Designing a Crusade:


So, I finally got some time off to work on some projects again. So, I'm restarting my Black Templar Crusade from scratch.


Modeling:


I've been working on designs for a Actual-scale Templar Crusade. For the most part the entire crusade will be outfitted with MKVIII armor with similar finishes to the current "Emperors Champion" and "Jump pack Chaplain" So, Knightly helmets, pleated boots, Chain Mail, etc. The will be lots of bastard swords, shields and medieval weaponry.

Yeah, I know what your thinking an all actual scale army, impossible?!! But nothing is impossible for a Master of the Dark Arts.... So, I will be employ techniques that I can neither show or speak of these few models I'm showing here will quickly grow to over a hundred or so in the coming weeks.


Vehicles:

These will be actual scaled as well but not in the commonly seen way. The rhinos, vindicators, and Land raiders will be enlarged using a styrene inserts and aves epoxy putty. The will also be enlarged bikes while the dreads will likely be custom sculpted.


Painting:


I want to paint the army in fashion similar to the codex cover. The color contrasts their are just so striking, and complementary. I've never been a fan of GW style highlighting, or Heavy Metal style, as I got into 40k after having spent years building military kits. So, anyway I was watching Excalibur for inspiration and really like the idea of having some glossy armored Templar. Something along the lines of Black lacquered armor with gold trims similar to the Codex cover, and crimson accents. I'd also will include matte elements such a their tabards and other cloth elements as well. Then I'll add a bit of weathering mud splashes to contrast with the pristine armor.





So anyway lets get started. I'm basing these conversions off Doghouse's and Lamenter's wonderful actual scale tutorials, with some additional flourish I've stolen...er..borrowed from the many, many great BT armies on this very forum. I have several pages of pre-prodution sketches for this project that I have to get scanned. I'll be posting the sketches up soon.


Most of the Initiates will use legs based off these:
















I also repose several sets of Terminator legs to get more varied poses:














Maybe on in five Initiates will have armor based off this torso:










Rivets:

I used to use putty to do this, but its just to time consuming and I always end up smashing them or having them pop off.

The rivets are actually super simple to do. I'm using "glitter beads" or "micro beads"; they're tiny metal or glass marbles that come is sizes between 0.25 - 1.5 mm. There just tiny little glass beads that come is shiny colors like the silver I'm using here. You can get like a million of them for a $2-3. Just drill and appropriate sized hole where you want the rivet add a tiny amount of super-glue. Then pour the beads of the model. Instant rivets and all the same size. I bought 0.5mm silver beads and 1.0 mm copper beads. You can thanks the wife for the tip.

Some of the larger rivets as the knee joint etc, use stainless steel balls that come in 1.0 mm, 1.5 mm, and 2.0 mm sizes. There a bit more expensive, but worth it in my opinion. My FW Keeper of Secrets and the Daemon Princesses use these as rivets on the armor.

Another tip is top count the number of turns you make with your pin-vise, so that all your holes are of uniform depth.


Okay here's some pictures of what I'm using for rivets. I got the all of these off ebay, by the way.

Okay more progress shots:



Legs:


Okay here are some additional legs. I'm working on. I also have walking forward, running and a couple of leaping poses.


# 1

This first set of legs will have additional armor plates covering the hips and thighs; similar to WF Chaos Warrior legs. The boots will also pleated and have a pointed toe.

















Here's a couple more pictures with a in progress torso.







# 2


This set of legs will have a baroque raised Templar cross, and riveted boot soles.













Here is is with one of the converted terminator torsos I'm working on.












Shoulder Pads:

I've got a number of things going on here: these are all converted terminator pads. I started off using styrene strips and super glue to make the raised edges. But it was actually much easier to make them from Aves putty. With the putty I could easily sculpt the trim on the BT shoulder pads without obscuring or damaging any details.







Since I like the look of the normal BT shoulder pads; I press molded the details with "amazing putty". Amazing putty is a cheap molding silicon that you can by at any craft store (both Michael's and Hobby Lobby carry it in the US).












Back Packs:


Not much to say here I basically just adding some rivets for a more uniform look, with the riveted armor. I may and some chain as well. I bought some very fine scale model chain (use for model ship anchor chains), but I'm not sure how well it will hold up to casti...the dark arts techniques. I will be testing the idea soon though.







Power Fists:


Again, I'm adding rivets, and carving in plate details. I'll also be re-sculpting the fingers to get additional hand gestures. A few of the "punching" fists will have chain wrapped around the finger like brass knuckles. :lol:







Parts:


These are just some various in progress bit and pieces. Of particular note is the "Empire General's Sword". This is a big sword it dwarfs typical space marine swords. Still it will be getting a 2.0 mm extension to the base of the blade. Variations on this blade will appear through out the the army

Really good job so far , i can see that a lot of time has been put into this project i will be keeping an eye on it

Great job ~UnDeAd~

Dude...just wow! Very impressive so far! Not so sure about the skull helmet yet, maybe try to place it a little bit higher, it looks as if the figure has no more neck or something underneath that armour.

No Sersi, you don't suck. You don't make me ooze with jealousy everytime I see your work. Your Slaaneshi daemons aren't the greatest things I've ever seen and your BT aren't already making me cry in greed...

I hate to see your work cause I love it sooo much! TT.TT

This is amazingness! The rivets are ingenius!

A whole crusade of these guys would be fething awesome.


I want MOAR!

Son Of Horus wrote:A whole crusade of these guys would be fething awesome.


I want MOAR!

Just about what I was thinking.

Awesome start to what will surely be an awesome project!

Good luck - and I can't wait to see more!

~UnDeAd~:


Thanks. This army has been bouncing around in my head for a long, long time. I'm just happy I have the time to get it going, now.


Malika2:


Yes, I see that now. not to worry though I drew up a scaling chart that I'm measuring all my marines against, I'll be correcting the neck.


Lorgar's_Blessed:


Thanks you. That's one heck of a compliment.


person person:

Thanks.

Hey Sersi, gathered some more (IMO) cool looking bits you may want to incorporate:
http://chapterhousestudios.com/webshop/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/MK_I_Heresy_Era__4b61a458cbd1e.jpg
http://chapterhousestudios.com/webshop/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/Marine_Shoulder__4a1acebb4126e.jpg
Credits: Chapterhouse studios
http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=60
Credits: Maximini
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Space_Marines/Space_Marine-Infantry-Accessories/BLACK-TEMPLARS-TERMINATOR-STORM-SHIELDS.html
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Space_Marines/Space_Marine-Infantry-Accessories/BLACK-TEMPLARS-TERMINATOR-SHOULDER-PADS.html
Credits: FW

You've probably seen them already, but thought I'd throw them in anyway.

Good luck, can't wait to see how it goes!

Would be cool, wish i could see the pictures though

Lookin' great so far. Keep up the good work

All I see are a bunch of "bandwidth exceeded" messages. How about you host somewhere other than that pos Photobucket?

how very unprofessional

Breotan wrote:All I see are a bunch of "bandwidth exceeded" messages. How about you host somewhere other than that pos Photobucket?

Please?

According to the pics you need to upgrade your photobucket to pro today...

Or just transfer the pics onta Dakka! Seriously it's really tantallising........Why am I greatful I didn't put that into the Slaanesh Daemons blog?

Okay, the bandwidth problem is fixed!

Brilliant and wow!

Nice idea!

Dreadnoughts:

While, these are a ways off yet. Someone from another forum asked me about Dread. So, here are some of my thoughts on them. I'm not doing custom dreadnoughts because of scale issues. I'm doing them because I can! :lol: Honestly, I look at the the mechas from Warmachine and there are a allot of elements that could be incorporated into a dread design that is true to 40K and yet looks like it can actually: walk, run, fight, etc. That and the knightly heads are pretty killer as well. You might even see a hint of Mechwarrior in the designs I'll be posting up later. Because not only am I a bit nostalgic for the designs, there are some practical elements to borrow as well.

This should be pretty interesting as I just bought a lathe machine for my workshop. I've wanted one for ages....and the wife finally lets me go shopping...he..he... So as soon as I get the techniques down, I'll be turning some styrene and renshape elements for the dreads. Eventually I'll be turning gun barrels for my fine-scale modeling projects as well. Sooo, excited...anyway. My dream modeling project is to build a fully pose-able stop-motion Warhound Titan, I slowly acquiring the skill to make that happen.




Update is a few minutes, I'm still processing the pictures is Photoshop.






Automatically Appended Next Post:

Okay, the sculpting on these is pretty much done, just a little light sanding and filing is require. Then its time for rivets and detailing.















Let's try these out with a couple of the new torsos, I'm working on:











Here's another one:

Those are looking pretty bad ass the first head looks a little small for the body but the second head looks much better.

Yeah, that head does seem slightly small; but I intend for to hall all the exposed heads to be covered in a chain-mail like coif. So, that will help bulk out the heads a bit. Plus, they need to be slightly smaller for the helmets to fit over them. Yes, there will be removable helmets to....

Sersi wrote:Plus, they need to be slightly smaller for the helmets to fit over them. Yes, there will be removable helmets to....

removable helmets! haha this project just got even more bad ass now i really cant wait to see these guys finished.

Sersi wrote:Yes, there will be removable helmets to....

You just made this project go from bad ass to a gift from the Emperor himself!

Removable helmets... now you are just screwing with us.


Seriously though, thanks a ton for the ball bearing rivet idea. I have a scratch built titan that needs like 10^34 bloody rivets, and I was putting off doing the job until I figured a reasonable way to get the damned business done. This will be just the ticket!

The second head makes me think of a drill sergeant. Maybe you should leave the helm off and make him a squad leader.

Yeah, sort of like a young Schwartzenegger.

But removeable helmets?!?! For cereal?!?!

Very ambitious, I'd say

Have to say that this looks pretty damn cool so far. I think the legs look fantastic. The torsos look a little too wide, but it could probably be solved by adding a little extra height at the waist.

I would agree with others who are saying that perhaps the heads are a little too small, though I guess in the space marine creation process, the marines may end up looking a little pin headed

I would just make any helmets you create big enough to look like they would actually fit over the heads of the bare headed marines

Inspiring stuff, keep it up

Ahhh sersi, you jump around on your progects I will say but it is worth while when you do because those are utterly amazing. The only thing is the trim on some of the shoulder pads is a little uneven otherwise Cheers amazing stuff!

Hmm...

Awesome Work.

Removable helmets? Pics or it didn't happen.

this blog has literally made me flip out in pure awe and amazment i wanna see more pics PLZ!

Get one painted quickly, this is showing an unusual amount of promise for a truscale project..

I'm gonna be honest, I don't see removable helmets looking good. But if they do, hey, more power to you.

Oh you'd be surprised. The removable helmet idea is not mine, the incredibly talented Madscuzzy from Bolter & Chainsword has been doing it for years. Seriously, look him up sometime; virtually everything model he's ever done is worthy of imitation. I'll certainly, be cribbing his ideas on assault marines, terminator, etc, etc.....

Cool looking marines.

Looks like a great project! I always think my marines look too tiny compared to my friend's guardsmen, but I never build up the motivation and courage to try and make a truescale force myself. Another reason I like things like this happening, keep it going!

One little thing: Your last pics with the Marines who have torsi and heads already...it seems to me that their torsi might be a little bit too small in the y-axis, especially compared to the legs. Extrapolating where some of the necks should end and where the shoulders would be...even for hunched-over Marines their torsi seem a bit flattened to me. But maybe I'm seeing this wrong, having never done stuff like this myself.

Truescale Marines!? Don't you get tired of posting such awesome work? Between this and the Slaanesh stuff, when do you sleep?
anyways...subscribed.

Okay Update:

So, for my Black Templars I wanted a very archaic/medival look. So, lots of Black Iron and rivets. Getting the parts I'll need looking right is key here; since there no point to re-sculpting the same part over and over again.


Storm Shields & Combat Shields:

I'll be sculpting at least 3 more variants to these. The base for these shields was roughly shaped aves putty rolled out on parchment paper. They were then allowed to dry draped over a soda can to curve the shields surface. I then cared and sanded them into there final shape. The detailing is a combination of: Black Templar bits, press-molded details, modeling chain, etc.








For the press-molded details I used two different materials. The yellow pieces are a type of cheap silicon rubber called "Amazing Putty". The smaller bits are hardened bits of
Aves putty.








The advantage of the Aves is that its rock hard but easily shaped with a file of scalpel. So you can cut the mold down to just the detail you want. Super glue them to some styrene rod and you can easily stamp detail were ever you want it. You could also grab chunk of dried Aves and carve in you own stamp details.





Here's a couple of examples:





Incidentally this little raised Templar cross is from a pattern stamped into the BT Rhino Door bit. I'll be using to spruce up my Power Fists. This one got smudged before it was completely dry but you get the idea. Add 4 glass beads to each of the plaques corners and your have a neat little bit of customizing.






Jump Packs & Shoulder Pads:


Here are a few more shoulder pads, jump pack, and power packs.






Medieval Weapons:


Here's a selection of weapon taken from WFB - Warriors of Chaos. Mmmm....axes. The larger more brutal looking knives taken from WFB - Ogre Bulls, and will serve as combat knives. The Mace is from the WFB - Empire General Box . I''' be adding to the mace to make an ornate "cross-shaped Crozius for my Chaplain.





The "Templar Swords" I'll be using for the Army (seen below) are also from the WFB - Empire General Box.





Running Legs:


I did two of these with alternate legs raised for variety sake. The cool thing here is that changing the torso and the angle of lean and you've got a whole new pose. I want my Templar to be more dynamic to most poses will be walking forward or running! Heck, maybe even jumping... I have to walking/striding pose I'm working of at the moment. I figure only the leaders should be standing still, while giving orders etc.


















More Legs:


I played around with making a chain mail loincloth similar to the WFB - Warriors of Chaos. Not to bad but I need to let the Aves start to harden up a bit next time out.








Knightly Helmets:


I've decided to go with more knightly looking helmets. Its a pretty simple conversion. I also clipped the heads of my terminators to look like Grey Knight helmets; but I the extended the beak with Aves for a more stylized look.







Here's a guy with the extended Terminator helmet. It looks a bit odd here, but it should look great with the greatly expanded breastplate I'll be using on the Terminators.









On that note, I'm liking these War-machine Warjack heads as inspiration for my own converted Dreadnoughts:







I especially, like this one, its knightly and skull-like. Medieval-Gothic for sure.




Ranged Weapons:


I'm up-sizing the ranged weapons a bit. My Terminator assault cannons are from the Dark Angel - Land speeder. The flamers with be from the IG -Sentinel box. Not sure about the plasma or meltaguns yet. The Terminator Chain Fists will be made from Ork choppa bits.







Well that's it for now. I've got most of my bits, and mods done for my Initiates and Sword Brethren. I'll be moving on to Neophytes and Terminators next. I also started building my upscaled landraider in Autocad. The plan is to do it digital and then have the parts cut from sheet styrene by laser. We'll see on that, a friend of mine has access to one.



More Later!

mind blowing, all of this, but one thing is that terminator head isnt doing it for me, feels a bit too pointy?

anyway cant wait to see some MOAR!!! good luck

Yeah, I was thinking that too...I'll probably sand it down a bit.

I'm sorry, but the pose on your 'stepping' marine just makes me think he's in the middle of some sort of folk dance.

I blame reading your VC blog right before but as soon as I saw him I got the 'Transylvanian Two-Step' stuck in my head.

Agreed with above, the "running" marine seems really awkward, like he is falling over or something. His leg seems to be raised way too high, more like a Captain Morgan pose than putting a foot forward. Also, since his back is arching back instead of down, he looks terribly off-balanced.

For some reason, I get the feeling that your running marines are sneakily tiptoeing like foxes in cartoons.

Hi Guys!

Thanks for the replies. I'm thinking that the runner looks off balance, because he's standing on a blob of poster putty, rather that glue to the base. Similarly, the head and torso are not glued on either, so the pose is allot loser that the final one will be. Got point about the rounding of the torso, though. The height of the knee is accurate for a high speed run, though. I've animated so many run cycles, that all the key poses for a "run" are branded into my brain till death! The pushing foot should be up on its toes, and the recovering leg would be extended more in reality. But honestly I can't imagine a marine in full armor being all flexible.

I kept the foot flat because with a quick pass of a file I can easily adjust the angle of the pose. None of them will be doing the two-step, unfourtunately...




Anyway, I still need to make a couple more shields and slap of some more details. Starting on some Actual Scale Terminators tonight as well.




More Later!

Wow this is really cool, looking forward to seeing the tanks, how many points you working to?

Oh, I figure at least 2,000 points to start. I've begun my "Dark" rituals to rapidly increase the hordes numbers. I should have a pics of a full completed squad up by tomorrow evening. Que....maniacal laughter....muhaaaa.....hhaaa....hah!

Looks amazing as always Sersi keep up the good work

my one concern is the flamer, once you upscale that i think it would look out of place and you woud end up having to upscale every other weapon even though normaly it would look fine

You might not want to upscale the weapons too much, unless you make REALLY big marines. I found that I liked the way the boltguns and the like looked better when held by larger marines, in that they were still obviously HUGE guns in the sense of normal scale, but in the hands of the biggerized fellas they looked like real scale weapons. Still, I expect to be shown the error of my ways!

Sniff...you guys are probably right about the flamer, on regular marines. But it might still work out for the terminators! Muh...hah...ha..... Werkind I very much agree with you on bolters looking better with upscaled marines.

No Pity...No Remorse...No Fear...




I introduce the first the first seven members of my crusade. As you can see there are some repairs to be made, but nothing serious. No, I'm off to e-bay to scavenge for more bits....























Okay...okay I admit I was wrong about the running legs, I'll be cutting them and rotating the raised leg down a bit. It just looks better.











More Later...

Nice, did you give up on the removable helmets then?

Nice, those are pretty ace! Great Work!

That is how Space Marines should look!

Great work, but have to say I'm not a big fan of the lance. Its very GrimDark, and in keeping with the Black Templar 'look', but IMO it appears... off somehow.
Perhaps its just the pose, but I think it needs some work.

Very, very cool. My only critique is that more helmet variation would be nice.

You know sersi as usual I have to give it toyou as this is freaking SWEET!!

CadianXV wrote:Great work, but have to say I'm not a big fan of the lance. Its very GrimDark, and in keeping with the Black Templar 'look', but IMO it appears... off somehow.
Perhaps its just the pose, but I think it needs some work.

My thought on the lance is, well Grey Knights have pole axes and are somehow still effective. That, and the lance can also serve as a type of banner. Besides, nothing tops impaling some Xeno scum and mounting upright as a warning for all see.

Technically, Grey Knights use halberds, and in close combat they are actually effective fighting weapons (ancient China is where you look for those). Lances on the other hand are really one shot weapons (obviously Britain, France, Spain, etc..). Spears are good but they have a tendency to get caught in people and break, and they aren't very Templar friendly I don't think.

Anyway... I vote one of the guys should have a big pair of brass knuckles.

Good work, keep it up.

Grey Knight Luke wrote:Technically, Grey Knights use halberds, and in close combat they are actually effective fighting weapons (ancient China is where you look for those). Lances on the other hand are really one shot weapons (obviously Britain, France, Spain, etc..). Spears are good but they have a tendency to get caught in people and break, and they aren't very Templar friendly I don't think.

Anyway... I vote one of the guys should have a big pair of brass knuckles.

Good work, keep it up.

Well sure if you want to be technical and stuff....


Brass Knuckles, huh? How about a power fist wrapped with chain...electrified of course.

I like chains. Use lots of chains.

WOW THOSE ARE NICE!

I vote for a Dark Arts tutorial!!

Excellent work, and its nice to see someone else using grey stuff ^_^ (the resin casts too!)

Lessons in the "Dark Arts", huh? I'll see what I can do.

i have to say these guys are starting to look like grey knights, but i like them alot. keep it up

Sorry, the title threw me off. Are these 28mm, or 40mm, or how tall are they?

Also holy crap, they look awesome.

These are awsome

Very nice models!

All I can say is..... WOW!!!

Grey Knight Luke wrote:Technically, Grey Knights use halberds, and in close combat they are actually effective fighting weapons (ancient China is where you look for those). Lances on the other hand are really one shot weapons (obviously Britain, France, Spain, etc..). Spears are good but they have a tendency to get caught in people and break, and they aren't very Templar friendly I don't think.

Anyway... I vote one of the guys should have a big pair of brass knuckles.

Good work, keep it up.

More technically, they are glaives, which were (along with their 10^4 variants) tremendously popular in Europe and Russia. Halberds are more ax like, and calling the Chinese pole weapons "halberds" is a really weak translation, like calling women from the Yangzhe province "Valley Girls"
Glaives are really awkward one handed, though at least the current GK rules and models sort of imply they use both hands. A lance would be even worse, though a spear would be quite reasonable. One handed spears were used with shields from right around the same time as man invented shields, and are plenty durable. It is only when they get out past 6 or 7 feet that they get a bit awkward and breakable.

I am really digging the biggerized boys, though I do wonder if you are going to add some details, especially to the chest area. Even my wife noticed that they look a little dull, though of course fancy painting could remedy that as well as resin

Wehrkind:

I am really digging the biggerized boys, though I do wonder if you are going to add some details, especially to the chest area. Even my wife noticed that they look a little dull, though of course fancy painting could remedy that as well as resin

Yes, indeed I actually have several small stamps that I've made to apply putty details to them. I'll be adding a some modeling chain to wrap around their weapons etc. That said what would you suggest detail wise?

WARBOSS TZOO

Sorry, the title threw me off. Are these 28mm, or 40mm, or how tall are they?

They're still 28mm heroic scale, around 2-3mm taller that standard terminators.

TyraelVladinhurst:

I have to say these guys are starting to look like grey knights, but i like them alot. keep it up

Not much difference between the two in my opinion.

Fafnir:

I like chains. Use lots of chains.

Oh they be lots of chain in evidence here!

Wehrkind wrote:

Grey Knight Luke wrote:Technically, Grey Knights use halberds, and in close combat they are actually effective fighting weapons (ancient China is where you look for those). Lances on the other hand are really one shot weapons (obviously Britain, France, Spain, etc..). Spears are good but they have a tendency to get caught in people and break, and they aren't very Templar friendly I don't think.

Anyway... I vote one of the guys should have a big pair of brass knuckles.

Good work, keep it up.

More technically, they are glaives, which were (along with their 10^4 variants) tremendously popular in Europe and Russia. Halberds are more ax like, and calling the Chinese pole weapons "halberds" is a really weak translation, like calling women from the Yangzhe province "Valley Girls"
Glaives are really awkward one handed, though at least the current GK rules and models sort of imply they use both hands. A lance would be even worse, though a spear would be quite reasonable. One handed spears were used with shields from right around the same time as man invented shields, and are plenty durable. It is only when they get out past 6 or 7 feet that they get a bit awkward and breakable.

I am really digging the biggerized boys, though I do wonder if you are going to add some details, especially to the chest area. Even my wife noticed that they look a little dull, though of course fancy painting could remedy that as well as resin

I stand slightly corrected. But thanks a bunch for the insight into ancient weaponry. I still say that spears are not templarish..

oh and electrified chains on fists would work ok... but I was thinking brass knuckles modeled onto a powerfist. that would look cool in my brain without any real life thing to back it up with.

nice work, keep it up

Actually, those stamps on the chest would be about perfect. I kind of figured that was what you had in mind but wasn't certain.
One thing I might suggest though is a little more detail around the face/jaw parts of the visor, sort of like the older style dogfaced bascinettes and great helms:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_helm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bascinet
The bascinet has more of a "beaky" look, but something similar with grill work/holes in the helms might add a little visual interest. Functionally pointless, technically, but visually interesting


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, are you planning to eschew the use of tabards and cloaks, or do you plan to add them later? Not that the lads necessarily need them, just that it might add some interesting movement to the models, and maybe help cover some of the more awkward leg joins and so save you some putty work.

Okay, I see what you mean now, regarding the helmets. They'll be getting more details:

1. rivets
2. drilled in vent holes
3. carved in grill slots.
4. probably some hoses as well.


I'll also be using some standard marine heads, and bear heads with chain mail coifs.

Nice, they all resemble GK terminators, I'd definatly would like to see more different heads.

I like this stuff, having done a huge horde of Blue Space Marine Templars years ago, this almost makes me want to do it again, if I wasn't doing so much fantasy stuff.

Your chainmail needs a bit of work though. You need a ball stylus, like my 99 cent one from Michaels (#4 in the pic)

Then make sure you go back and forth alternating your angles in each row either vertically or horizontally.

With your skills, you'll be out doing me in about 5 minutes.

Looking forward to seeing more.
---PPC

Grey Knight Luke wrote:

I still say that spears are not templarish..

I have to disagree with you. The Black Templars are based on the templars that crusaded in the holy land, such as those under Richard the Lion Heart) and they would have used lances. Plus archers at that time would often use a shortened wooden lance to defend themselves in combat once they had run out of arrows or their enemies had closed the distance. so Lances are fine with templars, and they would be used as pennants, displaying each Knight's (or here each squad's) heraldry.

I like this though keep going.

Imp. Monkey

Anyone else getting Monty Python flashbacks after looking at the running pose? I can't seem to get the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch out of my head.....

person person:

Since you mentioned it. I will be adding some alternate heads.

PsychosisPC:

Thanks allot! I'll give the stylus a try, I have several that I use for hand and faces. It never occurred to me to use them for chain-mail.



A Couple of Ideas:

I was looking through my bits and two useful bits from the Grave Guard box came to mind.

1. that great weapons fixed to a styrene rod makes a great plastic Halberd for Grey Knights or in my case Black Templars.
2. all those un-used shoulder pads make great knee and elbow pads, or to just add an additional layer of armor plate, the have nice details to: spikes and skull mostly.

Spectacular!

Okay these have been languishing for a week of so...


I intend for each to be unique. There knights of legend so they should all look like individuals. Unique heraldry, etc, etc....


Here the start for the Chaplain:


Yes, he is sporting Grave Guard shoulder pads on his legs.








































Banner Bear:

























More later.... I have like 30 modeled will start painting very soon.

Dysartes wrote:Anyone else getting Monty Python flashbacks after looking at the running pose? I can't seem to get the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch out of my head.....

OMG!!! I demand neophytes with the coconut shells!!!!


Bot, on topic, these are lookin great Sersi. Once I get more IG shoulder pads I' gotta play catch up with my tallarns!

Grey Knight Luke wrote:

Wehrkind wrote:

Grey Knight Luke wrote:Technically, Grey Knights use halberds, and in close combat they are actually effective fighting weapons (ancient China is where you look for those). Lances on the other hand are really one shot weapons (obviously Britain, France, Spain, etc..). Spears are good but they have a tendency to get caught in people and break, and they aren't very Templar friendly I don't think.

Anyway... I vote one of the guys should have a big pair of brass knuckles.

Good work, keep it up.

More technically, they are glaives, which were (along with their 10^4 variants) tremendously popular in Europe and Russia. Halberds are more ax like, and calling the Chinese pole weapons "halberds" is a really weak translation, like calling women from the Yangzhe province "Valley Girls"
Glaives are really awkward one handed, though at least the current GK rules and models sort of imply they use both hands. A lance would be even worse, though a spear would be quite reasonable. One handed spears were used with shields from right around the same time as man invented shields, and are plenty durable. It is only when they get out past 6 or 7 feet that they get a bit awkward and breakable.

I am really digging the biggerized boys, though I do wonder if you are going to add some details, especially to the chest area. Even my wife noticed that they look a little dull, though of course fancy painting could remedy that as well as resin

I stand slightly corrected. But thanks a bunch for the insight into ancient weaponry. I still say that spears are not templarish..

oh and electrified chains on fists would work ok... but I was thinking brass knuckles modeled onto a powerfist. that would look cool in my brain without any real life thing to back it up with.

TBH, Brass Knuckles aren't terribly 'Knightly'

Knightly...smightly...I say. The only honorable fights are the ones you win! Hur...hur...

Mistress of minis wrote:

Dysartes wrote:Anyone else getting Monty Python flashbacks after looking at the running pose? I can't seem to get the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch out of my head.....

OMG!!! I demand neophytes with the coconut shells!!!!

What... is the average air-speed velocity of an unladen thunderhawk gunship?

These BT true scales are great looking and I can't wait to see the finished chaplin

Those are fantastic- a real sense of weight and power to them. Could we get a comparison shot?

There is no substitute for Zeal!




"In the name of the holy triumvirate, of Emperor, Primach, and Founder Father, I abjure thee...."

























"For hates sake, I spit my last breath at thee!"




















'
"Sigismund be praised!"























"One can always find away if one has faith."























"In the name of the Emperor of Mankind, in the name of Primach, and in the name of Lord Sigismund....DIE!"





















"No Fear! No Pity! No Remorse!"

























"In the Emperor's name...I swear that his almighty fury, and vengeful wrath shall bring you low!"
























"It is not for a Templar to have doubts. Our faith is our shield. Without it we are nothing."























"I am a knight of the Eternal Crusade, a gene-son of Sigismund and Rogal Dorn...I yeild to no one!"






















"Our enemies as ranged before us. It is our duty to bring the Emperor's justice down upon them."






















"By the will of the Emperor, in the name of Dorn, and in the name of Sigismund, and in memory of our fallen brothers...suffer not the unclean to live!"





















"If I fall avenge me."




















And the Crusade continues......













Much more to come!

MindTrick wrote:

Mistress of minis wrote:

Dysartes wrote:Anyone else getting Monty Python flashbacks after looking at the running pose? I can't seem to get the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch out of my head.....

OMG!!! I demand neophytes with the coconut shells!!!!

What... is the average air-speed velocity of an unladen thunderhawk gunship?

Before, or after it fires the battlecannon?


And after seeing more pics.....this is me resisting the urge to box my Tallarn project and start on my marines.....resisting........must......

Mistress of minis wrote:

MindTrick wrote:

Mistress of minis wrote:

Dysartes wrote:Anyone else getting Monty Python flashbacks after looking at the running pose? I can't seem to get the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch out of my head.....

OMG!!! I demand neophytes with the coconut shells!!!!

What... is the average air-speed velocity of an unladen thunderhawk gunship?

Before, or after it fires the battlecannon?

black templars do have the holy orb (hand grenade) of antioch... i can see it now... CAMELOT!!

So such a fan with these sersi!

Oh, we need more Python... "Tis a Witch!" Must work a duck and a scale into a banner of some heraldry....



Neophytes:


So I've been studying the options for Neophytes. At the moment I'm really liking Brettan Knight arms for the mail, and light plate look. I'm probably going to have to sculpt my own bodies as I want a long tunic look similar to "Kingdom of Heaven". I'm not really sure on these, I want them bigger that IG but smaller than their Initiates. Pondering what to do on this his one. Any suggestions?

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/monty_python.jpg

Just saying.

For three years I have served the Dark Gods with pure loyalty and have never known fear.

Now after seeing these Templars....... I feel fear.

Keep up the amazing work Sersi!

Thats a lot of pics...

May the Crusade never end!

Good work on these guys, the running marine turned out great! Doesn't look like he is falling over at all.

ermm, double post, my bad...

Impressive! (and terrifying) It's madmen like you who make the rest of us look like lazy dabblers.

beautiful models!! do you have any scouts or termies on the way?

Awesome work!

You gonna paint actual BT colours or not?

Wow, these look amazing as usual!!

Really digging the dynamic poses

Looking flipping awesome, love the new running legs especially.

You should do some comparison shots to other marines or guardsman to show the size difference.

"To the darkness I bring Fire. To the ignorant I bring Faith. Those who welcome these gifts may live. But I will visit naught but death and eternal damnation on those that refuse them."

























"You carry the Emperor's will as your torch, with it destroy the shadows."





























"Death, war, and blood; in vengeance Serve the Emperor in the name of Dorn!"























Here's a comparison with a IG miniature:










Eternal Crusade!

This work is stunning! Instantly subscribed. A couple of questions though. The first, does it all eventually get painted too? And secondly, the bolter armed marine in the latest update looks like his arms are too big compared to the rest of him. Absolutely wonderful work!

Oshunai wrote:This work is stunning! Instantly subscribed. A couple of questions though. The first, does it all eventually get painted too? And secondly, the bolter armed marine in the latest update looks like his arms are too big compared to the rest of him. Absolutely wonderful work!

I agree with you, lets see some painted minis, plus the boltgun lots a little small, in all the other ones they look fine as they are away from the body, but this one does look a little small. Apart from that keep up the good work, lets see some tanks

Man you sure have awesome moddeling skills. Have you painted any one of them?

I like your use of certain fantasy model parts. Very slick. Cant wait to see these bad boys painted.

Oshunai wrote:This work is stunning! Instantly subscribed. A couple of questions though. The first, does it all eventually get painted too? And secondly, the bolter armed marine in the latest update looks like his arms are too big compared to the rest of him. Absolutely wonderful work!

Do you mean to big as in to long, or just to big overall? They are all using standard terminator arms. This guy just has his cut at the elbow so I could rotate the arm into a better position.

Oshunai's right, his arms seem alot longer. Are the shoulder pads smaller?

Sersi wrote:

Oshunai wrote:This work is stunning! Instantly subscribed. A couple of questions though. The first, does it all eventually get painted too? And secondly, the bolter armed marine in the latest update looks like his arms are too big compared to the rest of him. Absolutely wonderful work!

Do you mean to big as in to long, or just to big overall? They are all using standard terminator arms. This guy just has his cut at the elbow so I could rotate the arm into a better position.

I think I mean too long. The arms look like they are extended too far down the torso I think. It might just be perspective though.

Young_Logan:





That is the glory of true- scale!. Everything looks smaller in comparison. It's kinda like having a girl with small hands.

Kudos to OP. The crusade is well on it's way. Something to note though, a problem that cropped up when i was doing my WFB and SM Assault Marines.. They were just too awesome for their own good, rather than looking dynamic they came across looking like the cast and crew posing for a photo op at the end of some 80's Asian tv sitcom.
Not saying thats where these guys are headed!! But keep referring to terrain and your regular gaming table for examples of in action shots together at random locations.
just my 2c

these models are lookinggoos!

Lovely work. Your poses are so dynamic, which is really refreshing for Marines. You've taken good advantage of the opportunity that resculpting presented you.

And the Chaplain is great, but his legs could use a bit more detail. The skull in the chest piece is awesome: it looks like a reliquary more than an ornament.

You missed out the classic knightly phrase;

Have at you, Sirrah!

"Uphold the honor of the Emperor"






















"Sons of Dorn, to Battle!"

























"The galaxy belongs to the Emperor, all who oppose his will must die."























"The world is at last is free of corruption and the taint of heresy at last. We thank the Emperor for our glory".



























"Without sacrifice there can be no victory."


Here's my WIP Marshal with twin lightning claws. He'll be getting more bling, ofcourse.






















The Crusade continues.....



So I'm up to 60 individual Templars so far. Virtually all will be getting so additional GS work: leather belts, parchments, purity seals, pouches etc. Oh, and lots and lost of modeling chain. Here's some progress shots.
























Still to come:





Neophytes:

These I decided to use Chaos warrior arms, normal space marine torso, and lower legs.

Dreadnoughts:

I have two forge world dreads and a GW venerable dread on order.


Assault Marines:

Converting these up to all running and landing poses.


Terminators:

These will be maybe 2-3 mm taller that the "normal" marines. but much wider with more detailed and obvious servos and cabling.









More Later!

Absolutely awesome! How did you make them? What parts did you use? A tutorial would be amazing!

This has got to be one of the most AWSOME things i ever seen in true scale space mariens!


I like this alot but maybe for your Marshal maybe have lots of chains wraped around him gives it a nice efect

Mother fether. The group shots look amazing!

Tutorialzzz!!!! We neeeeeeedzzzz tutorialzzzz!!!!!!

Friggin' epic!

Hey Sersi I love your threads! But I'm wondering, what size beads did you use for the rivets on the marine's legs?

Plokoone:


Huh? The first post of the thread has the beads I'm using, their sizes, and the website to buy them from, with...with pics....

Anyway, there 0.6 mm glass micro-beads.


Munch Munch!:


Indeed, as Templars should be.


ShadowAngel159:


What do you want to know?


The Dreadnote:


Just wait a bit, I have such wonderful things to show you.


bigmek35:


Oh their will be chains a plenty.


vodo40k:


The legs are terminator legs, that have been cut and repositioned as needed the legs were then filled out with Aves putty, and sanded smooth. The torsos are Terminator chest pieces with normal marine back pieces. I use a space between the two parts and then bulked them out with more aves putty. Most other parts are bits ordered the: Space Marine, Black Templar, Dark Angels, WFB - Empire, WFB - Vampire Counts - Grave Guard, and WFB - Warriors of Chaos - Marauder, and Warrior spures.

Wow... I'm gob smacked fantastic work. Each model is greatly individual, and the detail and over all look of them is fething amazing !

Great stuff Looking forward to seeing those Terminators.

this work always amazes me! great job!

lol these guys are just ridiculous, I spy a mould line on the first ones backpack, although thats really so minor compared with the awesomeness of the rest of the figs. Im awestruck, keep this up and you will really have somthing special here.

Simply awesome, these models kick ass :O

sersi i am in utter awe of your abilities as a maker. do you ever paint anything?

Up dates we need updates!

Here here, i back that

i do too!

How about using the Empire Greatswords as a basis for Neophyte conversions? They seem armoured enough and their plastics in Full Plate.

Okay, started painting the first 5 tester models.


Sorry for the pics being so dark I think need to recharge the batteries on my camera flash or something.








Who-hoo...sucking in progress!


Tips, pointers, etc? Oh yeah recipe suggestions would be much appreciated. Would it be easier to highlight the armor before fully assembling the model? The head, arms, back pack, and gear make it really hard. I've already decided I'm never brush painting shoulder pads white again. I'll be making liberal use of my airbrush from here on out.




























Oh yeah I've have the dreads pretty much assembled so pics on those soon.


More Later!

Wow they're looking great!

I think the kind of edging highlighting that you're going for doesn't do the models you've built justice. It's very unforgiving, and unless your sculpting is near perfect it's going to show up flaws much more than it needs to.

I would go with a much lower contrast, directional highlight. You should treat these guys almost like you would paint a tank, you've beautifully expressed their bulk and weight through your modelling, now you want to follow through on that with your painting.
Weathering is going to be very important. Look at what someone like Migsula does that creates depth and visual weight without high contrast highlighting. Look at military modellers.

Are you going to be using real metallics or NMM? I would suggest real metallics, and if so those should be at least basecoated in before you start highlighting the black.

Are you painting white directly on the black basecoat? If so, there's no need to, you should be starting with a much lower value (darker) basecoat. Even if you almost entirely cover that with your "highlight" it will mean fewer than 1,000 coats of thin white.

I'd try to paint each guy in as disassembled a state as possible without going insane. Again, you don't _want_ to highlight every edge IMO, so that shouldn't be a concern, but you do want to have access to detailed areas. I'd think about trying some freehand in certain areas. Detailed sections of texture can really add to the illusion of size.

You put the work in at the modelling stage, don't fall back on your safe painting methods at this stage. These models deserve more and will really shine if you can put as much time in at this point as you did in building them.

YAY IT WORKED!!!!!!!!

Can you please tell me how you did the cloak on your commander? I can't ever seem to get them right, and I figure I need to differentiate my HQ units somehow.

Oh, and for the record, whenever I'm trying to convert my truescalies, I think of your topic, and wonder what else I can rip off from you.

I tend to paint black armour like this:

- spray black
- basecoat 50:50 chaos black:adeptus battlegrey
- edge highlight adeptus battlegrey
- wash badab

It gives a nice black look without being too harsh, heres a link if you want a pic http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/299340.page . Just something to consider!

That being said, they look pretty good atm.

i agree very strongly with plastictrees.


cant wait to see dreds!

that's an awful lot of fantastic truescale templars. I'm looking forwards to seeing them all painted up.

grrr

ScOttfree:

Wow...the universes greatest escape-artist here in my thread. Love the name by the way. Thanks, I'm really trying here painting miniature is a fairly new experience for me.


grrrfranky


You guys may have to shame me into keeping up with this blog. I have 70+ initiates built now and I have to tell you that is an absolutely heart breaking amount of grey plastic and resin.


Sageheart:


The dreads should be done this weekend.


Vitruvian XVII


I like that I did use those colors, but I did not wash the model afterward. I try it and see how it looks. Thanks!

Fafnir


Its super simple really, but I'll need take take some pictures. Give me a day or so.


bigmek35:


Grin!


plastictrees:


Thanks for the advice.


1. I've never really like the look of NMM honestly, so real metallics for these guys.

2. Do you suggest dry brushing the model instead or highlighting? I'm not sue what you meant by painting them like a tank.

3. On the shoulder pads: I primed everything black first and then base coated the in space wolf grey. Wouldn't it be easier just to prime them white and go from their instead?

4. On the highlights I'd been advised to highlight all the hard edges. But now that I look at them again I don't really like the effect, it looks really fake. Would it be possible to just paint the armor black and give it a coat of future. The gloss being contrasted by areas of bare metal, chip and scrapes. Kinda like the armor on these "Great Swords". I love how they have black lacquered armor, bare metal and, black leather; all on the same mini. Something like this is what I want really.





5. I'm not sure what you meant by textured areas?

I'll break out my fine scale modeler mags and look them over for applicable techniques.

For the case of highlighting the black, try and blend a bit into the highlights, and use a more subdued highlight colour than plain white. The contrast is too much otherwise.

And priming the shoulder plates white (separatly of course!) will save you from wanting to cut your eyes out.

Will you do truescale vehicles?
I've really only got to hear about true scale since joining dakka...and its cool.

I like.

Black is easy enough to paint once you know how. My favourite method is to basecoat the entire model with a 6:1 Black to grey/greyish blue mix. Layer the armour with a 5:1 of the previous mix, with the layers gathering where light would catch the most on the model. Begin to highlight the uppermost edges with a 4:1 mix, and gradually add more and more grey/greyish blue to the mix as you build up the highlights, getting steadily thinner with each highlight. Once you have reached a pure grey highlight stage, you can add more extreme highlights on the very edges of the model with a paler grey.

Oooh...got a new bits order into today. I love these new space wolf heads! Sure the mohawks and braids have got to go, but the beards are so awesome. I don't unsually like helmetless Space Marines but these are so nice, I simply have to use them. They look great with Actual Scale bodies by the way. When Black Templar finally get their update I hope we get a similar box set. I also got 5 space marine bikes to biggerise!


Updates soon!

I was considering using some puppy heads for my truescalies for a while, but my love of Mk4 helmets and hate for snipers made me think otherwise before I even began considering it. The look's not bad, in fact, when kitted out with heavy enough armour and weaponry they can flat out badass, but it just doesn't feel right for me. Been tempted a few times though.

Loving the blog, as usual Sersi. You've become a regular poster to follow in my books, and every time I see your name pop up I start scrambling for the 'subscribe' button.

Looking forward to your 'biggerise'-ing of the space marine bikes. i'm currently starting to paint my bike army atm, hawk lords colour scheme essentially ( a hark back to pre-heresy emperor's children).

I wonder, will you be trying to sell these like you did some of your daemons? I'd be careful if that's your intention, as you could be infringing IP / copyright / be accused of passing off if you mass-produce these.

For personal purposes however I think the differentiation and extensive (and beautiful!) conversion work is enough to crank out moulds for mix-and matching within your own force.

Also, any news on the upscaling of vehicles?

Keep it up Sersi!

Keep the good stuff up!

I DEMAND MOAR!!!!!

The infantry is looking great but im very curious to see the vehicles. Theres been alot of attempts but it seems that the projects die before any vehicles are produced

sc0ttfree wrote:The infantry is looking great but im very curious to see the vehicles. Theres been alot of attempts but it seems that the projects die before any vehicles are produced

Yeah I've got to say that I'm keenly interested in seeing said vehicles come to life!

Sersi wrote:

plastictrees:


Thanks for the advice.


1. I've never really like the look of NMM honestly, so real metallics for these guys.

2. Do you suggest dry brushing the model instead or highlighting? I'm not sue what you meant by painting them like a tank.

3. On the shoulder pads: I primed everything black first and then base coated the in space wolf grey. Wouldn't it be easier just to prime them white and go from their instead?

4. On the highlights I'd been advised to highlight all the hard edges. But now that I look at them again I don't really like the effect, it looks really fake. Would it be possible to just paint the armor black and give it a coat of future. The gloss being contrasted by areas of bare metal, chip and scrapes. Kinda like the armor on these "Great Swords". I love how they have black lacquered armor, bare metal and, black leather; all on the same mini. Something like this is what I want really.





5. I'm not sure what you meant by textured areas?

I'll break out my fine scale modeler mags and look them over for applicable techniques.

1: Sounds good to me.

2: Drybrushing could be tricky, it's going to pick up any roughness in your sculpting and conversion work. I don't think you need to go that route.
By "like a tank" I mostly mean to just push you away from edging highlights. Good tank models use subtle highlighting and weathering to create an illusion of weight and scale.

3: It could just be the photos, but it looks like the white parts of the pads are just white. There doesn't seem to be any shading going on there.

4: I think that's an excellent idea. Get some weathering powders and go to town on the feet/lower greaves once you've done this, along with painting in chips and scrapes as you said.

5: Especially with the laquer effect idea you're going to want areas of detail that draw the eye and break up the plain black areas. This can be choice pieces of freehand, sculpted detail, whatever.

Some ambitious project going on here. I love character this army has, you've hit the spot on with the conversions.

Keep up the good work.

cant wait to see more!

loving thses always nice to see a true scale army keep up the good work

Northen:


Thank you. the goal is to have an army on individual heroes rather than to have a the 6 identical squads.


Sageheart:


Oh, there will definitely be more to come.


nurgles_warrior:


I doubt I'll ever own any normal GW marines again. I guess I'm a size queen... Once you go True Scale you can never go back to small marines. They're just not as satisfying



Updates:


Infantry:

I haven't posted in a few days as I was catching up on my Slaanesh Army, and work, and stuff... Anyway, I did get some work done:





So, this container has the parts for 40+ marines. That plus the 80+ that are assembled and the 60 or so still on spues put me just under 200 marines. Their quick and easy to make, that I kinda got carried away. I'm sure I'll find something to do with the extra 100 or so...




Transports:

I and a buddy at work messed around with auto-cad and produced some very nice templates for my upscaled rhinos, predators, etc. The deal with the laser cutter fell through so I'll be free handing the first one from styrene sheet. It's cool though, I still have my drafting tools from college. So I'm hoping to get on that this weekend.


Dreadnoughts:



I started converting a set of new legs for my dreads that have actual knees and actually look like they can move.



Custom Bits:


I've also started working on some additional bits to make them look more Templar-ish. After re-watching "Excalibur" and "Kingdom of Heaven" I sketched up some new armor Marks to convert up. I also made this bit from the front cover of the BT Codex.




Basing:

Oh and I sacrificed two tigers and panther tank to provide fodder for some Migsula style bases.









A Real Update soon!

looking goooood, are the marines used as actual tactical marines, or as something terminator-y?

bigmek35 wrote:YAY IT WORKED!!!!!!!!

yeah, but still Threadromancy isn't good. You didn't really perform proper threadromancy as the thread had been silent for less than a month, but still...

this is awesome!

true true. im the same i would love to do a scale army but i dont have the wonga. i find the normal models to look like a imperial guardsman wearing realitvly thin armour instead of the 8 foot muscle bound cereamite clad warrior of death. but i guess if i can get the hang of my modelling and moulding i could make my self a lot of them. but what im saying is i envy your work in a insperational sort of way lol

Rise from the Grave!


So...work has died down again for the moment, time to get back to the hobby.



I started work this morning warming up with an additional 60 true scale Marines and three dreadnoughts. I have to say that the casts are coming out so clean now, no air bubbles and very limited clean up...yes!!! So, now I have 120 TS marines.

I've also been experimenting with my airbrush, Les being my inspiration for that. Thanks Les! I've go so very small stencils made out of low tack masking tape, and a frisket to airbrush on white templar cross on the armor, and black one on the shoulder pads. So...cool. Anyway here are a couple of progress snaps of the this mornings work.









More today...for sure!

Liking the progress. Faster! Faster! Kill!!!

Thanks! I'm planning to get this lot assembled today. I'm drilling out like 60+ bolt pistol barrels at the moment. Which would ordinarily suck mightily...but with my new toy its so quick and easy.







I picked it up a whim off Amazon, its fast, light weight, and feels good in the hand. Seriously, I drilled pin holes for 120 or so arms in under 10 minutes. I ordered the one that takes dremel bits this morning, so awesome. The right tool for the right job.

always want to see moree!

YES!!!!!!! THERE ARE MOAR!!!!!!!!!!

Great to see that you are puching forward on this.

Amazing thread - I've just read all 6 pages. Awesome 'dark art' skills. Those are some original and great looking Black Templars.

What do you call the blue gun style dremel tool? I've never seen one like that before.

Small update:

I got all the close combat weapon arms conversions done. I went for variety here more than anything else. The bits used were primarily adapted from WF Warriors's of Chaos line.



First up: Flails & morning stars. I plan to have some of these draw back overhead preparing to strike, while other will be held across the body with both hands, or held casually to one side.




Next, bolters, bolt pistols, and a couple of lantern/mace? Perfect, for bringing the light of the Emperor to a Heretic...by knocking heads ofcourse. About 20 out of a hundred Templars will have bolters. I envision them as objective campers, I'll probably build two lascannons for sun with those squads.





Third big templar-esque swords, and various blunt force trama instuments.




And Glaives....taken from the WFB Chaos Knights. Perfect for a knightly theme... Hey it works for Grey Nights.






Can't have Space Marines without chainswords.





Various choppas...er...uh....axes.






Automatically Appended Next Post:

s.j.mccartney wrote:Amazing thread - I've just read all 6 pages. Awesome 'dark art' skills. Those are some original and great looking Black Templars.

What do you call the blue gun style dremel tool? I've never seen one like that before.

Its a: Tamiya Craft Tools - Electric Handy Drill. Its ridiculous how much time this thing saves. Be warned though technically a model kit that comes on a sprue, that you will have to assemble before using!

these look cool! any specialist weapons, like LCs or PFs or Thunder Hammers!

Okay, okay...time to stop messing around.


Dreadnoughts:

"They are the Emperor's immortal retinue, walking beside him down the long march of years, in the endless watches of the eternal night do these mighty brethern war and wait and war again. Dressed in furious Glory, in cleasing fire and fury do they praise him, by righteous death and destruction do the make high his name. May the heroes of legend, live on in righteousness to war forevermore in the Emperor's name!"

At first I was going to really bling these up, but honestly I like the cleaner look more. The feet are from forge world, with standard dread legs for now... The have been up-sized 2-3 mm in height, so far. I might add some spaces at the waste but I'm not sure on that. I'll be fashioning custom legs guards out of styrene sheet for a more forged heavy metal look than the GW ones. I think the silhouette problem with dreads is that the legs look to small relative to the bulk of the torso. I will also be decking them out with additional rivets, and chains.


other things:

- Get the bases blocked out, so I can chop the legs and repose them.
- Model new legs with actual working articulation: in the hip, knee, ankle, and, toe joints.



Honored Brother - Geoffrey:


"For his Grace and Glory!"



- Will be mounting the bell from the VC corpes cart.




Honored Brother - Borin:

"We are instruments of the Emperor, extension of his grace and fury. Our lives are solely his to command.






Honored Brother - Simon:

"Faith in the Emperor is all. He is the light that guides, the warmth that succors, and the fire that purges. None are spared the touch of his wrath! he is the light, the might and the way..."





Honored Brother - Letholdus:

"Pain is an illusion of the senses, dispair an illusion of the mind."






Honored Brother - Tancred:

" The sleeper has awoken, the clarion call sounded, the time has come to rouse for wrath and ruin, where there is chaos, fire and war, there shall Tankred be..."







Honored Brother - Tibalt:

Still in progess...






On to the initiates:



200+ TS battle brothers! If the Emperor is kind, the last of these will be assembled tomorrow. I built the parts is sub-assemblies, so now they basically just need the arms glued on and accessories/gear added to their belts. With that done we'll move on to sculpting the tabards, chain mail, banners and various cloth bits. The shoulder pads will be left off to be painted separately.


Vehicles:


Rhinos & Drop pods:


At the moment I'm focusing on the basic TS rhino and Dreadnought Drop pod at the moment. Once I get both consturcted out of Styrene they'll be empowered by the "Dark Arts". I'm currently building around to lists, a full mech force and full drop force.

Landspeeders:

I'm taking the easy way out on this one. I'll purchase 3x forge world LS Tempests, and call it a day.

Bikes:

Still in the design phase on these, but I'll be posting up some ideas on these soon.



And for giggles, here is a pic of our valiant Templars facing down a 60+ Seeker's of Slaanesh charge. Now, that's brave some of those battle-brothers don't even have arms, let alone weapons! Black knights indeed.... Oh, well the Emperor protects.




More later!

Thats... A LOT of Black Templars. o_O

Wow that is all i can say

I would very much be intrested in purchasing some of those bits and I totally love the work cus im a big Templar fan!

this is all very orderly and organised , makes my workbench look like Hell. ;-) i think you have achived the look and feel of the templers very well.

I gotta say man, this thread just makes my head hurt. Even thinking about painting 200+ awesome models like this makes me feel like I desperately need to be doing something else. :-P
The power armored horde looks great and terribly intimidating. Forcing myself to think about painting that many bodies, here is what I would suggest:

1: Don't use black except as a wash. As odd as it sounds starting with black and building up to highlight is much harder than is needed. Black leaves you no where to go to make it darker. When I did my chaos warriors and marauders I did the black armor in this fashion:
a: light grey primer
b: Vallejo Neutral Grey (sort of a medium dark grey)
c: highlight with White Grey (I don't use white either if I can)
d: Badab Black wash.
Very quick and dirty method to get quick highlights that blend nicely. If an area is too light you can apply more black wash as a glaze. This should also work with a black to light blue highlight, though I am not certain.

2: As to white shoulder pads, yea, getting there from black is miserable. If you have to do so, I would mix in some of the really pale foundation color (Adeptus battle grey?) with white for a base coat, and build from there accepting that the grey showing around the edges will help shade. Instead of going for pure white, get to a grey/white and you will be good to go.

3: As to whether it is better to put them together first or not, I don't know. I almost always put my stuff together because I can't resist seeing how the model will look. I tell you though, those warriors were a HUGE pain with their cloaks blocking the backs of their legs.

Looks great man, so long as I remind myself that I don't have to imagine painting it all myself!

Wehrkind wrote:

1: Don't use black except as a wash. As odd as it sounds starting with black and building up to highlight is much harder than is needed. Black leaves you no where to go to make it darker. When I did my chaos warriors and marauders I did the black armor in this fashion:
a: light grey primer
b: Vallejo Neutral Grey (sort of a medium dark grey)
c: highlight with White Grey (I don't use white either if I can)
d: Badab Black wash.

This is almost exactly what I plan to do. I got the Zenithal Highlighting tutorial from Miniature Mentor, and studied Les and Wintergreen techniques. So, I plan on airbrushing: black, then dark grey color and highlighting up adding white and blue to the mix. Then glazing with a blue/black wash. Then gloss varnish, pin wash, apply and weather the decals.

I'll mask off the models and then hit the knee pads etc with a base of a light grey, and then from above with white.

I've decided to not edge highlight with paint. I'll more likely edges where the paint would where with color and graphite pencils instead; its far easier to control than a brush.

For weathering I want to show that they been on campaign but not through a meat grinder. That and I like the idea of pristine glossy black armor, caked with matte mud. Having read Helsarch, I really tempted to base them off of the Ash wastes of Armageddon.


Very quick and dirty method to get quick highlights that blend nicely. If an area is too light you can apply more black wash as a glaze. This should also work with a black to light blue highlight, though I am not certain.

2: As to white shoulder pads, yea, getting there from black is miserable. If you have to do so, I would mix in some of the really pale foundation color (Adeptus battle grey?) with white for a base coat, and build from there accepting that the grey showing around the edges will help shade. Instead of going for pure white, get to a grey/white and you will be good to go.

Yeah, I plan on starting with a dark gray and highlighting up to white. Then going back with a brush to do the trim in gold, black or red as needed. I got some block of floral arrangement foam from the dollar store, so I can super glue like 50 pads at a time to toothpicks, jam them in to the foam and then airbrush on the successive coats of paint.

3: As to whether it is better to put them together first or not, I don't know. I almost always put my stuff together because I can't resist seeing how the model will look. I tell you though, those warriors were a HUGE pain with their cloaks blocking the backs of their legs.

I'll definitely be leaving the pads off, and probably the back packs as well. The arms I'm not to worried about because, I don't have many bolters, and the ones I do have are not held in both hands for the most part; and most of my poses are open with the hands away from the body.

Looks great man, so long as I remind myself that I don't have to imagine painting it all myself!

Now that I got the basics sorted out the only thing that worries me is the details.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Wehrkind wrote:

1: Don't use black except as a wash. As odd as it sounds starting with black and building up to highlight is much harder than is needed. Black leaves you no where to go to make it darker. When I did my chaos warriors and marauders I did the black armor in this fashion:
a: light grey primer
b: Vallejo Neutral Grey (sort of a medium dark grey)
c: highlight with White Grey (I don't use white either if I can)
d: Badab Black wash.

This is almost exactly what I plan to do. I got the Zenithal Highlighting tutorial from Miniature Mentor, and studied Les and Wintergreen techniques. So, I plan on airbrushing: black, then dark grey color and highlighting up adding white and blue to the mix. Then glazing with a blue/black wash. Then gloss varnish, pin wash, apply and weather the decals.

I'll mask off the models and then hit the knee pads etc with a base of a light grey, and then from above with white.

I've decided to not edge highlight with paint. I'll more likely edges where the paint would where with color and graphite pencils instead; its far easier to control than a brush.

For weathering I want to show that they been on campaign but not through a meat grinder. That and I like the idea of pristine glossy black armor, caked with matte mud. Having read Helsarch, I really tempted to base them off of the Ash wastes of Armageddon.


Very quick and dirty method to get quick highlights that blend nicely. If an area is too light you can apply more black wash as a glaze. This should also work with a black to light blue highlight, though I am not certain.

2: As to white shoulder pads, yea, getting there from black is miserable. If you have to do so, I would mix in some of the really pale foundation color (Adeptus battle grey?) with white for a base coat, and build from there accepting that the grey showing around the edges will help shade. Instead of going for pure white, get to a grey/white and you will be good to go.

Yeah, I plan on starting with a dark gray and highlighting up to white. Then going back with a brush to do the trim in gold, black or red as needed. I got some block of floral arrangement foam from the dollar store, so I can super glue like 50 pads at a time to toothpicks, jam them in to the foam and then airbrush on the successive coats of paint.

3: As to whether it is better to put them together first or not, I don't know. I almost always put my stuff together because I can't resist seeing how the model will look. I tell you though, those warriors were a HUGE pain with their cloaks blocking the backs of their legs.

I'll definitely be leaving the pads off, and probably the back packs as well. The arms I'm not to worried about because, I don't have many bolters, and the ones I do have are not held in both hands for the most part; and most of my poses are open with the hands away from the body.

Looks great man, so long as I remind myself that I don't have to imagine painting it all myself!

Now that I got the basics sorted out the only thing that worries me is the details.

Good luck to you sir I look forward to seeing how your process comes together so I can glean some ideas. I am always looking for new tricks to get lots of guys painted well in a short amount of time. In a few years I plan on starting a project to make my own Chinese sweatshop to get my models done, but it will have to wait until my wife and I finish grad school and we can afford kids :-P

Loving the work and the studs on the armor...nice touch!

Loving the models, now how bout some pictures of some painted ones even if they are WIP, I believe we all would love to see some more.

Ahh...updates.


Let's start with the Marshal shall we:


Marshal Uther:


Added some bling and cleaned him up. He still needs new shoulder pads though.





















This is an example of the level of detail each marine is getting:











And for scaling purposes, here's a Templar with an guardsman and a foul Xeno:








There are many more pics than these but I'm pressed for time this morning.

More Later!!

Im happy to see more updates! I'll be keeping tabs for future scenes!

Sweet mother of everything holy... This army is wicked!! Consider me subscribed to this Black Templar goodness!

SO AWESOME

Consider me subscribed, these guys look awesome!!
Keep up the great work!

The marshall seems disperportioned in the chest.

Hey thanks guys!

Empchild wrote:The marshall seems disperportioned in the chest.

I think its just his pose, because the torso proportions are the same for all of them. He does have those additional plates on his legs that make them look a bit bulkier. I'll take another look at that.




Chaplain Mordred:

Say how many skull, can a chaplain wear before it becomes tacky? So far he has "9" skulls both literal and ornamental adorning him. Still I'm considering the large skull shoulder pads from the WF Chaos Knights sprue, and perhaps a backpack mounted shrine. Hmmm.....












Crusaders:

Here are but a few examples of my Initiates. Note that none of these models have shoulder pads as those will be getting painted separate as will all the shields.



































































The full crusade as it stands now:







Dreadnought updates to follow.


More Soon....

Just looking at this army is inspiring me to no limit! This stuff is incredible!

I feel pity for the foul aliens, mutants, and heretics that will fall before this mighty crusade..... wait a minute? Pity? What the am I saying?! In the name of the God Emperor, DIE!!!!!

I salue you, Marshal Sersi!

The WIP looks amazing. The level of detail (especially all the gear) that each marine has makes me not want to look at my old marines.

The only thing I don't like is the one-handed special weapons. I know they are 8-ft man-machines of death, but I would think this would make accurate aiming more difficult. To each his own though.

Keep the updates coming.

"Bravo old chap. Bravo"
As 'Mithril hound' from B&C, I once again applaud your efforts.

they are lovely. are you going to make spare parts and sell them? cause I would love to have such sized space marines!
just look at them being awesome!

HOLY Wow cant believe my eyes, looks so awesome, would be willing to buy cast peices from you. Wow. Loving the the terminator Arms they seem to match the scale far more better than normal marine arms, makes me wonder though what you will you use for Terminator arms....

Holy crap, scrolled back up, Totally Epic

You must've spent a buttload of money on all that.

Looks fantastic.

So cool... so so so cool

Sersi wrote:

More Later!!

Very nice work, but now orc seems to small

Sersi how many points is that?

Looking very swish, makes my crusade look positively plain. Am loving your work!!!!!!!!!

Damn you!!!! Now I must purge my OWN black Templars out of shame!


Seriously though, they are so incredibly awesome! If only I had the skill and patience to do that, I could... I could bake a cake!

you don't do things by halves do you? A M A Z I N G.

this is soooow coooowl!!

Some seriously bad ass poses up there! AND a whole army out of scratch build true-scale marines is way too impressive to even mention.

I am insanely jealous. In a harmless worshipful way.

cool XD thumbs up..

This project looks amazing. The most amazing part is that you were able to save the expense of buying 200 sets of terminator legs--is there a taboo on talking about that part?

I would also really like to know how I could replicate your process. I have a truescale army in the works and this would save me a lot of time and money. Also, what size bases are you using.

Thanks for continuing to share your work.

wow amazing! great work!

will you be doing any scout models?

AesSedai wrote:This project looks amazing. The most amazing part is that you were able to save the expense of buying 200 sets of terminator legs--is there a taboo on talking about that part?

I would also really like to know how I could replicate your process. I have a truescale army in the works and this would save me a lot of time and money. Also, what size bases are you using.

Thanks for continuing to share your work.

I'd also like to know how you did that, Sersi.

ShadowAngel159 wrote:

AesSedai wrote:This project looks amazing. The most amazing part is that you were able to save the expense of buying 200 sets of terminator legs--is there a taboo on talking about that part?

I would also really like to know how I could replicate your process. I have a truescale army in the works and this would save me a lot of time and money. Also, what size bases are you using.

Thanks for continuing to share your work.

I'd also like to know how you did that, Sersi.

I would also like to know

ShadowAngel159:


Thank you. If I've in anyway inspired you I'm happy. People on this board inspire me everyday.


McNutty:


I can see wear your coming from on the special weapons. Hmmm...I may have to sling some of those so the Templar can properly wield his melee weapons.


Bossasaurus:


Thanks.


medabee:


Wow, someone who likes he arms. I get so much flack for not converting them more...I mean... I do want to play them some day... hopefully before the new codex.


kingjayko:


Yeah, when you walk past their display case you can almost feel the righteous indignation.


grayspark:


Actually, no. This is probably the cheapest army I own. Now the cost is time invested, well that's something else entirely.


FantasyBob:


Yeah the Ork does seem small now, but on the plus side he's now easier to kick in the face.


Empchild:


Just over of 3,000 points, just counting: 100x initiates, a 10x command squad, and 6x dreads. I'm shooting for 5-6,000 points.


darthmatty:


Sweet!


The only jp:


Well I'm sure that the cake would be delicious.


azekio:


As they say go big, or go home.


skotter:


Thank you.


The Good Green:


Oh, I'm by no means the first to attempt this. Apologist is the man when your talking Truescale armys. his Ultramarine force is truly epic.


Joske De Veteraan:


Thanks!


LordofSteel:


Lol.


AesSedai:

Very much a taboo subject for this particular blog. Now, In my daemon army blog I can tell you anything you want to know about the subject. I also go into allot of detail on tools and materials here: Link


I also have an tutorial I've done on converting a paint pot for use in...um...the "Dark Arts". I'll try and get that posted up tomorrow, I've just got to edit the pictures.


Sageheart:


I still need some neophytes. I've considered using these legs as astarting point along with normal tactical marine torsos. But I've not sure how they'll scale against the initiates.




I'm working on terminators at the moment.


ShadowAngel159:


Patiences. All will be revealed soon.





Automatically Appended Next Post:
Okay....Dreadnoughts:



Small update on a few of the dreads. I'm scratch-building new fully articulated legs for them, but for the time being here are the torsos, and some weapons arms.


[Honored Brother - Geoffrey:


"For his Grace and Glory!"















- I can't for the life of me, remember where I poached the idea of the bell from. Any way the bells fro the Vampire Counts Corpse Cart.



Honored Brother - Borin:

"We are instruments of the Emperor, extension of his grace and fury. Our lives are solely his to command.


















Honored Brother - Simon:

"Faith in the Emperor is all. He is the light that guides, the warmth that succors, and the fire that purges. None are spared the touch of his wrath! he is the light, the might and the way..."



















Honored Brother - Letholdus:

"Pain is an illusion of the senses, despair an illusion of the mind."


Pending Photographs...




Honored Brother - Tancred:

" The sleeper has awoken, the clarion call sounded, the time has come to rouse for wrath and ruin, where there is chaos, fire and war, there shall Tankred be..."



















Honored Brother - Tibalt:


Pending Photographs...

Wow all very good stuff you have there..Like the customization! was thinking o making my own blog but idk now lol

I really appreciate this blog. I'm looking forward to more information. Really inspiring!

Thanks, guys.

I'm working on GS parts now: chain mail, banners, capes, etc. I'm also working on the legs for the Dreadnoughts. Hopefully some new pictures of that tonight.

amazing dreds, i would put a lot more ornate stuff on them so they look more powerful and noble.

Ohhhh! You read megatokyo??

Erm... yes. I would recommend putting 'loin cloths' on the dreads, so the legs don't look so spindly. I used a cut down SW banner for my Bjorn, but a templar banner should work just fine.

Oh I'm going to be completely redoing the legs with proper hip, knee, and ankle joints. Though puny shin guard are getting relaced with thicks slabs of cermite like the new FW Ironclad Dreadnought.


And yes Megatokyo is a guilty pleasure of mine.

Neato.. I haven't been on mt for months now. Gehhh i'm going to go on now :O

Sersi wrote:
FantasyBob:


Yeah the Ork does seem small now, but on the plus side he's now easier to kick in the face.

that's a point! eh eh!
anyway, i really like to see a "bigger" ork!

Anything to update us on Oh great sculpture.