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Hey all. GW managed to one-two punch me in the wallet with their new helbrute kit and the dataslates that accompany it. So I'm going to be putting together a bunch of new Brutes, using as many dark vengeance versions as I can kitted out with the new plastic version's weapon options. So far I've managed to cut myself a bunch and get the first dread done, and prepped the second one for his arms.

In addition to snagging a bunch of cheapo dreads off ebay, I got some magnets, LEDs and wires. So they're getting blinged out as well. Here's the first one. Its pilot is on fire today!




He'll be getting a missile launcher on one side and a magnetized socket on the other to stick a melta, lascannon or autocannon.

Once he's done I'll be moving on to the next guy. Feel free to chime in with ideas on what would look good glowing and jutting out of its face.

Nice.. Ive only ever seen bulb shaped leds.. Can you make your own shapes? Maybe make a plasma cannon with glowing coils

I'm actually using the Reaper Bones translucent miniatures to get the flame effect. Bury an LED in there and it will light the whole thing up like a fiber optic cable. And it can be carved into any shape, so yeah making plasma coils wouldn't be a problem.

 Badablack wrote:
I'm actually using the Reaper Bones translucent miniatures to get the flame effect. Bury an LED in there and it will light the whole thing up like a fiber optic cable. And it can be carved into any shape, so yeah making plasma coils wouldn't be a problem.

Dude, that's a great idea! The whole project is very cool, except the cutting yourself… that just sucks.

This is totally awesome!

what would happen if you put an LED in some of that water making stuff? ive always been meaning to try out the water effect modelling stuff, but have only now just thought of this use for it!

Could I then wash the outside of the translucent stuff? for varying colours and such?

It all comes down to the light diffusion properties of whatever you're shining a beam of light through. Something transparent won't diffuse the light and it will shine right through (glass, clear plastic, etc) while translucent materials will bounce the light around and make it glow from everywhere (frosted glass, bendy stuff like bones fire elemental figures). If the resin you're using dries clear, even glazing the surface won't really spread the light that much. Cloudy resin should work though, or doing several layers of resin and spraying each one cloudy before applying the next layer.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
On a related note I finished sticking the arms on the brute. Still need to go over them with liquid green stuff to smooth out the transition. Right arm is magnetized to switch between the various armaments. For anyone waffling on picking up this kit, you can magnetize pretty much every single weapon on the sprue, and it comes with all of them, and multiples of several. There's also enough shoulder pads and and weapon mounts to kit out several more stock helbrutes, so despite outrageous GW prices it's actually relatively reasonable.

Update: The brute's been smoothed out with liquid green stuff, and his wires set up for a battery. I've improved a bit since my last LED hellbrute, and actually installed a slot to just stick the battery in instead of messing with attaching it onto the wires manually. Easy to pop in and out.


Aside from gluing some chains and doodads to him and sprucing up the base a bit, he's ready to get primed and painted.

he looks awesome

How much is the hellbrute kit then? and what colour scheme you gona go for?

Regarding the clear resin: What im thinking is, as il be using a silicon sealant or something similar I am going to have to build it up in layers. Which should give it plenty of diffusion, as the light will diffuse at each layer. Plus I think if used thick the sealant will dry slightly cloudy anyway. But if im still having trouble I think your suggestion of using multiple layers which are each coated in a semi-transparent coat of paint.

Actually now that I think about it all you'd need to do is mix whatever color you want into the resin as you pour it. That would do the trick right there and provide enough translucency to spread the light around. You'd just need to test the right ratio of paint to resin.

The new helbrute kit is around 50 bucks and has enough bits to kit out three dreads. The dark vengeance dreads you can get for $5-15 on eBay and swap shops.

As far as this helbrute in particular, I'm thinking of doing a standard iron warriors color scheme for his metal bits (gunmetal, hazard stripes) and trying out that aggrellan earth to give the fleshy bits sort of a charred, burnt skin look. All cracked and crispy on top, raw and red in the cracks.

Finished up another guy. This one had been remodeled awhile back, before the new helbrute kit came out. Carefully repositioned that fist, greenstuffed the hell out of it...and a couple weeks later a new plastic kit comes out with its fist in the same pose. Meh!
Other arm is a forgefiend cannon, magnetized for REAL SWIVELING ACTION. The glowy part itself came from a craftstore selling plastic cat eyes. Sanded it down for some opacity and sealed it in with an LED back light.

There is actually a few ways to create flames and other special effects from hot glue guns. Easier, cheaper and much more forgiving than resin:

http://wiki.joecustoms.com/wiki/Creating_flame_effects
http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/WorkspaceSetup/HotGlue.html