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Loving this thread dude. I'm up to page 7. Great use of those Gorkamorka boyz. I've been doing something similar with some i found in a box of old stuff. Using Plaguebearer heads and various plastic Gorkamorka, Necromunda and Plaguebearer bit's I've built a small gang of mutant nurgle cultists. Planning to photo and post 'em when I get 'em finished so I'll keep you posted. Love that brute you've made from AOBR nob too. Good mutie action in general.

Cheers, guys!

@ DRommel: Thanks for the kind words, mate! I'll let you in on a secret, though: I am horrible at painting eyes, and I won't let my shortcomings ruin Zuul's face, which I am very fond of

@ Diakon: Ah, yes: Building muties and twists is just such fun once you've managed to find a recipe that works for you, isn't it?

Anyway, short update on the Professor:

I converted the loudspeaker on his backpack into a lamp, using a landspeeder headlight. Should have thought of that right away, though I'm glad Bruticus pointed it out to me!



And I added a cable running from his head to his backpack, probably transferring the visual data he collects into his portable cogitator or something like that?



Anyway, I don't believe I'll be adding any more bionics to him -- I pretty much like the model as it is. I'll only add a gun holster, and then this guy will hit the painting bench

I have to admit that those changes really do add an extra something to the model.

Looking good. The lamp is much better than the speaker. The cog on the base is a nice touch.

Cheers, guys! Glad you like the additions!

Alright, guys: Even though I had five days off, I have been phenomenally lazy in hobby terms. The reason for that is that I am also a huge videogame nerd and finally, about six months too late, got around to checking out Dishonored. The art direction and world in this are truly exceptional, and I believe any 40k aficionado who has not yet checked it out should definitely do so: Chances are, you'll find a lot to like about the setting, even if it's more steampunkish than 40k's strange blend of quasi-religious retro-futurism.

Ahem, back to topic, though: I finally managed to put the finishing touches on Inquisitor Titus Alvar. Here he is:









There wasn't that much left to do, actually: Some accents were tidied up, and the hem of his coat and his boots were lightly drybrushed with GW Graveyard Earth to show where grime and dirt had begun to collect. It's a rather subtle effect, but it works pretty well if you see the model up close. Oh, and I also added a simple gem effect to his tie.

Here are a couple of detail shots of the model on its base:





And a look at Alvar’s “lantern jaw of justice” :



All in all, I am fairly happy with how the model turned out: I like the aristocratic quality about him, yet his equipment and the googles on his brow show that, as a member of the Ordo Xenos, he also is an accomplished fighter and possibly quite a bit of a scientist as well. All in all, the main point of critique leveraged against the earlier iterations of the character was that he didn’t look all that much like an Inquisitor. I think the finished model puts that problem to rest: At least, he very much seems like an Inquisitor to me

The last thing to do was to write a short background vignette for the character, outlining the ideas and concepts that had led to the model’s creation:



Inquisitor Titus Alvar, of the Ordo Xenos

House Alvar has been one of the more influential noble houses for centuries. As a scion of the house, Titus Alvar grew up in luxury and power, the intricacies of the Imperial courts with their waxing and waning support for one house or another a game he quickly mastered. Maybe the search for new and more immediate thrills was what made him enter that perilous region of space known as “The Veil of Impurity” time and time again, and tales of his exploration of ancient ruins, of treasures discovered and adventures survived, made him the talk of the courts he had left behind. As a matter of fact, one of his expeditions into the treacherous cluster of stars resulted in a standoff with Inquisitrix Cimbria Carscallen. Under normal circumstances, someone running afoul of the Ordo Xenos would have been executed without second thought, yet Carscallen must have seen something in Alvar that made her reconsider. And so, Titus Alvar, noble, adventurer, became an Interrogator in the Emperor’s Holy Ordos of the Inquisition and, in time, an Inquisitor in his own right.

Though the years of doing the Emperor’s work may have somewhat mellowed his once flamboyant lifestyle, Titus Alvar very much remains a socialite and a political animal. His standing as a member of an influential noble house makes him a common guest at social functions all over the sector, and the tales of his exploits have led some of his peers to suspect that he is a glory hound, first and foremost.

In truth, Titus Alvar is, above all else, a pragmatist: The trappings of nobility are as much of a useful tool to him as the artifacts he has recovered on countless expeditions or the retainers, some of them quite exotic, that comprise his warband. Meanwhile, some of Alvar’s colleagues have grown suspicious of the Inquisitor’s continued expeditions to the Veil of Impurity and some of the alliances he may have forged there…



As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Great work as always I think the conversion and the painting both do a great job of conveying both his noble background and also his pragmatism

Looks great Kraut
The turquoise gem is a nice spot color and the background was a good read.
I do however feel that he could use some more contrast, maybe a different colored tie or shirt.
Thats just me tough.

 KrautScientist wrote:
Alright, guys: Even though I had five days off, I have been phenomenally lazy in hobby terms. The reason for that is that I am also a huge videogame nerd and finally, about six months too late, got around to checking out Dishonored. The art direction and world in this are truly exceptional, and I believe any 40k aficionado who has not yet checked it out should definitely do so: Chances are, you'll find a lot to like about the setting, even if it's more steampunkish than 40k's strange blend of quasi-religious retro-futurism.

Ahem, back to topic, though: I finally managed to put the finishing touches on Inquisitor Titus Alvar. Here he is:

Ah... you too, huh? I just opened the copy my brother got me for X-mas last year... yep. I can definitely see some inspiration there - moreso from the environment for me, rather than the general populace. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to get more stealth-killy later in the game, but escaping the prison was a friggin' bloodbath...

In terms of the progress on the Inquisitor... I'm frankly jealous of your paint style. It's simple, but really clean and effective. My favorite bits (aside from the spot-gem) are his sword and his pants. The pants I figured how you did it, and the effect looks great - like the stretching feel of the pants at the... KNEE. Get your head out of the gutter...

But I still want to know how you did the crusty-used look on the sword. Base of... metal? Wash... then highlight the edges with a lighter metal?

- Remi

The archaeologist really fits in with the other eclectic models you have created and exemplifies the craziness of Inquisitorial Retinues.

Cheers, guys!

@ Dreadclaw69: It's good to know that I seem to have managed to achieve that effect, even if this model took quite some time to come together!

@ Igandris: I actually went back and forth on this, yet in the end I decided that the uniformly dark grey clothes under the cloak would look well made and expensice precisely because they are so similar in tone. The coat's also really flashy enough, and I didn't want him to look to colourful

@ Boringstuff: Glad you feel that way, mate! That eclecticism was exactly what I was gunning for!

@ HF Izanagi: Cheers, Remi! You're exactly right about the sword: First a base of GW Boltgun Metal, then a wash with GW Nuln Oil, then a wash with GW Drakenhof Nightshade (for the slightly blue sheen) and then a final accent with GW Mithril Silver.

Regarding Dishonored (which has held me enthralled for the last ten days or so), it's really easy to derail this thread by getting me to talk videogames, since I am a huge videogame nerd. So I'll just put the following into spoiler tags. If you're not into videogames, feel free to ignore this

nice work on that inquisitor, really like what you've done with your professor conversion though, I look forward to seeing it painted.

Thanks, mate! Just one pistol holster to add, and I can start painting the professor!

Great paint job, nuffin moar to say!

Thanks a lot!

Right, with the Inqvitational 2013 almost upon us, let me share some more pictures of my model for Inquisitor Zuul, who is to play a part in the upcoming events.

So here's the finished model:















All in all, some parts of the model may be slightly rougher around the edges than I would have liked, but in the end, I had to get the model out the door before the deadline expired. And I think I really managed to get across that Zuul is an ancient and experienced Inquisitor who doesn’t hide his convictions or fear any confrontation with his puritan colleagues. PDH remarked that Zuul had “such a weight of years to him”, and I am really happy about that, since it’s one of the things I was trying to achieve with the model!

Here are a couple of additional detail shots:

Zuul’s face:



The model’s base:





And, once again, the face (which I am actually really happy with!):



And, just for fun, some pictures with two other models that were pretty important for the creation of Zuul:

First up, Zuul with Inquisitor Alvar, who, as I already mentioned, served as a “colour test” of sorts:



While the general colours used may be similar, however, the models still ended up looking quite different: Alvar is younger and more idealistic, and certainly a snappier dresser, while Zuul has a certain feeling of regality and gravitas about him.

And here’s Zuul with my own Inquisitor Antrecht, himself an outspoken radical. I wanted to give Zuul a slightly superior patrician vibe, just the same as Antrecht.



Come to think of it, these two could probably be pretty good friends

By the way, this is possibly my favourite angle of Zuul:



So yeah, I certainly hope the model’s good enough to pass for Zuul during the Inqvitational! While it may not be perfect, I must say I am at least reasonably pleased with how it turned out. Plus building a model to resemble a piece of artwork was a completely new and refreshing challenge! Which actually begs the question: Does the model for Zuul resemble the artwork it was based on at all? Here’s a composite with the artwork and model side by side:



As you can see, I changed a number of things, some of them by sheer necessity (like the pose): The Katana-like sword in the artwork was replaced by a more western looking sword. The facial features in the artwork are noticeably sharper, yet that cannot be helped: Trying to change the face itself would surely have ended in disaster. On the other hand, there are also a number of parallels that were strangely coincidental, like the dangling inquisitorial rosette, the (purity) seal on Zuul’s right lapel, the very similar coat or the fact that the armour the model is wearing on its torso could be seen as the same kind of augmetic pipes and doodads seen in the artwork.

Anyway, the model was packed up and sent to PDH, where, after some hair-raising delays caused by my very good friends at the German postal service, it managed to arrive just in time for the Inqvitational. Phew

Huge thanks must go to both Commissar Molotov and PDH for their input and suggestions which have been invaluable during the creation of the model (and, indeed, for allowing me to tackle a rather important supporting character for the Inqvitational)! And thanks to the INQ28 crowd over at the Ammobunker as well for their continued feedback!



Alas, Inquisitor Zuul’s story might end up being a rather short one: There’s a very real chance he won’t survive the run-in with his puritan colleagues this Saturday. In any case, building the model to both resemble the original artwork and express Zuul’s character through the conversion and paintjob have been a great experience. And as for Zuul’s final fate, I’ll keep you posted, of course!

Until then, let me know what you think about the model! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Great work as always He's a pretty good fit for the artwork that inspired him

wow thats a good piece of art to be inspire off of...looks great kruat. cant wait to see me dudes

Loving the archaeologist. Work in the profession myself have to admit to be a proper one a hammer and shovel (or at least an oik like me to use them for him) should be part of his kit.

That is fantastic. I just noticed that Alvar had a very similar scheme to Zuul....

I really like the mini, and your translation does the art justice for sure. Feedback from Molotov and PDH, ey...? Perhaps I might ask you for the same once I get started on some new Inq guys (2 to be exact). One will be most likely for the =I=Men, using the new Eldar HQ choice Nightspear something or other. I see Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler but already have his female counter/daughter on the team. Will give it more thought. Or perhaps another for the Grimdark Knight's retinue.

The other one... thinking of trying it the way you guys do it. I think my minis go with my own personal aesthetic taste first before trying to integrate them into the 40K/Inq. universe. You guys do it the other way around, I think...

In other words, it's time to make me an ugly guy!! Keep you posted when I start.

Again, great mini for the finished Zuul product. He'd be a commission I'd gladly pay money for, and whoever gets him (he is a "prize" mini for the Inqvitational, yes?) is a lucky guy/gal.

-Remi

Amazing job on Zuul, not so different from the artwork that inspire It at all

But this picture



The first thought I had seeing this was: Indiana Jones and the Last crusade brought in Inquisimunda

Inquisitor Henry
Interrogator Junior
Scribe Brody
Hot Guardswoman who's secretly a rival after the relic

Saleh who's the competent awesome one............

Really great minis. Where do you find the art work though?

I know I have told you what I think via email but he is absolutely fantastic!

That weight of years really permeates out from the miniature. The psi-booster cabling on his head is my favourite part along with the way he is holding his staff.

Thank you ever so much for volunteering to make us a miniature for the event. Very kind of you my friend:-)

Thanks for the kind words, guys! I really appreciate it!

@ Llamahead: Huh, that's what I get for building an archaeologist with no concern for his needing some tools to do any archaelogy Seriously, though: I am now torn between simply adding a shovel and/or hammer to the model or adding a buttmonkey assistant of his, carrying all the gear and doing the heavy lifting. The latter could be brilliant fun, although I may have to resist the urge to make additional retainers to my Inquisitors' retainers... But then, I have some perfect bitz for that assistant... Damn choices!

@ HF Izanagi: Cheers, Remi! Feel free to drop me a line if you're interested in more detailed feedback about models. I'd be happy to throw some ideas and remarks your way! It has to be said, though, that I tend to try different approaches to character creation: With some characters, I just want to use a certain base model in a conversion. Others come from a desire to build a certain archetype. And still others exist as characters in my head before I ever look at how to build them. Usually, it tends to be a mix of the three...

Oh, and Zuul will not be given to the "winner" or anything! As far as I know, he still has some role to play in the story, and if anyone ever were to receive the model as a gift, it would have to be Mol or PDH for doing all that work related to the Inqvitational.

@ SelvaggioSaky: Now that's an image I won't be able to get out of my head for a while...

@ gianlucafiorentini123: Cheers, mate! The artwork is from the Inquisitor rulebook. It appears on page seven

@ PDH: Like I said elsewghere, you are very welcome, my friend!

Right, time for another update: Since work has been rather stressing lately, and the sweltering heat that has gripped parts of Germany makes even the smallest tasks look like a herculean effort, I am sad to admit that I don't have any new conversions or painted models to show you. But at the same time, looking at all the fantastic INQ28 stuff people have come up with lately (honourable mentions must go to PDH's INQ28 villains and Bruticus' brilliantly disturbing Dark Mechanicus models , I feel the growing urge to creae something cool. Until I can make it happen, though, I content myself with picking up some bitz and bobs for future project and searching for useful models in my cupboard of shame. Just the right kind of activity in this weather Here's what I've come up with so far:

First of all, when I learned that GW are selling the last of their Specialist games' models, I was quick to order some Necromunda Esher models from my FLGS: Adding more female characters to my INQ28 warbands has been a bit of an idée fixe lately, since it's so easy to fall back on all-male warbands due to the fact that decent female models can be hard to come by in GW's catalogue. And you can only convert the same (Dark) Elf and (Dark) Eldar models every so often, before it becomes stale. The Esher models have been among my favourite female sculpts for a long time. Granted, you have to look beyond the outlandish 80s' hair on some of the models, but they are really great and work well for IQ28 retinues as gunslingers, hive gangers or operatives, if you ask me.

So, yesterday I picked up my order at the FLGS: I had ordered a gang box and an additional booster pack, to maximise the amount of different sculpts.



These are supplied randomly, so you need a bit of luck. The purchase gave me one gang leader, one specialist, six regular gangers and three juves. On the positive side, there was only one duplicate among these, which is even a plus, because I can now paint one of the twins as a warband member and still have another one, in case I ever decide to start a proper Necromunda gang. On the other hand, one or two models I had hoped would be part of the deal were missing. Oh well, you cannot win them all, I guess

Here's the model that I received twice:



I guess I'll use her as an ex-hive ganger that was recruited by an Inquisitor (maybe Inquisitor Alvar?) and now serves as a gunslinger/operative in his warband.

I also picked up Reaper's Sasha Dubois model:



I normally stick to GW models, by and large, but in this case, I made an exception: I have loved this particular sculpt for a long time, plus I think she makes an excellent addition for an INQ28 warband. Granted, she may look slightly "stripperiffic" with that bared midriff, but it should be easy enough to paint that area as covered by a bodyglove. Here's a link to a very nice, painted version of the model, btw.
What I especially like about her is that she's perfectly proportioned to fit the 40k scale. Here she is, next to the aforementioned Esher model:



For the moment, my plan is to name her Millerna Acheron and use her as Inquisitor Alvar's Interrogator: It would somehow suit his character

Apart from that, I also found some additional models in my bitzbox:

First up, a couple of Inquisitorial henchmen, given to me by my cousin Andy some time ago:



I haven't used these yet because they were too on-the-nose hereticus for the warbands I've been working on. But they should work rather nicely, once I get around to the puritan/monodominant end of the spectrum: That flamer acolyte is far too cool to moulder in my bitzbox forever

Then there's some Necromunda odds and ends that I have managed to pick up:



A Delaque Juve (minus his head, which I clipped off because it was horrible), a Scavvy and a Van Saar (which would make a fantastic Spec Ops operative for a warband, if you ask me).

The Scavvy ended up in my bitzbox thanks to Peter's generosity:



I had actually never seen this particular sculpt before. Strange...

And finally, some Ecclesiarchy types:



On the left, a Necromunda Redemptionist priest that I had at one point used as a Mordheim cultist of Sigmar (hence the clipped-off pistol):



The other model is my favourite Imperial missionary, picked up as part of an ebay auction: Someone cut off the hand with the chainsword, but it should be easy enough to replace:



I love the workmanlike look of this guy, although I suspect I will end up replacing the staff with the huge book with something more practical...

Anyway, so much for our small tour through the dark corners of my bitzbox Let's hope I'll be more productive soon and can show you some new conversions

Very interested in seeing what you do with these I have a soft spot for the Necromunda figures because they're so characterful.
The Reaper sculpt looks like she scales quite nicely too.

Cheers Butt monkey with the tools gets my vote or possibly a young student.....
Young Student/Apprentice might be a more interesting character to grim darkify than the butt monkey.

, great minis, just one question: why do you maintain both a blog and a post about the same thing? doesn´t that mean that you need to do all the text and image uploads twice? it´s just something I´ve never understood really.

Cheers, guys!

@ Dreadclaw69: Indeed, the Necromunda seems to combine the best GW models and the worst GW models in one catalogue. As a matter of fact, I really don't get why the Esher gang isn't yet sold out, seeing how they are really the best sculpts, if you ask me. I've always found Delaque and Orlock rather uniteresting and, in some cases, downright horrible. Oh well, it all comes down to personal preference, I guess...

@ Llamahead: Seeing how I have some very nice bitz to use on a possible assistant/student for the archaeologist, it's a pretty fair assumption that I'll eventually cave in and build him

@ buhonero13: Well, the basic idea is to get maximum exposure for my hobby projects: While there are some people who only ever read my Dakka thread, others will only read my blog. As a rule of thumb, it's quite a bit easier to get people to read your forum threads, but then only a blog offers me the ability to post anything I want. So whenever I feel the urge to spout a thousand words about some formative moment of my personal hobby life, the blog's a far better medium for that than any thread. Plus I can do reviews, terrain turtorials and all of the other stuff without having to create twenty threads on the same board.

In the end, it's more work, of course. But I try to be as economical about it as I can: The World Eaters stuff goes to my blog, Dakka, Throne of Skulls, B&C and a German board. The INQ28 stuff is posted on my blog, here on Dakka, on the Ammobunker, the Conclave and, again, the German board. For each post, I try to compose it so that it can be used in several places. And I usually use Dakka's very robust image hosting, so that isn't too much work.

In the end, you may call me a gloryhound for posting everywhere I can, and you'd surely be right: Getting feedback on my models is a huge incentive for me to get stuff done, plus it has led to all kinds of crazy hobby projects so far.

Anyway, hope that makes it clearer

Meant to post here yesterday, but the day got away from me.

I'm excited to see what you do with the Escher models. I always liked them, and thought that their ridiculous 80s punk hair was actually pretty cool. The Goliath models are my second favorite, but there's really only a handful of models in the range that I liked. Their heavies are awesome, but their juvies looked rather terrible.

There's a lot of potential with the Escher models, turning one of them into a grotesque servitor would be fun. I know they're metal so the cutting and filing is an issue, but it'd be a cool take on them that I haven't seen before.