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DAMN YOU! I never even considered to buy aTrygon but now I might.
The tail looks fine to me.

The tail continued to bug me as it was longer than I had wanted it. I figured since I couldn't do underside detail work, I could still work on the tail, as that's well overhanging the back of the base. Shorted it, and did some Green Stuff to try and smooth the transition. I think it came out pretty good, but I know I'll take a knife to it when it's hardened to sharpen some the edges a bit. As for the tip, that's actually the way it's supposed to go on. I might trade it out for the Trygon Prime's rattle tail tip though.

His bulking is going to be mostly downwards, from neck clear to tail. He's rather smaller than I anticipated, but that's not surprising as I lack a sense of spacial awareness unless I physically have the objects in front of me, or a solid picture of comparison I can think back to. I might separate the top and bottom halves of his thorax where I cut it and angle the back end upwards a bit to give him more arch to his back. I do like that he has his own distinct profile compared to the other standard `Nids as well as the T-Fex however.

Looking at the lithe four legged appearance he has now, it makes me wish they had that kind of creature in the rules. I'm thinking something like a Trygon stat line, but with only four wounds, no Deep Strike, but a 12" Assault move and maybe the Hormagaunt Quick rule.

The tail looks much much much better!

Jesus Christ Aduro, why you gotta go making such awesome tyranids? Love your tervigon!

Because I can only watch so many soap operas during the long days at home? Anyways, this should give him a sizable more bulk, while not intruding onto the T-Fex's "wide load" turf. Plus now I won't have to sculpt on a new front edge of the carapace. Still want me to try and make a tutorial up as I go along?

just for a personal reference, which bits of the trygon did you use and any chance you could pop a scale shot of the tfex and your tervigon? would be much appreciated!

keep up the ace work

Does he even need a base?

Aduro wrote:Anyways, this should give him a sizable more bulk, while not intruding onto the T-Fex's "wide load" turf.

Your nid has a hydrolic lift system? o.O

Been lurking your log for a bit now, and while you had my love with the T-fex you've cemented it further with the T-gon Easily the best design for a tervigon I've seen yet, far more solid than all these carnifex-with-scytal-legs I keep seeing. Look forward to the bulking out, particularly as the tail beef-up went so well

On dipping the big models, you paint it on, flick the mini around (by the base?) and then use a brush to clean up excess goop for 30 min? I dip as well - my nurgle-skaven army - but I use a drill to spin my models clean. While I've spun up to a warp lightning cannon before, I've got some heavy metal conversions to do that I really don't trust to any sort of RPMs or wrist-flicks that could get the dip off ... Do you think it would work to paint the stuff on and lead it off with a brush? I.e. skip the stage that could wreck my nice conversions?

Thanks for any insight, and keep up the awesome alien work!

- Salvage

I like the direction you are taking this.

Fresh wrote:just for a personal reference, which bits of the trygon did you use and any chance you could pop a scale shot of the tfex and your tervigon? would be much appreciated!

keep up the ace work

So far for parts, he's using a Trygon head, with the fifth armor plate cut off. Trygon thorax, cut in half right below the carapace and the bottom half turned around 180, so the narrow end is by his head, and the wide end by his abdomen. Trygon waist connector, Not put into the tail the way it's supposed to be, instead I shaved it down to an angle, so it sticks out further and points up more. First section of the Trygon tail, skips the second section, and then uses the third and fourth piece. In addition it's got unmodified Carnifex legs, and Carnifex Crushing Claws with the claw trimmed down so it looks more like a hoof. The Crushing Claw to hoof thing was something I saw someone else do before and liked.

Arakasi wrote:Does he even need a base?

He'll stand without one, but you know, measurements and all that stuff...

Breotan wrote:Your nid has a hydrolic lift system? o.O

On today's episode of Pimp Your `Nid!

Boss_Salvage wrote:On dipping the big models, you paint it on, flick the mini around (by the base?) and then use a brush to clean up excess goop for 30 min? I dip as well - my nurgle-skaven army - but I use a drill to spin my models clean. While I've spun up to a warp lightning cannon before, I've got some heavy metal conversions to do that I really don't trust to any sort of RPMs or wrist-flicks that could get the dip off ... Do you think it would work to paint the stuff on and lead it off with a brush? I.e. skip the stage that could wreck my nice conversions?

The big majority of the stuff I've dipped was the little guys, and they're literally dipped into can of MinWax, then flicked to get rid of the excess. I have had multiple guys break off their base doing it, but generally ones who had previously broken from the base and were just superglued back on with the little teeny tiny connection point Hormagaunts have. The big thing I did before was my Great Unclean One, which was 90% Green Stuff and Hot Glue, so I wasn't worried about him coming apart other than the one arm I had to break off to get him to fit into the can.

To do the T-Fex, there was no way he was going to fit into the can, so he's technically not "dipped". Rather I used a large brush and painted the MinWax onto him rather liberally. Worked on it for awhile, and it took a bit to get the technique down, but he's purely brushed, no flinging to get rid of excess. The MinWax has a rather long dry time (it's tacky for hours afterward) so you have plenty of working time. If one part starts to get dry and you need to change it, you can brush fresh stuff on, and after a few seconds the first stuff is liquid again. If you have too much in one spot, wipe your brush on a paper towel to get it mostly dry, and touch the brush to the puddle and it will suck it right up. Looking at him after he's done, I think he looks good, but I think I put the stuff on a bit too dark compared to how the Gaunts turned out.

If you're using the Army Painter dips, well, I have no idea on the dry time of those or how well this technique works with it.

Naw, MinWax for me too (antique walnut polyshades). My old big can I had to stop using as it got pretty gummy after years of use, so I just have this tiny wittle can for dipping 20mm infantry in. Basically, I couldn't actually dip the big guys if I wanted to ...

Thanks for the tip though, I'll give it a shot. I figure my really nurgley things don't care about where the dip goes, but I have a couple tyranid or similar chitin critters that it could pool sadly on. Will have to experience, I suppose!

- Salvage

No, no - don't bulk him up! I think he looks awesome as he is. Okay, I don't really know that it looks like I think a Tervigon should look, but whatever you've made, it looks pretty badass!

you've got some really nice stuff coming along here!

absolutely love your conversions!

thy put me and my plasticard to shame lol

keep up the good work!

I'm for the bulk up, for the egg sacs and so forth.

++ Little known fact about Tyranid biology. The internal structure of a `Nid is composed primarily of a dense gummy substance that becomes incredibly sticky when heated. ++

Not only were his "hydrolics" incredibly flimsy as structural support (the third rod didn't actually end up touching anything, the top just happened to balance perfectly on the first two), but I'm not willing to use that much Green Stuff to fill in all the empty space. Thus I came up with this when I did my GUO one awhile back. Hot Glue has a pretty quick set time (especially when it's 20 degrees and windy outside and I can set it on my porch railing), is much cheaper than GS, and has a handy nozzle application device. Need to work it slow, applying a bit and letting it cool before applying more. Put too much in at once and the Hot Glue will contain enough heat to do what it did to the carapace on the back of Tervie. Not to mention the burns I've gotten in the past from accidentally missing my target and spraying the glue directly onto my finger.

I really like how his profile is looking, and I think I may forget my earlier plans for bloated underside. Sure, he's not big enough to actually be carrying all the Gaunts he's supposed to be able to, but I don't think anything short of a full on Bio-Titan would have the capacity for the potential 105 Gaunts a Tervigon can poop out in one game.

Nice, got the codex today, so am digesting all the changes and additions.

Looks good, the only problem I foresee is how are you going to make the shoulder and neck transition.

As far as size, lets say he is his own nest thing, the more things he eats, the more gaunts he poops out

Just have to say I love your ideas here! Maybe it is time to go get another trygon and cut it up too!

I really like where you're going with the Tervigon conversion.

The torso-bulking has some really nice potential for egg-sack structures peaking out from under the upper carapace if you're looking for some way to explain where the terms spawn from.

Are you planning to bulk out the neck join at all?

Also, don't know if you tried it out first, but a carnifex's teeny little head on that tervigon's bulked-out body might look really neat too. Maybe a bit cartoonish, but in a good way.

That's completely amazing. The prowling, maternal panther sort of Tervigon is much much sexier than the fat, bloated, pregger Carnifexes that seems to be going around.

Your Tervigon looks like the creature in the gladiator pit in star wars episode two! :p

orange1095 wrote:Nice, got the codex today, so am digesting all the changes and additions.

Had my Codex for a week, had the PDF for a while longer than that, but I just finally got my first game in today and it was interesting to see how my theories on stuff transitioned to the real world.

Karl Deathwolf wrote:Looks good, the only problem I foresee is how are you going to make the shoulder and neck transition.

After the T-Fex and two Alpha Warriors, I think I'm getting the hang of sculpting `Nid necks, so I don't foresee too much trouble there. Think I might raise his head up a bit higher though, and he's does have the room for it now that I raised up the carapace.

GitSmack wrote:I really like where you're going with the Tervigon conversion.

The torso-bulking has some really nice potential for egg-sack structures peaking out from under the upper carapace if you're looking for some way to explain where the terms spawn from.

Are you planning to bulk out the neck join at all?

Also, don't know if you tried it out first, but a carnifex's teeny little head on that tervigon's bulked-out body might look really neat too. Maybe a bit cartoonish, but in a good way.

I think I'm just going to extend the carapace down to the shoulder joints and make it more of a big armored shell, and am at this point thinking I may forgo all forms of bulging sack structures and just keep him with the good armored sleek look he's rocking. I figure the physical reality of having that kind of capacity falls into the same realm as transports probably not holding as many guys as they can, and tank designs being just horrible for real life and such things as that. At some point you just have to say "Yeah, I could make it more realistic, but then it wouldn't look as cool."

I've got a bunch of extra Fex heads I could use, but I want to keep the Trygon head on this one;

A.) So he's got his own unique features compared to the Fexes in my army.

B.) I dislike "birthing tubes" as it would result in too many wang jokes, and at one time thought the Mawlok head would be good to have him vomiting up the Gaunts instead.

C.) I think I want to use my Tervies with Crushing Claws, but don't want them as arms, and think the Mandibles would make a good "counts-as".

Sneezypanda wrote:Your Tervigon looks like the creature in the gladiator pit in star wars episode two! :p

While I don't have his third set of limbs yet, I keep thinking about the pantherish creature from Avatar myself.

Just got back from the FLGS so no new pictures yet. The guy who was supposed to bring me the Crushing Claws I needed to finish his legs off was sick and didn't make it, so I bought a Carnifex so I could use those claws. Want to get his legs all done and secure tonight, maybe move his head, so tomorrow I can pop him off the base and get the underside done. I want to have this Done before the end of Saturday so I have it fully finished for the tournament on Sunday.

Oh, and no, I didn't buy a Fex Just for the claws. I do plan to do a second T-Fex next, so I'll use the claws the guy's going to give me for that to replace the ones I've stolen from it for Tervie. I wouldn't have purchased the Fex tonight if the guy had shown, but I would have purchased it eventually.

i know its still late, but just curious. why did you opt for the crushing claws styled arm than the fluffed artwork of the talons?

I just don't care for the spindly look of the talons as legs, not to mention the fact they wouldn't even work for support. Ever seen a woman in heels try to walk in mud, sand or soft dirt?

And just the little bit of progress today.

Turns out the angle of the other Crushing Claw is such that it won't sit on the ground without redoing the joints. I could do that, but I don't want to, so he'll be holding that hoof up a bit like he walking or moving around. The white rod's just there for temporary support.

While I had the head off I took the opportunity to do the detail on the back of the head and up inside the carapace behind it. I've noticed the top half of the body didn't quite line up with the bottom, and it's mostly noticeable in that the head would end up a bit off to the side compared to the line on the carapace back, so to help with that that little defect I've got the head turned at a more dynamic angle to hide the center lines not quite lining up. Doesn't have much for good glue connection points anymore and is going to end up held on mostly by Green Stuff, so I sculpted on the back of his neck as well.

Because of what you said, this guy can now only remind me of the creatures in Avatar. Which is a good thing, though, because I like that movie.

Right now, I don't like the front legs. The shoulder to the elbow is just too short for this guy. Needs to be twice as long. Also, given that the shoulder area is bulkiest, the shoulder and upper arm should be beefed up a bit, too.

Aduro wrote:I do not care for the Scytals as legs look of the Tervigon in the book. In fact I don't really care for much of either the picture for the Tervigon or T-Fex, and thus have chosen to more or less ignore them. The middle set of arms will be helping hold up his gut.

What did you use for the Front legs? It makes it look very Lizard like. Is the main boby from the Trygon or a Carnifex?

Main body is Trygon, back legs are Carnifex legs, front legs are Carnifex Crushing Claws.

I disagree with length needed for the front legs, I think if the biceps were stretched out that far it would look odd and out of proportion. I did bulk them up a little bit more however. I also got the neck all finished up and got the carapace bit on his chest put in, with some gap filling around it since it's essentially put on upside down compared to how it's supposed to. It's almost 2:00, so I figure I should go eat breakfast now and let the Green Stuff settle in.