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One of my bolter-bearing sergeants. Trying to make it look like he is lefting it with is right, while making some kind of hand motion with his left (not picked the bit yet).

Great in theory, but once I got it all in place I find myself wondering if it looks too awkward to be believable. Thoughts?

M.

I'd have it down at his side or tucked into his shoulder more. The gun already looks to unwieldy to have him holding upright.

You can simply clip off the little tiny stock on the back of the boltgun (it was always clipped off). He looks like a 3-Gunner clearing an obstacle Not terrible, but not the best.

Thanks for the feedback; is something like this more to it?



I'd wanted to keep the stock, though I had considered deleting the length part of it so it looked more like it had been retracted. Might do that for a future example.

M.

What about with it closer to his chest, like a three point sling, with his hand still on the grip.

Cut his arm at the elbow and rotate toward his chest and green stuff a sling on him. Thats what I'd do to make it look the most natural.

Maybe cut the shoulder part at a 45ish degree and turn the elbow too. the back photo looks off, like he's un-sheathing a sword... maybe drawing his gun to the ready... it looks off though

The second pose looks much better in my opinion.

 Maddok_Death wrote:
What about with it closer to his chest, like a three point sling, with his hand still on the grip.

Cut his arm at the elbow and rotate toward his chest and green stuff a sling on him. Thats what I'd do to make it look the most natural.

Maybe cut the shoulder part at a 45ish degree and turn the elbow too. the back photo looks off, like he's un-sheathing a sword... maybe drawing his gun to the ready... it looks off though

I think the biggest issue is the width of his arm, and getting the stock around it.

I might GS (or plastistock - I have that) a strap attaching at the inside and going over his left shoulder.

For cutting the joint, I've never done something that involved. This was originally the "pistol" arm in the plastic box. I think if I cut the shoulder to fit at 45 degrees, it would require removing the armor as well and look rather strange?

M.

It would be easier tell if you could fit the other arm too, with blue tac or something

torblind wrote:
It would be easier tell if you could fit the other arm too, with blue tac or something

True, that. I picked up some more plastic sets today (heavy weapons) so I should have something to pick form that isn't boring. I did a crouching guy (https://i.imgur.com/bUSV2ZA.jpg) with a pointing arm I think would fit pretty well. That or some binoculars!

I may set this guy aside for a bit and do a more practical pose for my second sergeant; will need to dig for my greenstuff, I think - not touched it in more than a few years at this point. With a strap it might look like he's adjusting it to go around behind him.

M.

Gun down looks more awkward than gun up because it puts the shoulder at an awkward angle. And yeah, need to do something about that stock, it just highlights how the gun is too big for the dude carrying it.

It may sound silly, but get yourself in to the pose of your model to help you decide what is and isn't awkward, if you can't hold the pose comfortably in real life then it's probably too awkward Then you can figure out what changes you need to make for it to be less awkward. Often it's as simple as a few minor angle changes with some greenstuff filling the gaps.

I meant cut the arm, the flat part at a 45 then see where it fits.

If you cut using an exacto knife and take your time cutting at the elbow you should be able to just rotate the forearm to fit. (dont cut yourself, i've put literal blood and sweat into my models). Also to reattach the arm to get the best bond either pin or plastic glue otherwise when the model jumps off the table that arm will break super easy.

Keep pushing yourself with modeling, its the only way to get better.

I say leave the stock

I've stood in my room to make sure a pose is good, I think a lot of modelers have. But there are posable dolls for art if you dont want to feel like a dork in your room playing with toys.

The stock on the outside of the arm is making it look awkward. For that kind of pose the stock will always be between the arm and body.

Difficult to do with that bolter though.

Agreed that the stock is making the pose a little awkward, imagine that was you, the gun will have already hit the side of your head from the weight at the front

If you snip off the stock and somehow manage to move the boltgun a bit more "straight" i.e so the body of the gun is more following the line of his arm then the pose would look a bit more natural.

Well, the top one is no longer correct. I should update that...

Anyways, played around with it a little more and added the left arm. Current pose is as follows:



I'd rather keep the stock but I might experiment with making it "collapse" as it definitely looks like it could...if it were real. I have spares so I'll also check into trying it again with the stock tucked under the arm.

For reference, this is my other bolter-sarge:


M.

I dont know about the fist bump on the top picture.

The gun looks fine, I carried a MK 43 machine gun (compact M60) in the Navy, When moving with it I had my ammo boxes and gun I had to move quick so the Stock wasn't always tucked toward the inside of my body. Plus with it being cumbersome and holding it with 1 hand I think it would be normal for the Gaurdsman to have his gun like that.

If he was resting the body of the gun against his body having the stock outside the arm would look fine I think. But having it freefloating looks incredibly awkward due to physics. It's going to be using the hand as a pivot point, and all the weight is at the front. Rest the weight against the body and there's no problems. Similarly tuck the stock under your arm to act as leverage and you're fine. Do neither and you're having to hold that position by the strength of your wrist alone.

 Maddok_Death wrote:
I dont know about the fist bump on the top picture.

The gun looks fine, I carried a MK 43 machine gun (compact M60) in the Navy, When moving with it I had my ammo boxes and gun I had to move quick so the Stock wasn't always tucked toward the inside of my body. Plus with it being cumbersome and holding it with 1 hand I think it would be normal for the Gaurdsman to have his gun like that.

If you're holding a heavy, bulky gun with two hands then stock outside your arm makes sense but one handing like that is completely unnatural.

If you were to hold the gun with both hands and move position the gun would be tucked towards the body not outside you arm. By holding the gun just by the grip and walking/running with it you are not moving naturally. The stock of the gun isnt going to be resting on your forearm for that period of time, until you can put both hands on the gun and able to ready and fire it.

It may have been missed in here somewhere that the intent, originally, was to make a strap out of greenstuff or plastistrap that goes from the weapon around his left shoulder.

I've been meaning to mess around with the side the stock goes on to make it look more natural, but my models time has been focused on finishing up the bulk infantry (spent a while last night getting a second long-las conversion going, just to find I did the dry fit wrong and the head can't fit with the scope ). Also tanks.

I plan to revisit him tonight or tomorrow night, after I finish that sniper.

M.

That would be a long strap for the gun, Id move the gun up a little bit. You could try twist ties for garbage bags and just cut them down to make them the right scale.

I'm back to the drawing board with this guy - both arms removed. Accidentally gak'd up the bolter hand, too, so whatever I do will be a complete replace on that one.

Might try and sling it across his back and figure out what else to do with his hands.

Forgot to mention, my original inspirations: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?167716-Captain-Brown-s-8th-Necromunda-Imperial-Guard-Regiment-The-Spiders-Classic-Scheme&p=7140248&viewfull=1#post7140248

M.

This is ultimately what I decided on:



Arm is from the Russ tank sprue, just with a shoulder pad added - hollowing that out was tedious, but is a bit cleaner than if I tried to graft arms at the elbow or shoulder

I like to think he's motioning his squaddies to crouch or something. Originally it was higher up, as if he was signaling an advance, but it didn't look quite right.

I suppose this will do for a rank-and-file type. Need to drill the bolter, though, because OF COURSE I skipped a step

M.

It needs a strap, too. That pose will work fine with one, but looks very unnatural without due again to how he's supporting all the weight of a very heavy gun on one hand with little leverage.

Indeed, it may have a strap added - I can't seem to find my green stuff at the moment, though.

I may simply omit it for visual brevity, however - otherwise I'll find myself adding a strap to every single gun...

M.