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I'm loving the look of this conversion so far. Will be keeping an eye on this.

Speaking of scarabs and also of potential tutorials, I'm interested in knowing what the undersides of those scarabs look like. Did you use a simple press mold? What products do you use most often? Do you buy online or from supply stores? I'm really interested in a tutorial on how to use greenstuff well. What about 2 part molds? Also, I love the idea of scads of tiny scarabs swarming everywhere. And the last bit is that I am hoping the pyramid is going to get a lot more detail. I know it's likely only a mock up as yet, but my biggest issue with so many necron conversions out there is that the add on pieces people tend to make look so plain by comparison to the necron models.

@ Solar_lion: Here's the mold I made to cast the Scarabs,
It's made from silicon (left over from another project).

I left the Scarabs on a piece of sprue so they'd be easier to handle,
It also created some nice air channels in the silicon, you probably don't need them in an open one piece mold like this,
so its mainly for convenience.

Page rollover! argggggg!

More like server rollover. I believe your post got lost in the warp hk.

Something really epic is coming this way!

I've recovered the photo from the alternate dimension that is the internet, so it should now appear on the post above .

@ Warboss_waaazag: Because these small Scarabs sit flush with the floor and there's not much underside detail on them,
I've only done a simple one piece open mold, so the underside of my copy's is just blank.

The two products I mainly use for casting are from a company called Polycraft,
one is the Silicon Rubber I use for the molds, Its extremely durable once set, and great for picking out every little detail.
The other is the Resin, Its a fast cast polyurethane resin and as the name suggests it cures very quickly,
once mixed you have about 30 seconds to a minute to pour it, then 20 to 30 minute's before removing it from the mold.
A long life version of this same resin is available and gives you more time to work with it,
but I haven't used it myself.

I buy all my supply's online now, it's easier and a lot cheaper,
also the option to buy in bulk is very useful and that too can save you some money.
Here's a link to the eBay page I buy my casting supply's from: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/grp_supplies/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
And here's another called Green Stuff World, who do some very useful item's for sculpting etc: http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/greenstuffworld?_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2754
These are good sellers, but I would always recommend shopping around,
you never know who's selling the same item for less.

Tutorials for terrain, sculpting and mold making are something that I really want to do, unfortunately at the moment I just don't have the time to work on them.
But It is something I will get around to eventually.

Last but not least is the pyramid, and I completely agree with you about conversions not matching the detail of the original model.
It's something that's really important to me when building a project like this, that everything ties together and works together.
My plans for the pyramid are to mirror some of the design work from the Tesseract Vault on to the pyramid,
it will also feature Stasis alcoves for Necron Warriors who have yet to awake, and small vents and openings giving a small glimpse as to what lies within.
I have loads more insane ideas for the pyramid, but they need to be tested first before I start building anything.

I hope that answers your questions,
and if anyone has any more please feel free to ask .

Thanks for all the great info.. I'll have to get into molding. the mass scarab idea is ideal for the stuff I working on.

I look forward to seeing what you do. Great job!

Pretty cool Idea, one piece molds make life so much easier for somethings.

BTW: What putty do you use for your 2 part molds, I used to use the plasticine that, that store sells but I found it a real pain to work with not just because of stiffness (I'd been heating it up in the oven) but also cleaning the stuff off the master model, any advice?

@ OneManNoodles: For the two part molds I've made in the past I used a cheap air drying clay, which seemed to work ok.
But recently I've started experimenting with another quicker way of making two part molds.

Rather than casting both half's of the mold separately and adding in your channels as you go,
I build a framework of tubes around my master model, and then cover the whole thing in silicon.
Once dry I then cut through the silicon, making sure to line up you cut with the channels,
but only cutting about a third of the way down, so the mold can be stretched open just enough to remove the master,
and any future casts.

This technique isn't without its difficulties, and I'm still refining the process,
but at the moment it seems to be working quite well.

Yes, hk1x1, that did answer my questions, thanks! Looking forward to seeing more.

This is an awesome thread, can't wait for more update on the vault.

I have yet to start mine, and you are inspiring me to do more than the basic kit ...I have done a lot of minor conversions before...but nothing compared to this.

its amazing.

thanks for sharing.

@ davethepak: Thank you very much, I'm pleased to hear there's someone else out there converting a Vault,
and I look forward to seeing you progress at some point.

Not sure when my next update will be, but there will be one eventually (when I find some spare time ).

Thanks very much for the tip on molding, I've just given it a try with something, good results so far and it leaves a very familiar mold line to anyone who has bought FW products also gives lots of mold slip if your not careful ... like FW

Adeptus Awesomeness Approved!

I'll be following this and saving many bits of it for later, to help me with both BFG & WH40K projects. Two of which do use the Tesseract Vault's bits.

Sorry it's been such a long time since my last update, but I'm finally back on this and am determined to get at least one
of my unfinished projects finished before Christmas.

Whether or not I manage it is another matter entirely, but I'll do my best .

As for actual progress, I still need to take photos of most of the new pieces I've been building,
but for now heres a pic of the six legs I recently finished for the Canoptek Guardian,
the large mechanical construct that keeps the C'tan Nightbringer confined within the Tesseract Vault.

I have already attached the legs to the Guardian, so expect a pic of that, and more coming tomorrow .

As promised here are some pics of the Canoptek Guardian, with the Nightbringer contained within.
Plus a few shots of the Canoptek Leech tail section's, and the press mold I used to make them.

Both models still need a lot of work, which is today's task,
so I should have more to show you tomorrow

Glad to see you're back at it! Looking forward to more updates.

So excited to see more of this!

Great work on the legs, hk.

and on the rest of the Canoptek wossname.

Good to see you back to work.

Haven't made much progress on the Tesseract Vault today, but I did get a few delivery's, of what will
hopefully be all the bits and materials I need to finish this project.
That is until I have to buy more super glue

So I now have a nice stockpile of plastic card, pipes and tubes,
as well as a box of 3 Canoptek Wraiths, and one Triarch Stalker.

Looking great.

Brilliant stuff!! Already shaping up to be a phenomenal piece!!

My gosh, I just LOVE that C'Tan! Can't wait to see how this all turns out!

All looking amazing, nice and clean work.

Great advice about the moulding, thanks I will be picking through that soon enough.

Never cease to amaze, wonderful work !

This thing is going to blow doors off. Great stuff!

Thanks for all the comments guys, there most appreciated .

Progress on the Canoptek leech's has moved on quite a bit since my last update, as those of you who saw the start of this project know,
the Canoptek leech's are the large Necron bugs that I cut out and removed from the hull of the Tesseract Vault (see pics below).

As you can see from the photo there wasn't a lot of detail on the underside of the leech's, so I decided to add my own.
This turned out to be a lot more time consuming than I imagined, but I think it was worth it.

Here's one of the almost complete Leech's for you to look at,
now all I have to do is finish off the other seven .

Nice

So... clearly I'm going to have to go and cry myself to sleep because this is way more awesome than I can physically handle.