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Hive Fleet Kukulan is the name given to a danger that has reemerged from a lone Behemoth bio-ship that was displaced by the battle with Tempestus Fleet in the Tyrannic War. Expelled from the Warp near the forgotten Exodite World of Kukulan, the ship immediately went about satisfying its driving urge - to feed and reproduce. The giant reptilian fauna of the planet gave the Tyranids plenty of bioforms with which to experiment and develop deadlier war beasts, wave after wave of increasingly deadly monsters crashing against the defences of the Eldar. Eventually, the planet was lost when a lone larval Tyranid burrowed past the World Spirit's defences and absorbed its great power. The ferocity of the planet's fauna continues to keep the swarm from completely devouring the world, and instead it has reached a kind of equilibrium whereby it continues to evolve deadlier predators, which in turn leave the planet as new ships calve and leave orbit for new feeding grounds. However, they do not leave in a random direction; seemingly purposefully, they all leave in the direction of Macragge; perhaps seeking revenge, or else maybe a form of homing instinct draws these creatures to the system they regard as their territory.

Army profile with photos of finished models here. And a few photos of models finished at the time of blog starting follow:



Alternative Swarmlord



Lictor



The Doom of Kukulan



Stranglerfex (with pre-60mm home made base)



Acid Spray Tyrannofex



Rupture Cannon Tyrannofex



Venomfexes



Alternative Scythed Heirodule

As I start this blog, I'm presently working on a crocodilian Trygon. It's been built in several parts and undercoated, with pics below:





When finished, it's going to be crawling out of a pipe, which I've made from plumbing supplies. A tunnel marker uses a similar pipe, with a Trygon tail poking out. A tide of Rippers spews from the tunnel and also underneath the Trygon itself.

I've deliberately used parts from the Trygon, T. Prime, and Mawloc variants; I'm not decided what I'll use it as and I like the composition. (Also I needed some of the other parts for the Swarmlord above.)

I've replaced the long talons with three-digited feet. This makes it look a lot more crocodilian, and ties it in with a Ravener unit I'm planning (that will use Genestealer arms for legs on plastic Warriors; again, a crocodilian look).

Two legs lack claws; reason being, they're attached to the pipe itself, to be painted separately before the pieces are put together. I won't be putting the pieces together until they're painted and varnished, reason being it'll scratch in many places. You can see where they'll glue together, as I used masking fluid to keep the spray paint from touching the contact points.

Also, special guest appearance by a bunch of tunneling spinerippers :3

love the dino theme! Your painting is also pretty awsome too!

Wow. as a tyranid player and a lover of conversions i have to say that you rip. Love the work that you have been doing. I like the semi dinosaur take that you have and the painting is first rate. AWSOME

Update: I've currently got several hobby projects on the go. The Trygon project remains unfinished, having been leapfrogged by my Hoplite idea:



Plan is to make a spear and shield (and shield variant) that can be cast so that I can both build nine or so Tyranids Prime. Nine! Hell, Marines can have a unit of Captains in Apocalype - why shouldn't I throw a couple of Fexstars and Tyrantstars at them with cheesy wound allocation shenanigans?

When I get my own models built, I'll use the moulds to produce castings for anybody else who wants a non-copyright-violating variant biomorphological weapon that woulds make a great stand-in for a bonesword you can pay GW for when they produce one.

edit: better quality photo of painting :3

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DON'T SUE ME!!!!!111one

:O..... your nids are awesome, you can paint minitures and you can paint. subscribed. loving the look of the trygon so far

Wow... those look sick!

Update: I just found an OOP component on eBay that I've been trying to get for the best part of a year. Brace for epic Parasite of Mortrex conversion over the coming weeks!

I gotta get back to converting my nids. I thought mine were good, but I got some catching up to do. Beautiful conversions and paintjob.

Update: my Parasite conversion is nearing painted completion, hopefully ready for show by next week. Meantime, I've got three of the Hoplite conversions finished and undercoated:



These bad boys will be Tyrant Guard with Boneswords, accompanying Swarmlord and to have a Lashprime added before long.

Great progress on the hoplite guards. They definitely followed your initial design to perfection.

My only complaint is that you didn't post any WIP pics on them but being pretty big on conversions myself, I can understand that you wouldn't want to break your workflow by stopping to take pictures.

Can't wait to see them painted up.

Yeah, blogging my projects is something I'm new to and I'm yet to get into the habit of stage-by-stage photography. Especially as pull-back-and-reveal is more my personal style, though I can see the value in stage-by-stage feedback.

They look great! awesome painting of the armor plates.
i especially like the dinosaur theme.
keep it up.

Just threw the first layer of varnish on Parasite. And picked up a load of new toys; next big project will be Tervigons with magnetised eggs to act as run-out-of-babbies counters.

Removing stingers from Arachnarok Spiders and re[placing with a socket containing a magnet. The screwdriver handle is perfectly sized for pushing the socket into shape in the soft Milliput™. Then a magnet (south pole facing down on the model's Y-axis) is pushed into the clay, and then when set covered with a bit of superglue then a blob of more putty.

Also, finished painting Parasite of Mortrex; waiting for varnish to dry, then need to glue some clear plastic onto it (like a blister pack) to represent broken glass; reckon this is a job for PVA. Then she'll get photo'd and uploaded.


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This is what's going to be dropping out of their cloacae (a bird or reptile's combined anus & vagina), after I sculpt an amniotic sac around it and fit a magnet:


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It is done.

My conversion of the Parasite of Mortrex, with massive Metroid fanservice.



Body of a Space Hulk Broodlord, head of an OOP Lord of Change, wings of Morathi's Dark Pegasus, Ripper from the Forge World pack. Scratch-build canister made from a Defiler and the tubes in which Gale Force 9 green stuff is sold.

Finished with Humbrol enamel varnishes in gloss, satin and matt. Also, my first evar attempt at NMM on the base!

Better quality photo to follow soon.

Hmm. I used PVA to glue bits of clear plastic as 'glass fragments' to the base, and the result's not satisfactory. The glue is very visible, and doesn't stick well. The broken glass in the canister halves is fine, but the shards on the floor look nasty and fall off. Can anyone recommend an alternative?

Beautiful Ridley you've got there.

best parasite conversion i have seen

That Parasite looks well and truly bizarre!

Massive gamer fanservice with Ridley and a pipe flower.

When my Tervigons run out of larvae to birth mid-game, I'll be replacing their ovipositors (egg layers) with stingers as a visual reminder that they're no longer laying.



With a magnetised socket ready made, I coated a ball of green stuff with vaseline and pushed it into the socket. When this dried, I cleaned the vaseline off and dropped a magnet in, jumping to where it aligned with the socket's magnet. A drop of superglue secured the magnet, a blob of milliput was pressed in, and a Genestealer talon pinned into the milliput. Job done, five stingers that can be grabbed and fitted to any of the five Tervigon abdomen.

As long as you make sure all of the first batch of magnets are correctly aligned, this technique can be rolled out to any sort of magnetised accessory.

Much better Parasite photos!

Again, the resemblence to the video game boss is astounding, especially the old fateweaver head and wings.
Two questions:
How did you make the metroid jar? The tops look like miliput sculpts, but the glass. are those two mini supermarket gachapon plastic containers?
Also, is the model completed? Some kind of dynamic lashing tail would really add something to an already incredible model.

I am deeply envious of your painting skills as well.

> Metroid jar



Look closely at the rear ankle joint

As for the glass - it was the plastic tube in which Gale Force 9 sells Green Stuff.

I'm leaving the model at this, I kind of like the Broodlord's tail as it is.

And thanks for the compliment

Wow, awesome Ridley! Will there be a Kraid in the army too, or is that too over-the-top? It's kind of tempting me to make a Samus marine (they've already got the shoulders!).

By the Emperor these are beautiful 'Nids! I eagerly await more work from you.

Joshh wrote:Will there be a Kraid in the army too, or is that too over-the-top?

I'd really, really like to find a way to shoehorn him into the army. I struggle to think of an appropriate unit to use for him, though. It'd have to be a walking mass of Wounds, with a moderately powerful short ranged attack. Old One Eye was a thought, but he's got no guns and I wanted to make a Triceratops for him. Maybe a Hive Tyrant, if I can find a workable build...

lindsay40k wrote:

Joshh wrote:Will there be a Kraid in the army too, or is that too over-the-top?

I'd really, really like to find a way to shoehorn him into the army. I struggle to think of an appropriate unit to use for him, though. It'd have to be a walking mass of Wounds, with a moderately powerful short ranged attack. Old One Eye was a thought, but he's got no guns and I wanted to make a Triceratops for him. Maybe a Hive Tyrant, if I can find a workable build...

I'm not at all familiar with the Nid codex but a Venomfex might do the trick. Using his belly spikes for the venom cannon ofc. If you want to go the Forgeworld route though the Hierophant rules might be a good fit...

You'd have to go scythed Hirodule.
Or a modifed lower body trygon.

I'm agreeing with Doomykins and saying Trygon. It's not to scale, but you won't blow a few hundred bucks on something that you're going to hack up into tiny pieces.

Like that hooker YOU SWORE WE'D NEVER TALK ABOUT.