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Haha! Procrastination is a disease that i am struggling to self medicate.
Glad you getting use of some of the bits.

Wave one of my supply drop came this morning! So it's time to get back into the action, i'll be working on basing tomorrow, specifically for the Hive Tyrant.

Yay! I can't wait to see more, I love the conversions you've done so far.

The Space Hulk model review was good too, everyone bangs on about the termies but I was more interested in the stealers, shame they cheaped out with duplicates. I might try pick up a copy without models when I buy it, they're atleast half the price.

Thank you very much! I'm glad you like my little blog.

It's shame i'm such a slowpoke but i have lots of bits to play with now. The Nid's Year Resolution continues!

It's a real shame about the duplicates in Space Hulk but some of the models are very, very nice which tips the scales back slightly. It might be worth buying the set and trying to sell the duplicates on.

I received another Supply Drop today!



And i have begun work on the Hive Tyrant's Base. Stay tuned!



I've also figured out something i was doing wrong when taking pictures. If i was too close to the image then when i clicked to focus the icon would go red instead of yellow. Turns out it doesn't seem to matter. As long as i've got the conditions right then the picture will come out good and i wont end up with tiny miniatures in the middle of big white images. I even managed to get these pictures with one light!

Dude you're modeling is blowing my mind. Fantastic positioning. Exalted.

I am not worthy of your praise, zariart! Your airbrushing skills are godlike.

Thanks for the post and the exalt, it keeps me going!

I'm not really back, your imagining it. That is if there is anyone still watching.

So here is the thing, I did some thinking about the resolution and deadlines and such and I realised that rather than push me forward it was stunting my progress. I work much better and quicker when I work on the projects that take my inspiration at that moment. With that in mind I started to work on whatever project I wanted to at that moment and it was good. I mean, it's messy, but it's good. So I've notched up progress here, there and everywhere else.

But there and everywhere else can have there own blogs, let's talk about here! Well I've made some progress on mapping out biology on paper but I'm guessing that's of little interest, right? But I've also made a start on my Warriors and maybe a little work on the Tyrant which I'm hoping will draw you in whether you're finding this for the first time or you've been around since I started.

I've decided to drip feed my progress over a few days to give me time to get some other stuff done so without further ado, here is installment one.



I don't think I'll say any more for now I'd much rather wait and see if there are any questions I can answer. If there is even any interest!

Great posing and sculpting mate, and motivation can be an elusive mistress.
Do what you want to do, and you'll find you enjoy it more and hence do it more often. Its a feeder cycle

Thanks, chief!

Yeh I had managed to turn my hobby into a chore, I think this is the way forward now though.

Hmm, tempted to post another small update...

Playing the "If there is even any interest!" card huh? *So* beneath you with such a dynamic looking start. Looks ambitious - how far along do you think you are with the GS? (and is that why we don't have closer pics of it?)

Haha, oops! I may have laid that on a bit thick, I was being careful not to seem boastful but I rather went too far over the other side of the line. I will aim to be less self deprecating but I'm not very good at things like that.

Seriously, thanks for commenting, mate. As for the GS work, would it sound strange if I said I hadn't started? Allow me to explain; the GS you see in those slightly blurry pictures is the result of casting my master sculpts for the squad. So where I'm at is pretty much just pinned and glued components with lots of rough joins. That's quite sad to say becuase it took a lot more work than that but it'll be worth it in the end I hope.

A product of my current budget meant using Oyumaru casts and GS as my casting material and the product of that was very rough casts and messy cleanup. That's fine though because I expected it and made allowances. I'll need to do some finishing work with GS, liquid and solid, to get some of the surfaces up to scratch. That won't take long but I'll probably do it with the rest of the GS work nearer the end.

I did start by posting the least complete Warrior though so here is a slightly more complete one.




Thanks for watching folks!

And where are the rest?

The posing is looking very characterful and unique - if all of them are going to be like this, it is going to be an awesome looking unit in the end.

Thank you, since this force has so few models I figured I could give them each more attention than normal. These Warriors will be fielded in two groups of three so I went to town on the dynamic poses, also, because they will mainly be for display I decided that I could put quite extensive terrain on the base without worrying about it looking strange in a game.

I think it's about time to post another one! This was an idea I had batted around for a while and I think it actually works quite well, I think that 'floating terrain' is an idea I'll expand upon in future projects. I hope you enjoy!
Also, is this first image easier to grow than the others? It's really hard to tell on my phone but I think it might be Dakka's auto-adjust that is fuzzing up the details so badly. Or is my phone fuzzing the pictures up and all of the images actually look fine? They look okay before I upload them...




I'm worries this drip feed posting seems more like I'm doing it for posts than for my actual reasons. Thoughts? The idea was to buy me a little time to catch up with Dakka and do some more work on some project or other rather than dropping a big post and then moving on. I'm halfway through now so it'll all be up soon anyway but I might do this different in future...

Lastly, I gave the OP a makeover. It needed freshening up, I think it's clearer now and gives an idea of my new approach.

wow. Very original idea to the whole holding a pipe in space thing, very surgestive of a scene. Awesome

Thanks, bigfish! It's good to know that it's coming across as intended.

Here is Warrior 4. I'm sticking with Dakka's auto-adjust pictures until I hear different.




Next up will be the progress I made to the Hive Tyrant.

I have been watching your thread for a while and thought I should probably say something coz I know what It's like putting up pictures of your latest model and then getting plenty of views but little or no replies to let you know if others actually like what you're doing. So...

I like the posing of your models. you get a nice fluid motion look to them, much better than the static poses that all these figures are molded with. Clambering and climbing over the pipes is a cool idea and looks good (and will look even better once painted).

Out of interest, do you have a particular trick for bending the tails, or is it just careful brute force?

Thanks for taking the time to post, Dr H! It's always nice to hear from a lurker. Thank you for the compliment too, the static poses that these kits allow always felt wrong to me so I wanted to really go in a different direction. It's a lot of work to change them in some cases but i think the end result is more in keeping with Tyranid fluff which is my primary concern over gaming.

Honestly, when I started I was being mainly propelled by comments but I think my new way of working will keep me going no matter what. If I'm getting the ocassional comment, positive or otherwise at least I know I'm not talking to myself! Plus, I'm aware that the lack of paint on my blogs is a turn off for most people but I have some interesting plans for paint so thongs will hopefully pick up when I get my brush moving.

As for your question about the tails, it's a good one. I've tried out a few techniques at this point and so far applying pressure with my fingers seems to be best but it's still very limiting. I tried heating with a lighter but it's a really bad idea. If their is any detail on the piece it 'catches' and melts away before the piece is hot enough to bend.

Edit: Silly phone making me post before I was finished...

So anyway, I tried using a lighter to heat the tail and on a few other pieces and it's bad idea. If there are any details on the piece they 'catch' in the heat and melt away before the piece is hot enough to bend. Other issues include warping and, although it doesn't worry me, burning yourself. I've also found that at a certain heat the piece all of a sudden starts to droop and the structure becomes compromised to the point that it can shrink in places. All in all it's far too risky.

Back to the application of pressure. This has risks too, it requires considerable force to make the alterations you want and sharp edges can make it an uncomfortable process which might be an issue for less callused digits than my own. Also, the plastic will bounce back to an extent so you have to go further than you want to make allowances, that can stress the material to the point of breakage. Warrior 4's tail snapped because of this but Tamiya Extra Thin sorted that out quite quickly.

An other option I've heard of is the boiling water method. I'll be trying this next and I'll report back. The other options require a lot more work and weren't necessary on this project.


Tomorrow I'll be posting the Hive Tyrant, after that there might be a little break as I work on other projects but I'll be posting them elsewhere if anyone is interested. I might consider taking a picture of some notes I made and posting them tonight... Oh and I'll save your blog for my next round of blog visits Dr H, looking forward to it.

Yeah, I'm more of a modeller and painter than gamer at the mo, so it's nice to see interesting poses and re-builds / scratch-builds and not the same model painted a billion different ways.
And yeah, they do look more tyranid than stock tyranid models.

Everybody has different ways of motivating themselves, it just a matter of finding what works best for you.

I tried to make some whip aerials at one point from sprue and fire, but it appears that polystyrene does not react well to fire, so I've not been tempted to "melt" my actual models. Thanks for the good advice.

Indeed, I've tried bending an Eldar guardian's lower leg with hot water (not boiling as the bathroom's hot tap was nearer than the kettle) and I did manage to do what I wanted but I'm not sure if the water made any difference. Boiling water and longer soaking would probably work better, will be interesting to see what you find.

Oh and I'll save your blog for my next round of blog visits Dr H, looking forward to it.

Thanks, I hope you enjoy it, it's not your usual army and you may need to find a comfy seat if you intend on reading all the fluff. But feel free to just look at the pictures.

 Dr H wrote:
Yeah, I'm more of a modeller and painter than gamer at the mo, so it's nice to see interesting poses and re-builds / scratch-builds and not the same model painted a billion different ways.
And yeah, they do look more tyranid than stock tyranid models.

Thanks man, and that's cool that we are in the same boat, or similar boats at least. A good friend of mine, Dark_Gear, once pointed out to me that I'm in a very lonely part of the hobby and it's very true. We discussed that there were 3 cores to the hobby and that gaming is the most social, possibly the only truly social aspect. Most people lean heavily on two of the core aspects, often miniatures and gaming, sometimes fluff and gaming and rarely fluff and miniatures. The latter is my mistress and it doesn't really require anyone else, nor does it put me in positions where I require interaction to continue. But that's where Dakka and the wider internet becomes a lifeline to myself and others in this vessel. Without it I think a lot of us would drift off without any sustenance to survive on.
/ramble Haha, sorry I find the subject quite interesting, didn't mean to go on for that long about it.

 Dr H wrote:
I tried to make some whip aerials at one point from sprue and fire

That sounds like an epic event involving the deaths of thousands of orcs and a forge inside Mount Doom...

 Dr H wrote:
Thanks, I hope you enjoy it, it's not your usual army and you may need to find a comfy seat if you intend on reading all the fluff. But feel free to just look at the pictures.

I took down Gits' Mantis Warriors blog start to finish recently, this'll be like a vacation.

Okay I took a snap of my development work for my Mycetic Spores. Apologies about the shoddy drawings, I have very little natural talent with drawing but I used to be much better when I practised a lot. Also they are just sketches for reference, so I wasn't aiming high! I think this photo is better and I'm sorry to say it's because I cleaned the lense. I have a lot more to add but it's a start at getting it on paper.


As always questions, comments and criticisms are all welcome.

 Casey's Law wrote:

Thanks man, and that's cool that we are in the same boat, or similar boats at least. A good friend of mine, Dark_Gear, once pointed out to me that I'm in a very lonely part of the hobby and it's very true. We discussed that there were 3 cores to the hobby and that gaming is the most social, possibly the only truly social aspect. Most people lean heavily on two of the core aspects, often miniatures and gaming, sometimes fluff and gaming and rarely fluff and miniatures. The latter is my mistress and it doesn't really require anyone else, nor does it put me in positions where I require interaction to continue. But that's where Dakka and the wider internet becomes a lifeline to myself and others in this vessel. Without it I think a lot of us would drift off without any sustenance to survive on.
/ramble Haha, sorry I find the subject quite interesting, didn't mean to go on for that long about it.

No worries. That's why I came to Dakka, I don't know anyone that has any interest in modelling of any kind. So it's nice to share ideas etc... with people who don't look at me with a blank expression.

I took down Gits' Mantis Warriors blog start to finish recently, this'll be like a vacation.

Oh yeah, my baby of a blog is nothing like one of the Dakka monster threads (yet, I like to think) like Git's etc... I've been through some of those myself, but only looking at the pretty pictures until I caught up.

That's an interesting concept, and you're gonna model that. Will be cool if you can make it look as organic as it should be.
I just had a quick google for Mycetic Spores as I know very little about them. I shall follow your progress with interest. Good luck.

Yeh, I have a couple of friends who had models as kids like loads of people did, in that transition period from toys to beer , but they just aren't into it now. One of them reads stuff from the Black Library and another wavers on how interested he is but that's it. I convinced a couple of them to play a game for a laugh some time but I need to learn the rules first, I think if I had a table and new the rules they might get into it since we play a lot of board games anyway. I just received a load of Brushfire warbands which I'm hoping to draw them in with. Painting them might put this blog on hold occasionally but I'll get more done when I'm working on this because I want to.

All blogs have merit and the biggest aren't always the best. I skimmed the first few posts of yours and I'm really interested to see where it went after that.

I'm hoping I can pull it off, i'll be making two of them and they are going to be really quite large compared to most that I've seen. They'll be my first scratch builds but I've practiced a few of the things I need to do on my Tyrant already...

...who will arrive at some point tomorrow, possibly in the morning.

I had a go at posting those earlier but I was having technical issues. Anyway, second time lucky. #makingmyownluck
Ew, hashtag.

...Where was I?
Ah yes! The Hive Tyrant.
First push was about getting some shape down, a skeleton to work from. So the wings and legs were chopped up and pinned on.



Next time I came to work on the model I filled the gaps in the wings with plasticard to greenstuff over but I wasn't enjoying it so I disappeared off to play with my other toys.


Eventually I was drawn back in. I attached the statue piece to the base and mounted the model. Now at least I could stand it up and see what I was working with. A wire frame for the tail went on next and the similarities to the warriors jumped out at me which was nice to see. I attached the arms, of which I am far to proud, and put the model aside again. I must have seen something shinier.
But the model kept catching my eye, there was something wrong and I didn't know what. So I ripped it's face off for incurring my wrath.




Okay, okay, okay! That's not strictly true. I was looking the model over for the thousands time when I realised that the head, which I'd loved so much before, was looking distinctly below the quality of which I am now capable. In the past I would have settled for it but I want to improve so I'm going to have to think differently from now on!

Right, well I'll leave that with you, Dakka. I think my next update will be for another blog but I'll be back before long! ...probably.

Its looking really good mate. i like the whole scene anf what youve done with the carapace. I would like to see a closer shot of that face though

Thanks man, that means a lot. The newly cut back face without the tentacles? I'd be more than happy to do that. If you mean the face when it had the tentacles I might be able to do that too by editing one of the early full size photos.

Hive Tyrant is looking promising.

I will say one thing though, The fallen statue (I know it's early days yet and probably not set in stone, ); I may have missed the reasoning behind it (I remember seeing pictures of you cutting it), but when such a large lump of stone falls over it tends to leave a similarly large dent in the ground. Are you intending to have the lower side slightly burried in the ground? It doesn't have to be deep, just enough to show it has mass. Or will it be rocky ground? In which case, will there be cracks and broken rocks crushed beneath it?

cant wait to see mor estuff on this

Thanks both of you!

Yeh, all of the models are going to be on urban terrain, they are raised on plasticard to give me uniform heights for pavement and roads. All paving and tarmac is going to be distressed to some level and the Hive Tyrant's base is going to have taken a severe beating from the statue. Lots of cracked stones behind it and debris.

As a side note I'll also be adding some rusted out chains and graffiti to the broken statue. This is to tell the story of the riots, often led by Genestealer Cults, that happened before the attack. The main, possibly only, piece of graffiti is going to be a Genestealer Cult symbol on the shield.

What are you all most interested in seeing next? I'm considering a few options so now is the time to sway me. I'll get that picture for bigfish when I know what it is you want to see but I might also do some more work on the project. Maybe even write some new fluff or do some more sketches.

I've been following along on my phone, but wanted to wait until I could better inspect the images before commenting, and now I suspect it will be a monologue...

So, to begin with, I went back and checked out your first post updates. Deadlines work for some, though I find there is nothing more demoralising than missing them (or realising you can't meet them...). Basically, there is no right or wrong way to approach the hobby, only your way - so do what works for you!

Now, to what I've missed commenting on since last time...

"Floating terrain" warrior is again, very dynamic - I really feel you are catching the fluid, organic movements of the Aliens films, which (again) makes for a very novel and interesting force. It doesn't hurt that the implementation looks very promising too Are you going to put water (sludge?) on that base? It would seem to make more sense to me than solid ground... The Dakka auto-adjust is just a generic light level balancer I think - I don't tend to use it unless the difference is significant. I think the problem is that you are taking landscape photos when you should be doing portraits - there is a lot of wasted space to the left and right of the model, and the default display shrinks the pic to fit the display. The detail when zooming in in the Gallery appears fine - I just never go to the gallery on my phone, and rarely unless I'm particularly interested on my desktop. Also - nothing wrong in my mind with drip feeding blog content. The only issue to watch out for is when a comment comes in that you can't act on due to having progressed past the point that would make it relevant Otherwise, long post dumps are impressive, but then you only really get comments on the highlights of the dump...

Warrior 4 - nothing more to comment on at this point that I haven't said before

Re: bending plastic - I've heard use of a salt (I think...) bath - ie laying the piece to bend in heated salt. I haven't tried it (or anything else except hairdryers on resin), and I can't remember where I saw that technique now... maybe something else to look into?

Nice drawings of the Mycetic Spores. Where are the bio guns? I generally find drawings more interesting once I start seeing the implementation, so I wait with baited breath for those (let's see how dynamic you can make an alien egg! I guess the real challenge is to make it organic and fluid without being forced...)

I tell ya, if I ever did a Nid army (unlikely), I would certainly be back here for inspiration

Hive Tyrant - I think I totally underestimated how big that statue is! Dare I say it's almost too much distraction from the Tyrant? The Tyrant itself is looking suitably bad-ass - the pose is well chosen, and might only be improved by an open mouthed screaming head...

Anyway, progress is looking very promising. I look forward to seeing everything slowly progress towards completion!

Catchya!

Great looking Nids - I particularly like the warrior poses

Look forward to seeing more!

You've inspired me to get back into my Nids