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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Since I'm no longer tied down to trying to finish a single army and I can let my imagination and inspiration take me where I please, I'm just going to compile all my projects into one thread.
New project is to make one Iron Warriors Chaos Lord or Warsmith for each of the four major gods, but we'll see how that turns out. Currently, I've got ideas for all but Tzeentch. I'm starting off with an IW Lord/Warsmith that's somewhat devoted to Slaanesh. I see him as giving more than lip service, but not diving in, because I think all the screaming mouths and such on the armor can look good in the artwork, but usually looks goofy and dumb on the figures. Besides, he's taken the martial perfection facet of the Slaanesh religion. Originally, this was going to be a conversion inspired by the figure in the bottom right of the Chosen of Abaddon pic, with the horns, wolfish mask, and a polearm, but in just the last couple of days, I've already seen that the head wasn't going to work out, but I still plan on doing the polearm. Here's the image for those that may not have seen it:
Here's an in-progress pic of the pose and some GS work:
He is a tad taller than a normal marine, but not True Scaledâ„¢. The chest is from a Khorne Berzerker and the legs are from one of the Sternguard I needed to have replaced by GW from when I was doing for my Imperial Fists army a little while back.
I chopped the figure in half and found that I had a piece of plastic tubing that was just exactly the right size to sit on top of the legs, and that's what I used as the spacer to elongate the waist a little bit. I cut up the left leg and foot and repositioned them, then bulked up the thighs and reshaped the chest with GS. I'm not sure what I'll do for the right arm yet.
Here he is with a little more work:
Some new GS work on the left greave and boot as well as new armor studs, trim added to the top of the right thigh, and a little work on the helmet to make the face look less gaunt and a ridge under the eyes to make them pop a bit more. He's also got the properly sized haft to his polearm now, just tacked in place to check the look of it.
Showing the whole polearm:
As always, thanks for looking.
-BCK
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I've got two poses in mind for the Nurgle terminator, and here's the first:
Whichever one I decide on, he's going to have a BIG club, which I guess could the Black Mace from the new codex. I feel like his arms are too far apart for what I have in mind with this pose, so if I go with this one, I'll probably have to chop the arms up quite a bit.
And door number two:
That good ol' Slow and Purposeful advance while mowing down hapless innocents with concentrated bolter fire. The big mace would probably be held low in the right hand on this one.
And don't worry, he will look suitably Nurgle-ish once I finalize the pose and break out the knives and greenstuff, but I'm not going to take it far as Typhus or the Forge World conversion pieces.
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Post by: bebopdrums2424
fantastic modelling. i can tell youre a skilled artist. I also like that from what im gathering, youll be doing a more subtle nurglish appearance to this 2nd fellow. looking forward to much more
bebop
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Yeah, there's going to be some tubes and some degradation of his armor, but it's not going to look like something that's been sitting out in the sun for 50 years and is held together with pus and intestines.
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Post by: ForWeAreLegion
Nice posing! I vote for the second nurgle one btw
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Post by: Theophony
I like the first terminator. Looks like he's playing shuffleboard, or about to take a slapshot from the top of the circle. Either way looks really dynamic. I think the only negative to The pose is he's looking down. All the action seems focused low. Maybe if you put a fallen guard or marine on the base crawling away it will help him look like he's delivering a coupe de grace.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
ForWeAreLegion wrote:Nice posing! I vote for the second nurgle one btw
Thanks, and I'm leaning that way too.
Theophony wrote:I like the first terminator. Looks like he's playing shuffleboard, or about to take a slapshot from the top of the circle. Either way looks really dynamic. I think the only negative to The pose is he's looking down. All the action seems focused low. Maybe if you put a fallen guard or marine on the base crawling away it will help him look like he's delivering a coupe de grace.
The first pose in the one I originally imagined, but I think trying to make what I saw in my head a reality is probably not going to happen with terminator armor. The chest and arms are so bulky, it's going to be really difficult and time consuming, and that's if I even manage to pull it off. Plus, I'm also on something of a clock here since I'm trying to complete four conversions for a contest on B&C that ends in 30 days.
I also bring updates for my Slaanesh warsmith:
I plan on going over the connection points with greenstuff later, and the half-round plastic strip won't be visible after that. I also cut down the polearm a bit and I'm thinking I might need to trim it down a little bit more:
I placed an order for some bits for the Khorne Warsmith, but while I wait for them to arrive, I'll probably get a rough "sketch" of the pose knocked out and posted in the next few days.
C&C welcome, and thanks for looking,
-BCK
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Post by: Theophony
I very much like where the slaanesh warsmith is headed, great work so far, and good luck with the competition.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The Khorne warsmith just couldn't wait to get out of my head, and the original idea I had was going to be very static and still, like a crocodile before it explodes into motion, but several of the Four are already going to be posed like that. So instead, I'm reaching WAAAAAAAAAY back into hallowed antiquity for a good action-y pose:
I think this piece of art is probably what GW was wanting to do with the Khorne Berzerker plastics, but failed miserably. Instead of conferring the frenetic movement that's implied in the art, what we got was berzerkers with giant hands that looked like they were ice skating.
Here's my take on it:
It's still kinda rough right now, and I know I'm going to need to cut off the right foot and reposition it, but I might also tweak the position of the left leg as well. The right arm was just tacked on to check the balance of the overall pose, but I'm considering giving him another power axe in that hand.
-BCK
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Post by: Northen
Sweet looking stuff here, once finished I think these models will nicely complement the GW's art pieces. I think your right on the GW's attempt to do Berzerker, so waiting eagerly to see your version finished.
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Post by: TheFireDrake
Amazing stuff here, i will keep an eye on your work.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Northen wrote:Sweet looking stuff here, once finished I think these models will nicely complement the GW's art pieces. I think your right on the GW's attempt to do Berzerker, so waiting eagerly to see your version finished.
I hope it turns out as awesome as it looks in my head.
TheFireDrake wrote:Amazing stuff here, i will keep an eye on your work.
Thanks!
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Post by: whalemusic360
Sme real sharp GS work here so far, keep it up!
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Post by: inmygravenimage
Great work indeed! Did you use a tube tool to make the pipes?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Yes, all hail the tube tool! I used to make tubes by twisting really fine solder around copper wire and it took FOREVER.
The tube tool is so awesome. I didn't even have to go out of my way to make the tubes I used on that because whenever I have leftover GS, I just turn it into tubing of various sizes.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Update on the nurgle lord:
I don't plan on keeping the GK thunder hammer, but I needed something there to check the placement and feel of what I'll eventually replace it with. It doesn't look like it now, but there's actually a stupid amount of work in getting that GK chest piece on the front and I probably could have used a regular marine chest and saved a lot of trouble. Oh well. There's still more GS work to do on the chest and you can see where I've trimmed off the hip armor and the braces or reinforcing struts or whatever they are from the upper legs and have already bulked out one of the thighs.
I know it doesn't look a whole lot like Chaos or Nurgle, but bear with me.
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Post by: ForWeAreLegion
Moar updates!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Ask and ye shall receive!
Update on the Nurgle termi:
I don't plan on keeping the GK thunder hammer, but I needed something there to check the placement and feel of what I'll eventually replace it with. It doesn't look like it now, but there's actually a stupid amount of work in getting that GK chest piece on the front and I probably could have used a regular marine chest and saved a lot of trouble. Oh well. There's still more GS work to do on the chest and you can see where I've trimmed off the hip armor and the braces or reinforcing struts or whatever they are from the upper legs and have already bulked out one of the thighs.
I know it doesn't look a whole lot like Chaos or Nurgle, but bear with me.
And the Slaanesh lord:
I'm not entirely happy with the position of the right arm, but I like the feel of it. Once I get that finalized, I can really start in on the tattered trophies he's torn away from vanquished foes. The shoulder pads are also not finalized, as I'm considering making one of them like the MK V type, with no trim and the armor studs.
-BCK
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Some updates:
More work on the Nurgle guy:
The thigh armor is getting increased in size and it will be asymmetrical to show that his body is starting to expand and bloat inside the armor. The midsection will follow once I'm done with all the work on the legs.
Khorne guy got a bionic foot:
And I have finally started on the Tzeentch Lord, woot!
Unfortunately, I cut the crap out of my thumb whilst I was hacking up three different Dark Vengeance chaos marines to make the guy. Depending on how the thumb heals up, it might be a few more days before I can get more GS work done.
-BCK
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I managed to get a little work done today before the thumb started hurting too much. Repositioned arm for Maesteros, the return of the Mk IV Cheekbones, and rounded out the right greave that got a little beat up removing loyalist decorations:
I think that just about does it for the right arm. After I do the belt, I'll add straps to the sword scabbard.
And Varko now has two arms:
The Dark Apostle from the DV set that I chopped up for my Tzeentch lord was nice enough to donate his right arm.
-BCK
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I think this is probably my last test fit before I attach the left leg and start in on the rest of the sculpting.
New shoulder pad, overly large studs removed from helmet, and a backpack, woot! Oh, don't mind the Aquila on his butt plate as it will be covered up shortly. The studs on the shoulder only cover the front half, and I tried to get a picture of it, but they kept coming out blurry.
-BCK
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Post by: whalemusic360
I totally love that guy. I work rock a CSM EC army if they looked like that without a doubt. Hell, a shoulder pad and backpack swap and he could be a specialist in a loyalist army. Only thing that bugs me a bit is the foot. One is smoothed and the other isn't, on an otherwise very symetrical dude (studs be damned).
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The asymmetry is intentional, as I imagine him scavenging and replacing pieces of the armor as it wears out over the years.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I've started working on a few ideas for some Space Wolves conversions. This one, in power armor, I had originally thought to do a Ragnar Blackmane figure, but the more I thought about it, the more I didn't care for the idea. Why? Because I was planning on making a lot of changes (no way was I gonna do that stupid left shoulder pad) and I really don't want a bunch of angry fluff mongers wagging their fingers at me and telling me that's not what Ragnar looks like.
Also, I firmly believe making his abnormally long, tapered chainsword would be a gigantic pain in the Tzeentch.
Instead of a charging pose like you usually see Space Wolves in, I wanted something like he's already in the thick of things, hacking down foes left, right and center:
Tweaking the pose and adding on to the axe:
Adding some Space Wolf bits that arrived today and cleaning up the gaps in the axe:
Evolution of the axe so far:
Next up is my TDA Wolf Guard/Lone Wolf/Wolf Lord using the Arjac Rockfist figure as a base:
Now, this is all just a pose sketch to see how things look, and at a later point the Cataphractii lightning claw will be separated from the shoulder and he'll have two normal terminator shoulder pads. I'll probably tweak the position of the arms and legs to be a little closer to what I'm seeing in my head, which will be a snap with finecast. As you can see, I've already trimmed the anvil from the top of the armor and a lot of his other decorations will also be leaving. I like it so far but it needs work.
And finally... an update for Maestoros. I got the power armored FW Legion Praetor, and I don't know how many of you can relate to this, but have you ever been in the midst of a conversion and you see a new part that might change everything?
Well, that happened today with the Praetor's sword arm, which I couldn't resist trying out on Maestoros to see how it fit, and it changed everything.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Almost finished with the IW lord who's given over to Slaanesh:
I've also accepted a sculpting commission for a company champion of the Dark Angels. The base figure MK II legs and MK IV torso. He wanted the MK IV plate modified to have a vent in the center of the chest and to have the armor rise up, almost like a volcano, to to the level of the vent. I tried to do that and keep the overall feel of the MK IV without making it look like a chubby marine or someone infested by Nurgle. The idea for the legs was to keep the overall look of the MK II, but to give the greaves the appearance of having been repaired or possibly up-armored over the years. Mikhail was happy with the test sculpting of the new armor plate so I'll get the second done soon. Rivets will be added to the places marked on the inner and outer sides of the new armor plate.
The progression so far:
I'm not happy with the left leg since my tools keep hitting the right leg and the groin armor, so I'll have to remove the leg to sculpt it properly. So far, the client is happy, but there's still a fair amount of work to do. Oh, and the changing heads in the photos is just me trying out different looks since he didn't send me the head he plans on using for this guy.
-BCK
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Post by: Kepora
Kage, you are a creative (and VERY talented) sonuvabitch! This stuff looks great - and it seems that you and I have VERY similar tastes in powered armor!
If you happen to free up and feel like a change of pace, I've been wanting to get some custom battlesuit parts made that've taken some inspiration from certain power-armored totally-not-scorned-space-marine allies...
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Kepora wrote:Kage, you are a creative (and VERY talented) sonuvabitch! This stuff looks great - and it seems that you and I have VERY similar tastes in powered armor!
If you happen to free up and feel like a change of pace, I've been wanting to get some custom battlesuit parts made that've taken some inspiration from certain power-armored totally-not-scorned-space-marine allies...
Thanks, Kepora. I haven't updated this thread as much as I should have, and if you want to shoot me a PM, we can talk about a commission.
Here's some more work on that other commission:
The guy who commissioned it recently sent me the arms he wants on it to make sure everything fits, and the right one will need some adjusting:
I've started some other projects too, like converting the Inquisitor Eisenhorn figure from the now-dead Inquistor game to a younger version, as portrayed on the cover of the new omnibus:
Unfortunately, even though I have 2 of these Eisenhorn figures, I can't seem to locate either left arm, so it's on hold until I find one of them.
And I've recently started on a small V Legion (White Scars) pre-heresy army. While I was waiting for some purchases from eBay to come in, I decided to have a try at sculpting the lightning bolt icon on a spare Master of the Chapter figure:
I wasn't real happy with that first attempt, so here's try two:
The one on the shoulder pad looks better, but trying to sculpt the icon between the wings on his chest was too much of a PITA, so I got rid of them.
And then tried my hand at making the helmet look more like a traditional Mongol warrior helm:
Now working on making a Mk III version that I would like to have molded and cast so I can use them for my V Legion force:
And finally, trying out some paint chipping on one of my jetbikes using the hairspray technique:
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Over at the B&C forum, one of the regular posters and all-around great guy is having some harsh times, so a lot of us are going to do individual figures and get them to him as gift. He was about to start on a pre-heresy Salamanders army before his happened, and I volunteered to make a chaplain for him.
I decided to use one of the DV Chaos Chosen as a base, and here's the first step: removing the head and thinning down the collar in the back to an appropriate size:
Next is the work to make the upper body look like MK IV, while the lower legs will be MK III(including the groin armor plate):
Instead of a crozius of the usual type, I wanted him to have a hammer, and the idea for how to do it came to me after I noticed the shape of a piece of sprue laying on my work table. Since the GS from the previous pic was still wet, I posed it with another of the same Chosen marines to check the overall scale and look of it.
Adding some cabling to the torso and smoothing out the chaos flayed skin tabard to receive scales at a later point:
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
A little more work, and trying out a different helm to see how it looks:
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Post by: whalemusic360
Lovely work. If I need a special captain made at some point, I know who to look up.
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Post by: Dreadclaw69
Stunning work, I can't believe I didn't see this sooner
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
whalemusic360 wrote:Lovely work. If I need a special captain made at some point, I know who to look up.
I am available for commissions.
Dreadclaw69 wrote:Stunning work, I can't believe I didn't see this sooner
Me either! Glad you like it.
I've got a little update on the Salamander chaplain, adding some scale texture to the tabard and some flames to the powerfist:
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I'm starting up on another 30k army and putting the White Scars on the backburner for a while, since they will be one of the last legions to get their rules - FW already said they'll be in the LAST book. So, I'm shifting gears and moving to a new Legion based on this:
They will be Terran, not Nostraman, and they will be VIII Legion, not Night Lords. I plan on doing a model for the Rogue Trader Militant Lord Gotha as well as a small detachment of his techno-barbarians as well that will count-as mechanicum troops, and some normal mechanicum troops as well. Since I mostly live at another board, there's a lot of pics to drop in here.
First up is the artwork that inspired the look of the Rogue Trader that I'm going for:
And the WIP pics of him so far:
Work on the leader Crimson Sons, Centurion/Captain Vastos, trying out a pose and some head variants:
A quick mock up of a counts-as Nostraman chainglave:
And then deciding on a different head for the weapon:
And another mock up of a tactical marine with head variants:
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Post by: Moltar
Awesome scraping/filing work on your soon to be inquisitor. Nice builds all around. Excited to see your Crimson Sons progress.
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Post by: whalemusic360
Isnt the artwork for the Rouge Trader just Inquisitor Lok? Its a dead ringer if not.
I like the middle head for the 1st choice, dealers choice for the 2nd.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Moltar wrote:Awesome scraping/filing work on your soon to be inquisitor. Nice builds all around. Excited to see your Crimson Sons progress.
That Master of the Fleet body I cut up was a finecast nightmare from when they first introduced the stuff a couple years back. It took two replacement boxes from GW to get me a decent copy of each figure, and I'd been waiting for something to use that figure for.
whalemusic360 wrote:Isnt the artwork for the Rouge Trader just Inquisitor Lok? Its a dead ringer if not.
I like the middle head for the 1st choice, dealers choice for the 2nd.
It IS Inquisitor Lok. I had seen that piece of art several years ago and thought it was awesome, but never knew where it was from. I just found out a few weeks ago who the art was for and that FW already had a figure of him.
As for the heads on Vastos, I've decided against using crests and go for a minimalist approach to their armor decorations.
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Post by: ForWeAreLegion
Nice! Love that chain-halberd weapon!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Thanks!
Here's a paint test.
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Post by: HoeJarris
Wow, absolutely lovely stuff here! I love the chaos conversions because they aren't covered in spikes and peoples faces, which I think is a bit overdone these days, plus the use of MkIV armour makes me happy because it's my favourite!
Knowing you do commissions too is awesome, may have to think of some ideas!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Yeah, the spikes and trophy racks were something I wanted to avoid, and I'm glad some other people feel the same about it.
Here's another test paint job for the Crimson Sons, but I might have to see about a new lighting set up because the reds and blues look a lot different than they do on the actual mini.
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Post by: HoeJarris
That looks great, the blue looks really nice and has depth to it, and the black liquid running out of the studs looks awesome.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
It definitely looks better in person, but I'm researching a new lighting set up.
Started on a jetbike today:
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
WIP of my first "official" Crimson Sons figure, with a better recipe for the blood from the eyes.
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Post by: whalemusic360
Blue and blood look good. Good use of Tyranic War Vet.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Yeah, I recently had to shell out a LOT of money on my car so my resin purchases have been pushed back a little bit. I'm converting what 40k figures I have on hand over to 30k, and it's been a while since I've done this much work on a metal figure. I guess I've grown spoiled on plastic and finecast, because it was a rather unpleasant reminder of the old days of converting, especially getting the original figure's head off. Even with a Dremel it was something of a PITA.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
More weathering, and attempting to get a faded red color on the left shoulder pad:
Another old figure making the transition to 30k:
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Post by: Moltar
The blue looks so good weathered the way it is. The red pad is coming along too. I'm liking pretty much everything in this thread.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Thanks!
Here's the second TWV marine in the first stages of paint, posed with the head from the marine above to.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Getting comfy with a way to do the faded red shoulder pad:
Test posing a new, if expensive, addition:
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Post by: Veteran Sergeant
Great work thus far.
Gotta question. This head. Where is it from? That's my favorite of the MkIV helmets.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The one on the left is what I have seen called a "Mark I" head, and as far as I know, the only two Forge World kits that have them are the MK IV Assault Squad, and the one I have with the optics on the eye, is from the Javelin Land Speeder.
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Post by: Rabid Ferret
Damn, these are some of the most characterful conversions I have seen. You greenstuff work is brilliant. I am not 100% sold on the paint style but I am sure you have more to come that will sell me.
For your blood, I really recommend using Tamiya Clear Red. It can be tinted and really is the best paint I have found for doing blood or gore.
Check this link for some great examples.
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/130329-painting-blood-n-gore-lonewolf-style-blood-tutorial/
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Rabid Ferret wrote:Damn, these are some of the most characterful conversions I have seen. You greenstuff work is brilliant. I am not 100% sold on the paint style but I am sure you have more to come that will sell me.
Thanks! The paint is supposed to looked like a dark blue that's been faded and weathered, and I haven't completely finished a figure yet as I keep getting inspired on the building side of it. Actually, I have some Clear Red on its way to me as we speak, and it should be here in a few days.
A few updates:
An old Veteran figure I'm recruiting into the Sons, with some hairspray paint chipping done to him:
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Started work on a custom techmarine, using a Centurion head(the only decent part of that kit, imo), GK parts for the chest, and Cataphractii legs and arms. First stage, merging a GK PA front chest piece to a rear GK TDA chest piece.
Filling in with greenstuff:
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Post by: whalemusic360
Is this going to be a Crimson Sons Techmarine?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Yes, it will be a Crimson Sons techmarine.
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Post by: lipsdapips
UARGH! Not fair! It's not fair! You're too good! Seriously though I have to say the crimson suns scheme is so badass, those blood tears just...oooh they're brilliant! Great work all round, not sure if you're fimiliar with my work, but I like captains...alot. I may have to commission you to make me one
Once again, truly superb work,
LDP
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Post by: whalemusic360
Oh lordy, LDP is going to have a company of captains. At least he hasnt figured out that Captains can have terminator armor yet.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
lipsdapips wrote:UARGH! Not fair! It's not fair! You're too good! Seriously though I have to say the crimson suns scheme is so badass, those blood tears just...oooh they're brilliant! Great work all round, not sure if you're fimiliar with my work, but I like captains...alot. I may have to commission you to make me one
Once again, truly superb work,
LDP
I'm glad you like the Crimson Sons and the paint scheme. I spend most of my time on another board, so I don't know names over here that well, and I may have seen your work but don't know it by name. I'll take a look though, and if you want a commission, just let me know.
whalemusic360 wrote:Oh lordy, LDP is going to have a company of captains. At least he hasnt figured out that Captains can have terminator armor yet.
Who doesn't like HQ models? They have the best poses and gear!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
A little more progress on the WIP marine from earlier, with the arms repositioned, left hand adjusted, and the decision to go with the MK IV helm.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Building a camo cloak out of a paper towel cut to size and some white glue:
Dried and primed to get a better look at it:
And trying out some weathering powders on one of my Crimson Sons.
Before:
After:
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Post by: lipsdapips
Woah! That camo cloak is the pizzazz! Such a simple method but that result is meanest! Looking forward to the end product man, how did you go about cutting the right shape and directing the cloak's flow?
Also hate to sound like a jerk, but i'm not all to sold on the weathering powders. I know that it's just a test, and I respect BOLDNESS AND ADVENTURE. However I feel that it sort of covers the subtle blends and cleanliness of the already weathered model. Also since you weathered with brushwork prior I feel the 2 different types sort of clash :\. But, yea, respect for trying things out! Love the scheme as always, and impressed as ever by your work
Keep it up bud,
LDP
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Post by: whalemusic360
The cloak is pretty sweet. How sturdy is it?
I like the more vivid blue of the pre weathering, it looks kinda washed out now?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
lipsdapips wrote:Woah! That camo cloak is the pizzazz! Such a simple method but that result is meanest! Looking forward to the end product man, how did you go about cutting the right shape and directing the cloak's flow?
I cut thin strips of the paper towel and held them in place with my fingers, testing the length of the drape and all that. Once I superglued it to the shoulder pad, I got it damp with a brush and started shaping the folds about how I wanted, and then saturated it with the glue, which makes it stiffer and a littler easier to shape and fold it how you want.
whalemusic360 wrote:The cloak is pretty sweet. How sturdy is it?
Pretty sturdy.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Working on a new character, and here's the initial mock up:
Decided I didn't like that particular power fist, but no other right-handed ones. Chopped off a termie power fist, cut off the thumb and flipped it over:
Resculpting the thumb, but decided it needed something more to tie it into the look of MK III, so working on a forearm armor piece for the pf and trying out a new head:
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Post by: Alpharius
I like the Crested Helmet version - and that greenstuff work on the PF?
Heck, on everything in this thread?
Wow!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I'm glad you like my work, and yes, I'm really digging the crested helm on this guy.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Added a cloak using my paper towel and white glue method:
And starting on the paint:
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Post by: Igloo
I would love to see what happened to that Nurgle terminator lord. I an working on my Death Guard right now and need some inspiration
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Igloo wrote:I would love to see what happened to that Nurgle terminator lord. I an working on my Death Guard right now and need some inspiration
Oh, uhhhh... about that guy... yeah, he kinda got repurposed into something else. Well, the legs did anyway, BUT I plan on doing a squad of termies in Dusk Raider colors in the near future.
I have an update on this guy:
Increasing the thigh armor to look more like FW MK III:
I added a cloak to him made out of facial tissue, and here's the first part of the work:
Finished and primed so you can see it better:
And finally, the finished figure:
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Post by: lipsdapips
Oh my god...this is some of the coolest stuff i've ever seen. PLEASE GIVE ME MORE!!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
There will be, but it will probably come slowly. I'm nearly broke and don't have much resin at the moment.
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Post by: Kepora
Well, if you're itching for something to do, I could send some parts your way.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
While I'm waiting for some cash to fund more of my Crimson Sons, I decided to join a build contest on another site to scratch my hobby itch, and I reached for the 60-ish Vostroyans that have been gathering dust for a number of years.
It started with my brother and some friends talking me into trying the 40k rpg Only War and busting out a Vostroyan sarge to represent my character. I wanted to try a different color from the test paint jobs when I first got the minis, and decided to do a limited palette with as many green tones as possible - dark green for the coat, brass with a greenish tint to it, etc. Here's the sarge with most of the base coats done, and then a little more work on him:
I really liked the way it was turning out and had fun finally getting some paint on these guys, and it was then I decided to join the build contest. Since I work slow, I started small, signing on with a company command squad:
Company Commander w/ power weapon, plasma pistol, carapace armor
4x Veterans w/ vox-caster, regimental standard, medi-pack, plasma gun, carapace armor for all = 153 pts
Master of Ordnance, Officer of the Fleet = 40 pts
Commissar w/ power fist, plasma pistol = 65 pts
Total points = 258
Everything has to be wysiwyg, and luckily, Vostroyans, being heavy infantry, already have carapace armor. I also set a few rules for myself in that I will try to customize each figure in some way and also have no exposed flesh if at all possible. With the second rule, that meant the standard bearer as is would not work, so I set about fixing that problem. After a lot of sawing, cutting, scraping, filing, and Dremel-ing, I got the standard where I wanted it:
The volunteer to be the new standard bearer, and a test fitting:
A lot more time for only a little more progress:
I'm not too happy with how the right arm is positioned, so I'll have another go at that tomorrow. Next up is the phase one work on the powerfist for the commissar:
And starting to lay in colors for the plasma gunner.
I had planned on completely converting a new plasma gunner figure, but due to the time constraints of the build contest, I might just have to paint this guy with the only mod being removing that stupid feather from his hat:
C&C welcome, as always.
-BCK
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Finalizing the pose on the standard bearer:
Starting to rebuild the arms:
A little more on the commissar's power fist:
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The beginnings of a Master of Ordnance conversion:
Adding a sash:
I'm going to do a thrall aide for the MoO and OotF based on this detail shot from a larger Vostroyan art piece:
The starting figure and after a lot of surgery:
And the first steps toward a Commander:
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Post by: Charky
Love your work man! The skills you have with converions and greenstuff is mindblowing to me - really impressive work. I like the way you paint them aswell, abit gritty and all - keep up the good work!
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Post by: Sageheart
WOW this is great! I love Vostroya, but it is just how the metal models are so hard to edit. It's really really great to see models altered like yours, so well done, so good!
Will keep tabs! Automatically Appended Next Post: Just saw the Space Marines up above...even better!
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Post by: Elnibbus
Brilliant work. Really like the Vostroyans.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Charky wrote:Love your work man! The skills you have with converions and greenstuff is mindblowing to me - really impressive work. I like the way you paint them aswell, abit gritty and all - keep up the good work!
It feels good to have a handle on the GS and be able to do conversion that I could only dream of in the past. I'm glad you like them.
Sageheart wrote:WOW this is great! I love Vostroya, but it is just how the metal models are so hard to edit. It's really really great to see models altered like yours, so well done, so good!
Will keep tabs!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just saw the Space Marines up above...even better!
I remember a time when metal was the only material to get figures in, and you had to learn your limitations with converting in a hurry or you ruined figures. After so many years of plastic, resin, and Finecast, it's kind of refreshing(and painful, literally) to work with the metal again.
Elnibbus wrote:Brilliant work. Really like the Vostroyans.
Hands down, the most grimdark looking army ever put out for the game. I love the Vostroyans and have been wanting to do something like this since they first came out.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Decided to try my hand at sculpting fur. The vox trooper was the first volunteer.
The standard bearer was next, and I really start to get the hang of it, I think.
So I decided to try the commander's hat next:
He also asked for a good Vostroyan mustache. Who was I to deny him?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Adding a few final details to the commander's coat and calling the modelling phase on him done:
For the OotF, instead of using a ton of GS to make the coat draped over his shoulders, I'm going to try making a base or frame, so to speak, out of tissue and glue to put the GS on so the coat doesn't look like it's 4 scale inches thick and weighs 50 lbs:
I tried re-sculpting the commissar's power fist to look more rounded, mainly inspired by Bernn in Dawn of War II:
That didn't work out very well, so I went back to the boxy look, and I definitely think the second attempt at it turned out better:
Aaaaand finally started on a conversion for the medicae trooper:
I have no idea what to do about his arms yet, but I'm sure something will pop into my head soon.
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Post by: Cap'n Facebeard
Great sculpting! I really like the Marine conversions earlier, they feel very dynamic.
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Post by: Sageheart
Love that new powerfist, very cool stuff!
Yeah I'm sure before plastic things were harder.
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Post by: Jehan-reznor
Awesome green stuff skill, make a tutorial
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Post by: Sageheart
Yeah second that ^
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Post by: Alpharius
As much as a greenstuff tutorial would be nice, I fear that there's a lot of natural talent in here!
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Post by: Scrazza
Your Vostroyans are looking awesome. I wish I had the same level of skill with green stuff.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Cap'n Facebeard wrote:Great sculpting! I really like the Marine conversions earlier, they feel very dynamic.
Something I always try to do with the minis is impart some kind of movement, or a sense of their personality if it's a more static pose. I'm glad that came across.
Jehan-reznor wrote:Awesome green stuff skill, make a tutorial
Sageheart wrote:Yeah second that ^
Alpharius wrote:As much as a greenstuff tutorial would be nice, I fear that there's a lot of natural talent in here!
What kind of tutorial would you want to see? I don't really have a way to do video, and you can only do so much with individual photos.
Sageheart wrote:Love that new powerfist, very cool stuff!
Yeah I'm sure before plastic things were harder.
Thanks! And yeah, converting metal was, and still is, a time consuming and laborious process.
Scrazza wrote:Your Vostroyans are looking awesome. I wish I had the same level of skill with green stuff.
Watch some videos, read up on tuts and such, and just practice with it. You'll get there eventually. When I first started working with this terrible material, if I had known then what I know now, I would have stayed away from the GS. Very soon, I'm going to start trying out other sculpting putties to see about replacing it.
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Post by: Two Spartan
Really like that commander! That moustache changes his character so much great work =)
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Post by: Jehan-reznor
A photo tutorial is fine by me, i would like to see how you get those almost perfect round shapes, i am always struggling to get the GS behave the way i want to.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Two Spartan wrote:Really like that commander! That moustache changes his character so much great work =)
I didn't like the pouty lower lip, and I think this was a good fix for it.
Jehan-reznor wrote:A photo tutorial is fine by me, i would like to see how you get those almost perfect round shapes, i am always struggling to get the GS behave the way i want to.
I'll see what I can do about a tut a little ways down the road. So, start with basics then?
Some updates on the medicae:
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The medicae is almost finished...
When I glued that right arm on, I used just a tiny dot - enough to hold it in place while I sculpted - expecting to just pop it off once it was done so I could paint it separate from the body. Now it won't come off. >_< I've wiggled and twisted as much as I dare for fear of damaging the GS, and I can't get it to budge. *sigh*
I also have an update on the commissar, since I finally came up with something for his right hand:
The stick-cane-thing is going to have more work done to it, but I'd like to see what you think of the posing, brothers.
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Post by: Scrazza
The medicae is looking great. I like your smooth use if greenstuff.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The medicae is almost finished... should have him done with another couple of sculpting sessions. Then I just have to finish up a few others and get to painting!
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Post by: nerdfest09
Love the baton and pose on the commi! really nicely done. sort of a more honest pose from a human perusing the scene
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Post by: Elnibbus
Really nice work on the commissar. Almost tempted to pinch the idea for my DKoK.
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Post by: Sageheart
Yeah I can see how it would be difficult to do a tutorial, def without a filming device.
maybe just something in the future just doing a break down of the steps to mold and build those greatcoats? Just to see the various layers and ways you mold the clay so its clean and fresh looking in the end, also maybe about seams to make it loook like cloth.
I know quite a bit of talent and tricks also go into your work which can't always be shown in a tutorial, but anything would be nice just to get a better idea and a decent starting place for our own exploration.
Again, loving everything I have seen here!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
nerdfest09 wrote:Love the baton and pose on the commi! really nicely done. sort of a more honest pose from a human perusing the scene
If I'm not giving the figure a sense of movement, I always try for personality.
Elnibbus wrote:Really nice work on the commissar. Almost tempted to pinch the idea for my DKoK.
Have at it!
Sageheart wrote:Yeah I can see how it would be difficult to do a tutorial, def without a filming device.
maybe just something in the future just doing a break down of the steps to mold and build those greatcoats? Just to see the various layers and ways you mold the clay so its clean and fresh looking in the end, also maybe about seams to make it look like cloth.
I'll start working on some ideas for a tutorial, but a good lubricant and clay shapers are about 80% of the work in getting the GS to look smooth.
Anyway, update!
You might have noticed there were any pictures of the medicae from behind, and that's because until tonight, the rear of the coat was just a roughed in 'form' of GS waiting for a top layer to be added and sculpted into cloth.
There was a big, empty gap between the canteen and the medicae bag, and remembering that he is not wearing the re-breather, I decided he would be carrying it on his belt, stowed in a weatherproof pouch. I wanted to give the appearance of a good amount of weight in the pouch, because the masks look pretty substantial, so I sculpted in a lot of deep folds and angled the bottom end of it appropriately. It took me three tries to get it just how I wanted, and I've been looking at it so long tonight, I'm not sure how successful I was at the illusion I was going for.
Oh, and here's a teaser for something that will happen after the build contest is over, as it would take up too much time right now:
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Getting some paint on these guys, slowly but surely:
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I've been admiring the Inq28 stuff out there on the interwebs for some time now, and decided I'd have a go at it. Tentatively, I'm planning on doing an Inquisitor and retinue for each of the 3 major factions, and decided I would start with the Hereticus.
Starting on the female Inquisitor in TDA that used to be a Sister of Battle:
In-progress pics of a new SoB from filthy xenos parts:
And a mock up with more xenos parts to test out a Seraphim idea. I like the overall feel of it, but some changes will be made:
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Post by: whalemusic360
Looking solid so far, very SoB like. Should be interesting to see them Imperial'd up.
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Post by: nerdfest09
That looks frickin' fantastic dude! those SoB conversions are jealousy inducing! love them they look so very good!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
whalemusic360 wrote:Looking solid so far, very SoB like. Should be interesting to see them Imperial'd up.
nerdfest09 wrote:That looks frickin' fantastic dude! those SoB conversions are jealousy inducing! love them they look so very good!
Thanks, gents. There's still a lot of work to do on the combi-bolter sister, which I have dubbed Sister Sneer. I want them to look as complete and detailed as if the model came from GW. Not sure what to do for the back packs yet, because I can't really find any SoB back packs for sale by themselves that are affordable, and given how much larger these DE conversions are than the original models, they might be too small anyway. I'm going to try cutting down a marine back pack to see how that looks.
For the Seraphim, the bolt pistols are way too big, and those scout BPs are the smallest ones I could find. Maybe I'll do hand flamers or something.
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Post by: whalemusic360
The DKoK are the smallest of bolt pistols, if you want something smaller.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Oh really? Which figures in the DKoK have them?
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Post by: whalemusic360
Apparently the set where I'm an idiot that thought the command set had them. Just plasma and las pistols though.
These I think are the smallest FW bolt pistols. http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Space_Marines/Space_Marine-Infantry-and-Accessories/SPACE_MARINE_CHARACTER_CONVERSION_SET.html
Still might be bigger than you like.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Actually, those BPs are HUGE.
I did up a test figure for a HH era marine scout, and I used one of those to make a bolter carbine:
They're absolutely monstrous.
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Post by: whalemusic360
See, I'm no help. Just disreguard and go on. I can't think of any small bolt pistols past what you've used. I think the baneblade commander has the smallest BP I've seen, but might be the same size as you have now.
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Post by: Alpharius
Brother Chaplain Kage wrote:Actually, those BPs are HUGE.
I did up a test figure for a HH era marine scout, and I used one of those to make a bolter carbine:
They're absolutely monstrous.
That Heresy Era Scout...
...so awesome!
Wow!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I did that scout a while back and forgot that I didn't post it over here. It's a scout for the IV Legion (Iron Warriors) during the Unification wars. I wanted it to have a look and feel more like a modern soldier but still keep some aspects of the 40k universe. I got some input from a friend on another board with some military experience and he helped me by answering a lot of questions. Basically, it's a cross between a recon scout and an artillery forward observer. He locates targets of opportunity and lights them up with the laser on his pack, then clicks the remote in his hand to lock them in and transmit the data back to the artillery command computers... err... cogitators, to plot fire solutions. He then takes cover and makes sure that stuff gets blown up real nice-like.
It started life as a Kasrkin sgt:
Trying out different bits...
Sorry mate, that other arm has to go...
Bulking up to Astartes proportions and making sure everything still fit correctly:
Adding the plate carrier and giving it my shot at sculpting some small pouches:
Didn't like the pouches and removed them; added bolter clip pouches on front, a knife, and some larger pouches on the rear:
Filling in the last pouch on the rear, added grenades, and the ballistic cloth collar:
More work on the gun and test fitting everything yet again:
Adding a final adjustment to the targeting laser to raise it up higher, and added the gun sling. The gun sling is simply a thin strip of printer paper I cut. then super glued onto the back where the pack connects, and then wet it down with dilute white glue so it would conform to the body and stay in place. Another dot of super glue on the other side of the body secured it completely.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I have a small update for Sister Sneer, adding the connector parts for whatever the cables around the collar are supposed to be, and the front half of her... habit... thing.
I also did the back side of it today, but someone picked it up from my desk and put a giant thumb print right in the middle of it. I'll have another go at it tomorrow.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Small update on the shoulders and seeing how it all looks with the gun on again.
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Post by: Kepora
Alright, if GW ever re-does Sisters, they need to come to you.
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Post by: GiraffeX
Those Sisters look lovely, much better than the current GW ones.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Kepora wrote:Alright, if GW ever re-does Sisters, they need to come to you.
GiraffeX wrote:Those Sisters look lovely, much better than the current GW ones.
Thanks for the kind words. If GW had newer, preferably plastic multi-part Sisters, I would have bought them instead of going through all this trouble. I really think they're missing the boat with the Sisters. I mean, there's a LOT more people howling for new SoB stuff than there were for Dark Eldar, and look how that turned out.
Anyway... updates.
Starting on a respirator head for the Seraphim, and I ditched the bolt pistols:
And a lot more GS work on Sister Sneer:
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I wanted to step away from the GS madness for a couple of days and just go back to the simple, satisfying pleasure of putting together a MK III marine. I couldn't help the small mod to the face plate, inspired by the Iron Hands upgrade pack.
-BCK
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Post by: Kepora
Gotta say, that small change does add a good bit of flair to that helmet!
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Post by: jah-joshua
love all the kevlar and gear on that Scout...
great job!!!
to be honest, i really liked the size of the bolt pistols on the Seraphim Sister...
it works in the best "over the top" 40k kinda way...
very nice work all around...
keep it up...
cheers
jah
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Kepora wrote:Gotta say, that small change does add a good bit of flair to that helmet!
I thought so too. Simple, but effective
jah-joshua wrote:love all the kevlar and gear on that Scout...
great job!!!
to be honest, i really liked the size of the bolt pistols on the Seraphim Sister...
it works in the best "over the top" 40k kinda way...
very nice work all around...
keep it up...
cheers
jah
Thanks. I'm quite proud of how the scout turned out. As for the bolt pistols, they're just too big for even the over-sized gun aesthetic 40k already has, imho.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Another Crimson Sons mock up:
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Post by: Kepora
Ooooh, that Death Guard torso looks nice! I wonder how it'd look with an Iron Warriors helmet, or if a Mark III helmet would fit it?
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Post by: Jehan-reznor
Great stuff i see here!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Kepora wrote:Ooooh, that Death Guard torso looks nice! I wonder how it'd look with an Iron Warriors helmet, or if a Mark III helmet would fit it?
Here's a MK III and IV helm on it:
The raised collar on the DG chest restricts the movement and positioning of the MK III with it's low jaw and chin, but not so much that it won't work.
Jehan-reznor wrote:Great stuff i see here!
Thanks! I hope to have more HH stuff coming along very soon.
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Post by: Kepora
Oh, thank you! I may have to get those and some more metal or finecast Iron Warriors heads...
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Post by: Dirge of Dispair
I absolutely love the work you're doing, subscribed for sure!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Kepora wrote:Oh, thank you! I may have to get those and some more metal or finecast Iron Warriors heads...
No problem!
Dirge of Dispair wrote:I absolutely love the work you're doing, subscribed for sure!
Thanks, I'm glad you like my stuff!
And on that note...
Red Rover...
Red Rover...
Let the Dusk Raiders come over.
Still working on nailing down the paint-by-numbers on the first one so I can crank out the rest of these guys. I have another five of them to build as well.
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Post by: Kepora
Dude. That grey and gold/bronze trim is OUTSTANDING. It's exactly the colors I had in mind for my Black Crusade character, Korban; mind sharing your paints of choice, and the process?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Sure. Primed black and then thinned down some Formula P3 Ironhull Grey and basecoated it with my airbrush.
I took another grey color, a lighter color that I don't recall the name of because I just grabbed something off my desk, and mixed a little of that in with the Ironhull Grey and sprayed it again in a zenithal pattern.
The shading was done first with a glaze of Ironhull Grey to cover up some spots where I oversprayed the lighter grey, then came in with some Badab Black wash and a mix of my own that's made of mixing medium, a few parts P3 Thamar Black, a few parts P3 Greatcoat Grey, and a fair bit of water.
The bronze is Vallejo Model Color - Bronze washed with several thin coats of a mix that's a few parts Thraka Green Wash, a dot of P3 Coal Black, mixing medium, and water.
If you don't have any Badab Black or Thraka Green laying around, you can easily sub in ink or a small amount of paint in a similar color.
With the green wash on the bronze, I strongly suggest you go VERY thin and lots of coats, because if you come in too strong with it, it's really easy to end up painting the bronze green instead of tinting it.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Made me a 30k Brother-Chaplain Kage mock up tonight - still got some cleaning up and details to add - but I think it looks pretty good.
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Post by: Kepora
Oh, I see you removed the sides of the 'grill'. that's new, and it looks rather interesting! Planning on adding anything in there?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Kepora wrote:Oh, I see you removed the sides of the 'grill'. that's new, and it looks rather interesting! Planning on adding anything in there?
If you mean adding anything in the space where I removed part of the MK III mask, no. Other details will be added, though.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
A few more.
Can't decide on which head for this guy:
Starting on something to fill in the big empty space on the chest.
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Post by: Moltar
I'm generally not a fan of dudes without helmets, but that third, exposed, option looks really good. Very menacing with that flamer. Again though, who would use a flamer without protecting their face? !
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I bought myself a few presents recently:
And quickly began to hack Mortarion into pieces to repose him. Crimson Sons marine for scale:
Also starting on a Dusk Raiders contemptor:
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Post by: nerdfest09
You are a brave and wonderful man! I've just done a Morty myself and I give you a large internet handshake for hving the balls to cut and repose him! at least you certainly have the skills to do it justice! :-)
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Post by: Alpharius
Your skills...amazing.
I wish you took commissions!
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Post by: Jehan-reznor
Damn cool stuff, what are your plans with Mortarion?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
nerdfest09 wrote:You are a brave and wonderful man! I've just done a Morty myself and I give you a large internet handshake for hving the balls to cut and repose him! at least you certainly have the skills to do it justice! :-)
I hope I can do him justice, and I'm drawing heavily on the artwork for that.
Alpharius wrote:Your skills...amazing.
I wish you took commissions!
Maybe some day. I've just had bad experiences with the 3-4 I've attempted, and for pretty much every one of those, I had to force myself to slog through to the end because they weren't things I really wanted to do. :(
Jehan-reznor wrote:Damn cool stuff, what are your plans with Mortarion?
Make him look more like the art, and primarily this piece:
I'm planning on adding more of that tattered cloth to him, a rebreather, and I might even see about a whole new head because the more I look at the original one, the less I like it.
-BCK
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I'm really not liking the Morty head so I'm seeing about making one of my own to replace it with. Here's the start of it:
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Post by: Zuul
Is that red thing a bb?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
It's a large plastic rivet, generally used by train enthusiasts, but with 40k's fascination with them, I picked up a big lot of various sizes from eBay a few years back.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Decided to change the shape on the rebreather.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Starting on the first of a Destroyer squad.
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Post by: whalemusic360
The two different pistols is messing with me. They have different magazines, so he'd have to carry extra for each one, seems silly, even for space marines.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Everything is silly about space marines. Besides, he has a matching version of the left hand pistol on his right hip.
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Post by: nerdfest09
whalemusic360 wrote:The two different pistols is messing with me. They have different magazines, so he'd have to carry extra for each one, seems silly, even for space marines.
lol only you Whaley......
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Post by: pantheralegionnaire
Man, I just read through and exalted your blog. There is so much awesome stuff going on on the P&M site, and yours is fantastic! I especially love the eclectic mix of projects you have going on, and how you flit from one to the next--I suffer from that myself, and as I play both Fantasy and 40k, it's possibly even worse!
Anyway, I appreciate all the photos you have posted--I am GS novice, and have now come to terms with the fact that I need to get a tube roller (or whatever it's called) and the proper sculpting tools. And then practice. I love the thin quality of the tissue cloaks, and how they settle on the armour, revealing the shape of what's underneath--I will definitely give that a try!
Many thanks for sharing these fantastic projects!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Yeah, sometimes it seems like my muse has the attention span of a bored house cat. I am trying to focus on my pre-heresy VIII Legion army though, and this new Contemptor is part of a small contingent of Dusk Raider allies.
Like many skills, sculpting, especially in greenstuff, has a high learning curve and when you first start doing it, you should be prepared to suck at it. If you go in knowing it's not going to turn out spectacularly but you will improve, that will help keep you motivated. Some things that can help with the frustration is making sure you use some kind of lubricant with your tools so the greenstuff doesn't stick to them(But not spit! DO NOT lick your tools!), and I would highly suggest reading tutorials and watching any sculpting videos you can find. Learning how to break down complex shapes into smaller, simpler shapes in your mind will make you life much easier. For tools, I can't recommend clay shapers highly enough. I use them probably 90% of the time(and just two shapes), and then I have a single metal sculpting tool I use for the other 10%.
Also, one of the hardest lessons for me to learn has been to slow down and not try to sculpt huge, complex shapes all at one time, or multiple areas on single figure at the same time. I cannot tell you how many times I've done some sculpting job on one part of a figure and then started working on another part immediately after, and a few minutes into the second one, I shift the figure and feel a finger sink in the greenstuff of the first thing, completely destroying it. Sculpt one thing, set it aside to cure, then go back and continue sculpting. I usually have several figures I'm working on at the same time for this very reason.
But most importantly, you need to familiarize yourself with the greenstuff. Try mixing it in different ratios to find the consistency you like. Work with it at different cure times to find out when you like to work with it. Me personally, I do about a 60/40 mix of yellow to blue, and I start using it the instant I finish mixing, where I've seen other people who like to let it sit around for 10-20 minutes or longer for before using it. Try to sculpt something every day, even if it's just pushing some greenstuff around with your tools and trying to get used to making sharp edges or a smooth, flat surface.
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Post by: Meph
Say, that gun for the Contemptor, it seems like the Avenger cannon, right? But I'm wondering what scale, and company. I've been looking long and hard for something somilar but most 3rd party parts companies only sell a 'short' version of only the parts sticking out of the plane...
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
It's a 1/32 Avenger. I got it out of a clearance bin at model shop some months back. The instructions and the cardboard insert with the company name was gone, so I dunno who made it.
*edit* I meant to say it was a 20mm Vulcan, not an Avenger - the V has 6 barrels, the A has 7.
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Post by: pantheralegionnaire
Brother Chaplain Kage wrote:Yeah, sometimes it seems like my muse has the attention span of a bored house cat. I am trying to focus on my pre-heresy VIII Legion army though, and this new Contemptor is part of a small contingent of Dusk Raider allies.
Like many skills, sculpting, especially in greenstuff, has a high learning curve and when you first start doing it, you should be prepared to suck at it. If you go in knowing it's not going to turn out spectacularly but you will improve, that will help keep you motivated. Some things that can help with the frustration is making sure you use some kind of lubricant with your tools so the greenstuff doesn't stick to them(But not spit! DO NOT lick your tools!), and I would highly suggest reading tutorials and watching any sculpting videos you can find. Learning how to break down complex shapes into smaller, simpler shapes in your mind will make you life much easier. For tools, I can't recommend clay shapers highly enough. I use them probably 90% of the time(and just two shapes), and then I have a single metal sculpting tool I use for the other 10%.
Also, one of the hardest lessons for me to learn has been to slow down and not try to sculpt huge, complex shapes all at one time, or multiple areas on single figure at the same time. I cannot tell you how many times I've done some sculpting job on one part of a figure and then started working on another part immediately after, and a few minutes into the second one, I shift the figure and feel a finger sink in the greenstuff of the first thing, completely destroying it. Sculpt one thing, set it aside to cure, then go back and continue sculpting. I usually have several figures I'm working on at the same time for this very reason.
But most importantly, you need to familiarize yourself with the greenstuff. Try mixing it in different ratios to find the consistency you like. Work with it at different cure times to find out when you like to work with it. Me personally, I do about a 60/40 mix of yellow to blue, and I start using it the instant I finish mixing, where I've seen other people who like to let it sit around for 10-20 minutes or longer for before using it. Try to sculpt something every day, even if it's just pushing some greenstuff around with your tools and trying to get used to making sharp edges or a smooth, flat surface.
Hey, thank you very much for this--it's very informative indeed! Clay shapers, huh? I would not have thought of that at all--I will have to hit an art shop and see what I can find. I will also check for some tutorials, as you advise, and watch what's out there.
The "Don't Lick!" piece of advice is also priceless! I will definitely bear that in mind!
I only used GS this summer on a conversion to a Dwarf Lord on shield bearers that I made. I created a large shield for the platform out of a cut-down 40k base and used the GS to create some detail on it, and I used some as a filler/piece of neck armor for one of the bearers. So, like I said, pretty much "Level 0." That said, I am keen to do more, and I am working on converting an OLD Orion, King of the Woods model and I will definitely take your "one stage at a time" advice for that.
I also think you are correct about the practice, and that is something I need to do. Especially since I am getting into this mainly to work on super-cool centerpiece models, where screwing up sucks. Since I don't want my crappy first efforts to be on things that really matter, it totally makes sense to practice on some models where it doesn't make that big of a difference.
So, once again, thanks very much--that is fantastic!
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Post by: Meph
Brother Chaplain Kage wrote:It's a 1/32 Avenger. I got it out of a clearance bin at model shop some months back. The instructions and the cardboard insert with the company name was gone, so I dunno who made it.
*edit* I meant to say it was a 20mm Vulcan, not an Avenger - the V has 6 barrels, the A has 7.
Cool. Looks good though. The Contemptor's assault cannon is already looking good but this cranks it up a notch. Personally I would have made the gun a little bit shorter though. Like that it feels slightly out proportion.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
You think that gun looks out of proportion...? In the Warhammer 40k setting? In comparison to the original one that would fire bullets as big around as my forearm, and this looks out of proportion?
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Post by: Kepora
Brother Chaplain Kage wrote:You think that gun looks out of proportion...? In the Warhammer 40k setting? In comparison to the original one that would fire bullets as big around as my forearm, and this looks out of proportion?
That's about how big the bullets would be, though!
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Post by: Meph
Kepora wrote: Brother Chaplain Kage wrote:You think that gun looks out of proportion...? In the Warhammer 40k setting? In comparison to the original one that would fire bullets as big around as my forearm, and this looks out of proportion?
That's about how big the bullets would be, though!
lol, yeah, 40K guns are a bit outlandish.
The caliber is looking good. I meant more just the length of the gun in proportion to the dreadnought. It seems just a bit unwieldy, but still ok.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The leader of my Dusk Raiders detachment, using the figure and rules for Typhon but going by a different name and changing up the helm and weapon:
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Post by: Kepora
Not AS awesome as Typhon's helmet (arguably one of the coolest ones put out by any miniature company), but still awesome nonetheless!
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Post by: Joyous_Oblivion
This thread is so very cool. I never noticed Horus had luna wolves symbols still on his armour, very cool!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Working on a new figure that will be a World Eater, and making some adjustments to the torso so it doesn't look so strange and small on the giant Legion MK III legs.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Still very WIP, but making progress:
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Post by: nerdfest09
^ Looks bloody awesome so far! love the pose and the fact we know it's going to be a WE it's too fitting for words!
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Post by: Meph
Good progress indeed!
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Post by: pantheralegionnaire
I really like the Mohawk head and the axe is great. So...sort of a World Eater in repose?
The Nails weren't biting too hard at that moment?
Looks good for sure!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Thanks for the compliments!
Panther, funny thing that you mentioned the hair...
Removed the mohawk and added some hands.
I decided to change up the helmet to make it look a little more sturdy and also as kind of a MK 2.5 that has touches of the II and III in it. I'll have to get some better pics of it, but that crest bisecting the helmet face is actually a blade. I figure a World Eater would be the kind of marine to turn his whole body into a weapon, so why not a blade down the face of the helmet for when both your hands are busy and you still have to tear someone's face off?
In continuing to give the appearance that this guy is a juggernaut, I did a test and filled in the right greave up to the level of the armor trim to see if it added to the walking tank look I want. I think it does, so I'll be filling in the rest of the frontal armor like that.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Getting closer to finished...
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I had to include some skulls of his traitorous brothers.
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Post by: Zuul
He's coming along nicely. What did the skulls come off of?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
A Dark Eldar Raider, iirc.
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Post by: pantheralegionnaire
Aah! Haircut!
No, it looks good. I really like the "bladed helmet" idea--slicing head butts definitely sound like something a World Eater would dig. I also really like the most recent left Pauldron--I've never seen that one before, but it would look good with a little blue-green world inside of it.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
pantheralegionnaire wrote:Aah! Haircut!
No, it looks good. I really like the "bladed helmet" idea--slicing head butts definitely sound like something a World Eater would dig. I also really like the most recent left Pauldron--I've never seen that one before, but it would look good with a little blue-green world inside of it.
The shoulder pad is from this guy:
And not a bad idea for the world in the inset, but he's not a World Eater anymore. He's gone back to War Hound.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Updated with rivets!
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Post by: Zuul
Do you use a special tool for your power cables?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Tube making tool from Green Stuff Industries.
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Post by: Alpharius
Your skills continue to impress!
Remember, if you ever do decide to take on commissions, I've got dibs on "First Customer"!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I'll keep that in mind, Alpharius.
Starting on the paint:
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Post by: Kepora
Like hell he does! >:C
But in all seriousness, epic work as always!
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Post by: pantheralegionnaire
Looking good. Those rivets really do greatly enhance the visual appeal. Fantastic that they are your own work!
I'm still sad about that shoulder pad, though....
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Time to get t his updated a bit.
Here's a Space Wolf I started on, doing my take on one inspired more by Norse history than whatever GW bases them on.
Size comparison next to a Destroyer:
Once you make a MKIII marine stand up straight, he's surprisingly tall.
Almost finished, but I had to stop here to work on other projects for the end of the year:
Things like some figures as gifts.
Thousand Sons marine still very wip and an Imperial Fist veteran pretty much finished:
My interpretation of Exodus from the XX Legion, wip:
And finished:
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Post by: Zuul
Man, your sculpting is ace!
How did you do the right hand on the Exodus? I've been looking for a good way to do that or find a pointing right hand for a conversion I have on the table.
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Post by: mars2024
I love them. All of them. Phenomenal detail!
To be fair, I have to go through the rest of the thread now, but I can't wait. Keep it coming!
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Post by: Alpharius
Awesome, simply awesome.
I was ready to send the majority of my 2014 Conversion Budget to him - here's to hoping I'm more successful in 2015!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Zuul wrote:Man, your sculpting is ace!
How did you do the right hand on the Exodus? I've been looking for a good way to do that or find a pointing right hand for a conversion I have on the table.
For both hands I had to cut the fingers away from the palm section and reposition them, and for the right hand, I had to remove almost all of the thumb to get the IGuard binoculars to fit, but it's turned at such an angle you can't really tell.
mars2024 wrote:
I love them. All of them. Phenomenal detail!
To be fair, I have to go through the rest of the thread now, but I can't wait. Keep it coming!
Thanks!
Alpharius wrote:Awesome, simply awesome.
I was ready to send the majority of my 2014 Conversion Budget to him - here's to hoping I'm more successful in 2015!
Maybe... I'm currently talking to a few people on another board about some commission work, but both are a much smaller job than what you were wanting.
I've requested some ProCreate for Christmas and I've heard it's much easier to work with than GS so I'm excited to give that a try and maybe it will be spur me on to trying new things, like a bunch of true scale marines. No promises though!
I also come bearing new pics. It's a Horus Heresy XIX Legion(Raven Guard) member I'm working on, and the idea is that it's very later in the Heresy and his armor is a mix of marks with a MkIII shoulder pad, MkIV chest, right arm, and jump pack, MkV legs and eventually left arm, and a MkVI helm.
Here's the initial collection of parts after digging through the bits box and trying out a general pose.:
Changed out the chest piece for a different MkIV, bulking out the thighs and right arm a bit, and reshaping the axe. I was trying to even out a raised spot on the right arm when part of the GS just tore away so it will be fixed.
Should have more pics soon as several of the pieces currently have GS curing on them.
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Post by: Alpharius
Loving that power axe!
And as far as conversion work goes, just keep me in mind, and in your potential client queue is all!
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Post by: Elnibbus
That Exodus is inspiring...
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Post by: MagosBiff90
How have I only managed to find this thread now??!
Some really great conversions / sculpts and general skills going on! And I love the idea of the "newly turned" chaos troops... during the heresy...more of the traitor feel without the full on debauchery of chaos... without the spikey bits and skulls.... well.. apart from the World Eater... but he is allowed!
Those Space Wolves are definitely working out well... quite obviously influenced by the Nordic histories but clearly space marines... very well done!
The red glow beneath the Alpha Legion Sniper is truly menacing & I love the use of the paper towel and white glue capes... IO have tried to use the same technique a couple of times for tarpaulins with varied success...
Cant wait so see more!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Thanks for the feedback and kind words.
He's gone through some changes in the past several days. I first tried for a skeletal bird look for the helm:
But I wasn't satisfied with it.
So now it looks like this:
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Post by: pantheralegionnaire
Man, I missed some great update posts. Thanks for all the photos! I do love the Norse marine, especially the helmet and the added size.
The Exodus is definitely awesome--I love the concept and execution, and the gun is mammoth! I may have asked already, but is that cape just made of tissue paper in "White/Elmer's" glue? The way it settles and drapes over the model is great.
The Raven guard is also very cool, although I do find the "Raphael-esque" fat thighs kind of amusing.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The Exodus gun is rather large.
Yes, the cape is just tissue and white glue. Normally I just use facial tissue or 'Kleenex', but with him down on one knee like that and the cloak going all the way to the base of the figure, the Kleenex just wasn't cutting it - it wouldn't hang correctly no matter what I did. I tried building a base for the tissue made of paper towel and spent a good amount of time working in the creases and folds just how I wanted them and one it was dried, I simply put a layer of tissue on top of the paper towel base and brushed watered down glue directly on top of it so that it conformed to the shape underneath. Once that had firmed up some, I went back over with glue that was thinned about 1 part water to 4 or 5 parts glue to get it to harden up properly.
The larger thighs are part of me BCK Scalingâ„¢ my marines. I don't care for True or Art Scaling and don't believe it's necessary to extend the legs at all, much less with spending more than twice the amount of money for a squad made with Terminator parts. For me, thickening up the thighs some and lengthening the abdomen gets their proportions where I want it. Marines are always described as having these massive body builder physiques and there's no way in hell that those scrawny little legs that come standard on the plastic figures could contain muscles AND armor of any appreciable thickness.
Look at 'em!
And then look how much thicker the greaves are in comparison. Not only is the larger thighs making the flesh under the armor more believable, but it also brings the upper legs more in proportion with the lower legs.
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Post by: pantheralegionnaire
Ha! Awesome! Yes, as a rugby player myself I am fan of the "strong legs" you have crafted. Definitely more power there. Thanks very much for the clarification and great step-by-step in the cloak, too. I really like that effect, especially for scouts.
I hear you too about not wanting to spend twice as much for Terminator parts to try to Tru-Scale them up. Can I ask you about that arm I see above, though? You've pinned it, obviously--will you fill that in with green stuff and thus also extend the length of the arms?
I really haven't done any of this, but am...gradually...thinking about it. This hobby is crazy like that. I just got to a place where I am very happy with the standard of my painting and my overall army build, and then I find out about scratch built tanks and Tru-Scale marines. Always more hobby fun to be had...
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The arm has already been filled in and you can see that in some of the more recent WIP pics.
Oddly enough, it was GW that got me into converting minis. I had been collecting minis for a while, but most of what was available in my area at the time was just fantasy stuff, mostly from Ral Partha. When a new game store opened up in the next town over, I was introduced to 2nd edition 40k and other Citadel minis, as well as their How to Paint guide that showed you how to chop and modify minis!
At first, I was horrified at the idea, but then the sickness took hold and I have been its thrall ever since.
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Post by: Dreadclaw69
Fantastic work as always Any plans for the IX Legion?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
On another board I'm doing a challenge where each month you make a single figure for a different Legion, starting at XX and counting down, so Exodus was the Alpha Legion, this guy I'm currently working on is Raven Guard, and there will eventually be a Blood Angel, but no plans for a large force or army of them.
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Post by: Elnibbus
I'm making my own "Exodus" for my home-brew Marine chapter using the AL rules and it's entirely your fault BCK...
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Elnibbus wrote:I'm making my own "Exodus" for my home-brew Marine chapter using the AL rules and it's entirely your fault BCK...
I make no apologies for spreading the hobby illness!
And now, the modeling phase finished for this Raven Guard guy:
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Post by: Elnibbus
Very cool. I like the use of a restricted colour palette very much.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I'm finding I like limited palettes much more than I used to, and I just can't seem to do the normal GW type paint job with base, shade, and edge highlights anymore.
I like a more realistic look and for the Heresy era, darker muted colors really seem to fit well.
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Post by: Darth Bob
Some absolutely beautiful stuff in this thread. Exalted!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Thanks Bob! Glad you like it.
Recently, I've had a hankering to get back to some of my Eldar, with a specific desire to see how I can improve on some of the Aspect models(or at the very least, make them more my own) that I'm not happy with. That would be Howling Banshees and Warp Spiders for the time being, and for now, I'm going to try some things for a Banshee Exarch. The problem is that I don't like the current Banshees models; my favorite incarnation is the 3rd Edition "squid head" models.
As much as I like them, the models are showing their age somewhat. So are the Eldar Guardian plastics as well. So, what's a mad converter to do?
Start digging through my Dark Eldar sprues, of course!
I went with this pair of legs, but I'll be using a Kabalite chest.
For a while, I've been bothered by one aspect of the Eldar armor, and that's how it looks like a spandex body suit with some armor pats glued on. The lower body is especially bad in this regard, with almost nothing on the backs of of the legs. This is supposed to be a ancient race with technology so advanced it's practically magical to the plodding Imperium of Man, and that's the best job the sculptors can do with the armor? I want something that looks more substantial and enclosing, kinda like the Kabalite armor. And God-Emperor help me, I've been surfing the net looking for inspiration.
I like this Stark Enterprises concept art I found for something along these lines:
If the armor has to have features to define the sex of the wearer, namely boob humps, I like the way it's done here where the armor is more spread out and flattened overall, rather than the two giant boob cones that would channel strikes directly into the sternum.
If the all armor thing proves too much to do and I have to fall back on the under suit with armor plates, I'd like to see if I could pull off something along these lines:
Doesn't that look more Eldar-y?
And finally, my chop job WIP to test out the pose and general idea. I had to cut and file so much material off of the legs to remove the detail that I had to build quite a bit of it back up, but this also gave me the chance to increase the size of the leg muscles some.
Don't mind the wonky position of the left side of the hip/pelvis area as I had to adjust that side quite a bit to get that serious sprinting look I was wanting. The left arm will probably become a part of the model with a longer haft and two Eldar blades on the ends to make an Executioner, but the right is essentially just there as a test. The head is also just a placeholder and right now, I'm not sure if I'm just gonna cut the head off of one of my old squid head models, or try to sculpt a whole new one from scratch.
If I get really nuts, I might see about making this an updated version of Jain Zar. O_o
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Well, I went nuts. I'm going to make this my own version of Jain Zar, but I don't think it will resemble the figure or art very much for a several reasons:
1) The hair is just ridiculous. I might try for something along the lines of Lelith's hair.
2) She resembles a Dark Eldar or Harlequin more than one of the 'good' Eldar. And what's with all the screaming faces on her armor?
3) Unlike all the other Phoenix Lords, she doesn't look much at all like the aspect warriors that follow her path. (Ok, Maugan Ra is iffy, but he's still closer in appearance to a Dark Reaper than she is to a Banshee.)
4) Her stupid spiked, bladed boots. How is she even going to stand up with those things?
The general points I want to hit with the figure are to make her resemble a Banshee while also looking strong, fast, and scary. Here's a little more work done:
That head is just there because I wanted something other than the blank Guardian face.
Oh, I'm considering doing something similar with Karandras and Fuegan.
-BCK
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Post by: Skimask Mohawk
Both your painting and your converting are excellent, however your raven guard paintjob looks nothing like the raven guard. The armour is grey-green as opposed to black, which kind of makes it look like a son of horus instead.
Anyways, keep up the great conversions
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The back story I came up with that guy is that he's a Terran that doesn't really care for Corax, so he's gone back to a Unifcation paint scheme.
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Post by: Alpharius
Karandras is my favorite Phoenix Lord - I'd love to see your take on him!
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Post by: Skimask Mohawk
Brother Chaplain Kage wrote:The back story I came up with that guy is that he's a Terran that doesn't really care for Corax, so he's gone back to a Unifcation paint scheme.
Fair enough, so he's really more of a XIX Legionary than a Raven Guard one
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
He's my favorite too and his figure looks soooooo bad. Not sure just yet what I'd do for him.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Small update on the Jain Zar conversion:
I put her on a base to make sure the wasn't leaned forward to far, since it was hard to judge while secured to a holder for sculpting and was glad to see it's not too extreme. It follows pretty close to a lot of the reference pics of sprinters I dug up. I also trimmed the bulk of the legs down some and this looks better, imho, as they were a tad too large.
I'm wanting her right arm to be holding the three bladed Triskele throwing weapon, but I'm not sure how to pose it. Where this arm is now, she'd be preparing to whip her arm up straight up to launch the weapon. Opinions? Other ideas or suggestions for the posing of the right arm?
-BCK
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
So, I decided to stay with the look of an undersuit with armor plates on top of it, but make more of them and closer together.
The polearm has been made to resemble the one from the figure, and I went back to the original Mark Gibbons art for the shape, 'cause I couldn't find a decent profile shot of the blade from the figure. Unlike the original, I wanted the blade to come directly from the haft and not be offset like an Eldar version of a GK weapon.
I tried to get a decent shot of the blade, but the sheet plastic reflects so much light I couldn't get one that showed where I had shaved down the edge for the blade. This is the only one I managed to get that didn't appear to be glowing, but at least it gives a good idea of the shape of it.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I started on a new marine recently, and the finished version will be a surprise, but here's my initial sketch of the pose to test the idea.
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Post by: Elnibbus
"KEEP OFF MY LAWN!"
Love it.
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Post by: MagosBiff90
Haha.. funny I was thinking something similar... the marine is obviously annoyed at the pesky "Nids" that keep ruining his nice and perfectly ordered tulips!
All joking aside.... that's looking pretty cool.. cant wait to see the finished article!
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Post by: lone dirty dog
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
It was more of a victory pose, I guess, and I actually images of Thanos from my old comic books days dancing through my head as I worked on the pose.
LDD, that's something I really strive for with my toy soldiers, and with a little care and time spent choosing bits and tweaking a pose, it's not all the difficult to give them some character.
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Post by: lone dirty dog
This is true with a little tweak can make all the difference, I got the Victory vibe from the stance and fist gesture
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Post by: Elnibbus
I gathered it was a "GIT SUM" pose rather than a "GIT ERTA MA SWAMP YER KIDZ" one
It looks great. You do get a sense of power from the pose.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Well, victory pose or possibly "This world is MINE!" sort of thing, but the feeling comes across either way, which is the important part.
I also wanted to share a nice find I recently got off of eBay. Anyone recognize this guy?
Because the person selling it for a pittance obviously didn't.
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Post by: lone dirty dog
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Well, it didn't come with the original arms and you can see some silver showing through on the left side of the back banner(the figure's right) where it's scuffed really badly, obliterating some of the detail - either stepped on and dragged across a floor or something else equally destructive - but as a seller, it's your job to make sure you know the value of what you're selling.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I picked up a cheap metal Fire Dragon Exarch off eBay recently and started some test posing for my Fuegan conversion.
For the left arm, I'm wanting to drastically change the fire pike for this guy because the one the original model comes with, as well as the Fire Dragon Exarch version are both ridiculously large. I mean, it's a melta with a little more range and for a race that arguably has the most advanced weapons in the universe they couldn't make this thing any smaller? What I'm thinking is something similar to the underslung Reaper Launcher for the Autarch:
Keep in mind this is a very early WIP and it will look a lot different very shortly, but whatcha think? Good, bad, ugly?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I recently got in some new resin, including a 10-man squad of Cataphractii and the Praetors. Here's the TDA Praetor in a quick sketch of how I want to build him out.
I still stubbornly refuse to do a marine without a helmet and it took a fair bit of work to get that MKII in the head space. I'm using a regular Cat left arm because I didn't want to chop up the Praetor arm before I tried out the shield idea, but that will change soon.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The start of making him a big boy shield more appropriate to his TDA.
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Post by: Alpharius
Fantastic stuff, as always!
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Post by: pantheralegionnaire
Wow, cool conversion, making the shield larger. He's actually really reminiscent of a medieval knight, with that helmet and the mace!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Alpharius wrote:Fantastic stuff, as always!
Thanks.
pantheralegionnaire wrote:Wow, cool conversion, making the shield larger. He's actually really reminiscent of a medieval knight, with that helmet and the mace!
The new shield is made from a piece of sheet plastic, not converted from the previous one shown.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I've finished lengthening the waist area on the Cataphractii, because the bottom of the torso and the top of the hip armor will collide if you don't.
And testing out some arm positions and the first of many chainglaives to come:
(I know it's more of a chain halberd, but it's a counts-as chainglaive, so...)
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Post by: MagosBiff90
Really awesome work! Really love that Praetor! He looks like one mean S.O.B!!
Damn you for making me want to do some of these ... ontop of everything else! lol!
OH... and that second option for the shield... IMHO.. is awesome!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Worked out a two-hand pose which is a lot more trouble than I thought it would be for these chainglaives, and probably won't be doing another.
MagosBiff90 wrote:Really awesome work! Really love that Praetor! He looks like one mean S.O.B!!
Damn you for making me want to do some of these ... ontop of everything else! lol!
OH... and that second option for the shield... IMHO.. is awesome!
Thanks! The Cataphractii are pretty nice models, once you fix the waist issue, but from what I understand, even in 30k the terminators really aren't worth the points cost.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I had a suggestion to flip the blade on the pole axes 180 degrees, which I thought would look nice, but then the teeth would be facing the wrong way. I thought the resin would be too brittle to remove the teeth and reattach them, but since I'm only making 9 of these and have 10 of the power axes, I tried it on the spare. I liked it... and made a lot more work for myself.
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Post by: Kepora
Definitely worth the effort, thoguh - they look great!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Thanks, Kepora.
I'm currently in a slump on my terminators and can't seem to get the motivation going on them, so I thought I'd work on something else. Remember this guy from the first page?
I thought working on something else might get me motivated on my termies, so he's finally getting some paint. I decided to try out this Rub and Buff metallic paint I'd seen so much of from the Forgeworld Legion paint schemes, and it's pretty interesting. When I first started lightly drybrushing it over a black undercoat, I wasn't too impressed as it looked like drybrushing your normal Boltgun Metal (or whatever the new name is), until I gave rubbing and buffing it a try... and then it turned into one of the best looking metal paint jobs I had ever seen.
In this step, I'm having to knock down the shine quite a bit because none of the stores around here that sold the Rub and Buff had the darker Pewter color so I bought the Silver Leaf and it's really bright. Since I didn't want to do any paint chipping on this guy, I went with washes in blue, green, and purple to break up the monotone silver and add a little contrast to the metal. Unfortunately, the color tinting doesn't show up much at all in the photos.
A little more progress and trying out the base.
Nearing completion of the painting phase, and I might have finished today, but the left arm, and the spear specifically, are being a real pain.
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Post by: Kepora
Whoa, that looks amazing! How exactly does this technique work?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
It's just like drybrushing any other metal paint, but it's made of carnauba wax, finely ground metal flakes, and pigment. It comes in a tube and has a texture a lot like oil paint. After drybrushing it like I would another paint, I used a combination of ear swabs and a scrap piece of cloth from an old shirt to rub and buff it.
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Post by: Kepora
Okay, now THAT sounds cool. Where could oen find this stuff? I'm an Iron Warriors player, so this is highly relevant to my interests. The recipe for that trim would be nice, too~
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I got mine at a Hobby Lobby. I called a Michael's and they said they carried the stuff, but when I got to the store, there was none in stock. They were about $5 a tube, and I picked up an aged cold, a copper, and the silver leaf colors. I would suggest getting the pewter color if you can find it, as it's much darker than the silver leaf.
The trim? You mean the bronze? It's Vallejo Model Color Bronze...
...with some brown ink washes on top of it to knock the shine down and make it look aged.
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Post by: Kepora
That simple, eh? Awesome, thanks!
EDIT: Also, what's the name of the paint/kind of paint? XD
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Post by: GiraffeX
Kepora wrote:That simple, eh? Awesome, thanks!
EDIT: Also, what's the name of the paint/kind of paint? XD
I believe its actually called Rub and Buff, I've just found it on ebay.
Thanks for bringing to our attention Kage, it looks really nice.
I may pick some up for some project I haven't thought of yet. Might go for the silver leaf as well as its easier making things darker but not lighter.
Edit: My question is do you need to seal it or is washing enough?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Yeah, it's simply called Rub and Buff.
Giraffe, I didn't seal it all and used washes right on top of it.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Maestoros is finished!
And starting on the Crimson Sons paint job for my Cataphractii.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The pictures didn't come out so well, but I finished the Dusk Raider I started so long ago. I made a few changes from his original appearance.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Against my better judgement, a friend has convinced to try to give up the hate I have of 40k Ultramarines and realize the 30k XIII Legion is not the same thing, by making a XIII Legion figure. Here's the start of it.
Kind of like the VI Legion guy I started on a while back, I wanted to go a different route than the usual GW thing. At this point, I was sure what kind of plume I wanted on his stylized helmet, and I'm trying out the one from the 40k Centurion kit. I didn't like the contrast between the smooth upper body and the lower body covered in rivets, and besides, it's gonna be artificer armor anyway!
I intended to keep the trim around the armor plates, similar to the Mk III Command figures, but that stuff is fragile and my big, dumb fingers broke it in several places so I went ahead and took it all off. I like this plume better and will probably be sticking with it.
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Post by: MagosBiff90
Sublime paintwork and modelling going on in here... I REALLY like that masked helmet on the Ultramarine..... and IMHO I recon the second plume option (sideways) is the best option! Cant wait to see this develop!
Oh.... and the tarnished metal armour on Maestoros is drop dead gorgeous! Top notch!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Thanks! I was really happy with how Maestoros came out, even if the pictures don't do him justice. I should have some new progress on the Ultra in the next day or two as well as another new figure.
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Post by: Kepora
I honestly prefer the Centurion plume - but they both look sweet! Eager to see how this fella comes along.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Since some life stuff has cropped up and I didn't make the progress on this guy I was hoping to, I've had a little more time to look at it and I'm not sure if I'm liking the transverse crest after all, but the one from the Cent kit isn't great either. I'll have to figure something else to do with it.
I have finally started on one of my 30k Unification era scouts, though! I couldn't find anything I liked to use as a base and a some friends suggested I look at the Eisenkern figures. I really like the potential they had and snatched up a box from eBay and set to work with the blades and putty to build the foundation.
My one little complaint was that they are extremely short waisted, even worse than the space marine figures and I had to use a spacer to bring closer to correct proportions. Originally I had planned on using more of the Eisenkern chest, so you the greenstuff stripe around the waist in the first pic is where I had started to blend it into the normal torso. Then the crazy converting illness woke up and... here we are. I plan on making this squad of scouts, and there will be eight of them, more like sci-fantasy versions of modern special forces with lots of webbing and pouches and all that fun stuff.
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Post by: Kepora
If you could find a way to set the Centurion crest lower on the head, it might work better. Alternatively, you could try the one from the Sternguard box.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
More on the scout.
The pouches on our left are a little beat up from test fitting the gun on arm on after the GS cured and they won't really be visible once the arm is on anyway.
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Post by: lone dirty dog
That is actually looking rather splendid and what a great idea, love how the head works with those bodies and I hope you don't mind but I must borrow this idea.
You have some interesting conversions and achieve a sense of originality with your models, personally I have never been a marine fan but there is something with the way you create your miniatures that I really enjoy.
Keep it up and loving these scouts, the body rig is going to look great once you finish.
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Post by: Kepora
Question, how did you go about rubbing/buffing the Rub 'n Buff? Like, just with your fingers, or with a cloth of some kind? And you just drybrushed it on over black?
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I drybrushed it over black and used an ear swab for most of the buffing. For the tight space where I couldn't reach with the swab, I used a little piece of fabric wrapped around the back end of a small paintbrush or piece of plastic rod.
Pretty much finished with the scout. Painted pics to follow soon.
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Post by: Kepora
Thanks for the info - if I can get my hands on it, I want to try it on my Mutilators! Also, that bolt pistol-to-rifle conversion is -amazing-. You should totally have someone cast that.
...for personal use, of course.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I'll need to make a better one to cast. I had to shave down quite a bit of the far side of the rifle so it would sit properly against his chest and I could have taken more time in a few spots, but yeah, I definitely had that idea while I was working on it.
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Post by: lone dirty dog
That has to be one of the coolest looking conversions of a scout I have seen to date amazing, I want to make these now myself totally Epic !!!!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I recently started work on some Inq28 stuff and decided to wanted to have some Deathwatch marines in the Ordo Xenos warband I'd get to after my Hereticus one. As is often the case when ideas start bubbling up in my head, I had to do something about it. The idea is 5 marines of different roles and chapters and the first is a Long Fang devastator of the Space Wolves. Normally, I don't see the need of true or art scale marines in an army of nothing but marines, but when I realized that a lot of the figures I was working on for the Hereticus warband were close to, or taller than, a regular plastic marine in height, I couldn't have that.
Initial blocking out of the figure:
And a comparison shot with a FW marine:
He measures right at 45mm to the top of his head. First time doing this much bigger marine thing and learning as I go - starting to block in the new shapes and realized I needed to make the lower legs larger to stay in proportion and so the wolfy detail had to go, but honestly, being from an early finecast production run didn't leave the detail in the best of shape.
Those familiar with the plascannon may notice I removed the top fuel canister because it was completely obscuring his face from the front, and with the larger backpack and what are sure to be some very large shoulder pads, I decided it needed to go. As for the older metal plascannon, yes it's a PITA to use, but I like the looks of it a lot better than the current plastic one.
Next up, the lower legs are at the size I want, but the arms looked too short and I wanted to change the angle of the gun to a more relaxed position, so they got extended. Also trying out the helmet, 'cause once I filled in the giant cavity left in the neck area (it's a Grey Knight terminator chest), it's not going to leave much room for things like facial hair to go anywhere.
Hope to have more up soon.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Got some more work done on the chest, going for a Mk IV look.
With the arms (that aren't finished yet) and the gun.
Finally, I'd like some input on some head options I've chosen. Yes, most likely, he is going to be wearing a helmet, as long time readers may now I find it terribly unrealistic for marines to go running around in combat zones without a brain bucket on. That just makes it so much harder to believe that a Wolf could live long enough to become a Long Fang in the first place. Anyway, the contenders are:
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Post by: Kepora
3. If you're going Maximus, go full-on maximum Maximus. XD
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Post by: evildrcheese
I think 5 looks the coolest.
Also the Scout and UM look amazing.
D
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I think I'm liking 5 the best as well.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
Ok, so... about 11 months ago, this is where I left on my custom Jain Zar conversion:
Brother Chaplain Kage wrote:So, I decided to stay with the look of an undersuit with armor plates on top of it, but make more of them and closer together.
As is often the case, my muse is flighty and has drifted from my true scale marines back to the Storm of Silence. When I left off with her, I wasn't really sure how I was going to fix up her abdomen and pelvic area as I've never sculpted that from scratch before, but she's gotten a lot further along in the past week.
The abdomen is longer and I adjusted the pose a bit when I did that.
Things still to do:
1) Figure out how make a decent looking Triskele and then figure out how to pose it in the right arm.
2) Decide what to do about the shoulder armor... or skip it entirely.
3) No way in hell am I going to try to reproduce the volume of hair she's supposed to have, either from the figure or the artwork, but she will have longer hair than a normal Banshee and I need to decide how long and if it will be loose, braided, etc.
4) Loincloth.
And that's as far as I'm planning right now.
As always, thanks for looking and C&C welcome.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
I've begun work on the commander of my Dusk Raider force, and here's where he started:
And where he currently stands:
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Post by: Alpharius
Masterful stuff, as always!
Where's that helmet from?
I like it, but don't recognize it!
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
The helmet is from the Deathshroud termies.
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Post by: Brother Chaplain Kage
A little more work done.
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Post by: Matthew
I just read through your first few pages and your work is beautiful, especially your Khorne marine on the first page. Subscribed!
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Post by: Raskana
Awesome work, I love the design aesthetic of your marines, they are ornamented but you take off jsut enough to make it believable that they go to battle in the gear. I think I may take a knife and file to some of those chosen models I have lying around after seeing your work.
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