I wanted an Ambull mini (the cute and cuddly nasties from the original Rogue Trader book), but they are sadly quite rare. After looking for some time I decided it might be a good opportunity to learn the properties of Green Stuff (which I am new to) and make my own interpretation. I got some pics together and dove right in.

Posted here (and bear with me if something doesn't work as I'm new to posting as well!) is a pic of the aluminum wire armature, the first layer of Green Stuff, followed by the beginnings of some details. I started with the eyes first as they exhibit a lot about the 'personality' of the figure.

So far I am very satisfied with Green Stuff, great product. I'm also using it to do some fills and details on an old Grenadier Miniatures figure and it is very versatile stuff. Enjoying it a lot.

Crap thats good sculpting for a first try.

ghosty wrote:Crap thats good sculpting for a first try.

This.

Looking forward to more posts! Ambulls are super awesome, I'm glad that someone else appreciates them! Also if you want to cast some, that'd be pretty cool too.

I tried to concentrate on what I thought the 'harder' parts would be first, this included the vein-like texture of the upper legs. While using what few photos I found online as a guide, I decided to break away a bit and see how it went for me.



It went well, and I was pleased to have 'checked off' one of the harder parts. It gave me confidence to continue on.



The tools I've been using are home-made, carved and sanded pieces of wood. It actually works well, as I work I keep the tools somewhat damp because it's a good 'release' against the inherent stickiness of the Green Stuff.

NICE!
Ambulls are one of my favorites.
Would you like me to post pictures of mine? I have an unpainted one.
If you do, shots would you like?

Thank you very much for the offer, but I won't impose on you to post, I've got a couple of decent pics online to help with the basic form, and as long as I can keep the proportions reasonable I should be fine. I'm putting more of a personal feel on the textures while keeping as much of the Ambull-ness as possible.

You should definitely hang on to that unpainted Ambull though! I was thinking of casting 2 or 3 copies in order to cut and re-position the arms for variety. I know I want to at least finish this one, but further than that I may want to make a little 'herd' of them, to give some different opportunities for painting schemes.

Dental Work: The fangs: I drilled two holes into the bottom of the 'face' area, to accept small lengths of brass rod.



Below: A basic foundation of Green Stuff was put around the brass, this was left to cure before any real shaping began.


Below: Shaping begins, making sure to get a nice little curve inwards. Adding the saw-teeth to the interior of each fang will come only after the final form looks good enough. In this case I figured more was better for the Green Stuff and I could shave off excess to get the shape right. It cuts pretty nicely, but sanding is a bit of a trick as it is not brittle enough - but this may be my ratio: I tend to use a little bit more Yellow than Blue in the mixing.

It gets better and better.

Looks awesome dude! You're going to have to do a Zoat next...or possibly a rogue trader era Tyranid!

It's curious you should mention Zoats, I was actually thinking about them lately, a very strange, almost awkward figure design. Still a classic though. That would be a neat project, I'll see how the Ambull shapes up. I should be able to post a few more pics soon.

Added a minor detail, they kind of resemble ears, or where ears might be on such a creature. I may may them larger at some point but for now they are in place.

Barely visible as an addition to the 'face' region:


The upper-inner arms have a ribbed-hose texture to them, which I applied in a very organic fashion (that is to say, I wasn't hung up on the segments being consistent, as long as the overall texture was conveyed). This shows the texture at the back:


and the front:


So far I have fallen into trouble several times when I've become enthusiastic about how the Green Stuff is handling and I try to apply too much in one sitting. I wind up handling the piece too much and a fingerprint winds up on a still-soft spot. Lately I've become more disciplined at doing a small bit, and leaving it when it's looking good before going on to something else.

What makes it so attractive as a medium is the fact that there is no baking of any kind, as with polymer clays. I'm hooked. I need more subject matter though, I'm a bit scattered as far as ideas go (although I am thinking more about the Zoats!)

Next bit to come is some fang detail and more texture-details on the arms.

More dental-work: Added serrated nubs to the inner edge of the fangs with tiny little dots of Green Stuff. After it cured I was able to go in there with a very thin circular file and make them a bit sharper and define the spaces between the nubs a little better. I'm fairly well-pleased with the results, it was a trick handling those tiny bits of Green Stuff though...


I'll probably sand it down a little to make the transition between the little serrated additions and the fang itself better:


- - - - - - - - -

The more it looks like a legitimate Ambull the more enthusiastic I get to add to it. I started to add the texture on the outer arms, which also contributes to the final shaping of the arms.




The other arm, which I sculpted the following night:


and a front-shot showing how it's slowly starting to come together:


I'm realizing how dull and dark these photos are, I'm going to take some steps to get a better contrast and brightness whilst shooting them (currently just shooting under my fluorescent desk-light).

It's looking really good
Keep it coming!

Thanks, I intend to do a bit of work tonight. I want to get this completed so I can get down to painting it.

I just read a few of the Dakka tutorials on photography, I'm very motivated to take some fresh shots of the recent work using some of the techniques, so you fine folks don't have to strain your eyes!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Some detail added to the back:

You can see I've got some feet-type-toenails in there, I've since trimmed those off because they weren't feeling right. They'll be redone with better proportion.

And brass rods fitted to the stumps of the arms to start forming the claws around:

Keep it up!

This is an inspiring sculpting blog! I really want to get to grips with GS - and I think my main stumbling block so far has been a lack of patience. Like you said, I try to do too much in one sitting and end up ruining something.

Great work man - keep it up. I am loving this.

That is brilliant work! I've currently got one of the original Ambulls sitting undercoated on my desk ready to be painted, and you have captured the model brilliantly so far!

Please keep posting pics!

You're doing an amazing job, certainly a thousand times better than my own efforts!

If you're still searching for future subject material, it might be fun to try some of these guys:

That's a great selection of Other Dangerous Aliens, thank you for sharing that!

I hate the skill you have.

Looking awesome.

Please, consider working for GW and bringing back the Ambulls!
You would be perfect to do it, in my opinion.

This shows a very promising future with sculpting for you.

Thank you very much for the responses, it keeps me going!

Not too much activity the past two nights, added a base layer of G.S. on the claw-wire supports:


The biggest lesson I've drawn from this project regarding Green Stuff is to be patient, I don't work on too much at once, it serves me better to apply a little here and there then to try to get loads done in one sitting. After all, it's the details that are going to 'speak' more on the final finished fig.

A little activity: I added a little to the claws, that will require subtle additions, I want to make them more massive by adding thin layers- this picture is pretty bad but you can see the basic addition:


Further on the legs and feet, I started the 'toes' or claws on the feet over. the originals were not so hot and not really positioned correctly - these are the old ones before I shaved them off:


and here's the start of the new ones, I did a forward claw and a back-claw to start with, the claws sticking out at the side will be placed relative to these:


the stance of the figure is improved...


and the back:

Oh my, looks very good, Man I wish those skills were mine... Oh well will be looking forwards to more posts from you

Outstanding so far. You've managed to get it to look amazingly like the original.


As this is not really a tutorial, though, I'm moving it over to the Blogs section where it will fit in better...

Very good work; looks a lot like the original, and the sculpting's nice and neat. Well done!

Great project.

Ambull steak yummy! You read Caves of Ice?

Didn't read it, has it got Ambulls in it?

The Ambull is coming along great, though from the description of the Ciaphas Cain novels I always pictured them being slightly genestealer-ish. I think your next project should be some Hrud, you never see those guys....... because they're practically extinct has nothing to do with that fact

I just looked up Hruds, I had never heard of them but I think I'm in love: they sound disgusting but they're pretty darn cool.

I've never read the Ciaphas Cain novels, so my inspiration is more in the old Rogue Trader tradition.
Just finished some work on claws and feet, I'll get pics up soon.

Got to work on this guy last night. First, I started considering a base for him, which will be made out of styrene. I know that I could probably get a GW type round base that's big enough (1.5 inch diameter) but it's more interesting to make one. I'll show more pics as that part of this project moves along.


On the actual sculpt I added more body and mass to the claws, beginning to give them their final shape. Some of what is seen in the photo will be shaved away: For shapes that need to be fairly thin (like the Ambull's 'thumbs') I find it easier to build them up thick at first, just to get the Green Stuff in place, and then trim away with an X-Acto knife to get the final shape (This was done previously with the fangs).
It is easier to cut into cured, solid Green Stuff than it is to try to shape the still-flexible Green Stuff.


I also added secondary toes to the feet, although they are somewhat small and not as intimidating as they should be yet, they at least serve as placeholders to build on. I wanted to make sure I got a pretty good proportion to the feet overall. I realize that I'll have to build these out more, the feet need to be pretty thick, elephantine, suggesting that they could bear the massive weight of an Ambull.


Here is a picture exhibiting the connecting point of the two portions (the figure is being sculpted in two pieces because it is to be molded and cast when completed). This peg-and-hole will ensure proper alignment and helps me make sure that areas where the two portions meet-up are consistent.


I tend to think that the professionals may sculpt a whole piece and then figure out how to cut it down for casting and creation of what amounts to a small multi-piece 'kit.' But I cannot be sure, it's probably different from case to case depending on what the shape is. This Ambull will be fairly straight forward for mold-making and casting as the shapes are, overall, fairly unsophisticated.

I tell you, it's been a while since I've painted anything and I'm getting eager to get this guy done so I can get some painting done! Limitations on time and desk-space prevent me being able to maintain a decent painting set-up while working on the Green Stuff. One thing at a time... little by little I get there.

Thanks again to everyone who has viewed and to those who have posted responses, it really feeds my enthusiasm for this project!

Added details to the forearms, I knew this would be hard so I moved very carefully, there are some small areas I will cut away and re-do as I'm not terribly happy with them. The Ambull's right arm came much better, the left-front will get some surgery:


The backs of the arms turned out pretty well, I think by the time I got around there I had a better impression of how I wanted it to look, veins popping out.


This of course deviates from what the original miniatures had as far as texture goes, but as this is my first sculpt I have to let the Green Stuff guide me a little. The more familiar I get with the material the more I realize what I can do with it. I'm more used to drawing, two-dimensions is my strength, so the three-dimensional working space is a hard arena to get comfortable in. With this sculpt I think I'll be satisfied if it simply looks decent and resolved as a whole character, I'm not really out to duplicate anything. In future sculpts I'll try to design from the ground up and see if I can adhere to it in 3D.

A note - I had tried some small scale sculpting in the past with polymer clays, which are great materials, but I never had luck with them because they needed to be baked solid, a step that I felt interrupted the creative process. With Green Stuff I can add very slight details, bit by bit, and when I like something I've done I put it down, turn the light out and that's it for the evening, my work is frozen in, by the next day it's hardened and ready for subsequent additions. I'm really getting addicted to working with it. If anybody has not used it and wants to try it, get a small amount, I know it's sold in various volumes, and dive in, experiment. This is giving me a whole new tool to use, like I wrote earlier I'm also working on an old Grenadier Miniatures model, and without Green Stuff there's no way I would be able to assemble the thing and add the personal touches.

Wow! I'm sitting here looking at my original Ambull and am amazed at your results. It's a lovely homage to the original figure and some really excellent sculpting. As soon as you started laying on the surface texture it really started to pop!

Great work - looking forward to seeing those feet!

Great sculpting! I love your approach too.

I'd worked with Green Stuff on a small scale before, but when a friend wanted a non-standard Demon Prince, I said, "Yeah, I can do that," and dove right in, just as you advised. I would recommend anyone who wants to get better at sculpting do the same. The only way to get better is by doing it.

I'm curious, when you did the eyes (which look great and characterful), did you do the sockets and fill them with the eyes, or model the sockets around the eyes?

did you do the sockets and fill them with the eyes, or model the sockets around the eyes?

That's a great question, I debated on how to do it before I started. I found that the Green Stuff was holding its shape well enough so I was able to simply model the depressions of the socket around the eye, it made for a pretty nice looking eye, although purely by chance. It did take some pushing and prodding to get the socket and overall eye shapes right, that part I really wanted to mimic from the original Citadel figure, the 'mean alien' look of the Ambull really comes through in the eyes.

Here's a pic shot through a printer's loupe-eyepiece (which I turn to now and then to check my work) where the marks created by the point of a sharp but rounded-end tool can be seen creating the indentation around the eyes.

Looks very nice.
For future reference you might find Brown Stuff better for things like blades and claws. It dries harder than GS and takes filing and sanding much better.

Ambull wrote:
I found that the Green Stuff was holding its shape well enough so I was able to simply model the depressions of the socket around the eye, it made for a pretty nice looking eye, although purely by chance.

So, if I'm reading (and seeing) it right, you modeled the eye and socket together? They look great in any case. Also, from the few times they show up in your pics, I have a feeling I'm going to love the simplicity of tools you made. Any chance of pics?

No problem, I like to keep it simple, I didn't have any tools to start with so I made three shaping tools by carving down popsicle sticks (sold in craft stores), one tool is a dowel that's been sharpened at one end. The jar of water is crucial for proper Green Stuffing: the lubricant between tool and putty, I frequently dip the wood tools into the water, quickly wipe the excess on a paper towel and continue working. The wood retains enough moisture to not require re-moistening for a few minutes.

The little black thing is the eye-loupe I've used a few times, I 'borrowed' it from work. I understand they can cost a few bucks. I really only use it to check things after they've cured, to see if there are any gaps or lumps where I don't want them.

This is what has made the Ambull sculpt thus far:


Here's some progress from the past few nights working:
Extending the toes a little more, building up their body


...and I pushed and prodded and finalized the claws (I was debating on whether or not to remove them and start fresh but I added some thickness and extended the tips a bit and it seemed to work out, they are clumsy but menacing, yet they work together well with the form overall.


Thank you very much to the recent responder on the suggestion of getting Brown/Aluminum - I think I'm going to buy some soon (although it seems harder to get than Blue/Yellow)

I had no idea what an ambull was untill a couple of seconds ago thanks to this inspiring sculpting blog and after seeing some old minis I must say that what you have made looks like a very faithfull recreation. Maybe the back could be a bit bulkier although that will probably come when you attach the head and arms to the bottom part.
Really excellant work, especially considering its a first try with GS. This is also a kick in the ass for me to keep on bashing away at my meager "sculpting" efforts.
Super work, Keep it up!

More more more! We want more! Are you also planning on casting your stuff?

Amazing, I love it!

I'm sure I remember a WFRP adventure in one of my ancient copies of WD that involved the party getting trapped in Ambull tunnels in a 40k/Fantasy crossover

Sounds like a cool adventure, I would not want to be stuck in a tunnel with these guys... I'm picturing NYC subway tunnels with Ambulls rummaging about now...

I plan on casting a few copies for myself to convert to different poses. I have some experience with RTV and resin so that should go well, I just need to get the thing finished.

Any spare copies you feel like casting would porb get you some good stuff through the swap shop. Just saying.

Some work recently! I added a little to the back, just a little filling in where extra detail will go over top, but I have to build up the form. This was particularly sensitive as it continued the front piece to the back piece.

Blurry, sorry about that:


A little sharper:


and still getting there:


I'm starting to think that because I'm posting this progress on Dakkadakka that I will actually finish this project. I have a clinical pathological problem with not finishing things, maybe Dakka was the therapy I needed all along!

...and here is a pair of shots, the two halves held together to determine how it's going to look when completed.
Front:


and back:


I'm quite pleased with the overall form. What remains now is the legs, a bit more build up and detailing (a scaly texture) and the torso, including the back, again with a very scaly texture. I may refer more to the original figure at these stages, but that decision is ultimately made when the Green Stuff is mixed up, the tea is made, and the hands start working (that is to say absolutely anything can happen: at least if I don't like it I can trim it off and start over).

Continuing right along... not much progress over the past week, a little sculptor's-block, but it's been overcome and I'm pushing forward.

I made an attempt at getting some detail on the lower legs, but I didn't have a set plan as to what it was to look like, so I kept pushing GS around without really getting anywhere.


I realized 2 things with the GS: A) there should really be a plan, a pretty solid idea of what the area is to look like, it's hard to 'freestyle' sculpt and B) surface detail is best added AFTER the main form has been established - that is to say I was trying to bulk up the legs AND add detail at the same time, when I should have been focusing on creating the main basic form with no detail, and then gone in to treat the surface with the appropriate effects and details. Maybe this is suitable for the way I work and not for others. It's almost like creating a 'dummy' figure first and then adding the personal details.

So I scraped down the bits I had added and built up a decent smooth layer, effectively bulking up the thickness of the legs (which is what I wanted initially):

and


Closer-up, this one's a bit blurry but you can see the establishing of the basic form:

and


So the next post should offer some detail and texture added to the lower legs. I think I'm getting towards done, definitely more than half-way, past the legs it's the back and a few more bits on the shoulders before I'm content to make the mold. I'll keep track of the molding and casting processes on here (but I can't promise it will be as interesting as Sersi's [much respect] stuff!). I would love to have this guy done by mid-August. We shall see.

Activity stopped! - The story goes like this:
Wednesday morning: a dull pain starts in the middle finger of my right hand (I must not have been exercising it enough!) Come evening it is swollen and in genuine pain.

Thursday morning: pain seems manageable and the swelling doesn't seem to offensive, at work it gets worse, later at home the pain is nearing intolerable. It is clear to me that at this stage the finger is inexplicably infected (probably with the plague of Nurgle). I devote myself to surviving the night and getting to the apothecary the next morning.

The top is the normal middle finger of the left hand, the bottom is the infected finger (why the hell am I showing you all this!?!?!)


Friday morning: The finger is mostly purple, with a lovely bit of Chaos Black at the epicenter of the infection. The doctor is visited, the area lanced, as much pus as possible is expressed (second most painful experience in my life) and I start consuming antibiotic pills. Within hours the pain subsides, the swelling remains but will dissipate soon.

This puts the breaks on sculpting for a few days at least, Curses! So in place of my nightly sculpting sessions I will instead spend more time reading other Dakka posts. Hopefully it will instigate further healing.

Sorry to hear that Ambull, hope you're fit for more sculpting soon, this is looking awesome so far. Just enjoy the sights Dakka has to offer in the meantime.

Thankfully this thing is healing up pretty fast, although I would still not be able to properly hold any tools, hopefully in a few days. Drat! I was going to make a good push on much of the work this weekend... oh well, what shall be shall be... I'll survive...

Healing up and back in action. I did a little bit last night on the lower legs, trying to get some texture on there, I pushed GS around for about a half an hour before I settled on these: welts of raised up areas pock-marked with small depressions. It's tentative, I may trim it off but I think I'll continue it around the entire leg and see what it can lead to.



This is a deviation certainly from the original Citadel figure. Oh, and I built up some 'lip' or, I suppose one could call it, 'cuticle' around the toes:


I realize I need to experiment more with making different textures. I can't wait to get some casts out and put some paint on these guys. It's weird to sculpt something with the consideration of painting it in mind.

Very Very VERY impressive.

What other little critters from Roage Trader or even just regular 40k fluff are there that could be good for sculpting or modeling?

I've been interested in making a "counts as" army of the lesser known races for a while, and then I want to chop em up and feed them to a digestion pool or see what they would look like infested with the genestealer virus.

Looking great - I love the shin texture and the cuticle shaping/ It's really coming along nicely!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Psyker_9er wrote:What other little critters from Roage Trader or even just regular 40k fluff are there that could be good for sculpting or modeling?

From Rogue Trader you've got Jokaero (tech orangutan), Gyrinx (psychic cat), Piscean Warrior (humanoid moray eel), Slann and Zoats...there's probably a few more too

Ah - yes!

Zoats!

It must be Zoats!

Zoats being ridden by squats, chasing slann and jokaero or ptera-squirrels and ferro-beasts

Seriously I think zoats would be awesome.

I'm getting a strange feeling: that I may make a Zoat in the future.

In all seriousness, to move on to another sculpt I believe I would do something that is less-fantastical - that is to say something like a humanoid shape where I would be held to recreating something to a proportion, more challenging. With the Ambull, a creature of pure fantasy, there is a lot of leeway.

Aw heck, maybe I'll just make a Zoat. Citadel's figs of those from back in the eighties were pretty strange, the drawing in the old Rogue Trader is pretty weird too. Cool creature.

I think I'm pretty finished with the legs, though I don't think it is the strongest part of the mini it will certainly suffice. I keep forgetting this is the first time I've done anything like this and I don't have to make it a Tom Meier piece (if you don't know Tom's work you definitely should, look him up - he is easily the greatest scale figure sculptor in the world).

I may add a few more warts here and there, but this is the general effect (back):


and another angle:


It struck me that it may be nice to present a few pics that really show the process, in this case it's not something too amazing, just one of the little areas of the leg. It goes like this:

I roll up a little ball or strip of GS, a lay it in the approximate area I want the addition in:


Then I mush it around more to adhere it and to make it fit the final shape/area more:


I then smooth the seams between the existing material and the fresh material:


and then add the final texture, in this case nothing more fancy than a few points with a mild round-pointed stick:


Like I've written previously, texture is something I should get more practice at.

So that's not a bad night's work for me, off to sleep and I'll leave you with another aspect that I've worked on: the base for this guy. I've been putting together pics for a tutorial on making a GW style round base out of styrene with simple tools (hand-drill and sandpaper) and that should appear sometime soon, this picture is in conjunction with that tutorial, and shows the base that will be copied and used to display the finished Ambulls. I know I could have bought some, but making stuff is much more interesting.
Cheers everyone and thanks to all for reading. I appreciate the comments very much.

("A Disk-Riding Ambull!?!")

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou i was short on expensive tools and your making of those tools was a life saver

Very cool!

Cool Ambull mate, I can imagine squats riding them and wreaking havoc in some subterranean tunnel ! Plan to swap/sell a couple of those when done ?

You da man ambull...you should listen to the black dahlia murder while working your magic...the machine spirit will be sated and pleased...

RDizzle wrote:Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou i was short on expensive tools and your making of those tools was a life saver

I find that homemade tools are often much better, and there's no inhibitions about using them and abusing them. The tools I've made have worn into slightly different shapes since I started using them. I'll just have to make more, but it's easy and very customizable. I've been thinking about shaping some pieces of metal to use for sculpting tools, I'll get around to it at some point... (maybe in time for the phantasmagoric Zoat sculpt!)

I hope to be tackling some more later today, some iffy areas of the 'shoulder' I've been putting off.

Ambull wrote:It is clear to me that at this stage the finger is inexplicably infected (probably with the plague of Nurgle).

Well I was gonna say Syphilis, but according to this it is the taint of "They-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named, who we shall speak of with reverence and fear, lest we invoke their abyssal horde of lawyers.". This taint is conveyed within the corruption that is green-stuff.

You should pee on it, that works well. Also try salting your testes before bed every evening to chase away evil spirits. Otherwise swing a dead cat over your head in a clockwise motion for 777 rotations. One can never be too careful.

Since we are talking about cool critters from 40k art I am currently working on this:

Which is supposed to be more like this:

Which is meant to be a cross between this:

This:

and this:


Okay sorry for the self-gratifying interrupt. Go Ambull!!

umbebruno32 wrote:You da man ambull...you should listen to the black dahlia murder while working your magic...the machine spirit will be sated and pleased...

What's up Battle Brother Umbebruno, Yeah, if I did that I'd started banging my head so hard I'd lose grip on the tools, there would be Green Stuff everywhere.
I was listening to Mercyful Fate while touching up some areas last night. No pics: I made very subtle additions to make the two halves fit better, and to make the forms match up from front to back so that in the final castings only a little bit of filling will be required to make a seamless one-piece model.

I'm determined to make a push forward and get this thing really done, perhaps even by the end of August. We shall see.

A few pics from when I worked on connecting up the two halves. These pics show before I really tightened up the seams, I simply rubber-banded the two halves together.

In pink is where I needed to pay special attention, to get the 'flow' right of the lines:


This was a problem, the tube-like structure that runs from the Ambull's face up over his carapace did not have a nice arc to it, as shown by the arrow. I have since cleaned this up, reducing the indent-effect (pics to follow):


And before long I noticed how goofy this thing looked with a rubber-band around it:

Simply gorgeous - and very nearly there, though it looks like you're aiming for absolute perfection

Excellent. You should try making a simple two part mold. Then you could have an Ambull army.

Looks great.

subscribed.

Wow brilliant work. I wish i could work greenstuff as well as you are. Maybe i should just try some home made tools like yours and a few tutorials. anyway, good luck with the rest of the model.

Ambull 'six-pack,' Hey, have you been working out...?

Added a little texture to the belly-region.


I need to smooth up a few of the bumps, I want to make a texture that will be fairly nice to paint (even though this area will be pretty obscured when the fig is assembled - which means I'll have to pay special attention to the back as that will certainly be visible)


Slow progress this week but I'm getting there.

Cast Please!

@superscenic: Check out the fluff book for 40K called 'Xenology' specifically look at the section on the Umbra, looks ridiculously uncanny to the art/models you have made!

@OP, gotta say this project is coming along nicely, you have some skill with the GS there!

A little bit more texture on the belly, I'm inching along. Actually I could probably start to plot out how I'll make the mold for this guy soon. I'm really itching to get some paint on some Ambulls.

Great GS work.. very impressive and nice tip as to the cheap tools!

Some more bulking out of the abdomen area, I'm finally getting the hang of this bumpy, warty texture, although it will move more towards a scale-like texture on the back and top. I hope to do a little more tonight.

I'm also getting a lot out of this experience in the way of what tools I would want/need moving forward. Seeing the strengths and weaknesses of my simple implements has been inspiring and I believe that I'll be making some more advanced and permanent sculpting tools very soon. If I do so I will put a separate tutorial up (one more thing on life's big to-do list).

Anyway, here are the recent pics, showing the body of this guy take on some character. As always, thank you for checking it out!

These pics show the application of some texturing to the back. More will need to be done to accentuate it a little more, but I'm pretty satisfied with it.



You can see some black marks on the sculpt: this is where I've marked off where I want certain things to go before placing the GS on, in this case I made sure the forms were generally symmetrical before actual sculpting began, helps me keep in-line but also allows me to know how far I can deviate to make the thing look more 'organic.'



I don't think I'm going to make my personal deadline of finishing before the end of August, but there are some days left so we shall see.

Just gets better and better - bravo!

Thats pretty inspiring work. Thanks for sharing with the community. 40k is in pretty serious need of up dating in so many areas. I for one would like to see some revamped genestealer cultists. They would make a beautiful Ig command squads. I think for you next project you should sell your house to buy enough gs to make a void whale!

Don't worry about your deadline too much, we want to see you finish this in as good a fashion as you started in

The only issue I have is that I'm getting bored with all the 'excellent's, outstanding's and 'awesome's I'm giving out to blogs as good as this

Keep up the good work

Kick ass!!. I wonder do you think modelling skills in clay are transferable to greenstuff. Would love to give it a go. Its a whole different scale of work though...

weetyskemian44 wrote:Kick ass!!. I wonder do you think modelling skills in clay are transferable to greenstuff. Would love to give it a go. Its a whole different scale of work though...

What type of clay? I would say absolutely, the scale is crazy and takes some time to get used to but I think you will be really surprised at how GS handles, I had used earth clays in the past, and polymer clays like Sculpey and Fimo more recently for some basic things, but GS is THE stuff, I can see making basic shapes and under-structures with polymer clays, but the GS is the best for detail and keeping the shape you want it to without deforming.

cool. will buy and experiment. I sculpt in earthenware - see my avatar and the link at the bottom of my post. smallest I've ever gone for is about 3 inches so It'll be a whole new world of tiny for me. But I see what your saying about GS being easier to handle - earth clay crumbles so easy.
Thanks for the info

weetyskemian44 wrote:cool. will buy and experiment. I sculpt in earthenware - see my avatar and the link at the bottom of my post. smallest I've ever gone for is about 3 inches so It'll be a whole new world of tiny for me. But I see what your saying about GS being easier to handle - earth clay crumbles so easy.
Thanks for the info

Holy Cow... I just reviewed the photos in your facebook link, Wow, Very nice work, very cool concepts and execution, gorgeous glazing! My advice is get the GS and play around, you will be in control of the medium in less than a minute and start rocking out from there.
It will keep its shape but it does have some flex to it, which I find to be beneficial.

Thanks! I will definitely give it a go. Start with something biggish like an agre

weetyskemian44 wrote:Thanks! I will definitely give it a go. Start with something biggish like an agre

Ha! That's why I started with a 'mini' that's actually a bit bigger than a standard 28mm humanoid. Get some GS, let me know how you like it. I checked out more of your pics, absolutely awesome stuff.

I got some more details on the back and sides last night, little scales, bumps, trying to transition the different areas together:




... getting there ...

Coming along amazingly. Can't wait to see it all together and painted.

*drool* i want one it looks so good!

I was wandering around solelegends when i found this beaut

http://www.sodemons.com/gwmuseum/ambull-gw.jpg

It's so cute! :>

I really do believe they are quite adorable creatures.

I should be posting some pics again soon, and I'm very close to finishing this little devil up.

looking forward to it!
My first ever batch of GS should arrive this week. I might make an ogre/ogryn

New Stuff, little tiny bits, scale-like elements on the upper back on the sides, and starting to fill in the space between the two ribbed-tubes:






Time willing this sucker will be completed by the end of the weekend. I'll probably be able to box him in a mold and start the process with the RTV Silicone. I can't believe I'm actually going to finish this thing, I will be a happy person the day I post a pic of the painted Ambull on this thread.

And we will be happy too. Are you going to paint it, sell it, make molds for it? I'm sure there are a lot of peeps who would pay for that...

Ambulls... always thought of them as hairy b's ever since the Ciaphas Cain series...

Great work btw!

Worked on the 'forehead' area, added some craggy-detail, and added a bit of organic styling to it by extending portions up onto the ribbed-tubes.

These two pics are essentially the same view but give a slightly different angle, I couldn't decide on which to include so I included both:

Wow! Just keeps getting better and better! Can't wait to see this guy finished and painted up.

Amazing work! The detail, and all those different textures!! Astounding!

Between you and Jackanory, I am really inspired to start my own greens.

Great work. I'll sure be checking in with this blog more often.

I've completed, more or less, the texture for the top of this guy, the carapace area. I didn't know what I was going to do at the seam where the two pieces meet, but in the end I decided to hold the two together and sculpt right over the seam, and slice it later. So here's a pic of the top, with a mark showing where the slice would occur:


And more of the top:


And this is how I situated the Ambull to let the GS cure in place last night:


I'm going to increase the height a bit by adding to the feet-bottoms, then I'll clean up a few bits and this will be ready to get into a mold. Although - I have reservations because of how thin the legs are, I may try some radical surgery to increase the bulk of the legs... we shall see... agh... maybe not, as I write this I realize how stupid that might be. I want to see this get done.

Ambull need lie down, Ambull tired (Yawn)

That's looking really good. Looks like it might be ready to be cast in just a few updates.

coolness, me want.

Very nice work!

First sculpt?! That's outstanding... I'm guessing your experience with 2d art gave you an excellent base to understand good textures/patterns?

Your model looks like very good work from an experienced sculptor. I hope you keep going after the ambull's done - you could turn out some wonderful stuff.

Dude this rocks. My vote's on a Piscean next

That's a tremendous figure Ambull... excellent job!

hey ambull - had a go at sculpting green stuff today! pop over my blog and give me your opinion wouldya?

Your chappy looks unerringly close to the actual Ambull - congratulations. Great work.

Thank you all, I appreciate the comments and the viewings. It is now complete and ready to be set up for mold-making, I'll be doing that over the next few days I believe and will get some pics of progress on as I go.

Green Stuff is good for your health.

I think it looks better than GW's

*yawn* *stretch* ...well that was a lovely nap... now back to work:

Claying in the first half of the face/arms portion. What I do with small pieces like this is surround it with clay, a non-hardening non-greasy clay (I use some stuff from Germany, I have no idea what it's called, OMYA, something like that) and 'sculpt' this wall of clay right up to the mold-line where I want the split to be. This will be where any flash will occur so I take my time determining what will be best, silicone allows for some undercuts but there are limits.

Once I get all of this clay formed (I'll show pics of that soon, next few days or so) I build up the mold box (trusty modular easy-to-clean LEGO), double check all sensitive points, press in a few dents to serve as a 'key' to register the two halves of the mold and pour the rubber. Once that's cured I flip it over, remove the clay barrier, apply a release agent to the rubber (I've used different stuff, Murphy's Oil Soap, Vaseline, but I'm thinking about getting some professional release as silicone can react adversely to certain substances) and pour the second half.

I hope to have pics of all of this soon, but for now here's the basic fitting of the Ambull's head/arms section to a basic mold box floor. The size of the box and the position of the piece in the box comes from a lot of sketching out of plans. It is very important to sketch out what I want the mold section to look-like - plan plan plan before a mold-make - this one will include some ducts that will run around the Ambull to help the flow of resin once it's poured.


This shows the clay riding right up to the sculpt, at the line at which I want the mold to split. There's a trick to this, avoiding undercuts and following the 'natural' shapes so as not to create flash lines that obliterate detail.


More pics and progress soon. Thanks for your patience to those who have been following!

"... we're The Sweeney son and we haven't had any dinner..."

Well, I just found this thread and I'm thrilled that I did. I didn't know what an Ambull was, but now I do and I love it. It looks just fantastic.

This is just like what I used to do in uni to make press moulds and slip molds for ceramics - Its amazing how many of these skills are transferable

Awesome blog; only just stumbled upon it.

Your information on sculpting, and your project, is very useful; thank you for taking the time to post it.

I especially liked your homemade tools; quite ingenious.

My lady friend is just starting to do some scratch sculpts, so you have done us both a great service here. She is going to make some of your tools this evening and hopefully try them out soon.

Again, thanks for the really informative blog.

I look forward to seeing how it all turns out! Keep up the great work, mate.

*ambull is stuck, ambull tired zZzZz* Looking great mate!

Clay barrier fitted to the Ambull and completed. This of course does not include the various channels and venting ducts that will allow more fluid travel of the resin through the mold, I'll get those in a post soon.

Side view, showing a curious triangular bit at what will be the top of the mold. This is a funnel, built into the mold to provide a place to pour the resin into. Imagine it as a negative space, it will direct resin towards the main entry point into the mold (which will be around back of this part of the Ambull. This will create a stalk of resin after it has cured, but it will be easy to trim away as it will be one of the mating faces of the completed model and will be hidden once the two parts are glued together). This channel will need to be included when I pour the second half of the mold, it will be shown in subsequent posts.


And front-on. No Han Solo jokes please. One thing I've learned from casting is to never economize on the size of the mold relative to the piece, what I mean to say is that it is worth it to use more silicone to provide strength and stability, rather than have a too-small weaker mold by using a smaller mold box and less silicone. this little guy has plenty of space around him not only for the strength of the mold but for the venting sprues. Thin silicone molds result in deformed final casts. I'll explain why I've left a suspicious gap at the bottom when I pour the second half of the mold. Oh, and that bit of wood is the lower-most venting channel, the claws are channelled out into that. The fangs will be as well, delicate work at that point, I may have to have a drink before getting to work on that (chamomile or peppermint?)

Still great stuff! Can't wait to see how the molding and casting turns out!

More activity: creating some sprues for the mold. These will allow greater passage of resin throughout the cavity.
A particular point of sensitivity is the Ambull's fangs, without a channel stemming off of the tips they will never fill properly with resin. I need to create a "Y" shape to connect the tips with the main horizontal channel at the bottom (the strip of wood).

I start with a piece of 22 gauge wire (craft stores sell this in rolls or spools):


then I bend it in half, roughly, and crimp it together:




... position it to see if it's going to fit well, spread the fork apart a bit more to get it as close to the tips of the fangs as possible ...


... looking pretty good, I mark the points where I'll trim the end to make a better fit ...


... and snip them ...


Now the fit is very nice, minor adjustments and the actual connecting to the fangs can be done with tiny bits of clay.


However, I will bulk the wire up a bit to make a bigger and smoother channel, I add Green Stuff and let it cure, a few more blobs and the sprue will be finished and incorporated into the mold before the first silicone pour.


It may seem like a lot of effort but the careful planning and preparation of a mold makes for better casts.

Thats exactly what the crafts tutor used to say. Cant say I was really any good at it - but at least If your doing it small you wouldn't have the problem we used to have making large molds from plaster of paris - that if your mold walls collapse you end up with a gallon of quickly solidifying plaster on your shoes! this looks safer. Thankyou very much for the step by step pics and structions - they could come in handy on day for if I dare try this...

I've learned through experience: many molds made, casts poured, only to find out that the resin only made it about a quarter of the way through the cavity.
But when it works, wow - the results are just so darned cool, to pull a decent copy out of a mold, clean it off and then paint it up. I love doing it.
Hopefully I'll be able to provide some nice results to show all of you fine folks!

Heh, you just take your time Ambull. My impatience to see finished products is easily tempered by my wish to see an excellent cast of the fantastic sculpt

Nice work! I think everyone knows something about GS that I don't, the stuff that I have is quite old and impossible to sculpt.

I have noticed that if I leave out a ball of yellow and a ball of blue open to the air for a few days, then mix them up, it's much tougher than straight out of the tube. I suppose I should use it up as much as possible so it doesn't dry up on me. I have no idea what the shelf life is.

Looking great!! A very close take on the original!

I should be posting an update soon... 'should...' - I'll get pics up soon. I've added a few more bits to the 'sprues' and channels. I plan to pour some silicone soon.
Work (as in - money, day job) is hammering me (I'm not the first person on Dakka to cite that as a reason for not moving a project along, am I?)

Ohh, you big tease you Ok, we'll wait for 'soon'. Unfortunately, no, you're not the first, why is it that we have to work, dammit this is the 21st century we're living in. when I were a lad I was promised robots would be doing all the work and I be spending my time popping across to Luna and Mars.
Where's my jetpack?

Dear Nurgle.
Awesome. You are an inspiration to those that love greenstuff.

Sometimes when I read about those toiling masses of humanity in the 41st millennium being choked on toxic atmosphere and worked to an early grave I feel a little better about my job


Automatically Appended Next Post:
but still were the hell is my sky car and skintight metalized jump suit

Just to add my two cents. That is very impressive.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the mold works out.

Yeah, in the olds days (and I mean the old days) I'd come home from school on a Friday, after dinner I'd be up there at my desk, painting away, space marines, skeletons, all kinds of little minis, for hours on end, practically the whole weekend. It's almost impossible to even imagine that time now, where with all the stuff that's got to be done, by the time I have the opportunity to sit down and get some work done, I am so exhausted it's just not going to happen. Easier to watch Red Dwarf or Cadfael mysteries or something on DVD. Thank God for the winter though, it'll keep me indoors more.

Happy Halloween everybody! (do they do Halloween in the UK?)

I agree...

School holidays were the best...though we just say and played roleplay for days on end...until being told to get out in the garden, where we'd promptly kick a football around till tea.

Anyway, I have always called it Halloween. Though, it isn't really that big here as we have Bonfire Night next week.

I spent my holidays as a child wandering the woods and fields and riverbanks identifying edible plants. but thats because I'm secretly a hobbit...

Yeah we have Hallowe'en - it's practically a British invention!

Like mano said above, we're much bigger for Bonfire Night, that's the 5th. I always get a little sad on that day, but we still get rat-arsed and set off a bajillion fireworks. Good times.

I spent my holidays identifying inedible plants, and then trying them. Or playing RPGs, or playing on the speccy or the c64, or watching videos till our eyes bled. What I never did was wonder how I'd get on with my hobby stuff when I would still be at work at 18:50

Hey weety you're right, it's not just my jetpack I want, I forgot about the shiny skin tight outfits for women, that or the Starfleet issue mini-skirts.

Ambull, you could try intermingling your hobby time with a dvd of something good you've seen a million times before.


edit: for spelling

Actually - yes, watching something really cool that you've seen a million times is great for painting cos you don't really need to look at the screen

Star Trek outfits were the best. - Yeah, I actually do a healthy diet of books-on-tape (course it's on CD now) whilst putzing at these projects, it's all very therapeutic really.

Hey Tek, Weety, Monkey... Penny for the Guy?

Well, guess you can have this Guy, he's not doing much around here, not sure if I'll take Penny in exchange, not sure I've met her

I tend to listen to music when I paint - stick the mp3 on random so there's a good mix and a few bits of comedy thrown in there - over watching a film, but that's mainly as I don't really want to start moving modelling stuff into the main room. Although that's started to happen as I tend to take pics in there and so theres a few minis lying around now. Occasionally I'll take a portable DVD player into the workroom, but probably only if I was trying to get a certain feeling or inspiration, if that makes any sense.

Heck i paint on a desk in my room with a 42" screen infront of me (connected to my Computer of course[yes i can cruise on dakka using that 42"]) and a ipod dock to my left, i`m pesonally surprised that i can concentrate. Anyway onto the ambulll, as 9it is my first post on this thread let me take a second to say how awsome this ambull is. I must say this is a extremly good first attempt, i`ve tried greenstuff before but have never really had much luck, more of a painter my self. Mabye im ahead of myself here but i wanted to know the colour scheme of the finished model, i`ve seen some interesting colours for ambulls and am intruiged about yours. Please tell me?

I paint in bed with a laptop streaming southpark usually. I've done whole 30 inch canvases lying down many a time. No spillages yet.

So when do you pour your first cast mr ambul?

@ Weety you've just tempted Fate.

@ Ambull Terry Pratchett is good to listen to on tape - funny, witty, deep. Usually read by Nigel Planer or Tony Robinson (two sort of famous British Comedians from the 80s). There are about 40 Audio books...all available abridged or unabridged.

@ Monkeytroll...I want Deathrace 2000!

Weety: You paint in bed!? Frida Kahlo style? I swear I will mold and cast soon, I like this forum so much because there is no excuse for me to put this project aside, it's inspiring to see the demand for updates!

Mano: 'Sort of' famous?! Baldrick ("I have a cunning plan...") and Neil! The Young Ones was very important to my upbringing. I was watching the one with Motorhead just the other night.

As for color scheme I can't decide, my instinct points me towards some earth colors for the body with some points of brighter, louder colors for dynamism (fangs, eyes). Casting allows for some experimentation.

Its music for me, AC/DC will do fine.

Frida Kahlo? well my painting in bed is probably the result of chronic rather than polio!

Not quite old enough to have seen the young ones but I caught the re-runs. Some one said my first flat-share after leaving home reminded them of the young ones. Bubbling mushroom brew on the stove. damp patches so evolved that they can hold a conversation, pet chinchilla bouncing around and a bunch of hippies and punks dossing on my floor

Getting back into it. I finished watching the old series 'The Sandbaggers' and can now devote more evening time to the completion of this project. To recap: the present goal is to reproduce the sculpt in resin.

The channels and sprues are sufficient enough to start with, although I ALWAYS wind up cutting more into the rubber after it's cured. this is a decent starting point and first casts are always trial runs to show where more venting is needed.


I should mention that this is not how to do it properly. This is how I am doing it, without vacuum chamber (which really is necessary when doing silicone molds). This is a real punk effort and we'll see how it works. Maybe it'll end up over in Skalk Bloodaxe's failed-thread (there's confidence for you!).

If you ever buy silicone and resin, always mark the date on the bottles and cans when you get them. This way you know if it's getting too old to use. Old materials cause problems. For example, the silicone I'm using here is over four years old. That's nasty - chunky, very viscous, like a paste more than the creamy pourable stuff it wants to be. But I can cheat - and add a thinner to it. This does weaken the mold, but gives a little more life to old stuff such as this. Look at how lumpy this is, don't try this at home: use fresh silicone.


Chunky old silicone with catalyst being added:


More soon, I promise, I want this thing completed so I can move on a build a six foot titan or something (kidding). You can see in one of the pics that I started applying rubber to the mold. I'll get those pics up soon.

good luck my fingers are crossed for you

Nope, that's it. Your schedule has been set, next it's a full squad of zoats, then a 6-foot titan

Looking forward to seeing the first cast.

Now I'll really start embarrassing myself. When one doesn't have a vac-chamber, one can deal with detailed areas by gingerly applying a thing layer of silicone first, and leaving the bulk of it till later.

Here I drip small bits onto the crucial areas, mushing it around to get as much contact as possible. "A li'l dab'll do ya"


More mushing:


and a light layer is developed to encompass the important parts. One has to be really careful though because air will tend to get trapped everywhere


More absurdity soon. We'll see if these crackpot methods work.

Second layer started - the 'bulk' of the mold.

I think I see what you are doing here - Its sort off cheating and the old crafts lecturers wouldn't approve (yes we did have some resin and silicone experts in uni) but the important thing is the final result and the ease of achieving it so I will hold my breath and blow on my lucky rabbits foot.

I was surfing the gallery and came across... an ambul??? Excellent thread, read it from start to finish, really impressed w/ your skills. Hoping your cast comes out for you. Will be following this thread, it's pretty cool. And if for whatever reason you don't finish it... I know of another thread you can post it on.

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:And if for whatever reason you don't finish it... I know of another thread you can post it on.

Ha ha! You're collecting souls for your thread! Now Dakka has a 'Valhalla' where things can go when they die. It's kind of comforting.
But this Frankenstein's monster must live. I've never posted progress on a project before, and because I've done so here I feel like it's got to be finished.

you going to do how many??

Amazing work, really shows off what you can do with time, patience, some really good clay tools, and I'm betting at least 50 bucks worth of greenstuff. Having a professional grade cast for Ambull's is astronomically bad ass. Seeing a diorama of one of those in the ice tunnel seen with Ciaphas Caine would be nerdgasmic.

Its so close, so very close. You will be making enough of these for us all right?

How many? I don't know. How many would it take for Games Workshop to sue me? I'll make plenty, I want to paint a cluster of these guys, don't worry. (strangely, this idea to make an Ambull came from not being able to buy an original to incorporate into a restored Rogue Trader marine force...don't ask)

To tell the truth, time is the one materials I do not have, I have to force myself to stay up late to get work on this done, but it's very relaxing time. I'd be done with this thing if I had more time ("Time enough at last").

Tube of Greenstuff from some store online was $15.00 American, probably a little over 9 of your Foreign United Kingdom Pound Notes. Green Stuff is still traded on the black market in the former USSR, it costs five packs of cigarettes and a bar of chocolate.

I plan to do a bit more tonight. I'm psyched up now, I feel like the finish-line is in sight. I'm going to wipe the sweat from my brow, throw some Gatorade in my face and go for the home stretch.

"Must... cast.... copies of... esoteric... wargame monster...!"

Ambull wrote: Green Stuff is still traded on the black market in the former USSR, it costs five packs of cigarettes and a bar of chocolate.

I plan to do a bit more tonight. I'm psyched up now, I feel like the finish-line is in sight. I'm going to wipe the sweat from my brow, throw some Gatorade in my face and go for the home stretch.

"Must... cast.... copies of... esoteric... wargame monster...!"

With the price of ciggs here in Cali, thats a pretty steep cost! You wouldn't happen to have the link to where you are getting bulk GS from do you? I've gone through a third of a tube in 3 days myself. :/

I looked and found it, Amazon, look for Troll Tactics Mail Order or click this link: http://www.amazon.com/b/qid=1289624160?ie=UTF8&me=AQTYRQN0XQKLX

Their price was $15.99 - I am quite satisfied with this price as I love the stuff and have barely used the rolls I got. The Ambull didn't really take that much, and other portions are allotted to assembly of a giant metal skeleton I'm also working on.

Wow...nice link. Lots of really good modeling stuff there for way cheaper than my local shop. Thanks bro!

Let me know if your interested in switching something for a ambull :-)

PM me please when (if) you want to sell one please.

Well, I've just found this thread and it is truly superb! I've just read through from the start and now want to see the finished model. Great work Ambull!

Ambull wrote:I looked and found it, Amazon, look for Troll Tactics Mail Order or click this link: http://www.amazon.com/b/qid=1289624160?ie=UTF8&me=AQTYRQN0XQKLX

Their price was $15.99 - I am quite satisfied with this price as I love the stuff and have barely used the rolls I got. The Ambull didn't really take that much, and other portions are allotted to assembly of a giant metal skeleton I'm also working on.

Werd, the local shop charged $22 with the ungodly 9.75% sales tax not included. Then again, I've been terribly wasteful with it since I'm still on my first GS project. Sourcing cheap parts is always vital!

Progress: First half of the mold is cured and I now remove the back of the mold box and the original barrier of clay to pour the second half. This pour is done ONLY after a protective layer of vaseline is applied to the exposed surfaces of the existing rubber. I will leave one portion at the bottom (in previous pictures there was a block of space left at the bottom of the mold box) un-guarded so the first half will adhere to the second half and make a nice little 'hinge' to keep both halves together and more or less in decent register with each other.

Removing the back of the box:


Peeling away the clay barrier:




Back of the mold and pattern: this is what was embedded in the clay, and will now be covered in silicone in the same fashion as the first half. Vaseline or release agent is a must - silicone will bond with itself:


I will also take time to inspect the sprues and channels to make sure they're intact, re-conditioning a few of the points so ensure as much ventilation of resin into the cavity as possible.

More soon. I'm getting there, closer to Doppelgänger Ambulls.

really building ups suspense in this thread...

vik

Hey great stuff fella , lovely idea with the ambul, doesnt everyone love rt xenos.

Aaahhh! pour it!!! Please!!!

Okay:

./clap
./happydance
./excited

C:/_.......

Awesome.

Where the is Boba Fett?

I have been following this thread from the beginning and only ask for one thing....


THAT YOU HAD MORE TIME IN THE DAY!!!! I am on pins and needles waiting for the next step.


i.e good work

GW shouldn't be able to sue you, as you're not molding one of their products (you've sculpted the original), and they don't currently have a model for it.

They can if he calls it an ambull Trademark infringment etc.

If he calls it something else... he can make as many as he wants. :-) :-) :-)

Call it an Amble/Ambal/Ambell or something like that, and you'll be right

Ambulatory Ambulance. Or you could call it a pre-amble. OR a saunter, stroller, wanderer, perambulator, etc.

"Roggue Traitor Ambule"

I would love to have more time in the day.

"A.M.Bull Action Type Wargame Figure"

Mold box dismantled (the torso-leg section is currently being clayed-in, pics of that soon) and the mold splits nicely and crisply apart, vaseline having provided a decent release agent (I used to use a cleaner called Murphy's Oil Soap, which is good I think for plaster but not for silicone):


All the sprues and channels, the positive form for the pouring spout and of course Harrison Fo... erm, the Ambull himself (herself?) are removed from the rubber:


I'm satisfied with how things look (but with silicone and resin casting you can never see all of the defects until a cast is pulled). I believe this will produce a competent replica of the sculpt:

HAH! yes. Keep it poppin

Oooohh, the tension is mounting

Hurrrr! looking absolutely lovely!

That Ambul's depression is making a positive impression.

Oh snap, dude!

Beautiful. . . planning on selling?

Whens the first cast?

Ambull wrote:

Looks good though! Can't wait to see this bad boy cast.

I'm pushing ahead as much as possible. Claying-in the torso-legs section is going nicely, actually pretty complete now but for the sprues and channels (which is kind of grunt work, not too much involved there).





I'm getting excited to see how this will turn out.

argh, your a regular tease you now?

do you know when we will probably see some complete casted model from you...

hope all will go well.

vik

I like that you wrote on the slotta base - very professional and stylish - you could launch a range of miniatures on the strength of this I think

I would buy a a Grox! and make it into a burger!

The slotta-strip may not actually get used for stability in the end, I needed a decent channel between the feet, and in all honesty I put the letters on there just to see if I could do it. Someone, maybe someone on Dakka, posted a tutorial somewhere on how to do it, some techniques on getting the letters that small.

The closer I get to the end the more I want finished casts, this will move quickly now (I hope).

will you do more castingmoulds? so to like, cast lots of your fellas in short time?

would be nice to see a whole force of them...by the way, how are the supposed to move? are they rather slow ones or more faster? the pose looks like a lurch to me...^^

as said before, i´m anxious too to see it casted^^

good luck, vik

God!! The suspense is killing me... please cast it soon.

FTL

P.S. Great blog by the way!!

I actually have no idea how they move, I'll have to check the old Rogue Trader manual. They eat rocks or something. For the bases on the first few I'll have bits of rubble from their last feast.

They'll be on 1.5" round bases.

so they´re basicaly some kind of sifi troll or what, guess i have to check lexicanum about them^^.

vik

they have scaly rocky skin

Typically a treatment at an upscale day spa and a regiment of moisturizers can help this, but I think it gives the creature some character.

Plus, I sculpted textures that I thought would be really nice to paint: a little wash, a little drybrush, hey presto! Quick and easy.
Although I do want to give a little more color than just a cursory 1-2-3 get it on the table paint-job.

Yes you should get your ambull a pumice stone to buff down those unsightly rough areas.

argh please no detail killer on these fellas...
i can imaguine actually someone doing that with his minis...
some people might try evereything...

vik

Lol - no I'm only kidding

if you hadn´t said it, i´d have to say: "you must be kiddn`"
i love the sound of the word "kiddin`" ^^

vik

Nice!

Ambulls are subterranean alien creatures native to the desert death world of Luther Macintyre IX.

They can easily survive extremely hot temperatures, which has led to attempts at domestication on several hot desert planets. As a consequence, Ambulls can be found throughout the Imperium.

Ambulls have huge barrel chested bodies and an ape-like stance, their arms reaching almost to the ground, while their legs are crooked and short. The Ambull's most characteristic feature are their huge expandable jaws. Their eyes are able to sense heat.

The Ambull's limbs end in iron hard claws used for digging through the soft stone of their homeworld. Ambulls will excavate tunnels in which to live, spending most of their time underground. These burrows can often form extensive underground complexes.

Due to the intense heat of Luther McIntyre's sun, the Ambull's subterranean lifestyle is shared with many of the death world's inhabitants, including the Ambull's favorite food, the Crawler. Ambulls will pursue prey through soft rock by tunneling at considerable speed.

However it is worth noting that Ambulls were sighted on the ice world Simia Oricalcae while the Valhallan 597th were protecting a valuable promethium refinery. Commissar Ciaphas Cain sighted and slew a great number of the beasts while uncovering a system of tunnels under said refinery. Evidence shows that the creatures do as well on ice worlds, as they do on desert planets.

hey thanks for the fluff miss dee

vik

as vik said thanks for that!

Miss Dee: thanks for the fluff on these guys! It's very similar to the old Rogue Trader description.

Speaking of minis getting details smoothed down: this is something I encounter when I purchase old lead-figure sets: Some of the minis, while un-painted, have been handled so much that the details are all rubbed off. It's a shame and alerts us to the necessity for care whilst handling older metal minis.

I have no pics yet of this but I started pouring the second mold (legs and torso) last night. I should have that finished up quickly. My old silicone is really congealing, nasty stuff - take it from me kids: Always use fresh materials.

We demand more pics! Start casting!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone in the states. I've poured more silicone on the second mold, but here are some pics of the clay prior to the pour:


This shows the detailed nature of how the clay must reach right up to the master at the point at which I want the mold line to be:


And this is the bottom of the mold box, this is underneath the clay barrier that is shown in the above pics. All of this gets removed, just like the other mold, filled with silicone to create the other half.


I've accounted for the 'hinge' as with the other to make it one piece of rubber, opening like a clam-shell. I should have mentioned earlier - baby powder is a good thing to shake onto the contacting surfaces of two-or-more-part silicone molds, it makes them register and fit together more easily.

I didn't add too many sprues to this one as I'll probably just cut them into the rubber once it's cured. This piece is simpler than the head/arms section.

weetyskemian44 wrote:I like that you wrote on the slotta base - very professional and stylish - you could launch a range of miniatures on the strength of this I think

Seriously. This thread is amazing.


The ambull looks sorta like an Umber Hulk.

get it cast, quick! The suspension is killing me!

Looks like he/she , both is digging through that soft earth for dinner, that or his kids have burried him at the seaside !

You are my hero.

Hero!? Surely not.
Both molds are done, head/arms section and torso/legs section. Some air-voids in the torso/legs section but I'm not too concerned about that. A second mold can always be made with a vacuum chamber.

Next post will report on casting. Thanks for your patience to the folks who are following this.

This is really awesome! I miss the flavourful critters of the rogue trader era! It's a flavour that GW has more or less abandoned and that makes me a sad panda. Great work and I hope to see more of it!

Yeah me too,

Very nice stuff, really looking forward to seeing this finished as the Ambull is my all time favourite 40k alien and you've certainly done it justice.

Alright - not a complete cast (I'll explain why) but I wanted to post some progress.

The second mold after the box is taken away from it:


Material is removed from the mold:


and the impression appears fairly good, one major air bubble that I can patch near the legs, not a problem:


and an incomplete first casting. I took it out a day later and sprayed it with a little gray primer so I could see the surface better. The mold caught way more detail than I had first thought, I'm very pleased with the results.

The reason as to why they are incomplete is that I cast these at work just before the end of the day. The phone rang as I had mixed the resin, and the call took way too long, so my resin had started to cure by the time I got back to my molds. So I got some half-shots here, but still interesting and informative as to where I need to be careful and where some extra vents need to be cut into the rubber on the legs/torso section:


back of the legs section:


and back of the front section:


Next cast will be with adequate time and resin. I'll posts pics. Should be really soon. Thanks again for all of your support and patience!

Wow,

That casting picked up a LOT of detail...

Best of luck with the next round

Looking good!

good looking??? i am shocked at the level of detail, the green was something we got used to during the whole process, but since you showed us the spraed casts i see what astonishing work you´ve done on a whole new level. that sir is going to be a major thing...

salutes, vik

This is some very inspiring stuff! Neat project!

Excellent result Ambull, detail is indeed impressive.

Woah, seriously good work here. You are one talented sculptor, do you do commisions?

Question, is the amont of flash shown normal for this process or are you able to reduce this?

Fantastic results Ambul, do you have anything in mind as a next project , when your done here, Grox Jokaero, Gyrinx, death ferret, or something even more obscure...Dominator maybe?

Fantastic green.

No joke: I was considering doing an Astral Hound.

But I too am very pleased with the detail. Silicone, in theory, and when used properly (which is certainly not the case here!) is intended to pick up ALL detail.

The flash is the result of me not clamping the mold halves together as neatly as possible, a little bit more pressure should alleviate that problem. No matter how well something is molded, the first cast is always going to be a 'proof' that indicates where some changes need to be made.

I would love to have a pressure chamber at my disposal, I might get one to make this project really finish off nicely, I have put quite a lot of time into the green. Resin, under pressure, cures with far less air bubble problems.

Commissions? Yeah I would do commissions I think. I really enjoyed the sculpting and I will definitely be doing more.

But for now I owe all of you fine folks some proper pictures of proper, full casts! And then some painted ones! I'll report back in as soon as I can. Cheers everyone!

good luck with your future casts...

where do i find a Astral Hound picture?

want to know where your next voyage will take you...^^

vik

Astral Hounds were included in the first Rogue Trader manual, kind of a neat pencil drawing of this dog-like thing firing out of a digital-warp-in-space.

I definitely want to make something humanoid, to try to get a 'real' form shaped up in a sculpt would be cool.

Thats the trick - getting a human to look real is always hard as we know our own form too well to be easily convinced. I can confirm this from the many happy hours I spent drawing naked people just to get it right(and because its fun). I've heard somewhere that its easier to start with squats/dwarves or orks. Something humanoid but not human.

That.

Is.

AMAZING!


I wish you the very best of luck during your 2nd attempt.
And unplug your phone line ;-)

weetyskemian44 wrote:Thats the trick - getting a human to look real is always hard as we know our own form too well to be easily convinced. I can confirm this from the many happy hours I spent drawing naked people just to get it right(and because its fun). I've heard somewhere that its easier to start with squats/dwarves or orks. Something humanoid but not human.

True..in video games they call it the silicon valley effect or some such, looks real ...but not quite right , kinda freaky different! like Micheal Jackson

Yeah - did you see that film Beowulf? really bizzare how close it is to being real but its just not quite right.

lol and also shame on you making funof a dead star...does that make him into a balck hole i ask myself...?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
awww, dont say you liked beowulf... only saw stills of it but i though urgh that sucks...

vik again...

neil101 wrote:

weetyskemian44 wrote:Thats the trick - getting a human to look real is always hard as we know our own form too well to be easily convinced. I can confirm this from the many happy hours I spent drawing naked people just to get it right(and because its fun). I've heard somewhere that its easier to start with squats/dwarves or orks. Something humanoid but not human.

True..in video games they call it the silicon valley effect or some such, looks real ...but not quite right , kinda freaky different! like Micheal Jackson

Uncanny Valley. It's a sudden negative dip in attractiveness on a graph charting attraction and similarity of features to humans.

Tom Meier, who I've mentioned previously somewhere in this thread, has written on the subject of scale and proportion in miniatures, his company Thunderbolt Mountain has a section on their site called The World According to Tom, which has MANY interesting bits of information from him. He is the greatest there is at miniature sculpting, and his decades of experience are definitely trustworthy. He talks about different body parts and their scales.

Ambulls are easy, to be honest, because they don't have to look like anything real, so there's some leeway in getting a decent monster sculpt, especially with such an awkward creature! But even the Rogue Trader humans are very, shall we say, 'stunted,' in their sculpting. But that's the appeal!

I have a Tom Meier Zombie Dragon somewhere....

Back to Topic at hand...
I'm too young to have known any Rouge Trader models, but if your ambull looks like any of the Originals. I Like those Models !

Bloodhorror wrote:I have a Tom Meier Zombie Dragon somewhere....

Back to Topic at hand...
I'm too young to have known any Rouge Trader models, but if your ambull looks like any of the Originals. I Like those Models !

His looks a lot like the original, a bit less hunched over though, and it looks skinnier (to me at least) but that's fine.

http://www.solegends.com/citrt/rt602ambull.htm

The Rogue Trader models will always be my favorite.
(I'm a bit young as well but I have a bunch of the RTB01 Marines and some of the old Slaves to Darkness Chaos marines. Check out my gallery)

Anyway, considering that I started following this thread at its inception, I am super impressed, especially since this is your first time with greenstuff. You seriously need to sell this. "Desert Mutant Bug" or something to that effect.

Wow very impressive stuff. I always liked the old Ambull model and this one is as good if not better than the original. Cant wait to see what you come up with next.

I hadn't checked this thread out in a while. One thing I noticed instantly was how you have sculpted the "tag" for the model (Ambul 2010) in the same fashion that the models from the day were done. I think the nod is respectfully done and very cool.

Aside from that I can't say anything else that hasn't already been said. I'll be back around, fixed my subscription.

Uncanny Valley. It's a sudden negative dip in attractiveness on a graph charting attraction and similarity of features to humans.

thanks for putting me straight

I finally had the opportunity to do another pour tonight. I didn't answer the phones. I think it went okay, but of course the cured resin will tell the full story. I'll post pics ASAP. Thanks for your patience.

Ooooh, eagerly awaiting the results

..What are you going to do with the 1st attempt?

i think he should give it away for charity reasons...

me, i am a poor guy and would ultimatly qualify for that prospect...^^

vik

Second cast removed this morning, the front section cast nicely, a few points I'll need to attend to by cutting some extra vents - the torso and legs cast pretty poorly - but I believe this can be remedied by adding some more vents to relieve a few major spots where the resin cannot get to because of air. It would be great to vacuum the resin first, then let it cure in a pressure chamber, but hey... no access to such tools at the moment.



Flash is still an issue but I think I can get a better clamp on the mold next go around, which will hopefully be tomorrow.

"Is it live or is it Memorex?" The Green meets the Gray (I gave a rough spray prime to see the detail and faults)


This second cast has shown where work need be done on venting the mold. Next cast will be done after those extra vents are cut. I'm very excited because I foresee painting these guys up in the near future.

Still looks good, still impressed by how much detail the casts picked up, still eagerly watching

yeah it looks good - can I persuade you to de-flash one and put it together to see what it looks like?

seeing these new cast a question erupted from the bubbly soup thats usually my mind...: how many casts will you be able to do with one mold? is there a limit to it?... i guess there will be, so if your answer is yes indeed, what will you do to get around these limitations?

by the way regardless of flashes i love the model, will look astounding when paintet mate!

vik

Looks great. is the resin brittle like the forge world stuff ?

I would say it's pretty good cuality on those!

Yeah, that's an excellent idea: I should cut the flash off and assemble one of the sets, and just stick GS in to make up for whatever detail was lost from the cast. I'll try to do that, it'll certainly be a customized version.

The silicon molds definitely have a lifespan, though it depends on what the casting material is. The curing action of the resin really hammers the walls of the mold and the rubber starts to discolor, although I've never had a mold really give out on me because I've never done enough casts to test it.

This is not really a problem because duplicate molds can be made, I think someone here on Dakka posted a quick way to make duplicate molds from existing molds, I'll try to find it and post it in here.

And yes - this resin is a brittle substance once it's properly cured, which can be good, but on larger projects I would reinforce pieces by casting in metal bars or wires. On this project it's so small that there is no weight or strength issues with the resin.

ARe Ambulls solitary creatures? If not you should make up a squad of them and make rules for use in 40k.

Still watching, still impressed. Showing this thread to a friend of mine that is talking about casting.

Wow so very good! I must say that I now want to start casting things myself haha

A few pages back I posted info on them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
"Ambull Smach!!"

My Ambulls will definitely be herd creatures, an excuse to cast and paint up a bunch of them.

I have cut the extra vents into the mold and I believe it will make a big difference, I'm excited about getting another pour in there. Pics very soon.

holy awesome sauce! amazing work! prey tell if/when will these be available for sale?

Feels like it's been ages: I got a decent pour in tonight, will let it cure and see how the additional vents serve the final cast. I'm going to see about getting some cast in metal, pewter may be the only available possibility at the moment. This would of course be done by another party, hired for the cause. Not too sure I like the idea of painting on pewter, but I suppose once it's got a decent coat of primer it is what it is.

OOO exciting - be sure to let us know how it goes.

A few pages ago I mentioned a WFRP adventure in WD featuring an Ambull.

Managed to track it down (WD108), and took these pics, hope you enjoy them

WWWOOOAAAA!!!!

Nice one Slinky, can we have a close up of the stats?
G'luck with the next cast Ambull.

-Alex

CBA to get the camera out again, but the stats are:

M 6
WS 50
BS -
S 5
T 5
W 18
I 50
A 3
Dex 20
Ld 43
Int 14
Cl 43
WP43
Fel 20
Align Neutral

Of course, these are WFRP stats rather than WFB

Yeah, pretty cool tho...

looks like the ambull is in fact a living artefact...

Note that it mentions that they live in family groups, so a "herd" is go!

Cool stuff. good post thanks

Slinky - you are Lord of the Records: that is an incredible document - thank you so much for posting it!

Well I found that I need some more venting of the upper areas of the mold, so I'm going to try to do another shot today.
The mold behaved well but air is still getting trapped, every cast is an indicator that helps me figure how to get the best results

I anticipate meeting next week with the person who can do legitimate vulcanized rubber molds and pewter casts, possibly another metal, we'll see.

Three things:
Awesome find, Slinky!

Someone needs to grab a dusty copy of WH40K and turn to page 207.

And... How absurd is old school GW? "...if you don't have this book, why not?"

Well as it happens

Slinky for the win! Man, you are on top of things. I like it.

Although, now I'm interested in the Carnivorous Sand Clam.

Canivorous sand clam chowder...

thats sounding a lot like somekind of meal to me...?

Nice, can you give us the page on crawlers, and maybe the next page about the Carnivorous sand clam?

Man some of those old books are exiting O.o

-Alex


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Meh, why not just take a picture of every page, LOL!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Looks like the sand clam is like a immobile trap.

M-0
WS-6
BS-0
S-4
T-4
W-1
I-3
A-1

It cant rout or lose its cool or anything.

Hey Slinky, that's the page. I remember really loving that pencil drawing of the Ambull. There are some goofy critters on those pages, Astral Hound... maybe my next sculpt should be one of those clam things? Oysters anyone?

Anyway - I popped out last night's cast and the additional vents really made a huge difference. Both molds fill up to the top, there were a few other bubbles but nothing that can't be filled in. Now I've got to vacuum the resin before I pour it and I think I'll be able to pull decent-full casts out. I'll get pics on ASAP.

The one I got last night is good enough to be painted, so I'll try to prime it and get something going there as I proceed with more castings. Like I've written - my goal is to have a finished, based, painted herd of Ambulls shown on this thread.

Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas and Happy Boxing Day!

Cool, an astral hound could be fun to make, maybe you could have it half in and half out of warp space, like in the rouge trader book?

Razorwings also look cool, can't wait to see your new casts!

Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah,

-Alex.

alexgm101: Sorry but, Chanukah had ended about 15days before you wrote that.

But thanks anyway, and be merry etc in if any thing you celebrate, even if it is just double pay day

All three casts shown together, top to bottom (in white). The third is the most complete and shows the capability of the mold to fulfill all cavities. I'll continue to generate these. Next step will be to trim away the flash and the vents (including the pour spout, which will require sawing, I should have engineered that slightly differently) and assemble a few finished models.

I may use the first few 'priming' casts for scrap arms to alter the poses. Conversions on the casts, as it were.

Looking nice! How many will you cast for a squad?

Good stuff Ambull

Awesome stuff.

If you plan to make a bunch of these or some additional creatures you might want to look at getting a pressure vessel. Curing the resin at 40 to 60 psi will take care of most of your air bubbles and give you a much better cast.

Personally, I'd like to see some ptera squirrels next

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yQ0gnzU3SFk/SzId-d5tfnI/AAAAAAAAA7c/alrZKchnqXw/s1600-h/ptera-squirrel.JPG

Hi,
I really like your sculpt and because I will in future cast my own sculpts I was searching all over different forums for helpfull tips.
I found something which may be helpfull for you too.
http://www.amazon.de/Genius-31067-Timer-Vakuum-Dosen/dp/B000OM6P3A/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1293653839&sr=8-6

Those are plastic bins (?) which hold food fresh, they are equipped with a small ventil and a vacuum pump to suck the air out.
It is commonly used in casting for historical models as seen belov in this link:
http://www.modellversium.de/galerie/2-ausstellungen/4335-pmc-suedpfalz-ausstellung-2009-teil-1-verschiedene-hersteller.html

Its only in German but the pictures are good enough I think.
The trick is to put the silikonmould with the freshly poured resin into the bin and pump out the air out of it.
It will "suck" the airbubbles out of the resin, it is only important that it is not a very fast curing one.
I know it is far from professional casting but it may improve your results.
Im sure you will be able to find some at you local store or Amazon or Ebay.

This may have allready been covered but why is there so much flash?

I just love the flash - naw, it's a clamping thing, not too much of a concern, most of it is wafer thin and flakes right off when touched.

Again, this is not really the right way to go about any of this, but it's simply my way of getting some copies of this guy. I worked with a home-made vacuum chamber some years back and it really works well.

If anyone has not seen the casting work of Sersi then go get a huge portion of whatever food it is that you enjoy, beverage as well, tell everyone that you are ill and won't see them for a few days and look at this: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/235930.page

There is a lot of practical guidance for pressure and vacuuming and dealing with air-bubbles. Like I wrote, I have to see a man about metal casting. I anticipate seeing them next week.

A pro quality sculpt ridiculously faithful to the artwork, great job! My only problem, and it's a big one, is why the ambul?! It's gotta be the dumbest looking alien in the RT brb, i mean even the Jokaero look alot cooler and they are space orangatans... Will have to wait for 'sculpting a Jokaero in greenstuff'....

I thought the warp-hound thing was dafter by far - or the mega stoat. I like the ambul - It does slightly have the character of a B-movie monster but that was the style back then

the ambul is the personification of retro, in a good way...

Yeah, gotta love the b-movie styling of the ambull, ptera-squirrels now..or the bouncers - although they get bonus points for the DarkStar ref

Hey how about casting up some Catachan face-eaters next?

It's a good question - why choose a strange, obscure creature who is rarely even thought of these days? I had Rogue Trader on my mind, and quite honestly I miss the humor and the tongue in cheek nature of old GW material. I think it's too serious and it's lost some personality. The Ambull is simply a cool example of the weird style of the late eighties Warhammer stuff. I am already thinking about what humanoid to try as the next sculpt, but things are a bit up in the air as my workspace has been shifted around a bit and needs some re-organization.

I owe everyone here pics of an assembly of an Ambull, and I will post that soon.

How about the Grox or the oversized T-Rex?

I continue to be amazed great stuff man!

Outstanding work!

I've got a pair of the originals and just dug them out last night...was looking for what type of demand there was in the 40k environment for them as I don't play the game any longer and found this thread, you've done a marvelous job at reproducing the originals. Here's a shot of them for comparison for you.

That's awesome! Those old Citadel sculpts were really weird, this photo proves it, very odd proportions. I anticipate putting mine on round bases.

now that i see these old ones, what scale are yours by the way, i think we never saw a reference shot...
to tell the truth i always picture them a bit bigger than IGs...but now i guess there just average human size?...

vik

I have no clue what scale mine is, I made it to be a little bigger than an old-style marine. I'll get a ref pic up soon.

that would be cool, thanks in advance

vik

Ambull wrote:I have no clue what scale mine is, I made it to be a little bigger than an old-style marine. I'll get a ref pic up soon.

In that case, it'll be about the same size as a current Imperial marine. It'll probably be a bit wider though.


@absolute_d, would you be interested in selling one of them?

Seriously thinking about doing an astral hound, could be fun. Anyway - time has not been plentiful lately, but I've got this picture here showing a comparison in size to an old metal Rogue Trader era marine (painted about 15 years ago, maybe more).



and I've been casting more, good results, need to trim prime and paint, workspace is getting back in line:

finally a shot to compare them with genuine sms...i am rather glad to see the abull being larger than the SM as now i see they are fluffy to hell^^

great worke mate here

vik

Looking awesome, my vote would be for a Gyrinx or a Jokaro next

Just putting in what I think you could do next...

...a Imperial Minotaur...

?

Progress: I've got a bunch of casts that I primed with some garbage ancient primer but it will be enough to set up a few decent assembled Ambulls. That's going on and I'm still fighting hard to re-establish my work-area to get some more time in on this project. In the mean-time, I've decided to prepare for the finished piece by creating the basic base for these guys. A master will be created and then molded and cast. I know I could easily go and buy some ready-made bases but I'm a glutton for useless work.

1.5" sounds about right and measures up nicely against the figure. I'm going to carve (carve? how the hell... yes, bear with me... I'll show you how...) the perfectly round base from laminated sheet styrene.

Always keep a healthy inventory of scrap styrene around, because you never know when you'll need it:

Having seen the original sculpt and now yours to compare, yours is better, more true to the RT I think. Great work. I never cease to be impressed every time I check this thread.

Thanks Skalk! I appreciate it.

I'm going to explain how I've done the base, as succinctly as possible, over the course of a few posts. You may believe that I have lost my marbles when going to such a ridiculous extent to create something that can probably be had off of ebay for a tiny sum, but that is the risk I take when divulging methods.

Without styrene the proper thickness, I need to laminate thinner sheets together. I measure 2" squares and cut them out by first scoring along a steel edge and then cracking the piece away:



In this way I yield the proper stack for the right base-thickness:


But there is a crucial point that needs to be attended to when laminating pieces of cut styrene together: the burr that is produced while cutting. I've done these simple sketches to illustrate the problem:


this burr prevents stacked pieces from mating properly, because of the subtle gap produced (exaggerated for the sketch):


But this is overcome simply by scraping a bit off the edges, producing a bevel so that the pieces will truly glue together, surface to surface:


I choose to sand the edges of things being glued to create a 'tooth' for the glue to work its bond. A mild sandpaper will do the trick, nothing too rough though or the texture will be too strong:


Once beveled and sanded I apply a liberal amount of hideous smelling styrene glue (any type that dissolves the plastic to create the bond) to BOTH surfaces (in this case the three layers were done in stages) and clamp them together. I use a pair of decent hand-clamps with pieces of plywood to provide more uniform pressure.
Contents under pressure:


Sandwich:


More coming. Thanks again for tuning in.