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So, for converting the existing plastics, what do you think is necesarry for a successful conversion from a Cadian to a Tallarn?

Im thinking some head sculpts along with accesorizing, like extra canteens, jambaya styled knife sheaths, scimitars for the sgt's & officers.


I know the armored torso will look a lil different than the smocks on the old figs, but it shouldnt be too much of a problem except for the cadian based figs being a little taller.

And please dont tell me about the ForgeWorld Tallarns. I know about them, and the 3 or 4 poses they have are well done, but arent going to flesh out an army with my budget.

have you thought about using, high elf archers, cause they have the robes and stuff maybe.

not sure really though...

i think you will defo have to find some heads as well.

personally i had considered the Lord of the rings models. but even though they'd work. they are way to small.

Im not buying any new figs for it. I've got several boxes of cadians, tons of catachans(including lotsa extra heads Im probly gonna use for the converions) and a couple tubes of sculpting putty to work with

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/258201.page#1000312

There you go!

i'd say the most important bit would be to lengthen the existing cadian skirts and maybe add a scarf to each guy (or most of the squad). the link cadianxv posted pretty much covers the same, so +1.

CadianXV wrote:http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/258201.page#1000312

There you go!

Ya, I saw that post. The problem I have with his style, is that if you set it next to existing tallarns it doesnt match up.

The problem with lengthening the tunic is that it ends up looking like a skirt when used with a carapace armor torso. So I think by removing the cargo pockets off the cadian legs, and puffing the pants out a bit will work just as well.

Ideally though Im hoping to keep the majority of the conversion on the torso and head, that will keep them easy to cast if I decide to do a bunch of them. Legs are fiddly, and arms & small stuff are worse

Well if they are tallarns fighting in a urban environment they may only keep their turbans

if you look at the the ciaphas cain novels and they are based around the valhalans, who do not where their cold weather gear most of the time as they find the area to hot, so mabye you could apply the same logic to the tallarns but as it is less hostile they need less protection from the elements

Shemaghs, Young_Logan. They're a traditional headwrap to shield one from the desert heat and blowing sand--and have been adopted by pretty much any force that fights in desert climes.

As for converting Cadians to Tallarn...I can't see any really good way to do it, at least in keeping with the current look of Tallarn.
I could see a good way of having Cadians adopting the same general look of the Tallarn dress(shemagh wrapped under the helmet, lots of packs and a large canteen, puttees around the boots and wrapping the lower leg sealing it to the boot) which wouldn't involve needing to buy whole new models.

Urban turbans has an amusing ring to it though.

But so far a couple test sculpts of shemaghs has been easier than I thought. So Im going to do a few more of them, maybe on catachon torsos to see if its practical to use those and then add the baggy tunic.

The boot wraps im not too wrried with, thats one facet of the original sculpts that looked rather poor- kinda like clown shoes with some wraping up the calf....

Are you really set on blending them 100% together and not having Cadians 'gone native'? Stripped down armor, field caps, etc would go a long way to blending the two regiments together.

Im not making full on tallarns, my skills at sculpting draping cloth just arent there yet

Cadians gone native is one possibility, but I think going more for tallarns with cadian gear is what Im hoping for.

So, for now the shemaghs have been pretty easy, but the tunics, not so much. I gotta figure out how to get the folds/ripples into fabric sculpts O.o

The problem I see with making the tunics is that you've got the armor in the way alongside of the Tallarn seeming to put their tunics over the armor itself(at least that's how the FW ones look now)

well, as with any conversion, painting it properly can adjust the end results. So, as long as the paint theme between the different types of figs ties them together it should work out.

Theres also the option of sculpting the shemaghs partially unwrapped, exposing the face and draping over the armor. I might end up using that idea as a bit of a crutch to cover the stuff I cant sculpt the way I want yet

Another thing I noticed, some of the lead tallarns have sashes instead of regular belts- so theres another option for adding the right flavor

Look for photos of British SAS from World War 2. They dressed very much like the Tallarn do.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
In fact, here you go:

Ya, except for the shorts lol Tallarn in shorts may look kinda silly. But those guys in the pics are wearing Keffiyehs, which are similar, but generally arent wrapped around the face(but can be worn as a turban.

Thanks for the pic. I've been watching alot of movies with an arabic theme, Laurence of Arabia, Gunga Din, The mummy, Indiana Jones, and a few others I cant recall. Trying to get an eye on how the cloth moves on the clothing.

And heres a WIP shot on my blog(yes, Im too lazy to post it here)

http://mistressofminis.blogspot.com/2010/04/tallarn-wip-headsshemagh-sculpts.html

Following

And yeah, I know they're not wearing shemaghs...but, that was the first thing that came to mind for Tallarn.

I'd also suggest going to the library and looking for anything you can get your hands on in regards to Special Operations in the War on Terror. Delta, CIA, etc all went native immediately after 9/11 and embedded themselves with the Northern Alliance and adopted the local clothing alongside of the standard gear.

Interesting, i was thinking of doing a similar thing, apart from using Keffiyehs instead of shemaghs but i never got arround to it. so now im reinspired to contiune with it. i shall follow your work with interest.

here is a link to Agandhjin's work on a guard army with Keffiyehs http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/205727.page

the first pictures are of poor quality but at the bottom of the page they are better.

And here is my topic on arabic style heads, there is some different examples of arabic stlye guard in that. also the link killkrazy surgested lead to a site with indian soldiers with uniforms similar to the picture of the British SAS in WW2.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/283997.page

MoM i have an idea that i have never tried before,
but thinking over it , might work.

Cut some thin strips of paper towel , dip them in glue , and wrap them around the head? Stick 2 smaller pieces above the neck to make it look like its really tied.

Mistress of minis wrote:Cadians gone native is one possibility, but I think going more for tallarns with cadian gear is what Im hoping for.

Modellingwise, this combination approach will be the simplest option - either Cadians who've been sent somewhere really hot and are modifying their gear as best they can, or Tallarns who have been supplied with a pile of Cadian uniforms (those darned fools at the quartermasters department!) and have Tallarn-ised them as best they can.

LunaHound wrote:MoM i have an idea that i have never tried before,
but thinking over it , might work.

Cut some thin strips of paper towel , dip them in glue , and wrap them around the head? Stick 2 smaller pieces above the neck to make it look like its really tied.

paper towels are almost always textured with some pattern. I use the cheap unquilted TP for stuff like that, but its just too fiddly to use for stuff this small. It works for tarps and even cloaks/capes, bed rolls, stuff like that.

So, after several more sculpts, Im really liking how my keffiyehs are turning out. And theyre fast, I can put on 4 or 5 of them in around a half hour.

Other completed projects- A Marbo stand in made out of Shiv (Last Chancers model) I turned his long hair into a keffiyeh, curved his blade like a shamshir, gave him some facial hair, and a knife in his left hand. I really like how he turned out ^_^

And my Combat Labor platoon is off to a good start. These guys are my foot/blob platoon- many of them are weilding shovels as a CCW and they're something useful to do with catachans!! Im giving them all large keffiyehs, and basically converting them up to look like the ammo bearers, trench diggers and general peon grunts.

Pics were taken, but my cam is givin me the finger and jsut will not focus on the figs- so pics to follow once that gets worked out.

:'D

Sticked with GS turbans?

i knew it!!!!






SAS guys dont die.they only go to hell to regroup!

I have seen this done before, and I think it's probably fairly easy. I can't remember where I saw it, (maybe on Dakka, maybe Warseer) but the guy used Cadiens as his base, and sculpted the wraped cloth around the boots, added catachan heads, and sculpted head scarves. I think he got some of the small brass etched eagles from FW and added those to one shoulder pad, and viola, Tallarns... He didn't bother with lengthening the tunic, so the only sculpting is scarves and the stuff around the boots, which is fairly minor and the end result was realy quite good.

Mistress: Looks like you are off to a great start, and I can’t wait to see more pics (and painted samples perhaps?). Do you have inspiration for your transports\tanks yet, or are you letting the ideas percolate before diving in? I could see having soo much fun using Tamiya SAS jeep and truck kits for Chimera’s, converted Armor Cars for Leman Russ, and even some Rough Riders.

Sigh.. You’re going to inspire me to get off of MY buttocks and start painting again

I don't know if this helps, but I tried to make tallarns a while ago, based off of wfb empire militia



Pretty simple, considering my sculpting skills are very poor