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Here's the last of the standard troop units for the army; the command squad for the third platoon:



... and this is the view of the army box (everything is painted ):



Now I just need the six miniatures to be created to complete the army... so I will be fettling until they are sorted .

The army fettling has begun...

... currently, I am converting a pair of advisers (air-force and artillery) in order to replace the two that have been overly converted with patches and ranks on their sleeves (these ones):





I have also decided to put together another platoon in order to use up some of the spare miniatures that I have accumulated. This platoon will be assembled like this:

Command - Officer, Medic, Comms, Sgt and Heavy Flamer.
Infantry Squad - Sgt, Comms, Flamer and 7x Lasgun.
Infantry Squad - Sgt, Comms, Flamer and 7x Lasgun.
Infantry Squad - Sgt, Comms, Flamer and 7x Lasgun.
Heavy Weapons Squad - 3x Autocannon and 3x Lasgun.

So far, I have selected the units and have put them into their own bags. Any conversion/painting work for this platoon will take second place to the existing army plans... and it won't form part of the army display that I'm planning to build (unless I change my mind).

Lots to do .

Indeed lots to do.

... but the main job is finishing the troops for the army .

With that in mind, here are a pair of conversions that are ready to be primed and painted for the army...

Artillery Advisor:



Airforce Advisor:

The new Advisors have now been finished:





Now I'm just waiting for some Astropaths to finish the two Advisor units .

I recently went to Salute 52, at the ExCel centre in London. I had a great time and have put a blog post together, to share my thoughts. Here's the post:

https://insosworld.blogspot.com/2025/04/salute-52-plus-other-animals.html

There is also a hint at what direction the Servitor sculpts might take... so it may be worth a look .

Looks like a fun day!

 blockade23 wrote:
Looks like a fun day!

It was, once I got there . The travelling was a grind... but it was worth it for a great show .

Since I have returned home, I have got quite far with my servitor robot. The body just needs a few tiny details and then it'll be time to focus on the arms (normal, servo arm, plasma-cannon, heavy bolter and multi-melta):



It's getting there, though... which is good since it's the 5th or 6th attempt at a design for the Servitor robot...

Nice, I never thought about squaty servitors before.

I decided to get the army out and see where we're at :



Everything that I have, that is destined for the ORIGINAL army plan, is painted .

Evening Inso, your sculpting skills are amazing, I like the old school squat feel of your minatures. The airforce advisor has a very 40's RAF look to him!

Have you sculpted all the models in your army? and how many more are you planning on doing?

 JordySteve wrote:
Evening Inso, your sculpting skills are amazing, I like the old school squat feel of your minatures. The airforce advisor has a very 40's RAF look to him!

Have you sculpted all the models in your army? and how many more are you planning on doing?

Thank you . Old school is definitely what I was aiming for.

I was in the Royal Air Force for 28 years and wanted the first of the advisors to have a chip-hat and a handlebar-moustache because he's Air Force .

All of the miniatures in the army, are from my sculpts. I have a deal with Macrocosm Miniatures where I sculpt what I want, send them to him to be cast up and then he sends me a few resin copies and sells other metal casts in his shop. That way, I get my miniatures for the army and I don't have to pay for them because the greens pay for my troops... so TLDR, all the miniatures are casts of my sculpts or casts of my sculpts that I have converted.

How many more? I currently have 2 Astropaths that are away for casting and also a little diorama (two Dwarfs at a grave site) that will be added as an objective marker. I also have a Servitor that I am in the process of sculpting with all the arm options. Once that is finished and cast up, I will be adding 8 of those to the army plus a second Engineseer (converted) and that will be the end of the project.

That said, I may sculpt a few proxies for the big characters in the Astra Militarum army but they won't be part of this army.

So TLDR, 2 Astropaths and a diorama (waiting to be cast and sent), 8 Servitors (still being sculpted) and 1 Engineseer (will need to be converted... but I have the base model).

So far, this project has taken me about 5 years... I think that it needs to be finished soon so that I can start on something new .

Exquisite Servitor robot sculpts so far, and great work overall! Inspiring as always. Neat job on the diorama.

I am watching your robot concept with extra curiosity. I'm currently making an acrylic painting of Rogue Trader Squats with some attempts at flying robots overhead.

Count me in as a flipping bird fan.

Also, that is a good deal with Macrocosm. I have a similar with tjub (plus sharing 50/50 on profit margin for his Tjublings), and that way he can both get all the cast models he want for his army, and not pay a dime for moulds and cast stock as Tjublings reach collectors the world over.

You're not thinking of Chaos Squats next, are you?

So much character in this army, your sculpting is amazing.
Robots are well done.
I love the flipping the bird guy, squats with hella attitude.

 wulfbrigade wrote:
So much character in this army, your sculpting is amazing.
Robots are well done.
I love the flipping the bird guy, squats with hella attitude.

Cheers .

The flipping the bird guy was a homage to the tales of bowmen, waving their draw fingers at the enemy (apparently, the enemy would cut off the draw-fingers of bowmen they captured so it was used a s a taunt). I felt that an artillery advisor would "push a button" so I felt the bird was the best option ...

Nice work Inso. The spirit of Rogue Trader and Second Edition echoes throughout these models.

Cheers,

CB

Cheers .

Here's the latest update on the Servitor. This one has a standard arm and a servo arm (POORLY stuck on with Blu-tack):



I am in the process of making the three heavy weapons that can replace the servo arm but they are little more than wire covered with a layer of putty at the moment.

I love how overwrought the arms are. It really makes it look "roboty". Telescoping and clampy.

Agreed, nice work on the surprisingly long arms. A good design call!

One more fan here for the looong arms. It's like a mini robo-gorilla.

Cheers .

I wanted the arms to be "gangly" so the design didn't look like a copy of the old Exo armour.

I've just finished the second Engineseer for the army :



Just 8 Servitors and 2 Astropaths to go (when they are made ).

Here is the first of the heavy weapon arms for the Servitor; the Plasma Cannon:



The focus will now be on the Multi-Melta .

The Servitor and all its arms is now finished :





These will be sent off for casting once I have sculpted a rifle for another project (then everything will be sent off together ).

I have finally got some of the newer casts and have cleaned and primed the first three :



These are two Astropaths with a random adventurer, in between them .

I have also received the "Predator hunters", their enemy and the small diorama that I made (all in good numbers) so it shouldn't be too long before Chris does something for them on his site/through Kickstarter .

Marvellous robot arms and weapons! And congratulations on receiving the new casts.

"So far, this project has taken me about 5 years... I think that it needs to be finished soon so that I can start on something new "

Amazing dedication to your squats, has been fun watching all the work you've put into them over the years. Very impressed by the dedication. And those new armoured suits of yours are brill. Very retro.

Am curious though... What do you think your new project might be? Personally I'd like to see your take on say... Viking age dwarves. Celts, Britons, that sort of thing. Or do you reckon you'd so something else entirely?

GrimPunk wrote:
"So far, this project has taken me about 5 years... I think that it needs to be finished soon so that I can start on something new "

Amazing dedication to your squats, has been fun watching all the work you've put into them over the years. Very impressed by the dedication. And those new armoured suits of yours are brill. Very retro.

Am curious though... What do you think your new project might be? Personally I'd like to see your take on say... Viking age dwarves. Celts, Britons, that sort of thing. Or do you reckon you'd so something else entirely?

Thank you ... it has certainly been a journey!

What will my next project be? Well, I am purely a sci-fi enthusiast when it comes to sculpting and I deliberately avoid historical stuff due to the constraints placed on the subject (and the inevitable "button counters" )... that said, I wouldn't be averse to a bit of fantasy sculpting but I would need some serious encouragement for that.

Short term plans are to finish this army (painting, varnishing, adding tufts to the bases and build a display base for it), tick off a couple of commissions (some weapons and a few Squats that will be the same as those in my army but armed differently) and then see if I can sort out some armoured vehicles and some bikes. Chaos Exo-Armour is also on the list...

... and I also have a charity "thing" that I'll be sharing soon... and I'd like to make my own sci-fi Beastmen / Lizardmen at some point...

So a lot of possibilities... nothing very set in stone... I'll probably write a blog with "the story of an army build" as the theme and explanations of time spans and the thought process behind things...

Hmmm... .


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The two Astropaths are now painted :

This is the diorama I made a while back. I received some casts so was able to paint one up :



I have 20 copies, in resin, that I plan to sell as a limited release (with all proceeds going to the Royal British Legion charity) so I'll post more information when I'm ready to do so .

Another newly delivered cast; the Squat Adventurer :



I'm not sure what's coming next; while I wait for the Servitor to be delivered...