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Over the past few years the methods of making true scale* marines have evolved.
In the early days, upsizing a marine was commonly done by extending regular power armour with plasticard shims. After a while, people started looking to other kits for addes size, most commonly the Fantasy Chaos Warrior sprue. Then came the plastic terminators, leaving us with the current standard so wonderfully exemplified by people like Apologist and Migsula.

*: or "art scale", "biggerized", "large scale""fluffsized" or what have you....

Recently I've been considering building a few true scale marines for =I=Munda. As I was considering the look I wanted, I wondered if the "old ways" of creating bigger marines still had worth. So I decided to find out....
I asked some questions and found that the modern T.B.T.S. (Terminator-Based True Scale) clocks in at about 40mm tall and around 27mm wide. I intended to get as close as I could to that mark, but using only regular power armour bits.

Here's what I came to:
Phase 1:
The belt was separated from the torso, before glueing it together. A 1mm plasticard spacer was added between the front and rear of the chest piece. An extended stomach section was made from 2x 1mm plasticard disks. The belt section was glued to the bottom of the stomach section.
It turned out that the stomach section I added had the same diameter as the original belt section. So, a thin strip of plasticard was wrapped around the belt to thicken it.
A half-millimetre riser was added under the neck.
The legs were cut off from the pelvis and had a 1mm spacer added to them.

At this point the model's proportions are a total nightmare...

So, more spacers are added:

(don't mind the pose, he's just stacked together.)
Another 1 mm in the lower legs, and 1mm on either side of his torso. We're getting closer...

And the final product:

Some final tricks were used:
-One leg was straightened and half-mm plasticard was added below his feet.
-The legs were reattached lower and closer together, sliding underneath the pelvis by a little bit. This added another mm of height and got rid of the "full diaper stance""
Greenstuff was used to repair the ribbing on one knee. On the hips, the need to repair the ribbing with GS was also used to widen the hips just a bit and provide a smooth transition from the legs to the belt. (His hips were abnormally narrow before.)
Gaps were filled.
No need to remind me of the undrilled barrel, I know I still have to do that...

I now have a space marine that is 38mm tall and 26mm wide at the shoulders, using only power armoured bits!
For those that don't speak metric, here's some comparison pictures:

"You, how dare you be so large!"

And vs an unmodified marine:


So, what do you think? Is this still a viable method for truescaling, or has it fallen behind the times?
(I think I could push his size. to the desired 40 and 27mm. But it would require more repositioning of the legs and feet and more extensive GS work on the torso, to compensate for the difference in width of chest and stomach. Otherwise you'd get an overly wasp-waisted Space Marine... Too much trouble for a "quick" test.)

Painted pictures will have to wait for a few weeks, as I'll be going on a camping trip (luckily I get to take my painting kit. But no internet acces... )
I'm still undecided what colours/chapter I want to paint him as. So I you have a suggestion, please let me know before next Sunday!


Greetings, Modhail

Admirable attempt but I think the end result is a little too spindly looking. The main issue I have is with the hips, they look to narrow to support the 8ft tall combat machine that a Space Marine is supposed to be. Once they are painted it may change my opinion but for now they are not quite "beefy" enough.

I've got to agree that it's overall a little thin - which was why the move to terminator parts was made, really. It's nearly there - if you thicken the waist, and add a little GS to thicken the legs (you can do this on the inside of the legs if you're not confident about your sculpting skills, though you've done pretty well so far). Or you could add a tabard and cloak to help give it some visual bulk. Also try to thicken the neck.

I'm interested to see how this turns out!

ChaosismyAntidrug wrote:Admirable attempt but I think the end result is a little too spindly looking. The main issue I have is with the hips, they look to narrow to support the 8ft tall combat machine that a Space Marine is supposed to be. Once they are painted it may change my opinion but for now they are not quite "beefy" enough.

QFT,

Great effort.... just not quite right..

Cheers,

Jack.

Thanks for the feedback so far!
I'll see what paint will do for him before I cast a final verdict. (Once I decide a colourscheme, that is.)

Unistoo, I understand what you are saying about the bulking up, but it wouldn't make sense to do that. I'd end up needing to resculpt the chest, lower legs and most likely arms as well. It would be easier and take less effort and time to use Terminator parts instead.
Like I said, this is really just an experiment to see if this method of making true scale is still valid. If it doesn't achieve satisfactory results, I'll abandon the method.

I think that the final product looks pretty good, even on close inspection his proportions don't jump out at me as a problem. They're still way better than the proportions of some gw marines.

In conclusion, very good job!

Well, I'm back from vacation, and I've painted the "guinea pig"...

Here he is:


Plus some views from front, rear and gunpoint, so you can judge proportions:




And to show off how he compares to a "regular" marine and an unmodified human:
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h213/Modhail/Miniatures%20in%20Action/HPIM3139.jpg

So, what do you think? Does a true-scale marine, made from the power armour kit only, still look convincing these days?

Oh, and I couldn't help myself and set this little picture up:



Bye, Modhail

He needs larger shoulders(INORITE?) and legs to make the head look smaller. Right now he looks kind of lanky.

Yeah, just a bit too 'snake hips' and the upper legs are looking a little spindly - I'd be tempted to not extend the thighs, only the calves. The upper body looks fine to me.

It would certainly be interesting to see what you could do by adding a few terminator bits - although that could get expensive if you don't have the bits.

If nothing else, this is a cool way to make HQ and other special characters.

Fafnir, what's Inorite?

Clang, only extending the calves would throw proportions way off. (He'd end up having calves twice as long as his thighs...)
If I were to do a second one in this way I could bulk out the thighs and belt area with GS, but that would also mean extensive GS work on the torso, to make everything flow into each other.

Getting the bits won't be a problem. I won't need much, because I don't intend to do an entire army in this style. Just a few, maybe a combat squad at most, to scare the players in an =I=Munda campaign I'm brooding on.

I think he looks more well-proportioned than a regular space marine or a terminator, imo. Nice work.

Da_Todfatha wrote:I think he looks more well-proportioned than a regular space marine or a terminator, imo. Nice work.

Agreed, I like, well done. My only thought is that the kneepads now look alittle low on the legs, otherwise the non-bulking looks good and more tru-scale.

I approve. I wonder, this isn't allowed in regular WH games, aren't they? (because they look badass, but I don't want to make them and finally not being able to use them)

I really like it, the regular space marines look slow, his lankiness gives him a sense of agility, like he could run up and smash you good before you can do anything about it.

Nice work! Now does it actually make him initiative 5??

I like it. Honestly my only nitpick with it is that I think the midsection/stomach area was stretched a little too much, which makes it slightly awkward. Otherwise though I like it a lot. To be honest I like it a lot more than the overwhelming majority of examples that use Terminator parts.

I really like it, no complaints at all. The waist may be small but creative use of accesories fixes that well.

Well done sir, well done.

Modhail wrote:Fafnir, what's Inorite?

It's just an interwebz way of saying "I know, right?" Its meaning depends on the context.

Rico.

Thanks for the comments!

MeanGreenStompa, Caffran9, I have to agree with you. I think both your comments could be solved simultaneously: add half a mm less to the torso and add it to the shins instead..
That way the waist will dissapear underneath the arms a bit more as well, making it even less noticeable.
Looking back, a little more time and care fitting the legs to the torso could widen the hips just a bit more, maybe half a mm or so. Widening the belt just a little bit would add to that effect.
Maybe I'll just have make a second attempt...

Dark, I don't see why it wouldn't be allowed. Aside from the plasticard, I've used nothing but GW parts. People may comment about the line of sight rules, but I don't know why they would dislike spotting you easier....

Rdlb: Exactly, much of the background makes a point of Space Marines not only being far stronger, but scary fast as well. That suggests to me more of an athlete's or gymnast's build, rather than just 8' tall Schwartzeneggers. Melee combat as marines handle it would mostly need upper body strength I think (especially seen the size of those chainswords), so you'd expect most of the strength and bulk to be there.

Rico, thanks!