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About three or four months ago I was going to get back into the swing of my `Nids, and was starting to work on a few projects. Then I heard about the new codex coming out in January and stopped all work, wanting to wait to see what they changed before I progressed any further. Well with the substantial amount of leakage, I'm rather quite excited, and working is starting up already in anticipation for the new book's arrival. My Gaunts and stuff are pretty standard, so I'm not going to bother showing pics of those here (though you can see some in my gallery if you want) but I do want to show off work on the big boys, cause I like messing around with those.

First up is an on again off again project that's been a WIP since the plastic Carnifex first came out. He was assembled, cut up, made bigger, reassembled, base coated (badly), cut up some more, made even bigger, partially assembled, and then disassembled AGAIN. With the coming book, I've decided that since he's already had all the previous work done to biggerize him, he's the perfect candidate to be made into my Tyranofex.

Future work from here is mostly a bunch of gap filling with Green Stuff, and sculpting up all the details on his Bio Cannon. Tues will stretch from the back opening of the gun up under where his carapace meets his waste. I'm debating on sinew/tendons to stretch from the second arm to support to gun's length, or making a some long talons/fingers to do the job. The area around his neck, up underneath his carapace will be dotted with some small honey comb patterns to represent his Texorin Bug hive. Lastly I want to see if I can get a pair of the smallest set of Scything Talons from the Trygon/Mawloc box for his front most pair of limbs. "I've got a big head, and tiny arms."

That's freakin' amazing. I'm gonna have to find a bigger chain of sausages to distract him with if he ever comes up against my army o_o

Fair progress on this today. Should have had more but had issues with the gun barrel breaking back off. Glued in better on the original joint, plus I got a support strut added in from the second arm to help stabilize it. Otherwise;

I got his third pair of vents put back on. They had been removed when I cut him up to biggerize him as the angle of the cuts would have wrecked em.

Feeder tube and extra vein tubes added onto the gun barrel.

Got one side of his carapace extended to cover up where I had to move his middle shoulder joints down to allow his short little arms to aim that gun how I wanted to. Visible in the first picture. Had enough from that batch of GS left to patch the hole on the other side before I headed out for board game night at the FLGS.

Made up a pair of melee arms. The Tyranofex does not get any kind of special close combat weapons according to the info I have, but he's still a Monstrous Creature with three strength six attacks, so I wanted to make sure he looked like he could defend himself properly. My original plan was to use the pair of the tiny Mawloc scytals from the Trygon kit, but as I don't know the actual scale on those, and I don't plan on buying a Trygon myself at the moment so I would have been left to bug someone else for their Bitz. I saw the Crushing Claws I had cut off from the arms, and decided those would be useful. With the removal of the oppoeable "thumb" part, and putting them on the smaller `fex scytal arms, I think they look distinct enough to not be immediately views as still being Crushing Claws. They make me think of bigger versions of Gaunts middle limbs, which is really the perfect imagery in my mind, but I'd love to hear people's opinions on em.

Oh it seems nice...

But... How come there is so much Greenstuff all over him??????

The bright green that's all over his body is paint, one of his previous base coats from when he had been "finished". The green on the claws and gun arms is a different shade of paint. Only the darker green such as the extended carapace is actual Green Stuff. Here's what he used to look like at one point...

It looks like it will be really awesome when it's finished.

@ Yggdrasil - Not everything that's green is GS, most of it is base coat.

Wow, this will look pretty intimidating once finished! You are really great at this stuff.

Cool stuff, man!

DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA (fex)

Awesome. Looking forward to more updates/completion. Even though I'm an Ork at heart, I just love what can be done with a bit of creativity

"Morning" Update. Left side Carapace is done, gap filled the base of the third row vents... Oh, and I got the main super structure of the gun finished. Need to get the "hands" done next, and decide how to cap the back end of it.

Nice, though yo should try and smooth that out, it looks a little too fleshy for a gun. Some ridges would help.

Brotheralexos wrote:Nice, though yo should try and smooth that out, it looks a little too fleshy for a gun. Some ridges would help.

In case you haven't noticed, this is a tyranid gun. "Fleshy" is a design principle for us.

Looking awesome! I like how it is coming.

I'm gonna miss these all day modeling sessions after I find a new job... Anyways;

The gun is done I think with the exception of a few final details on the left "hand" that supports it, mostly in the form of getting his fingers on there. I did think it was a bit to blank along the barrel, though I don't mind the unevenness of the smooth surface as it is a living creature and not manufactured, so I scraped some texture onto it. I copied the fleshy webbing from the feeder tube of the `Fex Venom Cannon onto the tube for this for some added detail, and then decided to make the gun an opened ended tube, showing off the fleshy insides at the back as well as the front.

Got some detail filling into the neck and waste socket. I think I did a passable job of copying the pattern on the existing plastic bitz so it should be obvious when painted, though I don't doubt you would be able to tell on inspection. For the big blank spot above the neck and behind the head, I decided to copy the same pattern of "random fleshyness" that is inside the front and back openings of the Bio Cannon, so there share some of the same details.

Got the honey comb structure of his Thorax Swarm bugs done. After that's set, I'll build up his carapace around the edges of it. Probably not at all what the guy who came up with the weapon thought of it being, but I just liked the idea of a symbiotic hive, and when I think of a hive, I think of bees. Besides, the hex pattern is the most effective use of space, so it's likely the `Nids would have evolved the same structure.

Awesome!

Ok, here's a question for ya. Do you think I could/should use a bigger base than the standard `Fex size? Both of his feet hang off either edge, not to mention how far he sticks out past the front.

Valk-sized base maybe? I dunno... I don't see too many bases bigger than the fex or the IG HWT.

Haha!! That's freakin amazing!

I do believe he's all finished up, unless someone sees something I missed or should address. I think my least favorite part is where the left hand connect to the gun. That kind of free hand detail sculpting is where my current skills are lacking at the moment. Everything else is pretty much large flatish surfaces or a repeated pattern. I think it's passable enough however that it shouldn't detract from the T-Fex as a whole. The goal was a really big Fex with a really big gun, and I think I pulled it off. It'll be a bit before he's painted, as I've got a couple other things to get built first, though I'm curious how well the paint will take to the airline tubing. Next project, a pair of Alpha Warriors.

actually use the base that goes with the valkrie

Not sure if this is a huge thing or not, and would probably depend on how you paint it but the tube that leads into the gun just doesnt look right. compared to the rest of the model it doesnt look like a proper extension of the flesh.

Apart from that its a very impressive conversion. Look forward to seeing it painted

Jake Bake A Cake wrote:Not sure if this is a huge thing or not, and would probably depend on how you paint it but the tube that leads into the gun just doesnt look right. compared to the rest of the model it doesnt look like a proper extension of the flesh.

Apart from that its a very impressive conversion. Look forward to seeing it painted

Maybe some ribbing - like intestine - or continue the pattern from the base of the gun?

Arakasi wrote:

Jake Bake A Cake wrote:Not sure if this is a huge thing or not, and would probably depend on how you paint it but the tube that leads into the gun just doesnt look right. compared to the rest of the model it doesnt look like a proper extension of the flesh.

Apart from that its a very impressive conversion. Look forward to seeing it painted

Maybe some ribbing - like intestine - or continue the pattern from the base of the gun?

yeh thats what i was thinking, somehow continuing from the base of the gun. Or somehow making some veins pop out from the tube.

just feels like it needs something

wow! i think this looks awsome...but you could maybe put some carapac eplates on the gun? all nid weapos i can think of have carapace plating on them. OOtherwise this looks amazing. wish i was as talented as you

Looks very good.

Looks nice, and has got me thinking about a tervigon conversion. I would, however, have to second the comments about the tube. It just needs a litle "something" to blend it in.

How about using some hot glue and smearing it around it to make it look more vein-ey and organic? It worked on a scratch-built bastion I made.

Damn, that is seriously impressive.

I could not bring myself to like that left hand at all. The more I looked at it the more I hated it. One of the things I like with Green Stuff is that it's really easy to peal off recent work, even after it's set overnight, so you can redo stuff. Thus I am doing what I should have done from the start. Instead of trying to lengthen the hand to reach the gun, I'm lengthening the arm to put the hand closer to the gun. I also removed a bunch of material to leave just what I wanted, rather than trying to build around stuff. Let that sit for a bit then see about getting his claws on there.

Also added a couple of carapace bits to the end of the gun barrel. May do a little more with those, if nothing else I'll shove more GS under em so you can't see thru em like you can now.

Tried to add some tiny GS veins on the tubes, but I can't. The tubes are silicone and the GS absolutely will not stick to them. The only reason the webbing stays on is its wrapped around and anchored at the base. Think I'll go throw a coat of primer onto a scrap piece of tubing and see what kind of effect that has on it.