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After my experience with creating custom chaos terminator bitz (here, and still ongoing as my main project right now) i decided to do something similar. And i decided on SoB. The models are old and all metal and their codex is outdated and not the best (as far as i know). So this is a good army for me who likes to sculpt and don't actually play. But this will only be a side project of mine.

So what are my goals of my SoB sculpting? I want to create a bunch of pieces with designs based on the current models but adding my own flavor to them. My goal are pieces that are fully interchangeable between each other yet have a distinct design. I'll go for legs, torso heads and arms seperated and designed so that they are compatible with current plastic weapons. They are supposed to have a similar scale and propotions as the metal models (although i tend to make my models a bit to large most of the time ...)

I'll try to create 4 different designs for legs. 5 Normal SoB, 5 heavy weapon ones(retributor/dominion squads) with reinforced leg armor for a better fireing stance, 5 running/jumping ones (seraphim) and 5 more ornate/antique looking ones inspired by the sister of silence artwork.
How many matching torsos, heads and arms i'll create i still don't know yet. (I also have to setup a basic torso so that i have a base that can be used on all legs.)
And i plan on doing a few random HQ models as well.

But as i said already this is a side project so you probably won't see that much updates.

And i have a few questions for you. Looking at the GW models they have a tabard and distinct shoulder designs. But i'm unsure if i should add them directly to the models or make them seperate. The shoulders would probably be doable. The'd be flimsy to work with but it can be done. The tabards on the other hand are hard to create interchangeable due to different poses and such. What would you do?
Also should i go so far and design stuff that isn't in the actual codex like real sisters of silence, sisters on bikes or stuff like my own HQ units? Or should i wait with something like that until GW actually does a new SoB codex in the far far future?


And as i can't leave you without some pretty pictures here are a few. They are very basic and early sculpts (or just the base armature)

So yeah, mind blown.

You only have legs done and dear god does it look great. Cant wait to see more

Only a small update, most of her is already in the other pictures. This is supposed to be my living saint. I'm currently thinking of building several different arm options that might also be used on other HQ models. But i have to see how it will turn out. By the way the head isn't attached and was my try a creating a base head for further work as well as a head-scale test.


(I need a better camera for macro-shots like that ...)

Wow. Absolutely stunning.

Wowee. Those are beautiful looking sculpts.

So, hum... when are you going to open your own business and sell both Chaos and SoB sculpts?

 TheDraconicLord wrote:
So, hum... when are you going to open your own business and sell both Chaos and SoB sculpts?

Yes exactly this. I saw a thread on /tg/ earlier that showed a fair bit of interest in them.

Wow, very awesome already!

Just go crazy with your own designs, GW will probably come up with some silly stuff anyways when they ever decide to do a codex, no matter what you'll do, there will always be some stuff that'll be outdated. Just come up with your own cool things.

Nice start, we'll see how it unfolds. Good luck with this!

Thanks for all the positive replies.

 TheDraconicLord wrote:
So, hum... when are you going to open your own business and sell both Chaos and SoB sculpts?

Well to be honest i have thought about it but i don't think that it will happen soon - if at all. I'm at a stage where i actually agree that i could create something that would be good enough to be sold. But i don't have the casting experience and material to cast in in a decent quality. But i'm working on that.

The biggest problem for me is probably the business side of things.

Ah well, let's see how my possessed terminator project and this SoB one will look once finished and then i will think about selling again.


And i also have a small update for you. I added a bunch of heels, foots and upper legs to my models but nothing really worth a picture as of now. I also added a few more details on the living saint. And although those are only a few smaller things they give the model a more completed look. So i took a picture of it.

So these are going to be called "Space Nuns" eventually so that we can buy them off you, yes?

Looks very nice indeed - not that I am shocked having seen your other work

If you don't want to cast and sell yourself, I am sure you can get them licenced by another company.

Well a problem in that is GW. We all know how aggressive GW's legal department has been lately. And the closer i get to GW SoB models the bigger the problems.

And despite that i still have to solve the torso - hip joint problem.

The close you get to SoB models? What SoB models? All I see is a fantastic looking armored warrior Nun.

Looks fantastic so far

 btldoomhammer wrote:
Well a problem in that is GW. We all know how aggressive GW's legal department has been lately. And the closer i get to GW SoB models the bigger the problems.

And despite that i still have to solve the torso - hip joint problem.

The results of their latest lawsuit against chapterhouse opened some doors for every third party sculpter I believe. I.e. the underlying shape of SM shoulderpads is no longer a subject of claim.
My opinion: they really should start working harder instead of trying to claim every basic geometry/symbol they ever used

Maybe try to make it slightly more...I dunno...mechanic/twisted?


Look at this for example: http://www.kabukimodels.com/index.php?go=produkt&id=90

Subbed! These sculpts look nice man

You know, there's no need to do the casting yourself. Plenty of casting companies out there that will do the actual casting for you.

Thanks for the advice guys. But with this being only a side project and my reduced hobby time the decission what to do can wait for now.

And i only have a small update. A few more legs got worked on but nothing too fancy. I'll have to create a "group-shot" once they are in a presentable state. Sadly i had to replace a few legs as they turned out to large.
And i've also worked on my second torso prototype. The first one was to wide and looked somewhat off so i started a new one with a slightly smaller attachment area. My plan is to create a basic torso, cast it in resin and reshape it from there and add different type of decorations. As you can see i did something similar with the basic underlaying shape and added another layer for the torso armor on that. I hoep that i can cast the torso including the thin armor bit, file it down and add details on top. (But i need new mould silicone before i can do that.) And i'll probably use the basic already moulded underlaying shape to create a few more differently shaped armor outlines.

This is the current torso prototype. Once the GS is cured I'll gently remove the torso and hopefully will have a nice connection area.

I've removed the Torso prototype from the legs and used it to pressmold an new connection area on another set of legs. it looks decent and it might be my final solution. But before i can be sure i have to actually add details onto the legs and see how the joints works after those details are added.

I also repurposed a few legs that where originally ment to be for the heavy weapon SoB. But the feet i had already added to them didn't match with the concept i made. So I'll use the legs for basic SoB legs and make a few more for my heavy weapon girls.

And i have a question regarding leg details. The current SoB models all have those cloth tabards. I really like them and they are a part of what makes SoB SoB. But i don't know if i should make them part of the legs or seperate. This is especially important for creating the hip joint.
Both sides have their advantages.
Making them part of the legs is easier for designing the joint i'd imagine. And it would also make the cloth match the leg pose easier.
The other option would give more flexibility and would probably be better for casting them.

My current idea is to make them mostly seperate and only add them to the legs if the legpose makes it hard - or impossible - to allow for generic tabards. But i fear that this will be a problem for designing the hip joint ...
What is your take on this problem?

wow. the legs on the second model are amazing!
my problem with the gw sob is how bulky looking they are.
but you solve this problem perfectly!

Lookin' good Doom!
Your sculpting prowess never fails to impress

The only thing I can think to mention at this stage is to remember that corsets typically help to accentuate the 'hourglass' female body type. I get that what you're sculpting is power armour and not an actual corset but the shape is still relevant I believe.

as for the tabard, might I suggest a combination of the two methods?
If you sculpt a single cloth piece which you can use to cast from, and then attach each recast to their respective models using GS. This way you could have each cloth attach to the model in whichever way best suits the pose without also having to sculpt an entire cloth for each one.

So to simplify, The bottom clothy parts would be cast resin and the part which attaches to the armour would be GS.

This would also allow you to change it up with each model in terms of aesthetic with how you attach the cloths (not that this would be anything you couldn't handle either way )

Anyhow, hope my suggestions at least help get some ideas flowing.
Good luck

Really nice, i love seeing expert sculptors work. Always gets me in the mood to try (and fail) sculpting. Keep up the great work.

Thank you guys.

 Xendarc wrote:

The only thing I can think to mention at this stage is to remember that corsets typically help to accentuate the 'hourglass' female body type. I get that what you're sculpting is power armour and not an actual corset but the shape is still relevant I believe.

The torso still is a problem area. I know what you mean but it is somewhat difficult to create a interchangeable torso with female proptions. And i'm still not entirely happy but i created a blank "master" and pressmolded a few. Those are my first tries on working with those copies.

So to simplify, The bottom clothy parts would be cast resin and the part which attaches to the armour would be GS.

This would also allow you to change it up with each model in terms of aesthetic with how you attach the cloths (not that this would be anything you couldn't handle either way )

I'll probably do something like that. But to get a better feel for the size i'm planing on creating at lest two legs with tabard sculpted on. I will fancy them up and use them for HQ models and stuff like that. And then I'll go from there.

And this is one of the leg pairs i'll use for that. (The lower legs are looking a bit short but it's an illusion due to the pose and camera angle ... )

I haven't done much for my SoB. I created a few tabard prototypes and worked a bit on the torsos. (sadly the pictures where totally blurry and my camera is out of batteries) I have discarded a few torsos as i didn't like them. My current torsos look like that now:


And while taking a few pictures i realised how many legs i actually have right now. If i finish them all i'll have a good pool of options. And those doesn't even include the 5 sisters of silence ones i'm still planing to do.


Those are the seraphim legs. I still need to decide what design to go for. My idea was to add some small thrusters to the lower legs for addition flight control but i can't decide on a good design. I made a few sketches but nothing i really liked.


And those will turn into legs for heavy/special weapon girls. I plan on adding some reinforced structure around the legs. And while i have a decent sketch for how they are supposed to look i still need to start working on them.

Those look awesome man. I would bet that doomhammer finishes all of his sisters, opens his own business and starts selling them before GW gets around to doing sisters

Man she's got legs. and knows how to sculpt them

looking great

grimdark83 wrote:
Those look awesome man. I would bet that doomhammer finishes all of his sisters, opens his own business and starts selling them before GW gets around to doing sisters

I'm not so sure. I need a lot of time to actually finish my stuff once i loose inspiration. My forgeworld-style custom keeper of secrets is still not finished and it is now officially two years old. (But at least it only misses hair or something so it's "mostly finished")
Lets hope that i never loose my inspiration for those sculpts. But as there are a ton of SoB artwork out there i can draw ideas from them.

 Desubot wrote:
Man she's got legs. and knows how to sculpt them

looking great

Thanks.

I think you do stunning work dh, they will be fantastic when (if?) finished.

 Desubot wrote:
Man she's got legs. and knows how to sculpt them

looking great

She never begs, she knows how to choose 'em.