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I got pretty queasy looking these pics over, great job on daemon flesh.

Viterbi wrote:That flesh looks sick and disgusting... so great job
Excited to see, how the biker will work out, once he's stripped.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:I got pretty queasy looking these pics over, great job on daemon flesh.

Haha - thanks guys, I'll count 'vomit inducing' as a win

No pics to post today - I'll finish them over the weekend and post the finals. This is just me dropping in the competition videos from the Iron Warrior discord challenge from November (where I submitted the heldrake) and December (submitted the Chaos Sorcerer on a bike).

The iron warriors discord can be found here: https://discord.gg/XCDRYYYazV - they're a pretty friendly bunch as long as you dont say the 'D' word (Dorn)

November was the first video:



And December was only posted recently:



Cheers and catch you when the Oblits are finally done!
KT

And I can now present:

Converted Iron Warrior Obliterators









My three large (converted metal body) sons:

Mike (grumpy plasma cannon son)







John (thicc assault cannon type thing son)






David (termie helmetm + flamer son)









These guys took a lot longer than I expected... then again, I did convert three models metal models, so maybe i didnt do too badly time wise

Pretty happy with these guys, although I might leave the more extreme conversions to the side for the next project. Speaking of the next project, tune in tomorrow to see the beginning of February's challenge - The Rescue Rider (chaos biker) !

Cheers all
KT

Nicely done! Love seeing them on their bases, looking powerful and POed. I don't think I said it earlier but I really like the terminator helmet. My personal favorite is Mike, would never guess that his cannon began as a pen. I didn't notice you'd sculpted eyes on it! Great detail.

The Oblits look great! Proper gribbly and mechanical. The plasma gunner is my favourite, who’d have thought His gun started as a biro! He really needs to cheer up though. Unusual choice of names for them, are they named after anyone in particular?

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Nicely done! Love seeing them on their bases, looking powerful and POed. I don't think I said it earlier but I really like the terminator helmet. My personal favorite is Mike, would never guess that his cannon began as a pen. I didn't notice you'd sculpted eyes on it! Great detail.

Cheers DQH, appreciate the kind words the terminator helmet was a conversion by the guy who sold them to be about 10 years ago! He actually had two termi heads, but I felt that the second head didnt work as well. Grumpy Mike's head was from the chaos mutation sprue, cut right down to fit. The plasma cannon eyes are interesting - they are actually the ball ends from some tyranid gaunt arms (that go into the gaunt body). They're nice and round and had cool 'wrinkles' to them

gobert wrote:The Oblits look great! Proper gribbly and mechanical. The plasma gunner is my favourite, who’d have thought His gun started as a biro! He really needs to cheer up though. Unusual choice of names for them, are they named after anyone in particular?

Cheers Gobert, thanks The plasma pen is mightier than the chainsword...
As for the names... well, I had been calling them my large sons at home. When asked I explained it was a meme, and I then looked it up: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/large-adult-sons the names come here

And here we are at the start of a new month, and new month means new challenge!

eBay Rescue, ho!

So - you may remember my model was this -


Now - if you look *really* carefully at this pic you can see it looks a bit... lumpy? or maybe 'gritty' might be a better word. Well the stripping process (just used dettol which has worked perfectly fine for every previous model and so I dont think is at fault here) revealed why:



eep!

I dont know for sure, but I think its original primer job might have had problems, so... the challenge is now more challenging than I envisaged! I've been slowly scraping it with a scalpel in certain places to strip it back, but in the main I think I think I will have to go with a 'heavily weathered' look on this dude.

Sigh.

As far as other conversions.... I'm planning on making him a Chaos Biker Champion - so leaving his bike with combi-bolters and giving him a second combi-bolter in his hand. Pretty sure that's legal atm. I'm also giving him a Chainsword that I've got to attach to the bike itself (kinda 'strapped or maglocked' in place). Otherwise not much else. Bit boring I guess...

...unless you count the big f*ck off banner I'm putting on the back of his bike!

I've decided to make this guy stand out with a bold attempt at freehand painting a banner; which obviously involved baking a banner.

How to Bake a Banner (not a typo)

Step one:
Cut some thin plasticard, or if you're like me, sacrifice a beloved old CD cover (jewel-case) (goodbye Vengaboys, the Vengabus is no longer coming )

Use a ruler & cutter to score across the cover and break out a strip of the size you want:


Step two:
Place the strip in a metal dish you dont care about, on top of some smaller things that wont melt when you apply heat (I used some old screws and fittings, i.e.:


Step three:
Bake in a preheated oven at 100 Celsius for... a couple of minutes? it doesnt take long to start deforming.



move it or the weights around if necessary


I was looking for a gentle kind of wave, and I wasnt worried about deforming the plastic.

Take it out, and it cools very quickly.

Step four:
carve your banner with a scalpel (work slowly to avoid cracking or splitting the plastic), files and sandpaper).

here's mine glued to a metal rod:


Step 5:
add details prime and paint!
(two bits of chupa chup sticks cut and superglued on and some primer).



I think it turned out pretty good - let me know your thoughts!

Cheers
KT

Wow! That’s a great technique to shape the banner, and very effective. I really hope it was the Vengabus CD case and you slip an Easter egg or 2 in

Yep, I used a similar technique for my big banner, but using a heatgun instead of an oven. Plasticard responds really well to a a bit of heat and it hardens afterwards to your usual rigidity so it's not going to bend easily and paints well. Not to mention it's plastic so it works with plastic cement. So far it seems to work better the bigger the banner/cloth, but I don't have much to go on either.

Cheers again all

gobert wrote:Wow! That’s a great technique to shape the banner, and very effective. I really hope it was the Vengabus CD case and you slip an Easter egg or 2 in

The carving with a scalpel was a delicate procedure, but once we washed the blood off I think it worked really well

Easter egg? I'll have to think about that...

Roknar wrote:Yep, I used a similar technique for my big banner, but using a heatgun instead of an oven. Plasticard responds really well to a a bit of heat and it hardens afterwards to your usual rigidity so it's not going to bend easily and paints well. Not to mention it's plastic so it works with plastic cement. So far it seems to work better the bigger the banner/cloth, but I don't have much to go on either.

I really need to get heat gun - it would allow for far more targeted bending and deforming than throwing the whole piece of plastic in the oven and hoping it works.
Plasticard is great - I have some left over square and round rod sitting around - but I dont have any on hand at the moment. Still - both plasticard, GW models and bases, and CD Jewel Cases (as well as bread bag tags and certain cheap bic pen sleeves etc) are made from Polystyrene. I believe plasticard and cd cases are both HIPS - High Impact Polystyrene - meaning that they add something to make it stiffer and more brittle. Plastic cement (which is basically a solvent like butanone) will of these polystyrene types and they form great bonds.

I've found that sometimes the HIPS takes longer to melt than the GW models, so I tend to place the cement on the HIPS and then wait a little while before placing it on the GW model or base.

This is a super quick update as to what I got done over the last few nights:

1) a quick nose job:

I will make some more changes to this, but I think tiny bits at a time are the way to go

2) A little bit of work on the backpack:

this guy is supposed to be an aspiring champion, he needs to look the part

3) Replaced an arm to create a combi-bolter

Strictly speaking this looks to be more of a 'combi-bolt-pistol' but it is what it is lol




pew pew

4) and I've attached a chainsword to the bike



The chainsword is made by from a standard chainsword blade attached to a CCW sword hilt from the Khorne Zerker's sprues.

From a lore perspective I could have just glued it in place on the basis that it would be mag-locked, but It looked kinda ... just glued on. Adding the 'sword clip' to hold it on looks a little better in my view - thoughts?

Cheers all
KT

Hmmm, I'm now suspicious the lore-writers invented mag-locking to let lazy converters get away with it!

Your work is, as usually, anything but lazy. I like the sword clip but by brain is having trouble figuring out how it's staying afloat - it's growing out of the bike, so I'm looking for a pincer or tentacle that's gripping it. Regardless, yer doing the lords work, gussing up these poor orphaned chaos marines.

Love the group shot of the Oblits, now that's what I call body horror
Love the technique for building a banner, really cool stuff.
And interesting to see the ebay rescue develop. It's probably to late now with you already greenstuffing him, but I have good experiences stripping metal minis with Biostrip20.

Biker Champ is coming along nicely. The paint in the recessed actually looks like a good start for some heavy rust. The GS additions are looking good already, really bringin him in to the IW fold.

So I’m embarrassed to say, but I’ve just googled the Vengabus... it turns out it was a Black and Yellow school bus with Vengaboys on the side and Vengabus on the front... perhaps the banner could include IW stripes with his name emblazoned on it... just throwing it out there that his name could be Venga?

Also feel free to ignore my crazy ramblings!

Ven-ka B'uuz....

...is coming

The Obliterators are a triumph. Just awesome work. New biker looks to be another mad conversion gone right.

Cheers Youwashock I'm quite pleased with my obliterators as well! Fingers crossed I get the bike doing what I want it too.

Speaking about the Obliterators - the Iron Warrior Discord paining challenge for January is now voting. I *think* you can check out the entries here: https://forms.gle/CzVjSfLDV56T1ZW77 - if not, I'll link to the youtube contest video when it drops and you check them out then..

Quick update: I thought I might actually try [i]planning[u] what I put on the banner, given it’s going to be a pretty big feature (it’s as long as the bike itself lol):

My plans:







I think it’ll be difficult to pull off... but that’s the point isn’t it

Your ambition is inspiring. Looks great already. Those colors are just going to explode with some hazard stripes for contrast.

Cheers mate
I’m thinking The other side of the banner will be a little bit like this (but way nearer):



Also I hated that head after I ran the pen over it; I’m going to try for one closer to this:



Should be easy
*starts sweating*


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Another quick update today (a lot of free time this weekend lol) - practicing painting the chains (large scale for reference)

Cool banner sketches! Is the idea that the banner started life in that shape? If not, maybe adjust the positioning of the second design so that bits of it are missing where the fabric has frayed?

The practice chain is looking fantastic, it looks pretty metallic for the nmm paints

Hi Gobert, thanks
That’s a really good point re the second scheme- some details would’ve been lost at the frayed edges. I’m definitely going to revisit it now, the more I look at it the more it feels rushed.

Ive been really enjoying the test scheme painting & have done a little more:

The chain:


Super subtle, but I’ve added a brown wash over the bottom half of the chain & a blue ‘wash’ (thinned aethermaric contrast paint) over the top. I feel it adds a lot.

The small mask:


Same process, I really like the teeth on this guy

And finally (i gotta go to bed!), the big mask:


Scaling down to the banner size will be interesting, but the practice has given me a lot of confidence

Cheers
KT

This banner is going to look amazing!

Loving all the sketches for the banner, this will look amazing!

Cool tests, the blue and brown washes add a lot of depth I think. Good luck scaling down!

Love seeing the process here, how conversions come together. Nice yellow blending on the banner itself, it looks suitably aged around the edges. The concept drawings are sweet. I'm getting some classic Blanche vibes from the skull designs.

Not a fan of those obliterator sculpts, but you make them decent.

The banner though, that is amazing and I'll be coming back to try and do something similar myself! Cheers!

What up everyone! Updating again - pics Later this morning - the banner doth progress at speed!

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:This banner is going to look amazing!

Viterbi wrote:Loving all the sketches for the banner, this will look amazing!

Thanks folks I’m super happy with how this is working out so far!

gobert wrote:Cool tests, the blue and brown washes add a lot of depth I think. Good luck scaling down!

Cheers G

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Love seeing the process here, how conversions come together. Nice yellow blending on the banner itself, it looks suitably aged around the edges. The concept drawings are sweet. I'm getting some classic Blanche vibes from the skull designs.

Ahhh Blanche was so good & responsible for so much classic 40k imagery I didn’t specifically have his art in mind but his work saturates my view of chaos so definitely an influence, thanks DQH.

I’m keen to keep posting process pics- mostly so as I stumble around I can remember what I worked & what didn’t. If it’s entertaining for others then that’s a nice bonus

Fifty wrote:Not a fan of those obliterator sculpts, but you make them decent.

The banner though, that is amazing and I'll be coming back to try and do something similar myself! Cheers!

Hahaha given the hate these sculpts generally attract, I’ll count ‘decent’ as a major win!

Sweet- I’ll look out for it when lurking on your blog


I’ll post pics of banner start & greenstuff work in a couple of hours!
KT

Ok - pics as promised.

Greenstuff Work
Ive been interspersing tiny amounts of greenstuff work while doing the banner (and the planning thereof), which is working out well from a 'Giving Greenstuff time to harden' perspective it does mean progress is slow though.

Aim is to 'fancy up' my aspiring champion as the base biker models dont have a lot of variation.

Back Pack and Bike 'rack'



The backpack is working ok, but my bike rack (which was initially supposed to be kinda 'boney' like ribs hasnt exactly worked as expected. I think I'm going to scrape them off and try something else.

Lower leg & elbow


Just some Slightly fancier trim

Skull-face on bike front


this one seems to have turned out looking ok - but some of it may be covered up when I glue the guns back on.

The Banner - process:

Step one:
redraw your planned pic on the banner in pencil and then in the finest permanent marker you can find (im using a 0.1 nib).Make sure to stuff up in one spot threatening all your hard work so far. Wipe away tears and Slap on a rough cover layer of averland sunset and redraw.

Cross fingers that this area will be covered up by other colours.


Step two:
apply multiple thin Base coats of Astronomicon Grey (or whatever its called now) over the metal bits. Keep going until it is well covered.





Step three:
Apply thinned coats of Black paint to the black areas. Multiple coats until covered.



Note that the big assed f-up is now entirely covered. Deny it ever happened in the first place.

Step four:
Apply dark and light reflections. I used two colours for this:
- dark: Charadon Granite (old Foundation paint)
- light: Ceramite White



waitaminute, where the hell do I put these relfections?
I... dont have a good answer for you. I did hours of research. I took screenshots of metal chains and then applied instagram filters and picture edits (contrast, brightness, shadows etc) to isolate colours and shadows. I Googled and Pinterested for examples of art and metal helmets and skulls etc... I got lots of ideas but found out that there are few strict rules.

This is probably because a reflective surface like metal looks different depending on what it is reflecting.

So Ultimately I absorbed what I could and practiced on the paper. Note that there has been no attempt at blending on this. I'm still working on wetblending and cannot pull it off on this sort of tiny freehand surface yet. Still, I think it delivers a good result.

Step 6:
Apply 'washes'
- super thinned aethermatic contrast paint on the top parts and
- thinned gryphonne sepia wash on the bottom.
aim is to a) add colour and b) give the illusion it is reflecting the sky on the top and the ground on the bottom.

Once it is try, hit the top highlights with white again:





And this is where I am at the moment!

Probably will not get much done tonight, so will update again in a few day. Cheers all
KT

Grisly and gory skin work.
Nice gs with the biker. The flag is coming along well, too.

Flag is coming along amazingly!