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Sir i just want to congratulate you for your amassing work , i "play" around building customised marines and guards and I know the amount of work you have put on then and they are wonderful , the Sternguard veteran and the librarian are just amassing , i am currently working on vanguard veterans and i hope they will be as cool as yours.

I will be the first to admit while I am someone new to Dakka as a member, I've been following this thread and can't wait to see your marines painted up.

I've always thought it a little odd that the Imperium's Finest went to battle with just one magazine in their bolter, I love the realism and the dynmaic poses you've managed to achieve and can't wait to try some of them myself!

I, as I'm sure many of us here, look forward to your next post!

Shut up and take my money.

What you said about them not being enough heads tall, I think that has to do with some weird 'X proportions look best' type thing. Mortal Kombat characters have disproportionately huge heads, Barbies have huge heads, I think it look just fine to have your marines with huge heads. Really not that bad, those helmets are probably fairly thick. IF you DO make an unhelmeted one, just make him have a small head and it will all be perfect.

Thanks guys. I'm glad you enjoyed them. I hope to find the energy and time to take this project back up.

My life is a very complicated drinking game, and the fact that I don't *play* 40K very often means that this project falls behind everything else I'm doing (work, writing, surfing, training and running Tough Mudder, ladyfolk etc). And it's very time consuming so it's hard to just break the stuff out, work on it for an hour, and then put everything back away.

But don't worry. I'll get back to it eventually.

Mate , loving your work , funny how you have the same hates as me when it comes to "Games Workshop" style marines.

Check these bad boys out , Anvil Industries Black Ops are well worth a look !

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/505804.page

I've a soft spot for helmets off , but always fit one to the belt kit.

I will be stealing the auspex idea !

So, I bring you something new. He's still a work in progress, but I figured I'd give you an advance shot at the process.



I wanted a 2nd Dark Eldar knife from the current models, but it turned out I didn't have one, so he got the rather vicious looking Chaos Marine knife instead. The knife on the left leg is a 3rd Ed OG DE knife.

Great to see you back online! awesome work as always

Hey, I just wanted to say that I stumbled across this blog from the picture in your signature in a post on the SM news thread. These conversions are awesome! I wish I had the sweet height enhancements you do. But at a minimum I am definitely going to try some of these kitbashes.

I look forward to seeing more!

This blog is awesome and I'm glad that I found it in your Sig!
I've always thought that true scale with terminator legs looks a bit off unless done right, I tried it once and it looks wrong in terms of the legs and bodies, but what you have done looks really cool!
I remember seeing this in an old White Dwarf and wanted to try it but never bothered, I also love the realism with all the pockets and mag pouches!
Looks great!

Hooray, story time. My intention with these models is that they should be a snapshot from a believable, actual 40K battlefield. That they tell a story about that Marine, just looking at him. That's why I avoid the traditional heroic poses 40K models often get. It was a big part of why I had this idea for the previous Marine, but made him drawing the knives rather than having him wielding them. For now, you can tell the story about where he got those blades for yourself. But here's a bit of short fiction on his pose. Usually I try to avoid writing any kind of "action porn". It's really not that exciting to write, and it almost always does no justice to the abject horror and brutal reality of actual combat. But I really ended up liking this model and tried to figure out what was going on with him. It turned into this little vignette. Hope you enjoy it. Maybe I'll put some more of these together.



Bogdan heard it first. With a shriek, a gunship dropped out of the thick morning haze
hanging over the battlefield. The shriek became a roar as its vectored thrust engines
kicked to life and stabilized it into a hover which drowned out his warning to the other
troopers in the entrenchment. It tilted slightly, shifting right and the twin underslung
rotary cannons spun to life, methodically stitching fire along the length of the fortification.
Bogdan threw himself to the ground and scrambled on his elbows and knees towards
the closest bunker. He was splattered with gore as the stubber gunner Yaro's torso
came apart. Dirt and pulverized rock pelted him from the opposite direction as the back
wall of the trench was chewed up by the fusillade. His vision, already limited by the
eyelets of his respirator mask, tunneled down to the salvation of the bunker's entrance,
and he barely noticed as he crawled over the shattered and pulped bodies of his
squadmates. Then, as quickly as it had come, the gunship's engines spooled up again
and it shrieked off. The cacophony had left his ears ringing, and he couldn't hear
anything except the dull scraping of his body against the ground and the heaving breaths
inside his mask.

But then he felt them. A rumbling series of soft thuds that were definitely not his heartbeat.
He rolled over onto his back, pushing himself halfway up to lean against a sandbag
which had toppled to the ground against the revetment, and saw the first of the Space
Marines vault into the trench. Their armor was a dark blue, with black arms and a black
chest plate which sported a dull silver eagle across it. A head taller than the tallest man
he'd ever known, the Space Marines were massive. And they had come out of nowhere.
Had a transport landed under the cover of the gunship? Bogdan froze, his eyes wide as
he watched them move. The closest one was coming towards him. Emblazoned across a
banner on its shoulder armor in Low Gothic scrawl was the word “Punish.” Horrifically, it
stomped down on the head of Radomir, who had been trying weakly to pull himself along
the floor of the trench, his left arm missing just above the elbow. Radomir's head
disappeared under the massive boot, and Bogdan could only see the blood and gore
which splashed out above another corpse which had mercifully blocked his view of the
carnage. But he could feel the force of the boot as it connected with the solid ground of the
trench floor.

It looked at him, and he knew he was about to die. Bogdan's mouth opened and closed
without a sound as the towering warrior moved towards him. It was only then that he spotted
the two wicked looking blades attached to its thighs. Sword sized blades that the Marine
carried as if they were just knives. Its left hand reached across its body to draw one of them
as it approached.



With guttural cries which sounded muffled and far away to his damaged ears, several of his
fellows charged out of the bunker, Wenzel streaming ignited promethium at the Marines with
his flamer. However, the approaching Marine ignored the gout of fire, charging straight into
them, burying the blade into Wenzel's gut. It pierced all the way through him and Wenzel's
mouth opened up as if to scream, but instead only fountained blood. The Marine dropped the
massive bolt rifle to its side, right hand flashing down even as flames licked across its arm, to
seize the other blade, which glinted with an otherworldly sheen. It was slightly curved and of a
manufacture Bogdan had never seen before. The Marine's left arm swung around in an outward
arc, the inertia tearing Wenzel's body free of the blade, nearly bisecting him in the process and
scattering blood and entrails. The body bounced off the side of the trench, contorting
gruesomely around the massive wound as it fell to the ground. Almost simultaneously, as
another soldier's point blank las fire scored the armor on the Marine's chest, a sweeping
backhand slash with its right arm sent that soldier pirouetting to the ground, his rib cage opened
up from armpit to armpit, and arm partially severed. The right side of the Marine's torso was on
fire, and yet it seemed to pay the flames no heed. The third trooper was caught by a downward
stroke from the Marine's left blade, driving him to his knees, chest cleft to the nipple. The Marine
ducked into the bunker, and out of Bogdan's view. He was all alone.

As the kneeling trooper toppled into his lap, Bogdan recognized him as Cibor, and could feel the
man's lifeblood pumping out to soak through his trousers. A second Marine, his armor charred by
fire but no longer ablaze, looked down at him, and clomped right past to follow the first. Then a
third. His ears were still ringing, but he could feel the reports of gunfire and explosive impacts he
could only assume were the Marines firing their bolters. There were only two Marines left in the
trench. They were both on one knee, one studying some kind of picter mounted on its left arm.
Bogdan's eyes darted around. Even if he could will his limbs to move, the only weapon in reach
was Cibor's lasgun, but it was pinned underneath his body. The two Marines rose to their feet,
and walked in his direction. The first moved past him, and Bogdan's heart raced. They hadn't
noticed him. He was going to live.

The last Marine swerved only a half a step toward him, and a deep, tinny voice emerged from the
vox caster on the front of its scowling faceplate.

“Traitor scum.”

The Marine's left boot caved in Bogdan's chest, striking the right side below the plane of the heart
and lifting him up. Air was forced out of his mouth, mixed with blood in a gust of reddish froth, and
none rushed in to replace it. Bogdan slumped back down, suffocating as his lungs refused to work.
He blinked a few times, mouth agape and leaking blood. He stared numbly at the dancing flames
atop the corpse of one of his friends which had been set alight by Wenzel's flamer until his vision
began to blur, and eventually went dark.

Wow, i like the dark gritty attitude of the short story you wrote, humanized the (what i assume were) cultists a bit, and turned the tables to make it look like the marines were the harsh ones. Nice job!

I never knew boots were such powerful weapons. I liked the story!

I'm glad you guys liked it. I thought it would be told better from the eyes of the rebel, not the Space Marines. Space Marines, as much as they are fun to cut apart and put back together, aren't the best characters. At least if written well. No emotional range.


Anyway... I dunno. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'...  :blink:
 



 

Send them a C&D!

The resemblance is....uncanny.

At any rate, I wanted to say I love what you've done converting all the marines into something significantly more believable than the usual squat-stance, idly holding a bolter. I made a halfhearted attempt at modifying some of my own marines, but nowhere near as comprehensive.

So I've decided to finally get started on the 1st Squad, which will be "Counts As" Sternguard.

Metal Deathwatch bolters on them.

Those bolters look absolutely tiny on the models tbh, but it really makes them look bigger.

Loving these conversions. Great work!

Thanks SBG.

I actually kinda like that the weapons are small. Makes them a bit more "carbine" looking. Dunno.

Anyway, people have asked about tutorials on the posing process. A lot of the earlier models were "Let's see if this works". There have been quite a few failures too. I'm going to have to pull apart a lot of the old models when I upscale the legs. The inability to ever consider the modeling process "finished" is why they aren't painted. I'm too concerned I'll want to make changes to them, or create some fundamental new process for the construction. Plus eventually I want to correct some of the minor flaws. When I pull apart some of the models, I can show a bit more of the process.

Here's a picture of the "before" on the knife guy, so you can see what the model is reduced to. Though I hadn't done the second cut on those legs when I took the picture, and you can't see the torso modification. This was for a conversion challenge on another site, where they just wanted to see the "before" picture of it.



Here is one of the more popular models. I added red lines to show where the cuts were made to achieve that pose.



The soft armor on the right wrist was cut free at the wrist ring, and behind the hand. Once free, it was rotated, and then reattached to the arm to create a downward angle instead of the upward one. Thus the original soft armor sculpt is retained, and there's no need for green stuff. The left arm is cut at the wrist (behind the wrist ring is easier, but either way works), and then rotated so that it matches the new angle of the weapon.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and check it out. I actually played 40K. Not with my models, but hey.

Experience the adventures of Alpha Legion warlord Kaldor the Grossly Incompetent as Veteran Sergeant Plays... DARK VERNGERNCE!

Just saw this thread. I'm surprised by how a little extra height in the lower body makes your Marines look so much better than stock! When do we get to see some painted?

I'll keep a keen eye on this thread.
Fantastic job!

I've always wanted to do something like this....I think this might be the day. Inspiration yo. Keep it up -Feasible

Wow, awesome post Sir!

I got about halfway thru, cutting into my limited hobby time, going to have to come back and admire the rest of your work. With only 10-20 marines done to date, I may have to go back and "fix" them before its over.

Going to be getting a batch of Mantics corporation enforcers soon, and I'm pretty sure they're going to make stock marines look gimp in the height department...

Thanks to your efforts (and similar projects) there may be hope for my poor marines yet! Thanks for taking so many pictures and the time to describe your process. Consider it potentially stolen! eerr uhh borrowed. Sir. yes, that.

Awesome conversions. I like big marines.

I completed a Sergeant for the Veteran squad. He's magnetized at the shoulders, but unfortunately most of the pics came out blurry because I didn't notice a smudge on the lens so you only get to see the one weapon option, lol.

He's 1mm at the shins & hips, 1.5mm at the waist like usual.

Sword is converted from the High Elf Archer command. Legs from Space Wolves Pack. Head, not sure. One of the random heads with an antenna that I use to mark leader models who have fluffy upgraded communications.





Clamped to his belt, Veteran Sergeant Marcus carries with him a bronze helmet with a
black stripe from a suit of Mk VII power armor. When asked about it, he will only reply that
it was taken from "a traitor."


Thanks for the comments guys. Now that I have "finalized" the process for these guys, it means I get to cut apart the other forty of them and redo the legs...

Man if I didnt already have 100 marines built and 30 painted, I would so total do this. Can't wait to see some paint on them.

odyssey indeed. Count me in your list of idea thieves!

A) I really like this conversion; simple to achieve and very effective. I actually think the change in proportions is more important than the height increase for the look of them.

B) Dammit, but I'm really tempted to restart my own Ultramarines chapter using this technique; fortunately I haven't finished many yet, but I'm really pleased with the ones I have and it'll be heart wrenching to redo them. I need to figure out if I can live with a few midget marines...

Very cool. Also, best name for thread ever.