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To view other of my conversions and scratchbuilds, click here.

On account of me getting sick of my ogryn running off the table the first chance they got, I finally decided to make a lord commissar to replace Straken from my list.

My last several projects in a row had been scratchbuilding, and I was somewhat eager to not do another model entirely from scratch. As such, I decided to go the course of my other commissars and do a partial scratchbuild. It would be an interesting test to see how my skills have improved since last time I worked at this level.

My vision for a lord commissar was, of course, to start with a commissar. This meant black cloak and gold armor, and shouting and generally being angry. The thing is, though, this is a LORD commissar. If ever there were a time for me to hit the throttle to the max and flirt with flagrant over-the-top-dom as far as being a commissar was concerned, this would be it.

At my disposal was pretty much just the bitz from a regular box o' cadian infantry. Unfortunately, I had already used up the last of the type of legs that I wanted for this, which meant that I needed to chop up my own. Unfortunately, this very early on lead to a horrendous gash as my hobby knife gave through plastic on one of the legs:



Needless to say, this would make the process just that much more difficult. Praise the emperor for superglue, at least...

With the leg swap done and a few little bits of greenstuff later, and I had the basic plastic frame done.



Of course, the first thing I noticed with this versus scratchbuilding was how fast I was already onto the detail stage, given that the main body had already been done.

In order to really crank up the OOT, I was going to start with the armor. As this guy is getting both a power fist and carapace armor, I've decided to take a page from the GW lord commissar model and give him a big, bulky breastplate. That and a big gothic helm. Basically, he's getting a 15th century suit of armor. As such, the first part is to just get the base of the armor down.



One of the things I definitely already noticed by this point is how scratchbuilding has taught me to do WAY more greenstuffing per step in order to reduce the total amount of steps (and thus the amount of time). A few months ago, this armor would have taken two or three steps instead of just one.

Once the armor was down, it was time to do the detailing. In scratchbuilding, by the time that I got to this point, I was already suffering from burnout. As this is obviously not the case yet, I decided to do something ambitious. Time for the armor to go on with style!



Also, of course, I added on the pistol. Usually, my commissars were pointing and holding their pistol. That's too regular commissar, though. For this one, the pistol will have to be holstered in order to free up the hands.

After this, it was time to put on the coat. Having done this a few times, I've now gotten it down to just two steps (with a cheaty half-step in there for the structural coat leads). This was definitely something that I noticed the scratchbuilding helping with. With scratchbuilding, I needed to do a lot of clothing in a single step. The way I thought about coat engineering was now definitely different from the way I originally did them.

Also, I decided that I wanted him to have a megaphone.



Unfortunately, it came out too small once I had it into shape...

After mulling it over for awhile, I decided to make it an electronic megaphone, rather than just a conical tube. To achieve the effect, I cut off a chunk of the cadian vox set (the wire connecting it wound up in the power fist).

Once this was done, the coat was finished off, along with most of the power fist. Also, to drive home the final outrageousness, I decided to go for a picklehaube:



At this point, I was actually pretty proud. I had done a commissar, mostly, and I had done him in 4.5-5 steps. If I would have had the whole weekend to work on him, I could have done this whole thing in just a single weekend. Quite a deal, given that my first commissar took me two weeks, and had much less detail. And all this was on a busted thumb, to boot!

Once here, it was just touch-up work. The here's and there's. After only a little effort, the green was complete:



Once done, the matter of painting it was pretty obvious. He was a commissar, so had to fit the commissar theme.



The painting didn't come out as hoped. The prescribed commissar theme ultimately hid a fair amount of the detail. I tried a few different color schemes, like some brown on the fist, but it just really didn't work out.

In any case, he is clearly a commissar, and he is clearly a more awesome commissar than a regular commissar. Here are all 4 that I've done together:



All in all, I've got a result that is wysiwyg in upgrades, and clearly the type of game piece. More importantly, this let me see what I'd learned about greenstuffing from my summer of scratchbuilding astropath, priest and ogryn. This definitely gives me more confidence that I'll be able to do more, better stuff in the future. Not only am I getting faster for the purpose of mass-production, but this model also has a lot more detail as I was able to get into the detail phase much before burnout.

I hope you like it. Let me know if you have any questions.

And of course, the poster:

Awesome!

Really nice work Ros! Inspiration for my own conversions, which have had minimal GS work so far, but my ambitions demand it...

Can you tell me a bit more about the 'cheaty half-step... structural coat leads'? And what exactly do you mean by 'way more greenstuffing per step'? Just preparing more GS?

Thanks bud!

I haven't seen the sort of thick freestanding greenstuff you're using. Do you roll it out and let it half dry before bending it or is it something else?

Great work Sir! Really love this conversion, was nice seeing it come together. He's a real character.

Great work indeed! Been following ya for a while and i'm just astounded by how they turned out.

great scratch building there. I'm never that ambitious and most of my GS work is of a poor quality. may i ask what what leg pieces did you use for his running legs?

Superb

Thats really cool, and the CHARRRRRGE picture is funny. My only gripe is the coat looks a bit thick, scale wise. But I bet that wasnt too easy sculpting on a friggin Cadian, I mean those guys are tiny

Another in a long line of fantastic commissars, keep up the good work. Any particular reason you went with the WW1 style helmet over the more traditional peaked cap?

Thanks, everyone!

murdog wrote:And what exactly do you mean by 'way more greenstuffing per step'? Just preparing more GS?

So, one of the things that I've gained from skills is doing more things per step. When I started, I would do something, and then I'd wait for 4 hours, and do something else on the next phase of GS, and let it cure, and do something else. For example, in the first armored picture, in the past I would have done the shin pads as a step, and the kneepads as a step, and the armor as a step, and the helmet as a step. It would have taken all weekend just to get the armor base done.

The reason for this was that I was afraid that I'd smush my previous work with my fingers while doing other work (indeed, I tragically lost my first detailing on the helmet for this very reason). As I get better, I get better at holding the model, and better at not ruining stuff that I just sculpted, meaning that I can sculpt more things between 4-hour GS curing steps.

This allows me to work MUCH faster. Instead of taking two weeks or more, this took me a weekend and part of a couple weeknights.

Really, this was the key thing I was working on with my ogryn. Eventually, I want to scratchbuild 20 rough riders, but I need to get my speed up fast enough so that I can actually complete a 10-model squad before burning out.

murdog wrote:Can you tell me a bit more about the 'cheaty half-step... structural coat leads'?

Morgrim wrote:I haven't seen the sort of thick freestanding greenstuff you're using. Do you roll it out and let it half dry before bending it or is it something else?

So, my original commissar saw me doing a step with the top left of the coat, a step with the top right, and a step with the bottom. Not only was this slow, but I had to do endless futzing with the front of the coat in order to make them look right. I could cheat with the rest of the coat, but the front had to come out smooth.





When I got to my second commissar, I wanted a method that caused the front to come out crisp in the first go, and I wanted something that would allow the coat to billow out more. My first commissar's coat just sort of draped close to the model.



Now, this was fine on this model, who is relatively static, but I wanted a commissar charging in, which meant billow.

The way I thought of doing this was with coat "leads". They're strips of GS that I let cure for just a little bit (like 45mins to an hour at most), and then cut it out. I then attach it to the top of the shoulders and let it drape down.



With this method, I could shape the coat leads, and give them billow. Gravity tries to pull the leads down to keep them straight, but if you keep on poking them over and over again to keep them in shape, they will eventually cure into the flowing curve shape.

Once this is done, that coat piece becomes structural. I can then take a single piece of GS and do, in theory, the entire coat in a single go, as the coat is tacked down on three sides. Of course, I want the split in the coat, so it winds up taking two steps, but still, the end result takes only 2 or 3 steps once the leads are down, rather than 4 or 5 and with no billow.

Of course, in this case, I had the added benefit of the power fist leads which gave me something to drape the lead on the model's left side over, giving me superbillow.

KingCracker wrote:My only gripe is the coat looks a bit thick, scale wise. But I bet that wasnt too easy sculpting on a friggin Cadian, I mean those guys are tiny

Yeah, it does have to be a bit thick, as it's structural. That said, I agree - I really could have made it thinner. This cheaty step was started before I needed to rush off to church (an atheist on a church council... I'm already well-aware of the irony), so I was in sort of a hurry. Blame it on the haste, I suppose.

Plus, these are supposed to be greatcoats. They're supposed to look heavy

dark6spectre wrote:may i ask what what leg pieces did you use for his running legs?

They came from the regular cadian sprue. They're the "running" legs, where the two are parallel to each other. It's the same legs I used for these guys:



As you can see, the guy on the right had his left leg chopped off and repositioned. Same for this commissar, except I did it for both legs.

Sandman wrote: Any particular reason you went with the WW1 style helmet over the more traditional peaked cap?

I came to the conclusion that rather than simply being a leadership sponge, with a couple of wounds and an invul save, he could actually be helpful in close combat (useful as he's going with ogryn). In order to make him as such, he got a power fist and carapace armor.

As he was getting carapace armor, I kind of wanted him to have a helmet, rather than just a better breastplate. Of course, if he was going to have a helmet, he needed an over the top outlandish helmet. A picklehaube was the best I could think of.

I like the power sword. how did you paint them?

Amazing, inspirational work. Your scratch building encouraged me to have a bash myself - it's always the proportions that I find hardest to get down! I do feel like it's a shame that with so much detailing on that powerfist you went with a block metal paint job though

Incredible stuff, nonetheless - would love to see your models in the flesh!

Garvil_Loken wrote:I like the power sword. how did you paint them?

- enchanted blue.
- ice blue drybrush from the blade (leaving streaks)
- light wash of enchanted blue on the non-edge half.
- light drybrush of ice blue just on the blade.
- coat with clear fingernail polish after the model is completed.

Scarper wrote: I do feel like it's a shame that with so much detailing on that powerfist you went with a block metal paint job though

Incredible stuff, nonetheless - would love to see your models in the flesh!

Thanks!

I too was unhappy with the all-metal, and tried three different color schemes. The problem was when I added color, it stopped looking like a fist. Instead, it looked like he was wearing something on his arm with random metal flangeys coming off the top.

In the end, the all-metal was the only way.

though it makes sense modelling wise to have the power fist wires go nder the coat wouldnt that impair his fighting abilities?

Excellent work again, and very interesting tip about the coat 'leads'. I'll have to remember that whenever I get round to trying some coats.

You have got some great GS skills. I'm both envious and inspired!

Like the vivid use of GS to make strach built models

I appreciate a bloody finger as much as the next person....but maybe you could lead with something else as a introductory picture

Love it, I have all the time in the world for moustachioed...well anything really.

I love it! He seems like an ornery ww1 British officer! You got me beat on those putty skills too.

Thanks!

General Ian wrote:though it makes sense modelling wise to have the power fist wires go nder the coat wouldnt that impair his fighting abilities?

The lord commissar is WS5. This means he is awesome enough to fight with his coat in the way

Plus, the leads only drag on the coat when he's got his hand way up in the air like that, and there's still slack in the wires.

Element206 wrote:I appreciate a bloody finger as much as the next person....but maybe you could lead with something else as a introductory picture

Just reminding people that if you're doing conversion work, you've got to be willing to give blood

Just like if you don't want to get stung, don't keep bees...

The best part of having played with him is that the megaphone motif works so well:



Also, you can see more of my work, including actual scratch builds here.

Excellent work, you have GS skills that I could only dream of.

Those are interesting ogryns. Seem a bit proper.

Ailaros wrote:

As I was scrolling down, I thought we were all getting set up for an epic shake-weight joke.

How long did it take to carve those aquila?

Ailaros, one of these days I'm going to force you to do some commissioned sculpting for me. Possibly some Ogryns. Don't try to argue, good sir, you don't have a choice.

JK Your ogryns kick ass

CrashUSAR wrote:Ailaros, one of these days I'm going to force you to do some commissioned sculpting for me. Possibly some Ogryns. Don't try to argue, good sir, you don't have a choice.

Look at his avatar A-man...he's armed! i have a feeling you may be doing some commission work.....!
You have true talent! from sculpting to painting, it's just just amazing!

Well thank you!

The only thing I have yet to master (other than working with metal, which I have no desire to learn) is plasticard. Right now I'm actually cooking up a pair of conversions to turn a chimera into a demolisher. Definitely not as skilled, but probably because I have much less experience working with the material.

Draglide12 wrote:Those are interesting ogryns. Seem a bit proper.

That's the point, actually. My S.O., Sir Daxos P. Clinton III, requires all of his men to keep up a soldierly appearance while on the front. After all, he wouldn't be caught dead on a battle field of regular ogryn and their "brutish, mean, base, uncivilized and altogether unsoldierly" fashioned troops. He even requires them to use his personal coiffeur for the purpose.

After all, you've got to remember that this is the same man who said such things as...

DaxosPClintonIII wrote:After taking my morning tea, and then a daring second morning tea, I led my line forward in a wide formation, screening through large swaths of the remaining city.

DaxosPClintonIII wrote:However, until such a time as botany may be bravely attempted, I was forced to remain indoors, lest I find myself damp and unable to fight properly in my moist condition.

and...

DaxosPClintonIII wrote:I was in such high spirits that after my morning constitutional, I set about improving my personal image to the inspiration to the troops, and the loathsome dread of my enemies. Unfortunately, I was only half way through the morning's second manicure when I was interrupted most rudely with orders.

So...

wtwlf123 wrote:As I was scrolling down, I thought we were all getting set up for an epic shake-weight joke.

A what?

Draglide12 wrote:How long did it take to carve those aquila?

Actually, they weren't carved.

The breastplate was put down, and then I smushed on a second layer and then formed it on top. Aquillas are actually pretty easy, and all three of them took, I don't know, half hour to an hour? The frustrating thing was that in the process of making the one on the knee, I destroyed the one on the helmet and had to start over.

CrashUSAR wrote:Ailaros, one of these days I'm going to force you to do some commissioned sculpting for me. Possibly some Ogryns. Don't try to argue, good sir, you don't have a choice.

I'd actually consider doing commission work.

Not at gun point, though

Cadichan Support wrote:

LOL!

Run you fatties! No one is stopping until I SAY YOU'RE STOPPING!