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@ Cadaver- That model is SICK! Where'd you get the buzzsaw arm?? Is that even GW range? (like I care, but it just looks awesome!) Great work!

@Neil + Migs - Thanks guys! Wasn't sure how the reception was going to be for the semi-new direction. I'll be doing repair/sanding/clean-up work tonight, as well as re-doing the mandibles. (Zoa-Guyver is the inspiration for that) They don't look like they're used for anything at all at the moment aside from opening up and looking menacing. I'll be adding a bit more body and moving the actual grasping-sharp portions a bit forward. I need to be a bit more "agressive" with the mandibles, as I used as little GS as possible out of fear/anxiety. They should protrude much more, and be actual detail pieces- giving him a heavy lower-jaw look, as well as giving me room to model the teeth on that big, detail-less area he calls a mouth.

EDIT- I second Migs- Need more pics. I'm enjoying the time working on my model and showing progress, but I'd like to see where everyone else is! It's a great benchmark for where I am technically, and where I'd like to be!

-Remi

Hey folks, long time no post at least for my standards. Had a rainy weekend at the ocean, went to ikea a couple of times, installed the crap and tidied up the attic to make room for the gaming table.
No progress on my wizard yet, but I'm waiting for some bits to arrive anyway, it's taking way too long.
I would enjoy more pictures like everybody else, but I can't provide any at the time.
Let's see what tomorrow brings...

I guess I should probably rear my ugly head too and give my excuses for not coming by recently.

I've been away in London for the weekend . Abi and I had a great time going round various art galleries and I highly recommend The Royal Academy of Art's Summer Exhibition. It was worth every penny of the £10 it cost to get in.

Anyway I was planning on modelling all evening but my little sister* gave me the final four hours of 24 series 7. Well I got suckered in and watched them all.....but as penitence I'm now waiting for some green stuff to cure and will have a little go on the storm coat. I even promise to have some pics later...or tomorrow morning (though I cannot promise that they will actually be particularly interesting).

Molotov - Hey Mol. I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far. I also hope you had a good holiday.

HF Izanagi - Nice progress on his chest....it looks great. I would make the plates armour rather than organic, I would also try and make them in the same style as the leg armour. Don't you just hate it when you lose a bit of a model. I would not have recognised the new head a as a kroot base! It looks very samurai. I look forward to more work on his rear too.

Cadaver - That is really . I like the delicate nature of the buzz saw, totally at odds with my initial thoughts of a buzz saw yet it works perfectly. What have you used? The skull and mohawk are creepy. Brilliant.

Peter

* Yeah Baiyuan its my turn to roll with a little sister excuse


Automatically Appended Next Post:


Very WIP. The strips of plasticard are there to create a gap and turn the cloak into a storm coat. I'll be adding buttons or buckles when the GS is dry. Not tonight though because I'm off to bed.

@Baiyuan- no rush. I'm trying to do it as much/fast (although, that sounds like I'm trying to sacrifice quality to get it done, and that's not entirely correct) in between work/school. LOL... just reading aloud and randomly spouting words, "IKEA" being one of them... and the wife's ears perked up... dammit. Heading to IKEA. Now.


@Peter- Sweet start and great GS control. By storm coat, do you mean... like Vash the Stampede's coat?



Either way, you caught the flow of the coat spot-on with the upper-thigh GS. Looking forward to the rest of the work!

As for me... perhaps updates tonight, if my group-project conference call starts and ends in a timely fashion...

-Remi

I'm still in the states for business - enjoying the best business trip of my life - so that's my excuse, but back on thursday and I promise a full pictorial of where my model is by the weekend. IF! people stop with the super star stuff. I'm just another guy having fun with plastic and there are much better painters and sculptors around

The model is close to finished, with major work to be done only on the shoulder guards.

Then it's on to painting, but I'm so rusty I may need to do some other model first. And I also want to start converting the rest of the new Nelson stuff that will make the retinue.

migsula wrote:I'm still in the states for business - enjoying the best business trip of my life - so that's my excuse, but back on thursday and I promise a full pictorial of where my model is by the weekend. IF! people stop with the super star stuff. I'm just another guy having fun with plastic and there are much better painters and sculptors around

The model is close to finished, with major work to be done only on the shoulder guards.

Then it's on to painting, but I'm so rusty I may need to do some other model first. And I also want to start converting the rest of the new Nelson stuff that will make the retinue.

Apologies, Migs. I just say what most/all of us are thinking. NOT saying that we look up to your work for inspiration doesn't mean that we still won't react the same way. (watercolor-style, that vampire count conversion into the dark =I=nq, the crazy bases that overflow the actual base itself, the true-scale... to name a few on my end).

I'll stop the whole saying it... can't say the same for the rest of Dakka. Like it or not, you're celebrity-status and an innovator. LOL, what I'd give to be in your shoes. (er, perhaps not, if your feet are stinky)

Either way, we look forward to your full pictorial! Superstar!

-Remi

EDIT- Last one. I promise.

Peter - I did, thanks. I've got to catch up with you soon regarding the INQvitational. I've not read through the thread - is this model to serve in the retinue of your new Inquisitor? What's it intended to be?

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words. I wasn't expecting so much feedback on the buzzsaw arm. I thought it looked a little plain! Honestly, I am happy it blends so well with the model. It was worth paying the bitz barons on eBay the obscene asking price to get the bits I needed to make this how I wanted. At least I didn't have to fork over for a full Talos kit!

For those who inquired, the buzzsaw is one of the tinier saws from a Killa Kanz/Deff Dread close combat weapon. Alot of cutting, trimming and filing on the saw brace got it thin enough to work well on those thin arms.

at Remi

Molotov - The model is going to be a member of my new Inquisitor's retinue. As to what he is going to be.....well that is still a surprise on Dakka. I've got one or two more background story instalments before I let on. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the INQvitational. I had a game a few weeks ago which went quite well, though I was a little rusty and my mutants really cannot take on a Witch Finder. Hopefully get a couple more games in soon to finish the story. The sad news is as all my gaming buddies have or are moving away by the end of the summer .

HF Izanagi - Yeah that is what I meant, it will look something like that but not blowing open in the wind. It will have buckles/buttons all the way down the front to keep it closed.

Peter

@ Cadaver- Yea man… hoping it wasn’t too expensive, but it’s a pretty seamless blend right there. Even the arm-size, assuming it is a whole piece, is just about right. (It IS right, as far as I can tell- both arms aren’t lopsided by any means) And if it is the original arm w/ buzzsaw attachment, then the buzzsaw doesn’t look like it should be mounted on something heavier. Again- seamless.

@ Migs- LOL… right. No more of that “superstar” business from here on in. (note, I’m just saying, not directing it at you.)

@ Molotov- hey, welcome to the madness! Not sure if your question is directed only towards Peter, but yea… sorry in advance if it is and I’m tooting my horn for no good goddamn reason… . My model is meant to be either 1) a present to my brother to keep at his office while he works on sound effects for his company’s videogame software or 2) perhaps a merc/npc in our soon-to-be-resurrected Promethean Hammer =I=Munda campaign and subsequent campaign Darkest Night.


The Head (continued)

Alright, second phase of GS work, I used it to increase the “beak” so I had leeway to shave and shape down in to my desired look. I realized something this morning before heading to work- the head is a bit too narrow. To offset this, I’m going to add to the back-flaps, as well as the peripheral rims to give it some width.





Here it is, shaved down, closing in on what I want. Added the start of what will be the bug-eyes in the back, and indentation for circular medal detail.



Body Work (continued)

The chest armor sanded for flat/uniform surface. I added small strings of GS to flatten and turn into armor detail. I stopped short of all plates, as my grubby meathooks and my efforts to detail some areas resulted in deforming areas I just finished.



And finally, this morning, shaving down yesterday’s details to match the leg plates. They might having to be a bit thinner, but I’m not confident I can have a sure-hand while taking an scalpel to it.




That's it for me for now. I should apologize if it seems I’m taking over the group thread with my posts… each a string o’ pictures long. It’s partially a documentation for my own good, to see later where I could/should have improved the steps. So, apologies, all, and as always, thanks for the comments/critiques to make my work even better.

-Remi

Not at all Remi, that looks awesome, and showing your progress is what the thread's all about! The chest armour is really shaping up nicely, and I'm guessing you haven't started on detailing the carapace underneath it. The head itself looks fantastic from the front, but I feel like the jaw might be a little messy from the side view, though I'm sure it's just the angle
Love the look of the helmet though - like a cross between a samurai helmet and a praying mantis. Perfect!

@PDH - Promising start! Looking forward to seeing the storm coat take shape, and glad to see some pics from you

Remi, do you use "shapers" for sculpting? If not, get some now - they are super great for getting curved surfaces like yours to be really sharp and smooth. I also cut GS after sculpting all the time to get sharp ridges and what not.

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=paint%20shaper&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1263&bih=972

@ Migs- Lol... I do... you should have seen the crap I was churning out before I got some... Vitruvian actually recommended them way back when, and I made a pitstop at an artstore during a business trip. I agree, it makes it much easier to sculpt, especially because the tools give. Right now, I focus on two of the five tools (chisel head/screwdriver head, pointed pencil, and sometimes the "hobby" knife type one... rarely), but I with more practice, the results should be much better. Unfortunately, practice could get dangerously expensive for GS material to work with.


I'll be using my scalpels and stuff to get the nice clean, sharp edges... provided I can get my hands to stop shaking.. without using alcohol... which causes my hands to stop shaking, but an overall loss in thought process and coordination. Anyways, stay tuned... I put the GS work on this guy at about... 60%. There's a LOT of work left to do. Hopefully, he'll have that sharper "pro" look I think you all are waiting for.

-Remi

HF Izanagi really got A Bug's Life vibes from him. Looks like a 6 foot version of one of the hoppers. Really Impressive!

Llamahead wrote:HF Izanagi really got A Bug's Life vibes from him. Looks like a 6 foot version of one of the hoppers. Really Impressive!

LOL... thanks, man! How about yourself? When do we get to see some paint on your Davinite (sp?) Warrior Priest?? How close is he to getting done/what else does he need done on him?

-Remi

-EDIT- @ Peter- Re: Coat- Cool! I'm looking forward to it. Perhaps if they come out well, a quick tut on the buckles/snaps you're gonna put on them? I, on the other hand, will probably use the reference from the rips and dirt at the bottom of the Vash-toy's coat for reference for my model's scarf/cloak...

Hey HF no worries about taking over the thread, so far you're the only one who delivers a proper documentation of his work, so it's not a bad thing at all. I assume some of us are not intending to document every step of their conversion and that's ok, but I will more or less do and I appreciate the amount of your WIP pics. Once everybody has had enough time for his project there will be plenty more pic heavy posts.

Update:

I've made some progress today, but I only worked on Hope, so I'm not showing yet. I'll try to get as far as possible with Hope before the bitz arrive and I can focus on the wizard itself again.

I managed to get a surveillance shot of Samarianne and Hope, but I'm afraid Hope's energy signature interfered with the servo skulls sensory array somehow.

Note: The kroot rifle is just a proxy until I've build the actual arquebuse.

Baiyuan wrote:Hey HF no worries about taking over the thread, so far you're the only one who delivers a proper documentation of his work, so it's not a bad thing at all. I assume some of us are not intending to document every step of their conversion and that's ok, but I will more or less do and I appreciate the amount of your WIP pics. Once everybody has had enough time for his project there will be plenty more pic heavy posts.

Update:

I've made some progress today, but I only worked on Hope, so I'm not showing yet. I'll try to get as far as possible with Hope before the bitz arrive and I can focus on the wizard itself again.

I managed to get a surveillance shot of Samarianne and Hope, but I'm afraid Hope's energy signature interfered with the servo skulls sensory array somehow.

Note: The kroot rifle is just a proxy until I've build the actual arquebuse.

\

Thanks. I was getting worried for a bit, as yea... it seems like I was the only one. I actually went back and read the directions to be sure.

Anywho, hoping to do more work late tonight, but it might die down later on as school is winding down in the next two weeks w/ papers and group projects... If my grades suffer, I'll know exactly why. (lol, I'll take pics and post my Macro Econ "notes" for you guys later- they have my concept sketches for my guy during this past phase)

Bah... you and your teaser images. I'm literally kissing my monitor trying to figure the details on your sorcereress figure... Great pic though. I'm excited to see the whole set in all their glory. I assume her pet is almost, if not already, complete?

-Remi

Stop kissing your monitor, there isn't much to be seen on the sorceress. So far I've only removed various details of the original model and added the DE arms, so no progress there. As soon as I start actually converting her I'll show any progress in detail, no teasing

Hope, on the other hand won't be shown any time soon. You're more or less right though, Hope is basicly complete, but all the components have just been blutacked together, as I'm still working on fitting them all together seemlessly. Assuming I'm sticking to my plans there won't be any essential changes on Hope, right now there are just all the details missing, vials, syringes, tubes, cables, armor...

lulmp lulmp lulmp hmmmmm not so tasty my monitor is dusty I think I need to clean it.

Baiyuan - I'm looking at the size of her doggy and never imagined it was going to be that big. The base looks good. As for her and the doggy...I'm waiting for less teaser shots to comment.

Scarper - Cheers. Yeah the time for modelling is alluding me at the moment...I should have done this project in the winter. I'll hopefully be getting the storm coat done and dusted by the end of the weekend.

Remi - Hmmm tutorial....I had better take a number of progress shots then. I hope it works out ok....the buckles if I can get them to work will be mirco sized.

PDH wrote:lulmp lulmp lulmp hmmmmm not so tasty my monitor is dusty I think I need to clean it. As for her and the doggy...I'm waiting for less teaser shots to comment.

Sure, like I said there isn't much to be seen yet.

Looking forward to you getting the right filter lenses installed in your servo-skull to get some decent images of Hope taken!

I've prayed for the blessing of the Omnissiah, but with no effect yet...
I'm off to the sanctuary of the machine now to work on the problem more directly.

Hey guys sorry i have been a bit slow receantly , leading up to the school holidays is always a busy time for me. safe to say that now i will have plenty of time for moddeling so , i promise to be back in the saddle asap. sorting out my moddeling area today .

@pdh Nice to see your mini Peter ,interested to see how you pull off a storm coat .

@Izanagi , that is so good its creeping me out a little , i have a mini phobia of insects i think . i think you capture the perfect use of that model mate. and i am sure were all enjoying your posts mate , no need to apologise .


@Baiyuan , Aha , hope has finally reared its head in the form of a pretty big pooch! teasing again matey , you should really start up a baiyuan burlesque night.

@ Baiyuan- yea... I gave up after my wife started giving me strange looks... accusing me of watching something... adult-like, in nature...

Truly though, I'm interested in what you'll do to the face of the miniature, the most. Are you by any chance planning to sculpt a face? Or transplant an existing mini's...? I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

@ Peter- Exactly. I have use of such a tutorial for later projects (aka reviving our =I= Munda thread... and making my second Inq. band), so if you've got a surefire way I can copy, I'd be really grateful!


@Neil- Thanks for the kind words! (er, everyone enjoys the posts, not that you get creeped out near my mini). I actually do have more progress to post, but work has just gone insane today. This is my 5 minutes of my total self-allotted 15 minute break so I can actually get out at a decent hour.

After this progress post, the updates might get sparse this week and next, for finals/projects.

Anyways, keep 'em coming, gentlemen.

-Remi

About the face: I'm not sure yet, I have considered both. So far I'm using a trimmed down version of the original face as a proxy. I've considered using it for the actual conversion too, but it has very child-like features, round forehead, big eyes and it's screaming, all things that won't go well with my plans. So there are two possibilities, sculpting on another miniatures face or sculpting the whole thing from scratch. In both cases most of the face will be covered with a face mask up to her nose and some form of goggles are possible too, I don't know yet.

Either way, I'm excited to see your work. I've seen how neat you can be with weaponry and heavy angles- I'm wondering/hoping to see that same sort of precision with organic curves, etc.

-Remi

Checking back in after the Summer vacation with my Family.
Lots of really exciting projects both in this and in the parallel thread. Very inspiring stuff.
All of this plus the fact that I have been reading through the Eisenhorn books and halfway through the Ravenor trilogy leaves me filled with inspiration and ready to begin my own work.

@Jakob: Great novels! I'm currently considering to read them another time, but before I do that it's the five Joe Abercrombie novels first. Best fantasy writer of the last decade imo.

Anyway, my bitz order arrived and I swayed away from working on Hope today and instead made some (very slow) progress on Samarianne. Here's a little preview of her in all her mutilated glory:

As you can see, she is still in the chopshop stage of conversion. The changes I made today were both very important: I finally built her right arm consisting of parts of three different dark eldar arms (which came in today) and I decided that the only proper way to make her tilt her head was to cut it of and rearrange it as a whole.

The decapitation did wonders for the limited pose of the miniature and I'm really glad I did it, it changes the feel of the model so much and gives me more room for details.

Her right arm on the other hand will be holding her rifle which I'll still have to come up with (so far nothing met the requirements).

The rifle and the face are the last question marks, I've made up my mind about everything else. The extensive sculpting I'll be doing on top of the base model is pinned down in sketches. Her equipment is just waiting to be tacked onto her female curves and that's basicly it.

To make up for the slow progress I'm revealing the next chapter of the story of how Samarianne and Hope got together.

And just in case anyone missed the earlier chapters:

And the new one:

VI
It's a gift:
A thing only a mother could love.

Later investigations, utilizing sources better not being named, it became evident that the creature was an alpha male of a species the Dark Eldar call Ell'Oy, but at the time none of the scholars in the Inquisitor's service could say what exactly it was.

They knew that it originated from a planet coded Ʃ-vk-317, an almost uncolonized deathworld somewhere in the uncharted Eastern Fringe.
They also knew that it had taken the lifes of almost half of the hunting party, thirty seasoned hunters of the most dangerous game immaginable, just to separate it from its kin and finally capture it.
But they hardly knew anything else about it.

None but Magos Biologis Sand dan Glokta, one of the Inquisitor's most trusted servants, was able to decypher some of its secrets.
He would say that the more obvious properties, like the physical strength to go through a plasteel wall of considerable thickness and the resilience to withstand conventional weapons fire practically unharmed, were less remarkable.
He would say that it was more remarkable that, even though it was impossible to research the creature's means of communication without studying the social interaction between several subjects of its kind, its intelligence evidently surpassed that of an average human.
And most importantly he would say that it was marvellous how common the Pariah-gene among its species seemed to be and that there were hints that it was actually a dormant strain in the whole species' genome.


Gosh, the layout looks horrible in the forum...

Second the Eisenhorn series, haven't read the Ravenor series yet. But if it's anything like the first set, I'll be hooked.

@JRN- hope you enjoyed the vacation, and looking forward to what you're cooking up.

@ Baiyuan- Ah... Samarianne appears. I'm intrigued and impressed by the pinning. Your methods remind me of Dexter's brother Binny... So clean and neat... in contrast to my more instinct-driven "that might look good" thought, doing said-action, then thinking "I wonder how it'll turn out" being the last thought in the process... (usually followed by swearing and possible re-do/re-glue/etc.)

Any possibilities of seeing your sketches for face features? Or is this a wait-and-see type bid?

-Remi

P.S. Thought I had updates on the wider head today, and newer features... but turns out my camera had nothing new in it (I blame the drink and Rome TV Series). Balls. I might have something new over the weekend though- arm pinned and new GS detailing to match his current armor form.

-EDIT- By the way, what is it with this "EXALT +1" and "Exalt this post!" business on our browsers? I didn't know the tech priests were doing upgrades to our systems...

-EDIT#2- Also, I currently use superfine sandpaper for my GS work... can anyone explain to me the difference/advantages of dry-sanding vs. wet sanding? Currently only dry-sanding for me and came upon the term today surfing the inter...er... doing market research at my job.