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 Theophony wrote:
I think the bead is a little large for the hand, but otherwise it looks like an excellent midevil sword

Yeah, I couldn't find one in the pot that was between that and one that was too small (no thicker than the actual handle). Thanks.

Also didn't mention that this is all pinned together with thin wire from the blade through the guard into the hand and the pommel is also pinned to the hand.

Excellent, then they are reinforced weapons to withstand battle damage.

Ja. I thought it would be worthwhile making them tough enough to survive gaming/falling off a shelf (maybe). The added benefit of using sprue is that it's also mostly held together with plastic cement which also makes it tougher.

It looks great - some small alignment issues with the blade and the tang, but as a prototype it's good...

wow... the new fist looks even better... specially the finger section... you really raise the learning curve here!!!

Ruglud wrote:It looks great - some small alignment issues with the blade and the tang, but as a prototype it's good...

Thanks. Yeah, with the prototype down I can work on getting it right for the final piece.

Also, just because this is the prototype sword it does not mean that this blade is out of the running for the final use.

Viktor von Domm wrote:wow... the new fist looks even better... specially the finger section... you really raise the learning curve here!!!

Thanks, there is more to learn and the hands are far from perfect as yet... See below.

So now as things are progressing, it's time for a test fit before the final push towards a finished model and an objective assessment of the success of the carving...

As you can see, even with the large blob of blu-tack holding the hand on, it's too large at the wrist (I expected this).
On the plus side, the straight grip pose of the hand doesn't look as bad as I thought it would.

So, next batch of hands will:
Be thinner and more tapered towards the wrist. With the original hand now removed from the arm it'll be easier to judge the size.
Be angled only slightly to allow a more raised pose of the weapon.
Be shorter between the knuckle and wrist, as was apparent when I put the amputated hand down next to the others...

And I still need to decide on what I'm going to have this chap doing with his legs...

And I still need to decide on what I'm going to have this chap doing with his legs...

er....why? he looks a bit odd but not necessarily something that needs fixing...

and bugger... never thought it would be a too big of a fist...

Back to arming the troops I see.

I see what you did there

Viktor von Domm wrote:

And I still need to decide on what I'm going to have this chap doing with his legs...

er....why? he looks a bit odd but not necessarily something that needs fixing...

Just because I don't like the "look at my cod-piece" pose that most of these models come with.
And it adds to the individualism of the models/units/army.

I want him charging, it's just a matter of whether it's the front or back leg that gets the chop...
But I'll get the top half sorted first and see what will look better.

and bugger... never thought it would be a too big of a fist...

(That's what she said... )
I did expect it, as I could see they were getting slightly bigger as I went. It's only really obvious once you put them together with a "real" hand or arm.
The first couple of fists are ok size-wise and I've just done a fist 2.0 that I think will be good. I will show in a bit if it works out.

shasolenzabi wrote:Back to arming the troops I see.

Viktor von Domm wrote:I see what you did there

So do I.

ah... ok... the cod piece issue is easy peasy fixed... tabard.... nuff said...

and with a tabard you can add a sense of motion too as it can billow in the gale^^...

Well it's more the static stance that bothers me, especially for the Eldar. They are meant to be elegant and fluid and fast and active, Not standing still saying "I dare you to kick me in the goolies"... leave that to the Marines.

Number 9 will be getting a cloak for the whole "blowing in the wind" thing. That will also be a relatively new thing for me (I try to do at least one new thing per model).

This shows the difference between the fists so far along with the arm and the new Fist 2.0

You can see how the first fists are all a bit square but I managed the get the new one to taper enough to match the arm (I'll have to rotate the wrist of that arm to make it look right with the pose I have in mind).

However, I have tried to replicate that fist 3 times since and completely messed them up. So I may save that one for best and maybe try some more later if I need to. After all, I only need one hand...

Looking great to me, boy you have some skill and patience.

Thanks Cam.
Patience, Persistence, Practice and Perfectionism... and probably some more words beginning with "p"... You get the idea...

would that be poo?... I doubt it but one can never make too sure, eh?

Not on my models, no.
But there will always be poo in all our lives, those with children (as you well know) however have a little more.

I have been progressing.
I'm adding the guards/tangs to the swords (not worth showing yet).

I may have saved a second putty hand along with half the guard (and replaced the other half with plastic), but time will tell.

I've rotated the wrist on the arm. Also not worth showing yet as it was only a cut between the armour of the forearm and the tag thing and then re-glued somewhere between 60 and 90 degrees round.

So it's all little jobs which are all slow going.

well even if you think progress might be slow... we are here for your motivation...
and on a side note... isn´t it funny that the use of toilet paper is measured per head?...:p of course does are we parents more gifted in the poo business^^

Thanks Vik.
It's not that I'm lacking motivation, it's just that the current jobs are slow as I need to wait for the glue to properly set before I can have at it with the scalpel.

Ha, yeah they have the wrong end of the body there. But at least the numbers of each end of the digestive system are proportional (ignoring the very occasional conjoined twins that share a rear end).

Sprue hands are off the hook doc!

Thanks Dave.

and an update for the swords...

Starting on the right (because I still seems to lay things out from right to left ) you can see #3 that I previously showed, no change there for now.

#5 has one of the saved putty hands and the reconstructed guard. The front fell of while carving it to shape and so I stuck on two small pieces of plastic, let the glue set and then carved/sanded them to shape. I haven't yet decided what I'll do with the end of the handle, may leave it long and make it a bastard sword.

#8 (the minimised version, 8.2 whatever, it's #8) also has a saved putty hand. The guard, intentionally small, was made from a couple of thin strips of plastic glued on and bent to shape (helpfully softened by the glue) and then a little carving to tidy them up. Also need to add a pommel of some kind.

#10. I've only just finished gluing this together here and needs a little more work. The guard was made by using my file (that has a rounded side) to create the curve at the top of the guard. The sword blade was then cut to fit this shape and was glued in. Once that was set, I carved/sanded away the lump of plastic until I was left with the shape here. The handle is a disk of plastic, a hand, another disk and then a large disk on it's side (that I may drill a hole through). The handle area is where it still needs tidying once the glue is set.

#11 has only had the piece of plastic glued on that will become the guard (going to go straight and pointy). The hand is just there for scale.

#4 has had nothing done to it yet. It won't be getting much of a guard (if at all) and really only needs a hand glued in the correct place.

Under the swords you can see the arm with the rotated wrist and hand 2.0 for scale.

It's a lot of work for one weapon for a simple troop. But it's quite enjoyable.

Give him the entire lot of swords I say. Your handy work is good Dr H. Your sprue powers are off the charts. Keep up the great work.

 cormadepanda wrote:
Give him the entire lot of swords I say. Your handy work is good Dr H. Your sprue powers are off the charts. Keep up the great work.

Thanks Comrade.
Well any weapons that he doesn't use will be available for future models that they may "fit" better. As well as all the swords and axes that you sent me I have plenty to share around. I should check the scale of them actually, after we talked about it.

Right-y ho. Here's what a Guardian looks like holding a Wraithblade's Sword.
It's actually not bad for a two handed sword, however the hand would need to be changed as it's a little large...

I had an idea while drilling the pommel of Sword #10, Don't drill all the way though. I think it looks nice and ornate.

And I've done the handle for sword #11. The end is actually the handle off a bolter (I think) that I cut off ages ago and it's sat in my "random little plastic pieces" tub since.

These have had a little tidying up but would probably need more if they were to actually be used.

What do we think?
What's good, what's not so good?

Time is approaching for choosing a weapon for Guardian #10... be it sword or axe... Thank you all for your input so far.

I think they look great , I would suggest some of the microbeads I've been using for the gems and jewels on the sword as they are smaller. I think right now the only thing too out of sorts are the really big pommels.

The sword actually looks like a good fit. The wraith hand is too bulky, but a simple swap and some reposing you can easily have some samurai guardians.

Theophony wrote:I think they look great , I would suggest some of the microbeads I've been using for the gems and jewels on the sword as they are smaller. I think right now the only thing too out of sorts are the really big pommels.

I do have smaller beads. However, they are all mixed up together with all the other round beads and picking out a single one is tricky, I could spend longer than I did last time looking and find the perfect size eventually.

The other problem with these is, at this scale, it's a fine line between too small and too big. The smaller bead I found last time was barely larger than the handle and so didn't look right, but you can't tell until you stick it on really.

The disk, I went intentionally large as that's quite a large heavy-looking blade and so I wanted a large pommel to balance it. It may be the small hand that makes it all look too big, so it's probably a sword for a larger being.

cormadepanda wrote:The sword actually looks like a good fit. The wraith hand is too bulky, but a simple swap and some reposing you can easily have some samurai guardians.

Yeah, definitely more of a two-handed sword for a Guardian-sized person. Hand would indeed be an easy swap. One of the remaining Dire Avengers may get one...

As to swords, how does this grab you?

I went very simple with the tang and may not do much beyond tidying the end of the handle once the glue is fully set.
Although I might wrap some wire around the handle to look like a grip...

Looking good to me, I like the pommels myself.

The wraithblade, looks awesome, my only quibble, and it's me being a numpty, but he has a shuriken rifle in a single hand and a huge two handed sword in the other, and he's only a puny elf! Got to say it looks brilliant and awesome. I would do this.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
just ninja'd me. That last sword there is awesome, really cool.

oh..... that kris weapon looks very good.... you carved such a thin blade.... unbelievable

as for your update from yesterday (ok...i am lagging behind a bit )... i think the handguards are a bit too far away from the hands.... i dunno why you´ve put so much space inbetween...

as for the current update... now that is good looking.... it has the flair of a katana and an elven sword.... the hand guard is a very fitting one!

Thanks Cam.

Yeah, he is a (Shuriken pistol + ccw = ) Storm Guardian, because I want (at least) one of everything available from every army in my army.

As you say, he's a little space elf, so needs a smaller single-handed weapon. Hence the whole shrinking of some of the swords thing that happened before the hut.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Viktor von Domm wrote:
oh..... that kris weapon looks very good.... you carved such a thin blade.... unbelievable

Most of the swords are not much thinner than your typical GW sword and much thinner and they start to become weak. Number 11 in particular is probably too thin to be useful, it's so bendy and wouldn't take much to snap it.

as for your update from yesterday (ok...i am lagging behind a bit )... i think the handguards are a bit too far away from the hands.... i dunno why you´ve put so much space inbetween...

Ah yes. That was to give the impression that the hand was actually holding the handle of the sword, that the handle extended all the way through the hand.
But yeah, probably not necessary. When these are used for a model, they will probably be tweaked and things like that will be ironed out (and those extra spacers actually only add an extra weak point to the model...).

as for the current update... now that is good looking.... it has the flair of a katana and an elven sword.... the hand guard is a very fitting one!

Thanks. I'm definitely getting good vibes from this sword...

Also, when I do finally make the final final decision as to which weapon gets finally used here. I have decided to finish up all the others (e.g. remove the hands and rebuild the handles) and paint them and build a weapon rack to store them. Just because I've always wanted a sword collection and as I can't afford real swords at the moment I'm going to have a mini sword collection. This doesn't mean that these won't be used for future models, but it does mean that you will get to see all of them finished and the promise that I'll just have to make more weapons in the future to add to the collection.

the kirs weapon would be ideal to have a dual wileding character... head facing downwards, both arm outstreched backwards and in full charge... that would be awesome!