- EDITED -
Finally understood why people here prefere to set up ONE thread for all their works... Briliant, am I?
So this will be my base of operation from now on
- EDITED -

Good time of the day to you fellows. Here is my first Dakka post dedicated, as pointed above, to the conversion of a standard GW Gretchin squad into something less trivial.

I've always been somewhat disappointed and frustrated by absence of an independent goblin-like army in 40k. I just can't help but love this psychotically charming and murderously cute little fellas. So the idea of building my orc army around highly personalized grot force was the first I came up with.

Have to note that this is my first try at both painting and converting miniatures and I've never done anything alike before. Was it a success? - is for you to decide.

And now I proudly present the most elite grot military force ever assembled - the Turncoats!



Below are individual pictures of squad members before priming. Not all of them at the moment, but I will add missing ones later.








That's all for today =)

Some more pics are at my gallery and you are always welcome to visit my Blog where I will post detailed reviews of each of my works.

Please leave your comments, critics and all other feedback.

looking good so far. Can I ask what they are going to Count as?

Nice job! Have you worked with green stuff before? You said it was your first conversion project and first time painting too so the work with the green stuff is probably your first correct?

2 ChaplainTed
- as standard grots I suppose, but I'm making them for a plot-driven campaign we a planning with a friend and there they will have lots of special rules =)

2 Bagi80
- Yes, I never worked with any type of sculpting material before I started this project.

Wow. Those grotz are killer. Love your GS work. Keep it up.

Well done!! I always loved conversions. I find that to be one of the most rewarding aspects of modeling. Making it completely your army and truly unique. The grots are sweet! I think youll dig orks; there is tons of room for customization in their ranks. You wont be disappointed.

Just uploaded more pictures of this guys:










Intrested in comments, as always =)

Nice work, they're really looking elite.

An elite squad, indeed. There should be a codex written for 'em.

What did you make the last grots gun from? I recognize a Tamiya 1/35th scale US mortar base but I can't place the rest.

Haha Awesome they look really cool. Your GS work is outstading for the first time doing it. I am looking forward to seeing them painted.

These are awesome, good work

ChaoticMind wrote:What did you make the last grots gun from? I recognize a Tamiya 1/35th scale US mortar base but I can't place the rest.

You're almost correct - I used lots of parts from Tamia's WW2 1/35 weapons box on this grots. I don't remember exactly which nation they belonged to, but my guess is German becouse of the fact it contained a Faustpatrone =)

Thanks for positive comments guys, here are the last trio from the group photo and one more buddy missing there - team's leader and clan's miniature Big Mek - da Slowpoka. In colour (my firs try ever).










That's all with this greenskins. They'll return to rock da place when all painted!

Love the guy with the big gun Based on a gnoblar?

CommissarKhaine wrote:Love the guy with the big gun Based on a gnoblar?

Yes =) Here is a detailed post about how I made him.

Hi everyone!
I've got an Orc Boys box lying around, waiting for some concept to convert them. You see, I always liked the initial concept of Space Orcs but the way GW actualize it saddens me. Especially I hate their poses with bended backs and bulging butts
So I was thinking of a way to fix them and finaly the idea developed to the point where I was able to pre-assemble the first one. They all will wear robes similar to those of DA, peaces of scavenged armor, improved shootas and power weapons powered by backpack generators (like melee ghostbusters )





Alot of work lies ahead...
Few words on what they gonna be used for - I figured that Necromunda's rule set appeals to me much more than the basic 40k and thus grots above made my first gang. This orcs gonna be the second

Would like to hear your thoughts on this!

storag wrote:Hi everyone!
I've got an Orc Boys box lying around, waiting for some concept to convert them. You see, I always liked the initial concept of Space Orcs but the way GW actualize it saddens me. Especially I hate their poses with bended backs and bulging butts
So I was thinking of a way to fix them and finaly the idea developed to the point where I was able to pre-assemble the first one. They all will wear robes similar to those of DA, peaces of scavenged armor, improved shootas and power weapons powered by backpack generators (like melee ghostbusters )





Alot of work lies ahead...
Few words on what they gonna be used for - I figured that Necromunda's rule set appeals to me much more than the basic 40k and thus grots above made my first gang. This orcs gonna be the second

Would like to hear your thoughts on this!

I LOVE it! He probably towers over "dohs 'umies" now! Any chance of a scale comparison pic?

I like it a lot. The new pose opf the head looks a lot more agressive, and he's got a real nice shoota. Nice work!

Rawson wrote:I LOVE it! He probably towers over "dohs 'umies" now! Any chance of a scale comparison pic?

Thanks! I'll make a comparison picture when I'll finish his robe. It won't be long I hope )

CommissarKhaine wrote:I like it a lot. The new pose opf the head looks a lot more agressive, and he's got a real nice shoota. Nice work!

Thx, your opinion is a valued fellow grotmaster

The work on the orc is in progress but sculpting takes time and I'm only able to make one element per evening =/
So while GS is curing I started to convert a rackham mini I've bought on a sale recently. For a long time I've been thinking about some kind of heavy grot, like SM terminators or Mega Nobs and when I saw this one it seemed like a fine base for my ideas.
Few word on his personality:
He is probably the toughest grot ever and others call him Zap, because he zaps his foes with his hand zap cannon named Branny. Zap and his Branny-gun make a formidable team, stalking battlefield in search for their favorite prey - enemy vehicles and armored units. Few dare to acompany them as Branny tends to overcharge and explode on occasions knocking Zap unconcious and killing less sturdy creatures around.

Here are some pics of him in early pre-assembly:




And a comparison picture to gasp his size:


I'll have to sculpt him grot ears and add 40k-style details to his armor and gun but that should not be a problem.

Waiting for your opinions guy!

Love this! can't believe that you said this is one of your first GS conversions. My first were horrid

Interesting . I'd make him bare-headed to show he's a grot though, but that's just personal preference.

Nightfall wrote:Love this! can't believe that you said this is one of your first GS conversions. My first were horrid

Not only my first GS works but my first miniatures tbh. Except what is here on Dakka I only own a bunch of Back Reach orcs but they are so horribly boring that I use them for bits only =\

CommissarKhaine wrote:Interesting . I'd make him bare-headed to show he's a grot though, but that's just personal preference.

Thought about it CK But the idea of cutting it from the metal model with just a bare GW knife and saw makes me shiver and there are no grot/goblin head of suitable size to replace it as far as I know. Besides his mask looks very cool and grotty as it is.

My hopes were not in vain and I've just finished orc's prototype garment. Here you go:




Spent several hours and lots of GS in fruitless attempts to make a fullsized robe in DA-style but realized that with this orc's hips every long cloth will look like a wedding dress so I stick with a classic tunic.
This was my first try on GS robes and I've done it in 4 steps: torso front - torso back - hood - groin&butt. Front is the worst for my taste but thankfully hands and weapon will cover it.

Hope to hear your opinion!

BTW, I made a piece of decor for my bladedancer's chainsword. It had to be a raven head... not sure about raven though, but it definatly is some bird

These are grrrrreat! You make me slightly less scared of GS sculpting.

brilliant work mate!!! but: did you even do the gun on the first nonprimed model all by yourself? i am truly in awe...!!!


vik

Thanks for comments guys! I really happy to see such positive reaction on what i'm doing - that's very motivating

dsteingass wrote:These are grrrrreat! You make me slightly less scared of GS sculpting.

We have a saying in Russia - the head is afraid but the hands are doing - that's exactly my case

Viktor von Domm wrote:brilliant work mate!!! but: did you even do the gun on the first nonprimed model all by yourself? i am truly in awe...!!!


vik

No mate, the gun I chopped from one of this guys. The colour of plastic is confusingly green

OMG, I just realized that scratchbuilt melta barrel! It would be sooo cool if you could post a tutorial on perfect-looking scratchbuilt melta barrels!..Watch your hit count soar!

dsteingass wrote:OMG, I just realized that scratchbuilt melta barrel! It would be sooo cool if you could post a tutorial on perfect-looking scratchbuilt melta barrels!..Watch your hit count soar!

Hate to disappoint you but that's no scratchbuild - it's a copy made from epoxy resin. I've got a couple of those from my friend but considering that this flame supressors will be one of the trade marks of my orcs I'll need alot more. So I made an aquaintance with guys that agreed to teach me how to make such copies. I'm heading to their workshop in the second half of this month for some lessons

Cool stuff! Looking forward to how you progress with robes on Orks!

ah ok.... funny coincidence^^ i really like your work tho nervertheless if some parts are not your work^^ also i think a grot army is totally cool...

i have seen your blog and some of the minis shown there are too brilliant! i just say...: jeanny has a gun....! rofl! that is a nice one and no mistake^^

Hi! It's been a while but here I am with a bunch of new pics

First is my Orc Ganger #1 which, to my utmost joy, is almost complete - just a backpack and a base remained undone.
The list of improvements:
- some armor added to his legs and hands
- sculpted the gaps between his body and shoulders so both arms are now one easily detachable pice that fits perfectly (on the pictures his hands are attached by friction force only). This is made to make further painting more convenient
- shoulder pads glued to their rightful places
Here he is:




And as I promised - the comparison picture! Unfortunately I don't have any GW human miniatures, soooo.. only orcs.. sorry


As this concept unfolds I find it pretty satisfying and I've already started to convert other boys in this way. Sadly, the first one's pose is too still and boring =/ - that was an inevitable evil 'coz I needed a mannequin to test drive the overall concept, but I'll do what's in my power to make dinamic and diverse poses for the others.
Here is the concept for the #2 and I need your oppinion on him and his pose!




Leave your comments folks!

I don't think I really realized how goofy the standard ork proportions are until now. They don't look so weird on your "test dummy", but the hips are looking really crazy on this new guy. I hate giving CC without any suggestions, but I have absolutely no idea how you would fix that...

Good luck!

Cheers,
Rawson

P.S. I had an AoBR Nob lying around that I chopped together after I saw your work here. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, right?

Very characterful! What was the green plastic originally? Your angles on the scope are perfect!

hmmm.... the first one is really cool looking, all your GS work as the gloves and the kneepads looks very professional...also the hood sets this model for unique -road^^

the new one is atm nice, th posing of the legs and the torso looks interresting, personallly i like the base best for now... this base looks really good...some really nice details there.... what other plans of further GS work on the second ork do you have? if i can add some thoughts...i would add some stock to the weapon...somehow the pose looks fishy to me...maybe a wooden one like the ones you got with an AK 47? and maybe a strap too? that might be cool and stalker like...also the backpack will surley get sraps too? if those beefy arms get not covered in some clothing...i would add some sort of bandana or bandaging to one arm...that could be cool looking....by the way that self made scope is way cool! where from is that green tubing? also i like that screw there.... more of that!!!

cheers, vik

Rawson wrote:I don't think I really realized how goofy the standard ork proportions are until now. They don't look so weird on your "test dummy", but the hips are looking really crazy on this new guy. I hate giving CC without any suggestions, but I have absolutely no idea how you would fix that...

Good luck!

Cheers,
Rawson

P.S. I had an AoBR Nob lying around that I chopped together after I saw your work here. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, right?

I'm flattered red, thank you Thought 'bout the hips for a time.. but is this crazyness realy a bad thing? It is possible to cut them to the human pattern but will they remain orcs after such surgery? I think not =/

dsteingass wrote:Very characterful! What was the green plastic originally? Your angles on the scope are perfect!

Viktor von Domm wrote:hmmm.... the first one is really cool looking, all your GS work as the gloves and the kneepads looks very professional...also the hood sets this model for unique -road^^

the new one is atm nice, th posing of the legs and the torso looks interresting, personallly i like the base best for now... this base looks really good...some really nice details there.... what other plans of further GS work on the second ork do you have? if i can add some thoughts...i would add some stock to the weapon...somehow the pose looks fishy to me...maybe a wooden one like the ones you got with an AK 47? and maybe a strap too? that might be cool and stalker like...also the backpack will surley get sraps too? if those beefy arms get not covered in some clothing...i would add some sort of bandana or bandaging to one arm...that could be cool looking....by the way that self made scope is way cool! where from is that green tubing? also i like that screw there.... more of that!!!

cheers, vik

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your attention

As for the parts I use - I had problems acquiring decent modeling plastic since the first steps in this hobby. Only few days ago with the help of good man Dimetry100 I located the local supplier but haven't time to attend it yet. So I had to improvise with whatever scrap salvaged around my flat: the green tube is a Chupa-Chups handle, the white is from cotton stick, plastic stripes on the base are from ice-cream package and so on...

Vik, your comment is as always full of useful ideas the stock is something I'll definitely try as well as the bandana - it will look nicely around his left biceps.
Few words on the outfit theme of this gang - it developed from a simple idea I had in mind for some time. Idea of a copy-cat orc regiment that mimic SMs in many ways. Of all SM chapters I like DA the most because I bare strange love for hoods and robes When I dug in the world of Necromunda this concept evolved in to a whole story of an underhive orc gang. I don't want to bother you with details of my fantasies unless I write them down in some solid form but here is the quick summary:
- This band is extremely perverted and freaky by an average orc standards. They know nothing about orc culture as the young orcs were found among the remnants of a slaver caravan by citizens of a small mutant settlement deep in the underhive of one of the hive cities on Armageddon. An old ratskin renegade by the name of Splinted Tail taught them all he knew about the ways of life down there. Their predatory nature and keen instincts proved to be a fertile ground and they quickly matured to be one of the toughest gangs around.
- They wear hooded robes to hide their identity. I know that this is ridiculous but hey - it's dark in the underhive and this is a grotesque fiction - why ninja turtles can wear a shear disguise of a hat and cloak and this guys can't this apparel combined with their combat prowess earned them the name Hooded Fiends.
- They use more armor then most orcs do (AS 4+) and the power armor shoulder pad is a distinctive feature of this gang.
- Their wargear consists of an improved shootas with lowlight optics and a power chainswords (rending power weapon)
- The backpacks they use are generators supplying power for their swords and miscellaneous gear as well as magnetic locks to hold weapons. They are attached to the docking backplate on the leather harness orcs wear underneath their robes. The armor pices are also fasten to this harness (much like SM black carapace this idea came to me 'coz all orc bodies has such leather harnesses with plates on the back. As you can see on the photos I left this plate uncovered by GS on purpose. Their gear is already bulky and I don't want to use precious space on unnecessary details such as backpack belts above the robe. I'll better save it for trophies or some decor)
Hope this info will help to understand my vision of them.

BTW, I've made a base for #1. As he is so rock-solid I thought a pedestal-like base will suit him. This one should represent a damaged concrete slab with pieces of metal frames and power lines pointing out. I'll cover edges with sand or small debris before priming.

Vik, your comment is as always full of useful ideas

just trying to help a genius at work^^

your fluffy origins f your gang is something i look forward too...i bet this will be worth a read^^

i also have a rather fond spot in my heart for the DA... iun fact i own a unfinished marine army that is based on a splinter chapter form the DA...got a thread with a gallery even^^ the hoods were too the reason why^^...

your materials sound very good to me.... if you are thinking out of the box you will discover lots of suply in everyday things...i bet you will find making terrain one day quite easy that way! so using chuppa chups handles and other stuff like you mentioned is a good way to recycle^^ and we all should do that far more often^^ also never underestimate the usefullness of plastic toys from lego and other friendly companies....there might even be a stock you could use...

the base by the way looks good... i like your attention to detail! the small things always sell the mini, like the very tiny cables or the steel rods in the concrete of the base...


waiting for more stuff form you^^


cheers, vik

I can't bring myself to butcher or glue a Lego myself..Heresy!

done that numerous times^^ and the funny part is i even don´t have to steal my stuff from my kids... they fall over them selves for giving me the stuff^^ they just want so much to make a contribution to my endeavors^^

Any other toy is fair game, but not Lego...I just can't do it.

Amazing orks! Great green stuff work! Really makes me want to go buy another box of orks just to try and make them as cool as yours!

Viktor von Domm wrote:also never underestimate the usefullness of plastic toys from lego and other friendly companies....there might even be a stock you could use...

dsteingass wrote:I can't bring myself to butcher or glue a Lego myself..Heresy!

Guys, glad to announce that I found a way to follow Vik's advise without harassing any Lego - I used Megablock instead So, as they say, the sheeps are safe and the wolfs are fed

Jokes aside, I wasn't in the mood for GS lately therefore I started #3. Working on his pose requiered a base with drop of heights thus I found a pair of Megablock pieces and made one. It looks fine for me and hope you'll like it too I'll upload the pics when there be more details done.

Depraved wrote:Amazing orks! Great green stuff work! Really makes me want to go buy another box of orks just to try and make them as cool as yours!

Thank you sincerely I really hope that with my help the orcs will rise up tall and proud to show all other punies who's da boss!

of course megablocks... those non fitting ugly bricks are for gaming pretty useless... the colors are so helplessly ugly.,..chopping up that stuff is recycling and putting the stuff out of their misery^^ aaand their stuff is way cheaper than lego^^

well...were are the pics

I have to agree that butchering a megablock so that a lego can live is acceptable and humane.

now that sounds like frankenstein...

Damn man! This stuff is incredible! You really have a knack for greenstuff.

Viktor von Domm wrote:now that sounds like frankenstein...

Muhahahaha! Khe khe... I think that a small mad scientist-self is what drives all of us modders

bebopdrums2424 wrote:Damn man! This stuff is incredible! You really have a knack for greenstuff.

Man, be sure that this surprises me more than anyone else

Past days were tough - I had very little time for myself but, none the less, I managed to work some things out. Here they are:

This is how the work goes on with #2's outfit.




And a close up of da hood. I thought it's better not to hide his charismatic face and so the hood is pulled back.




About the base for #3 - I wanted to make pics of him on it but he fell down to the flor and a leg broke I ran out of superglue so fixing will have to wait till tomorrow. Just the base alone for now.





That's all for today, hope you'll like it.

sure do! heck i love NR 2! the hood and the complete cowl looks fantastic, and i do love how you kept the original belt incorporated in the look! and i think it was a good choice to keep the hood away from the face... that mug should not be hidden!!! he has a mean and challenging grin in his eyes^^

also the base is very cool looking and already one can picture the painted version in ones mind...

to be honest you are one of two ork threads i only follow!!! thats speaking volumes ^^

Viktor von Domm wrote:to be honest you are one of two ork threads i only follow!!! thats speaking volumes ^^

Second that

They are truly outstanding Orcs! Literally
Anyway, mate, where's that blade dancer, you promiced me a looooong time ago? My brush itches for torturing!

Nice tunic, and really nice basework! What is the metal plating with the holes?

Viktor von Domm wrote:sure do! heck i love NR 2! the hood and the complete cowl looks fantastic, and i do love how you kept the original belt incorporated in the look! and i think it was a good choice to keep the hood away from the face... that mug should not be hidden!!! he has a mean and challenging grin in his eyes^^

also the base is very cool looking and already one can picture the painted version in ones mind...

to be honest you are one of two ork threads i only follow!!! thats speaking volumes ^^

Rawson wrote:

Viktor von Domm wrote:to be honest you are one of two ork threads i only follow!!! thats speaking volumes ^^

Second that

I'm flattered guys, really. Your attention to my works is most suprising and inspiring Makes me try and do better each time!

ishkatar wrote:They are truly outstanding Orcs! Literally
Anyway, mate, where's that blade dancer, you promiced me a looooong time ago? My brush itches for torturing!

Don't push me man! I'm working!

dsteingass wrote:Nice tunic, and really nice basework! What is the metal plating with the holes?

This is a piece of spare plastic lattice from my Cooler Master PC system block.

Nice work! If you'll be keeping up this level of detail, it's going to be outstanding!

Makes me try and do better each time!

promise....i take your word for it!^^

You are very good at greenstuff clothing. I like the rebar in the base. looks great

Yay, Tanith grots!

Hi everybody!
I've been rather lazy last days, posting comment to others threads, but I still keep progressing with my orcs. With little details mostly...

CommissarKhaine wrote:Nice work! If you'll be keeping up this level of detail, it's going to be outstanding!

I'm aiming to raise that lvl as much as I can And btw I plan to revive a long abandoned WIP of mine soon and something tells me you gonna like it

Depraved wrote:You are very good at greenstuff clothing. I like the rebar in the base. looks great

Thanks, that means alot from you

VenerableDreadnoughtKroak wrote:Yay, Tanith grots!

I hope not only grots

Viktor von Domm wrote:

Makes me try and do better each time!

promise....i take your word for it!^^

Here are some pics that I hope will testify my intensions

First the long promised #3!
I continue to experiment with poses - this one I tryed to depicture stepping down right into the fight with calm confidence, ready to face whatever oponent.
Already made some GS work on him. Wanted to try something new and, 'coz his body isn't closed by his weapons, I decorated the front of his robe with ragged chainmail. My first try with this texture. Can't figure if it turned out well or not =/



And to line out the changes I've made - a comparison picture with a default Black Reach orc

Please note that I haven't altered the length of his limbs - just rearanged them in the vertical manner, keeping the original proportions.. The result impressed me tbh

The #2 & #3 gun-arms

Not fully ready but with some nice details... Vik, see the bandanna? And the stock? Thanks for this ideas again I really like how they fit! And I've sculpted a nut&bolt on the upper gun scope - seems nice to me, what do you think?

Some impruvements to the #2 legs. I think I'm done with his body and only hands remain to do.





All for now...

wow. Continually you amaze me with your new found extreme talent at gs work.

ok mate now it is time to spill some beans about your amazing know how with GS...how do you work with the stuff what is your strategy here? the chainmail looks very good, for some reason the upper part looks a bit symetrical...intended or just coincidence?
the posing you do is top class, straightened any ork can best a SM^^ he looks very confident and no mistake^^ the bandana and stock look very good to me! and again how do you do it!!!??? wow... i know for a fact that on spots my GS sucks quite much...how do you keep it so clean and so on scale? with you now in the competition as well my chances for getting any prices are slim to none^^


vik

WOW this is so awesome

Gun arms look excellent - as do kneepad and, well, everything!

The chainmail is ace! It looks just like the chainmail on the old Fantasy Orcs!

Damn! now my Orks iz Jellus! Nice conversion work Storag! very nice indeed.

Can you show a step by step on what you do to make your orcs like this, as I too hate the big butted idiots that are shown by gw

Very nice, the comparison shot really shows the difference, and you're ace with greenstuff. After the true-scale SM, the true-scalez orks will conquer the galaxy! Or the forums, anyway . Now show us that WIP!

Viktor von Domm wrote:ok mate now it is time to spill some beans about your amazing know how with GS...how do you work with the stuff what is your strategy here? the chainmail looks very good, for some reason the upper part looks a bit symetrical...intended or just coincidence?
the posing you do is top class, straightened any ork can best a SM^^ he looks very confident and no mistake^^ the bandana and stock look very good to me! and again how do you do it!!!??? wow... i know for a fact that on spots my GS sucks quite much...how do you keep it so clean and so on scale? with you now in the competition as well my chances for getting any prices are slim to none^^


vik

Do not worry about the competition friend, my skills at painting are average at best and the knights of your's are great too! The truth is I only painted one mini to the end - the grot mek on the first page. And about my GS.. I would love to explain but I just don't know where to begin with.. The strategy is very much the same as with other aspects of modelling - The concept first, then some details of it to build up an image in the head, then some observation of how it could look - for example - to understand how the folds will look with a particular pose, I put on an oversized old T-shirt and pose in front of the mirror . When I have a more or less complete understanding of my object I split the work to the basic elements that I'm able to do in one session considering the GS "life cycle" and the complexity of a particular element.
The main trick is to determine the ammount of GS you'll need for the work. The small things like srews and alike take extremly small quantity - I roll GS in to a veery thin thread and take portions of it. On clothing I tend to apply a thicker layer than may seem needed so there be a volume when I start pressing folds.
I use very few instruments on a regular basis - the small pincers and a sewing needle. Somewhere on the first page I wrote about basic principles - they haven't changed I would gladly explain how I did a particular element if you're intrested

dsteingass wrote:The chainmail is ace! It looks just like the chainmail on the old Fantasy Orcs!

That might be 'coz I've studied the old DnD minis to determine how to sculpt it

Rogue Wolves wrote:Can you show a step by step on what you do to make your orcs like this, as I too hate the big butted idiots that are shown by gw

Ok, I'll picture up the dismembering process of the next one

CommissarKhaine wrote:Very nice, the comparison shot really shows the difference, and you're ace with greenstuff. After the true-scale SM, the true-scalez orks will conquer the galaxy! Or the forums, anyway . Now show us that WIP!

It'll have to wait a bit, but stay tuned!

And big thanks to everyone!

o understand how the folds will look with a particular pose, I put on an oversized old T-shirt and pose in front of the mirror

lol too^^ but i think this is the right way to check how things should look like!

Somewhere on the first page I wrote about basic principles - they haven't changed

er...er...*trods off to read the first page as it seems for the first time...* ups i think i am caught as a scroller that posts a comment after the last pic he only has seen^^

Loving the conversions on this blog! The orks look so much more realistic and just generally cooler

Viktor von Domm wrote:er...er...*trods off to read the first page as it seems for the first time...* ups i think i am caught as a scroller that posts a comment after the last pic he only has seen^^

Vik, my bad! I missled you to something I posted to my other thread forgive me!
Here I'll quote myself a bit

storag wrote:
Here are some tips from my personal experience (however small it is) :
- I coat my fingers and tools with a bit of Vaselinum (don't know if this word is used in English but this is a grease-like gel substance)
- When mixing GS I add more yellow component than blue cause GS then dries faster, is less sticky and more easy to work with
- Before sculpting let the GS lie and dry for around 20 minutes. In this condition it is easier to predict and control how it will deform
- My tools are a medium sized sewing needle and a small pincette
- When you need to move one of the edges of what you are sculpting start applying force from the center of the shape with something relatively blunt thus it will deform more evenly and won't tear apart
- When you're happy with overroll form start smoothing the surface by gently stroking it with something flat (the back side of pincers in my case) in one direction, then check the shape, push back the edges if needed and stroke again in another direction. Keep doing it till you're fine with the result.
- You may try polishing GS with micro-grain sandpaper but be cautious if your GS is done by thin layers - sandpaper may tear them apart.
Hope this helps!

As I red it through there is one small typo - when there is more yellow the mass cures slower giving more time to sculpt. Don't know how I missplaced a word so crudely

@ Thx Farty!

You've got some really characterful models. I especially like the grotz. Great work, I'm subscribed.

Scrazza, man i have seen that strange animated Gif you have in your sig a lot. What is it from?
I see a graveyard with convict ghouls playing the accordian.

The other one is playing the drums, but you can't see it, because the quote shifted it down. I just found it searching the net for gifs. I don't know what it is from.

Oh good, I thought I would lose 10 geek points or something for not knowing. lol

thans storag... and i too haven´t completly read through the other thread as well tho both are on my subsribed list...and i read now your GS tips and i was a bit puzzled about the blue yellow ration too but you solved that in the end^^

so just a needle and some picers...well... i am far more kitted you and i seem not to be able to get to that level of yours ...yet^^ the only thing i currently dont do, but that will change is the 20 min waiting time...this will be my new modus operandi! is there an effective and easy way to mix the GS so that it is evenly and good mixed? i twirl the "sausages" over and over again so that it gets mixed up...how do you do it?

Exactly like you've written, Vik - roll it with your fingers until the color is even. And I avoid the middle part of the tape where colours are joined - there may be pieces of already cured mass. And I use the outer surface of pincette to smooth GS.

I rushed the orks out, so did not take time for such cool bases to stand upon. :(

yep he has quite the looker bases^^

oh storag... i realy recommend the gale force 9 stuff to you... i have a lenght of the GW stuff and it is rather crap compared to the gale force 9 stuff... it comes in tubes for blue and one for yellow... so mingling before mixing... this helps me a lot... tried today the gw stuff and i was rather p...d off by the quality...how on earth can you already mix a to be mixed stuff in on package that might lay around for years??? what kind of product is that??? well the stuff i use is smooth as hell and if i take your hints to the letter i might be able to get much better soon!!!

shasolenzabi wrote:I rushed the orks out, so did not take time for such cool bases to stand upon. :(

I've done my grots in a rush (relative, but..) and now I've made a promise to myself not to rush with modding, ever

Viktor von Domm wrote:oh storag... i realy recommend the gale force 9 stuff to you... i have a lenght of the GW stuff and it is rather crap compared to the gale force 9 stuff... it comes in tubes for blue and one for yellow... so mingling before mixing... this helps me a lot... tried today the gw stuff and i was rather p...d off by the quality...how on earth can you already mix a to be mixed stuff in on package that might lay around for years??? what kind of product is that??? well the stuff i use is smooth as hell and if i take your hints to the letter i might be able to get much better soon!!!

Thx mate, I'll definatly look for this stuff but I'm limited to local shops 'coz It's a freakin hell to order anything from outside of Russia

yup some countries are rather off from the world...like australia too...i think here in germany we are just in the middle and if you want to then you might get next to all you like...well when my current amount of GS is used up i will move on to miliput as the package is still untouched since i bought it over a year ago...

by the way... do you guys have ebay in russia too? is it any good? i am always looking for some extra bargains^^

Very cool! I can't believe I haven't seen this thread before! I feel like I have commented on the grots you started the blog with, but I'm nowhere in this thread. Epicly awesome GS conversions on all of the figures shown here.

My only nitpicking will be that #3's shoulders look a bit narrow for an ork. I have to agree with you on the stock poses for the orks though.

thanks storag as i plan on making some blood bowl Philly Eagles as "Good" looking orcs not the big butted ones

Viktor von Domm wrote:yup some countries are rather off from the world...like australia too...i think here in germany we are just in the middle and if you want to then you might get next to all you like...well when my current amount of GS is used up i will move on to miliput as the package is still untouched since i bought it over a year ago...

by the way... do you guys have ebay in russia too? is it any good? i am always looking for some extra bargains^^

Can't say anything about ebay, I've never used it - to much complications. Very few vendors care to ship their wares to Russia 'coz that's expensive even by our extremly unreliable post and using DHL or Fedex makes it only more pricy =/ Even if you manage to talk them in to sending you something the delivery might as well be twice the cost of your purchase =(

The Good Green wrote:Very cool! I can't believe I haven't seen this thread before! I feel like I have commented on the grots you started the blog with, but I'm nowhere in this thread. Epicly awesome GS conversions on all of the figures shown here.

My only nitpicking will be that #3's shoulders look a bit narrow for an ork. I have to agree with you on the stock poses for the orks though.

Thanks mate! The shoulders are already wider than they originally were but when i'll sculpt the gaps properly and then add plaudrons they gonna be even wider!

Rogue Wolves wrote:thanks storag as i plan on making some blood bowl Philly Eagles as "Good" looking orcs not the big butted ones

Here you go made - especially for you I made some pictures of the surgery they undergone

I take basic orc boys body and legs


Cut off the neck



Glue in some piece of plastic frame as a base for the new neck


Saw the legs off like on the picture


Make some further cutting as needed for the pose I'm planning and assemble the legs using whatever pin-like stuff


Glue the body to the legs according to a pose at hand and then the head



Then preview the result on a pre-made base


Of course it takes several pre-assembly sessions before gluing every part to be completely sure that everything fits OK.
Some words on the posing - realistic poses tend to look cool and I've figured a rather universal rule to make sure the pose is such: If an assembled mini without hands and equipment is able to stand without falling on a base by its own weight only, then the pose is generally correct. All my orcs are posed in such a way. Even that new guy isn't attached to the base by any means.

I hope this helps you RW and maybe someone else as well.

i think that this rule of thumb is quite a good one... you always try to keep your body balanced to be standing upright...so only fitting to to so for posing minis!
i really like how you let us in on your secrets of chopping up orks...that i much apreciated, the know-how is put to good use in further projects be sure of that!

that face of your number four is like he is screaming in agony because of his legs torn to pieces and getting wire inside his legs afterwards...^^

Always a pleasure to help fellow modellers

Hehehe I don't actually need his face - just his piercing mad eyes =) I plan to make an assassin-style masked hood for him

thanks for the step by step Storag this will be very usefull

a hood after the game assasin´s creed? that would be cool...and your guys would benefit from such style...a similar pose to the arms as


??? if so cool idea... if just the hood.........still cool^^

I see how your Orks will be standing tall!

@ Vik - Man, you must be reading my mind I've just rushed through AC2 and Brotherhood in 3 days (that's why I was so inactive here ) And I've positioned this new guy after the way Eccio is standing on small obstacles. The hands are subject of change yet but the left one features a robotic part and a large power-blade with a backward grip. It needs some love but I'll post it soon.

@ shasolenzabi - taller than puny hummis! Even than those clanky SM rabble!

@ shasolenzabi - taller than puny hummis! Even than those clanky SM rabble!

Definitely. More like the fluff/stories than the way they made the models look like the are running/taking a diump simultaneously!

Hey Storag , i have been meaning to comment for a while , really like what you are doing with these realistically proportioned and posed Orks , after playing space marine i did wonder about doing something my self but i would never have gotten around to it , so many thanks for the inspiration matey, i might just have to have ago myself on a few ard boys!

hey storag^^ yep that pose was obvious...but do you know the game hitman? for the pose i would suggest to think about something like that:

sorry if it is too big....

and i ratehr would go for two guns than gunand knife...but thats just me... i tend to like overkill^^

shasolenzabi wrote:Definitely. More like the fluff/stories than the way they made the models look like the are running/taking a diump simultaneously!

Same with me mate!

neil101 wrote:Hey Storag , i have been meaning to comment for a while , really like what you are doing with these realistically proportioned and posed Orks , after playing space marine i did wonder about doing something my self but i would never have gotten around to it , so many thanks for the inspiration matey, i might just have to have ago myself on a few ard boys!

You're always welcome friend!

@ Vik - I'll keep this pose in mind for some future model, maybe not even orc one, but the pose is for sure good.

Ok guys, I have some more pics finally. I'm not in the shape for working with small things for some time, but I'm trying to keep this project going and #2 is now complete at last!
I've made some minor details on his hands, like the glove and an elbow-guard but the hardest thing was to sculpt the gaps between torso and shoulders without gluing them. I've succeeded somehow =) They are easily removed for painting purposes.








#2 and his default counterpart


And both of ready to prime gangers

They backpacks I planned are missing 'cuz I'm still looking for a design =/

nice idea to use a SM shoulderpad for the other arm... they make it quite comfy to pose the arms... the base is really cool... what is that fron bit supposed to be that stretches over the rim of the base? the stuff you built with plasticcard strips....

it is really fun to watch out for your next gangmember...


vik

So freaking cool! Its hard to stay on task and complete my own projects when I see great Ideas like this!

looks awsome man, gives me some great ideas for my blood bowl orks

Viktor von Domm wrote:nice idea to use a SM shoulderpad for the other arm... they make it quite comfy to pose the arms... the base is really cool... what is that fron bit supposed to be that stretches over the rim of the base? the stuff you built with plasticcard strips....

it is really fun to watch out for your next gangmember...


vik

He's standing on some junk, I never meant it to be something specific but to me it looks sort off engine part The plastic stripe is to add more volume to the base, to show that the surface is streching further then the base, that this junk is only partially underground etc.

Depraved wrote:So freaking cool! Its hard to stay on task and complete my own projects when I see great Ideas like this!

Thanks for the king words matey!

Rogue Wolves wrote:looks awsome man, gives me some great ideas for my blood bowl orks

I'm eager to see this team of yours Make sure to send me a word when you'll start posting it!

And ones again about the backpacks..
I've made a sketch of my main idea atm, that I'm theoretically able to make with plasticard and GS. This is a basic shape without wires and cabels etc. I hope to make one and then try to cast the others.

The source of my inspiration is obviously clear

will do, and i like the shape of those packs


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only bad thing is i would love to make a 40k army outta this, but i pla IG which is why i wanted to make an ork bloodbowl team

That is an unlicensed nuclear accellerator!

lol...i thought the same!!!

done in what programe?

dsteingass wrote:That is an unlicensed nuclear accellerator!

Viktor von Domm wrote:lol...i thought the same!!!

done in what programe?

Yeah, and who you guys gonna call?

I use Google SketchUp now - it's free, convenient, innovative and in many ways better than 3ds max I used before.

i have actually sketchup on my pc..but i was currently too dumb to get something done with it... though i´d love to make some design on my own...

SketchUp might be confusing at first due to the lack of common 4 projection windows, numerous menues, options, instruments with dozen varieble per each etc. =) But in fact everything we modders may need is there. They have some very usefull video guides here. It took about an hour to get used to what they offer and then I found myself asking how Autodeck never tried to make things that simple Overal I think that drawing a model before building helps alot to determine many vital things, and it's quite easy to transfer the model in to scaled blueprints.

Hey nothing wrong with drawing ideas Storag, Most of my projects though are the result of a feverish imagination as to what shapes for parts and where they go. (I swear, it's in my blood!)

seeing your backpacks plan i agree with you! i will try it again this weekend...i got the hang of other programs too.. so i should get into that too...
and i want to make some new tankdesigns soon so this should be a good reason to dig into that stuff^^ and thanks for the vid... i will view them when i start working with sketchup...!

vik

Same for me shas but with miniatures, when it comes to building things from the ground I take a longer route. And it seems to be in my blood from my father as most of the furniture in my house is made by our hands upon our blueprints.

Glad to help Vik!

Oh Yeah, definately! I use MS Visio for all sorts of modeling projects. It's great for making templates. I use them all the time.

I feel myself like a loser, using a simple piece of paper and pen for drowing my concepts...

LOOSER^^ no, only kidding... what really buggers me the most is that i never learned how to draw properly...when i draw it looks even worse that the stuff my kid (5) does...

Well, unfortunately drawing was the only thing I learned during my classes back in school... During any classes

lol... i have heard of such developments^^

the only thing i hate about being able to draw well, is that sometimes i get mad when i draw a character that looks awsome, but i know wouldnt be able to make in miniature form

really... somehow i always thought that the talent of drawing draws from the same well as sculpting... maybe it is just a matter of expirience...after all if you are able to make good sketches you have the ablility to create 3D on a 2d canvas...

i would think so as i can sculpt well too, although the people who suck at sculpting just need to be shown and they can do it ok, maybie not "realistic" enough for a mini or a face sculpt, for example my neice who is 7 has been drawing/sculpting since she was little and she can do it well enough for a grown person to know what it is (most of the time)

sounds pretty cool... and as she is jsut that young there is plenty of room for improvement...hope their parents see to it that these talents get suported...

well art is big in our family and that sister does alot of custom art work, like album covers paintings drawings tattoos peircings, basicly if my neice doesnt do art it would be 1000000:1 it would be kinda crazy

I've been drawing all my life, and working with wood my whole life. But sculpting befuddles me. I am just much more comfortable working with materials of a consistant thickness.

ahh wood carving/burning i'd love to try 2/3 of my sisters do that but im not that good at it

As a psycologist by profession I might say It's a much more complex issue The overall skill level of a person depends on many components. Some a easily learned by watching and copying (the technics), some are developed by practice (the motion memory) and some depends on our personality traits like the way one process information. The lack on one field can be compensated by other. For instance, I really suck at drowing as it takes two components I fail to develope - the pen control wich takes practice I don't have time for and the Visual channel isn't my primary source - I'm more Audio and Manual type, so it is hard for me to gasp a distinctive lines and light/shadow ratio that defines a shape. But with 3d modelling that doesn't matter - all I need is to think with flat primitives and arrange them as I see fit and to know the tools a program offers. So I do fine on this field.

I hope my reasoning is not tedious.

well looks like we went off topic on the right thread, but what your saying is right i learn better by doing about 1000% more than watching

OMG, you are analyzing us professionally aren't you?

D:

Rogue Wolves wrote: 2/3 of my sisters do that

I don't think I've ever seen sisters referenced by fractions. I hope you have at least three sisters...

at storag... a psycologist ? *gulp...*


well^^ but as you described that is waht i think too... and seeing that the 3D sketching kind of tricks the lack of other skills is also true...but seeing your stuff here makes your statements a bit look like fishing for compliments^^ like you have no reason to fear your grasp of light and depth^^ really no reason whatsover^^

and good to hear that your family ois so artistc...in my family no one was interrested in finer arts or for that matter creating... my father was a retailer and my mum... well here we are again on the psycho bit^^ well but i am hoping hard that maybe my oldst son might be into art... he shows a great deal of interrest in music, painting and really and profession that could one day lead to a life devoted to art...*crosses fingers*^^

hahaha maybie i should have said " two out of my three sisters do that " although 2/3 is shorter and i like its s... just caught myself! I perfer to take less time

Rogue Wolves wrote:well looks like we went off topic on the right thread, but what your saying is right i learn better by doing about 1000% more than watching

Knowing some basic things about ourselfs may save us quite some time on fruitless efforts Nothing wrong with the off-topic here =)

dsteingass wrote:OMG, you are analyzing us professionally aren't you?

Do not worry friend I'm not that type of a psychologist. What I wrote is just a simple form of my life-time observation backed up by various psychological theories. I do tend to analyze things more than they deserve but that's something between personal trait and a professional habit
TBH It is a work of my life to create a PnP RPG system that will gasp the complexity of human personal development in an easy to track numeral form. All existing systems fail at one point or another, to my liking. As do I

a PnP RPG done by a psycologist ....now that is something i´d like to see... all those tests...and stuff... you have to do in game...( i mean the rolling of dices for numerous ocasions...) in what world/ time do you situated your game? makes me interrested!

wow that sounds awsome! i havent seen it but being its an rpg i'll play it, plus if its a fantasy era game we know the orks wont be buldging butted idiots

oh good, because I'd rather stay ignorant of any mental issues I have as long as I am happy and at my workbench. Work, sleep, and life is just a necessary means to get me to my next hobby time. This is what I want to do when I retire, so I am practicing now

Viktor von Domm wrote:at storag... a psycologist ? *gulp...*


well^^ but as you described that is waht i think too... and seeing that the 3D sketching kind of tricks the lack of other skills is also true...but seeing your stuff here makes your statements a bit look like fishing for compliments^^ like you have no reason to fear your grasp of light and depth^^ really no reason whatsover^^

and good to hear that your family ois so artistc...in my family no one was interrested in finer arts or for that matter creating... my father was a retailer and my mum... well here we are again on the psycho bit^^ well but i am hoping hard that maybe my oldst son might be into art... he shows a great deal of interrest in music, painting and really and profession that could one day lead to a life devoted to art...*crosses fingers*^^

Thanks Vik, but all this details are a pain in my ass, not in the way of how-to-do but in the way of what&where-to-do. I pose, I stare at the related pics for hours, I touch what resemble my goal - all to understand where I should press and where to push =/ If I had the painters ability to gasp form by sight all would be so much easier.

And my father is more a scientist than a man of art - an engeneer of conveyor machines

I think a best thing parrents can do to a child is to show how many honest paths there are in life and that any of them can make a living. That might help a person to adapt to the ever changing world building his life around what he can and whant to do good, instead of sticking with some crappy patterns that turn old and rusty before he even study their requirements. Something that I never had myself =/

dsteingass wrote:oh good, because I'd rather stay ignorant of any mental issues I have as long as I am happy and at my workbench. Work, sleep, and life is just a necessary means to get me to my next hobby time. This is what I want to do when I retire, so I am practicing now

lol...mate... hobby ruined/gave my life a meaning...whatever comes first...

at rogue i hate stupid orks... there are some RPG´s that allow for bright orks to live in a functioning society...makes much more sense... also the fungus idea of 40k is totally beyond me... i dunno who came up with that nonsense .... but i guess someone thought to make up some "new" stuff...


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I think a best thing parrents can do to a child is to show how many honest paths there are in life and that any of them can make a living. Something that I never had myself =/

quoted for the truth... i totally agree with that...and hope i can truly show him these many oportunities... if he then decides to become a lawyer so be it^^ as long as he is happy... which is the rares gift of them all by the way...

did you know that orks not only speak in bad english (see the space marine game) insted of their own language but they are shaped like danny devito with a huge butt AAND their hair is actually a squig now i heard rumors that they dont actually have feet, its actually a squig parasite in the shape of a foot

Nah they has feets.

did you know that orks not only speak in bad english (see the space marine game) insted of their own language but they are shaped like danny devito with a huge butt AAND their hair is actually a squig now i heard rumors that they dont actually have feet, its actually a squig parasite in the shape of a foot

lol danny devito...that cracked me up... but you do realize that de vito is more of the grot size?^^

hehe yea... but body shape not hight plus i had him on the mind

i guess it is the stance he usually adepts to... very orky^^

Ohyeah, Orks are only partially fungus, there is animal DNA in there amidst the fungus!


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That and I tend to use the right brain hemisphere over the left(I suck at Math.) for example.

It might be suprising but the idea behind 40k orcs is something I like as it might be one of few realy fresh concepts in all of 40k. And it is not without scientific roots. Symbiotic and parasitic fungi are all around us on Earth. Some of them, like Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, can even assemble control over simple organisms, ants for example and direct their locomotion...
But most of the other aspects of 40k orcs design are repelling for my taste. But thankfully GW game designers left a huge room for players creativity and that's why this thread even exists

i have read on a yahoo news about that odd fungus you mentioned...creepy... the thing i am too human to really get comfy is the whole non sexual reproduction thing... well...i don´t see the point^^ so...^^

from a fantasy point of view i see the speciality of the orks in their biological "development"...

That's not the only odd fungus around.. there others that can infect an aphid mother, immobilize her, growing a protective carapace that covers some area around enough for her children to feed and then cultivate them like we do with cattle.. Creepy if you ask me

Some news on topic btw - I've been sculpting a bit and will show some pics tomorrow. Or is it today already

I guess i like the whole Ork-fungii fluff in the sense that once infested, if you don't burn ALL the corpses, the planet will always be infested.

Yep, they do not have worries as to reproduction or other related issues so they can stay focussed on what they like best, loud noises/racing at high speed and most important of all, Krumping puny weaklings!

the fungus part isnt what bothers me, its the look of them, the language, and the "hair"

Hey i do decent orki-speak in my stories in the fiction section! Of course using hariy squigs as clamp on hair is odd, but they always look like a gorilla crossed with a fungus and the tusks say Boar

@ RW - I hate squig hair as well. None of My boys will ever wear this stuff
As to their language, it's not that bad in concept but some times people overabuse this idea, like in the DoW2: Retribution where devs crossed cocky with pirate. I'm foreign to english and trying to understand what they were talking 'bout was a real pain to my ears

So, to the pics then!
The first for today will be the #4 orc with his base complete and arms posed & pre-assembled. Hope you'll like him



And his weapon I was talking about. Still working on it, but some things are there already, like a small cog.

??? where does that weapon arm come from... have i over read something? but regardless to where it originates from...it looking stunning! that will be the guy that´s to be looking like Eccio? cool! and i can´t believe we had that discussion only three pages ago... boy does this thread grow^^

about the ork language issue... sometimes it gives me pain too... read sometimes isn´t helping either... depends on my concentration i guess...heard sometimes can be easier than read and other times vice versa...

and... you again amze by designing the base...make one day your own base set and sell them mate! really you have the eye for that!

I'm not sure what the Orkish accent is either, is it the British equivalent of the American Hillbilly?

i guess for that we have to rely on a good british native...

haha that sounds right! and storag this guy looks nice so far, i think it really helps with this conversion the you use robes and stuff, when i do my orks im going to have to do something with that back ball thing

As far as I know, orc manner of speech originates from Cockney - a slang developed in outer parts of London. But I might be wrong.

The blue part is sawed from a crappy toy I found in toy shop =)

@ RW - The robes sure help to save my time generally, but it's just a cloth pattern and any other will do nicely. Or you may sculpt extra muscle mass.

Time for some more pics now. I finally completed my Grot Gunslinger project! For those of you who haven't seen him here is the abandoned thread of him.
As Rawson pointed out, his left hand was too DE and It took me weeks to come up with a solution. Not sure this is a best solution possible but at the state the mini was it's hard to make any global change. So I added some small cabels to his launcher and a tiny scull to hide the DE shoulder plating.
Here is the arm


And more of him...




A shot with one of orcs

that grot is looking sweet! seems like he can actually kill something. Q: im not an ork player and have never bought any boxes, so which box has the best heads, like the ones you use, the ones that arnt all the same?


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that grot is looking sweet! seems like he can actually kill something. Q: im not an ork player and have never bought any boxes, so which box has the best heads, like the ones you use, the ones that arnt all the same?

Sorry RW but that's GW and it means all the sets suck in variety =( I just traded the helmeted heads from boys set to some other from different sets at my local hobby store.

man you have a sweet sense of humor...that grot is hillarious and i like him... to base a grot conversion on that headhunter is priceless...and such a good looking execution of that idea even!

Glad you liked him =) A good think to make photos of your projects - I've found 2 flaws while looking at those and fixed them. Minor stuff but they would look a mess when painted.

yup... picture taking during WIP stages is really helpfull the camera does really not lie

That is one "rootin' tootin' cowpuncher guinslinging grot ya got thar!~

storag wrote:Glad you liked him =) A good think to make photos of your projects - I've found 2 flaws while looking at those and fixed them. Minor stuff but they would look a mess when painted.

I don't think we'd notice!

@ Vik - yeah, and 'bout your idea of base casting, the idea is great but I'm confused a bit.. I generaly view the base as a part of characters posing. And I start to plan it's geometry the very moment I think of his stance. I think the way they fit with the mini is their best quality but due to this they are totaly unfitted for regular stock minis =\ So I will have to adopt my ideas for use with regular posing trends before casting.

@ shas - You're as right as one only could! The stats&rules I planned for him are some what cool and funny. They'll be in my fluff codex.. when I'll write it down..

@ dstein - There were a gap on the curved side of his hat and on the front rag I had to sculpt the folds 'cuz there was a grenade originaly

Guys.. I've been sculpting for hours the last 3 days.. but still there is sooo much to do... doh

A little breakedown of what was done:
- #3 recived alot of love and is some where half way to completion
- I finaly completed the night elf male!!! And working on a base for him - my first try with fully GS base surface
- Some work on #4 and his blade. The blade is starting to look like it's meant to be

So expect some heavy picture outbreak soon

i should have thought before mentioning to you to cast your own bases ...because your mini´s look so special is because you have individual bases...beside looking so characterful on their own^^
so making standard bases that would have to be used for then new but still standard posed minis would kill the very thing that mkes them cool...so forgett me idea here^^

FINALY!!! At loooong last I've completed the WoW Night Elf to 40k conversion project, male at least.
For those of you who never heard of this whim of mine here is how it had began.
The main problems were the boots and the pointless cord on the left shoulder. The cord mostly.. I just had no idea of how to put it in use and now it's a mean of supplying power to the chain-glove. Stupid as it sounds it's looking quite nice from my point of view.

To the pics then!

The old, original look


And the new one


Did I succeed? Does he look like he belongs to 40k universe now? I'd like to now your opinion guys

More pics




It was rather hard to come up with a decent base as he is very tall and I didn't want to rise him further. So the base had to be flat but not dull and something new from what I've done before... I tried to create something that would look like a spaceship floor piece, with some small but distinctive details. I will probably add some polish to like brackets to hold the power cabels. Here are some close-ups.



That's all for today.

simply cool looking and definatly deserves his place in the grim dark universe now...the ear piece is nicely detailed and refreshingly new look... mostly the minis have inbuilt radio devices so nice change there...

these new caps are very good looking...same gors to the shouldpads tho i would love to see the one better without the skull...

the base looks nice too, i imagine it will be painted steely or in some way ?
what i have to ask about is the plasma gun... what is that piece on the muzzle? for me that looks like the only weak spot atm of the model...because i am not sure what it shpuld look like when painted...hmmm... enlightment needed i guess^^

but other than that a marvelous project nears completion! very good work mate and this brings hope for me too as i wanted to convert one day some wow minis too... specially the robot thingies from the blood elf starting sector... if you know what i mean...darn can´t find a pic of that mob and i have long forgotten what name he had...

Vik, his weapon is a uniqe melta gun called Venomspiter, as the name suggests the decor theme is made after the Aliens The front piece is the opened maw head with barrel pointing out as the second strike-jaw and the stock is adorned to resemble a spine-like tail. My camera is junk and so are my skills in photo making thus I failed to show the shape correctly. But it's there, I asure you
Maybe this picture will help to gasp the shape.

ah... ok...that makes sense and now that you mentioned it i see it too... though i would add a bit more teeth to the "jaw" then... just a thought...

Coolness is at work here.

@ Vik - I've been thinking 'bout them too!

@ shas - Thanks mate

storag wrote:@ shas - Thanks mate

No problem! You do great work with Green-stuff.

for me those zillion thin teeth were the pinnacle of frightening power of the aliens... that and their ever present slime...

for me those zillion thin teeth were the pinnacle of frightening power of the aliens...

Considering the size of a melta barrel they are going to become my sculpting nightmare for the time being

hmmm... i guess making just a hint of them would suffice... like making a thin roll of GS and then just draw the GS in the direction of the midle...either upwards or downwards... the GS is for me just like chewing gum and if used that way by pulling tearing the structure could be what you are searching for... don´t bother with even teeth... i think that is not needed...

No, worse is the mouth of teeth that has another mouth of teeth in it!

That! but i guess for modeling aspects of a gun... this would be not workable...

dsteingass wrote:No, worse is the mouth of teeth that has another mouth of teeth in it!

Viktor von Domm wrote:That! but i guess for modeling aspects of a gun... this would be not workable...

You, guys, asked for it!.. No one can say I'm running from a challenge!

Done the inner teeth already and will do the outer as they cure...

like a blast effect? that could be awsome... will you do a substructure? or am i misunderstanding here something?

he looks cool, although im not feeling space elf im getting space samuri, but thats not all bad, he still looks awsome

Rogue Wolves wrote:he looks cool, although im not feeling space elf im getting space samuri, but thats not all bad, he still looks awsome

But this it great! It was what I really wanted - to walk away from his elf origin and to make a 40k-ish weathered space merc

Viktor von Domm wrote:like a blast effect? that could be awsome... will you do a substructure? or am i misunderstanding here something?

Vik, THAT's what I was talking about



SKYRIM hit me hard... but I'm back. At least I hope so

Now that's a Venom Spitter!

that is such a sick looking muzzle...in a good way...i am eagerly awaiting now what you do withit paintwise!!!!

so am I, for 2 reasons 1 because the model is awsome and 2 i need to see some more orks! btw storag i finaly got some ork bits so im going to take you tutorial into use sir!

ishkatar wrote:Now that's a Venom Spitter!

Heh, yeah!

Viktor von Domm wrote:that is such a sick looking muzzle...in a good way...i am eagerly awaiting now what you do withit paintwise!!!!

Shame I'm a crapy painter And I'm not sure what colour scheme to use. An old ivory bone, a bright-white nid chitin or, maybe, an alien dark violet/black?

Rogue Wolves wrote:so am I, for 2 reasons 1 because the model is awsome and 2 i need to see some more orks! btw storag i finaly got some ork bits so im going to take you tutorial into use sir!

I'm now fully concentrated on a #3 boy, he's so heavily greenstuffed that I fear I overdid it, but I just can't stop

i´d go for the akien darkviolet and black look...i think even for the whole mini? depends on how you thought about him...

looking forward to your overdone ork^^... for me i just like my orks medium... or possibly well done^^

I like mine Medium-Rare. If you need to use steak sauce "YOU DIDN'T COOK IT RIGHT"

oh wait, we are talking bout orks, not steaks.

It's highly dryed guys

Vik, won't it look to dark? I mean that the metal on the melta is rather dark as it is and dark alien-like decor might not look contrast enough.. When I started this idea I was aiming for the Space Wolfs type of weapon decoration - sculls adn stuff.
But now I'm in disarray.. It's hard to imagine how the colours would fit..

but stein steak sauce is sooo tasty! ever have a Peanut butter and A1 sandwhich? Only me then.. o well

ok storag... i have to think again about the colorchoice... hmmm...the SW idea...generally thinking is a good way... hmmm.... i think if i waste some time with gimp i might come up with a good idea...if you would be so good as to provide us with a good full shot of the space-elf that would be helpful...

A fluff.. I only have some general lines in mind:
- He's a human, but from a planet with low gravity and that's why he has this tall, elven-like appearance
- He's a seasoned veteran and been a mercenary for many years. Has psychic powers
- He lost his right forearm fighting tyranids, almost died there but survived and ordered himself a special weapon designed to stop those who try get close.
- His weapon is a custom melta gun. More compact than a standard pattern, it is well balanced and outfitted with a stock to allow fire on-the-go but at cost of range. Basicly it's a melta variant of a well known sawed-off shotgun. So it fires a sort range cone of plasma that melts and corrodes everything it touches, much like acid spit of an alien/nid - this is why it's called Venom spiter The decoration followed to complete the image.

hmmm... he sounds like a cool chap...i like that... maing stories for the minis we make...makes them even more intersting.


so i have thought about the scheme...

i´d go now for the ivory color with...gold trimmings for the details? this for the weapon... and maybe some classic dresssetup like:





but skipp the green in that setup...

i think this might work...

Hey Storag, your post on my blog led me here and it seems like I've got return the compliment. Your conversions are great, right up my alley.

Great updates , the grot with the hat and the tall ork made me lol , excellent stuff . The new guy is very nice , a very original and detailed conversion , sits perfectly well within 40k imo. looks like a rogue trader or bounty hunter /merc sort of a guy , maybe a eldar ranger/pathfinder ?

really like Viks dread paint-scheme with those shoulder pads , but I also found a couple of pics to add to the mix ;-)

neil what book are those pics from?

rogue trader into the storm , fantasy flight games addon :-)

@ Vik, that's a nice scheme. I like the bright-yellow gold and evengreen gloves/boots may look great. This it something to think about! But what if I change deep-blue to halo covenant purple?

@ RW - looking forward for your orcs friend!

@ neil - great artworks! The elf looks so much like my mini.. Do human/eldar crossbreeds exist in 40k? If so, I might alter his heritage fluff...

@ Baiyuan - thx mate! That means alot

Crossbreeds are a blasphemy to the Emperor and will ruthlessly hunted down by the Inquisition... whenever they stumble across them and don't deem them too useful, that is.

I'd say you'll find lots of wicked hybrids especially close to the eastern fringe.
Also with all the different planets that are part of the imperium, their different populations and respective genetical adjustments due to their surroundings over the millenia, I like to think that "humans" can look so different, it would be hard to tell whether one had eldar ancestors somewhere along the line or an orkish grandfather (don't try to picture the mating process).
I mean just imagine what encountering a completely new race of men for the first time must have felt like. An Innuit who has never seen an African in his life must think he's from another planet.
I think it's one of the most fascinating aspects in scifi, when a different race or even species is convincingly presented. It's too rare though, too many clingon, vulcanian, men with a minor twist things going on. People from a different planet wouldn't just talk differently, think more logicly or have bony growth on their head.
But in the miniatures-scene "People" mostly have to have the same size and proportions, if some limbs are longer you'll be called a bad sculptor or your miniature is automatically an "alien". There still is no room for evolution in many heads.

Well, M.D.Geist was apparently the inspiration for my Space Marines

halo covenant purple

...this would look like how...? can´t picture the color atm...

neil: like the hooked inquisitor looking guy...that one is oozing authority!

2 Vik - like this


Grey underlay and purple armor plating. A bit darker purple. Instead of blue cloth suit.

@ shas - good scheme, but to dark for my taste and my painting skills. Making volume and contrast with dark colours is a major test to one's skill.

@ Bai - exactly my thinking. But that's 40k, we - players accepted the frame of this setting and thus should fit in our creativeness. Sometimes this is as much fun as converting. Anyway, mastering the craft of expanding what others made without ruining it, is a step to making something of your own..

Oh this is pure genius! I cannot wait to see more. Keep up the awe inspiring work.

Well fluffwise there are lots of examples for obvious genetical mutations on humans that are not considered flaws. The 40k novels are full of them, so it's not a matter of accepting the framework of the background. Also it's a common but narrowminded notion to think the known space of the 40th millenium was all ruled by the imperial forces, far from it. So if you ask me, there is enough room for your half-eldar and all the alien bounty hunters one can come up with, the inquisition cannot be everywhere.
"Xenology" makes a great read regarding the a few of the known varieties of aliens.
Most people simply don't have the balls to create something that isn't literally mentioned in their respective codex. But I agree with you of course, that others go over the top in taking too many liberties with the background.

i see how the purple could work well with a slightly brighter grey... maybe a not too shiney purple too...
ad maybe even a puple and lilac (?) combo like the sentinels from the xmen saga of marvel...:

I wonder why everyone wore underwear on the outside of the tights?

that was the fashion back then... i mean how can you show someone that you are someone special? easiest way... wearing your undies over your head... these went the extra mile and put them on over their tights...next to the same thing^^

also:



which i think is way more strange...

You wouldn't by chance have an ogryn model to place these guys next to for a size comparison? They look great, And if the size is close, I would use them to represent Ogryns. Little green stuff nose, and make the teeth not pointy, and walla, Ogryns.

Hi guys!

Today I'm breaking up the silence ! Damned be those game developing companies who overvelmed me with all this great games of late. Damned be they all!

@ Fosner - sorry mate, I only own orcs & grots from GW minis. But afaik Ogrins are huge, even meganobs are smaller.

Slowly, step by step, I've been working on my #3 - yes the overcooked one - and finaly came the moment, that I started to think will never happen, - he seems to be completed!

It was a hard way. More details than I ever done. I even sculpted extra muscles to broaden his back and shoulders. Can't say if it was worth it and I want to hear what you have to say about all the time I've invested in it.

As fate may have it, this one grew huuuge! Now average GW nobs only reach his elbow with their tops

Enough with words and may the pics speak!








CC please!

Wow! You have some amazing detail going on here! I almost missed the necklace! But it looks great! The only concern I have is how the straps go into the disk on the back, it looks a bit off. But if you are planning to put a backpack on him, you'll never see it. I can't wait to see it painted!

you can see the difference just by the way they present themselves, these orks are much smarter and dangerous than the gw ones

Some kind of smart-ork

Sounds like Imperial Geno-Manipulation.

Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnnn

for some reason the necklace came to my view first... then the rest ofthe wonderfull details came to me too... the cloth looks simply stunning and all the rest is too numrous to list here... no wonder you spent so much time on him...and on gaming...^^

i think your orks are what i´d like the orks to be as ment to be from the start... brutish..for sure...but not looking as dump apes but rather like brutes that are clever and an evil menace to human kind... those fellas you create are not to be mowed down so easily...


vik

For three long days was I cut off from the Net... But I endured!

Thank for comments folks! And welcome to da thread RSJ!

I see people started to build theories about my guys and this might be just the right time to clean things up and fill the gap in their history.

Be warned that now follows an extensive text that might not be interesting to those of you who aren't fascinated by the subtle fabric of fictional logic.

Please bear in mind that English is a foreign language for me and I'm not sure about the quality of this text. I'll welcome any tips on improving my written English.

As any good fiction starts with a right "what if" I pick a number of such questions to make up a field for experiment and arrange the basic concept.
I draw inspiration from the lore given by GW in the Orc codex and Xenology - Information on their physiology and social structure is what I find most intriguing. Their impressive adaptive capabilities, both genetic and psychological, make for ideal copy-cats and place them in a unique position among other aliens of 40k universe - they aren't evil by nature, their actions aren't determined by any outer will and they adapt not only through genetical mutations but through social changes and learning.
To me they are in many ways like humans, who's development is greatly affected by environment, and the first question I asked myself is what will happen if a small bunch of very young orcs will become separated from their usual, genetically pre-constructed environment? From Xenology we know that orcs breed through spores and before the very first orc shows up in an infested area, all kinds of simpler orcoids are born ahead of it so he had what to eat and whom to beat. Generally we can say that conditions, in which orcs across the universe mature, are identical and this ensures minimal dispersion in their development and scarce variety in their psychological profiles.
It is safe to assume that when torn from such artificial conditions and free of their clans behavior patterns orcs would develop differently. How, is, however, a second question.
To answer it imagine a pair of baby guinea pigs. One we'll leave to herself in a den with her kin but other we'll take home to be raised as you would raise a cat or a dog. In a year time this two will differ to the point they won't accept each other as members of one species. First one will care for nothing but food and a place in their hierarchy. It will view humans only as an annoyance and threat. The second will be what you'll teach it to be and will view itself as a member of human flock.
That's when an idea of orcs raised by humans came to my mind. Not new for classic fantasy this idea appears fresh for 40k and I only had to carve the details. So the next question was where in the space such blasphemy could take place.
I found no better place than a war torn world of Armageddon, where orcs are constantly hunted by men in a fruitless attempt to eradicate the infestation.
Think of a merchant guild caravan loaded with all kind of goods, carefully treading through the dangerous maze of hive Hades underbelly. The most precious amongst the goods are several young orcs - hard to find and rarely captured alive they'd fetch a fortune if you know where to sell. And guilders knew it better than anyone. Part is destined to fight and die at the arena pits, others - to rot in a private zoo of some extravagant and rich spirer.
But the dangers of underhive aren't limited to hazardous environment and foul creatures lurking in its depth. The ever shifting nature of this labyrinth is what jeopardize even the most experienced dwellers. The luck turned blind on this slavers and a sudden landslide buried most of their ranks separating crippled survivors from their cargo. The cargo, however, endured. Orcs roamed the tunnels in search for food when they were found by a hunting party from a nearby village of Spoiled Creek. Actually, village is a bold name for a tiny settlement of several humble shacks lost deep in the underhive, inhabited mostly by mutants so repulsing that every other community rejected them. Born in the underhive those mutants hardly knew about greenskins and the wars that ravaged the surface of their home world. They captured what seemed a bunch of strange
young mutants and dragged them back to the village so the elder may determine what to do.
The elder of Spoiled Creek was a ratskin renegade, so old that everybody including himself had long forgotten his name and called him Splinted Tail due to the weathered skin of mutated two tailed rat he kept wearing through the years. Unlike his younger subordinates the elder encountered orcs when some of them occasionally slipped inside the hive's lower levels after the war. He knew how fearsome this creatures can be in battle but besides that, he knew nothing. Maybe that is why he took a risk that a more enlightened human would never take and kept the orcs to train as hunters and protectors of their community.
Orcs grew fast. There were plenty of enemies to channel their aggression and the dangers of underground life taught them to harness their entropic nature. They appeared to be born predators, much better fitted to hazardous environment then humans and after studying the ways of the underhive under the elder's watchful eye they became a dire fighting force hardly matched by any local gang. For years they fought in the depths earning fame and riches, building up the reputation of unwavering mercenaries. Few dared to do business with them but those who did
never went away disappointed. Finally words of their reputation reached members of the Synapse Syndicate who searched them down to propose a whole new level of operation. Feeling that they overgrown all the local challenges, orcs could not turn away the opportunity for more loot and fighting.

That's all for now. Hope you won't find my fantasies boring

Great fluff! Plausible, interesting, and unique!

Were you going to explain the atypical stature of your orks in your fluff, or just leave it to design preferences?

Keep up the great work!
Rawson

Thanks Rawson! Being mutants, villagers remain humans in most aspects - they think, speak and move just the same. Watching and learning orcs adopted their motion patterns as Mowgli did from wolfs..

that is absolutly a wonderful read... i don´t think there are any loopholes...this is solid and i like it! by the way... rawson beat me to the only questions i could have had... tho i think the mowgli idea was one i also had... imitation is one of the best way to show admiration so the orks would copy the ways of their new found families...

Not new for classic fantasy this idea appears fresh for 40k

that is my point exactly what the whole idea of the orks in 40k lack for me... you solved it now...and make this race a people to look eye to eye to... have you heard of "das schwarze auge" it is a german bases rpg...pen and paper ...and it is a system that treats orks as culture working race... they have structures that go beyond the mere clubbing of innocent bystanders and such things... like you now bring in 40k so you are now official a orkish culture attaché!

i am very happy that you shared that insights and ideas of your work here! and i am looking forward to more of that... maybe some individual stories? i would like to see some kind of 40k version of this book here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orcs:_First_Blood

i read the first book and it hit me like a brick wall to see a new and fresh point of view on such a downtrodden thing as an archenemy of all nice and clean heroes out there...!


vik

Glad you like it Vik!

I know about the "Dark Eye" and I even played PC Drakensang game a bit, but I never had a chance to read the rule books of this system =/

The Individual stories will definatly follow, with painting I think And I'll add "First Blood" to my to read list. I like authors that care to show the oposite side of usual things. I remember one interesting book from russian writer I read at school where he showed the Lord of the Rings events from Mordor perspective. Mordor appeared to be a industrially developed nation with simple machinery. For example the infamous Nazgul steeds appeared to be premitive bikes and that's why they where unable to cross watery obstacles I think that after this book I really understood that there can always be more than one point of view.

storag wrote:with painting I think

storag wrote:Glad you like it Vik!

I know about the "Dark Eye" and I even played PC Drakensang game a bit, but I never had a chance to read the rule books of this system =/

The Individual stories will definatly follow, with painting I think And I'll add "First Blood" to my to read list. I like authors that care to show the oposite side of usual things. I remember one interesting book from russian writer I read at school where he showed the Lord of the Rings events from Mordor perspective. Mordor appeared to be a industrially developed nation with simple machinery. For example the infamous Nazgul steeds appeared to be premitive bikes and that's why they where unable to cross watery obstacles I think that after this book I really understood that there can always be more than one point of view.

er... didn´t you at least have a smallish know how in german tounge? i could borrow you a favorite book of mine... i think a very good story of the dark eye universe...no orks involved but a very good inspitation when it comes to dealing matters about what is good and what is evil...

about that book you described...is it by chance somehwere available in not-russian? i would like to give that book a go... i too like the different take on perspective of known plots...

My German is a question even to me =) I remember myself watching german TV back at childhood but now the most I can pull of it is to play Gothic 2 die Nacht des Raben with original sound

The book I wrote about is called "The Last Ring-bearer" and was never officially translated, but here: http://ymarkov.livejournal.com/270570.html is a fan's translation made with authors blessing and free to download.

i played that game too... then,when nearly at the end of the true game part i upgraded with the night of the raven part...and my savegame got ruined...arghhhhh....so i had to restart...and i hate reruns...^^

thanks for sharing that link... i will read that shortly and give you a feedback!

Gothic was one of my favorite games and when addon came I already cleaned it several times. This is really one of the most replayable games I know and addon shifted the balance and progression heavily making it even more interesting.

Hope you'll like the book, thou I don't know how good is the translation.

fans sometimes are even better at translating books than professionals...because of commitment to a book...


the thing i like about the gothic series is that i like sandbox games...and this is one...for a given value of sandbox...i have some other games...some are rather strategic games... if you ever heard of 7.62 high brigade or possibly silent storm? those are too in a way sandbox games and i like them to bits^^

links Vik? I am a strategy game nerd.

Viktor von Domm wrote:fans sometimes are even better at translating books than professionals...because of commitment to a book...


the thing i like about the gothic series is that i like sandbox games...and this is one...for a given value of sandbox...i have some other games...some are rather strategic games... if you ever heard of 7.62 high brigade or possibly silent storm? those are too in a way sandbox games and i like them to bits^^

Sure I know this games as both are from russian developers

heck...storag is right.... both are games from russian origin...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Storm

WWII scene and much RPG and strategy mix i really dig! i have literally played this game so many times i have lost track...it has two kind of follow up games...three if you include an adaption of the russian book night watch...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Watch_(2004_film)
the true follow up games are called silent storm sentinels and hammer and sickle... set in the after war scene...very good story mode games...

and the game 7.62 High calibre
http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-762/762-high-calibre
...that gam has exellent support by the community...i even worked for some time with some of the modsmakers together...
set in the southern american area... you get so many different guns and options for gaming... highly recommendable too... a game i wholeheartly lost maaaaaany hours over^^

Hi people! Good news toady!

My dear friend Romio aka Ishkatar had at last completed his painting work on my gunslinger grot conversion and thus meet the Lens-eyed Willyah!


Gallery link for voting

Just happy to share this moment with you guy as this is actually the first of my conversions that recieved propper painting.

Love the finished outcome, the base turned out great.

Amazing!

there is lots of work that has been done since ishkatar´s last update... boy and did he improve the look... you both did a wonderful job mates! you are a very good team! i hope you are both very proud of your work!

Sweet!

i like the look of him, his awsome, the guns are nicely done as well!

mate, i just scrolled through your thread again... for the new modeling and painting comeptition i need to create at least one stagediving ork... now after reviewing your work i see you only ever worked with boys from the mulitposable box... i only have atm the black reach stuff... so nobz and bosses... both lack the multiposablility... could you help me for this? i have to come up with a way to use the stuff to an end that suits me^^

many thanks mate^^

(asked you for your cool sawwork^^ and i want to make frightenly upstanding orks out of my bitz too^^)

cheers, vik

i tried with a black reach ork, and it was really hard for me.. although i think the guy gave me a nob torso so it didnt line up at all......

yeah... the nobs and bosses are a real cramp to convert for me... the image i have in mind is in dire need for some extensive cutting i think...

Vik, I dont think that dismembering BR orcs would be much different from what I did. Even If they are assembled. The main issue you may have is filling the gaps with GS. I advise to use some flexible wire pinches to pre-assemble the pieces for more comfortable and solid sculpting. And if you aren't sure you can sculpt such places as shoulders etc you may design the armor to cover such "weak" spots. If you want I may try to cut one of mine BR nobs and photo the result.

in all earnest i rather was banking on that mate... i am quite clear in what i have envisioned to do but it gives me some substantial hesitant feelings to start sawing/hacking away on the nob... i want to create a fireing line sort of of some IGs that hide behind a barricade of sorts... and in their back some orks and grotz will attack them... it might be a bit bigger than the competition allows but maybe i do a smaller version... something that can be entered to the competition and something that can be aranged to get the full "story" of the diorama... the thing will need to have one ork that is literally jumping (either just leapt off of some heighted position or is in mid jump amids the IGs...depending on my skills...) from something... i imagine him something like that:



with two guns or if that isn´t that good looking a CC and a gun in each hand...

will paper-clip be enough for that pre assembly ar should i use a mre softer wire? i have both at hand so no problem there... also do you recommend sawing off the bitz or slicing with an exacto knife?

i really apreciate your expertise in this as i have only worked so far with IG at all to convert on that level and there i merely sliced and glued my way through my visions...


thanks in advance

vik

He looks like he pissed himself

LOL just saw it myself...^^... seems he will make most likley a splash of himself... no one will catch him looking like that...

I was in a bar one night, in my mispent younger days, drunk off my ass, paying beer rent in a urinal, only to find out that it splashed back on my pants, I don't believe I remember much after that bit. But this guy clearly pissed himself, or spilled his beer in the worst possible spot.

Love the gunslinger, the paintjob really brings a great model to life. Kudos!

at dave... thanks a heap for that intimate revelation of yours^^ it really adds up to your character^^ ROFL...

Hi guys! It's been a while since I've shown any signs of life here on dakka.. Sad as it is, a number of issues drove me away from hobby but as seasons change so does my life and I'm happy to return to this friendly house of awesomeness
And I made sure not to come empty handed Behold my latest creation! A character heavily inspired by everyone's favorite Sheldon Plankton. And sorry for the lack of focus - mobile camera




Still a WIP but close to completion, this one started as a present for my wife who once showed me a mini of Plankton on the web and I was like: "Pff.. I can do better!"
Nah.. simple as it may seem this project made regret saying this not once

First of all the shape of original character in its 2D form is rather boring and lifeless in 3 dimensions and secondly - lots of clear surface that has to be smooooooth. A pain in the ass!
What i like most about miniatures is expression, a moment of motion captured in solid form and with a cartoon character like this one who's body is super simple this is even a greater headache. Disney told that to make a drawn character seem alive in animation his shape and proportions should transform from frame to frame. I tried to follow this aproach and capture a moment of this change by making his upper bodyparts bigger than lower to underline that he is currently streching upwards. Hope it did the job

The hands need some work and a bit of extra polish to the whole model but besides that I'm quite satisfied.

Waiting for your comments fellas!

Very cool and cartooney! Welcome back Storag! The Loonie bin wasn't the same without you!

i was rather puzzled why our second tagteam emember of the russian connection hasn´t resurfaced tgether with ihs...

now with those more than worthy return : welcome back!!!

and plankton looks terrific! i always had a thing for the evil schemers and plankton is one of my favorites...together with vader and of course von doom^^


cheers, vik


and yes... that character you have captered quite perfect in that pose!

wow, that plankton is awesome. I want it

Welcome back.

lol hes cool, nice job!

Welcome back, my friend. It's good to have you around to cover my back

Thank's guys for being my "welcoming committee" I'm glad to find my loonie-bros still around and well

I've been tinkering with my "Plankton"-guy to finish it ASAP and finaly I can call it a "release". This is quite a moment to remember for this is my FIRST EVER FULLY HANDMADE miniature... no bits used, no plasticard work - just sculpting.
So here is a bunch of pics and if any of you got some ideas of how to improve it - speak your mind! 'Cuz I'm going to cast this guy for I came to like it more than I anticipated and I'd like to make some copies for friends.

And here I must ask you for a favor, I'd like to know your opinion one one important topic - does this miniature qualify for a commercial use? I mean, would anyone buy it if I'd choose to sell copies? I'd like to here all the serious CC stuff on this as future of my investments rely upon this decision

Enough talk, pics now!







A shot to compare his size



A base I made as one of possibilities




And the whole composition



Waiting for feedback!

oh my!!! that base is so hillarious looking! i like everything...tho you asked for needed works...and under the left arm...straight at the armpit there is a bit of armature wire still seeing through... i bet that when the model sees paint or that it will be casted this will cause problems...no big one tho...

as for the commercial use... i bet there are lots of spongebob fans out there but if you reach them and get them to buy this fine mini is out of my knowledge... i think it would be cool to make the whole plankton family as a small horde army^^

Funny bit of work, can't wait to see it painted. The burger base seems perfect.

@ Vik
I checked the armpit, seems like Magic Sculpt mixed with water can become almost transparent when the layer is extremely thin O.o I tried to catch any defects but the arm is smooth. Thanks for warning bro!

@ Baiyuan
Glad you liked it m8 =) But painting will have to wait till I'll get the resin and other stuff to cast and re-cast him. Though I tried to make everything as smooth as possible some parts were to fragile or hard to reach and I don't want to walk in the "FAILCAST" (tm) shoes so I'm going to cast him, give the resulting copy some extra polish and make it a master-model for futher casting.

I checked the armpit, seems like Magic Sculpt mixed with water can become almost transparent when the layer is extremely thin O.o I tried to catch any defects but the arm is smooth. Thanks for warning bro

weird^^ but i honestly didn´t belief that you haven´t seen or felt that irregularity by yourself...when we work with such a sculpt we kind of bond so strongly with it that we get to know every nook and crease i think^^...of course after a while the effect of getting routine-blinded is always possible^^

@ Vik
I've just started to work with Magic Sculpt and it never herts to duble check things. MS properties are quite interesting and different from GS. For example if you put a drop of water on it it's surface begin to flow. It realy helps to smooth things up but it leaves a coat of greyish semi-transparent stuff on my tools I have to clean each time =\ Here at the armpit is the same case but it actually worked well for me =)

that is what actually for some jobs disqualifies the material... GS has its uses... i currently use GS and miliput and MS sounds a bit like miliput in that regard... though it is rather awful to mix (hand strain) GS has for some jobs just the right mix of characteristics... would you say you could do everything you do with GS in MS? (sorry to use so many abrevations by the way...but they keep the amount of typos down a bit )

for instance... sculpting hair? can it be pulled or pushed with a needle like GS?

OMG- That is amazing! Sculpting confuses me like stairs confuse The Stig..But you have done an amazing job, the Krabby Patty base just turns it EPIC! -The seeds (like a real burger bun) just take it the rest of the way!

@ Vik
I currently have GS, Milliput & MS at my disposal. Most of this guy is made of MP but then Ish talked me into trying MS and I used it for hands. It took me 3 attempts to figure how to manage it and now I can say that MS is vastly superior to GS in every aspect. Comparing to MP the difference is not so drastic but still there.
I can confirm that everything I've done with GS can be done better and easier with MS. MS properties greatly depends on the period of its "lifecycle and overal provides the widest range of useability among this 3 mats.

@ dsteingass
Thx friend! The meat texture and salad almost made me cry, but it was worth it

...confirming my confusion

@ dsteingass
You've got your plastic and rivets, why bother with all the icky-sticky goo

Exactly!!


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..Finally someone who understands!

well i like to collcet lots of personal expeirience form friends before i really head out to buy me such new stuff...

RS Jake too swears now for the MS... for me it is still a bit difficult to cope with the claylike characteristics of MP or for that matter MS then... if you want to fill a gap...make it smooth afterwards i am totally with you... but the MP/MS stuff is not so sticky as the GS...for some stuff i need that and the chewing gum characteristics can provide me that... but i guzess it is all in the learning process...

If by "sticky" you mean GS's ability to get attached to random unlubricated surfaces, than I agree But I had more than several situations where I repeatedly failed to stick small pieces of it to a specific point, where I needed it to remain. And when cured, GS is easily detached from almost any surface. This is a major problem when you work by thin layers and need to sand down joints between them - they are torn apart even by subtle sandpaper. With MP and MS I used my high speed Dremel tool for polishing without any damage.

Aye, small pieces of GS are hard to attach to a specific surface... I had to use Super Glue in order to get a strong connection. With MS I hadn't such problems.

ok...granted that i can uunderstand MS/MP creates a complete "body" of the material whenever you add a new layer...

i too have heard that smaller blobs of GS should beforehand aplied with a bit of super glue... in fact i heard that adding superglue for bigger portions of GS is also quite handy...keeps the substructure from shifting if you push and tear too hard...

If you're combining two uncured pieces then they will solidify as whole. MS is especialy easy to merge by watering. But they both tend to stick to solid surfaces better than GS.

Damned you Vik, now I can't shake the idea of a whole plankton army...

*big grin* told ya so^^

If you take a close look at my version of Plankton you'll see that I changed almost every detail so this is actually an independent character... I can try to adopt this visual style to make a small force of this cuties.
I think I'll make them as retro-styled alien invaders from the black&white movies Something tells me that villainy is in their eyes

storag wrote:If you take a close look at my version of Plankton you'll see that I changed almost every detail so this is actually an independent character... I can try to adopt this visual style to make a small force of this cuties.
I think I'll make them as retro-styled alien invaders from the black&white movies Something tells me that villainy is in their eyes

Mars attacks style alien invaders would be an awesome army

Obsidian Raven wrote:

storag wrote:If you take a close look at my version of Plankton you'll see that I changed almost every detail so this is actually an independent character... I can try to adopt this visual style to make a small force of this cuties.
I think I'll make them as retro-styled alien invaders from the black&white movies Something tells me that villainy is in their eyes

Mars attacks style alien invaders would be an awesome army

I was thinking of this very idea a day or two ago! Getting the ray guns to look right might be difficult, but it would be sweet!

Of course, you would have to model an old record turn-table as an objective marker!

Steampunk ray guns??

@ Obsidian Raven
Exactly my kind of thinking and maybe something of egg-guys from Jimmy Neutron

@ RSjake
Ray guns, absolutely, or this is a no go

@ dsteingass
Few rivets can't hurt

Guy's, I have to make a choice of how to give them individual characers: try to play with different body forms (like on the above pics by Vik) or concentrate on facial elements and poses. Personaly I prefer the second choice 'cuz i fear that otherwise they gonna look like a mad lego block party instead of an alien race. What's your opinion?

I think some minor body form variations won't hurt - after all, any race might have it's skinnies and fatties
But yes, poses, facial expression and some details, like armour, helms and different weapon will be the best choice.

i am totally with ish on the variety issue here... also it gives you then plenty of options... also you might think about a kit- model? you know with arms in diffrent poses... some with guns and some without?

heck...for this you could even do stick it on faces...like a mister potato^^... that also would givge you plenty of options... maybe three or four different body shapes, then some four or six arms and legs options...and the diffrent stick it on faces...if you keep the body surface flat that would be a great new idea...

by the way ...the egg-gun idea is so sweet!

The "stick it on faces" idea actually is brilliant.

*bows humbly*

I can imagine how to make a stickable eye+brow but mouth is actually carved in the body so there is a problem...

I'm now trying to draw a sketch of a retro handgun utilizing eggs as ammo...

i was thinking more like an eggshaped gun...Like this



shooting with actual eggs... yolk...er...yuck^^

Initialy I was thinking about the shape too, but then the idea of aliens invaiding earth to steal our eggs for they are their main power source came to my mind... and it was too hilarious to walk away

lol thats a nice gun you have there vik

storag wrote:Initialy I was thinking about the shape too, but then the idea of aliens invaiding earth to steal our eggs for they are their main power source came to my mind... and it was too hilarious to walk away

1. Invade Earth
2. Steal Eggs
3. ?????
4. PROFIT!

lol... yeah...that sounds good.... did you know that there is a blast effect out there sculpted to look like a grenade launcher is firing hamster-rounds? ...you could do something with that effect in in that line...

Probably these cute little monsters came to the Earth from the planet with the atmosphere of Hydrogen Sulfide, where they have destroyed their planet's ecology (just like we, humans, are doing right now). Thus they need to collect eggs in order to produce enough Hydrogen Sulfide and form a new atmosphere on the Earth or restore the former atmosphere on their own planet... Oh, that's crazy! O.o

@ Vik
O.o I'll consider this but my imagination failed to draw such a picture =)

@ Ish
A great plot! But needs some work - a subject for next hangout?

Viktor von Domm wrote:lol... yeah...that sounds good.... did you know that there is a blast effect out there sculpted to look like a grenade launcher is firing hamster-rounds? ...you could do something with that effect in in that line...

There's a nitric hamster launcher sculpt!?

man, I loved that game, where can i get one?

ishkatar wrote:Probably these cute little monsters came to the Earth from the planet with the atmosphere of Hydrogen Sulfide, where they have destroyed their planet's EGGology (just like we, humans, are doing right now). Thus they need to collect eggs in order to produce enough Hydrogen Sulfide and form a new atmosphere on the Earth or restore the former atmosphere on their own planet... Oh, that's crazy! O.o

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that´s from armorcast if i am not mistaken...


http://armorcast.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=100&products_id=887

@ Vik
LOL, realy, thanks! +100 to my mood =)

lol... thanks^^ and your welcome^^

Just a small notice - Almost done the first blaster for the "Invadorz", hope to show pics in a day or two..

better make that only one day

^ OMG LOL!1one =)))
I know what the next pose will be
I tried to finish it tonight but 12 hours work shift had a negative impact on my abilities =( haven't made much progress. Will try tomorrow.

P.S.
I'm also working on something with so much rivets that it could be considered steampunk, though I prefer to call it junkpunk as of it's orcish origins =)

well... you do know that the league is always on the looout for some fresh blood, non? so every riveting effort...(sorry for the terrible pun) is getting you closer to the trade secrets of the league


and yes ... after the punch the air pose of yon sculpt this one is probably too one to be easily associated to plankton...

i like the sound of junkpunk -dirty joke that has been removed-

@ El Vik
The "League" gave a new meaning to the term flood In a good sence

@ R W
Yeap, me either! Junkpunk seems just the right word for all things orcish

I did it, btw... It's curing now so.. pics will soon follow

Meanwhile I've got some news to share!

First of all, I convinced Ish to join me in developing a tactical munda-style game based on the conflict between the Aliens of mine and humans, represented by anti-alien agency going by the name of E.D.I. - the Egg (Earth) Defence Initiative Together will be working on concepts, arts, backstory etc but I'll be concentrating on sculpting Aliens while he'll stick with EDI. This is of course a long-term project, so dont expect any rush on our side but this is a well weighted decision and we take it really serious. The game itself is inspired by X-COM series and will take place in what we called ASTROPUNK setting (we just grew tired of saying "Retro futuristic style based on sci-fi atrs from 50's" each time we need it ) We're aiming for fun and amusing gameplay with as casual and newbie-friendly rules as possible.

And second - from now on I'll be posting each new sculpt related to this project with a bit of fluff to give you a glimpse of what place it'll take in our setting.

So, meet the first one

TOP SECRET
Alien artifacts research program "Fresh Air";
access code: RED (weaponry);

Artifact #001

The Eggvolver - a powerfull, medium range hand gun with a distant resemblance to earth's revolvers. Utilize a replaceable ammo clips commonly known as eggs (because they actually are common eggs). The loaded egg is pierced by a pair of needles, unleashing a special breed of bacteria inside. This bacterias initiate an immensly fast rot reaction producing enough energy to power the gun's potent emitters which are capable of fiering charged plasma bolts. Energy released with each shot creates a small vacuum explosion resulting in strong drawback. Pistol's heavy weight and considerable drawback requires the use of both hands to maintain a steady aim. Thus, when, by some reasons, used singlehandedly it's accuracy is greatly decrised. Eggvolvers are equiped with energy consumption mode switch that allows to make overcharged shots by speeding up the rot process in the egg, incresing the power output and charging plasma to inflict double damage. Unfortunately, not every egg's husk can withstand the internal pressure causing them to explode regulary (50% chance on first charged shot per egg). Further attempts to stresstest egg's durability increase the chance of explosion (make +1 followup checkroll for each successful save check that ocured before. 2 for second, 3 for third and so on. The first failed check in a sequence is accepted, if all rolls are positive the egg endures). The explosion is treated as a small blast of medium power, dealing damage to all affected units. Affected units must undertake an affiliated save roll or be covered in a stinky slime

End of file.

Hope you'll like the news, stay tuned for pics!

Very cool idea! Junkpunk, or scrappunk even!

cant wait!

Great looking stuff keep it up !

lol...storag... that sounds very good... and you and ish again working together sounds even better!

the eggvolver...classy...and funny... i really like it when such an idea doesn´t take itself too seriously... and that you have chosen the x-com series as one of your inspirations...if i had three hands i would give you three


and yes... we the league...we are legion^^

sounds like an interesting project storag... im curious though, if your friend or you does any concept work, please share as im a sucker for those things and could always use ideas to draw

Thanks for comments guys!
@ El Vik
We thought that there is already enough over-serious, grimmdark etc stuff around wargaming and a bit of healthy amusement won"t hurt

And "El Legion" is always welcome in my thread

@ R W
We sure do some concepts, but my drawing skills are below ground so anyone except me is desined to fail decipher it Ish's are pretty fine though and I bet you'll see some in his (or mine) thread eventually.

So, to pics then!

And please remember that this my first try in weapon design so all the C&C are in oder!




Scale shot with GW melta



And with design notes



All pics are in the gallery and zoomable. Feedback anyone?

ok...that looks quite good... may i add my thoughts tho? the emitter loks a bit too dildo like for me... how about making it look like a screw? coneshaped even...

is there a "filler" mechanism thought up in the back of the gun? looks like an angle there... (thingy named egg locking mechanism?) do we actually see the en nature egg inside the gun? that is an hilarious idea... i have now a mental image of an amobelt full of clapped on eggs......heck you could do a bigger gun in the spirit of the FO 3 fat man... you know that big gun that launched atombombs... you could then use ostrich eggs (?) that would give you the oportunity to have heavies in your game too...it never hurts to have a bit of diversity in case of armory^^

but i think all in all that this is a very nice looking weapon design... and opens up a whole new range of other ideas (some i mentioned...)

good luck and keep your stuff coming... i am so hooked up with this^^

@El Vik

@ emitter - I've chosen this form 'cuz the one you've described is reserved for another gun and I want some diversity in this. Eggvolver is a big handgun, something like a Desert Eagle or Python and there going to be a smaller pistol version to be used in pair with other weapons. And with a cone, tesla-coil-styled emitter

@ "filler" mechanism - you're absolutely right! That oval thing stucked in a cone and backed by a lock with a knob is an normal egg

@ "Big Gun" - this is what i'm working on right now! I've written down the fluff and now trying visuals..

ok...fair explaination all over

what paintscheme do you by the way visualize for your guns?

and i do look so forward to the big gun^^

Don't now yet.. I think the egg should be rotten and nurglish-green, the injectors could be acid-green or yellow. Emitters might be ceramic-white, some bright metallic for small details and the main army colour for the rest. Emitters could have some nice lighning effect or OSL when active.
What's your take?

And besides I'm stuck on the name for the invaders race.. Their original self-name is of no consequence, but I need some catchy name given to them by humans... I was thinking about "Beanoids" or "Beantoids"...

oh.... i have to think some serious thoughts about a race name...god i love such creative stuff!

for the egg... hmmm... i´d do the alteration effect on the egg like a soaking effect... in other words... some zones of the egg gone greenish the rest or tip 8what is to be seen) should stay egg colored...
a metalic armor like apeareance for the invaders...that would be cool...and so true to the theme of the fifties/sixties scifi movies...like they are wrapped all in tinfoil...

for the race...are we still talking of variations of the plankton figure? hmmm...a name came to my mind just this sec... what about coneheads... do you recall the movie with dan aykroyd?

^ man that was... an odd movie..... no private regions and they sleep standing up. the cones where the most normal thing about them

Viktor von Domm wrote:may i add my thoughts tho? the emitter loks a bit too dildo like for me...

LMAO

well, its better that he said this, instead of getting this gun and painting it... pink or purple, giving it to a dark eldar lady and laughing himslef to sleep

and the next thing is that this thread would get a parental advisory seal