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Oh jesus thats cool use of nails.

AzraelHunt wrote:Brilliant work. I'm loving the homemade sword - definitely something I'll have to take a stab at. Reminds me of something I saw a while back, where a fellow crafted miniature swords using a nail and a bit of brass wire: http://imgur.com/gallery/IfH41

As for the arm, I like the posture; depending on what you do with the left arm, the pose should balance out - the slightly odd bend shouldn't be noticeable. Not such a fan of the tiny cog on the point of the elbow, though. Possibly shift it 90 degrees around the arm, and put a matching one on the other side - so they look like the end-caps of an 'axle' running through the elbow joint?

AzraelHunt - Thanks!
- I remembered those nail swords after I made the first katana (which was cut down to the wakazashi)
- this guy uses 2.5 inch (6.35 cm) nails, which are just too big for 28-30mm miniatures
- that katana was made with a paperclip and is about an inch long

Desubot wrote:Oh jesus thats cool use of nails.

Yes it is...

Added brass etch strip to upper forearm, a flatter (and obviously larger) cog to the lower:


Here it is in place:




Still not sure - thoughts?

Im not sure the whole Cog arm thing looks good. Maybe if the arm itself was more mechanical looking in the first place you could add more cogs. Unless you were going for a more Exoskeleton thing, then I with draw my comment. Bu if you are going for the Exoskeleton, needs more pistons and cogs.

Tried finding an example for you but all I could find was this for a hand. It kinda looks like what I'm talking about but for the whole arm and stuff.

Me likes. Very Detailed.

I think you are close to something good with the arm.

I think the cog on the lower arm should be smaller. Maybe even a couple of small cogs.

Possibly add some wires/cables/pipes to add to the steampunk feel. And maybe a pressure dial and other steam-related items... really give it an exoskeleton look.

Sneshy wrote:Me likes. Very Detailed.

Thanks!

Dr H wrote:I think you are close to something good with the arm.

I think the cog on the lower arm should be smaller. Maybe even a couple of small cogs.

Possibly add some wires/cables/pipes to add to the steampunk feel. And maybe a pressure dial and other steam-related items... really give it an exoskeleton look.

Thanks for the suggestions Dr H, however... the Samurai's Mandrake Finecast arm split in 3 places again, and I'm not repairing it again or it'll send me mad

Onto something else for a bit then...

Decided the basket hilt on the RT Captain's cutlass was too chunky, so stripped the weapon down to the blade and tang:


Cut some brass etch strip off a sprue, drilled and cut and filed at it for a while (note the too large first version in the upper right of shot):


Cutlass components ready for assembly:


And in hand - with added brass etch wings:


Then moved onto the Mechsuit rail-gun...

Built a hand rail:


And mounted it:


Cheers all!

This is amazing!!! This person is a miniature smithy lol

Ooooo sweet sword.

Anyone would think this finecast stuff is not worth the bother.

See it as an opportunity to build a complete steampunk bionic arm for him.

Good progress on the sword and gun.

Sneshy wrote:This is amazing!!! This person is a miniature smithy lol

Thanks Sneshy! I like that title - Miniature Smith!

Desubot wrote:Ooooo sweet sword.

Thanks Desubot!

Dr H wrote:Anyone would think this finecast stuff is not worth the bother.

See it as an opportunity to build a complete steampunk bionic arm for him.

Good progress on the sword and gun.

Thanks Dr H - after the Samurai debacle it was good to actually make some progress I am happy with!
- Steampunk bionics - this way lies madness...

Your fu is superior. Outstanding.

Guhh!!?!!! wow lovely job.

Damn this is some clever converting and use of materials the sword hilt is a nice touch indeed might have to borrow that technique

Thanks for the comments guys! Much appreciated.

Small amount of work done tonight...

Made a 2 part mold for a new character:


Still having no luck with a right arm and realising I was hating the long Dark Elf Witch hair more and more on the Samurai, sliced and diced her mane into this:


And glued it back into this:


It's still messy but nothing a little GS won't fix.

Also tried a new forging experiment using brass tube, forgot to take a pic, will post soon.

Until next time then!

Really enjoyed this thread. And damn those were some fine swords!

 Lamby wrote:
Made a 2 part mold for a new character:

As a Skaven player, you have my interest!

Miniature13 wrote:Really enjoyed this thread. And damn those were some fine swords!

Thanks!

Kepora wrote:As a Skaven player, you have my interest!

Thanks - I'll be back to this Scavvy mutie shortly...

Meanwhile, minor updates.

Rebuilding this piece on the Mech-suit for various reasons:


Structurally sound again:


Added the scratch plate and brass stock to the rail-gun:


Thanks for looking!

Continuing on...

Set up the cheap-o-Dremel as a lathe for the barrel (had to solder that brass tube to the pin, superglue wasn't doing the job):


Lathed in some minor detail, here's the finished barrel:


And inserted it into the business end of the rail-gun (and here is where I realised the lathed detail was basically invisible... o well):


Note (in both this pic and the last) the new end face, drilled through and bevelled with a diamond bit on the cheap-o-Dremel to create the barrel detail:


Adding the details to the clockwork firing magneto:


Clockwork magneto details:


Getting there

Looking good. Subscribed.

Man. I just read through this thread. You deserve several cookies and a nobel peace prize.

Anyways, keep up the great work, I love all the conversions and the painting (my personal favorite is definitely the converted helbrute. Man, the effort you put into that model really shows! )

subbed!

The detail on the gun is amazing!

Holy ja-moley this thread is awesome, just went through every page at work, I am enthralled!!

Wow.


What a great collection of awesome minis, scratch builds, paint jobs, and fluff! I always appreciate seeing a fellow 40k enthusiast with a similar "the hobby and fluff come first" mentality to my own. I'm loving everything so far, but there are a couple things that popped into my head that I think you should be aware of.

- I'm noticing as you base more and more of your guys. that the bases are looking a bit samey. While I fully endorse, and encourage, consistent basing on all the models as you're doing, each one currently looks like they're standing on (practically) identical bases. I'd like to see more variation in the basing style down the line!

- The Daemonette face just isn't working for the Rogue Trader, in my opinion. She looks way too inhuman and, well, demonic with that face. I assume you'll be making it look a tad more human? Right now it just looks awkward, IMHO.

- I feel like, moreso than the size discrepancy, there was too much of a discrepancy in the muscle definition between the samurai's arms. One arm was huge and muscular while the other one was lithe and thin. Honestly, I think the chunky Mandrake arm looks out of place when the rest of the model has a relatively thin and sleek look to it. It honestly makes her look a little mannish. I think keeping the left arm and doing away with the bare Mandrake arm would improve the look, personally.


Consider me exalted, though! Can't wait to see more. Excited to see how the exosuit shapes up!

carlos13th wrote:Looking good. Subscribed.

Cheers!

sir william the bold wrote:Man. I just read through this thread. You deserve several cookies and a nobel peace prize.

Anyways, keep up the great work, I love all the conversions and the painting (my personal favorite is definitely the converted helbrute. Man, the effort you put into that model really shows! )

subbed!

Thanks!
- That Helbrute was a labour of hate/love in almost equal amounts... the original Helbrute was just so 'meh'... so the re-modelling was (to me) absolutely necessary... and the paint job almost drove me mad trying to get that crackle paint to behave!

EyeamRai wrote:The detail on the gun is amazing!

Cheers!

Deafbeats wrote:Holy ja-moley this thread is awesome, just went through every page at work, I am enthralled!!

Cheers!

Darth Bob wrote:Wow.


What a great collection of awesome minis, scratch builds, paint jobs, and fluff! I always appreciate seeing a fellow 40k enthusiast with a similar "the hobby and fluff come first" mentality to my own. I'm loving everything so far, but there are a couple things that popped into my head that I think you should be aware of.

- I'm noticing as you base more and more of your guys. that the bases are looking a bit samey. While I fully endorse, and encourage, consistent basing on all the models as you're doing, each one currently looks like they're standing on (practically) identical bases. I'd like to see more variation in the basing style down the line!

- The Daemonette face just isn't working for the Rogue Trader, in my opinion. She looks way too inhuman and, well, demonic with that face. I assume you'll be making it look a tad more human? Right now it just looks awkward, IMHO.

- I feel like, moreso than the size discrepancy, there was too much of a discrepancy in the muscle definition between the samurai's arms. One arm was huge and muscular while the other one was lithe and thin. Honestly, I think the chunky Mandrake arm looks out of place when the rest of the model has a relatively thin and sleek look to it. It honestly makes her look a little mannish. I think keeping the left arm and doing away with the bare Mandrake arm would improve the look, personally.


Consider me exalted, though! Can't wait to see more. Excited to see how the exosuit shapes up!

Thanks Darth Bob - great feedback, both negative and positive, which is essential for an artiste to see the flaws in their own work!
In answer:
- I hear you on the bases, I do seem to always include hazard stripes and I love painting rust... but point taken, I'll branch out more on the Ordo Xenos retinue's bases!

- I really liked the look of the Daemonette head at first but the flat nose and wide-spaced eyes are - as you say - too disturbingly non-human (which I guess is the point of the Daemonettes in the first place...) - anyway, see below...

- Forget that fething Mandrake arm, it's gone - in (perhaps) my next post, you'll see a new Dark Eldar right arm of similar proportions - I'll write more on that saga when I post pics of the Samurai again soon...


So, after reading through Darth Bob's excellent critique points above, I was motivated to do some work on the Rogue Trader, and this was the result...

Off with her head!... er, face!

(I retained the back end of the Daemonette head because it's already shaped to take the overly-ostentatious feathered hat...)

Face transplant:


In place, the Captain's new face - with added Piratical Bionical Monocle!
\\
- I will have to move the Piratical Bionical Monocle a millimetre or so closer to her nose...

Profile view, showing the Frankenstein-style face-transplant scars - which I might actually leave and write into her fluff...


And finally, I couldn't resist - here's a new cutlass blade for her, cold forged from brass tube:


So - before I rip apart the current blade, yea or nay for the new blade?


Thanks for looking!

Thye both look nice (blades) but iI say the scimitar/katana is the best. Even if its incomplete!

Glad you appreciate the critique and that it didn't fall on deaf ears! The new face on the RT looks much, much better. I think the monocle is a great, flavorful touch and I'm interested to see how you incorporate the face-transplant scars into her fluff. Maybe she's actually really old (kept alive by bionics and such) and has been transplanting new, younger faces from vat-grown clones of herself? Just a thought!

Also, while the new sword looks cool, I actually prefer the old one. While the new one is more sleek, it looks more like a scimitar/katana than a cutlass. I think since you're already doing a scimitar/katana on the samurai, a cutlass would be better to distinguish the RT from the samurai more. She has a very European feel to her, where the new sword has a more oriental flair. I do, however, think that the new blade would look nice on the samurai!

Got to agree with Darth Bob on the sword. Still like the old one.

Love the monocle.

Have to agree with the others. I prefer the original blade to the new one.

Sneshy wrote:Thye both look nice (blades) but iI say the scimitar/katana is the best. Even if its incomplete!

Thanks Sneshy!

Darth Bob wrote:Glad you appreciate the critique and that it didn't fall on deaf ears! The new face on the RT looks much, much better. I think the monocle is a great, flavorful touch and I'm interested to see how you incorporate the face-transplant scars into her fluff. Maybe she's actually really old (kept alive by bionics and such) and has been transplanting new, younger faces from vat-grown clones of herself? Just a thought!

Also, while the new sword looks cool, I actually prefer the old one. While the new one is more sleek, it looks more like a scimitar/katana than a cutlass. I think since you're already doing a scimitar/katana on the samurai, a cutlass would be better to distinguish the RT from the samurai more. She has a very European feel to her, where the new sword has a more oriental flair. I do, however, think that the new blade would look nice on the samurai!

Agree with you about the blade shape - European vs Oriental - however the Samurai will be keeping her katana

deadmeat85 wrote:Got to agree with Darth Bob on the sword. Still like the old one.

Thanks!

Medium of Death wrote:Love the monocle.

Have to agree with the others. I prefer the original blade to the new one.

Thanks!


Seems most are in agreement, the shape of the plastic blade is still a better fit for the Captain than the sleeker forged one - I am currently forging/grinding another blade (only possible at certain times of the day, due to noise restrictions...) and trying to replicate the shape of the plastic cutlass more accurately... we'll see how it goes...
- Meanwhile, I have other plans for the brass blade...

Thanks all!