a carbuncle any more.
I know it doesn't really make it any smaller, but this battery is doing the job of the Space Marine backpack in powering it, so it is a marvel of miniaturisation really.
)
Their day will come.
for SCIENCE... and a chance to ruin all your work.
of course test it on something insignificant and not this.
If it was my soldering iron that could potentially end up covered in burnt, molten plastic, I'd show you to prove a point. I know that the paint doesn't react well to the heat of molten solder as the last time I did any soldering it was on my painting board and the thick paint layer on there didn't fare well and neither did the wooden board where I accidentally touched it with the iron...
).
and I wanted a completely unique army that I could call my own from the lowliest trooper to the largest tank. All in the name of modelling. 
. At first I saw the torso and didn't recognize the legs seperate 
next inspiration just hit.
. Squad will just have to be your nemesis. 
Where's those painted Eldar constructs of your's, that blog has been quiet for a while?
