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Okay I know this is morbid but stick with me please. I do not mean to offend anybody with this topic, so if the idea of suicide and/or mass death disturbs you on the topic of small plastic men, I recommend you ignore this thread.

If you're cool with me being really grimdark, then I'll get right to the point. My next modelling venture will be in two halves; doing some cool stuff with Starship Troopers on one half, but the half I'm going to be referring to here is, yes, morbid. I'm going to model an army's worth of Guardsmen as fatally wounded and casualty models.

So to the point, one model I just thought of doing is a Commissar who has just shot the last Guardsman around (60 mm base would be littered with Guard bodies and the standing Guardsman would just have taken a shot through the forehead and be falling) and is simultaneously preparing to shoot himself.

I know, I know, no *real* commissar should be committing the cowardly act of suicide, but ignore that, this is just personal whim. Now, the real question;

Have any of you seen any arms in the position of holding a pistol to the model's own head in any position? I would really rather not have to try to make a whole arm on my own out of Greenstuff.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I can make the arm look commissar-y (and maybe even use it for other Guardsmen) but I would just like something to use as a base.

Nothing springs to mind directly for a shooting yourself arm,

but you might be able to kitbash one out of a 'resting a rifle/sword/etc on my shoulder' arm

eg this forgeworld minis
[MOD EDIT - No links to recasters/pirates/etc. please - thanks! - Alpharius]

Sorry this is ompletely off topic but is forgeworld discount a legit site?

Does it need to be directly against his head? At the size of most pistols I think it's more of a limitation of dimensions and the arms being too short to have something as big as the pistols at that kind of angle. There are a few arms that you could probably pose it with the pistol resting at an angle against the head, like giving a moment of contemplation, that may work.

 cuss wrote:
Sorry this is ompletely off topic but is forgeworld discount a legit site?

Of course it's not. It's a recaster.

 Savageconvoy wrote:
Does it need to be directly against his head? At the size of most pistols I think it's more of a limitation of dimensions and the arms being too short to have something as big as the pistols at that kind of angle. There are a few arms that you could probably pose it with the pistol resting at an angle against the head, like giving a moment of contemplation, that may work.

I suppose it doesn't have to be direct, but if there's a "True scale" arm out there with a standard looking pistol I could easily find a second true scale arm to make it look proportional.

But on the topic of the "non-direct" arm, do you have any you could recommend I look at? I can style the commissar as pretty much any standard Guard regiment except Catachans. Or just do something new for dress style. Eh.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
Nothing springs to mind directly for a shooting yourself arm,

but you might be able to kitbash one out of a 'resting a rifle/sword/etc on my shoulder' arm

eg this forgeworld minis
[MOD EDIT - No links to recasters/pirates/etc. please - thanks! - Alpharius]

Do you have a link to a picture or other site that has that arm? Or could you tell me where to find what you're talking about?

Ooops sorry,

I actually grabbed the first forge world link google images gave me, (I didn't spot it was a recaster)

Here are a couple of FW figures with arms in the position I was talking about

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Imperial_Guard/Death-Korps-of-Krieg/DEATH_KORPS_OF_KRIEG_INFANTRY_AND_ACCESSORIES/DEATH_KORPS_OF_KRIEG_COMMISSAR_SET.html

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Imperial_Guard/Death-Korps-of-Krieg/DEATH_KORPS_OF_KRIEG_INFANTRY_AND_ACCESSORIES/DEATH-KORPS-OF-KRIEG-INFANTRY-SQUAD-AT-EASE.html

You could try this Empire militia archer's left arm, might be suitable if you added a hand with a laspistol and maybe some GS detail to the cuff

Sounds like a good time to try your hand at sculpting. I do a lot of similar conversions to get legs bend into kneeling positions or arms bent various directions (not at their own heads but the concept is the same). What I do is cut the limb with a razor saw, smack a glob of greenstuff in there and bend it to the desired position. You get your basic shape right away then sculpt it either immediately or as it dries. Remember paint covers all, it doesn't have to be perfect. Worst case you just snap it off and try again!

Edit: Obviously you have to remove a segment of the arm to get the length right.

I had this idea of having the commissar shooting firing straight into the air so the bolt falls back down on him.

I would think under the chin would be easier than the side of the head.
Looks less silly imo too. Just I case you hadn't thought of it...

 Brother Payne wrote:
I would think under the chin would be easier than the side of the head.
Looks less silly imo too. Just I case you hadn't thought of it...

Good idea, definitely this.

Imnewherewheresthebathroom wrote:

 Brother Payne wrote:
I would think under the chin would be easier than the side of the head.
Looks less silly imo too. Just I case you hadn't thought of it...

Good idea, definitely this.

Yeah I figured with the above suggestions it's going to look more like he's saluting with his pistol than shooting himself in the temple

 Brother Payne wrote:

Imnewherewheresthebathroom wrote:

 Brother Payne wrote:
I would think under the chin would be easier than the side of the head.
Looks less silly imo too. Just I case you hadn't thought of it...

Good idea, definitely this.

Yeah I figured with the above suggestions it's going to look more like he's saluting with his pistol than shooting himself in the temple

True, I'll definitely look into under the chin as well. I did some good work previously making "bullet gore" splatters out of greenstone, so that could make the shooting vs saluting a bit easier to discern. I'll take it all into consideration, thanks guys!

Any time