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Thanks for the plug Skalk!

Those are nice Jump Packs! Can't wait to see what you do with them!

Woot! I made it in the list!!

Llamahead wrote:I'd personally like to see those Raptors with Blight Drone inspired backpacks!

Thats a cool idea, I'm thinking of starting soime raptors, hrmmmm.

Thats brilliant news Skalk who makes them by the way? Cheers for the mention as well.

Thanks for the plug Skalk! Makes me feel bad that i haven't updated, Imma check out everyone else's threads on your list and then i'll fire up some pics

Skalk Bloodaxe,

I thought I'd actually comment on your plog and add my 'ooohs' and 'aaahhs' onto here.

As always mate, you work is epic! I too am looking forward to seeing those Raptors!

Cheers for the plug aswell mate. You sir,are a top bloke!

Bash

Happy New Year Skalk! Love how that Soul Grinder came out that is one of your best large conversions yet! Keep up the green horde coming **cough so I can shoot them cough**

Happy new year!

Thanks for linking my thread!

I really like your last batch of CSMs, I'd be curious to see your view on nurgle raptors.

Yea, I too would like to see your take on raptors - mainly as I'll be making some soon haha, stolen ideas are the best ideas!

@ GreyTauKnight / Henners91 / GiraffeX / RSJake / Tortured-Robot / Llamahead / genom.cor / Bash / Hyenajoe - You all do very different, unique, and excellent work. I take it as a high compliment that you enjoy what I am doing here and I appreciate the feedback you give me. The absolute least I can do is offer credit to each of you and hope that others find their way to your blogs.

@ Llamahead- I do not know the manufacturer, but here's a link to the eBay auction I got them from.

@ GD1- Top of the year to you as well, good sir. I haven't made my way over to see how the most dishonored of the Emperor's seed have been doing lately, but no doubt they are growing their force so they can continue the hunt for the Fallen (or as I prefer to refer to them, the Enlightened).



Huge update tonight. I've been quite busy.

First up is my newest ADD distraction. I had it in pieces for over a year, the original idea for the Defiler was based on the body, I scrapped that idea (obviously) but had the peices all ovger the desk and the other day I was cleaning stuff up again and much like the Biker, one thing lead to another and I started making a new Great Unclean One.

Here's a shot of them both side by side so there's no question that this really is a new project and not just a rework of something I've already done:



I removed the horns and did a little GS. The base is melted because I was impatient for the glue to dry so I used my wife's heat gun. In case you are wondering, they get really hot. Oops. But the base didn't warp, so whatever. Easy fix.

Another shot a while later, has some paint and some more GS on it. I like how the sword is looking:



And a closeup on the tongue I sculpted and a better idea of the GS around his stomach and head. I also grooved the metal to follow the split line on the tongue:



I picked up an Imperial Bastion the other night (first FLGS retail purchase since I started gaming again in '09) and saw these little cuties so I picked them up. I'll be using them on the GU1 base:



Photo doesn't show detail very well, so for anyone that doesn't recognize them, they are Nurglings.



On a completely different but simultaneous project, guess what arrived in the mail?



I had to dig into them right away, and since enough people asked what I was going to do w/ them and how I was going to do it, here's a short WIP / Tut on how I'm doing my Raptors.

BASES-

Very important. I'm going with as dynamic and "action-orientated" poses as I can, which means the center of balance is likely going to be compromised on a lot of my new models. To manage that issue I weight my bases w/ nickles:



It adds a decent amount of weight and has worked very well for me in the past. VERY IMPORTANT- DO NOT glue the nickles in all at once! See below for reasons why.

POSING AND PINNING-

I'm going for a "about to land" look which requires a lot more work than just gluing a model that has one foot slightly raised off the base. Here's how I'm making that happen:









Drill out hole in foot and in base, pin the two together, glue the nickel to the base, glue the miniature to the pin. Easy.

The next Raptor I worked on of course had to be the opposite of course. Because of what I had to use as a pin (16 gauge wire) I found it easier to glue first, then pin:

The pin, model, and base:



Pin bent to shape:



Model drilled to insert pin:



Nickel glue and hole drilled. Pin was flattened on end that was connecting to base to it connected like a tab:



Pinned model form two angles"





While I was waiting for stuff to dry, I decided my Champion was going to have dual Lightning Claws and of course that meant converting something. Here's what I did and how I did it:

Power Fist and Halberd heads from WFB Empire:



Snipped / filed down the Halberd heads and cut the last digit off each finger on the Power Fist. Should have taken more WIP shots during this phase, but here's the result so far with one Claw glued in place:





I must have spaced out somewhere along the lines here becasue that's the last shot I took of the WIP for that claw. I took a lot more for the 2nd one though. Go figure. Anyway, here's the 2nd claw. This was made out of a MK VI Power Fist and claws from an arm that comes in the Chaos Spawn set. Didn't take any early WIP shots, but here is is about 3/4 done:





The thumb didn't look right so I added a few more details:





Here's my Champion in his WIP glory:





Here's individual shots of everyone so far:













A lot more works needs to be done w/ him, but you can get a good idea where this is headed.

Here's a group shot of everything I have done so far:





Yes, the last two are terrible pics, didn't realize it until I got here, and you know my rule on bad pics... pretend it looks good and I'll get you a better one later.

I am really looking forward to those packs showing up because all I'll have to do at that point is paint and put them on.

So there you go. That's what I was up to today. It's cold and dark and miserable right now, but in 3 months I'll be back on my bike eating up thousands of miles throughout the summer, so if I'm going to get anything done it needs to be now.

Thanks for looking, comments appreciated because I need to know if I'm heading in the right direction.

I'll be back w/ LOTS more soon!

PS- This is YOUR fault. All of you. Work work work!



HHahha! Beer and modeling. Life is good.

Blinding work as always! The Raptors are coming along nicely. And beer + modelling = good times!

Bash

demon prince is looking promising and i am liking were the raptors are going as well

Nice poses on the raptors and I really like your lightning claws

your army would make grand pappy nurgle cry with joy

with your land raider tracks you should replace the spikes with skulls or somin like that

Really like the GU1, removing the horns really changes the whole model, good stuff.

Like where the Raptors are going!

Nice Stuff Skalk!

i very much like your raptors can't wait to see the finished product

The raptor with the Kreuger-ish power Klaws must have a hard time typing or texting huh?

The Champion's a little scary... bolting toward you like he's going to shear you up like a privet hedge.

I too am flattered by the promotion. Thanks dude. I HAVE new work i just havent posted it. Soon...

Looking good well thought out reposing as well.

@ Bash- Beer + modeling also increases the need to bandages apparently. Long story shot, knife slipped... ouch... supergule and band-aid to the rescue, put down the sharp cutty things and use snips instead.

@ bigfish- hey, welcome back! I'm really looking forward to that new GU1. I never even thought to run it as a Daemon Prince... you are awesome! Now I am totally going to do that.

@ monkeyh- Thank you for the compliment, I'm glad people are liking this latest project because it has been as much work as the Defiler and the Land Raider. I'm really trying to do this one right.

@ nurglerulesslaneshdrools- Thanks for checking out the thread! I saw your screen name on another thread checked your threads and followed it back here! Thanks for leaving a comment, it really is appreciated. There's a LOT more coming.

@ Tortured-Robot- Apparently it is a crossover GU1 or a Daemon Prince, I'm going to run it as either. And the Raptors are going right to the head of the class once I get the Imperial Bastion I'm working on for this weekend done.

@ dsteingass- Thanks D, you know I always appreciate it when you stop by. I saw the new title of your Terrain thread, looks like you are back on task. I'll be stopping by there tomorrow, I'm too tired and too selfish to do it tonight. And yes, I imagine the Raptor Champion would have a difficult time doing much of anything with those claws on. Anything... except killing.

@ GreyTauKnight- Finished product in about a week or so. I have 4 days off this weekend, no kids, no plans, just me, beer, and Dakka. You'd think I'd want to do somehting more w/ my time but it's dead winter here, I hate winter sports, all my friends are off doing whatever things that they do, and frankly this is the time to get these things done because once I get my Harley out of the shop in late March (to mid April depending on the weather) I'm on the road as much as possible and the days of sitting on Dakka for hrs at a time while I paint models and reply to posts will be over with until September / October.

@ Henners91- Thank you. That is exactly what I wanted him to look like.

@ sennacherib- You're on the list because you deserve to be. You totally "get" the whole "Nurgle" thing and really shows in your work.

@ Llamahead- There's a specific reposing that I think is a better idea.



Short update because I'm beat tired (I've noticed a trend there recently) but I had to share this. Of course even before I post there pics there's more work done already, but I really wanted to post the "primed w/ GS" pics to show that yes I really am going to a Nurgle Death Guard look and not just inking some flat white CSM w/ green slop and then painting them up in a dirty gritty fashion but really have nothing to show what they are really supposed to be. These Raptors do not suffer that same malady.







Please notice model in far right in next pic, I repositioned him because no matter what it was SUPPOSED to be, end result on that one was it looked like he had a gastrointestinal re-breather tube. I got the same pose out of him by using his foot instead.



One more group shot:



And a picture of the kids. Aren't the just the cutest little things?



Would have had more narrative but that's it, I'm done. Goodnight, thanks for looking, and don't forget that a LOT more is still coming here. Bikes, Oblits, more Rhinos, more different Characters, etc. The Death Guard thread shall live forever! Muu-hhahha !

you should make some bikes they would look quite cool

Raptors are coming along great, Skalk! Interested to see them with their jump packs. I love old school nurglings. Can't wait to see what you do with the little buggers.

Skalk looking good man!! BTW got your PM hit me up when you can! And Check your PM also.

As always, your stuff is lookin' awsome.

honestly was'nt sure on the assult marines at first.... i was very wrong. These are looking sweet and i like what your doing with the wires and flyingness. very cool

Like what you've done with the raptors, nice work

@ nurglerulesslaneshdrools- Already in the works:


@ Moltar- They have arrived. See below.

@ GreyDeathOne- Thanks for stopping by.

@ wolfshadow- Hey, welcome back! Hope things are going well for you. And thank you for the compliment.

@ bigfish- I know some of my stuff starts off weird. I've been lucky to pull a win out of a mess quite a few times here. Glad to know you're digging on the direction they are going.

@ monkeytroll- Thanks! Always appreciate the feedback



I haven't been very active in anything for about a week or so. Just ran out of steam for modeling and have been pursuing a few interests that do not involve a hobby knife and paint brush. But I have finished up one thing I was working on, and while I could keep going and going and going on this (because really, is something like this *ever* "done"?)

I'm really pleased with this, and proudly present to you my new Greater Daemon:









The pictures don't do true justice to the absolute horribleness of this model. One particular icky note is that when I was snipping off some flash (that I had missed during the "cleanup" phase, and apparently overlooked after the "priming" and the "inking" and every other stage almost up to the "finished" phase) I sliced into my thumb and started bleeding pretty badly. Of course it got all over the model. I didn't bother to wash it off. I did paint over a lot of it because it was just a mess, but left enough where it shows through, an astute observer will notice some VERY realistic blood effects on the model.

May want to make a note of that in case you ever play me IRL to NOT move my GU1. Ha.

In other news, HORRAY! My Jump Packs arrived. Turns out they are made by MaxMini. They look awesome, are a great cast, and fit perfectly! I haven't done anything w/ them other than open and do a quick fit becasue they just arrived yesterday and I didn't get home until wicked late last night and as much as I wanted to work w/ them I made the wise choice and went to bed instead. But here's a pic of what they are (multiple angles, hopefully gives a good idea of what they look like)





I'll be doing some subtle GS work on them, not going to slather them completely because they are so wicked cool as they are. W/ the 3 left over I'm likely going to do a couple w/ Special Weapons and may make a new Chaos Lord to lead the pack into glorious battle!

That's it for now, will be back (hopefully) soon w/ some finished Raptors!

Wow. I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that biker's mace. Ouch.

GUO looks awesome. I like who he's walking his kids to plague school. I have to admit, I'm a little surprised at your willingness to serve khorne with your own blood. Nurgle must be questioning your actions.

Raptors look ace, bud!

It's Mailbox Baseball 41st Millennium style.

I was going for a more traditional GU1 look. In the old fluff Nurglings would always tag along with their big brother whenever they had the chance. Doesn't change the stats at all but makes for a very cool 60mm base and is a solid "nod" to what once was (and hopefully will be again... come on 6th Ed!)

Khorne and Nurgle have long shared the blood on my tabletop. Before I got so obsessed w/ my Death Guard I used to run Plague Marines and Berzerkers side by side. Back in 2nd Ed when Daemons had Summoning Points Khorne and Nurgle were the 1-2 punch because they both generated points (and frequently double) just by doing what they do best because the points were so similar. Because of this I was bringing out Greater Daemons (real ones, not these generic stat ones we have now) pretty quickly... much to the dismay of my opponent.

I'm really looking forward to getting back to work on the Raptors, but the "when " is the mystery. I'm on call for my job this weekend which means I'll be staying closer to home, so maybe I'll get some work done then.