I wasn't sold on the foam, shame on me for doubting the Doc. Very successful.

Meer_Cat wrote:Man, that tree technique came out nice! I should have realized that the foam would take the paint solution in at different shades depending on how much you dabbed, but there's some real depth of color here- great stuff!

Thanks Meer'. It also helps that I used 4 different mixtures of brown and green for the various layers that I added to the foam. But yes, I wasn't aiming for an even colour tone across the whole.

Big H wrote:A nice addition might be to litter the floor with leaves, you can buy these from model outlets , or better yet get a similar thing from the "Catkins " of Silver Birch trees, they will be on the trees soon-ish, go to the woods for a lifetimes worth of model leaves !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betula_pendula

Thanks H'. I already have some prepared from a couple of years ago and planned to add a few to the base once the grass is on.

Red Harvest wrote:Effective. I wonder how well the paint will 'stick' to that foam. Time will tell, eh? Enough paint in all the air ockets and that foam will harden nicely.

It looks very convincing.

Thanks Red'. I've grabbed a lump of foam and dunked it in the last of the PVA/water/paint mixture. Once that's fully set I'll see what it takes to remove the paint; squeezing, rubbing, keeping in a pocket for a week, etc... For science!

Shadenuat wrote:Should have made her look angry, because rawr rawr humans are evil scum.

https://pre00.deviantart.net/832b/th/pre/i/2016/351/4/5/_commission__chibi_princess_mononoke_by_kelsa20-darw5go.png

Add some kodamas! They're awesome.

Thanks Shadenuat. If the plastic she's made from was easier to work with, I may have been tempted, but carving the mask was enough hard work. Maybe this is before the evil humans have started to desecrate the forest.

And yes, I had intended to add some tree spirits and had even put some thought into how to make their heads wiggle. With the work I was doing over in my other blog, and the foam work here, I had forgotten about them.
I loved them from the first time I saw one in the film.
=> In progress... stay tuned.

inmygravenimage wrote:I wasn't sold on the foam, shame on me for doubting the Doc. Very successful.

Surely, you know not to doubt me and my crazy ideas by now... Shame, Shame...
Thanks.

No further progress to report. Tree spirits in progress.
Just thought I'd pop in an appear to be a know it all that's already thought of everything...
Thanks for any and all feedback.

Just discovered this blog, very cool stuff!
The way you're making the trees is inspiring as well as useful as you're kinda presenting it here as a tutorial. Thanks!

"Big H wrote:
A nice addition might be to litter the floor with leaves, you can buy these from model outlets , or better yet get a similar thing from the "Catkins " of Silver Birch trees, they will be on the trees soon-ish, go to the woods for a lifetimes worth of model leaves !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betula_pendula

Thanks H'. I already have some prepared from a couple of years ago and planned to add a few to the base once the grass is on. "

Haha, fair one Doc, erm "great minds....." etc

Use this foam all the time, looking good bud, think it takes your paint better. Nice wee scene.

The foam idea is inspiring. I have a lot of old Woodland Scenics trees that I keep meaning to buy some flocking for. Now I think I'll just tear out a cushion from the next abandoned sofa I see on the roadside.

Oops, sorry another blip of time lost to the warp.

Lo Tim, and welcome. Thanks too.
Yeah, I've learnt a lot from reading how other's do things so I like to give something back by sharing my processes so that other other's can get tips or inspiration.

Indeed they do, Big H.

Thanks Cam'.
Actually this is (rare for me) water-based paint I'm using. My paints won't mix with PVA.
I have a few pots of Revell Aqua color for the odd occasion when I need to use water. And a big bottle of brown craft paint for basing work (sticking down static grass mixed with PVA.

Thanks Skalk. More on the foam below.

We'll start with the foam.
I said I would test the paint retention of the foam and I'll now share the results.

Top picture: I took a piece of the soft yellow foam and soaked it in the paint / PVA mixture.
2nd picture: I cut it in half to show that, with a squeeze, the paint penetrates the foam completely, and because I needed 2 bits of foam coloured the same.
3rd picture: The piece on the right was subjected to abuse that I hope no model will ever endure: I crushed, rolled, scrunched up into a ball, and scrubbed it on my wooden board and my trousers...

...and the result you can see there. Just a slight loss of paint on the tips of the foam. In a way it looks more realistic as foliage.

4th picture: As promised, I kept the other half in my back pocket for a week of being sat on...

...the result? It kept the paint but is now flat and has remained flat. The original yellow foam would return to shape immediately.


So there you have it. Does the job.

As to the Mononoke piece... I've been slacking. But not entirely...

I said I had plans to make the Kodamas jiggle their heads, and I've been trying out various ways to make it work.
Unfortunately, on this scale I can't get it to work: Anything firm enough to hold the head in place vibrates too quickly, and even the long length of 0.25mm plasticard (in a spring-like coil) is not bouncy enough. Anything that may produce the desired jiggle would be far too flimsy to hold the head together.

So no jiggling heads.

But I do now have some Kodamas


I think we're off to the paint desk next...

Very cool!

Liking those tree spirits! I have to ask, when you first picked up Mononoke was the plan to do all this?

 Dr H wrote:
...I kept the other half in my back pocket for a week of being sat on...

...the result? It kept the paint but is now flat and has remained flat...

I'm guessing that the glue/paint had not fully cured. The other trick with this sort of foam is the glue+paint then roll the foam in various sizes and colors of flock. I've seen that done to nice effect to create shrubbery. No idea of the durability. Maybe I mentioned this somewhere.

Drybrush some lighter green and some yellow on those 'leaves'. They are a bit too monotone. Or, you need better lighting for the photos. I know all about needing better lighting. I am a master at badly lit photos. It's nice to be good at something, eh?

How true to the original colors of the princess do you intend to stay?

Another break from this project to work on things with shorter deadlines.

Thanks Gits'.

Thanks York'. Well, I knew I wanted to make a proper display base for her, and especially after I saw the base it was "mounted" on ("" as the rear feet weren't even touching the base).
The simple display base did however grow a bit as it progressed though, as happens with my projects. Just go with the flow and let the model take you to where it wants to go...

Thanks Red'.
The glue/paint mixture is fully cured and even now, weeks later, they and the trees are still flexible but firm.
Rolling in flock would be good for a fine texture on this yes.

Also, on the subject, look what popped up in my YT subscriptions:
Terrain tutor


Gives much useful advice and ideas, and a name to the foam I used as the backing of my display base; composite foam.

Oh yeah, painting of the foliage is soon to happen. This was just the basecoat for colour and structure.

I intend to stay pretty close to the Manga colour scheme. We'll see as it progresses.

And primer has happened.

Just a quick spray over while I had the airbrush set up.
Painting will begin soon...ish. I have a robot to get painted this week as a priority.

The robot is done (see my other blog for that), but I now have a LoER terrain competition piece to do (also in the other blog), and now Nerdfest has fired up another Nerdcademy competition (see below)...

However, I have started throwing paint about.

I decided to start on the backdrop as that will then give me something to use as a backdrop for the wolf and San photos...
First things to do are the wood bits, but to keep with the theme I can't just do it in my usual wood method (mainly browns), no... it has to be all blues and greens and yellows... (see below)

Still needs more work, namely more greens and yellows. But it's a start.
I've included my reference picture so you can see how far I have to go with just the wood, and just how bright the green of the leaves is going to be...

Just need more life to the wood before moving on.

And, as I mentioned, Nerdy has a new Nerdcademy comp' up, and at the very least it inspired me to build a new member of the army.

This is based on a very old idea (just have a look back at how long ago I last built a Dire Avenger, the idea was ready back there) but has solidified from Nerdy's competition theme.

The original idea was nothing more that to use a spare Tyranid warrior head piece as a shield strapped to the arm of a Dire Avenger. That is all I noted down.

The competition theme is to paint (being a painting contest) a member of one army as another army.
Therefore, rather than paint this chap as the usual Dire Avenger blue, I'll paint him up in Tyranid colours, to match the head he acquired...
...that then leads to him being a 'nid hunter and therefore he now has a spear and using the colouring as a kind of camouflage.

Which scheme? I don't know yet.

Here he is from bits to blu-tacked together (arms are glued).


I'm going to re-pose the legs to match the arms and the "yet to be decided" basing.

Not long to get him done for the contest, so he's on a fast track to painting.

Forest looks great. Also intrigued by the Avenger. Looking forward to seeing how he turns out.

Thanks Youwashock.

Trees now looking more alive.
Although quite yellow at the moment, I'm hoping that'll be fine once the foliage is greener. It'll bring out the green in the "wood".
I have also started by darkening the dark areas of the foliage.


And only a minor change to the Dire avenger's pose, bringing the left leg in and forward, straightening the lower leg to get the foot (mostly) flat.
Now looks like he's stepping rather than presenting his crown jewels.

Also strikes me how much he looks like a classical Greek / Hoplite / Spartan soldier.

Fantastic repose. Love the hoplite, very effective Well-greaved

Thanks Graven'.

And he's now primed and ready to paint... just not decided on which scheme.

And and, you can also see the first stage in "green-ing" the foliage of the Mononoke base too.

Two updates in one photo montage


This heat is really sapping my motivation though... <= imagine that to be sweat.

I've settled on Leviathan for the scheme on the Dire avenger.
Kraken was going to look a bit too "normal" for an Eldar with bone and red.
Behemoth (Red and blue) was a close 2nd, but the scheme of Leviathan appears to work better on an Eldar model, with the contrast of the white (with pink gaps) and purple, and red weapons.

With that in mind, I started with the white.

Not terribly exciting at the mo', but it's a start.

And the Mononoke base got some more work on the green foliage; some brighter green, some green/yellow to really make it jump out, and some pale green for some highlights.

And while I had the white out...

Still more white to add, not quite as smooth as it needs to be in places... such is white...

Lovely shading there squire.

Thanks Graven'. The photo helps this time (for a change). I've "finished" off the white now, but it's not drastically different enough to warrant another photo here (eyes. mouth and claws to do).

However, I've also added the purple to DA #3.

A little tidy up required on some of the highlights, as usual... *sigh*
Then pink bits, red weapon, and any additional details left to do...

I have been lurking around waiting for progress on this. Love how the base for the princess is turning out, that foam for the trees and back drop is ace.

Being an old eldar player I can't wait to see how the avenger turns out. So far its all good.

Love that eldar model... a real beauty. Trees are fantastic...

Monotone base is looking good, nice work on the eldar

Thanks York'.

Thanks Gits'.

monkeytroll wrote:Monotone base is looking good, nice work on the eldar

Ahh, the irony that the wolf, at least, is currently monotone. Thanks.

Pink and red added.


Browns to finish (just a highlight), and metals to do, and the base.

Eldar, eh? It needs some pansies on the base. For it to sniff of course

<hint>The shield has potential for some interesting freehand. </hint>

Looks good so far.

That was actually my cursed auto-correct switching out Mononoke whilst I wasn't looking...... Occasionally it does it's stuff and still makes sense, most of the time it just throws some garbage into the equation

P-Niddy still looking good (that's me, not my auto-correct)

Thanks Red'. No flowers or freehand, I'm afraid.
As the contest theme is to paint as a different army, this Eldar is painted as a Tyranid, and 'nids don't have freehand designs painted on their armour.
Had I not been sticking to this, I may well have added some tribal design to the shield.

No plants because he's hunting 'nids, and they've nom'd them all.

Thanks MT.

With that, many photos, some tidying up, many more photos, He's done.

The concept, to keep it all together, is an Eldar 'nid-hunter.
He likes to get in close to his quarry and so uses a Tyranid warrior's head / crest as a shield and has painted his armour to match the colours of the Leviathan hive fleet. While not a perfect disguise, it helps to give him a few extra seconds in low-light, at distance, or out of the corner of the eye.
And maybe there's a little Eldar pride / arrogance in there too.

The actual painting was just a matter of deciding what pieces of armour to paint white and which, purple.
Then add the pink into the joints and use it to pick out the plume and eye-lenses.
The weapon, of course, had to be red. Made the shaft a darker / browner red to make it look like a different material to the head (which was made to look like a fire-axe, with the metallic edge).
I picked out a few other things in metal (the clearly Eldar tech'); who's got time to paint every grenade that you're just going to blow up anyway. The straps for the shield and the grenade belt are brown leather, and I went for yellow gems and camera lens to contrast with the purple.
As mentioned, the base is devoid of plants due to the only place you're going to be hunting 'nids is on a planet they are eating. If you are around plants, the 'nids haven't got there yet.
I did add a 'nid toxin sac to the base to be a little 'nid slug thing, there to pick up the final scraps of bio-mass.

All round views:


and some fun shots (with a nod to Barry Chuckle. RIP):

But you can make your own mind up about how it finished...

Ah, but Doc, 'Nids are based on insects, many of which have all sorts of very interesting patterns on their wings, or carapaces or what have you.

I nearly went on to say that while 'nids can have insect-like colour schemes, and can therefore include various chemical wave patterns (also the reason for how the Zebra gets it's stripes), the Leviathan hive fleet doesn't.

I know what you mean, Red'. If not for my vision for the contest theme, I'd have put some kind of marking on the shield.
I do have a few more Tyranid warrior heads left over, so maybe next time...

In other news...
I broke San's spear. Caught the tip on a finger and snapped it off at her hand.

There's no easy way to glue that back on, it'll always be weaker than solid plastic, and that has proven to not be very strong.

So I drilled it out and re-made the spear from a paperclip and a new tip epoxied on.
Stronger and looks better than Mk-1.


Got my LoER terrain entry to get painted, this will get attention as time and paint permits.

I guess it's my turn to say: Good job replacing the blade spear,

And, as you said, stronger and better. Well done.

Mononoke's base is looking ace, and serves as a nice backdrop to boot

Another gap in work here, but I've finally pushed on a bit...

Thanks LT. Yeah, the base is proving to be useful for small miniatures. May have to make myself a large one for larger models. I had hopes to make use of the UFO crash piece more, but it's a bit busy for most models.

I've been putting off starting on San; that "new technique fear" thing.

However, I actually had a look at some tutorials and examples of "Chibi eyes" online and thought I'd try it out on the wolf first, as San really needs the skin doing first.

From examples of the anime, the wolf's eyes are not as white as his coat, so I went for a cream (with a very slight touch of pink to them) base,
A black outline of the eye,
Then a brown blob, that I attempted to make darker at the top (not that it shows),
A black dot in the middle of that,
Finished with a white reflection dot.

I also finished off the mouth, nose (blue in the anime) and claws.
Reference:


Steps:


Final look:


I'll see how San's eyes look before deciding to gloss them or not.
Until next time...

Nice work. Interesting to see how the nose brought the face together.

Really well done Dr. H!

Superb. The eyes particularly.

Really beautiful.

I'll just bring this one over to this page...


Thanks MT. It's all in those final touches, every time.
and thanks Gits', Graven', and Cam'.

San's skin and eyes are done...ish.

These eyes didn't go as smoothly as they did on the wolf, but they are on and look good in the hand (i.e. when she's 30mm tall).

I think I will go for a gloss finish to the eyes, will give them a bit more life.

Just the hair, clothes, weapons and jewellery to do.
I might also trim her ears down to more human-looking ears.

A bit more tweaking to San's face and eyes, and a better photo too.

Hair is just basecoated there.

Soon.
Just the grass to add to the base.

Soon.

Brilliant work, love the eyes and really makes me want to look at some chibi stuff again.

Wow. The shading is astonishing. Some of your finest work, sirrah.

Sweet work.

Very nice

Thanks chaps, here's the final photos.

Cam', I only picked this up as I Love San and had to have a model of her, the original of this model being so close, I jumped at it. As I said before, I'd only jump "higher" if I saw a model of Saya... anyone would think I've got a thing for badass primal, sword-wielding, girls... Although, Motoko doesn't use swords... Still badass though.
Anyway, enough of my Waifus...

Too kind, Graven'. See the imperfections below.

On the display base:


and off the base:


Can't say what'll be next in here, I have a couple of things to make for presents this month, but there will still be a constant stream of things over in my other blog.
Stay tuned.

That looks flocking good, man.

Indeed. Visually stunning, the entire piece. Well done, Doc.

Lovely, fun piece

I'm loving the contrast between the 'realism' of the forest and the anime feel of the mini itself: Not to mention the little guys in the trees

The chibi girl and her wolf look fantastic, and I love those trees!

That is very cool.

Awesome! You really nailed the anime look

Thank you all, I'm pretty pleased with the whole thing. It now sits just under one of my monitors so I see it more often than my other models.

Graven', I see what you did there.

Red', yeah, the display base does it's job of framing and contrasting with the miniatures, as I intended and hoped.

Ta MT.

CK, I tried to go as anime as I could on the display base, but without sculpting the whole thing in the same way as the wolf's fur. It's "real" enough and yet matches the model, I think.

Aku'. Ta. The trees were a bit more work than buying pre-made ones, but easy enough for anyone with the time.

Ta Gits'.

Ta C'Cain. Was a nice break from my usual modelling work.


Nothing more to show here yet, just wanted to say thanks.

In other news; I have changed around my Signature down below to make it clearer (?) and to highlight my FB, Twitter and Etsy links more.
Took more effort than it's probably worth. *shrugs*

You certainly have a knack for brilliance. I would say that this is your niche. Producing these pieces really brings out the best in your style. Excellent work.

And sig was worth it bud.

Thanks Cam'. Appreciated, even if it did take me months to reply to your comment. I like to have something to show when I comment and I've not done anything personal for this blog since...

2018 done. Tough year it seems.
Only 2 things for myself, and one of them was for a contest.
Many things were done in my "pro" blog, so I've not been idle, but the added desk space hasn't really increased output this year and it's sad to see this blog only move on 4 pages since last year's round up of the previous year.
I work at the speed I work at, and nothing, it seems, is going to increase that.

Still, time to celebrate the year's production and not get down on how slow I work.

In order of appearance:
Mik's Mech Shop (scratch-build terrain for Infinity):




Intercessors Squad B - the elements team (painted up to represent Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and the Fifth):




Multi-ped Forklift (Scratch-built, to go with the workshop above):




Scythe miniatures (for the board game):




Pox Walkers (half have been converted for uniqueness):




Robby the Robot (scratch-built):



Dire Avenger 'nid hunter (for Nerdy's painting contest):




Ruined statue shrine (scratch-built, for the LoER terrain contest):




Hellblasters (from Dark Imperium):


Princess Mononoke, San on wolf (converted from SDE figure and scratch-built display base):



1:12th scale dollhouse painting:


Earrings, Red marble drop:


N-gauge (1:160) Train shed (repair and repaint):




Noxious Blightbringer (mild conversion):


N-gauge (1:160) Bungalow (repaint with scratch-built interior and garden):




Earring display and matching earrings (scratch-built):




Noisy Cricket (1:1 prop replica):


Bard the bowman on display base tower (Scratch-built tower with LED fire effects):




There's 2 more projects from Dark Imperium that are on the go, they'll be in next years round up.
18 projects in total done (down on the 20 last year), but a few large batches of figures and quite a bit of scratch-building to make up for that.

Still, hope to do more next year (but I'm also going to be pushing for a "real" job in ernest this year, so that may eat into time if I'm successful...in even trying let alone getting said job), and some more specifically for this blog, for me.
Time will tell, and I'll be back here next year complaining that I've not managed any of that.

Oh yeah, I also finished off my Fallout 4 Greygarden settlement build.
Video here:



Or you can download the blueprint and add it to your own game and walk around it yourself (only for PC, via the Nexus and "Transfer Settlements"):
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/36662


Thank you all for sticking with me.
Happy New Year
May 2019 be good to us all.

A year of exceptional quality. I think the forklift was my personal favourite.

A great collection of projects. The variety is astounding. I wish I was that creative.

Awesome projects all round bud, been a good year, you have done some amazing work this year. Great stuff.

Some cracking stuff this year

Thanks chaps.

Graven', yeah that was a fun build.

Solar', they all use the same skills for the most part. Each have their own particular problems to solve, but that's no barrier.
Coming up with the ideas; that's just a matter of searching for inspiration.

Let's see what this year brings...

An amazing display of modeling and painting acumen. I look forward to 2019.

Thanks Gits'. Who can tell where this year will take us...?

Nothing to show over here as yet, but I do have an idea that's bouncing around my head, so that may need to be made a reality soon...ish.

Not soon-ish enough, but the next thing to happen will happen here.

But what to do?

I want a large and a small project.
I would like your opinions
A single comment may swing my choice, this is not a vote. I may well just ignore you all.

It's late at night, it's the weekend, and this blog has been quiet for a long time... I don't expect many replies to this anyway.

Small project options in no particular order:
a) Kroot combined with either Ork or 'nid bits.
aii) Or a flying Kroot.
b) Hormagaunt converted to a scorpion-like.
c) Ork with transplanted mass of 4-6 mechanical legs.
d) Brutal / scary / bestial Ork (they are often seen as comic relief, I want to create one that is scary)
e) The Victoria Miniatures female flag bearer mini'. (few mods, but a nice paintjob).

Large projects (all to be heavily modified as per previous vehicles here):
1) Ghost ark modified to be a floating factory.
2) Dark Eldar Ravager to be a land-ship sort of thing.
3) Ork truck... no plans, but modified.

Your thoughts gratefully received on this matter and then the work can proceed...
Stay tuned.

There is absolutely no question at all.

aii & 1, though I must admit b sounds really good too.

I've loved watching your huge terrain projects... but I'm really jonesin' for small, single model bits of your brilliance. I used to do them a lot too and don't really anymore (not appropriate for Bushido), so I miss them. Would love to see you attack some of these yourself.

Well, you'd think I'd plump for the cybork - lots of legs, bioniks etc, but the two ideas I like the most there are flying kroot and a landship ravager. Flying kroot just sounds fun, and a dark eldar ship marauding the wastelands sounds excellent.

Oh, new page for a fresh start eh?
Quoted for ease of seeing...

Dr H wrote:Not soon-ish enough, but the next thing to happen will happen here.

But what to do?

I want a large and a small project.
I would like your opinions
A single comment may swing my choice, this is not a vote. I may well just ignore you all.

It's late at night, it's the weekend, and this blog has been quiet for a long time... I don't expect many replies to this anyway.

Small project options in no particular order:
a) Kroot combined with either Ork or 'nid bits.
aii) Or a flying Kroot.
b) Hormagaunt converted to a scorpion-like.
c) Ork with transplanted mass of 4-6 mechanical legs.
d) Brutal / scary / bestial Ork (they are often seen as comic relief, I want to create one that is scary)
e) The Victoria Miniatures female flag bearer mini'. (few mods, but a nice paintjob).

Large projects (all to be heavily modified as per previous vehicles here):
1) Ghost ark modified to be a floating factory.
2) Dark Eldar Ravager to be a land-ship sort of thing.
3) Ork truck... no plans, but modified.

Your thoughts gratefully received on this matter and then the work can proceed...
Stay tuned.

Thanks for the quick responses, Gits' and MT.
Both of you liking the flying Kroot idea. Well there's a turn up for the books.
The Kroot ideas are all stemming from the incorporation of DNA thing that they do. Coupled with The Scientist's knowledge to speed things along, this would be a Kroot that has evolved wings. My question for this one was "how would it handle weapons if it's arms became wings?" We will find out together.

Can't remember where the scorpion-nid came from, but I think it is intended to make use of the talons to create the pincers. And then replace the legs with many scorpion legs.

Yeah Gits', it's been a while since I've had the chance to really have a go at a troop-sized mini '. Just can't afford the time when it's for something to sell (hence only being left for things like the Helbrute and Drone tripod).

And the Ghost Ark factory for you?! With The Scientist breathing his special kind of special on it, why just pick up broken Necrons, why not a mobile factory of more minions. Picking up whatever is laying about the battlefield and sticking it together into something new. Why wait to get back to the lab?
Maybe the floating pyramid thing would be better mechanically for the gameplay implications, I'll need to have another look at what a ghost ark actually does to see how I can twist it to my needs... But visually, think of a cross between a garage, science lab' and an operating theatre, that floats across the battlefield...

MT, the cybork will happen one day anyway (as will all these ideas).
The ravager will, of course, make use of your old-skool piece you sent me for the Predator's dozer-blade and wasn't used.
And I'm seeing it still floating, a bit, and now skimming the ground (mostly so I don't have to use a flying stand), churning up said ground. What other modifications I make to it, I don't know as yet. It'll remain a Ravager, in game, but with added (Mad).

Any further ideas/thoughts from anyone still welcome.

Love where you mind is going on all these projects.

Waaagh. That is all.

Ta Gits'. Many of these are old ideas that have sat on my "list", ready and waiting. Some have been so long that I barely remember what I was planning.
Things will be fleshed out as it happens. But yes, some research is required on some points just for memory's sake if nothing else.

Graven' calls for Waaaagh. What Orkses do I have there?

Due to Ork physiology they receive robo-transplants well, so why not some robo-legs. But why just a boring pair of legs when you can have a mass of skittering spider-like robo-legs? I believe this is due (again I can barely remember how these multipart kits go together, it's been so long) to kits having more bodies than legs, so I need to scratch-build some legs to make use of all the bodies.

And, as mentioned there, I want to create an Ork mini' that cannot be confused for comic relief. How I will accomplish this, I do not know.
Some added sculpting to beef him up a bit, and careful posing, equipment choices and basing. Anyone know of good examples of "scary" Orks?

And the truck.
I have the kit, and not build a (mostly) Ork vehicle. I do plan to create proper suspension (I have a lot of springs not doing much at the mo), and just to have fun building a unique Ork truck (definitely can't have something like this in my army and it resemble anything that has gone before). What it includes, depends on what I find in my stash.

Keep the thoughts coming.

I decided to start getting bits ready for the flying kroot and just so happened to pull out some parts for the Ork Nob... naturally that's what I started with.

Bits pulled out for him,

First modification to the axe; added blade and Eldar battery.

Had to get this arm on first to start preparing the pose.


Legs are the next job.

I do have the basic bits out for the kroot and I have some ideas of how some of it may progress.

Nice chopper

Thanks Graven'. There may be more to do on it yet, but that's the little details for later.

Y'know, the left leg may be fine as it is.
Maybe a slight twist, but that will depend on the eventual position of the right leg.

Charging pose with that leg raised as it is here:


Time to cut up the right leg and stick it back together.

important to make sure you have the right choppa....

As you're 're-posing legs I'm assuming this is 'scary' ork?

Choppa's gotta feel "choppy"

Yarp, MT, Scary spi.. Ork.

There will not be any spice girls references on this mini'.
Although I won't rule out creating the rest of the group at a later date. I would be surprised if this hasn't been done before though.

Right leg required the hip and ankle cut.
The hip was completely cut off and has been rotated and straightened under the body.
The ankle was only partially cut through and just straightened to get the foot flat on the ground.
Using my usual prism/block of plastic to attach, with putty later, method.

Vis...


And then the right arm required a right arm (as the klaw is on a left arm).
That arm was cut above the bicep and rotated outward, and a block of plastic was used to bring the arm out farther.


Now that's the pose, but it's not done yet.
The face will (hopefully) make the model, and will be modified to be screaming and look really angry. Will see if I can do this.
And the arms, at least, will be bulked up to create an imposing figure worthy of this pose.
Various small details to give a story,
And the paint should bring it home...

And while filling gaps I had enough putty for the extra muscle.

Beefcake!


Striking silhouette, I think.
Will likely bulk up the trapezius as I add the head.

Now to modify that head...

Nice work on the bulking up!

Very impressive, and it's interesting watching the prism method in action.

Thanks MT. Lots of weights and protein.

Thanks Graven'. Ja, I felt that it's been a while since I've shown this method off.

This week I've mostly been isolating:



Didn't have a chance to go in blind (I've watched "let's play" videos before), but still an intense experience, especially on Hard difficulty. Well recommended.

Anyway, you're here for models.

Head modified.


Was tricky to get the jaw back on, probably would have been easier to stick the top of the head onto the body first and then sculpt the jaw back on: would have given a solid base to work from. But it's done now and will hopefully look good once painted.

Details added.

Decided against some of the things. Spiky shoulder pads didn't really fit, physically and aesthetically.
And the metal jaw piece, I wasn't really happy with how/where it attached.

But I did add some skulls. It appears this chap is a skull-taker.



Can't really see much more room for more details, so just need to construct a basing for him and it's on to painting...

Big, charging ork monstrosity? Check.

He looks a very angry chap. Quite rightly. I think he needs to be angled forward ever so slightly though, he's a bit... skippy. I mean I like taking skulls as much as the next guy

Thanks MT.

Thanks Graven'. It may be a combination of blu-tack and camera angle that did it. He should be leaning slightly forward, we will see when I attach him to a base...

...Oh look, I attached him to a base.

I dd try to make sure he was leaning forward, but can't go too far and the front foot almost looks like it touches the ground, so it is only slight (see the boss pole). Photo angle can make a difference and I took a few to get these; I'll have to keep this in mind for final shots.

Added some hob-nails to the front foot and some (but not all) plant-life to the base. Not a lot more I can add to a small base (I had thought a Nob may get a larger base than the basic troop), but going for a "rushing through the grass" look.
Did add some mud to the soles of his boots after these photos, but you'll see that once primed.

Now about this kroot...

That's coming along swimmingly!

Nicely done Love the idea of rushing through the grass.

Thanks Gits' and MT. Yeah, I've been getting vibes of the Mantis warrior I built for Gits' competition, but I didn't want to go quite so OTT with the plants for this one.

As I said, time for the Kroot you asked for...

How to solve a problem like holding a weapon when your hands have evolved into wings...?

Pictured below are the various stages.
I picked the most boring set of legs as I knew I'd be chopping them up.
And I picked the gun for how close the hands were. I nearly chose the one with just one hand, but "felt" this one more.
4 cuts for the right leg and 3 for the left.

First, cut off the arm from the gun, at the wrist (handy wrapping there to hide the join).
Also, cut off the right foot. Technically, just the toes, cutting the foot in half: The "backwards knee" that you see in animals and beasts is actually the ankle and the long final length of leg is the foot.
Glue what remains of the foot into the wrist.

Then cut at the knee and remove some material to bend the leg up a bit (and add a bit of inwards twist).
And cut the ankle and bend that up as well.
This is to bring the second hand in reach of the left leg.

As with the knee and ankle, cut at the hip and remove enough material to bring the gun up and in so that the left leg is possible.
Notice the change in angle of the hip/waist piece.
Also cut off the other leg to gauge the position (and because the foot was actually getting in the way at this point).

Cut the hip of the left leg to angle it outwards and line up with the left hand.
Also cut above the ankle and rotate inwards slightly to line up with the wrist.
Leave a gap as the hand here has less arm attached (it's from below the wrapping), so some extra foot is needed to be sculpted.

Add putty to fill the many gaps and sand down to taste...


Now to think about how the body is going to be posed...

Sometimes the old hand-foot swap is just what the doctor ordered.

Yeppers... very clever.

Thanks chaps. There's no telling how these things will turn out until you try them.
Any awkwardness will be hidden with feathers.

Next stage was attaching the body and head.

With the way the legs worked out, the stock body position would have had the gun lowered.
This is not a problem as I could use it as part of the flight stand as it drags through a bush.
But it was close enough to horizontal that a minor adjustment would mean it could be aiming...

Rather than a simple wedge for this job, I elected for layers of plasticard. Needed 3 layers in the end, each slightly smaller.

Body was positioned and the head attached.


As it says, time to research some wings.
I have some "how to draw wings" tutorials that I came across on Twitter a while ago which should prove useful.
Then I'll hate myself for needing to sculpt a ton a feathers...
But I look forward to deciding what colour to paint the feathers.
And then hating myself for picking some ridiculous and difficult colour scheme...

Ooh, it's gone all Sebulba.

My advice (depending on exactly how you plan to go about things): don't fret about marking out every barbule on every feather, not at this scale. And take advantage of the nice, neat rows that wing feathers are laid out in.

Love the foot adaption to firing the gun. Frees up the arms for flapping.

To be honest, with the feathers on these guys being more like barbs anyways, half wonder if you could build more bat style wings, possibly with some heat bent plasticard for membrane, then just style them with the stub bits...

Flying Kroot is looking ace already!

Thanks Vermis. Yes, I should have thought of Sebulba when describing my plan.
Yeah, makes sense. It will certainly be the "idea" of a wing made of feathers, rather than sculpting a wing made of feathers. I will, no doubt, get carried away and try and sculpt in ALL the details... because that's how I do.

Thanks Theo'. Ja, birds have been doing it for a while, why re-invent the concept?!

Thanks Veiut. The idea for this chap is that he's further along with evolving to flying, and hence evolving feathers (the barbs being primitive feathers after all). With the Kroot nature of incorporating foreign DNA and being force-fed feathered birds of some kind. I may also do a bat-winged version at a later date.
I may use some card as a base to sculpt upon though.

Thanks aku'.

Research done, wing style decided upon, plan for going forth ... roughly thought on...

Frame added to get an idea of where the "arms" are and the leading edge of the wing.
"paint"-job to show rough outline of eventual wings in relation to frame.

I may even drape some tissue over the frame to create the base for sculpting, that may be easier than fitting a piece of card to it. I've done that before for robes, it's basically the same thing, just feather-shaped.

The tissue worked fine as a base for sculpting.

First, lay over pieces of tissue and soak in water/PVA.
Add a few layers for strength. You don't want to poke a sculpting tool through it (you will be using water for lube' after all).
Cut to rough shape.

Add a line of putty: I used GS for some flexible strength" during sculpting. This is the line of the limb, potentially where the wing may bulge. Also as a guide to where the feathers originate.

Lay on a strip of putty, segment into "feathers" and add "V" shapes along them for texture.
Clean up wing edge.
Work your way up the wing with each layer of feathers overlapping the previous.



Add claws to give him a bit of
I also added some feathers to his "ankles" while I was at it.


Now he needs some items and then basing...
Oh yes, and a tail...

Those Wings are stunning and I love the use of tissue.

Lovely wings!

Thanks Graven'. Tissue and PVA are very useful for quickly (not including drying time) forming a surface for sculpting.

Thanks aku'.

And another use for tissue/PVA... I don't think I've shown how I made the large leaves that I used for my "Mantis maker" challenge piece or crashed UFO piece.
Last time I made a load, but have since used them all up and had to make more for this, so...

Fold up some tissue and cut out your shape.
Unfold and separate the leaves.
Glue a twisty-sandwich bag-tie-thing to one piece of tissue.
Glue the other piece of tissue to the other side of the tie (so you have a sandwich).
Use water/PVA to glue the loose sides of the tissue pieces together and create a single leaf. Let it bend over a little and try to keep some sections separate.
Once dry, flatten out a little and then bend into shape.
Attach to base.

Can be used to hide a firmer piece of wire for model attachement.
Due to the wire in the tie they remain flexible and can be posed about the model (as I did for the Mantis Maker).


Attach your model.

Also note the new tail.

A few more details are required for model and base.

AND...
The Nob has been primed and blacked.


Although it's a bit hot today for painting.
Until next time...

Got distracted for a bit with some classic (DOS-era) computer games...

Too much to catch up on in all your blogs today, but will swing through soon.

The Kroot's base is now fully furnished and I've added the last of the details to them too.
Got a knife in the scabbard, positioned in such a way that I can see it being reachable with the left leg.
Also got some grenades on the gun's stock (not going to be putting it up to the shoulder so may as well use it for storage), and a pouch around the back (that is unlikely to be reached, but you can't have everything...).

I also added half a metal washer under the base for ballast as it was only just balanced within the confines of the base.



A little tidy up of the putty mess and it's over to the painting desk. I should get started on the ork too.

I like the archaeoperix (sp?) tail. Nice touch.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
I like the archaeoperix (sp?) tail. Nice touch.

Close enough. Yes I had feathered dinosaurs in mind with the feathering. Thanks.

And primed:

Very cool, but those leaves overhanging the base, a bit fragile? Especially if you're like me and pick up minis by the base to avoid getting dirty finger oils all over the paint.

Going to go with the classic multi-colored Archaeopteryx plumage?

What a cool project. is this a one off project or are you doing a unit of them?

love the extra girth on the ork.

Thanks Red'.
Baring in mind I haven't played a game. I wouldn't say the leaves are fragile. They are re-poseable, even after paint.
Tissue paper (not bog-roll) soaked in PVA/water, with a twist-tie thing down the middle and coated with Enamel paint. ymmv depending on treatment and paint/glue/tissue used.
Try it out and report back, they are easy to make and as cheap as can be.

I wouldn't make a habit of sticking these on every model in an army or even a squad (mostly because of space), but good for hiding wires for flying models (I used the same for my Necron on a jetbike). As my models are going to be spending the majority of their life on shelves I don't worry about wear and tear during gaming.

Haven't decided on colouring the Kroot yet. Probably won't be monotone, but maybe not quite as colourful as rainbow-archaeopteryx.
Hopefully the plumage will be beautiful though.

Thanks Solar'. More than likely a one-off. Though variations on the theme may happen (I plan Kroot mixed with all manner of things).
Ta. speaking of... thicc ork progress:

Skin painted.
and with the teeth painted you can better see the result of my re-posed jaw (lip ring to be painted).

Again, subtle painting is subtle, but the contrast does show up in the hand (and will hopefully show up in the final photos).