youwashock wrote:That's amazing. Glad you went with the inspiration.

Adeptus Doritos wrote:Love the work in here, and none of it looks like bad Blanchitsu. Inquisitor is one of those games that needs TLC, and could use a revisit from GW at some point- maybe at least some WD love.

Got two warbands, one of which is "A Deathwatch Marine" and the other is an Inquisitor and her Retinue. Sadly, the Inquisitor was lost on a recent outing and I'll have to replace her. Since it's been a while since our group played, I might pitch the idea that she went missing. Bring her back all beat up.

aku-chan wrote:Fantastic bike!

Also great job on the assassin, you've improved an already pretty great mini.

Captain Brown wrote:Wow Lamby, exquisite conversion for the bike.

Cheers,

CB

Dr H wrote:Nice bike.

inmygravenimage wrote:That bike is crazy good

Thanks all!

As I'm currently deployed away from the Main Desk, there's been no progress on the bike.

However, I brought a travel painting kit, and so here are paint in progress on 3 (of the 4 I've finished building) of the Witch Hunters:







For those who are interested in recipes - Vallejo Flat Brown base, old GW Elf Flesh x 2 (sometimes 3), highlighted with Elf Flesh mixed with Schmincke Titanium White.

Next stage for these ladies of the Ordo Hereticus is oils - black oil for the blue and silvers, purple for the skin, maybe a little brown for the gold.

Thanks for looking!

Damn dude, especially that stomach

Nice teasers. A bit of purple on that skin is going to really look good.

Boss Salvage wrote:Damn dude, especially that stomach

youwashock wrote:Nice teasers. A bit of purple on that skin is going to really look good.

Thanks guys!
Oils on the skin soon...

Meanwhile:



Harley 'Commando' work in progress - since the original post, I've done three different sculpting sessions interspersed with the inevitable sanding.



Kit-bashed her rifle some - basically cut out the barrel piece from between the main body and the suppressor, fiddled with the scope a tad, and eventually cut away the left hand that came with it - next stage will be building the forward handle setup and getting the left arm to fit.



And as you can see, finally managed to get the rifle arm to sit correctly and more importantly, level.

Once the arms are set, it'll be time to do the jacket... that should be interesting

Thanks for looking!

Legitimately awesome. Great build so far.

Just fantastic and expressive posing on that biker

youwashock wrote:Legitimately awesome. Great build so far.

Aestas wrote:Just fantastic and expressive posing on that biker

Thanks guys!


A lot of work for little visual change, however I managed to get the left arm and left hand into place:



And for those who might want to know, here's a little infograph of the gun mods:



Heels and cloak/coat to go...

Thanks for looking!

That's a spicy conversion there. Really something else.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
That's a spicy conversion there. Really something else.

Thanks inmygravenimage!

Working only a few spare minutes at a time over the last few weeks, finally managed to get the Witchhunter retinue's remaining two members closer to completion.

The Witchhunter herself - Inquisitor Tessene - and her base is almost done apart from some final sanding and a little more detailing on her boots... and removal of those insidious cat hairs!





And Harley's base is done - only the sculpting to complete her jacket to go!





Thanks for looking!

I love your work, Lamby. Truly inspiring, unique stuff.

Never sad to see new stuff here. Tessene looks very cool. Looking forward to seeing her painted.

She’s gonna look just amazing striding off that bike.

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:I love your work, Lamby. Truly inspiring, unique stuff.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:She’s gonna look just amazing striding off that bike.

Sorry if it was confusing, but they're two seperate models

youwashock wrote:Never sad to see new stuff here. Tessene looks very cool. Looking forward to seeing her painted.

Thanks all!


And - just like that - Harley is done!

Very nice! She has her shot and she's ready to take it.

Nice work, Lamby.

Very snazzy! Looking forward to seeing her painted up.

Lovely work! That's a really nice bike.

Thanks youwasshock, Dr H, aku-chan and monkeytroll!


P][P the Second or The Curious Case of Oils: Part the Third

Still struggling up the learning curves of oils on miniatures...

Here’s a few things I’ve discovered in my plodding journey:

1. White spirits can strip acrylic paint off a mini, whether you’ve varnished it or not, right down to their little grey bones...

2. White spirits are not the ideal medium for making washes - I’ve found some dark pigments like purple will fade drastically as they dry and even change colour... so if anyone has any better oil wash medium suggestions, please help?

3. Some oil colours don’t like other oil colours - for example, I’ve tried laying down purple and white dots and blending them with a soft dry brush - as per YouTube instructions- but the purple just dominates the white and instead of a nice white-to-purple gradient, I get a pink mess...

But enough with the oil paint negatives , onto a positive!

I was struggling to get a decent transition of light Vallejo Model Air Sand (on a side note, this is an absolute nightmare of a colour to use - one of the few times Vallejo paints have failed me...) to shadows of Vallejo Armour Brown, to whit:



So after failing magnificently to use purple oil over GW Dwarf Flesh (on the skin... ug what a mess...) -I threw caution to the wind and attacked those streaky shadows with some ‘dry’ purple oil technique, the end result being thus:



Mmm blendy with a hint of painterly - is that what they call Blanchitsu?!?

It’s not Golden Demon standard but I think in this case the oils were completely successful.

My journey continues...

I can't give too much good advice for your oil adventure, but maybe some useful musing.

I use Enamel paints and white spirit.

Yeah, making washes by diluting with ws can be hit and miss. Some of my paints (specific colours) are fine with heavy dilutions, and some will just fall out as soon as it gets beyond "paint" and towards "wash".

Sometimes it's just best to find a specific paint thinner, rather than going for white spirit. The right one will keep the paint working as it should and not just dilute it.
I have a Humbrol thinner for those certain Humbrol colours.

For my blends, I use a combination of layering and wet-blending:
I'll have 3 to 6 separate paints (some may be mixture of their neighbours) and then will lay them down as layers, but with wet-blending between them, sometimes mixing a little of the 2 paint colours involved on my painting board (used as a pallet) to aid the blend.

The main point is that I don't aim to blend across a large distance, just blending between layers.
Enamels and oils are good for wet-blending as they don't dry as quickly as acrylics, but trying to push the wet-blend too far can end up removing lower layers rather than laying down paint.

Sometimes you just have to let the lower layers cure before continuing.

Keep at it and good luck.

Love the gun, love the cloak, but most of all I think the boots look awesome for that model.

Dr H wrote:I can't give too much good advice for your oil adventure, but maybe some useful musing.

I use Enamel paints and white spirit.

Yeah, making washes by diluting with ws can be hit and miss. Some of my paints (specific colours) are fine with heavy dilutions, and some will just fall out as soon as it gets beyond "paint" and towards "wash".

Sometimes it's just best to find a specific paint thinner, rather than going for white spirit. The right one will keep the paint working as it should and not just dilute it.
I have a Humbrol thinner for those certain Humbrol colours.

For my blends, I use a combination of layering and wet-blending:
I'll have 3 to 6 separate paints (some may be mixture of their neighbours) and then will lay them down as layers, but with wet-blending between them, sometimes mixing a little of the 2 paint colours involved on my painting board (used as a pallet) to aid the blend.

The main point is that I don't aim to blend across a large distance, just blending between layers.
Enamels and oils are good for wet-blending as they don't dry as quickly as acrylics, but trying to push the wet-blend too far can end up removing lower layers rather than laying down paint.

Sometimes you just have to let the lower layers cure before continuing.

Keep at it and good luck.

Thanks for the advice, Dr H - much appreciated and in use - see if you can spot the oils in the next few characters...

Fifty wrote:Love the gun, love the cloak, but most of all I think the boots look awesome for that model.

Thanks Fifty!





+++

I've heard them say she lost her arm in the Witch War of '93; and the gold hand was a Witch's Gift; and the face on her shoulder is the face of her sister, the Witch who made the hand...

Is this truth? I don't give a damn; she can smell a Witch from one hundred paces, and kill them dead with her rifle from a thousand.

That's good enough for me.

Excerpt from How Not To Fight A Witch War: Memories of '93 by Ordo Hereticus Witch Hunter Tessene

+++

First member of the Ordo Hereticus Witch Hunter retinue - the Witch Hunter Scout Aanika Gold-Hand:

Great job. Love all the subtle purple tones.

Very nice, like that a lot. Good job

Looks great, I love the snazzy fringe

youwashock wrote:Great job. Love all the subtle purple tones.

Thanks - purple oils: I may have a gone a little overboard

monkeytroll wrote:Very nice, like that a lot. Good job

Cheers!

inmygravenimage wrote:Looks great, I love the snazzy fringe

My wife hates it but thanks!






+++

In the midst of the Witch War of '93, I found her on the Crucifixion Road; she had been abused by Witches, captured and crucified as a collaborator, and blinded with fire.

As I passed her on hanging on her cross of Penitence, I felt the dark iron of her mind, now hard and closed, a weapon forged in adversity and pain - no Witch would use her ever again.

I cut her down myself, sponsored her new eyes and Assassinorum training. I gifted her the sword she calls Loss of Innocence; she has slain many Witches for me, and many more for herself.

To this day, I still don't know her name.

Excerpt from How Not To Fight A Witch War: Memories of '93 by Ordo Hereticus Witch Hunter Tessene
+++

Second member of the Ordo Hereticus Witch Hunter retinue - the Sword Sister:













Thanks for looking!

Love this one. Awesome model with a killer paintjob. Lots of momentum in the pose.

Another great addition to the retinue

youwashock wrote:Love this one. Awesome model with a killer paintjob. Lots of momentum in the pose.

Thanks! Maintaining her momentum while making her unique was the real modelling challenge here.

monkeytroll wrote:Another great addition to the retinue

Cheers!



+++

Mas Edini.

I met her during the '94 mop up following the Witch War of the year before, where she was working as an Arbites investigator.

She could play a suspect like a symphony, make them sing and dance to her tune like none I had ever seen.

She loved firepower and fire whisky, and that old leather coat.

And what is with that skull?

Excerpt from How Not To Fight A Witch War: Memories of '93 by Ordo Hereticus Witch Hunter Tessene

+++

 

Third member of the Ordo Hereticus Witch Hunter retinue - Interrogator Mas Edini:

Again, the palette is just killer. This group is all winners.

Lovely work on the coat. Agreed on the palette, the retinue is going to look great together.

Wow she is super slick

These are magnificent... great color profile and beautiful craftsmanship! I'm pretty darn excited the bike sniper to be done...

Great work, looking nice.

youwashock wrote:Again, the palette is just killer. This group is all winners.

monkeytroll wrote:Lovely work on the coat. Agreed on the palette, the retinue is going to look great together.

inmygravenimage wrote:Wow she is super slick

MacPhail wrote:These are magnificent... great color profile and beautiful craftsmanship! I'm pretty darn excited the bike sniper to be done...

Dr H wrote:Great work, looking nice.

Thanks All!


W][tch Hunters - The Gladiatrix



+++

Yet another lost soul I found in the brutal mayhem of the '93 Witch War.

With everyone she once loved dead or taken by Witches, she'd fled the war front with a million other refugees along the Crucifixion Road, until she found herself starving to death in the once majestic City of Saints, now ruined by an exchange of warp sorcery and Imperial nukes.

Amongst glass craters and radioactive debris, crime lords raised empires in those lawless days; the gladiator pits provided food for those willing to fight against captured Witch Kin and warp things. She'd entered the Pits with nothing to live for and nothing to lose.

At the sight of her first chained Witch, her anger and pain and self-pity ignited into burning rage, and she tore out the Witch's throat with her teeth.

I found her a year later, revelling in blood and slaughter; another hate-wrought weapon, forged to kill Witches.

How could I not take her in?

Excerpt from How Not To Fight A Witch War: Memories of '93 by Ordo Hereticus Witch Hunter Tessene

+++

Fourth member of the Witch Hunters retinue - The Gladiatrix:















 
Apologies for the cat hairs that seem to be very prominent in these pics.

The consistent use of purple across these really makes the group as a whole sing.

Cracking job once again

Can't wait for the group shot of these. This one is all about the little bird skull. Great detail.

inmygravenimage wrote:The consistent use of purple across these really makes the group as a whole sing.

monkeytroll wrote:Cracking job once again

youwashock wrote:Can't wait for the group shot of these. This one is all about the little bird skull. Great detail.

Thank you all, very kind!




W][tch Hunters - Harley Angel



+++

Recon Sniper Harlequin Saria Dannen found that hunk-o-junk when she took cover during the burning of Angel City, as the Witches unleashed their giga-level rage in those first savage days of '93. 

Trapped alone behind enemy lines by the frantic skirmishing withdrawal of her Imperial Guard unit, she rebuilt the machine quietly by day, while just as quietly at night she hunted Witch Kin, who mistakenly believed they were the hunters. 

Almost a year later - after my Ordo had finally got it's collective sh*t together and started co-ordinated strikeback operations - we rolled into Angel City at the forefront of Imperial Guard heavy fighting-armour and half a million infantry, with Witch Hunter teams to chain the Witches while while the Guard scorched the Kin nests.

Amidst this chaos, there she was; astride the ancient bike with her sniper rifle resting on her knee, cigar stub in her mouth.

"Hey there," she drawled as our column rolled to a stop. "What the feth kept you lot?"

And the legend of Harley Angel was born.

Excerpt from How Not To Fight A Witch War: Memories of '93 by Ordo Hereticus Witch Hunter Tessene

+++

Fifth - and possibly the most anticipated - member of the Witch Hunter retinue - Harley Angel:













And just for fun, here's the reference image again - 'Commando' by Jomaro Kindred:

How have I not looked into this thread until now? Those characters are amazing, great paintjob and nice fluff!

Gorgeous!

Fantastic build, definitely has the look of a legend about her. Like the subtle purple touches on the bike itself bringing it all together.

Top job

Boom. Head shot.

She's fantastic!

Wow, she turned out fantastic! Such a great model and really loving the painting style you are using

Viterbi wrote:How have I not looked into this thread until now? Those characters are amazing, great paintjob and nice fluff!

Mellon wrote:Gorgeous!

monkeytroll wrote:Fantastic build, definitely has the look of a legend about her. Like the subtle purple touches on the bike itself bringing it all together.

Top job

youwashock wrote:Boom. Head shot.

She's fantastic!

IGtR= wrote:Wow, she turned out fantastic! Such a great model and really loving the painting style you are using

Thanks All!!!

I love the little background pieces around each character. The justification for the augmetic hand on the skitarii rifle was a particularly nice touch.

fingol23 wrote:
I love the little background pieces around each character. The justification for the augmetic hand on the skitarii rifle was a particularly nice touch.

Thanks fingol!




+++

The Witch War of '93 - a million dead by Witch fire or Crucifixion - that's all on me.

My team and I - my previous team, formed 30 years before - went in to Angel City to chain a single Witch, and royally fethed it up.

I still hear my people scream as they burned down to the bones.

Their deaths saved me, though I barely survived - and in doing so ignited a Witch uprising that flared into a war.

To avoid censure by the Ordos, or Crucifixion by the angry population of a burning world, built a new team of humans broken by Witches, forged into hunters by their own pain, and together we cleaned up the mess I'd made.

Thus instead of righteous punishment, I live to hunt another day.

Witches beware.

Final passage of How Not To Fight A Witch War: Memories of '93 by Ordo Hereticus Witch Hunter Tessene

+++

Witch Hunter Inquisitor Tessene:

The lady of the hour. Love the background on her, the attitude. The solid purple eyes across the models makes them a little eerie.

She's super sassy. Love the pose, and it's all great. The base is so evocative also.

Great job! Love how she's understated in comparison to some agents of the ordos, nothing flashy, just fits into her retinue and let's her bearing state she's the boss.

Seems like you're got the hang of the purple blending. Good work, great characters.

youwashock wrote:The lady of the hour. Love the background on her, the attitude. The solid purple eyes across the models makes them a little eerie.

Thanks youwashock!
- Disclosure: the solid purple eyes are not a design choice, they're a lack-of-painting-skill necessity

inmygravenimage wrote:She's super sassy. Love the pose, and it's all great. The base is so evocative also.

Thanks inmygravenimage - Sass was the look I was going for!

monkeytroll wrote:Great job! Love how she's understated in comparison to some agents of the ordos, nothing flashy, just fits into her retinue and let's her bearing state she's the boss.

Thanks monkeytroll!
- It's interesting how over ornamental the GW models in general are becoming - I personally like a more understated look to my operatives, especially since I've modded most of them up from the originals and redoing the bling would be tedious and time wasting.

Dr H wrote:Seems like you're got the hang of the purple blending. Good work, great characters.

Thanks Dr H!
- Disclosure: I possibly went a little over the top with purple oil tinting at the end, but it was an interesting experiment and I had the time

Cheers!

+ Assassin-Executioner Shiriku of the Ordo Sicarius +

+ Apprenticed to Assassin-Inquisitor Imadeus, majored in the weapon-arts kenjutsu 'fencing' and tessenjutsu 'fighting with a fan' +

+ Image-capture here shows Shiriku poised in battle, wielding her tessen 'war-fan' and the katana named Tsukiakari o Kiru 'Cutting the Moonlight' +













Construction:

Link back to the WIP post where I detailed the first section of Shiriku's build: WIP Assassin-Executioner

The sharp-eyed reader will note that the original tessen was kit-bashed from the War Cry Cypher Lords Thrallmaster - but it became clear it was just too big, so I replaced it with the war-fan (and actual right hand) from Yvraine.

Then she sat on my building desk for a while, looking cool and all, but I kept hearing the Voice saying "Everyone else has a Knosso model with the same head..." 
And so I took off the front of her mask with a micro-saw, cut and sanded a Melusai head - the Melusai kit being my new go-to kit for female conversion bits! - to fit, glued it in... 
Took it out, sanded and cut some more, glued it back in... repeated this yet again until finally she had her new face!

Unfortunately I was seriously in the Zone when I did this, and didn't stop to take pics.

Painting:

Fresh off the tail end of painting the Witch Hunters - and with my oil experimental phase still in full swing - I tried to paint the Ordo Sicarius trio a little faster, but also wanted to paint the skin - especially the faces and eyes - a bit nicer than previous attempts.

To this end, for the face I went with a grey Tamiya primer sprayed 'zenithal' over black, then drybrushed GW Uthulan Grey; then I thinned my old pot of GW Elf Flesh down with Glaze Medium about 50/50, and laid two coats over the drybrushing - the Uthulan Grey has this weird effect where it pushes the glaze away, so already I had a nice skin tone, which was made even better with a pin-wash of 50/50 VJ Purple and Glaze medium into the shadows. I followed this up with some small highlights with mixed Schminke Titanium White and GW Elf Flesh, and in the end it came out pretty well, I think!

Did my usual trick of dry-brushing Leadbelcher on the metals, then laid down base coats of VJ Purple, VJ Deep Sea Blue, VJ Armour Brown and VJ Iraqi Sand, then finished off the acrylic stage with VJ Glorious Gold.

First oil stage was a Black oil wash and an Umber oil wash liberally applied, then dabbed back off with a cue-tip; the Dark Sea Blue areas were then re-washed with Black to gain shadows. Next I laid a thin coat of undiluted Purple oil on all the purple; successive stages were blending Black oil onto the purple areas for shades, and then Faded White for highlights.

When the oils were dry enough, gave the model a spray of Tamiya flat clear, then gained back some highlights on the steel and gold areas. Lastly I couldn't resist going back to some areas - the sword and the war-fan, for example - with Purple oil nuances, though I did try and tone it down a little.

Thanks for looking!

 

The way you've painted that model really gives me a semi comic book vibe, which is really cool!

The tessen (war fan) is inspired! Love her.

Job's a good'un.

Saw her on Instagram and was super impressed by the face, which I had to assume you had sculpted! The micro-surgery truth is plenty impressive too Great update and paint on a solid sculpt, credit on going farther to make her your own.

She's gorgeous. Fantastic face swap, and a good call on the fan. I have always been a little iffy on the original face, so I consider this a vast improvement on the original.

Exalted Lamby.

Cheers,

CB

Fantastic figures. Truly inspiring!

Great job and I love the little bit of green on the front of the base to complement her purple armour! And you can never go wrong with bladed fans

Excellent work as always. Nicely put together, and really digging the base.

Really nice work here, very atmospheric!

Quick question - what ruleset are you (or others) using for games of Inquisitor, Inquisimunda, etc.?

Wow - so many comments, much appreciated!

Malika2 wrote:The way you've painted that model really gives me a semi comic book vibe, which is really cool!

Thanks Malika2!

inmygravenimage wrote:The tessen (war fan) is inspired! Love her.

Thanks inmygravenimage!

Dr H wrote:Job's a good'un.

Cheers Dr H!

Boss Salvage wrote:Saw her on Instagram and was super impressed by the face, which I had to assume you had sculpted! The micro-surgery truth is plenty impressive too Great update and paint on a solid sculpt, credit on going farther to make her your own.

Thanks Boss Salvage!

youwashock wrote:She's gorgeous. Fantastic face swap, and a good call on the fan. I have always been a little iffy on the original face, so I consider this a vast improvement on the original.

Thanks youwasshock!

Captain Brown wrote:Exalted Lamby.

Cheers,

CB

Cheers CB!

OscarWao wrote:Fantastic figures. Truly inspiring!

Thanks OscarWao!

Viterbi wrote:Great job and I love the little bit of green on the front of the base to complement her purple armour! And you can never go wrong with bladed fans

Thanks Viterbi - the verdigris on the bronze always look good

monkeytroll wrote:Excellent work as always. Nicely put together, and really digging the base.

Cheers monkeytroll!

Alpharius wrote:Really nice work here, very atmospheric!

Quick question - what ruleset are you (or others) using for games of Inquisitor, Inquisimunda, etc.?

Thanks Alpharius! - tbh, at the moment; none... previously: Inquisimunda 2.0 http://inquisimunda.evinwijninga.com/rules



+ Assassin-Enforcer Alvya Arianhod of the Ordo Sicarius +

+ Apprenticed to Assassin-Inquisitor Imadeus, majored in Application of Imperial Law (Arbites Enforcer equivalency) and swordsmanship, sub-specialising in a dual-wield fighting system of unknown origin +

+ Image-capture here shows Alvya wielding twin sabres, her preferred weapon system; her blades are neither blessed nor energetic, as she prefers to rely on skill over power - though she wears a personal void-shield, since she is well aware skill won't stop a las-bolt  +















Construction:

Alvya consists of a repositioned pair of Harlequin legs; icon parts from the Dark Elves (Executioners or maybe Darkshards?) as greaves; a female Harlequin torso; a Dark Elves head with some hair refinement; a Harlequin rear torso and robe part, with added robe edges; an Admech power unit, slightly rearranged; and finally the arms from a Warcry Cypher Lords twin-sword Mirrorblade dude - with one of the swords cut apart and repositioned to match the reversed grip of the other.

Yet again, I was in the zone and didn't take any pictures of this build at all.

The base was a crazy idea that worked out in the end...

Painting:

Same recipe as the previous member of the Ordo Sicarius - except for her hair, which was just one GW Hawk Turquiose glaze over the drybrush of GW Uthalan Grey.

Painting this base was all kinds of fun, as I was getting into the grim dark swing of things with this second one - though it was a merely a warm-up for the previously sneak-previewed base of Assassin-Inquisitor Imadeus!

Thanks for looking!

 

Nice posing! I"m betting a top down shot also looks good. Lovely build, great paint, and again, really loving the base.

Yup. That pose is cash money. You are just knocking these out of the park.

monkeytroll wrote:Nice posing! I"m betting a top down shot also looks good. Lovely build, great paint, and again, really loving the base.

youwashock wrote:Yup. That pose is cash money. You are just knocking these out of the park.

Cheers guys!


and lastly:

+ Assassin-Inquisitor Imadeus of the Ordo Sicarius +

+ Two centuries ago, Imadeus saw a need to her skills beyond her Ordo's delegated responsibility for monitoring the Ordo Assassinorum, and petitioned to pair with the Ordo Hereticus Witch Hunters to form a specialist team dedicated to the pursuit and termination of rogue Inquisitors +

+ Image-capture here shows her in action, armed with the consecrated Relic blade Thirst for the Blood of the Falling +













 

Construction:

Link back to the WIP posts where I detailed the construction of Imadeus:

A Return

The Undecided W][P

The only addition beyond these two WIPS was the sculpting of the left breast, and addition of the small reliquary.

Painting:

By this time I was pretty happy with the Sicarius paint recipe so her painting was pretty fast in comparison to the other two.

In fact, the longest part of painting her was the mask as it changed from steel to the bone, and her hair - the two tone-hair was actually a happy accident when I dipped my brush in the wrong pool of paint on my wet palette and without looking ran a big stroke through the lower section of her hair.

Thanks for looking!

 

 

Wow! She is impressive. Sweet use of parts. I like the little lights/gems on the train, and the base is fabulous.

 youwashock wrote:
Wow! She is impressive. Sweet use of parts. I like the little lights/gems on the train, and the base is fabulous.

Thanks!

A Darker Path
The completion of the Ordo Sicarius trio brings to a close my current series of Imperial Inquisitor retinues - as you might have noticed, these retinues are all linked across an organically-grown tale that has been forming over a seven years, since I wrote the vignette for The Brimstone Inquisitor and made the first mention of Inquisitor Kallatar - who then completely took over. I have the end in sight, planned and loosely written, however; to see her story completed - in both words and models - a change of pace is now necessary.

My modelling - as many of you have witnessed and commented on over the years - has been exacting and detailed and at times so strung out even I forgot where I was with certain characters; it has also - at times - become a very stressful thing for me; and a hobby should not be stressful.

Time to lower my too-high standards a little, to loosen up, to complete characters faster and to improve my painting as well - a somewhat paradoxical antithesis, but we all have dreams, right?

And so down a darker path we turn...

Ominous. And exciting.

Flashlights away, prepared for darkness....

Very nice Lamby.

Cheers,

CB

youwashock wrote:Ominous. And exciting.

monkeytroll wrote:Flashlights away, prepared for darkness....

Captain Brown wrote:Very nice Lamby.
Cheers,
CB

Thank you all!

Night W][tches - The Hoplite

Been mashing this first member of my dark Inq28 warband Night Witches: Daemons together for while - okay, nearly 6 months - the main effort of conversion was making the spear - which I showed back here: W][P - The Hoplite - and the shield arm, so here's some WIPS of that...

Took this Witch Elf arm and shield, and cut the shield down to just a rectangular nubbin (no pic):


Cut this plastic disc off an egg carrier thingy from a Dollar store:


Smeared it in Milliput paste...


And more milliput paste and Mr Surfacer 500 until it looked like this:


Then glued a rod to the back and stuck it in the Dremel, spun it and smoothed it with sandpaper:


Then I added a wet layer of GS/milliput mix to the back of it and pressed the Witch Elf arm with nubbin-of-shield into it, added good old Kroot shoulder armour to the shield arm to hide the crappy join, added a short-sword and some butt-armour made from chopping down Melusai waist-armour, finally scribed a rim into the shield and after a lot more sanding and scraping here she is, ready for paint:









Thanks for looking!

Looks great wheres the helm from?

Ssssssslithery...

Great model. The shield, while simple looking, is a slick bit of crafting. The helm and crest are perfect, and really solidify the idea for the character along with the weapon and shield.

Llamahead wrote:Looks great wheres the helm from?

Thanks Llamahead - helm from Warcry Splintered Fang:
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Warcry-The-Splintered-Fang-2019

youwashock wrote:Ssssssslithery...Great model. The shield, while simple looking, is a slick bit of crafting. The helm and crest are perfect, and really solidify the idea for the character along with the weapon and shield.

Thanks youwasshock!

These look ace. I was thinking about stuff to mix up with my DC Amazons; most cool.

Very nice kitbash and great work creating shield and spear.

Very nice work on her. Slick work on the shield, and your commitment to the detail is pretty dang impressive!

Nice work, Lamby.

inmygravenimage wrote:These look ace. I was thinking about stuff to mix up with my DC Amazons; most cool.

Viterbi wrote:Very nice kitbash and great work creating shield and spear.

IGtR= wrote:Very nice work on her. Slick work on the shield, and your commitment to the detail is pretty dang impressive!

Dr H wrote:Nice work, Lamby.

Thanks to all above!!!


... In an instant I beheld uprisen
At once three hellish furies stain'd with blood:
in limb and motion feminine they seem'd;
Around them greenest hydras twisting roll'd
Their volumes; adders and cerastes crept
Instead of hair, and their fierce temples bound...

...Turn thyself round, and keep
Thy count'nance hid; for if the Gorgon dire
Be shown, and thou shouldst view it, thy return
Upwards would be for ever lost.

Dante's Inferno: Canto 9



Started the Medusa build in June 2016 apparently: Something Wicked This Way Comes...

She lingered in the 'to-do' pile for many, many months, occasionally having a bit added here and there, or a bit removed, or something sculpted - then torn off and redone.

I will give her this - she's persistent; when I started her I really had no idea where she was going to fit into my convoluted fluff.

Then this image came along:

Medusa - Unknown Artist

Add to this the emerging concept of the Night Witches and a way ahead for her construction revealed itself, and - just as important - a place for her in my story line.

And so here's Medusa:



Her torso, head, left arm, shoulder armour and most of her right arm are from the Bloodwrack Medusa.



I repositioned some of the smaller snakes, and then added the larger serpents that were cut from the Bloodwrack Medusa's weird snake-body and over many attempts were pinned, glued, re-glued, broken off, cursed at - one was even eaten by my cat! - re-pinned, re-glued and finally smoother over with milliput paste to get them to stay in position.



The legs are from either Dark Elf Witches or Dark Eldar, can't remember - probably one from each! The armoured waistband is from the ubiquitous donor Melusai kit - love that kit!


The skirt tails are two ribbon-thingys cut from Harlequin dancer legs, pinned and glued in under the waist armour



The right hand is again from a Dark Eldar or Dark Elf kit, with a brass wrist guard to hide and strengthen the join under it - original intention was to sculpt a copy of the Bloodwrack vambraces but in the spirit of  my new 'get on with it' modelling philosophy, I'll just leave it as is... probably.

The lower half of the spear is from probably an old Dark Elf kit and the lower bit being from the Skitarii kit - another stellar donor kit! The upper staff is brass tube, with a pin glued into the spear head from the ancient High Elf Prince and Noble kit - hopefully it helps sell the Greek mythology vibe these Night Witches seem to have going, anyway.

Thanks for looking!

That's intense. Really cool build. Awesome concept, too. Like the biker sniper, this one does a good job capturing the inspiration of the original drawing.

That is another really challenging conversion Lamby.

CB

That's a great bit of converting!

Nice work on the snake lady. Looking good.

Really cool ordo!

Love the color scheme, posing, detail, and the story in the characters.
Damn solid solid work!

Just spend and hr or so going through all the pages.
Love the conversion work man! vacuum forming diy, brass work, and GS is inspirational!

Rogue Trader crew number four - Ratty the twist is my favorite. That may be due to the coolest gun GW has ever produced.

Captain Brown wrote:That is another really challenging conversion Lamby.

CB

youwashock wrote:That's intense. Really cool build. Awesome concept, too. Like the biker sniper, this one does a good job capturing the inspiration of the original drawing.

aku-chan wrote:That's a great bit of converting!

Dr H wrote:Nice work on the snake lady. Looking good.

Mothsniper wrote:Really cool ordo!

Love the color scheme, posing, detail, and the story in the characters.
Damn solid solid work!

Mothsniper wrote:Just spend and hr or so going through all the pages.
Love the conversion work man! vacuum forming diy, brass work, and GS is inspirational!

Rogue Trader crew number four - Ratty the twist is my favorite. That may be due to the coolest gun GW has ever produced.

Thank you all - apologies for not posting sooner, however:







O][LS

Thought I'd try using just oils, thanks to the amazing video tutelage of James Wappel

Seriously James has more painting talent in one finger than I have entirely. He is also the King of OSL!
 
Still deployed away from the real hobby desk, but Amazon delivers!
 
Basic oil set (10 colors) and Odourless Mineral Spirits and some brushes all for under $40 and added a basic Stormcast set $20
Though whoever called these Easy-To-Build was having a laugh.
Had to cut the pins away and use glue to get rid of the awful gaps.
 
Chose a Beksinki painting for color palette inspiration.


Decided to try OSL for the first time as well .
Oh, and non-metallic metal too...
Basically just dived right in!

So this is the Stormcast from the Not-Easy-To-Build kit with about 4 hours in over two sessions. 
At this point I had to stop and let the oils dry, as I was stripping underlying layers trying to put new ones on.


Went back to him about 3 days later.
Struggled with the concept and execution of NMM, and added green on a whim into the shoulder pads.


Glazed over the original robes about three or four times before settling on this color, and didn't over blend I think?
Over-blending is what I did everywhere else on him! 
While I know you can get smooth blend transitions with oils, I like the slightly more 'painterly' look:


And the final result:


Notes:
- Struggled with keeping the yellow from turning green - not the best color choice for my first OSL attempt.
- NMM is not my game, and not something I really wanted to learn, but having no True Metal paints here this is my attempt.
- The speed of oils over acrylics is something James Wappel talks about a lot and he's correct - when you know what you're doing!
- Over-blending is a curse - the curse of the acrylics painter switching to oils is that we are used to jumping from color to color in a rush to wet blend
- Yes, yes, let the paint (hate) flow**... but you also have to really let oils sit and set for a while before going back at them 

All in all, a fun experiment and a great learning experience.



Thanks for looking!

** Star Wars reference for no real reason

Looks good, I like the osl and the shoulders. I think your advice is very interesting; I'm still not sure I'll make the switch but lots to think about.

Wow, that hoplite snake is excellent, love that the shield is scratchbuilt and I really like your medusa too!

The ETB stormcast aren't the most satisfying kits to build, they do need a lot of snipping and gap filling to make them presentable, hence I avoid them in my pile of shame. Looks like you had a good time overall with oils, so far I only use my own for pin washing and weathering.

Nice to see something, even if it isn't one of the cool snake ladies. Oil experiments look good. Have fun!

inmygravenimage wrote:Looks good, I like the osl and the shoulders. I think your advice is very interesting; I'm still not sure I'll make the switch but lots to think about.

Thanks! - I must admit oils-only is difficult to master - these Stormcast are experimental painting only, trying techniques.

Tyranid Horde wrote:Wow, that hoplite snake is excellent, love that the shield is scratchbuilt and I really like your medusa too!

The ETB stormcast aren't the most satisfying kits to build, they do need a lot of snipping and gap filling to make them presentable, hence I avoid them in my pile of shame. Looks like you had a good time overall with oils, so far I only use my own for pin washing and weathering.

Thanks!
The ETB Stormcast are for experimental painting only, no intent to use these guys in my Inquisitor projects.
The oils were fun mostly though it is very frustrating when you go to add a brush stroke and it strips the underlying layer off back down to the primer.
I think my painting technique is more suited to an acrylic base coat, then enhance with oils - we shall see.

youwashock wrote:Nice to see something, even if it isn't one of the cool snake ladies. Oil experiments look good. Have fun!

Thanks! I'm still 11300 km from my snake ladies... so it was a good opportunity to experiment.
As for fun... well, see above

Thank you all!!!

O][Ls TOO...

Continuing the Oils-only adventure...

Another Beksinski inspiration for the palette:



This is Telaxia from Artisans Guild in 40mm scale.
Obviously my green (Viridian) got away from me and looks nothing like the Beksinski above:



Trying for that white-to-blue 'magic hands' glow and OSL effect, kept the rest pretty dark and loose:



She was painted primarily in one session of about 3 hours.

I had to go back in after it had all dried (about a week later) to fix the detailing in the face:



One thing I discovered is that Cadmium Yellow Hue - which is a faux cadmium - is not colour fast.
I highlighted the green, especially the face, with CYH but after a week it has almost disappeared. 

Any oil-experts out there want to chime in with where I might have gone wrong?

One of the other pearls of wisdom from James Wappel is:
"If a colour goes somewhere, it must go everywhere."
By which he means, everything reflects light (colour) from it's surroundings.
(FPOA from Ironsleet calls this 'mirror colors'.)
I tried it out, so there's hints of green on the spear facing away from the primary light source, the white 'magic hand'.

Apart from the CYH issue, another fun all-oils paint.

Also fun painting a non-GW figure at 40mm, allowed for using a bigger brush and thus a bit of a looser style.

It's a very interesting piece. I think the work on the hand etc is excellent. The profile side looks amazing. I'm less sold on the green of the belly, it looks almost too consistent? I don't know if that's related to the cadmium issue though?

 inmygravenimage wrote:
It's a very interesting piece. I think the work on the hand etc is excellent. The profile side looks amazing. I'm less sold on the green of the belly, it looks almost too consistent? I don't know if that's related to the cadmium issue though?

Thanks inmygravenimage!

That fethin green!!!

It was highlighted with yellow and when wet it looked fine,

But now - yes, the green has absorbed the yellow and become almost a flat colour, the only deviation is into the shadows where it blends into the pthalo blue.

I have thought about going another round on her but then decided just to post and move on to the next experiment.

Primary takeaway from this one - cadmium yellow hue fades into viridian green.

She's a pretty thing. Too bad about losing some of the contrast. Still, that blue glow looks very cool.

 youwashock wrote:
She's a pretty thing. Too bad about losing some of the contrast. Still, that blue glow looks very cool.

Thanks youwasshock!
- I think it's the Viridian soaking up the faux cadmium - but yes, I was not pleased.

However - onwards!

O][LS go Forth...

Skipping forth to number four model - number three was a disaster - in my Oils-only adventures.

Another Beksinki palette - burnt umber and the gold/yellow being the main inspiration:

You can see the yellow got away from me a little, it has come out too saturated (in comparison to the Beksinski).
For a gold NMM attempt - taking the failings of number three and adjusting my approach - it came out ok:



Limited the palette considerably - Burnt Umber, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Titanium White, and a tiny bit of Burnt Sienna.
Armour technique was simple: a Burnt Umber layer, left in the crevices and shadows and wiped away elsewhere with sponge/q-tip; then white wet-in wet:





Added the Cad yellow over the Burnt Umber wet-in-wet, then deliberately stopped after 2 hours painting.
Waited a week or more before going back in with the white, as the first layer was streaky:



And then another week later, went back with the Cad yellow (mixed with White) to highlight the gold.
Then Burnt Sienna into the the gold 'shadows' to make it more 'gold' and less dirty-looking. 
Finally, a Burnt Umber very dry scumble to regain some of the nuanced shades lost in my over exuberant White layering:



All up, I would say white armour with oils was more enjoyable and far quicker than with acrylics. 
(Though I would use a lighter primer next time.)

Another fun oils-only paint (we shall not speak of number 3!) on my hike up the learning curve!

Thanks for looking!

Test 3 and 4 are pretty great in my opinion, I know you didn't achieve the look you were going for on number 3 but I've always found a green tone to be difficult to blend up to yellow. I've always found that you need a lot of yellow to change the tone of green, even for acrylics.

Number 4 looks great, I like the tones and textures you've achieved. Have you tried the spot technique at all yet? If you wanted smoother results, spotting colours and blending them would be a nice way to unify a scheme, which is what I've done for added weathering over different colours.

Keep it up!

I like this, the armour tones more than the yellows. I think maybe they need thinned out to white?

Tyranid Horde wrote:Test 3 and 4 are pretty great in my opinion, I know you didn't achieve the look you were going for on number 3 but I've always found a green tone to be difficult to blend up to yellow. I've always found that you need a lot of yellow to change the tone of green, even for acrylics.

Number 4 looks great, I like the tones and textures you've achieved. Have you tried the spot technique at all yet? If you wanted smoother results, spotting colours and blending them would be a nice way to unify a scheme, which is what I've done for added weathering over different colours.

Keep it up!

Thanks Tyranid Horde!
- my basic mistake (I've come to realise) was wet-blending the yellow oils over the green - basically the still-wet (for five days) green oil paint just absorbs the yellow.
- I've utilised the 'spot technique' a little for weathering, but not on these models, it's all wet-in-wet.

inmygravenimage wrote:I like this, the armour tones more than the yellows. I think maybe they need thinned out to white?

Thanks inmygravenimage!
- you're probably right, but I'm determined to move forward rather than keep revisiting these experiments

Speaking of...



O][LS Continue...

Onto another Oils-Only paint...

Choose this color palette (image used without permission) - (NO YELLOW!):



To use on the smallest model so far attempted - the Siren from Creature Caster.



Had to mod her a little - ditched the claw-arm-dagger-bone things completely.
And the shoulder armour...
And the cloak parts...
And added some extra hair to cover things up a bit.



Went for a limited palette of Pthalo Blue, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Red and Titanium white:



As per the reference image, it's a two-light source mood piece - 
Dim red light (almost blood-like) coming from top left down onto her face.
A more diffuse white/blue source off to her right.



Red kept to one side only to try to emphasise the dark side vs the lighter side



Wanted the red side to have very dark purple (hard to see in pics) to red (light) and blue (shadows) transitions:



Attempted to really up the contrast a little on the left side, as contrast is something I struggle with in my painting.


Another fun oils-only experiment on a model I would not normally paint.

Thanks for looking!

Very impressive, especially in the reds and the overlap. Still think the top notes of the white/blue-white could do with being sharper (again) - but way better than anything I could achieve!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Very impressive, especially in the reds and the overlap. Still think the top notes of the white/blue-white could do with being sharper (again) - but way better than anything I could achieve!

Thanks inmygravenimage!
Appreciate the C+C - still higher contrast required, I agree!

Stormcast has a wonderful painterly, aged quality. Not-quite-a-daemonette-but-close looks great in the red/blue.

 youwashock wrote:
Stormcast has a wonderful painterly, aged quality. Not-quite-a-daemonette-but-close looks great in the red/blue.

Thanks youwasshock!
I think the white armour will be the scheme for the next phase of my Inquisitor project.

Meanwhile:



W][P - Wurmspat

Since I'm on the move heading back to Australia (and into quarantine) following this long deployment, my Oils-Only painting experiments are on hold.

Amazon delivered the Wurmspat kit just days before my departure.

Not sure if the trio will be a one-off display unit painted in oils, or painted up as Wretched Sons (acrylics), or added to my Inquisitor project...

Anyway, here's a little WIP of some minor conversions on the spear-dude so far.



Cut down on the fat rolls around the legs, neck and arms, filled in the hooves, and removed the ghastly horns from the shoulder pads (just not my style)
I may yet cover over the Nurgle symbol on the abdomen plate, still undecided.



The top-knot is being converted into more of a Grecian-style helm crest.
Chopped away the wooden branch that was the spear haft - later I'll add a brass tube over the stand-in paperclip section.



The main section to be sculpted will be the rear tabard section where I removed his hideous case of haemorrhoids.

Thanks for looking!

Interesting to see your take on this!

oooh, interested to see your take on this gang. Again, the nurgle models providing the basis for some awesome convervsions. Just like the good old days of my first discovery of Inq28! V excited to see this one develop...

Thanks for sharing

inmygravenimage wrote:Interesting to see your take on this!

Cheers inmygravenimage!

IGtR= wrote:oooh, interested to see your take on this gang. Again, the nurgle models providing the basis for some awesome convervsions. Just like the good old days of my first discovery of Inq28! V excited to see this one develop...

Thanks for sharing

Thanks IGtR!

Hopefully this update won't disappoint

W][P - Wurmspat 2
 
Quarantine - so plenty of time for (re)learning how to sculpt!
 
Decided these three deserve to be a solo project, not part of any of my pre-existng warbands. 
 
Set some build parameters - can only do the conversion work with what I have with me.
Which is: greenstuff, milliput and Apoxie Sculpt; some paperclips; and no bits to kitbash with! 
(Caveat - may have to use brass tube for the weapon hafts when I get them home.)
 
First up, Stabby: 
 
Filled in the belly symbol, cleaned up the legs where I scraped away fat rolls.
Sculpted the 'shark-fin' ridge on the armour (any ideas what that's called?)
It's still wet in this pic, and too fat, and too high - needs to be refined by much sanding and scraping. 
Sculpting medium was a 50/50 GS and milliput mix:
  

 
Next two pics show the sculpted skirt to cover the haemorrhoid surgery previously done. 
Two sculpting sessions, the first being straight GS to build the underlying 'scaffold'.
Which then allowed me to sculpt the ragged detail in using GS/milliput without it collapsing. 
 

 
Needs a decent sandpaper/file to even out the rougher parts.
That's why I use the GS/milliput mix, as it dries hard instead of rubbery-hard like straight GS:
 

 
And so, onto Bob.
 
Originally, Bob was just going to get slimmed down a little, but he kind of got away from me... 
Filled in the gut(s) and third eye hole with milliput (smoothed with water it leaves no tide marks).
Enhanced the vambraces (you can see the right one here) with GS/milliput.
Added the start of the plume to the helmet using cut-n-carved sprue:
 

 
Added another ridge to the shoulder armour.
Not sure if I'm going to add the 'stop-the-axe-sliding-off-the-armour-into-my-neck' bit...
(Seriously, that part must have a name, right?) 
Went over the arm-band that had been damaged by exuberant knifing during his weight-loss session... 
The more I look at it, the more I think that might get re-sculpted into more of a metal torc:
 

 
Removed the head-with-worms that was sitting on top of that lower skull.
Re-sculpted the skirt section - there's a plan in play for how that skull hangs...
 

 
And so, onto Margo. Yes, she will have a head...
First thing was to get her on a bit of a fitness regime to lose the gut.
She also had a bit of a boob-reduction, especially under the right arm where it looked like she had a third boob.
(Did she have a third boob?)
Re-sculpted the front of the skirt - unfortunately, I did this with straight GS.
Started to add to the shawl, using GS/milliput rolled flat onto foil strips (cut from Chobani yoghurt lids!):
 

 
Cut the tentacle off before I broke it, in case you were wondering... 
Went a bit over the top on the shawl - the black stuff is BSI CA glue. 
The curled shawl 'tail' hanging over the shoulder-sack will haunt me for the rest of my days...
 

 
Last two sections of shawl tails done.
Actually, the darker green on the right of image is the first section I did after the front skirt, in GS only.
The section coming from under the pauldron had to be curved just so, to fit the little karambit knife she carries into its original nodes:
 

 
Getting down to finer and finer details on all three now.
Next up, sculpting chains, more armour detailing, maybe some fur, and possibly even a skull!
 
Thanks for looking!

I really enjoy when people clean up or dial back these modern Nurgle minis, and you are crushing these three. Excited to watch the progress, particularly when paint pulls all those shades of green together.

Also on the armor, that shoulder ridge might be called a 'stop rib' (https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m19g1fs8YP1r49ix5o4_1280.gif) (https://www.shadowedrealm.com/medieval-glossary/term/Stop_Rib), just madly exaggerated for heroic fantasy purposes.

 Boss Salvage wrote:
I really enjoy when people clean up or dial back these modern Nurgle minis, and you are crushing these three. Excited to watch the progress, particularly when paint pulls all those shades of green together.

Also on the armor, that shoulder ridge might be called a 'stop rib' (https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m19g1fs8YP1r49ix5o4_1280.gif) (https://www.shadowedrealm.com/medieval-glossary/term/Stop_Rib), just madly exaggerated for heroic fantasy purposes.

O Thanks Boss Salvage!

I'm not a fan of the more modern trend of over-the-top Nurglisation or Chaosification.
(I'm looking at you, excessive-and-tedious-to-paint Chaos armour trim!)

And thanks also for the armour glossary, I googled it but didn't equate that nomenclature 'stop-rib' to the actual part until you provided the glossary link.

Rather liked my term 'stop-the-axe-sliding-off-the-armour-into-my-neck' ...

Cheers!

I'm enjoying the low-key nurglification too. If nothing else, it's interesting to see how to go about modifying the monopose with tentacular explosion (which, tbh, is usually my approach). Great job!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
I'm enjoying the low-key nurglification too. If nothing else, it's interesting to see how to go about modifying the monopose with tentacular explosion (which, tbh, is usually my approach). Great job!

Cheers inmygravenimage!

There may some more tentacle action on the horizon...

Very nicely done with the denurglification of the Wurmspat, I always found the newer nurgle stuff to be a little over the top too and I prefer more down to earth or grittier rot and decay.

Keep it up, keen to see what's next!

 Tyranid Horde wrote:
Very nicely done with the denurglification of the Wurmspat, I always found the newer nurgle stuff to be a little over the top too and I prefer more down to earth or grittier rot and decay.

Keep it up, keen to see what's next!

Thanks Tyranid Horde!

W][P - WURMSPAT 3a

Trying a new format for posting - makes it easier to post to all platforms.






















Margo requires a little more work so she will feature in W][P Part 3B, hopefully soonish.

Thanks for looking!

Outstanding. Your comment about chains made me lol - and I certainly don't disagree The crests are, at a push, my favourite parts, along with the axe haft and nipple ring. And the chains, of course.

Awesome bit of sculpting going on. The headcrests are brilliant.

Great builds, Lamby. Always impressed by your meticulous process.

inmygravenimage wrote:Outstanding. Your comment about chains made me lol - and I certainly don't disagree The crests are, at a push, my favourite parts, along with the axe haft and nipple ring. And the chains, of course.

Thanks inmygravenimage!
O those fething chains... this is why jeweller's chain was invented!

Tyranid Horde wrote:Awesome bit of sculpting going on. The headcrests are brilliant.

Thanks Tyranid Horde!

youwashock wrote:Great builds, Lamby. Always impressed by your meticulous process.

Thanks youwasshock!



W][P - WURMSPAT 3B

And - as promised - here's Margo the Witch Queen.
Including all the robe/shawl work, there was a similar amount of conversion work on her as Bob...
No chains though!











Thanks for looking!

That is some nice converting! Love the helm crests.

+ BYRN +


Another long hiatus between posts, life gets in the way sometimes as we all know too well.

So, new house, new hobby area, and a new Inqu][sitor character – Byrn!









Ms Byrn is first of a new Imperial warband joining the pursuit of the heretical Inquisitor Kallatar…

Thanks for looking!

Great kitbash! Very characterful.

That's sweet. Ready to turn n' burn.

Nice conversions! Margo looks especially incredible, the hair and crown really sell the witch queen vibe.

Love the take on the BSF flamer - I love the original model, but always awesome to see a piece one likes converted to something equally (or more, as in this case) awesome!

Thanks for sharing

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:Great kitbash! Very characterful.

youwashock wrote:That's sweet. Ready to turn n' burn.

Two Spartan wrote:Nice conversions! Margo looks especially incredible, the hair and crown really sell the witch queen vibe.

IGtR= wrote:Love the take on the BSF flamer - I love the original model, but always awesome to see a piece one likes converted to something equally (or more, as in this case) awesome!

Thanks for sharing

Thanks all!





+PAYN+

Heavy war machine rider Payn joins the (as yet undecided) new Inquisitorial warband alongside Byrn.

Basic Ambot build, added some Dreadnaught shin armour, a few extra tech bits here and there – including the Primaris Aggressor weapon on the left arm.

Lastly, cut open the top and jammed a Witch Elf body in there.







Thanks for looking!

(And another random Beksinski for added grimdark...)

I love her. Knight Sabre on steroids.

 youwashock wrote:
I love her. Knight Sabre on steroids.

Thanks youwasshock!




+ SYN +



Hitched myself to the @28mag Female Space Marine project bandwagon.

Sister Syn is the result:













Final image shows added melta-bomb-bearing Cherub...



Still unsure if the nasty little thing will be included in the final presento - Thoughts?

Looks brilliant. I'd definitely keep the cherub. It balances the length of the weapon, and frames her face as the centre of the model. Gives the whole piece a nice S-shaped flow too.

 Tim the Biovore wrote:
Looks brilliant. I'd definitely keep the cherub. It balances the length of the weapon, and frames her face as the centre of the model. Gives the whole piece a nice S-shaped flow too.

Thank you Tim the Biovore!





+ DYCE +

The axe lady commeth... here's Dyce.
She's destined for part of the new Inquisitor crew along with the previous three ladies.
Primarily built from the Necromunda Escher chem-thrower body.
Removed the belt and mini-tabard completely, rebuilt the rim of the armour-bra, and added some extra armour sections to both front and back.
Both forearms are from Sisters of Silence, the axe arm upper is a Melusai part, as is the hand; the weapon arm upper is Apoxie Sculpt with a SoS pauldron that's been cut down a fraction.
The weapon was a re-build of the Admech Sicarian flechette-blaster; the axe head is from an old Dark Elf Blackguard kit, with an Admech part thrown in to tech it up a bit.













Thanks for looking!

Hi Lamby, I just wanted to say that I think you conversion work is really fantastic. Very inspirational!

I really look forward to seeing more.

Bencyclopedia wrote:
Hi Lamby, I just wanted to say that I think you conversion work is really fantastic. Very inspirational!

I really look forward to seeing more.

Thanks Bencyclopedia!

Once again, an amazing bit of kit-bashing!

That's an awful lot of work you've put in to shaving down the body, but it all comes together really well (not the easiest thing to do with such a large weapon).

Beautiful conversions. Dyce looks chopped up and reassembled something fierce. I can only imagine how much work you put into it.

aku-chan wrote:Once again, an amazing bit of kit-bashing!

SmallChanges wrote:That's an awful lot of work you've put in to shaving down the body, but it all comes together really well (not the easiest thing to do with such a large weapon).

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:Beautiful conversions. Dyce looks chopped up and reassembled something fierce. I can only imagine how much work you put into it.

Thanks All!!!



+ The Harpy +

A new addition to join the Titans horde - the Harpy.

Made primarily from a Warcry Chaotic Beasts Fury body with a Melusai torso to feminise the Fury.
Cut and re-positioned the Dark Eldar Scourge legs into the aggressive posture.
Shield and right fore-arm are from a Warcry Spire Tyrants Pit Veteran.

Left arm and hook-knife from a Daughters of Khaine Khinerai Life Taker.
To tie her into the serpent theme of the Titans she has the snakey Daughters of Khaine Melusai Blood Sisters helmet.
The neck was sculpted from Apoxie Sculpt and the hair sculpted from  greenstuff/milliput mix.













Probably needs some more detailing on the strap-to-armour connection... 
Also might change the tail out, might not.
Until then, thanks for looking!

That's very cool indeed
Great job!

Three lovely ladies. Always amazing work here. Syn is particularly awesome.

inmygravenimage wrote:That's very cool indeed
Great job!

youwashock wrote:Three lovely ladies. Always amazing work here. Syn is particularly awesome.

Thanks guys, appreciate the comments!

some great kitbashing

Very snazzy!

THREE W][Ps

Been in quarantine for the past 14 days, and luckily I had some of my sculpting and modelling kit with me.

Though nothing is completed - as is usual for me - here's three of my current projects.

W][P the First - the Archer

She started life as this model I randomly found on Amazon about a year ago: 



Unfortunately, the horse section was badly miscast - actually, most of the model was pretty poor - so I decided to turn her into a bust as a modelling and painting exercise.

Also unfortunately, at some point I appear to have lost the hair sections.

So some armour repair and and an attempt to sculpt her flowing locks brought us to this:


Sculpting repairs to the side armour panels in my usual Greenstuff/Milliput mix.


The black stuff is Madworks thin superglue, it self-levels as it dries so it makes a decent gap filler.
Over this I will use Mr Surfacer 500 to get a uniform surface.


The quiver texture was just awful, here I'm about halfway thru smoothing it down before I add some detailing.


And the hair... Mmm... Not so sure the hair has been a success.


W][P the Second - the Baron Not-Harkonnen

The image of Stellan Skarsgard's Baron Vladimir Harkonnen rising on his suspensors in the Dune trailer immediately set the creative juices a-flow... just like the spice.

BNH started life from two main sections from two different models.

The upper torso and head of this Nurgle Writher-thingy (and the tentacle arm is around here somewhere...):


And the Death Guard Foetid Bloat-Drone tendrils:



So with some cutting and glueing and pinning and more glueing and a fair amount of Greenstuff I've reached this point:


The Baron Not-Harkonnen rising...


The lower section of his belly and the support pole will be covered in robes.


Cut the cable/tentacle section free from the upper bit, and reversed it to make a power module that’s embedded into him.


Added a bunch of random cables and bits to fill it out.


And finally: 

W][P the Third - A new Femme Space Marine on the table - Sister Wrath:



Similar to Sister Sin, she will be made primarily from a female a Stormcast body.

So far I've just made her shoulder plate and her sword.

The sword is mixed-media - wire, brass, white metal, plastic part and styrene sheet
And built from scratch, since I broke the Warcry Cypher Lords blade I had brought with me for the task... 

Thanks for looking!

As ever, I am simply in awe of your prodigious output! Female marines are great, and love to see that female Stormcast get a new take - there are so many cracking versions out there. Truly the modern nurgle warrior of Inq28 years past

Thanks for sharing

BNH is already an amazing piece.

Scary stuff as always!

IGtR= wrote:As ever, I am simply in awe of your prodigious output! Female marines are great, and love to see that female Stormcast get a new take - there are so many cracking versions out there. Truly the modern nurgle warrior of Inq28 years past
Thanks for sharing

Thanks IGtR - and yes, that old Nurgle Lord must be close to the most-converted miniature of all time

youwashock wrote:BNH is already an amazing piece.

Thanks youwashock!

Malika2 wrote:Scary stuff as always!

Thanks Malika2!



+
Complete redo on sculpting the hair, now primed and ready for painting.
+













Thanks for looking!

Resculpt is flawless. Kudos.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Resculpt is flawless. Kudos.

Thanks inmygravenimage!




The BANNERMAN

Been over a year since I built the Bannerman, finally painted him up.
Used a few Vallejo acrylic colors as washes to get a tint of rusty brown and green, then oils over the top.
Mostly a Zorn palette - White, Black, Cadmium Red and Yellow Ochre - with added Pthalo Blue and Olive Green.
Did the metallics with Scale 75 Silver and Bronze acrylic, after the oils dried.
The blue/green palette was initially inspired by this Beksinski piece:






















Thanks for looking!

Looks great. Nice and earthy.

That's magnificently vile. The belly is the highlight for me.

Lovely tones on that - a very ominous composition

Excellent work

Full of beautiful stuff as always.

Looking forward to seeing more of the baron, that is right up my street.

Lovely work on the newer Inq band, and really enjoyed the oil experiments.

youwashock wrote:Looks great. Nice and earthy.

Thanks youwashock!
Oils turn 'earthy' (aka muddy) very easily, so I just go with it!

inmygravenimage wrote:That's magnificently vile. The belly is the highlight for me.

Thanks inmygravenimage!
Again, oils made that very easy

IGtR= wrote:Lovely tones on that - a very ominous composition

Thanks IGtR!

Cap'n Facebeard wrote:Excellent work

Thanks Cap'n Facebeard!

monkeytroll wrote:Full of beautiful stuff as always.
Looking forward to seeing more of the baron, that is right up my street.
Lovely work on the newer Inq band, and really enjoyed the oil experiments.

Thanks monkeytroll!
Waiting on some bits for the Not-Baron... Xmas post to Australia is extraordinarily slow this year!


W][P

WIP pics of a 2nd Female Space Marine to join Sister Sin, who was built for the @28_mag Female Space Marine Project




Built a similar pedestal-style base with steps, using cork and sheet styrene.
Needs a few more techno-widgets and a skull or two...


The original Stormcast body was cut at the waist and rotated more to increase the dynamics of the pose.
The wrist of her sword hand is going to be turned out to angle the blade away from her.
Wondering what to do about her non-existent left arm and hand...


Reconstructed the sword hilt using brass and a glass bead. 
Will add a bolt-pistol holster on the right thigh, might sling a bolter from her somewhere...

Lots to do!

Thanks for looking!

Elaborate and rather lovely.

Looking great. Love that sword.

Bionics for the left arm?

inmygravenimage wrote:Elaborate and rather lovely.

Thanks inmygravenimage!
These newer Stormcast femme models make elaborate relatively easy.

youwashock wrote:Looking great. Love that sword.
Bionics for the left arm?

Thanks youwasshock! Maybe bionics... maybe a storm bolter... not sure yet.



WURMSPAT: Margo the Witch Queen

Finally completed painting the Wurmspat trio that I started converting in Afghanistan late last year and completed while in quarantine the first two weeks of this year. 
First up - Margo the Witch Queen.











First layer was a quick splash of Vallejo acrylic washes to get a tint of rusty brown and green.
Then Metallics with Scale 75 Silver and Bronze acrylic.
And then oils - mostly Olive Green, Pthalo Blue. Yellow Ochre, Black, Titanium white, some Cadmium Red and Indian Yellow, then a tiny amount of Brilliant Yellow Pale and lastly the Turquoise verdigris effect, 
The blue/green palette was initially inspired by the Beksinski piece in the header
+
Thanks for looking!

That's excellent. The Wurmspat are great figs and I love your take on her.

Very nice Lamby.

Cheers,

CB

inmygravenimage wrote:That's excellent. The Wurmspat are great figs and I love your take on her.

Cheers!

 Captain Brown wrote:
Very nice Lamby.
Cheers,
CB

Thanks CB!

WURMSPAT: Stabby

Second Wurmspat - Stabby.
Painted alongside Margo with same scheme and palette, just a whole lot more bronze armour!












Thanks for looking!

Very nice

That rust is the very tits sir.

Guardling wrote:Very nice

Thanks Guardling!

inmygravenimage wrote:That rust is the very tits sir.

Cheers inmygravenimage

WURMSPAT

Final WURMSPAT - Bob.

Again, painted at the same time with a similar scheme and palette as Margo and Stabby.













Thanks for looking!

That guy is too good. Loads of character.

 youwashock wrote:
That guy is too good. Loads of character.

Cheers Youwasshock!!!

I very much love this thread. Some great rusty bois here

W][P

Been a while (yet again...) so here's some WIP pics of a third female Spacemarine to go with Sister Sin  and  Sister 2 who is still awaiting some robe sculpting.

This lady is a big girl with a pimped-up jetpack and a superhero landing pose.

She'll be holding a big old battle-ax in her raised left hand. 

The Stormcast base model is Gardus Steel Soul; the armoured torso was sliced and scraped and sanded and filled with putty to get the clean chest - I'm trying to decide whether to add an Aquilla or some other embellishment.

The jet-pack was from the old Sanguinary Guard, with the little side jets replaced with Eldar jetbike nozzles, and the main jet replaced with another possibly Eldar/possibly Dark Eldar aircraft nozzle.









The big old shoulder pauldron is a Terminator one, the Lion Pauldron was taken from the right shoulder and transplanted across to the left, with some additional material on top to bulk it up.

The base is entirely scratch-built, a larger version of Sister Sin's base.

Thanks for looking!

She is awesome! That pose is phenomenal.

Fabulous work, love the super pose, look forward to RESCUE colours

Very cool Marine.
Not sure an Aquila would work with her though as the change of animal could confuse the very prominent lion imagery...
I'd say some necklaces or purity seals swinging around maybe space wolf bits?

youwashock wrote:She is awesome! That pose is phenomenal.

Thanks youwashock!
The base model Gardus Steel Soul provided the pose, I just ran with it

inmygravenimage wrote:Fabulous work, love the super pose, look forward to RESCUE colours

Thanks inmygravenimage!
I think you mean DEATHWATCH colors???

Guardling wrote:Very cool Marine.
Not sure an Aquila would work with her though as the change of animal could confuse the very prominent lion imagery...
I'd say some necklaces or purity seals swinging around maybe space wolf bits?

Thanks Guardling!
Hadn't thought about the mix of imagery, so thanks - instead of an Aquilla I'm trying a press-mold lion - if that looks gak then maybe another ][...


Thanks all!!!

Looks great so far!

 aku-chan wrote:
Looks great so far!

Thanks aku-chan!


W][P - Sister Wrath
+
Finally (mostly) finished the second female Space Marine started in November last year - Sister Wrath.
+
Again, the base model was a female Stormcast, which I sliced through horizontally at the waist, then pinned the two halves back together but rotated the torso more to the left. Apoxie Sculpt was used to rebuild her armoured mid-section and fix the the torso in the new position, then finally the front section of robes was re-sculpted with a greenstuff/milliput mix.
+
Since the first W][P of her I've replaced the original blade with a longer and slightly less-curved one from the Warcry Cipher Lords. The slightly curved sword hilt was made by making three shallow circumference cuts in a length of copper tube, before sliding it over the wire pinned through the hand, then carefully bending tube and wire together; the pommel is a glass bead super-glued to the end of the protruding wire, which was then filed down flush with the bead.
+
Both arms are from the original model however the upper arms were cut away so the arms could be posed to fit; under those nice big shoulder pauldrons the upper arms are simple styrene tube, since they're barely visible.
+
The only possible addition I might make to her is to add a holstered bolter on her left thigh - though I'm still trying to make it fit without looking awkward.
+
The base was a cast-off from a Stormcast Easy to Build kit, and was built up with cork and some tech bits; styrene was glued down to create the smoother carved stone surface, while the cork was left rough for the natural and/or damaged rocks. Tamiya putty was used to smooth over the steps, and a pair of the obligatory 40k skulls were the final touch.
+
I have no idea where the head came from!
 

With a name like Wrath, you can bet she's one angry lass!
 

Some poor Chaos Marine met his match today!
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

Sister Wrath has perfected the enemy-intimidating sword-slap-in-the-palm move!

Thanks for looking!

That's a great pose, love the flow. Neat basing too.

Supremely creative! awesome poses/basing

So very nice. Wrath is quite fitting as a name. Seeing shades of Valeria as portrayed by Sandahl Bergman.

inmygravenimage wrote:That's a great pose, love the flow. Neat basing too.

Thanks inmygravenimage!

Stevefamine wrote:Supremely creative! awesome poses/basing

Thanks Stevefamine!

youwashock wrote:So very nice. Wrath is quite fitting as a name. Seeing shades of Valeria as portrayed by Sandahl Bergman.

Thanks youwashock!
I was wondering if anyone would see the inspiration, here's my mood board for Wrath:

Tiny complicated things


Hi - my name is Lamby and I make tiny complicated things!


Press-mold copy of the Sororitas holstered bolter, using Apoxie Sculpt and some bolter bits.





More details on the jetpack for Sister 3.


Patched the holes in the Nurgle axe, fixed the edge.
Built the haft from copper tube that was cut around its circumference at intervals then fitted over a bent wire to get the subtle curve.
This is the weapon for Sister no 3.

Thanks for looking!

Loving the custom jump pack. Looking forward to whoever will be swinging that axe!

+ SISTER DREAD +

Here’s the fourth (of a planned 5) Amazon Astartes - Sister Dread.




She’s an amalgamation of two AoS Stormcast Castigators.



I didn’t like the weird pose on the female one, so took the slimmer lower legs from her and transplanted them onto the male one.
Then it was a case of shaving down the male torso, arms and those thick upper thighs.
(She’s still pretty thicc ...)
Then GS sculpted the tabard back in.



Also added new gloved hands as the originals were holding the big crossbow-thingy that I'd tried to convert into a sniper rifle.



Slinging the bolter was far more of a nightmare than it should have been.



Originally she had a sniper rifle, but it didn’t really fit with the rest of the team.
I switched the rifle out for a naginata similar to Sister Sin’s, but the blade was just too long, hanging off the base.
So Repentia chainsword for the win!



Thanks for looking!

Very cool, and nice to see you're still making stuff!

 Guardling wrote:
Very cool, and nice to see you're still making stuff!

Thank you Guardling!

SISTER DREAD - WHICH WEAPON?


Naginata, or


Chainsword?

I keep going back and forth on the naginata blade or the chainsword?

What does the wider community think?

I've just gone through and reread your blog, and can I just say your work is amazing!

There is something very 40k about a chain halberd, and if it was a standalone model I would go for it, but the naginata blade ties in nicely with the two other blade wielders that you have so far. For a cohesive unit I would go for the naginata, but I'm sure whichever you go for will turn out awesome!

Very badass!

I'm a fan of the Chainsword Onna Stick.

I'm gonna vote Naginata - the chainsword looks a little frail in comparison to the body, and the Naginata goes better with the rest of the unit (though I do love the idea of the chainsword halberd).

Chainsaw halberd. Because chainsaw.

I thought Inquisitor was 54mm models, these all look to be 28mm. Am I missing something?

ManSizedTarget wrote:I've just gone through and reread your blog, and can I just say your work is amazing!

There is something very 40k about a chain halberd, and if it was a standalone model I would go for it, but the naginata blade ties in nicely with the two other blade wielders that you have so far. For a cohesive unit I would go for the naginata, but I'm sure whichever you go for will turn out awesome!

Thanks ManSizedTarget!

aku-chan wrote:Very badass!

I'm a fan of the Chainsword Onna Stick.

Thanks aku-chan!

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:I'm gonna vote Naginata - the chainsword looks a little frail in comparison to the body, and the Naginata goes better with the rest of the unit (though I do love the idea of the chainsword halberd).

Thanks Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll!

inmygravenimage wrote:Chainsaw halberd. Because chainsaw.

Thanks inmygravenimage!

Toofast wrote:I thought Inquisitor was 54mm models, these all look to be 28mm. Am I missing something?

Toofast - this is Inquisitor @ 28mm or Inq28



Thanks all - so far the naginata is leading over the chainsword (on three different blogs combined) - might have another idea yet...

Keep at the craziness Lamby.

Cheers,

CB

Chainglaive is more grimdark, the spear attachment makes it more regal both look good

WIP of Amazon Astartes number four - the Standard Bearer. 

(She would've been number five however I've decided I don't like Sister Dread so she's waiting on the workbench for a re-build.)



This lass is built primarily from the second of the femme Sequitors; not sure which Stormcast the arms are from.

The head is an old Dark Eldar Witch one; going to use some greenstuff to detail the hair a bit.



Left shoulder pauldron is an old SM Terminator one with everything except the skull scraped and sanded off.



The small axe is from the old Chaos Marauder's kit - an absolute gem of kit for bits; though I've replaced the plastic haft with my now-standard copper tubing.



The slung weapon is an SoB bolter with foil strap; the foil has been 'painted' with milliput paste to strengthen it.



The base is a greenstuff/Apoxie sculpt 'cast' of one of the previous cork ones in an attempt to speed up the base-build process.



Tossing about the idea of slinging a curved sword on a baldric low on the left hip.



Grey Knight terminator pauldron on the left side, replaced the Stormcast lightning bolt thingy on the front of the robe with an ][.

The standard is just a copper tube with the plastic end of a Chaos marauder spear, and as yet there's nothing on top as I have to decide whether to make it a banner or something else.

Thanks for looking!

Cor. That's a bit good. Thanks for the walkthrough.

Very nice!
I think a baldric is a good idea, but leave it empty, for the axe...

Looks great!

inmygravenimage wrote:Cor. That's a bit good. Thanks for the walkthrough.

Guardling wrote:Very nice!
I think a baldric is a good idea, but leave it empty, for the axe...

aku-chan wrote:Looks great!

Thanks all!

Please enjoy this reel I made for Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CiPP51OAM5M/

Ooh nice. Following you now

W][P - Sister Luna
+
W][P of Sister Luna - she's wearing Paladin-armour (similar to Sister Smash - real name pending), toting a BFG* and a hell of an attitude...
* Big Frikkin Gun



For a months I've been trying to outfit one of the Sisters with a sniper weapon but nothing seemed to work. Then I discovered the amazing work of Lunax7070 who is the undisputed modern-era king of truescale Astartes.

Sister Luna is a shameless tribute-build to Lunax7070's Astral Claw; that weapon-stance, attitude and aggression really works.



She's built mostly using Severin from the Steelheart's Champions, which I bought to use as test models while learning to use oil paints, hence the dramatic monochromatic W][P pics; in full colour she's grey and blue and green and partially painted and just a mess.



The original model lost his his legs, his head, the gigantic Final Fantasy sword and both arms, and the plumed-helmet he was holding, and transformed from a male Stormcast to an Amazon Astartes.  I replaced the lower legs with Stormcast Paladin legs, as I wanted the armour to match Sister Smash (real name pending); after cutting away the legs I had to sculpt back in the upper thighs and the two pteruges* damaged in the leg removal process.
*Pteruges: the defensive skirt of leather or multi-layered fabric (linen) strips or lappets worn dependant from the waists of Roman and Greek cuirasses of warriors and soldiers, defending the hips and thighs.



The right shoulder pauldron comes from an old Chaos Terminator, with the little triangles beloved of Chaos scraped off, and the lower trim and guard rebuilt using styrene sheet and some GS; still have to add the tiny rivets on the lower trim to match the upper. The left shoulder pauldron is - as usual - from a Grey Knight Terminator.



Her fore-arms and the basic shape of her BFG comes from a Vanguard-Raptor Longstrike crossbow; I pinned the forearms to the Stormcast torso to get the right position and then used styrene tube and Apoxie Sculpt to build the upper arms. The ridiculously long crossbow was cut down just forward of the left hand, and the spike-stock was also sliced back. I used styrene sheet and Apoxie Sculpt to build over the crossbow body, then chiselled out the chamber-well and added the cocking-lever.
+
I imagine her BFG as an Imperial Guard .75 cal* sniper rifle that she liberated and sawed down to Astartes assault-weapon size; there's the beginnings of some character fluff there but I'll leave that alone for now. I'm vaguely modelling the BFG off an FN SCAR-H with the M203 attachment, though it's a bit more chunky and there's some detailing to go yet - this is a W][P after all.
* Apparently, standard bolter rounds are .75 cal Bolter Ammunition
+
W][P-wise - more old-paint removal to occur on the cloak/robe, BFG detailing, rivet detailing on the right pauldron and upper torso, adding a baldric-slung curved short-sword to tie her back into the exisiting Sisters, and adding holstered bolt-pistol secondary on the right hip.
+
She's definitely going to lose that itchy trigger finger.
+
Thanks for looking!

+ WIP - T][TANS - SCYLLA +

And… back: to frantically working on Scylla, a new (old) Greek mythology-inspired mini for my Inq28 Titans horde.
Why frantically? Because this month’s Grimdark Compendium challenge by @grimdarkcompendium has galvanised me to complete the build and paint (!) her - Blanchitsu / Grimdark style!
First started 3 years ago - just after smushing the pile of Melusai tails together I was deployed to Afghanistan for 7 months. When I returned home in 2021 I was then side-tracked away from the Titans into building femme Astartes.
+
Back in 2020, it all started with a random pile of Melusai tails:


First basic steps of the base:


Tentacle pile taking shape on the base:


And so to 2023...
Glued yet another Melusai tail to the top of the tentacle pile, and melded the pile of tails together with GS+Apoxie Sculpt.
Then pinned and glued the upper human half on top - its a Warcry Splintered Fang Clearblood , as they’re good Hoplite conversion fodder:


I decided the GS bulking her out around the middle was too smooth and too much of it, so i removed most of it.
Back when I mashed all those Melusai tails together I was pretty care-free about it and damaged a lot of the texture, as I was originally going to cover most of the tentacles with robes, but have since changed my mind…
So for a few days I’ve been madly re-sculpting scale texture.
+
Added a whole series of scales along a number of the tentacles, over three sculpting session. Also added female anatomy, which has been sculpted over to make an armoured chest-plate. And filled in the helm engraving:


Sculpted the back-plate of the armour... and a whole lot more scales:

+
Still to do:
Bit more scale texture to sculpt, and refine.
Shield and trident just about completed.
Then to add some minimal skirts to hide some of the areas where the tentacle connections don’t make anatomical sense.
And some form of abdominal armour/belt to attach the robes to.
+
Thanks for looking!

Awesome and unexpected conversion! Really smart use of bits, love the choice of that Warcry upper.

That's shaping up nicely! Like a Bloodwrack Medusa on steroids.

That's some snazzy converting!

Boss Salvage wrote:Awesome and unexpected conversion! Really smart use of bits, love the choice of that Warcry upper.

youwashock wrote:That's shaping up nicely! Like a Bloodwrack Medusa on steroids.

aku-chan wrote:That's some snazzy converting!

Thanks all!!!


+ WIP 2 - T][TANS - SCYLLA +

Lots of sculpting going into Scylla!

Back when I mashed all those Melusai tails together I was pretty care-free about it and damaged a lot of the scale texture, as I was originally going to cover most of the tentacles with robes, but have since changed my mind…

So for a few days I’ve been madly re-sculpting scale texture.

I've added whole sections of scales along a number of the tentacles, over six sculpting session.

Also notice the addition of the female anatomy, which has been sculpted over to make an armoured chest-plate.

And filled in the helm engraving.

And sculpted the beginnings of a belt and a scrap of a side-skirt.

















Probably not going to make the June 30 deadline for submission to the Grimdark Compendium challenge but it has certainly forced me to work at a faster pace!

Thanks for looking!

That's a scary big boat eating beastie.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
That's a scary big boat eating beastie.

Thanks inmygravenimage!


WIP 3 - T][tans - Scylla

So this was as close as I got to the finish line for the Grimdark Compendium June comp submission; too much sculpting to fix her up added to work getting in the way of hobby got in the way, and I would’ve had to compromise the end result by rushing the pre-paint stage of prime/sand/re-prime and she will be a better mini for that.

Her armour and belt decorative elements were sculpted in Tamiya Quick-Type over the previous layer of Greenstuff/miliput.



The blade of the spear was made by soldering thin brass rod to a piece of brass plate, then soldering that into the copper haft head, then used a file to shape the brass into the leaf-blade.



The shield was done by gluing in a plastic skull and sculpting the tentacles using Greenstuff/miliput mix.



Added the chain-thingies for some weirdness, then brushed on Stynelrez grey primer, which revealed flaws in the shield-arm join and some other areas which have to be fixed; basically sanded down, possibly some minor repair sculpting.
+
Thanks for looking

That's some nice work! Love that shield!

Lets see what Lamby has been up to in my absence.

Nice adventures with oils.

Good work on the Nurgle modifications, and added tentacles.

Much cool with the inquisitor squad.

And nice work on the various Titans.

Look forward to more.

T][TANS - The Siren

+
The Siren - Last of the Titans - is complete!
+

WIP Imagery:

+
The upper body is from the Medusa and the lower is yet another Melusai.
This will be the last time I use a Melusai tail (promise!)
At this stage I wasn't sure if she'd have weapons or maybe just talons.
Obviously she needed arms and many tiny details and she definitely needed a new head/helm.
+



+
And - just like with Scylla - I had to re-sculpt scales on the main body section to make the illusion she’s bigger than you see.
+



+
And I also had to sculpt scales again to redirect the tail to vanish into what will eventually (hopefully) be the murky depths of her pond.
The intention will be to fill the pond with colored resin.
+



+
In concert with the scale sculpting there were four sculpting sessions on the belt and three on the helm to get her to this stage.
+



+
To get that belt/armour filigree detail I used Tamiya Quick-Type mixed with about 30% Milliput, rolled extremely small and thin, manipulated with a wet brush to get the basic shape.
(If you are lacking true frustration in your life, give this a try...)
Once the first layer was dry, it was sanded and/or carved with a hobby blade to even out the thickness.
For a much more detailed tutorial on this method, do yourselves a favour and join Valbjorn's Patreon:
https://valbjornsculpts.com
+



+
I didn’t take any pics before the sculpting of the helm.
None of the available Splintered Fang helms seem to have open mouths, so I took the back and mohawk-hair from a standard helm and glued an open mouth Witch Elf face on the front, before then sculpting the helm over it all.
+



+
Finally used 5 minute epoxy to attach the head and some more GS/MP to smooth the neck/head transition.
+

+
The arms were fiddly - as is usual for me it seems…
The left arm was built from two pieces, the upper arm from a Witch Elf, the lower from one of the Night Haunts.
The Right arm was made in almost the same way, except for some reason that Nighthaunt hand came without a thumb, so I had to slice a thumb from a random old hand and glue it into place, before sanding it back to get a seamless join.
Finally I added a curling bracelet on the right forearm as it looked a little thin in comparison to the left.
+







+
I suppose I better paint them now…
+
Thanks for looking!

That's very cool.

Happy to see you return to the snake lady project! Great work once again, but +1 to the paint

Ohh she looks fantastic!

Looks exquisite! Great detail, as always.

Wow, really really fun custom work!

Oh, the arm posing is just exquisite..

Wow! That is some very impressive customising.