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In other news... I bought some of the new Mantic Forge Father 'Steel Warriors' recently and have put a couple together. I was hoping that they would fit into my army without any conversion but you will see from the pic that they are far too tall (from left to right: Squat, Squat/Steel Warrior, Steel Warrior, Space Marine):



I have quickly put together a mock-up of a Steel Warrior body on the legs from a 'sawn in half' plastic Squat (using blu-tack) to see how it looks... and I think that the height will work but I now need to work out how I am going to convert 20 of them without necessarily having to sculpt 20 pairs of legs ...

... nothing ever goes smoothly :( .

There are other issues with them but I will sort out a review and post it in my blog once I can bring myself to do it. I am quietly disappointed with them... even though, in their own right, they are nice looking miniatures... just too big for my particular army :(

I saw some excellent squats done recently with whfb dwarves and sm scout arms/bits. In particular, the arms were perfect - just for variety's sake, might be viable?

 inmygravenimage wrote:
I saw some excellent squats done recently with whfb dwarves and sm scout arms/bits. In particular, the arms were perfect - just for variety's sake, might be viable?

Cheers for the heads up

I think I know which ones you may be on about (mostly grey but with orange beards). They are very nice but I have just spent my hobby cash on a big bunch of these Mantic miniatures so I need to stick with them (even if it means I have to be a bit creative with the legs


I agree with the fantasy/scout crossovers though... the ones I saw were very nice... they had a proper Hearthguard look to them

Have Mantic changed the whole forge father range to be taller, or is it just the Steel Warriors? Seems like an odd move....

It seems to be just the Steel Warriors at the moment but who knows.

In other news, I've got a bit further with my latest Jedi beastman:



For lots more information, including the latest Squat body sculpt and a full review of the new Mantic Steel Warriors, feel free to visit my Blog for the latest post:

http://insosworld.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/another-week-of-happenings.html

Beastmen look great dude.

EDC

Cheers . That last one should be finished this week and then I will start on the Squat berserkers... angry Squats with big mohawks and bad attitudes that will count as Ministorum Priests

Cool squats army concept Inso! Hmm the steel ones, yeah tall, but they could be something of the freakier squats, or half-human/half-squats.

Well I am hoping that I can solve the height issue as long as I can work out how to get some decent casts because I've already started on three pairs of legs for the Steel Warriors:

Well, I've finished the first 'leg blank':



I will be press moulding this and then adding pouches etc to the casts. I think that the legs have turned out OK (not awesome... just OK) but if the pressmoulding works, it will add a new dimension to how I produce the legs. If it doesn't work, I will have to get them cast up for me... so we'll have to see.

this afternoon, I have been messing around with Blue Stuff / Instant Mould and I currently have a little cast drying in the stuff. I just put a standard plastic Squat body in there, just to see how it turns out. It will be squashed after I have seen what I need to . I am using a mix of Green Stuff and Milliput in the mould so now it's just a case of sitting and waiting for a couple of hours .

This could be the start of a beautifull friendship (or not )....

I'll just be ticking along with the leg sculpting because they are a bit down the list of things to complete for the army... the first being the unit of Primaris Psykers / Jedi Beastmen... which, by chance, I have now finished:



I still need to adjust the base to tilt him forward a little but I am glad to have his sculpting done. Next up will be the three Ministorum Priests / Squat Berserkers... but I haven't started them yet.

As is usually the case, there is more information on the Blog:

http://insosworld.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/lots-of-stuff.html

Wow that greenstuff work is really inspiring! Love it! Keep up the amazing work

Cheers I'll try

I think it's time to get back to the Squats and here is the first WIP of one of the Ministorum Priests / Squat Berserkers:



Still a long way to go but this head sort of sculpted itself so I just went with it. The other two are not as far along as this one... but I guess it's a start .

The beard and eyebrows are fantastic on that head.

That is fantastic work.

Can you do a tutorial on how to sculpt beards? I would love to put some beards on my IG. cheers

Insane

I never saw a squat next to a marine for size comps, never realized they were that small.

Cheers

I just hope the next heads turn out of a similar standard (it's a very fickle thing, a sculpting muse ).

 STG wrote:
Can you do a tutorial on how to sculpt beards? I would love to put some beards on my IG. cheers

I can but it probably won't help that much... but in the interrim:

1. Put a blob of GS around the chin and shape it roughly into the shape of a beard.
2. Using a moistened sculpting tool, carefully scribe in the 'hairs' (I sort of back-comb... it'll show better in the tutorial).
3. Let the beard dry.
4. Place small blobs of GS either side of the top lip and shape them into a moustache.
5. Using a moistened sculpting tool, carefully scribe in the 'hairs' (I sort of back-comb... it'll show better in the tutorial).

The key points are to only use as much GS as you need and not go too mad, let the beard dry before you add the moustache and always keep your sculpting tools moist.

thanks dude!

I've started the second Berserker:



I have also been doing a bit of press moulding:



The results and a bit more information can be found on my latest blog post:

http://insosworld.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/press-moulding-fun.html

With my thoughts on my hobby on the post that follows the one above... or if you want a link:

http://insosworld.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/what-heck-am-i-doing.html

Impressive press mold results, unexpectedly effective!

- Salvage

It works really well... I was surprised at how well myself

There are videos explaining the process here (scroll down):

http://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/reusable-blue-stuff/2-blue-stuff-mold-4-bars.html

I would recommend that everyone gives it a go... it is great fun and can be very helpful with conversions (as I have demonstrated ).

Well... the first five Scout proxies are finished:



I now need to sculpt another pair of legs in a different pose for the next five. I think they've turned out OK so far and once I have made a total of four leg poses and press-moulded them up, I'll be able to mix and match between 5-man squads for a bit of variety.

Great looking sculpt work! I know that you would liked to have been more detailed, but hey, those are some short legs the squats have!those guys look great!

Yep, I'd have liked to put more details in but I was worried that the press moulding wouldn't pick them up so I stopped short (there's a pun there ).

In the meantime, the second body is now finished so I only have three more to go now. The next one is on the cork :



Once they are done... I am hopefully going to be able to dedicate a little time to painting Death

Nice!

Oh that running pose is nice! will make for a more dynamic squat soldier!

Any thought on running them as an Age of Darkness Imperial Militia?

The conversions are brillant. Love the look of the entire force, please keep dropping us pictures.

Mat

Cheers

I don't game so I am only collecting them to meet Codecii that I already have (Astra Militarum and Space Marines).

I am sure that the Imperial Militia rules would work for them but I don't have that book.

I've also got a big plan which is all based on the two Codecii that I have and it may mean a lot of reorganising to fit a different list... and because I don't game, I see no point in changing everything.

 Inso wrote:
Well... the first five Scout proxies are finished:



I now need to sculpt another pair of legs in a different pose for the next five. I think they've turned out OK so far and once I have made a total of four leg poses and press-moulded them up, I'll be able to mix and match between 5-man squads for a bit of variety.

These look fantastic!
Sculpting the shorter legs for the Mantic bodies also ends up with a neat egg shaped nod to the original Squat exo armour.

Dude fantastic sculpts