I've been asked to build a Captain/Commander for The Black Hands Chapter of Mister X-Slash-X on the B&C.
Due to my somewhat busy life at this point I haven't had too much time yet, but I've done a bit of work and I just wanted to start showing it.
Sadly I do not have my good camera at this point so the photos are a bit bad.
I wanted to take step by step photos of everything, but I couldn't spare the time taking pictures every cut.

The Captain will be modeled striding, with a rather large sword on his shoulder and his left arm pointing forward.
He will be slightly larger than normal marines (aided by the upright stance) and should look as if he is advancing while directing his marines to the enemy.
As a requested option, the right arm will be replaceable with a power fist/claw with attached stormbolter.
He should convey both a knightly feel and a techy feel.
Some bionics will be included but not as abundant or visible as with my Ironbound.

I started with some legs; I made two versions at this point, both nothing more than reposed yet.
One with Terminator greaves:


One with normal mk6 greaves:


The right greave will receive a piece of spaced armour and some not to obvious bionics.

I also started on the torso, shaving some details from standard torsos and making one slightly enlarged one with a mk8 feel.
The end result should look somewhat like this:



I immidiatly ran into problems here as a mk8 torso is not made for wearing helmets. I put the rim somewhat forward but this looks awkward. I'll be adding bulk to the front to cover this up.


The Captain will be wielding a rather large sword, which will be part chainblade and part powerblade. and based on the following picture:
The black part will be chainblade, the rest powerblade. I made a small start, it's not much but you have to start somewhere.


To do:
- Finish variant torsos
- Start on bionics of the right leg
- Make template for greave armour plate
- Finish variant swords
- Start work on the helmet
- Start work on arms
- Think about a nice techy backpack

Beork

Looking good so far. I'll be following this one closely!

i agree with InyokaMadoda

Smallish update, still not feeling to well so working bent over a brightly lighted table trying to do small manipulations was not a very great succes this week.
I did a bit on the heads, first I filed a normal head down, which made a pretty knightly head to start with:


Covered the face with plastic with eye holes cut out. I had to cut them a bit to shape when I added them due to glue deformation (I use 0.3 mm plasticard, which deforms really easily when even a little bit too much glue is used, I know this, but it happens still from time to time).


Did the same with a berzerker head:


Also did a bit with the torso, if you can see it you win todays grand prize.


And a start on the bionics of the right leg:


More updates soon, which will hopefully bind the model more together.

Beork

Wow, love the work! Those added details are so gonna make all the difference! Looking forth to seeing more.

Hmmm......you've given me a great idea to convert some Grey Knights! Thanks!

also, some good stuff right here.

Good work thus far.

The head is amazing! Both of them

Bulked up Torso with greenstuff?

Its looking good, I like all the costom work on it. its going to look amazing.

Quick and small head update, tried some vent carving and wire adding on the less popular helmet:


I didn't want to do it on the popular one in case the wiring didn't come out right so it's just been carved at this point:


The client wants a bionic eyepiece on the helmet, but I'm afraid it'll look out of place, anyone a good idea to solve this?

anyway, more to come.

Beork

bionic eye on the helmet?!

like the old plastic devastator?

loving it btw

and like the new plastic helmets in the commander box, special weapon sprue etc.
But I don't think it'll look right... oh well, Ill try one and see what it looks like

Beork

Looks like the torso's belt got some detail added to it...

Bionic eye... On a knight helmet? Meh...

I'm thinking the eye will make the helmet too busy. Definitely worth steering the client in another direction.

Another smalish update, I put some putty on the head as a start for the eye-piece and hollowed it out. I'll insert some rod in soon (when I buy new, properly sized rod).


I'm having some issues with my camera and the focus is a bit off for all photos, don't know what it is yet (it was just repaired...)

Also started on the bionics in the foot, shaved off a part and filled with grill. There will be a part see through cover over it in a few days.


Beork

Love the bionic leg but the latest shot of the head looks very off for some reason, probably because it is of WIP but keep up the good work anyway!

I agree with Gutteridge on the last head shot, but it is a WIP so it'll probably turn out fantastic, considering what you've done so far.

I'm looking forward to the awesome results!

Added the cover for the grill and two lense type thingies (with an actual hole in it, working at a lab has a lot of benefits).


Too bad the lenses are transparent, difficult to photograph (especially with my camera) so the side shot is somewhat unclear. I still need to fill it and it will be clearer then.



Beork

Keep building

Small beginnings, 'zerker head is getting some eye extensions:


As I knew the basic shape I wanted I just took a piece of plasticard for the body of the extension. Will be cut to perfect shape once the glue is dry.
Then I'll drill out an area to put the lenses in.
He also got his mohawk redone and in case no one notices, I filled up the small recess in the front of the mohawk and scribed it out again in an inverted V folowing the contours of his helmet.
Yeah, photos still aren't perfect. But they are getting better.

Beork

Looks like some space pirate in the first picture lol
But its WIP anyways keep going!

Small update, haven't had to much time due too the kids, wife, arranging our marriage (not due for another year, but a lot to take care of).
I added a foot, some wiring and a spaced armour plate. The plate is set 0,3mm from the greave on two a bit extended 0,3mm strips of styrene. The plate is also 0,3mm styrene.





Rough mock-up of the sword, I like it.
You need to use your fantasy a bit to finish it, but hte idea is clear I hope.

I need to sharpen the edges of the power weapon part, and make another lay-on for the other side (the ladder thingy you can see) and this one need to be detailed up a bit.
In between the two sides I might put some cables or something... or maybe not, a spaced blade is something cool as well.

And for the head (just needs a bit more GS and some small wires)


Ye Gods, I need to learn to take better pictures.

Cheers,

Beork

Wow, that head is actually looking pretty sweet! I wasn't thinking it was going to look good, but it sure does!

That head is awesome love the bionic leg, not to sure about the sword but cant wait to see it done. look forward to more updates

That head came out Awesome!

May i ask how much this costs?

We agreed on 75 euros excluding shipping for this build. I don't know if this is on toraget for conversions like these, I usualy calculate materials and include a small fee for building.

Beork

I'm amazed at how you can just cut down a mini and build it back up again. Fantastic!

I cant stand the sword if im honest
its a real shame as i love the rest of the model.

I think it's amazing so far. I'm gonna have to agree with Corpse on this one. I don't care for the sword, maybe I'll come around once a more refined version of it is done.

Slow and steady wins the race (well, not the race maybe, but at least something).
Minor update, have been putting a rim on the greave:

And an edge on the sword, also added some wire.

I have been thinking about the sword a lot and trying out some things. As there will be a partial covering exposing internal stuff, it would be hell to paint. So I had some ideas I liked and some I discarded. Just when I finally had an idea (the original, how ironic) that I liked and thought would work, it seperated into two ideas.
Either put the covering on like this:

or like this:

The client will have to choose. I don't know which I like best.
Internal mechanisms still have to be added of course, I want to have the covering fitted on one side before attempting to add the guts.

Ideas?

Beork

Either way this is coming on absolutely brilliant good luck with the detail.

The 2nd one is my vote
And this will be one unique captain!

This is gonna look awesome!!

As for the sword, which ever shows the most worky bitz

Been a while, some small revisions on the legs and sword:

Sword internals are being added:

There might yet come more tubes in the lower middle part, but I'll glue these first to see how they look.

Really small start on the powerfirst:

I removed parts of the fingers to add open cables, which are badly visible as I only had the gauge I wanted in transparent. There wil be more open details and mechanics soon.
Also a stormbolter.

And the legs, both rimmed now and the right with added wires and stuff to show it's bionic nature.


Rivets are to be added yet, and the rim on the left leg is going to be shaved a bit a sit's a tad thick now.

Beork

This is Awesome, I especially like the Power-Chain-Sword.

Looks amazing, love the bionic leg

It lives! It walks!

Rivets are done on the plates, maybe I'll a a few smaller ones at strategic locations on the legs.
No I just need to GS some ribbing, add the armoured skirt and knee plates, pin/magnet the feet and devise some sort of detail for the left plate.
Oh, and the right plate is getting some cogweel stuff in a bit.

He is a tad larger than normal marines, not much, just a head or so, mostly because of the straightening.


And someone, somewhere asked for a size shot of the sword:

Yes, it's large, no he doesn't have size issues. Complain about compensation when he sticks it down your throat.

I redid the torso, this time using plastic strips instead of filing a way chaos icon. It makes for a smoother finish.
Now just to add some vents and other nice details.


Beork

that's awesome man. nice conversion especially the sword.

haha, did anyone spot the origion pic of the sword was from advent children?? great work man keep it up

This looks awesome, I wasn't taken on the bionic eye at first but you seem to be making it work very well. The spaced out leg armor looks sweet and the sword will probably look awesome once you've finished it. Keep up the work, I'll be checking in often

EPIC...

That is amazing! The helmets look great.

Cant wait to see it all done!!

the sword looks a bit large but everything else is awesome

Considering that the right arm should be bionic, and that it will be magnetised, I wanted to add a distinguishing feature which would also make it easier for me to hide the magnet socket.
Thinking back on one of my older models, I came up with this.



the necklace part is not yet glued, not sure about that yet.
Beork

Isn't that the Right Arm?

Left, right, same difference
I was thinking in reverse... Now to change it in all those fora.

Thanks for the heads up

Beork

This is starting to look fething wicked now
The sword is by no means oversized

COG-TRIM FTW!!!

nice torso

The new version of the sword is awaiting production. I made a vector image of some seperate parts and they will (hopefully) be milled this week.

I did a small mock-up of the combibolter fist:


I think it's a bit too beefy.
I saw a multibarreled powersfist bolter a while back and liked the design a lot, so I think I'm going to make a small mock-up of one of those.

I also have a pose picture.
Not much more done yet, very busy with my new (and very demanding) job.

He is mean looking now isn't he?

The arm is pointing a bit too far away from the body in my liking, but I'll fix that soon.
The greaves look very small and fat in this picture, while they aren't that bad at all. I'll take some new pics once I'm a bit further with the pointy arm.
Tubes to be added soon.

Beork

Awsome.

I really like the combi-bolter fist idea, thats the first time I've seen it. Would be great for a terminator conversion too.

I really do not know what to say to this, it looks just so amazing. I would love to crack open your skull and eat all of your talent man XD.... Sorry... that was Khorne coming out <_<'

I love the conversions and I love your statement

Beork wrote:Yes, it's large, no he doesn't have size issues. Complain about compensation when he sticks it down your throat.

I like how you went about building the Sword as well. I have been bouncing around ideas for my, Brothers of the Flying Sword you have really helped me out ^__^

I cannot wait to see more on this. I would also like to ask, what thickness of plasticard do you use and how do you get it to bend so easily? Is it because of how thin it is or do you heat it very slowly, or do you just Super glue it and let by-gones-be-by-gones lol

the thickness of the 'card for most detail work is 0,3mm, I sometimes pre-bend it using a thin round rod (like the handle of needle files). I also use plastic glue most of the time instead of superglue. It gives you a bit more leeway in placing the bits.

Beork

This is dynamite. Truly. I love conversion work, and this is some super stuff. Also, I dont care what anyone else says, that sword is the business. I was worried when I read the initial posts that it was going to be too big, that the combo chain/power sword would look weak. But I love it. I love it. Your customer is going to be very satisfied. (Assuming I have an accurate idea of the value of 70 euros. ((Euroes?)) Which I may not) But, all that aside, I really like this piece.

Nice work..leg looks great and works well with the figure.

You're conversion skills are great. I love the pose. The springs for the bionics looks amazing. Keep up the great work.

This is truly mental conversion.

Every tiny detail has been changed, but i still looks really clean and together.

If i change more than 3 detail my mini just look like a bitz box conglomerate.

Very nice work man, detailing is outstanding...

Yea love your skill with modification. Some day i might have to try that. My DA first company comander greenstuff skill shows i need a lot of practice. LOL

Small progress which did cost quite a lot of time, I hate how you can be busy for an hour and not see real progress…

When I made the bionic foot, I made the whole leg a tad longer than the other. Which in turn made him walk with a limp. To compensate for this I gave his left foot an extra bottom layer and to make him look a tad more massive, I added a front plate to his foot.
I always think it looks a tad better this way. It’s something I saw in an old picture of a captain or something.


Before I get the “Is that a giant plate on your powerfist or is he just happy to see me?” jokes ;
Yes, it is a giant plate.
No he’s not happy to see you.
I added wires between fist and shoulder, same idea as with the leg, bionics incognito.
More wires and cables are still to be added.



Why it is there? Remember this:


This was kindly vetoed by most of you and, most importantly by X-slash-X (the client).
The plate was meant to fill op the part I filed away, after some shaping it should look better:


As you can see I cut out a small rectangle. I wanted to make part of the powerfist open to show some worky bits and have cables coming out of it. But when I tried to pry open the cut out rectangle, I got some sort of lid. I like the way it looks, especially if I run a few cables from it to under the shoulderpad.
But before I do this I should at least ask my kindly client
Maybe I should've taken a front view of the fist with the lid thingy... oh well, to late now.

Beork

Awesome.

The amount of worky bitz and cables on this model is amazing.

could I ask if the guitar wire in the legs has had holes drilled for it, or it is just slotted into place?

I hate using it, as its so inflexible and hard to put in holes!

Looking excellent, by the way!

I usually bend it first in the right angle/curve and then I drill hole where they should be and kick them in.
I just make sure it'll fit before trying to glue it, that helps a lot.
I do use about 3 times more wire than get's in the model because of retries and stuff.

Beork

Got work done on the powerfist:


The ribbing insert is an idea, I want to lower a plasma coil in the fist but I found that raised also look funky. Could be used for a powerfist/plasmapistol combi weapon later on.

And with a tad more cables:


Which look like this on the model:



I did some other style double bolters just to try and get a feel of what might look good:


Oh, and I was working on brass etching, and one of the earlier etches worked pretty well and is now part of his foot:


Beork

Still looks cracking. How did you etch the brass?

I love the power fist and the double bolters, sweet work

this guy is becomming awsome. I cant wait to see how the sword comes into play.

I started with two bolter variants;

One is a double pistol, the other and shortened and heightened bolter. The straight clip bolter is there for size comparison.

I didn’t have any good bolters anymore, after GW renewed the tactical squads, the first bunch of frames were badly aligned, in my case this means (among other things) misaligned bolters.
Nothing that can’t be saved with a little filing and carding.
But that is the reason the bolter variant doesn’t have the upright aiming thingy, will be added again though.

Came up with a different ammo clip design, a round one:


I think it conveys the rapid fire feel a bit better. Alternatively I can lengthen the clip a bit (using a bolter clip for example) making it look more like a SMG. But I like the drum clip better.

Also did some cabling for the shoulder of the powerfist, pretty straightforward, drill a hole, add some wire, cut of at the right length.

As I wanted the fist to look as if it’s really attached and not a take of thingy, I cut a slot around the magnet for the cables to fall in.

This should make it look more like a permanent weapon.


C&C? Questions?


Beork

Wow, I agree with everyone else I cannot wait to see him with the sword, now here is my question though where will the bolters be going if he has the sword and a Power Fist, or will he hold the Sword in his Power Fist?

The sword and fist will be interchangeable weapons (I thought I mentioned that somewhere, might have forgotten).

Good new is that the sword design is probably optimised for the machine, bad new is that it will take at least a week before it can be milled :(

Beork

Amazing as always.

omg!.. where is the rest of this!

What do you mean the rest?

Might have a stroke of luck and have the sword milled tomorrow or friday.
New bolter variant is coming as well.

Beork

Okay thanks for the update Beork... I might have over looked the information about the Sword and the Power Fist, sorry for making you restate it.

I cannot wait to see the milled sword, amazing so far...

Absolutely epic conversion. Really great work!

still utterly amazing.

By far the greatest conversion since lemmingspawns massive creatures!

again,

DC

Not to chime in late or anything, as your work thus far is pretty awesome, but have you thought about making the powerfist/bionic arm have the gun barrels come out of the knuckles like on the old Judge Dread ABC Robot? I think if the bullets came flying out of the knuckles, that would be awesome, and its believable since theres no flesh or anything in there...

I second that.

The Talons of Horus MKII

if i could audiably clap on this forum, then yeah id be late in doing that.

i got nothing to say that hasnt been said allready but its probally worth going over all the previous posts of praise and calling it good.

sorry miss-post earlier. Bang up job on the captain!

After a too busy weekend, the captain finally took a walk with his gun:



I'm not to happy with him like this, I really like the weapon, but I have a huge sword somewhere that should be handled with two hands... Oh well, as long as the client likes it

I also had the happy task of preparing the files and stuff for the milling machine, which was next to great fun, pretty boring. Computer assisted design is not my thing apparently.
But the results are quite rewarding, and proof of concept is delivered.



The cog pattern parts are held to the plastic by a layer of 0,05mm. You can almost press them out, as I did with the sword parts. This is going to be great with the greave templates I made, just need to tweak them a bit and I can mill out perfectly symmetrical custom greave types in just about any impossible shape .

I hope to have more on the sword tomorrow.
Also adding tubes to the fist shoulder, has to be done one at the time so I can make sure everything fits so it takes a while...

I did think about the bolters on the fist, even have a pictuer somewhere, but the client decided against, and he's the boss

Beork

Wow loving the captain. Very good conversion!

Cant wait for the sword.

looking pretty good!

It's looking bloody sick!

Amazing, just.... just brilliant. so much detail its just beautiful, I will be watching this thread.

as usual amazing work, and I agree the sword would look great being two handed but hey go with the money right.

Been long, had trouble with everything and taxes

Sword with different pommel options



Work on the sword arm, I cut apart two arms, one for the arm pieces and one for the elbow guard. The arm pieces were hollowed out 2mm deep to make a cosy hole for the cabling. There is a hand now too, but having trouble with the bloody cam.



Start of a backpack, I've also added cabling and stuff since then, but the pictures won't be found somehow, I have yet to try it on another computer.


Start with cabling the shoulder.


And a bit later:

Parts together:



Bolter arm needs detail (wires), bolter needs decoration and shooty holes.
Legs still need a logo, but my etchings all failed so I'll try something else if the next batch fails also.
Torso still needs details, I was thinking about cabling and maybe another vent or something.
Cloak still needs to be made.
Backpack needs some small sculpting to hide faults.
Swords needs a butt/pommel, sword arm an hand, sword some decoration on the cross
Powefist needs to be cleaned up and will get a rim like this one:


Oh and shoulderpads, I still need to modify the forgeworld pads.

Cheers,

Beork

wow just wow, I am so extremely happy to see you are still posting pics on this. Excellent work as always.

Wow, awesome
but i dont like the sword, i think its waaaay to big to fit him
anyways nice

Cheers

LFF666

It is way too big, even bigger than all the other oversized weapons GW makes. But the client wants this, so he gets it.
Who cares anyway, in a fantasy game full of fantasy people

Beork

This is an amazing conversion! I Wish I could do work like this..

nutz

I love it. The sword isn't too big at all. He's a space marine, not a puny guardsman, he can swing it

Changed the name to include other stuff, so here we go:

I was commissioned a while ago to make scorpionclaw like powerclaws for a space marine captain that was falling slowly to slaanesh.
Due to problems on multiple sides only just managed to get to work on these claws further:

Left arm:



Right arm:



Impression with thumb


And a size comparison:



More detail and cables need to be added still, the marked area on the left claw will be raised with card or putty on both.
some scribing might be applied to the flat areas.


Also working on a fist and legs for a client:



Now to add some cables, decoration and ribbing.

And a SW champion for myself, or maybe to sell someday, not sure. Let's build him first:

his shield to be:


Maybe he looks bette rwith the shield on his back and axe in hand:


I lost the mouthpiece of the horn... I'll have to make another one.
He'll get a seax as well and some pouches and stuff.

Not sure about his head yet, some SW bits should arrive soon which might look good. Else I've got a lot of marauder heads.

C&C?

cheers,

Beork

Great work as always.

The claws are stunning.

Like how you made the axe shaft look more realistically porportioned.

haha, I didn't do anything about the axe yet. I was going to make the shaft thinner than GW, but now it's just a metal rod.
The final axe will have another head as well, something more viking.

cheers,

Beork

Legs and fist commission as good as done!

Photo's aren't perfect, I'm not working with a normal camera right now, hoping to get a new charger for my camera this week.

I really like how the tabbard/tassel thingy worked out, took me 5 tries, but I really like the sense of movement it gives.
Some pictures:













And if he'd be fully dressed:



Now to get the shipping money from the client and he's off.

Next up, Black Hands Captain and some Ork stuff, stay tuned folks

cheers,

Beork

Wow, I'm loving the pose on the commission model! It looks like that fist is Heavy... and he's in that relaxed moment before he decides to haul it back and take a swing.

Really sweet work...

Looks awesome!

how much would a conversion like that cost?

its so awesome!!!

haha, about a 100 euros and a lot of patience for a whole model, most people don't reply after the quote

But honestly, as I'm finding it hard to combine my current job with hobby time this is most likely the last commission I'm doing. Unless people pay premium dollar of course. I can make exceptions for a lot of money

progress on the captain tonight if all goes well.

In the meantime, I've been using drying times to work on this little fellow again (gretchin piloted, MIG21 based fighta):



Not much progress in though as I was trying to make some bombs/weapons for the fighta and got sidetracked by this:





A small grot piloted bomb/plane.
I was meant to go under the MIG, but it's too large for that. I've got a bigger bomber in the making, the MIG will be a fighta, which might carry this little thingy.

I just need to make weld marks between all the plates and it's done.

A unique thing for me, I've only used 2 pieces of GW plastics in this one, and only for detailing which can be replaced by generic stuff easily.

cheers,

Beork

Remainder of the fighta pieces:

steering flaps for tail and wings:


Weapons I'll use if I can't get someone to trade me some ork biker guns:


Bombs in working, although they will most likely not be used for the fighta (I've got a salamander somewhere screaming to become a bomba:



The ones with the red lids are going to be rocket pods, which (if nice) will be used for the fighta.

cockpit:



Also somewhat better photos of the captain with my lousy attempt at a cape. It works as a proof of concept though.




I can't seem to get my camera to take decent pictures anymore, it's been without power for a month or so and somehow basic settings seem to have changed. Maybe it's just reset but I remember the hassle setting all the variables... O well, time will tell.

cheers,

Beork

Stunning work as always.

Some progress on mister black hands captain:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/brother_beork/Commissions/Black%20Hands%20Captain/100_8792.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/brother_beork/Commissions/Black%20Hands%20Captain/100_8793.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/brother_beork/Commissions/Black%20Hands%20Captain/100_8794.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/brother_beork/Commissions/Black%20Hands%20Captain/100_8797.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/brother_beork/Commissions/Black%20Hands%20Captain/100_8798.jpg

Still need detail chest, add some rivets that my 2year old managed to remove anddo something with the shoulderpads.

And a small beginning on the bionic bits for post apoc brutes
Sized on ork nobz, which doesn’t hurt if they are usable on those models.

Generic left arm, will come with a hand or weapon option.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/brother_beork/Other/Bionic%20bits/100_8761.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/brother_beork/Other/Bionic%20bits/100_8765.jpg

Start on the weapon and hand:


And powerfist type thingy:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/brother_beork/Other/Bionic%20bits/100_8769.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/brother_beork/Other/Bionic%20bits/100_8770.jpg

Bionic fever:


They will be modelled to have ball joints, should be easy for posing stuff.

If people here like them, they might be nice to produce as a TFM item, if people like them that is.

Any ideas? I’m willing to build any idea people have us tot have a few variants. These are easy and I can make a few, but the more variation the better.

Cheers,

Beork

Awsome converting! That captain is bad ass

Agreed.

Very Nice converting!