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With that second configuration, that tube or pipe looks like a little withered leg with the foot replaced, gives the impression that the navigator is riding on whatever contraption is under that robe, just like a toddler on a hobby horse, you know, one of those horse heads on a stick; now I'm thinking about the goblins at the end of the film Labyrinth: Also, Brian Froud's artwork shares a certain style with what your making here in a way.

A cyber-hobby horse, that would interesting, reinforce the baby/toddler nature of the thing by giving it a toy, but maybe a living one, makes the navigator creepy but pitiful. And lace, the model is crying out for some lace fills/a ruff; you could probably print out a pattern on paper, place it over some thinly rolled Green Stuff and then use a pin to poke through the paper and that would give the lace impression on the Green Stuff which could be wrapped up to make some lace cuffs and whatnot. Just some ideas anyway. Awesome models as always!

I'm torn as well

What I like about the first one is the lack of intent to it. The head and pose suggest that the Navigator is an impotent blind thing, and the body is blindly crawling forward. It looks more ethereal and disconnected from its surroundings, like the legs under the robe lead the way and the head follows like a balloon on a string

The second one I like because it makes it seem more malevolent. The sort of knowing crawl forward. This horrific beafic monstrosity inching it's way towards you.

I suppose now that I've laid my thoughts out here, I prefer the first, but I won't mind in the slightest if you go with the second.

Delayed, but congrats on the WD appearance. Everything looks tops.

Updates are great, I found the terrain really breathtaking.

EDC

Both orientations have positives and negatives, TBH.

The original body orientation looks a bit like it's retreating - I think it could be made to look like it's crawling forward from under him, but then the fabric portions of the cloak would need to be tweaked as the loose ends are flopping the wrong way.

Absolutely lovely stuff.
A massive thank u.

Thanks everybody!
Gogsnik: I love Labirynth and Brian Froud! Hobby horse is a great connection to mate.

I'm still not sure what I'll do with the floating head navigator, but I went ahead and chopped it up so I could really try out the Bruticus pattern arrangement:




It definitely works but I may go back to the original. For now I'm setting it aside and mulling it over but more feedback is of course appreciated.

In the meantime, I've got another new Navigator to share. I like the idea of having a group of Navigators who each represent a different aspect of Navigatorness. I've got Lebbeus on his throne (mutant, god-like, king-like) and the twins (transcendent psychic buddhas), and now the Holy Abomination (ghostly etherial living icon). All 3 also combining spacesuit motifs with Blanchean grim-darkness of course.

But I haven't made anything approaching the classic archetypical Navigator, the type you'd expect to see in the broader Imperium, piloting a Naval ship or negotiating contracts in a palace on Terra. So I thought I should give it a try, and decided to focus especially on the noble, aristocratic side of the archetype.

A few months ago while finishing my Tech gang I started to ask myself how I would similarly update any of the other classic Confrontation forces. Instead of recreating the wonderful old Jes Goodwin designs I doodled some ideas for a new direction for the Brats (or just a subfaction of Brats): Spire-heads, who are so proud of the spires they were born in that they wear miniature fascimilies on their backs and heads.



The imperial spire motif would extend to their arched platform geta shoes, etc. The idea seemed fun (I dearly love early medieval church frescos and mosaics that feature patrons wearing or holding tiny buildings) so I started putting together a spirehead brat:



It just wasn't as good as my sketches and I decided to shelve it and focus on the tech gangers. I actually ended up using the spirehead hat ornament as the warpvane antennae on the Buddha twins. But then I got the Techpriest Dominus model and wanted to find a use for the great cane-arm bit, and before you know it, I had this guy:




(earlier wip shot but with the cane in place)

I've given him elongated limbs as well as a stretched out head (a blood angel head that's been cut in two below the nose and elongated) as his personal mutation.

Pre-greenstuffing head:

And here's an earlier photo that shows both how his legs are built and how he fits in with his cousins:


I'm quite happy with the sculpting on the legs and boots but more detail is to come. I may give him a closed warp-eye if I can pull off the sculpting (seems more appropriate for a diplomat). And I have no idea what I'll do for his left arm. I like the idea of him not holding a weapon but it's an awkward pose for an empty hand, so I will probably end up with a fancy dueling pistol or a big staff.



Here you can see just how tall he is. i like to think he was chosen for his role as a diplomat not only becuase he appears almost human, but because of his imposing, regal frame.

I really dig the cathedral helmet from your sketches. Brilliant stuff as always.

THis is indeed a brilliant new concept, and this first model is promising. The empty hand could end up carrying his cathdral helmet no ?

I love the sketches. They are very Blanche IMO. Is there any way to integrate Battlefleet Gothic bits for the Cathedral head? Also I am thinking of the little robot from the Space Hulk set (probably very hard to get). Cant wait to see where it goes!

Very intriguing. Reminds me of this guy from Hellboy 2.

Your Spire-Head concept is very Jodorowsky's Dune. Such hilarious gothic excess, and yet you pulled it off pretty well. Not to denigrate your current nav, he's pretty spectacular too.

i like the spire guys, but i think the spire on the back and shoulders looks better than a hat myself. seems more practical

Thanks everybody!

Here are some more random sketches. First, Neil over at ammobunker suggested a visor on the Navigator as a Rogue Trader reference (Navigators back then were depicted with long baseball hat like blast shield visors). Some rough concepts:



And some older sketches including more Necromunda faction ideas (Ant Herders) as well a variant Spyrer idea (Imperalists).





And I found some sketches from months ago that I think where the origin of the current lanky navigator.



And with all this talk of Necromunda coming back, some quick doodles exploring ways to update the designs of Van Saar and Orlocks (two of the house gangs in need of updating in my opinion, especially Orlocks).

Back to the household ...

I present an early shot of some Beaconite Lodge Warriors. These hulking brutes are selected from the most devout pilgrims of the Beaconite cult*, and given a radical course of experimental treatments by Merz-Itano technicians and Doctor Paracelsus Takwin. Muscles bulked by chem implants, limbs extended with bionics, and faces hidden behind ceremonial void helms, Lodge Warriors present a formidable impression, making them valued not only as shock troops but as ceremonial body guards.



Here one is seen escorting House Emissary Choam Hanza Tairel Merz-Itano:



*As previously outlined in this thread, The Beaconite cult is a lesser known derivation of the Imperial faith which venerates the Astronomicon as the true form of the Emperor, and therefor sees Navigators as especially holy. House Merz-Itano encourages the faith both within their household staff and throughout their trade routes, with Novator Lebbeus proclaimed as a type of Messiah and divine interpreter of the great beacon.

The Beconite Lodge Warriors are looking fantastic! There is something almost poetic about cutting up the AoS Starter set to create beautiful Inq28 models! Both you and Migsula have really made some inspiring pieces with the kit.

What Bottle said! Yet more absolutely inspirational work. Really bringing the recesses of the 40k 'verse to life.

I love the combination of parts! Sigmarine legs, Bloodbound torsos, the heads are amazing as well. Fantastic work as always!

Great concept as usual although the legs on the leftmost and rightmost warriors seem a bit too wide for the torsos which doesn't seem to be the case with the middle three. Maybe it's the angle. The whole idea and background though is great, seems so much more 40k-y than the mainstream armies, it's brilliant, love it!

I love those Baconites! They really do look the business, breakfast business!

The Lodge warriors looks ace, really formidable.

I like the mock up spiritual hat you did, it's a shame you shelved it.

EDC

Thanks so much guys! I hadn't seen the AoS figures in person so I wasn't sure the torsos would actually work on the legs. It took a lot of fiddling to make them work at all, even if some are a bit off. I'm hoping when I add arms and more heads and more bits things will come together more.

I think I can safely assume everyone who reads this forum is thinking about Star Wars right now! I have to teach tonight so unfortunately can't see the Force Awakens tonight, but I do have tickets for tomorrow. So in honor of Star Wars, I'd like to share a new space-craft I've been building for House Merz-Itano.

This is what I'm calling The Landing Pavillion. It still has a lot more gap-filling and detailing to go (don't worry, there will be lots of rivets, hoses, and more skulls and wings), and the Krazy Glue tubes you see there will eventually be connected by flying buttress type supports, so the big engine array at the bottom doesn't rest directly on the ground.







You can see this thing is cobbled together from all manner of junk, including some old Apple products (not sure if Migsula would approve or not!), much like an old fashioned movie space ship model. The gw bits are mostly from the Onager Dunwalker and the Taurox. As is usual for me, inspirations include old movie models, Chris Foss, Kurt Schwitters, Lebbeus Woods, and Antonio Sant'elia.

The apple-mouse based protuberance is meant to represent a void shield emitter (and to mirror the shapes of the helmets on my void suits of course), because in 40k games I plan to use this as a Void Shield Generator. The idea is this is a specialized landing-craft that deploys wherever important Navigators go, cloaking them in a protective field.

The porthole type windows will be covered with my gold chrome foil, and right now I'm thinking the body will be either a dark teal-grey or maybe be painted all gold, because then I could call it the Golden Pavillion.

This is a magnificent ship, brilliant project. How do the crew get in, do you plan on installing a ramp ?

 weirdingway wrote:

When I first saw this, I was thinking, "What is that, some kind of projector? Medical equipment?" Granted, this is only after my first cup of morning coffee, so my eyes weren't quite focusing correctly.

That is going to be a seriously impressive piece of machinery. It'll be a great piece to play "spot the bitz" with.

Thanks guys!

I actually put a rough iris shutter type hatch at the bottom of the ship, up inside the ring of "engines". Not the safest point of egress after a landing but this is an Imperial vehicle after all. Maybe I'll add a higher up door that would be for use with a gantry on in an airlock on a big ship.

Spot the bitz indeed; with all the pharmaceutical junk I used you can also spot my monthly drug prescriptions.

I love this ship. Reminds me of many of the crazy vehicles from maschinen krieger. Keep up the fantastic work!

This thread is pure gold. Glad to see it getting the recognition it deserves. Makes me think there is hope for GW after all. I thought they had turned against all forms of conversion recently. I've gotten a ton of ideas in just two pages... Your creativity is amazing!

Honestly, I am glad I picked up green stuff for christmas... Your work is astonishing. All the big headed Navigators give me a "I AM MODAK" feel

It looks like the thing the optician's use to look at eyes. Can't wait to see it with paint.

 Zogg wrote:

 weirdingway wrote:

When I first saw this, I was thinking, "What is that, some kind of projector? Medical equipment?" Granted, this is only after my first cup of morning coffee, so my eyes weren't quite focusing correctly.

Same!

I can't want to see what you do to this next. Keep up the good work!

Cannot wait to see what you make of this!

How do you explain to guests what it is? Haha