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Greetings Dakka-ites

After seeing Wrexasaur's Scratchbuilt daemon, I figured id have a whack at some scratch building/sculting. Ive always loved the concept of squigs but really the only squig models GW do is the group of bomb squigs, which isnt really what im going for.

Ill start this off with a shot of what i'm working with. The balls are pieces from some atom building chemistry set (which now I think about it should be glued for strength, damn now the wire needs re-doing) and theres just some wire as an armature for the legs, the picture below indicates with red lines what it may look like when done . . . emphasis on may.

Tonight i'm going to get the leg armature done and maybe get the base layer of putty on





Toxic

Good to see your project in action Mr. Toxic.

I love the squig drawing, very mean .

When you put your greenstuff on, do it in multiple layers so you can maintain the maximum amount of control. Remember to use a bit of petroleum jelly on your fingers and tools, unless you have non-stick plastic tools and fingers... wait I mean gloves . You can put the armatures "feet" into a table clamp so you wont have to worry about the model falling over. Bending the legs shouldn't be too difficult with two pairs of needlenose pliers. You can also use a clamp to shape the legs if pliers end up giving you trouble.

Squig don't have scales right? That would end up being the hard part if they did.

To make the eyes, form a shallow socket wherever it should be, put a small ball of putty in the socket gently pressing it a bit flatter, cut two D-shaped (very thin) pieces of putty and place the bottom one on first. If you want you can add a second larger piece staggered onto the top one to form a thick eyelid.

Good luck mate

"Note"
Lightly roughen the milliput in it's final drying stages (12-18 hours) to make sure the surface will form a nice bond with your GS.

Before anybody does carry on . . .

The plan is to use milliput to make the basic shape and then sculpt on top with GS. The milliput will make a good base to start with and if I get the right shape to start with will make it hella easier

Toxic

could we get a scale picture to say a normal ork boy or something? PLZ

Done some playing around with the leg armatures, not sure if theyll be ok to sculpt on but im sure ill work something out

@Buttlerthepug (and as a general update)


See it does smile, can we keep it mummy

Bit of show offy-ness on my part but that bike has been waiting to be finished forever. But onto the build . . .

You probably cant see but ive used bluetack to hold in the armatures, mainly because they needed holding in place better and because I didnt want to find the milliput. Id start work on the actual body but im going to see transformers: revenge of the fallen tonight (OMFG -JIZZES-) so i'll try and get some done after school tomorrow

Toxic

EDIT: Just realised those red lines are kinda annoying, shall be left out unless nessacery

I would actually recommend keeping the concepts coming. Looking at two balls... well yeah enough said.

From your last pic it looks like the black ball is way to big for the body, in fact the smaller one might be perfect. If you simply want to make a scaled model, you will be able to get a lot of practice before you take a try with a smaller scale. A squig is very small, and therefore the detail might end up overwhelming you. This happens to everyone at first, so working in a manageable scale if beneficial to your learning and sanity .

Hey guys

Im going to start work on the basic body scult with milliput, but a few things have come up into my mind. Let me know what you think

1) As Wrex said it is abit of a large squig so I think for the moment I wont go about making it a wargear attack squig and just make abit of a display. So the plan will be to give the beast a collar and chain and have it dragging an ork behind it

2) I dont have any GS at the moment, but i've found some on eBay. They sell it in 6" strips for about £3 plus p&p. How much do you get in the GW packs, would it be cheaper to order the GW packs or buy from eBay

Toxic

Saturday has come round so i'm going to try and get the rest of the main body sculpted in milliput. Below is a picture of the current milliput slug as affectionally named by myself



You may have noticed that like the leg armatures are missing. If you look closely at the side where the lips join together there is abit of scuff work. That is where the original legs were, too far up front. So ill make some more wire lengths and put them abit further back.

Ive got my GS on order from eBay so hopefully by the time the milliput work is done ill be able to start the GS sculpting

Toxic

Does feel like a while since updating this. Ive managed to sculpt the legs with and am ready to start detailing in GS if it arrives tomorrow. Lemme know what you think



Toxic

Looking good so far. Its missing some friggin pasta tho!

MrToxichazard wrote:Hey guys

Im going to start work on the basic body scult with milliput, but a few things have come up into my mind. Let me know what you think

1) As Wrex said it is abit of a large squig so I think for the moment I wont go about making it a wargear attack squig and just make abit of a display. So the plan will be to give the beast a collar and chain and have it dragging an ork behind it

2) I dont have any GS at the moment, but i've found some on eBay. They sell it in 6" strips for about £3 plus p&p. How much do you get in the GW packs, would it be cheaper to order the GW packs or buy from eBay

Toxic

I'm not sure how much 6" will equal in weight but:
http://www.maelstromgames.co.uk/index.php?act=pro&pre=gf9_hob_mod_scu_101_000
100 g, 9£, free p&p.

Or, http://www.maelstromgames.co.uk/index.php?act=pro&pre=tap_hob_mod_scp_001_000
I'm guessing this is the same thing you are looking at at ebay? 3.5~£, no p&p.

Squigs are awesome, so looking forward to the finished product!

@number9dream - It worked out at about £3 inc. p&p, so the eBay price was probs better. Then it ramps up to a whoppin' 36" of GS

@kingcracker - oh noes, the pasta -facepalms- though I am looking into some tagliatelle battle armour

My GS still hasnt come yet and im out of milliput (mixed up the rest I had and didnt end up using it >.<) so for the moment the project is on hold til the GS comes in. The plan from there is to go along the ridge and add some spikes, teeth, a tongue, claws and better define the feet, then go along and model some scars and the leash . . . then find a hapless boy to attempt to hold it down

Toxic

Looks good.

Never ever, ever mix putties unless you plan on using them immediately. With milliput it is a bit different, because it does take quite a while to cure; nonetheless working in as a small amount as possible serves two purposes.
A.) Maximum control over the sculpture
B.) Conserving your putty

What are you using for tools? I think you may have mentioned something, but I can't recall. The milliput actually prefers rough "water" work done with sponge-tips and your gloved or otherwise lubricated fingers. GS will need metal or non-stick rubber tools. Colour shapers are simply fantastic, and they are non-stick rubber so you don't really need any petroleum jelly. Remember to layer the GS onto the model and let each layer cure so you can get clean results.

I had been working in fairly small quantities but I thought ill mix up the last bit and i'll use it all, turns out I was wrong

As for tools, with the milliput ive been using the driver compartment shielf thing from a predator (you know that bit that lifts up infront of the front window) just dip that in a bit of water and its done well at smoothing it over.
I havnt really done much modelling with GS before so i'll take your word on the metal sculpting tools, I mean I could always just use a length of wire and twist that into whatever shape needed. I was going to think about carving up some small lengths of sprue and use them. How well do you think that would work?

Toxic

http://www.warehouse23.com/item.html?id=PSI000-23

This is a cheap place to get green stuff I got mine 3 or 4 years ago and it is still going strong.

Reminds me of the life sized squig i made out of clay for an art project nearly the exact same as that lol

Life Sized !!!

A full life sized squig Please say you can find pictures or something

@sonofruss - checked the link and its no longer available. I think ill be ok with the amount I have at the moment, but I will definatly look into other sources

Speaking of GS it came this morning (and survived bieng ravaged by the dog) So Ill start work tonight and show you what I get by the end of the night

Toxic

Lol it will be after the holidays until i get pics up keep in mind it is a life sized baby squig

typhus wrote:Lol it will be after the holidays until i get pics up keep in mind it is a life sized baby squig

Here is another, who knows it may even be yours.
http://mythicmktg.fileburst.com/war/us/home/images/newsletter/2007_09/GiantSquig.jpg

OMG WANTS

Thats quite impressive on size and sculpt. Course I dont think mine is going to look quite that large. Pics of current progress wil be up in abit. Got the feet and back spines done


Automatically Appended Next Post:


Few things to note
The chain is a mild WiP (in that I still need to do the links, thanks to the GS chain tut on here)
You see that bit on the leg, yeah the bit that looks like it got cut off? It has been, due to a long leg it had to be cut short, ill smooth that out for the next update
The long wire was going to have a dangling ork on it, not sure how well that's going to go, Ill take a boy and see how it goes . . . but will inevitably leave it as a flailing loose chain
He isnt blind, he just doesnt have eyes yet

You know the drill

Toxic

Last modelling update. A few changes, more back spikes/spines, the long flailing chain is gone. I think ill get a legth of small chain from work and wind/work that onto a thin strip of wire going from those two rings in its cheeks. He's also go a nice lolling tongue, an eye and an eye scar (only because I gakked that one up)

Im more of a scult as I go guy. I didnt plan on alot of back spikes but now Ive got plenty. I planned on a flailing ork, thats out of the window. I think im going to leave it as it is and move to painting. Im thinking of going with a red scheme abit like the life sized one a few posts back. Or I might try something abit different, not too sure yet.



Id be willing to go back and touch up if there is anything you guys think might help it out.
Oh and for basing I was just going to have a basic sandy base rather like the ones for my main models, check out my gallery

Toxic

Looking pretty good. I would sand the legs down a bit so they don't dominate the model so much. Milliput responds to sanding fantastically well.

I was liking the look of the chains, but I think this version is a bit more manageable. The spikes and mouth look great.

Looks good It's got that nice tint of good ole fashioned home made squige. Very good Keep it up I want to see it painted, What colors do you plan to paint him/her.

Thanks guys, it will be getting some filing and sanding at some point tomorrow. Its a teacher training day at 6th form so am going to work on my squig with no name.

Im debating a good old fashioned red as most squigs end up bieng, or dabbling in some strange long forgotten colours, should have a purple around somewhere

It has been a while since I updated and im sure you're all ACHING to see progress -cough fail cough- but i'm letting you know that there is progress, the paintjob has gone underway. Ill get a basecoat on tonight of the basic skin and then go from there

I'm sure you're all on the edges of your seats in anticipation

Toxic

EDIT



There it be. I rushed to get a picture up so there are som obvious mistakes and top-ups to be done. But thats just to show you how its going so far

Toxic . . . again

I think you have done quite a good job on this, GS isn't very easy to work with. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the paint.

Wrexasaur wrote:

typhus wrote:Lol it will be after the holidays until i get pics up keep in mind it is a life sized baby squig

Here is another, who knows it may even be yours.
http://mythicmktg.fileburst.com/war/us/home/images/newsletter/2007_09/GiantSquig.jpg

This may sound cocky but i think mine looks a bit better

I saw a picture of a Squig cake, built a bit larger than full scale... man what do you do with a Squig cake??? What a dilemma... must... eat ... cake.... NOOOOO!!!

You can always use a giant Squig as a titan

OMG is so going to bake a cake in the shape of a squig Just giving my Dad even more reasons to question my mentality

Imagine something the size of a titan but still has the ferocity and jumpy-ness of a squig . . . be a dream come true :p