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whalemusic360 wrote:That's really cool, like walking out of a story book.

Thank you!
Oh, and your comment sparked an idea....perculating
Thanks!

Meer_Cat wrote:I've had an affinity for this project from the beginning, Klaus- there is some real magic here. Well done.

Thank you!
It was an enjoyable project - thnaks to you

Stormwall wrote:That is simply fantastic.

Thank you Stormwall!

Camkierhi wrote:Beautiful, taken an idea and perfected it, pretty spot on bud.

Thanks Cam!

Syro_ wrote:That looks amazing!

Thank you

Red Harvest wrote:Very nice indeed. Well done.

Thanks Red Harvest!

Thank you all for being part of the journey
And I think it is time for a new journey, for a new story...

Some of you may remember the armed version of my HERMES air transport.


I started this project in July 2016(!) after I completed the ATHENA and the "civilian" version.


But I never completed it.


Last week I was sitting in my office, placing the GOTHICA II and The Guardian in the display cabinets and I spotted the HERMES in its unfinished state in the cabinet.

Not sure what really sparked it, but suddenly I remembered the movie "6 Days" about the kidnapping in the Iranian Embassy in London...
So how would my Dencarian troops free a Governor?
Some may remember a very similar story for the THANATOS (https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/1920/310208.page#9517549)


I decided to create a scene where the HERMES delivers a troop of special forces to free a kidnapped Governor...
Maybe in the style of the "Swift, Silent, Deadly"?


For this I first built the rooftop of the embassy


And then I went to model the first trooper.


He will be standing at the roof access door, waiting for another to open the door...


Well, that's as far as I got.
It's a start
Cheers
Klaus

Well done on the guardian piece. Lovely, unique display.

Good start to the new piece too.

 Klaus, not Santa wrote:

whalemusic360 wrote:That's really cool, like walking out of a story book.

Thank you!
Oh, and your comment sparked an idea....perculating
Thanks!

Next time they are walking out of a coffee maker?

Always happy to get an idea going. It's better when it's someone how can execute it so well.

Too much to comment on, suffice to say - all amazing. Looking forward to the next scene...

Hi all,



wow, it's been a long time again and another project abandoned...

The year actually started rather good with 4 completed projects (Ice Warriors, Bitter End, Gothica II, and the Guardian), but now towards the mid and end of year I lost most of my Mojo and the "Dragons Den" and "Hermes Air Assault" died a slow and quiet death :(

But now I feel the itch again.
I have a vague idea for a diorama, but it may well change during the build process.
To start I will build another tank - based on the same chassis as the EPIALES and POLEMOS below.
Its called EREBUS - the Greek God of Darkness and Shadow.

EPIALES


POLEMOS


Based on my old notes I've drawn out the outlines for the hull sides,


and put the basic hull together.


After closing the front (and filling gaps with Green Putty) I assembled the fenders and hull sides.


Once the front was sanded and smooth I mounted the fenders.


Well, and this is as far as I got.

Maybe you can the the pencil marks for "entry". Here I want to leave the option to have the small ramp open and maybe show some interior.
But no promises - only if I feel like


So here's the new EREBUS besides the EPIALES



I also have to look for some more T-54 roadwheels and tracks...



I hope I can find some cheap ones - or a good alternative.
If not I would have to think about making it an anti-grav tank...
But that doesn't really fit the fluff used so far.
Oh well...
So this is it for today.

Cheers

Klaus

Always excited to see you start something new.

 monkeytroll wrote:
Always excited to see you start something new.

I hope you're more excited when I finish one
Thank you for still being around!

not to sound disrespectful, but this is what content interests me your art in general is pure eyecandy....but i look up at you as inspiration and teacher...and as thus i need such builds...well...


for all of us i wish for a more productive and less mojoless new year, eh?

 Viktor von Domm wrote:
not to sound disrespectful, but this is what content interests me your art in general is pure eyecandy....but i look up at you as inspiration and teacher...and as thus i need such builds...well...


for all of us i wish for a more productive and less mojoless new year, eh?

no pressure, eh?
Thank you VIK!
I'll do my very best to stick with it this time

Always love seeing your imperial 40k builds. It's a massive universe and we only see a small part from GW.

Every time this updates I get excited.

"What is he doing this time?"

I am NEVER disappointed coming here. Keep up the awesome work!

whalemusic360 wrote:Always love seeing your imperial 40k builds. It's a massive universe and we only see a small part from GW.

Thank you!
I hope the result will be worth your time

xXWeaponPrimeXx wrote:Every time this updates I get excited.

"What is he doing this time?"

I am NEVER disappointed coming here. Keep up the awesome work!

Thanks
No pressure, eh?
I'll try to buikld a good Piece in my Little niche of the universe

Hurrah- Klaus is back! As much as I love watching the builds (darn you people that can cut plastic so straight and neat!) I enjoy the musings on the thought process as much or moreso. I get my ideas from the builds, I get my learnin' from your thoughts.

Would love to see you revisit the Dragon's Den one day- the Muse will settle on your shoulder when it's time.

If you're feeling the melancholy, have you ever considered doing something Chaos-y? I know it goes against your 'theme', but maybe doing something like a daemonic incursion being repelled by mortals could get your juices flowing.

After the Erebus, of course.

Welcome home sir. the master returns. By all means you may take as long as you like, every picture is a lesson.

Welcome back.

Do what makes you happy, that's the point of a hobby.

Look forward to more progress. Looking good so far.

Welcome back! Always nice to see you working on a new project

 Klaus, not Santa wrote:

xXWeaponPrimeXx wrote:Every time this updates I get excited.

"What is he doing this time?"

I am NEVER disappointed coming here. Keep up the awesome work!

Thanks
No pressure, eh?
I'll try to buikld a good Piece in my Little niche of the universe

No pressure at all.
Just build what you wanna build and I will sit here in awe.

Meer_Cat wrote:Hurrah- Klaus is back! As much as I love watching the builds (darn you people that can cut plastic so straight and neat!) I enjoy the musings on the thought process as much or moreso. I get my ideas from the builds, I get my learnin' from your thoughts.

Would love to see you revisit the Dragon's Den one day- the Muse will settle on your shoulder when it's time.

Thank you Mate!
Yes, I'm hopeful the Dragons Den will be back on my desk sooner or later

Anvildude wrote:If you're feeling the melancholy, have you ever considered doing something Chaos-y? I know it goes against your 'theme', but maybe doing something like a daemonic incursion being repelled by mortals could get your juices flowing.

After the Erebus, of course.

I dunno, Chaos never tempted me - so far.
I still have a stack of busts that I want to paint… Oh well...let's finish this one first

Camkierhi wrote:Welcome home sir. the master returns. By all means you may take as long as you like, every picture is a lesson.

Thank you Camkierhi!
Hopefully I can share some more wisdom today

Dr H wrote:Welcome back.

Do what makes you happy, that's the point of a hobby.

Look forward to more progress. Looking good so far.

Thank you Dr H!

Commander Cain wrote:Welcome back! Always nice to see you working on a new project

xXWeaponPrimeXx wrote:

 Klaus, not Santa wrote:

xXWeaponPrimeXx wrote:Every time this updates I get excited.

"What is he doing this time?"

I am NEVER disappointed coming here. Keep up the awesome work!

Thanks
No pressure, eh?
I'll try to buikld a good Piece in my Little niche of the universe

No pressure at all.
Just build what you wanna build and I will sit here in awe.

Will do!
Thank you xX


Strap in! This is a large update today with 40+ images
Continuing from the last update I wanted to close the hull section. But before i could do this, I wanted to have a removable piece that I can use to build out the interior.


So this is currently just 2 simple walls and a floor that I can slide in and out of the hull


With this in place I could finally close the hull and fill gaps and sand it smooth.


With this the basic hull was done.


And the interior does still slide in and out easily


The other vehicles of this family use 1:35 T-55/54 road-wheels and tracks. But as usual I'm trying to do as much as possible from scratch.
For this I glued together a stack of discs of plastic card


Then I wrapped a strip of .5mm plastic card around it


To make things smooth, I mounted this onto my drill


After running this over the sanding block it looks really nice and smooth


With some nuts and bolts it is done!

Would be ready for molding and casting

It looks nice, but putting it besides the existing vehicle, it is a bit on the large side...


Almost as big as a soda cap...


So I gave it another try this time smaller


The end result is also very cool - I think


compared to the other


But Ouch!
Now it is too small...


Maybe i should go with the first, bigger one?


Luckily my friend Massimo from Italy was so generous to send me a brand new set of T-55 wheels and tracks from MiniArt - THANK YOU Massimo!
This tank will proudly carry your name on the turret

With the hull squared away I started to work on the turret.
For this I built two discs and spaced them


Glued together


and wrapped a strip of plastic card around it - giving me the base for the turret.


Then i cut the base shape for the turret


And the first angles.


The turret will not show any interior, so really simple building here.


Here i added the shape for the ammo storage and auto-loader


Side view


Applying the actual armor sheets was a pain in the butt and I had to sand a lot...


But in the end it looks pretty much the way I had intended


Looking at the hull with the turret on, I realized something was wrong...
I made (again) a measurement mistake and the hull is too high!

So I built another hull (1 evening), this time lower


Now it looks sleeker


So for this new hull I need the interior option again, so another slide in-out tray


And I added the rear door to that slide in


With the closed door


And the door in the open position


And as a outlook I positioned the new turret on the EPIALES hull


Next up would be the armor sides and skirts.
But since I want to have access to the hull side for mounting the wheels, I designed the basic shape removable again.


It can easily slide on and off


and i can start fleshing out these sides


but am still able to remove them and have access to the hull


So this is as far as I got.
Again a HUGE thanks to Massimo for the wheels and tracks
Cheers

Klaus

An amazing scratch building masterclass!

Always a pleasure to watch you work!

Amazing work, as usual. Beautiful construction.

Have you tried working in E-PVC or Foamex as it is sometimes called. You can get it in 1mm to 20mm thicknesses, and sheets can be as big as you like. I use it a lot now as it is cheaper than styrene and easier to work with though not quite as hard. I can scribe in details easily and it sands well enough. I am just thinking of the turret shape. I would certainly use styrene sheet for much of the work as you do, but bulkier shapes I form in Foamex. You can glue it with poly cement though super glue is better, but for cheapness I use plumbers pvc pipe solvent, works with styrene as well but requires some care.

It is just you mention struggling a little with the turret and I know that pain well, but now I use this material and I can form shapes much quicker and easier. Here is an example that took me barely an hour from start to painted finished.


Made with 5mm and 3mm sheet material.

Once again I want to thank you for being here and inspiring us so much, I understand how hard it can be at times to get the mojo flowing, but when you do it is amazing to see.

seems you´ve warmed up quite a bit for serious construction work again...now they just rollin´of your table^^

also...either a man is extra manly for holding and using a drill between his legs that was as shown here...or not for long anymore...

Impressive stuff! All those angles must be a nightmare to line up. Having just stared messing around with plasticard I have a newfound respect for your work

Lovely work as always Klaus. Especially like the slide out interior for detailing.

The build is very realistic! I've ridden in my share of APCs and IFVs (when we could hitch rides- paras are ground-pounders by nature, not drive by shooters!) and the proportions and especially the angles to the armor are very effective. Having gotten a 'half-scratch build' under my belt with the Phaethon, it might be time to start thinking about a 'whole scratch build'!

Very well done Klaus- the road wheels especially- that trick of mounting things to a drill and moving the item rather than the sanding medium is counter-intuitive (at least to me) and brilliant- I use it all the time now.

More please!

Lamby wrote:An amazing scratch building masterclass!

Always a pleasure to watch you work!

Thank you Lamby!
I'm always glad when my ramblings are of some kind of use

Camkierhi wrote:Amazing work, as usual. Beautiful construction.

Have you tried working in E-PVC or Foamex as it is sometimes called. You can get it in 1mm to 20mm thicknesses, and sheets can be as big as you like. I use it a lot now as it is cheaper than styrene and easier to work with though not quite as hard. I can scribe in details easily and it sands well enough. I am just thinking of the turret shape. I would certainly use styrene sheet for much of the work as you do, but bulkier shapes I form in Foamex. You can glue it with poly cement though super glue is better, but for cheapness I use plumbers pvc pipe solvent, works with styrene as well but requires some care.

It is just you mention struggling a little with the turret and I know that pain well, but now I use this material and I can form shapes much quicker and easier. Here is an example that took me barely an hour from start to painted finished.

Spoiler:

Made with 5mm and 3mm sheet material.

Once again I want to thank you for being here and inspiring us so much, I understand how hard it can be at times to get the mojo flowing, but when you do it is amazing to see.

Thank you Cam!
I have to admit, I don't really like the Foamex. But that is simply because I can't get any straight lines or angles with it...
probably too stupid

Viktor von Domm wrote:seems you´ve warmed up quite a bit for serious construction work again...now they just rollin´of your table^^

also...either a man is extra manly for holding and using a drill between his legs that was as shown here...or not for long anymore...

Hah! I'm one of these toughies with the drill between my legs.. um...ah... that didn't come out right, did it?

Naw, was just for shows

Commander Cain wrote:Impressive stuff! All those angles must be a nightmare to line up. Having just stared messing around with plasticard I have a newfound respect for your work

Thanks Commander!
Always nice to have you here

monkeytroll wrote:Lovely work as always Klaus. Especially like the slide out interior for detailing.

Thank you! I hope I can really make an interior....and not lose Mojo before

Meer_Cat wrote:The build is very realistic! I've ridden in my share of APCs and IFVs (when we could hitch rides- paras are ground-pounders by nature, not drive by shooters!) and the proportions and especially the angles to the armor are very effective. Having gotten a 'half-scratch build' under my belt with the Phaethon, it might be time to start thinking about a 'whole scratch build'!

Very well done Klaus- the road wheels especially- that trick of mounting things to a drill and moving the item rather than the sanding medium is counter-intuitive (at least to me) and brilliant- I use it all the time now.

More please!

Thanks!
Sure I'll try my best.
I hope there are some take aways for you today!

Hi all,
thanks for the great feedback and messages
Feels good to know you're still here and reading.

Continuing with the build, I fleshed out the track skirts with some additional angled armor.


Probably a bit heavier than I had originally envisioned,


but I think the proportions work.


Next I assembled the road-wheels so generously gifted by Massimo.


This is how I planned to mount them.


Massimo told me he didn't really like the MiniArt tracks and prefers the Trumpeter tracks, as he had some issues assembling the tracks to be "workable"


Well, after a few tries I do agree with Massimo.
These tracks are a pain in the A**.

The pins are too soft and have no working catch - they fall out again.
Do you guys have any experience with these tracks?

While pondering the tracks issue I cut the mounts for the wheels with my trusted "Chopper"


To keep the wheels properly aligned and straight I pinned them onto a strip of plastic card.


With this I can ensure they are straight and aligned while the glue cures.


But when mounting the track skirts I realized it was all too low.


The wheels sit too high on the hull


This isn't looking good.


So I mounted "axles" beneath the hull and cut supports to hold them in place


This looks better now


The wheels now have the proper height ratio to the vehicle and skirts


After chatting again with Massimo and realizing that I have glued wheels - which means "workable" tracks are non-sense anyway - I simply glued the tracks together and mounted them.


I really like the way they turned out.


Starts to look like a tank.


With a nice rear

Bloody impressive work there Klaus: looks like a 'proper' tank!

somehow the post got truncated.
Here's the rest
With a nice rear


And so it was time to mount the main gun


Well, size matters, eh?


What do you think?


When looking at modern tanks, like say the Challenger, I think the ratio of the gun is good.


Or what do you say? Too long?
Please let me know what you think.
Cheers
Klaus

I think in 40k, tank barrels are generally shorter for the sake of playability. They are actually pretty damn long in the real world. So I think you can't go wrong here. Short, long, whatever floats your boat.

Yeah, think it only looks too long in comparison to 40k tanks. Works for me.

And handy trick on mounting the wheels