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I'd try and find something else for the weapon - the Choppa makes it too obvious what he's based on an Ork. At the very least, maybe cut off those hex bolts? That might help it swing back over to plaguesword territory.

I really like these. They're very well done. It's pretty amazing that you can make traitor guard that are almost Forge World quality when painted with just a bit of greenstuff and some effort.

My only gripe is that the masks for the guys on the heavy bolter team are a bit less defined than the others. A little more definition (some darkening of the creases in the mask and such) would help the look alot.

@Yggdrasil: The welding masks are made in three parts. First layer is the smooth base, only tricky bit there is making the shape on the sides and a quick press with a thin tube to add the stud on the sides that secures the strap. Once cured the second step is to put a blob (technical term) of GS onto the face in place for the eye glass bit. This is smoothed off a bit then the shape cut with a knife and then formed properly. Once the shape is right the front is smoothed again and the lens rectangle is made with a knife, then smoothed again. Lastly once that has safely cured a simple strap around the back finishes it off.

@MasterSlowPoke: I'm glad you said that. I was debating with myself whether it still looked bit too orky - also have to finish off the pommel so it doesn't look so much like a choppa. Gonna slice off the hex bolts and see how it looks without. Might have to GS a couple of non bolty studs on just to finish it off.

@Darth bob: Glad you like them. Know what you mean about the bolter team guys. Think their masks are my least favourite of the ones I've done. Might undergo some slight remodelling on those when I get a chance.

It might be just on the edge of "almost too orky" I suppose. But the sculpting and conversion work is very skillful and I think in the larger context of the army, he's going to fit right in.

And I love the backpack ideas. Very nice work there and just about everywhere in this army so far.

Just a quick update..

Finished work on the bodyguard all bar taking off a few lingering mould lines I noticed when looking at this pic. Carved the choppa back to more of a cleaver shape and swapped out the hex bolts for studs, which I think knocks most of the orky out of it. Once the skin is painted a non-ork colour I think it'll be harder to look at it and think 'ork'.



Also a few of the zombies for your consideration. Still need to finish off the helmets and weapons and add some gore effects. The guy on the left has had his arm melted by a melta, so need to finish making a melted flesh look to it. Also need to finish the bases. Once the stones and rubble on the floor has been lightened it will lessen the samey look from the clothes.




That's all for now folks.
C&C always welcome

Amazing work with your GS and bashed conversions, they look incredible and make me want to try my hand at it. I have to finish my Death Guard but APOC is looming in the distance and I have all the bitz I need... sooner or later I am doing this. You are an inspiration.

Cheers Skalk - always nice to hear people like my stuff.

Its been a little while since I updated. Those zombies are now done, which produces the seductive problem of making more. They are quite fun to do but going to have to force myself to resist for a bit to get some more 'actual' painting done. One thing they have taught me though is that for gore - nothing comes close to tamiya clear red. I read a few things online about people using it so picked up a pot for myself to try. In a word: amazing. Not sure the following pics quite capture how realistic the blood on these guys looks but in real life its as close to real as I think you can get. I used varying amounts (tiny spots and slightly less tiny spots) of black ink added to it just to darken it to real blood colour.






The other day whilst looking at the pile of sprues in my workroom I wondered to myself "how hard could it be to scratchbuild a sentinel?" Well as it turns out, not that hard. Only have the bare bones of the legs done so far, still need to construct the top half and add all the detail to the legs and feet but for no money and not a huge amount of effort I think its a promising start.




That's it for me for now folks. Have added some paint to the mutant bodyguard so sometime in the near future I'll post some pics of his progress. If anyone wants to see a close up shot of any of the zombies or the gore effects just let me know and I'll take some.

C&C always welcome

Wow, some great Plasticard-fu!!!

I guess it'll turn out well!!!

Those zombies look ace! I may have to try that Tamiya clear red out, it looks amazing.

_Tim?

@yggdrasil: Thanks! Got the basic cockpit cut out in plasticard this evening. Surprised how easily its coming together really as all I've scratchbuilt before is the gunshield for the basilisk earlier on in this blog.

Thinking of mounting the weapon underneath the cockpit rather than on the side as it seems to make more sense to have a weapon that can fire any direction you like rather than just having it mounted on one side. Might look a bit too phallic is my only worry..

@tim?: If you can find some buy some. My local hobby store has the whole tamiya range so was easy to get. Cheap too considering the end result, think I paid something like £1.50 for a pot thats going to last me forever. Its kinda weird stuff though. Its labelled as acrylic but dries with more of a gloss enamel finish.

Great looking zombies you got going.
I saw a great receipe for realistic gore effects that you may want to try, let me just find the link for ya.
.......
There! http://www.throneofskulls.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=20
I think it could interest you to try it out since it's main ingredient is tamiya clear red. And it looks pretty badass

Cheers rose, that was actually one of the guides that persuaded me to try some. Its so ridiculously simple its unreal.

This one is also interesting: http://www.chestofcolors.com/cofc-postnuke/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=60&page=1

Uses 'UHU glue' to add viscosity. Its more tricky to work with as the clear seems to dry quite fast on its own, but with the glue added you've got very little working time. The thicker bits of gore on the bone one zombie is carrying uses this method.

As a side note - paper cuts caused by plasticard are ing horrible.

Quick update on the sentinel today. Cab is taking shape nicely. Still needs plenty more work but the basic shape is all sorted. Need to build the engine and exhausts and work on the underslung weapons mount. Not done any more work on the legs since before but as the basics are pretty much sorted adding to everything seemed the way forwards rather than getting half done then doing the other.

Looks like its coming out a little bigger than the standard GW sentinel. I don't have one as a frame of reference so not too surprised. I actually think it looks a bit better with more room in the cabin rather than having the dude squashed right in there with no room for any actual technology.





C&C more than welcome on this

apart from being a tiny bit wonky it is spot on, and you can always say that it has suffered battle damage. I used to make sentinals. Great fun to make, all you really need is a driver and a gun and a pile of scrap plastic

The cockpit is well in line with the GW sentinels!! Nicely done!

And I cannot get enough of your guys, the renegade w/ shotgun standing next to the Sentinel is really too awesome...

Looks awesome, and the fact that it's made out of sprue makes it even more awesome.

@weetyskemian44: 99.9% of the wonkyness is a result of the ankle and hip joints and where the cockpit joins the waist being held on by blu-tac. Once its pinned together it should all only have a 0.1% wonk factor.

@Yggdrasil: thanks

@Rose_Mountainz: Thanks. If you look closely I even used a couple of bits of sprue as the drivers body. Won't be able to tell once I've added more detail to him but it pleases me that he fits in with the ethos of the build. I think one of my favourite things about working with leftover sprue is if I make a measurement mistake due to not fully paying attention it can just get tossed back into the scraps pile and another bit cut without feeling like I'm wasting expensive plastruct.

Think so far on actual materials used I've probably spent about 35-30p so far.

I'm staggered at how absolutely amazing those zombie Guardsmen are. I love this thread. Will be back for more without doubt. Your work is inspiring and is on the verge of distracting me into a fit because I *SO* want to start building the Traitor Guard / Cultist part of my Death Guard (APOC) but I am buried with "real" things to get done first.... gaahh.

Update time has rolled round again. Have finally finished building the sentinel and fairly sure its ready for prime now unless I see something in the pics I've taken that irk me.

The cab is made from plasticard that is reinforced by struts made of sprue to give it strength. The heavy flamer is scratch built from sprue for the body and plastic tubing for the pipes and fuel tanks. I attached it with a couple of magnets so not only is it swappable once I've built some of the other weapon options but it also turns in a full arc for added coolness. Only GW bits used are the spikes on top of the cab, the handles on the doors, the searchlight from a leman russ and the gunner arms used on the driver. Overall I think in materials it has cost me perhaps £2.

Without an actual GW sentinel to compare it to I'm not sure if I got it right in terms of height. Seems a bit bigger but I think this adds a bit more realism to it. Have added another scale shot so people can see what they think. I'm glad I decided to go for the underslung weapon as this helps to fill the big gap created by the slightly over-tall legs. When adding the roll-bars to the cab I tried it with a central post and two spars going perpendicular with the front but It didn't look right to have a giant bar right in front of the driver impairing his view of the battlefield. As a result I stuck with the more simple arrangement. The sides do have rivet detail on but it doesn't show up very well in pics as I used a method I discovered online using PVA glue dots. I think the most painstaking part of the project was drilling the holes for the exhausts, as they all have to be in pretty much exactly the right place. Rather than adding in either separate doors or putting extra door-shaped bits on the side I opted to leave the space blank and just paint on the door shape.








Had quite a bit of fun building this. Bit more of a challenge than just sculpting with GS.

C&C always welcome.

Awesome! That is one of the best looking 'junk' bots I have seen yet. The GS on the flamer could use with a little sanding down to make it more square but that is the only criticism that I have with it.

I am too trying to find a use for all my sprue, except I am making a destroyed baneblade instead!

Looks nearly better than the original... Far higher as well, that's for sure...

Awesome job...

Thanks guys! Glad someone else likes it. Was worried that it might look a bit pants but having spent ages staring at it I'd convinced myself it was ok.

The top of the flamer does need slightly rounded off. Has a very slight rise half way along that I'd not noticed.

If anyone has a sentinel and could measure for me how tall it stands I'd be interested to know just how much taller mine is.

Now I have the templates sat on my workdesk I'm tempted to knock up another one as the majority of the time consuming work of planning it has been done. Think a pair of them together could look way cooler than just one. Just have to turn around the 2 leman russes and the valkyrie sat waiting for paint so their accusing stares don't bore into me for not getting on with them...

Hehe thats awesome! Really nice scratchbuild

My sentinel stands at about 75mm/3" to the top of the cab.

@Vitruvian: Thanks for the support and info mate. Very interesting.

75mm from the bottom of the feet reaches to exactly the top of the doors on mine - the full height (to the top of the roll-bars) being 90mm. So in actual terms not massively bigger, but I guess scale wise its a good few feet taller than a regular one.

Couldn't resist doing another one. As I thought its not as laborious a task as the first one so already have both legs except for the feet and the basic structure of the cab done. Hopefully get the bulk of the construction done tonight so there is just gap-filling and detail left to do. Probably do another heavy flamer for it as I think they look cool and fit the scout role quite well.

Never really considered having sentinels in my list so not sure what the best loadouts for them really are. Any hints in this area would be well received. Can knock up any weapon choice to fit really as I magnetised the weapon mounts

Heavy flamer is nice!!

Love it. Almost looks nicer than the real thing, great job

Skills!!!!

Those ankles are iffy(i suggest a casing of sorts), but the rest is AMAZING!!

Thanks guys!

@Bossasaurus: You are quite correct. Have added a little extra details to the ankles so they are less bare. I think it looks much better.

UPDATE TIME!

So yeah, second sentinel is almost done. Still have to add a few touches of detail to the weapon and the legs. Also need to just finish off the driver and add some rivets. Think they definitely look better as a pair rather than just one.





Whilst chopping up left-over leman russ sprue I had another look at the commander torso and legs and thought what the hell; lets make an officer of the fleet. Wanting to keep him in theme with the rest of the army I decided to give him a captured look. Using an empire knights head to give the impression of an unwashed/unshaved prisoner, and some fine chain and GS manacles. Added a bit of GS to the waist to give it a ragged look to the longer tunic that the GW OOF model has. Whilst the GW model doesn't have the shoulder detail, I didn't think it had enough of an officer look about it so I added some extra detail. Also hacked away at the back to further emphasise the prisoner look. Going to have his back bare skin but with fresh lash marks as if he's been driven forward with the command squad rather than going willingly. Arms are from the empire militia set, needed some clothed/unarmoured arms that would go into a good position for the manacles whilst being in keeping.




Thought I would add a pic of the mutant bodyguard as well. I think with some paint on him he looks much less orky and more renegade mutant. Is still very much WIP so the paint is still a bit scrappy. The mutated arm is going to have a load of the gore effect used on the zombies added. Want the hand to look like he's just squished someone into pate rather than just giving it a 'hello nice to meet you'.




Thats all for now folks, hopefully get the sentinels primed up during the week and they shouldn't take long at all to paint.

C&C always welcome.

Wow. Those conversions, though not the greatest, are really inventive and well thought out. I especially like the Sentinel you're doing.