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you have some real nice fine details in their , it really is an amazing sculpt. the cape osulder pads and knee pads all look very nice. Good choice of lasgun also. the comparison shots really show how much more detail you have achieved! thanks for the back shot. no scrimping there considering its not going to be visible! rear of the yera award goes to Dante, thanks also for the putty tips , and mini tuts. was it hard to cover up all your nice torso sculpt ?

Can't wait to see more of these guys (and gal).
These are quite possibly the best 40k characters ever, and
GW did not cover them as well as they should have. Good luck.

This is shaping up to really be something special. It is going to be a pleasure watching this whole process. Push it hard CMD, and I think a Golden Demon is likely in your future!

now that you've shown it from different angles, and the proportion comparison with a regular GW mini, it looks truly amazing - as in, I am actually amazed *rubs eyes* still amazed. I take it he's going to have one hell of a scenic base?

And will Gaunt be in a heroic pose, like on the covers, or maybe something even better - taking down a wirewolf or a CSM?

MajorTom11 wrote:This is shaping up to really be something special. It is going to be a pleasure watching this whole process. Push it hard CMD, and I think a Golden Demon is likely in your future!

Here's hoping - want to improve on my bronze from last year (first time entering)!

Captain Roderick wrote:now that you've shown it from different angles, and the proportion comparison with a regular GW mini, it looks truly amazing - as in, I am actually amazed *rubs eyes* still amazed. I take it he's going to have one hell of a scenic base?

And will Gaunt be in a heroic pose, like on the covers, or maybe something even better - taking down a wirewolf or a CSM?

Not too big a scenic base, he is intended to be part of a squad so probably try to keep him to a regular 30mm base. For Gaunt, I was thinking something suitably heroic as he is often depicted on the novel covers.

calgar 2.5 wrote:Can't wait to see more of these guys (and gal).
These are quite possibly the best 40k characters ever, and
GW did not cover them as well as they should have. Good luck.

Thanks, I feel exactly the same way which is why I have planned doing this project for a long time!

neil101 wrote:you have some real nice fine details in their , it really is an amazing sculpt. the cape osulder pads and knee pads all look very nice. Good choice of lasgun also. the comparison shots really show how much more detail you have achieved! thanks for the back shot. no scrimping there considering its not going to be visible! rear of the yera award goes to Dante, thanks also for the putty tips , and mini tuts. was it hard to cover up all your nice torso sculpt ?

Thanks. No it wasn't hard to cover it up, I never intended it to be visible, the muscle definition was just added as a guide for when I was adding putty over it anyway really.

Cheers,

Dante

Cape tutorial pls, I never got the hang of cloth...

The model is looking great so far, but that said I do have a small gripe that may just be style and sticking to close to what is said in the books, but don't the Ghosts wear some sort of Tactical Vest?

I'm fairly sure they are mentioned through out The Saint omnibus.

Awesome work, the GW model looks very ugly next to yours! It looks so natural, keep it up, looking forward to seeing more!

MajorTom11 wrote:Cape tutorial pls, I never got the hang of cloth...

Can't exactly claim to be a master myself given this is my first time sculpting a full cape!

Rest assured though, I will share my experiences!

BrotherStynier wrote:The model is looking great so far, but that said I do have a small gripe that may just be style and sticking to close to what is said in the books, but don't the Ghosts wear some sort of Tactical Vest?

I'm fairly sure they are mentioned through out The Saint omnibus.

Patience sir!

I do plan to add proper military webbing to this model if that's what you mean. I want to differentiate the scouts from the regular troopers visually though. Meaning they will be the only ones with berret's and typically without uniform jackets.

Mohaniker wrote:Awesome work, the GW model looks very ugly next to yours! It looks so natural, keep it up, looking forward to seeing more!

Thanks, exactly what I'm aiming for! Good to see another fellow Scot on here too!

Cheers,

Dante

Yo Dantay! Nice work so far, it's annoying that the best sculpting is always done very slowly, means less pics to admire. Anyway i was wondering where you got those precast armatures? (The ones currently forming Ibram Gaunt)?

CMDante wrote:
Rest assured though, I will share my experiences!

BrotherStynier wrote:The model is looking great so far, but that said I do have a small gripe that may just be style and sticking to close to what is said in the books, but don't the Ghosts wear some sort of Tactical Vest?

I'm fairly sure they are mentioned through out The Saint omnibus.

Patience sir!

I do plan to add proper military webbing to this model if that's what you mean. I want to differentiate the scouts from the regular troopers visually though. Meaning they will be the only ones with berret's and typically without uniform jackets.

Ok, makes since for the Scouts, to have just webbing and stuff. For the Regular Ghosts perhaps put on something like a Vietnam Flak Vest? It would help to differentiate more, also I'm think they mention Caff and some of the other Ghosts wearing them, which is what I was originally getting at. But now that I know more I can be patient, T-Shirts and Webbing, sounds good.

Bit more progress - the right hand has been done and some more details have been added (strap across the chest, folds on the t-shirt etc:



I feel like it's really beginning to get there now, having moved from a rough idea for the pose and appearance, I have now reached the point where I have both a much better feel for the pose and mini in general now that the details are being added, and a good idea for how the rest of the team will look in terms of equipment and clothing.

The hand was a little fiddly to do given the outstretched fingers and small size so it took a couple of stages to get to this point. The strap across the chest needs a little bit of cleaning up to get the edges sharper and it still needs the buckle etc added. I've also tacked on a couple of pouches just to see what will fit and where without making him look overloaded.

I had originally thought about giving him some proper military style webbing (as discussed previously), but when it came to doing it, it didn't fit right with the appearance I wanted. Basically it made him too thick around the waist, changing the flow of the "lines" I wanted for him. Hence, the cross body strap, as seen on Banshee's Major Rawne, worked better as a way of adding some detail to the centre of the mini without changing the general shapes. I will probably look at this again for the regular troopers since the clothing will be slightly different, but here, the webbing just didn't work.

Hope some of that makes sense?

More soon.

Cheers,

Dante

Looking great! Keep up the good work .

Looks great mate, though you're making me comment ok dakka

Did you think about using a chest rig style webbing. I wouldn't affect the waist apart from adding attachment points for the straps.

Cheers

Sheep

Thanks guys.

Sheep - I considered this type of webbing:



The vertical straps just didn't fit right visually and as I said, it added an awkward bulk and broke the visual lines of the mini (top left to bottom right on the mini - or top right to bottom left for the viewer).

Cheers,

Dante

dante i agree the webbing pic would look much better than the vertical strap.great skills by the way.

I think it looks awesome... esp the hand, fantastic proportion and detail, esp on the hand!

Quick question. How are you going to realise the tube charges? Or, otherwise, are you going to add tube charges?

Wow - looks awesome.

Reminds me of a T2000 terminator where he had wire for hands!

The sculpt on the hands is amazing.

Love it.

Thank you all for the comments and kind words.

Scrazza wrote:Quick question. How are you going to realise the tube charges? Or, otherwise, are you going to add tube charges?

Not sure this guys will get tube charges - there is only so much room for adding equipment before the additional mass begins to change the shape of the miniature to a less pleasing look. I still have a knife and grenade or two to add so the tube charge would probably take it beyond this.

As for the look, I've always imagines they look a little like the pipe bombs from The Terminator, so I guess they will be in satchels, maybe on Varl and perhaps Rawne as these two seem to regularly carry satchels of them in the books.

tallmantim wrote:Wow - looks awesome.

Reminds me of a T2000 terminator where he had wire for hands!

The sculpt on the hands is amazing.

Love it.

Funnily enough, there is no wire armature for the fingers which probably made it a bit trickier than it needed to be. I didn't intend to sculpt the hand when I did, instead I was intending to just add some "dummy" fingers to get a feel for how it should look. Before I knew it I had added the full 5 and started to pose them! They're just a 60:40 mis of ProCreate and Milliput for the basis, rolled into thin sausages and then applied to the flat of the hand. A second layer of sculpting was added with just Milliput (after some super glue was carefully applied to the undersides with a toothpick to add ridgidity) since it can be smoothed with a small brush and some water to work it into the small join lines etc.

Cheers,

Dante

Oooh, so you are going to create Varl as well? Hmm, I always thought Feygor was the one who knew about explosives.

Nice Dante, but if you do want too do webbing I personally would choose a Ranger Assault Carrying Kit or R.A.C.k for short. Google Tactical Tailor as they are a great company to use for ref.

As per the model a good friend with many demons made a solid point too me this past weekend. FW models are great but for the level you are doing don't use the GW heads. They lack the true definition and portions that the FW do. Take it for what it is I still love what your doing but I personally would convert a FW head for use. This is not a negative hit at him anyone just some constructive comments.

Well, Dante, this comment may not seem particularly pimp, but I personally think it's really quite lovely and of the mack daddy category. That hand, in particular, really shows off your skills. I think artistic licence is the key to what you're doing - while it might be enjoyable being technically accurate, the mini has to feel right for it to work. Make your scouts look the way you want them to feel, and let the details come later. If it feels like a tanith scout, it'll look like one too.

Although, adding tube charges to the thighs might not unbalance the model....

Danke,

Cap'n R

That looks great really practical and I especially love the cap badge. any chance of you resculpting the Catachans its how they should look!

tallmantim wrote:Wow - looks awesome.

Reminds me of a T2000 terminator where he had wire for hands!

The sculpt on the hands is amazing.

Love it.

Funnily enough, there is no wire armature for the fingers which probably made it a bit trickier than it needed to be. I didn't intend to sculpt the hand when I did, instead I was intending to just add some "dummy" fingers to get a feel for how it should look.

Scrazza wrote:Oooh, so you are going to create Varl as well? Hmm, I always thought Feygor was the one who knew about explosives.

Yeah but...

Empchild wrote:Nice Dante, but if you do want too do webbing I personally would choose a Ranger Assault Carrying Kit or R.A.C.k for short. Google Tactical Tailor as they are a great company to use for ref.

As per the model a good friend with many demons made a solid point too me this past weekend. FW models are great but for the level you are doing don't use the GW heads. They lack the true definition and portions that the FW do. Take it for what it is I still love what your doing but I personally would convert a FW head for use. This is not a negative hit at him anyone just some constructive comments.

Will take a look. I think with 40k scale miniatures a bit of artistic licence is required to get an aesthetically pleasing finish. Hence, taking inspiration from real world kit, but not sticking rigidly to it in terms of appearance is the plan of action.

As for the heads, personally, I think that many of the GW heads are fine, if not better than, the Forgeworld heads. FW heads often have overly defined proportions, making them appear sunken featured and ill looking. As I mentioned earlier, the head used here has been shaved down quite a bit around the jaw and chin to get it into more fitting proportions. The constructive criticism is welcomed though.

Captain Roderick wrote:Well, Dante, this comment may not seem particularly pimp, but I personally think it's really quite lovely and of the mack daddy category. That hand, in particular, really shows off your skills. I think artistic licence is the key to what you're doing - while it might be enjoyable being technically accurate, the mini has to feel right for it to work. Make your scouts look the way you want them to feel, and let the details come later. If it feels like a tanith scout, it'll look like one too.

Although, adding tube charges to the thighs might not unbalance the model...

My thoughts exactly!

Llamahead wrote:That looks great really practical and I especially love the cap badge. any chance of you resculpting the Catachans its how they should look!

Ha, unfortunately not likely any time soon but the complement is much appreciated!

tallmantim wrote:
You use the white milliput for that then?

No, just the regular greenish/yellow stuff - cheaper and much the same to work with.

Cheers,

Dante

I realize Im probably doing that being picky thing again, which I a sorry times a million for because I do love this model even though there are things I would do differently if I had your skills, but...

I was glancing through The Saint, cause I was hoping to be helpful and stumbled upon the part where they are talking about the Ghosts Headgear. It turns out the Scouts wear Black Wool Caps, while everyone else gets Berets and Forage Caps.

Though I see no reason why the Scouts can't wear what ever kinda hat they want.

Just remember Brother that he is doing it based around the Geron Mission and not all of the participants of that were from the scouts.

the cross body messenger style bag seems, to me, to fit in better with the Tanith idea than would a harness system. looks amazing - can't wait to see it finished.

Nice work striking a balance between fine detail and yet maintaining the large-head GW scale. Even with the incredible detail (like the folds on the t-shirt) the sculpt still fits in well with the GW command model you put it next to.

Can't wait to see the whole squad: likely to be a good GD candidate.