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Camkierhi wrote:Mmmm interesting, and cool. Looking forward to this.

This competition is looking like it's going to encourage many interesting models.

monkeytroll wrote:Is jumping from cover not mobile enough? Maybe jump-packing from cover then?

Parts all look suitable and plan sound right.

Well jumping from cover is more to tick the ambush box. Mobility is more about getting into position before the jump. I could give him a bike or something, but I'm thinking subtle at the moment... and I don't have any bikes.

Gitsplitta wrote:Roller-skates??

As the godfather of Mantis Warriors I'm sure you know them well and what they are likely to use. I'll explore other ideas as well for the time being...

You've set MT off now...

monkeytroll wrote:Oh.....rocket powered roller skates....make it so

I will be adding a (Mad) Scientist twist somewhere, after all he has been "recruited" into my army... even I don't know where this will lead...

inmygravenimage wrote:I like the mix of parts, lots of Mk5 in there which certainly fits them (heretics!)

Good good. That's what I like to hear.

Unlike most who run contests... it is my job to confuse and confound you. The victor will be able to ignore all that and come up with something brilliant in spite of all the roller-skate suggestions!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Unlike most who run contests... it is my job to confuse and confound you. The victor will be able to ignore all that and come up with something brilliant in spite of all the roller-skate suggestions!

You can't confuse me, I'm... I'm, something... what was I on about...

Anyway, I have started chopping and gluing things back together.

Imagine if you will, that he is leaping over/through/from something (as yet undecided), and not running.
You can see how I perform my re-posing using scraps of sprue as spacers. The remaining gaps will be filled and textured as required with putty.

And while the glue was drying on him, I have also set about the bolter...

Take one OOP boltgun and chop it into pieces...
Add some spacers and glue back together, moving the magazine further back...
Tidy up and you have the beginnings of a bolt-rifle. Still more to do to it, such as adding the scope and adding an ejection port.

And yes, I am considering making him left handed.

Thoughts?

Like it so far, pose looking interesting, in a good way. Rifle looking like a great start.

Thanks Cam. The pose will look better (hopefully) once it has some context... once I've decided upon what that will be...

I was unsure about the gun, until I stuck the magazine back on, now I quite like it.

I'm liking the rifle. I've always thought that rifles were visually better than the clunky boltguns that don't look like they could shoot at range at all.
Keep it up.

Some vary good converting there Dr H.

Nice work Doc....are you also going to extend the barrel on the rifle or just keep with the longer body?

Co'tor Shas wrote:I'm liking the rifle. I've always thought that rifles were visually better than the clunky boltguns that don't look like they could shoot at range at all.
Keep it up.

Thanks. Yep, range is what I want to show for this gun.

Gitsplitta wrote:Some vary good converting there Dr H.

Thanks Gits'.

monkeytroll wrote:Nice work Doc....are you also going to extend the barrel on the rifle or just keep with the longer body?

Thanks, and yes I am...

I am considering the thickness options for the barrel extension...

I'm leaning towards slightly thicker or slightly thinner (this is compared to the barrel of the original bolter).
The even thinner piece (outlined because it's black) is a glass bead and would therefore cause more problems then it's worth.

You can also see the ejection port I've added; drilled and carved out a slot and then added a length of plastic rod for the slidey-back piece (technical term ).

I would go slightly larger myself. Up to you.

Thicker barrel looks more like a suppressor, makes the weapon look like it is for a sniper. Go slightly thinner, unless it is going to be a sniper. Perhaps add some barrel grooves, for heat dissipation?

Also, a 2nd ed boltgun... takes me back... 2nd ed arm too.

Yep, slightly thicker for a suppressed weapon, slightly thinner for a 'normal' weapon...depends on which look you're leaning towards more.

I like the same thickness and the slightly thinner ones.

I'm glad I'm just watching the Mantis Maker competition.

I couldn't compete with the guy you're putting together if my life depended on it!

Slightly thinner. Very cool.

Thanks Cam, Red, MT, Graven.
I've decided to do... both!

That way I can keep the look of the thinner barrel and have a separate suppressor for when he goes a-sniping. In the pose he is in, it's not really one of those moments for quiet, so I will attach the thick piece of tube from above to his belt (along with all the rest of the kit that he is potentially carrying which may cause me problems later on, but will worry about that when I get there).

Here's a blu-tacked mock-up to show how he is at the moment:

I even added a ridge to the end of the new barrel to show the screw/attachment for the suppressor.
You can also see the putty at the hip and knee. carved to represent the ribbed parts and end of the thigh armour. It's a little rough, but hopefully won't show up too bad once painted.

Also, if you notice my pictures change a little in tone from now on, it's because I've got a new bulb. 6400K for the win.

Red Harvest wrote:Also, a 2nd ed boltgun... takes me back... 2nd ed arm too.

Ja, As many old parts as I could lay my hands on. Backpack, other arm, one shoulder pad, bolt pistol, some of the grenades and knife are also from the same era.

EyeamRai wrote:I like the same thickness and the slightly thinner ones.

I'm glad I'm just watching the Mantis Maker competition.

I couldn't compete with the guy you're putting together if my life depended on it!

Thanks Eye'.

It's just practice and learning from others. Start small. Little changes here and there. Learn from mistakes and how to fix those mistakes. Check tutorials for techniques. And, ask people if they do something you like the look of. Most people here, like myself, are very open with how they achieve things. There's no magic, I usually show every step of what I do, and I'm open to questions if you want anything explained.

Something may seem out of reach now, but with enough practice, those will become easier and will open up more techniques, and eventually, you will be able to turn out models you wouldn't even consider attempting now.

I've had to do a few minor alterations to the parts to get the final pose.

As with every time that you raise one leg of a model that is made to stand on two legs, the hips become angled. With the Eldar models, where the body sits in to the legs, this isn't much of a problem. But with the SM models, where the legs fit into the body, this causes a problem where the belt (attached to the body) hits the raised leg and the body sits at an angle that matches the angle of the hips.

My solution to this was to add a couple of small spacers to the lower side of the hips. This allows to body to sit upright and gives the impression that the back leg is extended.


I also had to alter the arms.
The problem with the left arm was obvious; with the butt of the gun interfering with the shoulder pad. In fact, the shoulder pads looked far too big for the arms, with the hands barely reaching beyond the edges.

So, I extended the upper arm (by nearly 3mm!) and I also took the opportunity to change the angle of the elbow slightly.
The right arm was also extended at the upper (2mm) and lower (0.5mm) arm. I also angled the arm out at the elbow and wrist to make it look more natural.


And this is the final pose I have (this will make more sense once I've added the scenery bits I have planned).


Now I need to add all the little bits that he will be carrying and then start on the base work.

Very retro looking. Good decision on the barrel. Worked out great!

Very cool conversion Dr H. Looks great!

Looking good man! looking good! :-) I like the re posing you did and giving us insight into how to tackle those little problems as you go is a bonus so we don't make mistakes when we try and out do you lol! ;-)

Solar_lion wrote:Very retro looking. Good decision on the barrel. Worked out great!

Thanks Solar. Good to hear it is working as intended.

Gitsplitta wrote:Very cool conversion Dr H. Looks great!

Thanks Gits'. You're the one I aim to impress.

nerdfest09 wrote:Looking good man! looking good! :-) I like the re posing you did and giving us insight into how to tackle those little problems as you go is a bonus so we don't make mistakes when we try and out do you lol! ;-)

Thanks NF. It's these little tips that can help no end. I've learnt a lot from others sharing their ideas, so I like to give back what I can. Together we all learn and improve, and in that way, we all win... [/zen]
Bring on the challenge!

So, what have I been doing?
I have added the bits to Mr. Mantis.

As I had to go so far as to add the melta-bomb to the top of his backpack, I think he has enough kit...

This means that I have started on the base.
Starting with the usual muddy and rocky base, I added a log as something for him to be leaping over (this was some leftover putty, spread over a tube and then removed, scratched for the bark effect and the end broken),

You can also see some mines that I will add to show the sabotage side of the Mantis Warriors (Maybe he's been disturbed while laying them), and some small sprue-plants.

He needs something to be the cover that he is leaping through and I'm going for some long grass (some old kitchen brush bristles, split and roughed up) and, what may look initially like a palm tree but, is a large fern-like plant. These will both be positioned to look like they are being brushed aside by the Mantis.

This is the 3rd iteration of the fern. All using sandwich-bag twisty-wire things (dyslexic fail) and tissue/PVA. The final leaves are a single, flat, tie glued on a pre-cut tissue leaf (fold up the tissue and cut many at once), and then a second leaf glued on top of that. A bit of distressing and this is roughly what you get.

The two, smaller and neater (younger ) leaves are from the 2nd iteration and just involved a tree-like shape of twisted ties and many tissue layers.

The fern is quite large, but you need a large plant to hide a SM behind and it's easier to cut these things down to size than add to it.
It won't be in this spread out form in the end, so hopefully won't dominate the piece. If it does prove too much, I'll resort to having more tall grass...

Well it is all looking amazing here. Plants look good.

Mantis is looking brilliant, the alterations are quite spectacular, again your attention to detail. Many would not bother, but of course the Dr does. Like the way the gun came out, definitely a full rifle now.

This is going to be fairly epic bud, another one to be proud of I think.

Thanks Cam.

Well it's about the "doing" for me, rather than the end result. The more I can fit in the "doing" phase, the better.

Let's see just how much can fit "on" a 25mm base.

Making that Mantis with his own foliage! very cool!

Thanks Shas.

There has been a slight change of plan in the fern department...

I decided to position it on the other side of the MW and hence base, and the fern shown above was a bit too much fern...

And so I reduced the number of leaves (from 6 to 3) and have now positioned them wrt the mantis (they are re-posable for little tweaks later).

The marine is only pinned to the base, not glued down, as it will be easier to paint both him and the base separate.

Hopefully that looks like he is bursting through the fern and it doesn't look silly?

Some other, smaller foliage on the base should probably help balance it out.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Some other, smaller foliage on the base should probably help balance it out.

Ja, there will be more. I just had to find where the big bits were going first and then I can fit the little bits around them.

Great work so far doc, that postioning of the fern doe a good job of capturing him bursting through....

That conversions coming along nicely, and all the work you've done on the weapon has really paid off as it looks great.
As does that base, It's all going to look really atmospheric when it's done .

Whoa, I've been away for almost half of you blog! Last time I checked in you were hinting at the coming Predator! I've got myself back up to date now so I'll be here, watching, always. Like a stalker.

On my trek through the last 11 months of posts I've saved quite a few of your little tutorials for future reference. It's lovely that you take the time to do that, very helpful!

Keep it coming, bud!

Looks fantstic so far man!