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Wow really like these.

When I first started collecting (92-93) the books Space Marine and Death Wing were all the rage. Tyranids didnt really have the focus they do now and it was really all about Genestealers and Genestealer cults. Thus this thread brings back memories!

I actually had the old Magus and Patriaarch with familiars but buggered if I know where that ended up...

Look forward to more of these.

Malice

Yeah I had the original SH DW and GS, with all minis, many still on sprue, a bunch of magi and hybrids, plus a running patriarch and a few familiars...

Let them in my parents place when I moved out, and several moves have happened since on both ends... If only I could find the box I kept all that stuff in, it would be saving me a few 100 on ebay these days lol. SH was the first thing that made me curious about 40k back in 89 when I was a pre-teen running around a comic shop, I remember it well.

Meanwhile, good progress is being made on the 2nd gen sculpt, very happy with the changes made thanks to some good constructive advice from you guys. Also started putting together the guard I will be over sculpting for the all important 3rd generation. That one involves the most complex sculpting so he has been left til last....

Update late tonight or early-ish tomorrow!

MajorTom11: Brillianty work and concept, love your work. I feel the vestigial arms will really add to that creepy, inbred look stealers always had IMO. As for the generations: you had it correct if my memory serves me right: only 4th gen bred purestrains, creating a cyclic process that could continue till the cult was strong enough to overthrow governement and/or attracted the attention of the hive mind.

Ok, so a bit done but not as much as I would have liked this weekend.

The 2nd Generation hybrid as you can see got hacked up, I basically extracted the chest sculpting and ditched the rest and rebuilt from scratch, this time with a must more muscular and less bulbous looking back, and with Cadian legs to bulk him out, although the only visible part of anything that is not green is the guardsman shin-guards.

Quite happy with changes made, much more threatening design. I also added some larger bare feet, with a vestigial pinky toe growing in as the foot continues its morph from stealer to human. The robes were added, as well as the classic hybrid ribbed knee-pads. I'd say the torso and legs are more or less done at this point, still a bit of work to do on the belt and robes but the silhouette is about right. Waiting on a bits order before I can get to the head, and am gs'ing and modding some stealer arms for the rending set, and debating whether to use ghoul arms which are skinny as hell but very vestigial looking, or normal human sized arms for the lower set.

While waiting for various bits of GS to set on the 2nd gen, I decided to get going on the 3rd generation. This guy as you can see has very stylized heavier armor, and is very much inspired by the design of the old metal hybrid models. Lots of ribbing and overlapping plates, knee-pads and a domed collar. The arms will be bare for the most part, again as per the classic hybrid look. I will be adding a backpack to him to give the illusion of the hunchbacked look, even if he is mostly upright and human in spinal posture.

Pics!













My design philosophy I've been trying very hard to stick to is that with each generation, the stealer characteristics get halved in their prominence. This may sound obvious, but what it really means is that the effect is compound. Take a second generation for example, genetically it is 3 quarters human, as the Genestealer parent would itself be half human. I take this to mean that stealer traits are quickly diminished, thus beyond the 1st generation, the hybrids are much more human than stealer. Make sense?

Hope you guys like, comments, advice and criticism are as always very welcome!

Major, These are absolutely fantastic. I love your GS work. Its just perfect.

I really like how you re-did the 2nd gen. I'm looking forward to seeing how you flesh him out.

Hmm, the non organic components don't seem straight enough, have you considered using Brown Stuff for those parts instead?

I like it a lot. The evolution from first to fourth generation is very obvious in your models, and they're all tied together visually. Nice work!

MajorTom11 wrote:It's weird, you are the 2nd person to mention that, but Im 200% sure its the other way, both from the source books in front of me and the specific fluff. 4th gen specifically are mentioned as the Magus generation, the human one, the humans then restart the process and birth purestrains again. The order goes as per this picture -



Plus wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genestealer

and lexicanum 40k http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Genestealer_Hybrid

They are very specific, and always have been, the stealer traits diminish til they are gone, then the cycle starts again. Maybe some people think it is backwards because they are thinking of the infectee cultist as a first generation? If you have a direct reference otherwise I would be curious to see it, not meaning to be combative or argumentative, genuinely curious if they ever presented it other than the way I am familiar with

Hello fellow cultist! You are correct regarding the order for hybridization. There is no source that I'm aware of that says otherwise. The point of the genestealer infestion is that it's an infiltration device. As the cult grows, the hybrids and cult in general becomes more able to fit into society. Then the final generation is an explosion of purestrains. That usually triggers the cult to action against the planetary government, etc.

So one original purestrain (which becomes the Patriarch) essentially builds an army of purestrains (and accompanying hybrids and brood brothers) right under the noses of the planetary authorities. And that's why -- rending claws aside -- purestrain Genestealers are dangerous.

Interesting GCult fact of the day -- this same process involving Eldar can require up to 20 generations before purestrains are birthed.

Great work...keep it up!

Wow, You're doing a great job on this

Excuse me, but I'm going to have to ask you to stop this. This forum is not made to handle such high volumes of awesome.

Seriously though, can't wait to see these guys finished.

Malika2 wrote:Hmm, the non organic components don't seem straight enough, have you considered using Brown Stuff for those parts instead?

I had read it is better for sharp edges, I would give it a go sure! That 3rd gen is still in an extremely rough state though, He will be attacked with a scalpel and sandpaper and generally tightened up before long, hopefully to noticeable effect. What about mixing more blue into the GS to have a stiffer putty, what's your take on that? Or prosculpt, I do have some of that lying around, do you know if that is any better?

gorgon wrote: Hello fellow cultist! You are correct regarding the order for hybridization. There is no source that I'm aware of that says otherwise. The point of the genestealer infestion is that it's an infiltration device. As the cult grows, the hybrids and cult in general becomes more able to fit into society. Then the final generation is an explosion of purestrains. That usually triggers the cult to action against the planetary government, etc.

So one original purestrain (which becomes the Patriarch) essentially builds an army of purestrains (and accompanying hybrids and brood brothers) right under the noses of the planetary authorities. And that's why -- rending claws aside -- purestrain Genestealers are dangerous.

Interesting GCult fact of the day -- this same process involving Eldar can require up to 20 generations before purestrains are birthed.

Great work...keep it up!

Lol thanks for the fluff backup! I had actually seen your stuff before I began this project, one of the many that kicked me in the bum to actually do it, thanks for looking

Darth Bob wrote:Excuse me, but I'm going to have to ask you to stop this. This forum is not made to handle such high volumes of awesome.

Seriously though, can't wait to see these guys finished.

LOL I actually took it seriously for a second, just the first line, I thought I had stepped on someones toes or mouthed off lol. (I do that sometimes when confronted with blatant retardism in other parts of this forum )

Will get back to it tonight, probably an update later on or tomorrow... I can't wait to finish these prototypes and get painting again though, those terminators are staring at me!

I will probably put it to a vote what to paint first, hybrids or termies before I start though, I'm a bit torn which way to go lol

Thanks all!

Just awesome.

I'll have to dig my books out of the closet. Which one(s) are you looking at, just out of curiosity? I very well may be wrong and have understood it backwards this whole time, but I will check.

I believe the life-cycle is specifically adressed in the Genestealer rulebook iirc, and various other WD articles etc. Those links I put up have specific reference I believe too. I am curious as well if they changed it at some point!

*Just checked -
Genestealer rulebook
Tyranid 1st edition codex
WD 114 and 115

Whooa, dude that is amazing!
Your green is pretty decent for a newbie and your concept ideas and sketches blew me away. I actually feel like stealing one or two of those ideas and sculpt them up right away

I agree with Malika2 that (at the current stage) the nonorganic components aren't quite rigid enough. But the overall feel is excellent, and the organic parts are amazing!

Trying a different mix is a good idea, or perhaps another material for the non-organic parts. If you ever need to do a large plate, plasticard will be a lot easier than making a completely smooth panel of GS!

Ya it's difficult to get super sharp lines for me at the moment, not outside edges, but interior details. The organic stuff makes sense and is very natural in terms of methodology. You have a lot of latitude moving stuff around and it's very forgiving. Hard surface is more about technique than anything else, and i'm just muddling around for the most part at the moment.

I plan to frame the ribbing parts by putting a sharper raised border around those sections, which will at least put a hard straight edge on some parts. But ya some spots are a bit warped. I hope layering up will go a ways to solving it, and a little scalpel work. I trimmed some small details and edge work last night, along with a new loingcloth etc, its working out fairly well.

That's why I ask for advice all the time though! Pyri, Mal, if you could point me in the right direction for hard surface sculpting I would be all over it!

Thanks all!

Sure but as I dont have the time right now to read all this over again and look for specific problems please condense it for me, that is show me exactly what you have problems with and what you would like to achieve and I´ll help you out as much as I can.

Hmm, I know I wasn't asked for advice, but in my own experience doing hard sharp lines (trim on jackets and what not) was always been attempted once the GS had "gone off" and hardened a fair bit. I would blutack the figure being worked on onto the top of an old paint pot as per painting - and simply drag the pointy tool/bladealong the contour of what every I was detailing. There are spots where ridging occurs due to the gathering and displacement of the softer, these are left to set in place and sanded down once set.

And that's how I normally skin that proverbial rabbit.

Pyriel- wrote:Sure but as I dont have the time right now to read all this over again and look for specific problems please condense it for me, that is show me exactly what you have problems with and what you would like to achieve and I´ll help you out as much as I can.

Hey Pyri, The man area I am having trouble in is the ribbing on the 3rd generation hybrids sides. I at trying to get a very even texture, but as I go areas seem to get slightly pushed up and out, resulting in some uneven areas depth wise, and some uneven between the ribs. I thought I would be able to go back in and spread them a bit once it was dry but that's not doing too much. It is a similar effect to the bottom vents of your pre-heresy jump packs, but less deep. Thanks man!

Archibald Jack wrote:Hmm, I know I wasn't asked for advice, but in my own experience doing hard sharp lines (trim on jackets and what not) was always been attempted once the GS had "gone off" and hardened a fair bit. I would blutack the figure being worked on onto the top of an old paint pot as per painting - and simply drag the pointy tool/bladealong the contour of what every I was detailing. There are spots where ridging occurs due to the gathering and displacement of the softer, these are left to set in place and sanded down once set.

And that's how I normally skin that proverbial rabbit.

Hey Jack, first thanks for the advice, I am open to anyone's words no worries!

The technique you describe is pretty much what I used, I let the GS: set for about 15-20 mins before putting the ribs in. I did this by dragging the tip of the tool at first, but I found that was dragging the GS and creating furrows sometimes so I switched to sequentially denting it in first with the long edge, and then dragging it out after that which resulted in less bulging. I sanded it down a wee bit since and that has helped out. I think when I try again I will put the base down first without ribbing it, then once it is dry put a thinner gs layer on top and try working with less depth.

Thanks guys! I received some much needed bits to finish these 2 up today, so possibly a fairly progressive update later tonight!

Thanks guys

Ah I think I get it, you are doing "ribs" on the sides, or is it some sort of armour-fabric since the same texture is on the knee pads?
I take it its not real bone ribs since those arent as thin.

I would also need to know if you intend a rounded surface on the "ribs" or sharper like "vent grill bars".

If real ribs (that means rounded things)
I would let the GS pancake cure some using lots of blue in it and then press the texture out with the back of a pocket knife where theblade is dull and rounded, never minding the ends, those would be cut away after curing and the next section/segment of ribs done the same way.
The end would see small amounts of green on top of the rib joints shaped by a knife tip.

If sharp grille vent bars are what you are looking for then sadly the best way to do it is wait till the gs cures all the way and then carefully cutting out the spacing between with the finest scalpel you can get your hands on.

If it didnt help then explain better to me what you want to achieve and the exact problem.

No that's it man, thanks!

The ribbing is a throwback to the orginal hybrid models which featured similar textures on the armor, it is meant to look the same as the kneepads yes.

So it's definitely not option 2, its the rounded shallow version, corrugated looking more than vent grill you know?

Thanks again for your time man, I appreciate it! Now I am going to get cracking on both of them -


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Alrighty, so a bit of progress done thanks to a timely arrival of bits.

2nd and 3rd each have their torso's more or less complete, small touch ups and minor details to add, and of course, some sanding.

Heads have been added, and I am particularly pleased with the 3rd generation's sculpt, a seriously modded Ig 'scar head'.

For the arms, the 2nd gen got his rending claws, shortened in length incrementally from the 1st gen and purestrain, now featuring even nubbier claws lol. For the secondary set, I went with a ghoul arm to hold the shotgun, and a gs 'vestigial' on the other side. Before anyone says it, I say he racks the shotgun with his nubby rending claw! lol

This pretty much leaves the 3rd gens arms and the great hybrid project moves into Inquisitor Earl's hands to duplicate and improve on the concepts.

Almost there sculpt wise! I will be relieved to get to some simpler work basing the terminators and enhancing the hybrid bases, and then, finally, it's long overdue to start painting!

Thanks guys, here are the pics!

The fresh update is right above this! Stupid Auto-append... lol

WOW..; You've really taken it ot the next level here, I really like the 3rd gen, he has the whole fantical and evil face going on! Nice work!

Thanks Khaine, I'm really happy to hear that it comes through, that head ended up with a lot of character. Puttying in the scar on the face ended leaving the upturned part of the mouth where the scar was pulling, I decided to leave it on because I thought it looked appropriately cocky and evil lol.

Speaking of heads, I realized I forgot to mod the nose and tweak the face of the 2nd gen to differentiate a bit more from the 1st head-wise, will be fixing that tonight

Excellent job, Just amazing...I really like it. Cant wait to see them painted and ready to go.

Lol neither can I, I'm itching for a paint brush again, but I still have to pin the termies on their bases, add some extra basing touches to all of them and finish these sculpts before that's going to happen.

Thank god I don't have to sculpt the rest of them alone lol, although I did order an empire wizard as a magus base, I am feeling guilty about chopping up the classic... although I am going to have to mold that buddha stealer staff

Oh yeah these are looking better and better... Keep it up!

The middle guy is really really cool now.