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I worked some more on my RPG model Winged Hussar sergeant this week after blutac testing out some configurations above. I chose to go with the more "closed" stance Lieutenenant that typically comes with a bolt pistol and autoboltgun. While I love the pose on the other one, I had already used it twice and wanted to do something a little bit different for this sergeant instead. The body and head are from the autoboltgun Lt but the left arm is from the other Lt whereas the right arm is from the Ancient (cut and reposed to angle away from the torso). I cut away the moulded on shoulder pads and replaced them with a Deathwatch and Ravenwing pad instead so as not to use decals this time. Since this is an RPG character, I figured he has to carry more with him typically on missions since he won't have the logistical resources of an entire Astartes company to resupply him with so I intended to use alot of extra bits on him. About halfway through the build I started calling him "the busy marine" due to all the extra bits and bobs but I wanted him to have primary and secondary ranged and close combat weapons as a backup. I liked the Reiver and Deathwatch style grenades on the torso so decided to do that here but chickened out on filling off the aquilla. I had hoped that it would be more visible but it's pretty busy there on the chest and in retrospect I probably should have left those off.



As a sergeant, I wanted him to be less ornate than the Lieutenants so only gave him a single "wing" on his back (drilled into the top of the pack instead of glued in between it and the torso). I initially planned on skipping the armpit shields and animal fur strip but had second thoughts about it because they're so iconic to so many historical Winged Hussar displays and art. It made the chest a bit busy (see the grenade thoughts above) but I decided to go with it anyways. I changed up the short Ultramarine style loincloth to a longer Black Templar style tabard as well. Finally, I previously used a small chain shoulder strap on the holstered bolters and decided to continue that with this model as well.

Let me know what if any thoughts potential readers may have about the changes compared with the previous design. I'm still undecided whether I'll paint him up in the traditional Winged Hussar colors shown earlier or if I'll put him in Deathwatch colors instead given that I added in the shoulder pad. I intend the Deathwatch shoulder pads to be a permanent addition going forward with my custom chapter so they don't necessarily indicate service in that order. The intended use for him though as an RPG character figure means though that service in the Deathwatch is an easy way to explain why this sergeant is away from his company/chapter of Space Marines.

I worked on a second marine based on my thoughts after seeing my first model close up after finishing it. I used the other Dark Imperium body but changed up the arms and added other bits as needed to make him a veteran Winged Hussar tactical marine.





I borrowed the head from my spare Ancient as it was the only normal head that I had that wasn't specifically a Lieutenant one with the skull on the forehead. It was my first attempt at adding the ribbing/fin to the top so, upon extreme close up view, it's a bit crooked. The right arm and armpit shield/fur were a PITA to pose and I'm not entirely happy with the results as I would have preferred to see the fur more flat on from the front angle. I also need to relearn the lesson of letting plastic glue dry fully before tinkering with further bits on the same area as I had alot of errors/reposing that I had to do when working on the right arm area because of a lack of patience on my part. I skipped adding the chest grenades due to the busy marine looking a bit too busy and instead just added a pack on to the hip. Finally, I wanted to add a chain to the gun as with the other but my test bit looked worse with it due to the stiff angle in front because of the foregrip on the autoboltgun.

As always, let me know if there is something that I can improve on with this or alternately future figs. I'm happy with the results of the single wing on these veteran (tactical and sergeant) figs as well as the overall look but there are, as always, definitely things that can improve.

It's been a long while since I did a hobby update but I finally put some time into finishing off of one of the half done 2018 bucket list figs on my painting table. I did a quick build post a while back for this guy back when I was trying to set up a local 40k RPG group at my local FLGS. My RPG efforts unfortunately didn't garner interest in enough players and it frankly took the wind out of my sails for finishing those two figures. In the months in between, I purchased some very sparkly silver primer (didn't realize just how sparkly until AFTER priming this fig!) and primed him but only recently finished him up.

In the linked post above, you can see some progressive Goldilocks variations on my Winged Hussar style. This fig is still purposefully more ornate than a standard primaris model as well as a bit more "practical" (if you can use that term in an over the top universe like 40k!) in the sense that I added visible grenade and ammo bits. I chose that loadout that visually would allow me to use him as both a tactical marine or an intercessor in RPGs. That's probably more than enough text for what amounts to just a single figs worth of hobby effort. Here is a 360 view of the fig as well as a comparison with some other previous ones using the same core starter set Lieutenant fig. I suppose that it could show a progression of the same character across different ranks (L to R: Captain, Veteran Sergeant, Lieutenant).

myszopek wrote:I like it!

Decals are from some vehicle manufactured during the Soviet domination in Poland, I think?

Thanks! The Polish white eagle is indeed from the FOW Soviet decal pack whereas the other one is from a garage kit decal manufacturer and was labelled as for the Polish air force. I used a bunch of the eagles for another scifi project I did a while back and picked up a couple of packs (and then sold of the other 3 sheets keeping only that one).

tzurk wrote:I love this blog. It's nice to see your ideas develop and change over time - that red gorget was a stroke of genius.

Cool to see the different wing setups for different ranks. Probably too late to change now but I'll throw my hand up for the white chest eagle - I thought it tied everything together and broke up the metallics a little bit. Gold is also good though.

Bummer about the RPG fizzling out. I'm not really familiar with the rules of Kill Team but that might be an option as a bridging game to get people involved in smaller skirmish-style battles. You would only need a handful of these guys if you play them as Primaris to get to the points limit.

Thanks again. Yeah, I've gone back and forth alot on some of the colors especially the aquillas including just now when reviewing the thread (and also re-liking the white aquilla!). I even selectively stripped and repainted it on my first fig. It may sound odd but the white looks slightly better in the super close up pictures but the gold looks better in person at arms length IMO. As for the gorget, I agree completely but can't take credit for it; it was John Prins idea and I'm glad he came up with it. Figuring out how to tweak things digitally really helped. I fully admit that this isn't a particularly ambitious project for this forum subsection and most of the progress has come in the form of little tweaks.

Thats a good idea about Kill Team. I thought about getting into Kill Team but hadn't considered my Winged Hussars since I've mainly been doing high ranking characters up until this last fig. I'd have to figure out what a normal intercessor would look like in terms of bits and ornamentation. They'd have to have less than the sergeant. I'd like to keep at least two of the four (wing, tabard, armpit shield, fur). The wing really is the defining feature but I also like the idea of having it denote rank so I'm a bit torn. Perhaps just the wing and the armpit shield as they're more parts of the armor rather than decoration like the fur and tabard?

@everyone: If you folks don't mind me picking your brain, any thoughts on the longer/thinner tabard vs the shorter more loincloth style one I used earler? It's a bit more Black Templar-ish but I wanted to try it out as a variation.

I didn't have any concrete plans for more Winged Hussars when I finished my last fig but I've got a few more conversion ready bits to go and one upcoming model really attracted my attention, the convention exclusive primaris lieutenant. I've traditionally converted ultracheap starter set figs bought as singles on ebay but I may have to splurge on this one as I really like the sculpt. I'd love to covert him into yet another Winged Hussar and did some purely digital tweaking and color swaps to test out how he might look.



I'm not sure about the head as it's not exactly the look I'm going for but it's the closest in the GW line for the facial hair slightly wild look that I want. I wish he wasn't screaming but the next closest one I found was either a no-facial hair scarred head or a bald full beard. Ideally, I'd love to use some of the heads I initially wanted way back at the beginning of this meandering miniproject, the Puppets War Cossack heads, but I can't find a single pic of them on a space marine figure let alone a larger primaris one. The only one I found was a genestealer cultist and I'm afraid that they'll end up looking too small. The key ones I'd want to use would be the top right and bottom left heads.



Technically, yes... they're cossack heads which would make them one of the traditional enemies of the Winged Hussars historically but they also remind me of the Polish king Jan III Sobieski from the Day of the Siege movie that featured the Winged Hussars in one of their most famous battles. It's not exact but it's close enough I think to be a younger version of him. Skip to the 2:00 mark to see the look I'd like to emulate.




Also not pictured is the leopard skin fur that I traditionally put onto the models. My usual method of adding a claw/leg strip under the axillary shield won't work on this model due to the tight space constraints. Instead, I plan to put a Space Wolf pelt on his back under the backpack but adding that digitally is beyond my simple cut/paste/recolor abilities. Same thing applies to removing the Lt helmet markings and adding a traditional dorsal helmet fin. Usually I'd want to add a boltgun of some sort to make him a functional marine in his equipment but I think I'll skip that this time for the same space constraints. I can't fit it chained under either arm and it'll be too tight likely in back to put it on the butt plate with the pelt there. Finally, I'd love to use the ravenwing and deathwatch shoulder pads as I did for the previous model but I'm not sure yet whether or not the pads on the model here will be molded onto the arms or swappable.

It took a while but I finally got my hands via an online trade on a Lieutenant Amulius figure to convert into a Winged Hussar. For those following the blog, I did a digital mockup above as I couldn't wait to get the actual model. I'm a big fan of the pose of the sculpt and the detail they put on it and I was quite excited to put my Winged Hussar spin on it.







It took some conversion efforts, regluing, and clipping after a few false starts and revisions but I'm happy with the overall look of the final model. I had to repose and reglue the wings and backback several times both due to clumsiness on my part as well as parts simply not fitting (namely with the shoulder pads) but in the end it all works (and hopefully the excess glue isn't too visible). I added a fur cloak to the back as I said in my digital test but it wasn't enough so I also added a fur limb strip to the front. Afterwards, I was trying to (unsuccessfully) add the axillary shield that I've typically done but then I realized that the fur bit I used actually has a crescent shaped metal disc down near the paw which was enough for the effect IMO.

I initially planned on a custom head from Puppets War but I couldn't justify the price of an international purchase and shipping for a single tiny bit that I'd end up using as I didn't have any plans for the others. Instead, I used an ebay coupon and opted for a slightly more feral scarred head than the standard one that comes with the model. Afterwards I hemmed and hawed a bunch as to whether I was busying up the model too much by making him practical with a modelled scabbard for the sword and a bolter stowed somewhere. After blue-tacking it all in place and taking a few close up pics (which revealed some mould lines and gaps that needed filling, I was glad to see that he looked both practical without reaching a cluttered state like a previous model I did (link here). I hope to have this model painted up sometime in the next week or so.

 The Riddle of Steel wrote:
I am liking it. The wings look really good and I like the way the Polish color scheme is working as well. I am using a similar look on my Horus Heresy White Scars Outriders and Jetbikes.

-Rids

Thanks! The hobby space definitely needs more White Scar content so I'll be on the look out for yours. I'm trying to incorporate some of the White Scar asthetics as the hussars and Poland in general during their era was an interesting mix of Eastern and Western asthetics (hence the fur and scimitars from the east alongside ornate plate armor from the west).

Well, I've completely finished my first Winged Hussar Primaris marine! I've been working on various marines over the past year as part of that extended project but I never decided on a basing scheme so they were never technically 100% finished on their naked black bases. The Lieutenant Amulius model comes with a texted base as part of the model so I couldn't procrastinate my way past this model like I did with the others.



I tried to consciously do a better job with this model as I don't currently have plans to make any further Winged Hussars at the moment since I'm running short of bits as well as sculpts that inspire me (although I reserve the right to add more in the future!). I was frankly embarrased at some of my efforts in the past year (especially the faces) so I tried to better catch mistakes before it was too late. I'll expand on that in the next post over on my blog next week (link below in my sig) as I don't want to add a mini rant on aging in the hobby with this post. With this model, I took close up pictures after my initial painting and first wash steps to improve on tiny spill over painting mistakes. Just looking at the animated gif above, I missed a few of them (one that I can correct at least on the backpack) but I think the model shows some moderate improvement compared with my previous efforts. Here are the full static views spoilered below if for some reason someone wants to zoom in further (just click on the images to get to the interactive gallery).



There are things that looking at the images after the fact could have been improved upon though. I'm not entirely happy with the Polish eagle decal placement on the leg but it was a last minute and fiddly change as it initially was placed on the knee instead. Unfortunately due to the curvature, I couldn't get it to sit right even with a strategic cut and some decal softener so had to remove (and ruin) that decal with a second one placed below. It looks like it rode up a bit (or perhaps I just didn't see the placement correctly with my vision... more on that in my next blog post) higher than I would have liked but whats done is done. There are a few other paint missteps that are visible zoomed in (one or two of which I can correct but not all) as well. As always, feel free to comment/criticize below.

Thanks. I'm getting alot (of frankly warranted critical) feedback on the eyes which admittedly have issues. I tried a half dozen times to get them right even wearing magnifying granny glasses and that's the best I could do. I might try and go back (even though I've already overcoated the model) and fix the areas around the studs and the left eye at the risk of worsening them further.

Thanks! And, yes, I am Polish but grew up in the US so wasn't aware that businesses used them in symbols (though I'm not surprised). I did see in my initial research early on in the thread that they also used the hammers/picks but I felt the sabre was probably more iconic both to hussars and space marines.

I wasn't planning on doing a cavalry version as it is a bit too close to the ravenwing in game but I do have most of the parts for a 54mm Inquisitor scale version.

Definitely let me know when you do it as I'd be interested in following the progress. I'll probably do some minor tweaks tonight on this model as I'm getting more comments about the eyes.

I'll spare everyone here my whiney rant about aging in the hobby (click my blog link in the sig if you want to read that) but I got a lot of (negative) feedback elsewhere specifically about the googley eyes on the model so decided to try and touch it up a bit as well as addressing a few other issues that I noticed with my new granny magnifying glasses and improved lighting in the painting area. I redid the decal on the shin as it had ridden up a bit surprisingly after drying and touched up a few other spots that I wasn't happy with. Looking at the pic, I swear that the dark recess wash goes all the way around the shoulder pad in person but I'll have to double check (and correct that if need be) when I get home tonight. In between the animated gifs making fun of it, I did get some genuinely good advice on how to improve the eyes on the next model and I hope to do better with the upcoming Sister of Battle model recently previewed by GW.

It's been a while since I worked on my custom chapter but I've been experimenting with 3d modelling. I'm not a 3d modeller so I'm basically limited to resizing/reshaping various existing 3d models into something that I like similar to how I've been converting marines from my bits box as opposed to sculpting details myself. I practiced first with both samurai and Ultramarine 3d models (link here) but I've finally gotten around to creating my Winged Hussar variant using the same pose inspired by the Amulius model.



I made a custom shouder pad using the hussar symbol of the Polish 1st Armoured Division that served with the British in World War 2 (link here) as well as a Polish eagle converted into a double headed 40k style Imperial Aquila. Hopefully that along with the actual wings on the back and a suitably slavic moustache will give the model enough visual flare on the tabletop. If you're interested in downloading the model for free and printing it out yourself, feel free to check it on thingiverse here:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4224010

Thanks! I'm considering printing out a small version that I've reoptimized for true 32mm scale that matches my old Star Wars prepaints minis. I don't play 40k so printing out a full size primaris that can't fit on most rpg playmat squares doesn't make sense for me. I've enlarged a few things like the head, sword, and helmet while not buffing the overall xy axis dimensions to match my real primaris like in the pic above. I'm curious if the detail will resolve on the shoulderpad or if I'll have to redo those.

It will be a bit smaller than the tiniest Rising Son marine I did in the pic below. In that case, I was trying to match the primaris after the initial primarch scale test print rather than shooting for a potential rpg fig.

I appreciate it. In a self serving way, I kind of had to come back to the project to save myself some money. I was getting too close to paying $40 for a Lazarus Dark Angel model to convert into a Winged Hussar! I can get a full liter of resin for that price! I won't get around to supporting the full plate of models tonight but I did do some test images to show the different scales.



The bigger fig is the full primaris size matched to my Amulius model (43mm to the top of the head iirc). It looks absolutely huge compared with the normal human (my stand in fig from Star Wars... a Clone War Republic Training Sergeant/Mandalorian) but ironically he is exactly as big as he should be given that he is a steroid superfreak in 8ft tall power armor (and that's just for normal space marines whereas primaris are supposed to be even bigger). It's just not practical for me on the RPG tabletop so I'll be trying out the 35mm scale beside him instead that will fit comfortably on a 25mm base. Compared with the preview pic above, he is closer to the original 3d model that I start with once I'm done building/converting. I learned from my samurai model print that he needs a 5% xy plane thickness boost relative to the height to get the bulkiness of the primaris. He is missing that but instead got a full 5% xyz boost on the head and helmet. The blade of the sabre got a 25% boost in width as it would have been closer to a rapier at that scale with the printer resolution and broken very easily. I have my doubts about whether or not the shoulder and shin icons will resolve as they don't look very deep shrunk down. It continues to amaze me how much you have to change from a normal looking 3d model to get something practical on the tabletop.

Thanks and I appreciate the heads up here and in the comments!

Well, apparently GW thinks they own the Winged Hussars and took down my model.