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Aye, I'll scatter a load of different heads throughout the army. Not sure what dkrection I'm going to take with the command HQ squad: I'll probably be using the 'Marbo' chap as a commander, the weapons representing a Hellpistol and a power weapon.

I have some ideas for heavy weapon teams as I really like the thought of support weapon units giving covering fire from dug-in positions. With the help of MagosBiff, I'll be constructing ruins and such and also trying to create explosions...

I'm still umming and arring about these road wheels for my Chimeras... I guess I'll just have to mock one up and see what it looks like.

Road wheels are looking good.

Your detail work is brilliant, that pistol is excellent.

Looking great there buddy! that knife looks brutal ... and I LOVe the idea of a proper drum fed pistol!!

Also can't wait for more on those road wheels.. and the vehicles they are going to be attached to!!! ... and the buldings.... and the heavy weapons teams!! Properly inspiring stuff!

Thanks Cam!

I have actually reduced the size of the pistol to make it slightly more feasible/believable: I'm actually thinking about scratching all of the infantry portable Bolter-weaponry to look, well, portable! The DKoK Heavy Bolter is probably the most realistic representation of the weapon that is available so I'm tempted to use the sizing as a template (or just buy the bits from eBay). I won't have that many in the army as they will be relegated to HW squads.

Anyhoo, I'm away with work this week and had the intention of bringing some stuff with me so that I could hobby in the hotel room in the evenings. However, I completely forgot to pack my Tin O'Doom... Still, the armoured fist squads I ordered should have turned up at home by now so I'll have more to occupy myself this weekend!

Sooooo... I've made a few changes to my original idea. Though I liked the thought of the robes a la Lawrence of Arabia, it wouldn't really be practical and the legs aren't really dynamic. As such, I chose a better pose:



I also decided to reduce the size of the pistol and twisted his torso. I need to finish off the green stuff tunic on the torso and do some extra work on the arms to reposition them.

While my armoured fist squads turned up this week (hooray!) I only got home from working away on Thursday (booo) so haven't done as much as I would have liked. I have however started on the basic pose for the arms on my officer:



The pistol is still MASSIVE but I think it fits ok. The plan is to sculpt rolled-up sleeves and a shemagh. Other details will include some DKoK style binoculars (like the tank commander has), a watch, backpack, pouches and grenades etc.

Nice pose. The pistol may be big, but not ludicrously so given 40k's weapon scaling, just enough to make him look badass.

Thanks Para. I've actually started on a Chimera today but have had to stop and pass my workspace over to my fiancée while we make wedding invites (getting married in October this year!).

I've decided against the road wheels: it was proving to be a massive pain in the arse just to line up the wheels and tracks. But, I have decided to detail the interior of each of the Chimeras and do some jiggery-pokery with the turret placement. So far I have replaced the silly looking lasguns with wire mesh (there will be lasguns stored on the inside of the troop compartment).

As for the infantry, I'm going to try and convert every single one of them, even if it's as simple as reloading or drilling out the poucjes to make them look empty.


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And as if by magic, inside detail of the Chimera turret:

No more hobby updates for the weekend :( I did however put up a set of shelves and coat hooks so it wasn't a totally unproductive day!

What are people's opinions on interior detailing? Less-is-more or as much as you can fit in?

You can never have enough detail, What you have there is looking brilliant, logical and nicely detailed. Making the interior of the tanks believable is the biggest battle, they are so small before you start to add oversize weapons etc.

Interested to know the issues with the road wheels?

I somehow knew you'd say that Cam... I'm approaching the turret as a manually operated machine gun, similar to an up-armoured .50 M2 on an M113: 'basic'. So I will remove the box magazine from the storm bolter receiver and put an ammo tin on the right side of the turret with a belt feed entering the right. I will stick a spare ammo tin to the rear of the turret and a small radio and medi-pack on the left. That should provide enough detail for the turret at least.

For the troop compartment, I'll run two benches along either side of the hull with lasguns above them. Underneath the benches will be all manner of crap, I mean, equipment. Will use something as an interior light and run cables along the roof. Since the engine is likely located towards the front of the tank, I'll run some cables along the underside of one of the benches to door controls at the back.

As for the road wheels... They're too fiddle-arsey! Because there are a number of imperfections in each section, they aren't identical and so don't quite line up properly. Plus I can't seem to orientate them correctly on the hull with the tracks either, making it difficult to get each side looking the same.

Something I do need to source is some ammo-boxes and jerry cans...

As always... nice job mate.... really like the machine gun... looks brutish and will definetly add a lot to the internal detail!!

When you say interior light..... are you hinting at LED... actual lighting??

I wasn't going to use an LED but now I'm not so sure...


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So I've been doing a lot of sculpting and messing around with mesh this evening:



Base of the turret cradle. It's just a disc of plasticard with a mesh base and a strip to surround it. There will be four struts connecting this to the bottom of the turret.





I also sculpted a bunch of cushions for the troop benches in the back compartment. Because the turret is being relocated to the middle of the hull, the benches will be 4 seats long on either side of the troop bay. I figure 2 guys will be stood up, ready to fire from the top hatch if needed. As such, I'll be putting grab rails either side of the hatch.

Made a bit more progress this evening:



I think that might be enough for me this evening. Since I'm staying away with work this week, I've had to bring my stuff with me: I've actually left some bits at home! I still need to do the detail on the inside of the roof and finish the benches.

Looking pretty awesome so far.

Looking good..... the "burst couch" look of those seats is sweet!!

Thanks MB, it's definitely the look I was going for so I'm happy it comes across I'm hoping that now I have the process down and the dimensions of parts for doing the interior of the tanks it'll be a relatively easy process from now on.

I will be going back to doing a bit of sculpting on my officer model so hopefully I'll have something else to show by the time I get home tomorrow.


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Done a bit of sculpting:





Sorry about the picture qaulity but the lighting in my hotel room is poop.

N.b. His arm isn't going to be sticking out that far from his body!

My photography skills leave a lot to be desired...



I've positioned his arm and attached the pistol: the limb is still separate as the forearm needa a bit of attention. I'm actually considering having the arm at rest by his side however this would obscure additional detail like the binoculars I want to add. Or should I bother with the binos? I could just opt for a couple grenades or ammunition pouches? I'm going to sculpt a backpack for him in a similar fashion to the DKoK ones with the addition of a helmet strapped to it. I was considering adding backpack straps to his torso: would this be a bit OTT given that he will have a shemagh around his neck?
As for a head, I'd like to sculpt some wavy hair with a high parting after all, this will be my commanding officer "Lorenz of Cadia".

(Bonus points if people connect the dots of the name and desert setting!)

I guess he will be blonde then.

Looking brilliant, especially for work done away from home.

Cheers Cam. The lighting in Premier Inns is always garbage so I had to hold the parts up to a desk lamp while I sculpted.

Now that I'm back home though I can get the rest of the inside detail of the Chimera done, including the grab rails along the length of the hatch, ammo boxes, fire extinguisher and lasguns mounted to the sides.

I was about to suggest you call him Lawrence before I even saw that! Very cool pose.

Thanks Para! I think I'll tackle the shemagh next: I quite like the rolled effect I achieved on the sleeves so may emulate that on it.

As for the tank: does anyone have any ideas on what to add detail-wise? Or have I covered the basics?

Done a bit of work on the interior of the Chimera today. I think I'm going to call it there (aside from the benches of course!). I made a little fire extinguisher and two mounts for the lasguns which will sit above the benches on either side.

Couple shots showing the grab rails.





Shot of the fire extinguisher:



Made from a cut up grenade launcher barrel, the guage part from the side of a vox caster and some bits of styrene.

Finally, a shot of the lasguns ready to be painted.




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Nuts: Just realised I might have to move the fire extinguisher to get thr benches in properly...

Thats looking pretty fantastic bud, maybe the extinguisher can be ceiling mounted. Are you using that bit at the back as a light, if not I would suggest an interior light, possibly a couple bulkhead lights, to indicate say maybe a red and normal light. Gives the chance for some nice lens work or maybe some OSL. And lastly just to take it to the rediculous, you could run in the cables to these items, could be conduit or wiring, but adds a realism. Looks perfect as is, but you did ask for suggestions.

Cool conversion, looking forward to seeing it finished

Thanks chaps!

@Cam, I was plannijg on using the object near the door as a light as the cradle for the turret would obscure a bulkhead light. I'm going to run some cabling to it.

Toniggt I'll try and get that done and then drill a hole for the turret (a prospect I am NOT looking forward to at all!).

So yesterday I managed to get absolutely nothing done: emergency pints in the pub with a mate put a stop to anything productive taking place!

I'm hoping that I might get the final bits and pieces of the Chimera finished and the sculpting done on my officer (which needs to be finished by next Tuesday for the January Dakka competition).

In terms of interior colours, I was thinking of a light green similar to the kind found in the American M113 AFV instead of the more common white (the infantry are going to have white armour anyway so there would probably too much).

Nice work on the gun racks, a great touch.

EDC

Cheers EDC. I figured I needed something to represent the lasgun arrays after removing the silly looking ball-socket guns!


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Turret is in place. Had to move the internal bulkhead forward a few mm to accommodate the cradle.

Thoughts on track guards?

I'm thinking about making a frame and sticking mesh in there as an anti-grenade type thing:Adds to the lightweight, desert-reconnaissance type vibe that I'm going for.

Or should I just cowgirl-up and do full-on track guards a la the old-school Forge World ones?