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Looking great.Happy new year.

Thanks guys!
today I'm finally catching up with the actual build

As the weapons and ammo belts were completed I built two sights for the main turrets.
These are mounted directly on top of the gun mounts.


The rear ramp received a looking window (again, similar to the Israeli Achzarit APC)


Since I'm trying to build the POLEMOS 100% scratch built, I created vision ports - tiny little buggers.


But positioned on the POLEMOS, they look really nice.


Rotatable Smoke Grenade Launchers.


And ammo cans for the two remote-controlled MG's


Still 100% scratch-built


With the first 4 road wheels casted, I decided to mount them.
Yeah! They look exactly as I wanted them


The forward wheels (can't remember their name...)


And scratch built drive sprockets.


That's as far as I got.
I hope you like it
Cheers
Klaus

Like the view ports, fiddly work!, nice detail work, those Spigot wheels look incredibly fiddly.

And you just knock out some great cast wheels, no problem!!, Keep thinking of casting, but scared of resin.

POLEMOS - Urban Combat Vehicle (4)
Hi my patient readers,
today is my first day at work this year

Maybe you remember from the last post that the return roller for the POLEMOS was at the front and the drive sprocket planned for the rear.
Well, due to the rear ramp and passenger tunnel, I had to switch things around, and now the drive sprocket is at the front.
This messed a bit with my measurements, so everything is a lot tighter than planned, but it still works.
While I still had to cast the remaining tracks for the other side, I started with the base.


Since it is to be an urban combat scene, this will be an Imperial road between houses.
The story is that Orks have captured (at least parts of) an Imperial city and the Guards troops are fighting in the streets to re-capture the city.

While the plaster for the base cured I looked at the design for the track skirts.
This is the cardboard mock-up.


Next I started to engrave the plaster stones and Imperial symbols into the road plaster.
Here you can see a sample video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYUn32_7_MM
The POLEMOS in position.


One final step on the POLEMOS was to add the hinges to the hatches.

Still need to add all the rivets.

And then it was time for my Hirst Arts molds (http://www.hirstarts.com/).
Plenty of stones to cast.
The next day I added rubble and the Ork barricade which the POLEMOS is breaching.


Finally I had all the tracks cast to complete the other side.


And to add the second track skirt.


And this is how the scene looks as of today:


Ready for some street fighting action.




So, what do you think?
I hope you like today's update and I look forward to your C&C.
Cheers
Klaus

Really impressive work mate! And the speed of development...... awesome!

I don't think I could achieve such level of details with an existing kit... And you make it come out of the blue, with plasticard & casting !

That is awesome mate

that polemos tank is probably the tank that looks the best in terms of convincing us that this might be a RL tank... I think you recently get closer to RL scenic than actual sci-fi scenic...which is still amazing...just another taste...(I am not complaining here in any way by the way )...

the amount of detail is brilliant...and one of these days I need me to get me some of those molds from hirts arts too... the stuff I could/would do...

the scene itself currently looks like a british or US tank breaking through some kind of makeshift barricade in a rural Iraqi or other Arabic conflict area...only totally whited out^^...a sort of color in dio so to speak...just add the numbers on crucial spots and you could set up a totally new business^^


all that crazy talk just means one thing...you blow my mind^^

Over the top impressive as usual Klaus!

The diorama master is back to full strength.
Looks brilliant, Klaus.

Amen and halelujah...... Fantastic as usual.....

So awesome, and brilliant and pretty and perfect and I want to cry now.

Amazing.

I thought the tank was great just on it's own, but when added to that diorama, it all comes together beautifully,
amazing work as always .

Reminds me vaguely of Fallujah....

 mxwllmdr wrote:
Reminds me vaguely of Fallujah....

Actually it should be more Homs or Aleppo, as I've been watching a lot of images on the Syrian conflict for this one

Wow guys, LOTS of positive feedback!
Thanks

Now that the basic scene is done I started to position the first actors.
The ambushing Orks


The story is that the POLEMOS and its accompanying squad just broke resistance and captured this section of the road. While consolidating gains behind a former Ork barricade some sneaky Orks attack out of the ruins...

Most likely the dio will be called "Ghosts in the Rubble"....or so

The two main Ork characters are these two guys, throwing Molotov's - lots of potential for light effect painting


I sculpted the flames with Pro Create Putty (http://www.kraftmark.biz/kraft.procreate.html)
What do you think?


Good enough or room for improvement?


So here's the attacking gang in position.



And then I started to position the surprised IG squad.


One guy will be dead on the ground behind the vehicle. 2 troopers at the barricade, one kneeling on the side, turning around surprised, 2 troopers firing back from the cover of the POLEMOS, and centrally the captain at the Infantry Phone with a wounded soldier at his feet....



What do you think?
Will this work?

BTW, some asked what molds I use for the building.


These are the Hirst Arts molds ( http://www.hirstarts.com/ ). As far as I remember the ones I use most are these two:
Should be "Basic Block - Mold #40" and "Gothic Dungeon Builder #45", but I also have" Gothic Additional Accessories - Mold #44", "Gothic Dungeon Accessories - Mold #41" and "Gothic Panel Accessories - Mold #43".
They serve me very well. As plaster I prefer "Stewalin"

I hope you like today's update and I look forward to your C&C - especially on the Molotov effects.
Cheers
Klaus

The Molotov effect looks great, even without any paint on, you can recognize what they are straight away.

I hope you know this is AMAZING. so I will stop saying it for 2 minutes.

Thanks for info on moulds.

On Molotovs, look great as they are. Totally a personal thing, I think of Orks as dirty, so these would have a fair amount of smoke trailing away if it was me doing it. As well as those great flames I mean. They wont be burning Vodka, or even probably petrol, it will be nasty Orky Fuel.

Just my view, I know your models and they are so awesome I can't believe I have dared to suggest anything.

I think the one that's in the act of throwing the Molotov should have the flames swept down some more. To give more of a sense of motion as the arm arcs from down low, to high and release.

As seen here

Denua is right. The flames need to be the motion defining part of the model. Good pic, Denua.....

You work is simply amazing. This must be the third or fourth time I've just gone through your thread and mumbled wow incoherently.

Keep it up!

And let me know when you take commissions! I could use a nice tank for my chem-dogs!

Now that the POLEMOS is pretty much completed (needs all rivets and maybe some cables) I decided to name the posts after the scene rather than after the vehicle.
So going forward they will be labeled "Ghosts in the rubble".

 Denua wrote:
I think the one that's in the act of throwing the Molotov should have the flames swept down some more. To give more of a sense of motion as the arm arcs from down low, to high and release.

As seen here

Spoiler:

Thanks Mate!
I considered some of the feedback in the forums and decided to rework the flames for the Molotov's.
I'm very glad I did


This looks more realistic and it was actually rather easy too.


While the ProSculpt cured I cleaned up the Captain and the wounded soldier.

He's now kind of protecting the downed guy.

While looking at the available arms I realized that I have tons of standard firing arms...
maybe I should start using them, or consider trading them in for some of the more "exotic" arms :-P


This is the "surprised" trooper - turning to the new sound of gunfire.


And the dead trooper.


For the heads I decided to use the helmet design I used for the "Orkalypse Now" troops. I used the heads from Mad Robots ( http://madrobotminiatures.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=9_10 ) and sculpted the helmets with ProSculpt.


The scene is coming along nicely

I think it gives a bit of the dramatic feel I'd like to show.

Then the weapons received a once-over, got sights and flashlights.


And this is the scene as of today


I hope you like today's update and I look forward to your C&C.
Cheers
Klaus

Ye ol show off...so many arms...
Your scene leaves not much to add...damn...very goof looking...the guns look very good, and I only spotted some sneaky moldlines...the new flames look way better...the first had too much spiky feel to them for my taste
As o am in no position to sculpt hands for more variety for ig arms I found that standard bearer have long outstretched arms and the artillery bitz of fantasy empire kits are of great value for customising in the hand department... just saying this in general as you ate an apt sculpter for sure...

The Helmets look like the MX series from Almost Human

Really impressive work. I'm stunned.
Incredible scratchbuilding and conversion skills, mister.

Your next project could be a straight up Napoleanic/Civil War style diorama, with the IG in a firing line. You know, to use up those shooting arms.

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G

A.W.E.S.O.M.E

You truly are a god of scratchbuilding

All fantastic, but I am rather anticipatory of all the dynamic lighting effects those flashlights will require in the paint job.....


I know you won't dissappoint.....

Your work rate is fearsome mate!

Those guardsmen are looking awesome! and the AFV is epic!

Well done sir!!

THANKS GUYS!
Thank you for your feedback.


On Friday the scene was pretty much complete, so mainly a lot of "cosmetics" to do

First I added some cables (for the two smoke launchers and the rear ramp) as well as rivets to the POLEMOS.



The first cinematic effect is for the automatic grenade launcher.


Since it is a low velocity weapon I had to create a different muzzle effect that with the auto-cannons.
You can actually still see the projectile and a bit of a flash.


Then all the sights and flashlights received their lenses as well as the troopers got some personal equipment and knee pads.


Spent cartridges on the deck of the POLEMOS.


Cable for the infantry phone.


And cinematic effects for the spent cartridges. The top one is for the auto-cannon with the longer cartridges and lower rate of fire, the lower piece is for the machine gun.


Also I finally drilled open the barrels of the Ork weapons.


Once the glue for the ejected cartridges had cured properly I mounted them to the weapons.


I think this looks rather nice


Well, the desk looked pretty messy, but this was it

DONE!

The final shots before priming (today or tomorrow).




Closer shot of the Imperial squad,


and the Ork attackers.


I hope you like it


I look forward to your C&C.

Cheers

AWESOME.

Nuff said. looks perfect. Love the flames, and the granade effect is brilliant. Inspirational.

Fantastic