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Warhound123 - I use a putty called epoputty, its similar to procreate. It sets rock hard and can be drilled etc. Better for armour and larger pieces as its really cheap. Made by Alteco; I believe it's for plumbing but it's got a really smooth and fine texture so its great. Greenstuff i've found better for robes, organic pieces etc because of its elasticity.

Malika2 wrote:I assume the Arch Magos is still going to get some big robes or something?

I am leaving the arch Magos till last as I figure it's going to be a full scratch-build. Defiantely lots of robes and bionics but less armour. I've moved away from using the limited ed. techmarine as it's too well known. I want something really unique.




I did that sketch a while back as an idea for a Dark mech Arch Magos. The loyal one would be similar but with an arm rather than a breacher drill, no moving platform and no spikes.

What about having characters who walk on mechanical spider legs?

Malika2 wrote:What about having characters who walk on mechanical spider legs?

Oh that would be cool...

Can't wait to see the arch magos!

Well I finally got my Traitor Guard army sold and got some work out of the way, which means progress on my warband.

Luckily I got this lot of work done before a niggling problem became apparent. I’ve developed a problem with my clavicle because of constant lifting of my right shoulder to steady my hand when painting. Basically one shoulder is higher than the other. Not cool. It’s painful sometimes but mostly just uncomfortable. I’ve seen a Physiotherapist and have exercises to do. Apparently it’s not too serious and if I sort it out now it won’t be a problem later in life.

Talk about suffering for the hobby...

The good thing is that I’ve been looking at other avenues for employment rather than full time miniature painting. I now have work in architectural modelling, a model railway and doing oil paintings for cafes/local sale etc


Back to the warband, here’s what I’ve got done:

Swapped out the base from the other smaller techpriest for a new guard one. I really like the sculpting and detail and feel there’s not really and point modifying it any further.




More sculpting and detail on my Techmarine. I’ve tried to go for something much like the art. It’s not perfectly proportional (quite tall) and I don’t think it would actually work in terms of human movement but they are genetically engineered after all, plus it looks neat.




Made a comms servitor using a cool witch hunter’s henchman figure. Few details to go. I’m getting really good at doing hoods now. It helps to look at other GW figures’ hoods and use them as a guide.




The henchmen figures are so cool I had to use this one. I’ve seen a few really cool gas-cutters done for other warbands so had to have one. My one also doubles as a lamp for my tech-assistant. I had the idea that he is a researcher and needs the lamp/cutter for his work rifling around in old libraries/data repositories.




More sculpting done on the protector.




A gun servitor based on a micro art studio track unit. My custom tracks haven’t been cast yet and I’ve got other plans for them. The gun arm is magnetised for weapon hot-swapability. I’m really not sure what to put on the other arm. Any ideas guys? A chainsaw/pincer perhaps or another gun?




My favourite bit of work done so far is my heavy gun-servitor. The idea is stolen from one done, I believe, by Dave Taylor. If it is, thanks again Dave. The new sentinel is a neat kit. Lots of cool spare bits to use. I’ve got an idea for a murky puddle on the base, hence the green-stuffed recess.






Lastly, a quick mockup of an engineering control servitor.



This dude was inspired by a creation of Proteius. He’ll be used in the factory complex of my big new project;



I am planning to build a model railway at 1:48 scale and have decided to give it a 40k feel and work it into the abandoned facility board I was thinking about. I find 1:48 works very well with 40k.

I will be scratch building the locos, factory equipment etc. It will hopefully include a rocky mine area, hilly scrubland and the factory complex built into a rocky promontory. I want it to have a mad max/rusty/grimy/damp/Mechanicus feel. It’s combining elements of the Mechanicus with the coal industry of 1920/30’s west coast of New Zealand (which I have an interest in.)

That’s all for now folks. Any ideas, comments you have, please let me know. I probably won’t get much more work done on the warband for a week or so but will be busy designing the railway layout. I’ll be sure to update.

Cheers
Earl

Ok! That Protector looks awesome!

I was thinking of some weirder Servitors, ones who would only be armed with bolters/autoguns/etc but that the barrel would come out of their mouths. They would walk hunched over (plastic Ghoul models) and with the ammo feed implanted into their backs. Very biomechanical, very Giger...very disturbing!

By the way, you and The Damned Artificer should exchange ideas, he is working on an Admech force as well, over at Warseer (link to blog)

Hi there I saw that Malika2 suggested that we exchanged ideas, if you're up to it I will gladly do that.

You have some really great admech models, even though they are heretics. I might go and steal some of your ideas for the bases too, I've had some problems deciding how to make mine.

Anyway write me if your interrested

Thanks Malika2.

I am loving your idea for weird gun servitors. I hadn't thought of doing it that way. I've got some bloodletters that i could probably use the bodies from. It may be quicker to just sculpt the bodies myself, i've got plenty of putty. Giger is definately a good inspiration, especially for when I get to the Dark side of things.

@ the damned artificer, I just checked out your blog. It's all awesome; The skitarii and quadruped are my favs, and the wee spiders. If I end up making an army, i'd like to use some of your ideas for sure.

My bases are inspired by Migsula's work. Mostly bits off of 1:35 tanks. It's simple yet very effective. Add texture with modelling paste (pebeo/vallejo) and you have rust and dirt build-up.

I will message you very soon and we can exchange ideas.

Wow very impressive conversations. 10 out of 10

really good

Brilliant, brilliant work Earl. the protector is indeed ace (it's the pose), but the henchman-based figs are what really caught my eye. Redoing such a commonly-seen mini to have a different purpose is really, really cool.

Can't wait to see the Magos when you get around to him.

Inquisitor Earl wrote:
@ the damned artificer, I just checked out your blog. It's all awesome; The skitarii and quadruped are my favs, and the wee spiders. If I end up making an army, i'd like to use some of your ideas for sure.

My bases are inspired by Migsula's work. Mostly bits off of 1:35 tanks. It's simple yet very effective. Add texture with modelling paste (pebeo/vallejo) and you have rust and dirt build-up.

I will message you very soon and we can exchange ideas.

Thanks I'm glad you like them
The bases sounds really easy, I might just go and try that. Will be looking forward to hearing from you.

I can't believe it's been nearly six months since I last updated this project.

The urge to finish it still exists; it's just been something that I've wanted to do but never got around to it. Real life, work (commission painting) etc have got in the way of my own modelling. I've also spent a lot of time exploring other model making avenues such as model railways. That sent me on a research mission, consuming vast amounts of information and learning many new things. In the end, railways are all too restrictive and the bulk of the local people I’ve met that are in to modelling trains are very close-minded. I've now come back to science fiction modelling; it’s something about the mystery and endless creativity it allows.

Some great artists and models I have found on my journeys, hopefully you'll find them interesting:

http://kallamity.com/galleries

http://www.fichtenfoo.com/blog/

http://jukabala.tripod.com/id21.html

http://www.maschinenkrueger.com/joomla/

http://www.migproductionsforums.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=9


Here is a little thing I made a couple of months ago from some bits that were lying around. Just started painting it a few days ago. It's not the cleanest paint job but I don't know if I really care because it was so fun to put together and paint. I've done all the conversion work for my warband as seen before, now I am going to undercoat and finally get some paint on them!




I've got this desire to make some sort of large mecha/tank/aircraft with all sort of 1:35 tank parts, 40k bits etc, just like some of the wondrous examples in the links above. It's hard to know what to do though as I have so many ideas. I even had the idea of making a 40k scale gun cutter. In proper scale it would be around 1:48.

Anyone got any advice for me? Should I take the plunge and make a gun-cutter? I am reminded of a quote by Cecil Beaton: "Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slave of the ordinary. It certainly would be daring to make, and would make a great centrepiece for my Weta Workshop portfolio.

Very nice gs and idea, love the renegade ogres

Cheers

LFF666

Wow, some amazing stuff so far :O

I would love to see a bigger brother to the flying chain gun drone in your last post... a cross between a terminator HK drone, and an IG valk?

Excellent stuff, keep it up.

And thanks for the great links too.

Wow great stuff ferrus as always. I am glad to see you posting somewhere again as I have been following your blog for the past few months and seen little from posts on it their when I looked last week. So this has me rather excited to see your work again.

SilverMK2 wrote:

I would love to see a bigger brother to the flying chain gun drone in your last post... a cross between a terminator HK drone, and an IG valk?

Oh no, there goes another great idea that I want to build. The valk with some big rotors instead of wings would indeed look very neat. I'll add that to the list of things I could build. There are quite a few options, just have to narrow it down to things that are really different and will keep me entertained.

Empchild, i am sorry for no updates on my blog, it's been a busy few months and modelling was last on the list of priorities. I hope to keep updating, even if it is just small things to keep me going.

make some robot terminator guys with autoguns ^^

Well executed conversion work there! Youve got real talent. You've made me want to get into my bits box and start converting. Thanks for sharing.

Oh man, that is some very inspiring stuff!

Utterly awesome if your still interested in doing the railway stuff the WW1 trench railway systems would be a great source of inspiration. That flying servitor is a brilliant concept. I've got to admit I don't really see Adeptus Mechanicus tanks even Dark Adeptus as rusty I believe they'd spend hours on cleaning and maintenance on these hallowed shrines (either those of the Emperor or the Dark Gods) I can just see them forcing serfs out of the Baneblade to clean it in the middle of a firefight!

Llama - I see true ad-mech as a massively varied organisation. I am with you in that they probably keep their stuff in good condition, though from lots of stuff i've read, they tend to just keep piling on the unguents and sacred oils without cleaning it off first.

I like the idea that maintenance isn't a very high priority with my Adeptus Mechanicus stuff. The Dark Mechanicus stuff even more so. It's pretty much just because I love to model rusty, worn and old things.

I am still very keen to model some sort of abandoned Mechanicus facility, perhaps as a diorama. The WW1 trench railways are certainly inspiring, as are some of the Feldbahn railways in Europe.



I've got a bit of an updated on the other side of the project. I don't think i'll ever make an army for each side but more a collection of related things that i like to model/paint.

I just had an urge to put some paint on my converted Dark echanicus baneblade. It's been sitting here for years and what with all the new military modelling techniques I've learned, it's time to do something.

I am going to prepare a tutorial on tank painting and weathering using acrylic paints. I've found many great techniques out there but most of them use various oil paints, pigments, airbrushes etc. I want to see if it's possible to create great effects with what we already use.

Here are some test teaser shots:

i can't wait to see this tutorial, that turret actually looks like it is made of distressed and fatigued metal! great stuff!

Looks great. Reminds me of another forum I visit which is pure model building. Occasionally they have rust bucket competitions.

Very cool stuff sir, can't wait to see more

This I love.

Just found this......Awesome is the only word

Hey, I was looking for some inspiration and actually found pics of Evan's stuff on google. That lead me to his blog and that (after an e-mail) lead me back to Dakka. I just wanted to bump this thread for 3 reasons...1. To say what great work this is. 2. To give others the opportunity to see this 3. To hopefully give Evan enough of a kick in the butt to keep working on this incredible project.

ender502

Very nice, I love the little disection table display inside the baneblade.

I'm going to keep an eye on this topic.

Wow, really great stuff that really captures the gritty gothic part of 40k which i fell in love with and is so often lost

one suggestion: disuise the iron hands leg armour on the protector... maybesome thing more angular, as the regular mark is quite recongisable as space marine

Great work though

Loving your work.

Very inspirational and exactly how I imagine AM and DM should look.

Can I see some more?