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That bolter is just amazing. And I like the feet without toes. Gives an almost high-heel element to them.

Those seem to work. I mean even a tech ganger isn't going to have top of the line gear.

I love all the legwork (heh,) you put into that model.

 weirdingway wrote:
And finally, a family photo showing the various sizes of fighters:



I really like that now there are two noticeably smaller and more hesitant looking members (molly millions, who will probably get back her original razor hand, and the hacker guy) who will work great as juves.

I just stumbled across this tread and your work... Pretty damn nice family you have there.

Can't wait to see the transition from grayscale to technicolor!

Still fething awesome!!! Your characters are definitely unique.

Hello!

Thanks for the kind comments guys. I'm still here, just very busy. I just started teaching an intro to graphic design class in addition to my day job so I've got a lot less time for modeling.

I did make progress on the gang, found a different witch head in my bits box for the club-footed bolter ganger that seems to work better, and added lots more fussy detail bits to the rest of the gang. All that remains is a final pass of greenstuff — I'll try to add trim to some of the quilted padding. Photos soon.

In the meantime, instead of finishing the gang (which feels like work at this point) I've been rewarding myself with some fun relaxing terrain building. It started because I thought it would be nice to have a simple platform to use as a backdrop for photographing the gang but once I started gluing scraps together I got carried away.

I've tried to build modular, flexible pieces that can be combined in a few different ways. What started off as a big platform and a smaller wall section may both be able to do double duty as walls and platforms. Building terrain is so much fun!

In addition I've now got a few of these smaller modules that can go on top of bigger pieces or sit right on the table on their own:



Some type of machine protuberance, a gravity powered chemical tank, and maybe a system control node or noosphere hub (good objective; get an info-hacker into contact with the dials side for D3 turns, etc).



/ / / Yutani Crisis takes cover behind a small barricade / / /



Everything so far. The Lebbeus Woods shanty tower in the top was so fun to make. I've been saving plastic card off-cuts and scraps leftover from building my drop ship and hover-sledge and I basically just threw them together with a few larger pieces. Trying to balance moments of detail and more open expanse and get some unusual angles. Most depictions of the underhive seem too planned and rectilinear and up-right to me. I imagine thousands of years of compression and decay and rebuilding would result in crazy geometries. But of course flat surfaces are useful for placing models so I've built it with a flat top.



The gang in their natural habitat.



You can see some new details if you look carefully; the plasma gunner has a rectangular bionic eye, Molly Millions (oh how I wish I had thought of Molly Millenia first!) got some longer legs and a new bionic arm, the leader has a new meltagun, a snub-nose on his pistol, and much fancier boots, and the gunfighter now has a (magnetized) hand-flamer instead of the off-the-rack skitarrii pistol. I need a better picture of the flamer; it's tiny and made from a lot of bits.

And finally, should I name them The Oxide Volts or The Volt Oxides?

The Volt Oxides recalls The Panther Moderns, which I like.

Your tech gang and navigator household has been a big inspiration for me as I've been trying to figure out my Wraekan Dreor slavers for 30k. How did you go about creating a consistant visual theme to the army? Was it driven by bits or was it thought out beforehand?

The terrain is looking great so far!

Great to see that you're finally back, weirdingway! We've all missed your updates. I would go for 'The Oxide Volts,' personally. It's got a nice iambic rhythm to it.

Awesome scratchbuilt terrain. The gang is going to be stunning with paint

Thanks guys!

Rhesusforbreakfast: basically I hadn't done any 40k modeling for something like 10-14 years while I went to college, got married, established a career as a graphic designer, etc. So when I started again it was both bit driven (so many new possibilities with the amazing new plastic kits compared to the old days of monopose plastics) and by a real drive to just make the craziest, coolest models I could, incorporating all of my favorite reference points and inspirations, and using my much improved design and craft skills I had learned in art school.

I can't stop making terrain! What started as a simple photo backdrop has turned into what's looking like almost enough terrain for a small skirmish game or just a fancy display base. Oh well!

I built a simple free-standing bridge from assorted junk:





And I put the finishing touches on the Lebbeus Shack:




And returned to a tower type thing I started building months ago and set aside. It was originally going to be a space ship for the Navigator Household -- some type of vertical take off rocket ship palace tower lander (aka a drop pod or bastion). But maybe it would make a better underhive dome spire stump ...


And here is the terrain so far along with some preliminary albuterol pumping tubes and a building I've been wanting to make out of an old fluorescent light fixture we removed from our kitchen:





I've also worked on the miniatures too.

New head and some more greystuff on Yutani Crisis:


And a better view of Weylan Glytch's modular hand-flamer / bolt pistol:

I'm proud of the handflamer because it was so fiddly. It's made from the barrel of one of the pistols that comes with the Sicarian Ruststalkers, the flamer nozzle from the Kataphrones, and a little vial/tube from god knows where (dark eldar? mechanicus?).

Inspired by Nordic's facial surgery on his newest female warriors, I tried humanizing the Daemonette head on Molly by adding some eyelids and brows:

I'm afraid I've turned her into Nosferatu. It's not as easy as it looks! I'll probably try to smooth down her brows with some fine grit sandpaper and fix the rest in post.

And finally, I actually worked on a proper member of House Merz-Itano! Finally returned to the as-of-yet un-named Bicephalous Buddha:




Very happy with how he's coming together, although I think I'm going to add lots more mechanical greeble to his back, perhaps including a heraldic shield on a servo-arm that is protecting a bunch of vital aetheric vanes and soul antennae.

You may also notice he's also acquired a new staff that incorporates the slaved head of a mostly alive psyker. The Navigator uses the staff as a psychic anchor when plotting his most complex astroaugury.

I love where this new Buddha-navigator is 'headed' (hehe... please kill me now). I agree that it'll benefit from some extra mechanical details. Right now, there's a fair bit of negative space on the back of the bigger cranium, but you might be able to resolve that with a couple of seams in his little cosmonaut hood and perhaps some small ports to connect it with the contraption on his back.

Always a pleasure to see your latest efforts. BiCephBuddha is a great model. So odd, but so fitting.

Gosh, so much character in each model a very cool thread!

As always stunning work, I love this thread

I think Yutani Crisis could use some toes just on the back of her elephant feet as stabilisers for when she is firing and to prevent tipping backwards generally.

I adore this thread.

Thanks guys!

I'll try some toes on Yutani. I like the idea of rear racing ones for sure.

Greeble time! Things are coming together nicely and quickly. I haven't had this much fun detailing a model in a long time. The Mechanicus parts are such a godsend for conversions. I think he/they will make a great counterpoint to the Novator.







More detail will follow, including lots of purity seals above the staff arm, a built-up left shoulder pad, and pipes and antennae on the back (can't decide if they should go behind the big or the little head). My questions for the forum are:

Should I keep the nose-tube? It was always my plan to add one and haven't been able to pull them off on 28mm size human heads so this is a good chance. But maybe it looks wierd, with shades of Nien Nunb

Should I keep the chainmail or cover it with tattered cloth? It looks great but is of course very medieval. But maybe the rest of the suit is so astronaut / baron harkonenn a little more medieval in the mix is a good thing.

Very nice looking, and super creepy!

I like the chainmail, even if it doesn't make a lot of sense. You might paint it up as a brass, suggesting it is partially decorative as well as moderately functional.

Excellent progress, weirdingway. Your eye for detail is inspirational as ever. I'm also a fan of the chain mail. This 40k -when was practicality ever a factor? The nose tube is a great touch, too. It adds a sense of age to the Navigator.

Brilliant work! that Navigator is creepy as hell man! but in a good way :-) the details are excellent and the ideas behind the builds are the window into a very creative soul!

Just discovered this thread. Your conversions are mind blowing!

Really fantastic work.

D

I also vote to keep the chainmail. It fits the aesthetic of creepy, weird, and not very practical 40k. As for the nose tube, I can take it or leave it. It fits the model, but its not as vital as some of the other bits.

Awesome stuff S always!

 weirdingway wrote:

Spoiler:

Thanks guys!

I'll try some toes on Yutani. I like the idea of rear racing ones for sure.

Greeble time! Things are coming together nicely and quickly. I haven't had this much fun detailing a model in a long time. The Mechanicus parts are such a godsend for conversions. I think he/they will make a great counterpoint to the Novator.







More detail will follow, including lots of purity seals above the staff arm, a built-up left shoulder pad, and pipes and antennae on the back (can't decide if they should go behind the big or the little head). My questions for the forum are:

Should I keep the nose-tube? It was always my plan to add one and haven't been able to pull them off on 28mm size human heads so this is a good chance. But maybe it looks wierd, with shades of Nien Nunb

Should I keep the chainmail or cover it with tattered cloth? It looks great but is of course very medieval. But maybe the rest of the suit is so astronaut / baron harkonenn a little more medieval in the mix is a good thing.

To quote Peep Show
"Tube up his nose! Tube up his nose! He's got a tube up his nose!"

But honestly that such a great little detail that adds to the overall wow factor of the model. I'd keep it and in fact encourage MORE nose tubes.

I love the shear amount of detail your adding to these , Beautiful work.

Thanks so much everyone! I had forgotten about that Peep Show clip. I hope they do another season/series eventually ...

I've kept the nose tube and added quite a bit more detail. I decided to keep the chainmail because I like that at least part of the figure is recognizable as the original Nurgle Lord, and I like the anachronistic mix with the space suit. Next up I need to break out the putty and fine-tune the eyelids on the warp eyes and bulk up the back of their heads, and add some more purity seals. But I think I'm getting close. Paint-wise I'm considering giving him an all white suit (with accents in gold, verdigris, black and reddish orange) and fairly dark skin for contrast.

All the little details make this amazing, I was quite drawn to the head on the top of the staff, looks very cool!

Consider me Subscribed. You're work is just mind blowing. I am so intrigued, just incredible work. You are such an artist and a sculptor. Just remarkable and words cannot describe the awe.

fantastic looking terrain (and everything else) how long do you think it's going to take to paint all that? I remember you said that you were having trouble/hadn't learned to air brush yet

Thanks guys! If I ever get to painting the terrain I think I'll paint it by hand. It should be fun and I don't think take all that long — I'll do something loose, expressionistic, and using built up layers of washing, drybrushing, sponging, experimental mark making etc.

Anyway, I just can't help myself. I'm supposed to prime the tech gang and the terrain and start painting. Or at least prime the two headed navigator. But there are tiny green stuff fixes I still have to do to a few gangers and the navigator, and that's not very exciting.

My hobby time has been in short supply lately so instead I've been doing what I love best and bashing together new ideas.

You may recall my first baby-headed sketch was actually of a quadrupedal genestealer hybrid, which led to the more general idea of a genetically altered human used as a beast of burden / steed. I sculpted a rough torso and some arms that I was going to try push-casting but eventually dropped the baby-head steed idea in favor or using the baby heads for Navigators or Navigator-derived clone weapons.

Well I decided to mix the two ideas, and created this new guy, using some assorted bits and the best push-mold cast of my original baby-face sculpt:



It will need lots more sculpting and bits of course, but I'm really excited. I see it as a weaponized Navigator Clone grafted to a bio engineered transport body (abhuman derived? or just atavistic genes unlocked and twisted). Another take on the Sphinx archetype, and a kind of biological parallel to Novator Lebbeus on his robot throne. I'm not sure yet if the body will be left naked and animalistic / medical experiment, or clothed in something like a space-suit, ritual robes, or some combination of the 3.



Here you can see the growing family of new Navigators. These guys could almost be from a rival house to my original set of Navigators (Dark or Chaotic Navigators even?) but I'll probably just fold them into the main project. You may notice the Little Man From Another Place has been given a new head (which I may yet sculpt into a more human visage, or not).



And the start of another Clone-construct, maybe even weirder. Should make a nice connection with my many headed Magos Biologis:



the miscast faces look almost injured or mis-grown. With some additional sculpting and the right paint job I think they could look great. If I continue this guy I'll probably give him longer mechanical legs from the knees down.