BLACKHAND'S 40K Skaven

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**BLACKHAND**

Thanks a lot WM, I really do just like helping out the guys who have given me so much encouragement in the time I have been on Dakka, with out that I wouldn't be at the stage I am now in my sculpting.

I will definitely have a look around for casters in NZ and perhaps contact Chapterhouse, its worth a few emails at the least

**Gitsplitta**

When I used to do belts in Seattle, I had an arrangement with one of the local casting operations. Most of what they did was jewelry, but they would cast all kinds of things... it was all the same to them. They'd cast my buckles and mounts just as readily as a pair of earrings... and they could do it in bulk too. Most of the expense of casting is in the labor, not the metal. This is true for metals through silver (for my work, I charged extra for silver pieces or no one would believe they were real, but they didn't cost any more to make than brass did).

So I think the odds of getting a local jewelry caster to do the work for you is pretty good.

**BLACKHAND**

I know a couple of jewellers I will make inquiries, thanks Gits.
It would probably mean the end of my engagement but I would like to have my own vacuum chamber

And just to reassure you guys, I am still sculpting the Bone'ead, I have bulked up the torso considerably and blocked in most of the right shoulder.

Unfortunately my peaceful night modelling has been interrupted!

Just as I was going to take some pics of my progress I was evicted from our spare room ( I like to think of it as MY modelling room) when my sister in-law was carried in by her boyfriend. Apparently 19 year old girls can't handle their alcohol like they could in my day and she was totally wasted.

Rather than try and sculpt to the sounds of her vomiting into a bucket I have beaten a hasty retreat upstairs...thank god for Dakka or I might not have been able to get my requisite modelling fix

Cheers

BLACKHAND

**Santobell**

BLACKHAND wrote:I know a couple of jewellers I will make inquiries, thanks Gits.
It would probably mean the end of my engagement but I would like to have my own vacuum chamber

And just to reassure you guys, I am still sculpting the Bone'ead, I have bulked up the torso considerably and blocked in most of the right shoulder.

Unfortunately my peaceful night modelling has been interrupted!

Just as I was going to take some pics of my progress I was evicted from our spare room ( I like to think of it as MY modelling room) when my sister in-law was carried in by her boyfriend. Apparently 19 year old girls can't handle their alcohol like they could in my day and she was totally wasted.

Rather than try and sculpt to the sounds of her vomiting into a bucket I have beaten a hasty retreat upstairs...thank god for Dakka or I might not have been able to get my requisite modelling fix

Cheers

BLACKHAND

Ah the youth of today and their crazy ways lol

**BLACKHAND**

Lol, I felt old as I did it but I had to laugh...man did I laugh.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Managed to actually get a game with my IG today!

Was totally destroyed.....

...so I came home and licked my wounds while getting some work done on the Bone'ead!

I am thinking of shortening his neck by one section of spine but otherwise am happy with how he is trucking along, now all that is needed is the perfect close combat weapon, and I have some ideas for that as well

C&C is welcome guys

Cheers,

BLACKHAND

**manoknok**

Hey Blackhand looking great. I think shortening the neck a tad might work well....

Excellent stand in for a ripper gun. Btw.

I am not sure if it is the angle but the shin of the leg that is on the gun side seems disporportionaly short. It might just be a lack of 3D or something - but you can see what i mean in your penultimate pick.

I find the sentinel chainsword is pretty handy for ogyns converts. I say that like I have a lot of experience with it. I have done it once and not to well...but then i don't have your skills. It makes it look bionic.

Anyway, despite the lack of teats and mutant ears looking great.

Oh. Have you heard of the Grim Squeaker: scroll down and you can see the miniature...

http://shadowfax-st.blogspot.com/2008/12/flat-rat-and-spalt.html

**BLACKHAND**

Thanks Manaknok,

Once the GS dries I will revisit the length of the neck, if I cut it right I can always reattach it if the look isn't right.

As for the leg it may be a slight bit shorter but but only a few mm, it doesn't help that the poses of both legs are so different and are therefore hard to compare. I will have to take a comparison shot next to a IoB Rat Ogryn and a classic Rat Ogryn to show the differences in the morphology.

I may have gone a little overboard as he is only about 8-9mm shorter than the VerminLord and his chest and shoulders are as wide

I will be going for a saw of some kind just haven't tied down which one I will use yet.

And yeah I have read about the Grim Squeaker in the Pratchett novels but have never seen the model, very cool !

Oh and the ripper gun is the drum magazine from a grenade launcher and the exhaust from a sentinel, underslung blade is a stormvermin halberd blade. Not the cheapest way to build a rippergun but I had some spare broken sentinels hanging around that I wanted the legs of, so yeah...

**weetyskemian44**

awsome!

**Anung Un Rama**

Looks great so far, but I'm not sure about the pose of the gun arm. This is obviously still wip, but I think it would work better if he hold it up and aim with a straight arm. He's the smart one after all.

**BLACKHAND**

He is the smart one! smart for an Ogryn with no face

I was going for a "scrambling over a lump of broken statue in order to get close enough to the enemy to tear it to pieces" pose, but happily the arm is mostly wire at the moment so I will experiment a bit with straightening the arm and see how it looks.

**Bossasaurus**

The smart one? In fluff he is being constantly replaced and rebuilt...

**BLACKHAND**

In the 40skaven he isn't replaced as much as resurrected....

**Lennysmash**

Ah Rat Zombies, is there anything finer on God's green earth?

**Bossasaurus**

English muffins with maple syrup.

**BLACKHAND**

Ah, but who would you rather have with you when you storm an Imperial Strongpoint?

Actually yeah now I think about the muffins would be pretty good in any situation....

...but how to model them carrying a gun?

**Bossasaurus**

Muffins for the muffin god!!

But on a more serious note, i think making bone'ead more like "the beast" from 9. Linkys http://caged-disorder.deviantart.com/art/Beast-of-9-The-Collector-136780206?q=boost:popular+9+the+beast&qo=3 & http://easy-killer.deviantart.com/art/9-Movie-Cat-Beast-143425226?q=boost:popular+9+the+beast&qo=10 would be great.

**Ordo Dakka**

This is incredible.

If there was one wish I was granted my a genie right now, though, it would be to make the lover legs of the Vermin Lord bigger, or the hooves. The hooves are tiny man

Love your work, that Bone 'Ead is some of the finest sculpting I have seen on a blog. Awesome, literally.

**Gitsplitta**

That's terrifyingly sweet Blackhand. Gives the the willys just looking at it!

**monkeytroll**

Coming along very nicely indeed there Blackhand

I wasn't sure about the length of the neck in the first pics you showed us but now theres a bit more anatomy in place I think the long necked sleek look adds to the litheness you were after. Personally I like the bent gun arm, feels a bit more natural to me when the gun is part of the arm. Well, you know as natural as a cybernetic gun limb on an undead giant bipedal rat gets

**Commander Cain**

Excellent work! Keep it up.

**BLACKHAND**

@Bossasaurus - Cool I have'nt seen 9 yet, I think for the Bone'ead I keep with the cyberzombie theme but I like the ramshackle robot robot imagery of the "beast" I t may be something I have a look at later, thanks!

@Odro Dakka - Thanks a lot, I'm really happy with the sculpting but I have a while to go before I am up to the work of say, FreakForge

as for the Vermin Lord's hooves...you are the first person to mention it and I thought it would be sooner

I still need to sculpt a decorative base you see and I am not sure how deep that will go and how much of the hooves I will lose in the process. Once I have done the base IO will revisit the hooves and add detail and a bit of bulk, not too much, but something.

@Gitsplitta - Thanks Bro! I live to give you guys nightmares

@Monkeytroll - Thanks, as I said I may still shorten the neck and see how it looks and I am on the fence about the gun arm I have yet to see how it looks straightened out.

@Commander Cain - Thanks Cain!

Thanks for Commenting guys!

Cheers

BLACKHAND

**The Good Green**

Wow, that bone'ead is coming out great!

**Rose_Mountainz**

Your sculpting skills always amase me.

**Santobell**

I was looking at the beast as a basis for my Vermin lord big mechanical rat, but I have since dropped him from my list so yeah 9 was a good film though I though it ended poorly.

Hey Black has there been any progress on your floating tanks/ruins yet?

**BLACKHAND**

I am rapidly approaching the time when I can no longer wait for my friend's Hirst Arts moulds. Without them I will have to retun to my plan of carving styrofoam and facing it with layer of plaster but I really need to get on with the vehicles!

I haven't been totally ignoring them, as I have been casting other bits I have poured the odd hatch and now have enough for the 3 chimera, I have a mould ready to go for my steampunk-styled weapon sponsons, a battle cannon and vanquisher cannon ready to mount on turrets and can build a Punisher gatling cannon in a night so some lascannons I traded for arrive from the UK I will have all the bits I need to assemble the Leman Russes.

In effect I have everything I need and will just have to start experimenting with sculpting a "courtyard" of flagtones as a base for my plastic ruins to be attached to then building the broken stone to hang beneath the vehicle.

I realize a lot of people who watch the thread are very keen to see the vehicles and I won't keep them waiting too much longer!

**whalemusic360**

I'd be happy to be your go between if you need to buy some Hirst stuff. I'm sure actually shipping will be way less then what they would charge.

**BLACKHAND**

Hmm, thats a damn good I dea WM, I will have a look at the Hirst site tonight after work and PM you if it's feasable, cheers Bro

**whalemusic360**

NP, just let me know. I may have to order some too at that point, I've been thinking about it for like a year, and now I actually have a table.

**BLACKHAND**

Cool man I will be in touch

**BLACKHAND**

Freaken great news people!

My friend emailed me this afternoon to let me know the hirst molds arrived!! I pick them up tomorrow, so casting away!!
thanks again for the offer to help with the molds Whalemusic but this time I am good ( I reserve the right to call on that favour in the future

)

In the meantime I have a few size comparison shots of the Verminlord, Bone'ead and a Rat Ogryn.

Here a couple of the shots of the new left arm.

I took a section of the neck off and I am a lot happier with the angle of the head, not pointing down so much, and I plan on sanding down the neck vertebrae a bit so they don't poke out so much. Now the pics make the waist and lower torso look incredibly thin but I have added decent oblique muscles the hunched over pose doesn't help at all...long story short I am going to add some bulk to the lower torso to make him less like a greyhound on steroids

The right arm is going on hold for a week or so till my close combat weapon arrives but that will give me plenty of time to work on the vehicles (and Gisplitta's Mantis Helms!)

Cheers

BLACKHAND