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Lol no need to be sorry!

Honestly I am surprised that my very first significantly sculpted model is going over so well... That being said I'm such a noob I don't even know if I can sand the stuff to smooth it lol.

Thanks!

Yep, you can.

Get some fine grit (1200 +) wet/dry paper and you can get a nice smooth finish.

Cheers,

Dante

Very nice all round work.

From the concept art to the GSing to the painting.

You're making me think I should paint up my copy as well.

If it turns out half as good as I think yours is on course to become then I'll be a happy man.

Love the bases you've chosen for the termi's.

I may just get some for myself.

Thanks for sharing this.

Time for another update!

I'm gonna call this dude 97% done, only thing left to do is the tabard details as soon as this round of GS dries, and a bit of sanding on the missile launcher and arms a bit more before undercoating.

P.S - special thanks to CMDante and his blog for the info on sanding! It was a big help!

So update wise, quite a lot of subtle detail added, the straps holding the pack on, the tabard, belt, tail diaper straps, wiring to the targeter and launcher, so bolts on the targeter and some gs on the launcher struts to blend them in.

All in all I am really quite pleased with this overall, I did not think I was capable of converting to this degree and I can't wait to study and learn more from the masters on here and other sites and improve my craft. Suddenly the idea of sculpting details and maybe even entire minis doesn't seem so daunting. The encouragement I got from you guys so far has definitely helped keep me motivated and I appreciate it very much.

On to the mini!











Comments welcome, thanks guys!

WOW!

MajorTom11 wrote:

NAVARRO wrote:MajorTom11 I like these so much I tell you what... do you have your project hosted on any hobby site? If not, would you like to have some pages for your extremelly cool Spacehulk project on Buglands?

Whoa... that's awesome coming from you! You and Moloch have always been my Nid faves!

If you would like to host them np, maybe wait til there is more to see though, as InquisitorEarl will soon begin cranking them out too and I still have to green the other generations!

Navarro asked me to be on his site. *Puts hand up in front of mouth and giggles like Japanese schoolgirl*

Sure mate take your time I have no rush, when you want to we can make some pages just for your Spacehulk project.

NAVARRO wrote:

MajorTom11 wrote:

NAVARRO wrote:MajorTom11 I like these so much I tell you what... do you have your project hosted on any hobby site? If not, would you like to have some pages for your extremelly cool Spacehulk project on Buglands?

Whoa... that's awesome coming from you! You and Moloch have always been my Nid faves!

If you would like to host them np, maybe wait til there is more to see though, as InquisitorEarl will soon begin cranking them out too and I still have to green the other generations!

Navarro asked me to be on his site. *Puts hand up in front of mouth and giggles like Japanese schoolgirl*

Sure mate take your time I have no rush, when you want to we can make some pages just for your Spacehulk project.

Cool man! Thanks very much, I think maybe when I finish one of each generation would be justifiable content, sound good? Am enjoying watching your thread as well btw, I like the feline/canine looking gaunts!

Ok so I took it a bit easy the past week or so but got back to it tonight.

1st gen sculpt is complete, sanded and cleaned up, ready for priming and paint... but first -

4th gen is coming along, new leg and shin armor, along with some steel toes for shizz kicking, scarf, and buckle are coming along. There is also a very subtle ridge added to the FW cadian head, but it's tough to see in the pics. Next up with be the bionic Stealer rending claw and las rifle, then a few small details and done! A lot less work than the 1st gen lol.

The lump of poop next to it is the beginnings of a 2nd gen 'controller' hybrid, he will be the guy controlling the RC first gens. He started out with a ghoul body as the basis but its for too small, so some serious bulking up is going to take place.

On the BA front, I received a large order of plastruct goods from Tower Hobbies, so it's about ready to start on that end as well. Was waiting for some diamond plate to blend one of the termies into the deck bases. So a little drilling and pinning and they will be up and ready to resume.

4th Gen Concept -


Group shot and size comparison -






I edited the shots to get a better view of the 4th gen,





Any advice? This is my first time attempting to sculpt fabric, so particularly on that I would like some feedback and/or good tutorials.

Cheers!

Just received these classics in the post today -



My question to the experts out there, is how would I accomplish sculpting similar ribbing onto my models as the armor on these ones? I am assuming some kind of press technique, but I am having a hard time thinking of a surface I could use. Any suggestions???

Also, I will be hacking the legs off the gun hybrid and sculpting some new ones on to bring it's stature in line with mine, and the Magus will have his shoulders head and torso removed and a complete resculpt on the legs and arms, again to proportion it a bit better, and also to give him a more dynamic pose along the lines of the concept art.

Advice please!!

You might want to ask Ed (troll forged) on the Troll Forged Miniatures forums how he does it, he does a lot of that Giger-esque styled stuff as you can see here.

I'll give that a go thanks very much Mal!

Nice work Major, I'm especially intrigued with the 'Dante' in terminator armour. Inspires me to have another look at my spacehulk minis.

Holy crap!! Your concept art skills are awesome, as your painting skills are

Amazing work. Your modeling skills are superb. It's a shame to mutilate those classic minis, IMO. I'm sure you'll come out with some great sculpts though.

The Good Green wrote:Amazing work. Your modeling skills are superb. It's a shame to mutilate those classic minis, IMO. I'm sure you'll come out with some great sculpts though.

Lol, I'm going to wait til I have a bit more experience before I start hacking at those two. Rest assured that I will be attempting to simply modernize them as opposed to completely screwing them up!

Update time, 4th gen sculpt is complete! For those who don't know, this is the hybrid generation that appears fully human. Again, I am surprised at how close I managed to get to the concept art on this one, and am very happy with the results. I've got to practice my robes and cloth, but not too bad for a first go.

Additionally, started detailing the torso of the 2nd gen, this guy I picture as possibly a controller for the first gen, guiding them to proper locations to deploy their heavy weapons. This is the only generation I didnt prepare concept art for, so I'm kind of winging it. There is a ghoul body under there, and I'm a bit worried the torso may be too deep. I may end up hacking it up a bit to thin it out. As you can see though, the back has carapace plates along the spine (5 of course) and the flesh envelops it after that. The rib cage is stealer, but the abdomen is fleshy with stealer style musculature exposed. Obviously, the legs are going to need pretty significant bulking, but I'm confident that can be sorted. Looking back now, may have been better to use human legs.

So here we go!













Advice really welcome here people! I'm looking to improve

I really like the 4th gen. hybrid, his subtle head mod really makes him a lot creepier. As for the 2nd gen hybrid: isn't he a bit upright? IIRC, these were really halfway between human and stealer, so a more hunched over look may be appropriate?

Im jealous...Im working on a genestealer themed army...and hadnt even though about the level of sculpting you got there. Guess I need to step it up for Gamesday.

I like the 2nd Gen guy If anything i would just hunch him over a bit as he's seems to upright for the curvature of his weird stealer spine something like this maybe (please excuse my hackjob on your image

Hmmm I think you guys are right. I like the detailing I'm getting from the front and back, but from the side the shape isn't right. It's also not helped much by the wheelchair legs lol.

I think an adjustment to the curve of the spine and depth of the chest will be in order, as well as photoshopping the legs to figure out what would be the best approach with them. The thing I want to do is make the steps between generations a bit more gradual and smooth than GW did the first time around. It was pretty hard to tell which was which besides the pure and 4ths before, so I'm trying to figure out some unique design elements each generation would have to distinguish them, yet still keep them very much a themed group you know?

Will update soon! If only with the photoshop of what I intend to do to the 2nd gen -

THANKS GUYS, seriously that's the kind of feedback that is really helpful for me, Cheers!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I think I'm going to go in this direction with it, very similar to tainted messes suggestion, but also de-bulking the back a bit, stealers just aren't that thick in that area...

Good solution?




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Stupid automatic append lol...

All looks very nice; you've done some conversions I've been planning to do, with greater success than I think I'll have! I look forward to further updates.

I like it; it captures the halfway-feel a lot more. How many arms will he have? I'd suggest a more bestial head though; it may be the sketch, but this one looks very close to your 4th gen. head. Looking forward to the next update

This is pretty god damn awsome

CommissarKhaine wrote:I like it; it captures the halfway-feel a lot more. How many arms will he have? I'd suggest a more bestial head though; it may be the sketch, but this one looks very close to your 4th gen. head. Looking forward to the next update

The plan for the heads and arms goes like this, I hope it is easy to picture by description -

1st gen as seen
head - ghoul face un-modified for the most part, large gs skull dome, stealer 'hole' ears, full forehead plates
clothing - only a tabard and belt to accentuate most primitive status
arms- all 4, forearm and bicep 'ribbing' removed, arm length shortened by shaving at the shoulder, rending claws shortened by about 1/3, backs of hands smoothed

2nd gen -
head - ghoul face, nose modified to be more human and less bat-like, smaller gs skull dome, stealer ears, 1 or 2 forehead plates, the rest under the skin but still bulging.
clothing -in robes below the waist, maybe bracers on the arms, still primitive but less animalistic
arms- 4 arms or 3. If 4, once of the arms will be an atrophied 'chicken wing', other arms will again be shortened stealer arms, reduced in size overall by shaving.

3rd gen -
head Human face, gs stealer dome but only slightly larger than normal, ears human shaped out edge but still plain holes inside, head plates completely under skin but still bulging out.
armor - Bulky armor, similar to the old hybrid models.
arms- 4,3 or 2. If 4, 2 chicken wings, no rending claws. If 3, 1 rending claw with vestigial pinky growing in, gs'd from a human hand, stealers claws at this point are too big. If 2, both human. at this point the arms will only have a few small areas with carapace, otherwise, they will be flesh only.
notes - To me, these guys have the full intelligence of a human, but benefit from superhuman strength as they still have enough stealer in them. The most powerful individual hybrid in a tactical sense, able to hold their own strategically, at range and in melee.

4th gen as seen,
head- All human, only a slight forehead ridge and baldness to give away heritage.
armor -Guard type armor but modified enough not to look like an ordinary guard model with a diff paintjob.
arms- 2 human
notes - fully human and focused on ranged combat.

As near as I can figure, this is the best way to show linear generational progression that still gives each their own unique design elements, yet still look very much alike. My ultimate goal is to line them all up when I'm done and have it look like those 'Evolution of man' posters you see so often in science classes and museums, each step leading smoothly and fluidly to the next, but distinct in silhouette and subtle detailing. If you want to see what 3rd gen and Magus look like, the concept art is in my gallery, I just didn't want to roll it out here until the models were started.

Alrighty, I'm about to pop in a movie and get started hacking up the 2nd gen sculpt to bring it in-line with the photoshopped shot above, thanks very much guys!

Dude! If you could do some fully sculpted versions of those hybrids Ed (over at TFM) might cast them. I mean, they would fit in greatly with the alien range we are working on!

For the 2nd gen can I suggest a normal set of forward arms and a set of vestigal, shrunken and wizened stealer arms behind it? to show that it has evolved from the 1st gen but is still not up the level of the 4th? Just thinking, your plog is pretty inspirational man!

Malika2 wrote:Dude! If you could do some fully sculpted versions of those hybrids Ed (over at TFM) might cast them. I mean, they would fit in greatly with the alien range we are working on!

INTIMIDATION

lol, I have only sculpted 2 things in my life and you are looking at them! Super flattering though thank you! Honestly I have no idea if I am ready for anything like that yet, i'm still a total noob when it comes to the green :S

BLACKHAND wrote:For the 2nd gen can I suggest a normal set of forward arms and a set of vestigal, shrunken and wizened stealer arms behind it? to show that it has evolved from the 1st gen but is still not up the level of the 4th? Just thinking, your plog is pretty inspirational man!

Not sure about 2 'vesties' at the 2nd gen stage because it would cut out the 3 full armed classic hybrid thing, however, 2 at the 3rd gen is definitely in the works, screw it, it's early, but here is the concept art featuring the chicken wing stealer arm lol

Nice concept shots. Don't they just help along brilliantly when your tinkering with new projects?

Also, you have some wicked Greenstuff conversions - I might nic som of them. heh.

wow not usually a big fan of space hulk but these mini's really stood out. I wanna see more of Dante/Captain! dont forget about him! i think your sketch was the best probably try some Grey Knight Parts (they seem to be the most upright and have your bolters like you want.) and theres more that enough dante masks with the BA release.

These sculpts and conversions are amazing, and I don't want to take anything away from that, but I've got to correct you on your fluff.

Genestealers reproduce by implanting humans, who will then give birth to the hybrid. This child looks mostly human, with just a bit of genestealer traits. Maybe slightly tinted skin, bald head, etc. These children grow and are then attracted to mate with each other, producing children who are more mutated. This continues until you get to the 4th generation, which are pure-strain genestealers. So, basically, you've got it backwards. It's merely a typographical thing, just switch your numbers around.

Of course, I haven't read the latest tyranid codex, so if they've changed it, I wouldn't know. But that would be a pretty big change.

Again, keep doing what you're doing. It's incredible.

It's weird, you are the 2nd person to mention that, but Im 200% sure its the other way, both from the source books in front of me and the specific fluff. 4th gen specifically are mentioned as the Magus generation, the human one, the humans then restart the process and birth purestrains again. The order goes as per this picture -



Plus wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genestealer

and lexicanum 40k http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Genestealer_Hybrid

They are very specific, and always have been, the stealer traits diminish til they are gone, then the cycle starts again. Maybe some people think it is backwards because they are thinking of the infectee cultist as a first generation? If you have a direct reference otherwise I would be curious to see it, not meaning to be combative or argumentative, genuinely curious if they ever presented it other than the way I am familiar with