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This is my first hobby-related blog, but this is going to be a big project which I have been planning for a few months now. I'm a painter more than a converter but I decided to take a crack at making my own Ogre on Flying Carpet. This would be my first major conversion for a non-vehicle model. My idea was to have an ogre sitting cross legged with a decorative turban and scratch built carpet. Well time to show rather than tell:


The first step: using a generic ogre bull body cutting off the poor Ogre's legs using a hobby saw and using paperclips for the skeleton of the legs. Selecting a head and placing a blob of greenstuff on top to give the turban something to wrap around and give it height. I selected the lowered arms for the ogre as he would be reclining rather than actively moving. Selecting two of the weapon hands from the ogre bull sprue I cut off the weapons on both hands, drilled out the grips and turned them into regular balled fists. Everything would be dryfitted until I got around to painting the model.


Now the turban. For the strips of cloth I found you can't go past baking paper. It doesn't stick to the greenstuff and gives the putty a flat, smooth finish. After rolling out a long blob of greenstuff and pressing it down between two sheets of baking paper (applying liberal pressure via the 8ed WHFB Rulebook) I let it cure for an hour or two until it had gotten to the point where it was hardened enough to not stick to everything and stretch out its shape, but still was able to get some grip on the model. Cutting it into strips about 5mm to 2.5mm wide I used the smaller strips to form the basis of the turban by running it around the head in a rather chaotic fashion. After than using the thickest piece I ran the piece from the centre front, then down across the ears of the model, then around the back and bringing it back to the centre. Using an old blob of greenstuff I used this an an anchor of pressure until the next day where I removed it (pictured below). This was going to be the area where I would place a large gem and several feathers to give the model some real character.


This part was by far the most time consuming: building up the left leg into billowy, puffy pants (I hear there's a tax on them...or not wearing them...). I decided in a hand swap since I realized the bellower comes with an open hand which the ogre could be resting on his leg, giving him a more casual, relaxed pose. The reason the legs do not fully cross is because of the stubby nature of ogre legs, I can't imagine a creature with such a large gut executing a full lotus meditation pose ever. Bit by but i added greenstuff to the paperclip until it finally took shape, all the while cleaning it up with a few presses of baking paper giving it a smooth painting surface. I plan to at some stage add very thin squares of greenstuff to represent stitched patches on the pants but not until much later when I am fully satisfied with his pose. In addition the scimitar-type weapon I think gives it a more Araby feel. A final note: I cut the extra material off the feet to just leave the boots behind, I found trying to continue the greenstuff off the preexisting patter was too far above my skill level to execute in any convincing manner.

Of course this all wasn't done in one day, over three so far but I only recently found dakka had a WIP forum

I'm looking for ideas on how to make the carpet, so far i'm thinking a rectangle of aluminium from a coke can cut with scissors (as scissors do not leave a sharp edge on the piece to open my finger on) which will I bend into a flowing shape and add greenstuff, however I am open to suggestions on how to do the pattern/material (at one point i was considering shortstitching stretched over the aluminium).

Any and all suggestions and comments are welcome!

That's cool! The turban is coming out quite nicely. You might try stuffing a little foil around his leg to bulk them up to just under the size you want for the pants. Then add GS. I've never tried it at this scale, but it works great on bigger sculptures.

Good choices on the hand swap. That sounds like a pretty good idea for the carpet, but be careful working with the can. You might try some milliput on a bit of flexible plastic, too. Form it to the right thickness on the plastic, then (carefully) peal it off the plastic and form into the basic "flying carpet" shape you and and let it dry. Then do the detail/texture with GS.

Further work done:



greenstuffed the other leg, several issues appeared as I had to constantly repose the sword am as the legs always managed to get in the way (having a higher surface than the other leg as it was crossed over the top. In addition I had to change the top foot because of the angle of the ankle was off on the flat-positioned foot. Still waiting on the feathers and gems to come in before I top off the turban.

I am also attempting to make extremely thin squares of greenstuff to create 'patches' on the pants to give them more detail, however I am unable to think of a way to achieve the stitching using greenstuff or other methods. That and I am stuck trying to think of places to put the patches in order to give it an authentic look.

I will be start working on the flying carpet soon.

Looks pretty cool, what weapons will he have. (sorry if you wrote it already, was reading.)

EDIT:
nvm, boy im blind

Looking good!

(4/11)

Further work:

After some mild cleaning up and a lot of delays I have finally got the gems in, unfortunately I am still lacking a large feather to top off the turban but I think it's still looking good. I keep on forgetting I need to keep aluminium cans to create the base of my flying carpet which is the main reason why I haven't started, also I have also forgotten to tag millput into any of my recent plasticard supplies orders. Any delays can be pretty much summarized by: "I'm too easily distracted by side projects".

I'm also trying to name my Ogre so I at least have a project name, otherwise I generally lose interest. I'm stuck with either "Al'Baba Ganoush" or "Al'Adeen"

I am also considering making a Djinn gnoblar by cutting off his lower torso and replacing it with the generic wispy tail and painting him completely blue, though I am also considering whether it is worth the effort to give him a miniature turban and bracers.

After a large delay (exams and such) I have resumed work and begun on the flying carpet.

Though I initially though that aluminium from a soda can would be the best bet (cutting out a rectangle which sized about 2"x3") I found that it did not hold shape well at all and required to be crumpled rather than bent in order to make the motion shape i desired. However coincidently a supply order came in along with a sheet of mesh (which I was trialing for industrial bases) which turned out to be the perfect medium, being both light, strong, easily bent and held its shape perfectly.

After that I went about making a large, thin sheet of greenstuff to form the top of bottom layers of the carpet around the mesh. Using some baking paper to make sure the greenstuff didn't stick to anything and deform before it fully cured, I pressed it for a prolonged period between two sheets of plasticard, until it was about 1mm-1.5mm thick, before cutting it into the same rectagular shape as the mesh (with a 1cm edging to make sure I had enough material). After that I pressed out another sheet, much thinner this time at 0.75-1mm thick and cut it to the same dimensions.

I have begun work on the pattern I intend to use. Since I am no freehand master I came up with the idea of using 0.5mm plasticard to make the required border/shapes rather than leaving it all up to chance on my painting. Using a 40mm round base I traced around the top edge and created the centre circle of the pattern. This was to be the plate upon which to place the maw sign. I decided on Ogre symbols since this is an ogre model and the intricacies of a Persian carpet escape my painting and modelling skills. Also I was hoping to have this model ready for a conversion contest mid December so I did not want this model to bite too deep into what little time I have during this brief respite for painting.

The teeth on the maw symbol were pretty much just random cuttings from plasticard that took shape as I went. They are currently bluetacked on until I epoxy the two sheet of greenstuff together with the mesh in their motion shape, rather than risk the shape peeling off.

To keep the edges nice and clean after all the filing and gluing which will probably leave a lot of fraying and dusty residue, I am thinking of running a thread of greenstuff along the edges once done, then using a scalpel, lightly press on the edge to make miniature threads, which will be the bindings. On top of that a friend has offered to gift me some old Dark Eldar parts which he assures me have tassles which will work for the four courner of the carpet.

Still waiting for my next supplies order to come in with lots of feathers so I can finally finish the ogre. In the meantime, less text, more pictures (well just one picture in this case )



The plasticard around the edges is just to test out the border, they will be a lot thinner in the end (measurements for the photo are 2-12"x3-1/2")

After a long process involving many paperclips and bulldog clips, both sheets of greenstuff have been stuck to the mesh, then after much waiting and gluing I have stuck the 0.75mm plasticard pattern to the greenstuff using plastic glue (again using paperclips and bulldog clips to hold them in place whilst the glue dries). In the end the design turned out much better than expected, with the double maw pattern.

Not very Araby on the carpet but at least it's fitting with the ogre side of the theme

It could also be a nice banner if I ever decide to redo the carpet. Now only to decide whether to magnetize the bottom of the carpet so the flying base and then comes the questions of how?

ahaha Fantastico.

This is really cool! You do a great job telling everything you do to make this guy. Im excited to see how this turns out

Finally after over a month of hard work and selective amnesia, I have finished my ogre!

The feather was the one from the Empire Greatswords, of course I had to cut it down to half sizebut it does add a lot of character to the model. Now to begin painting I was planning a tanned flesh on the body, white (deneb stone) on the turban/pants and some deep red/brown/gold/purple on the carpet to really bring it to life!

For now still thinking of the right colours but enjoy the finished ogre, the last picture before this baby gets undercoated (that is if the weather over here dries up, nothing worse than a bubbly undercoat on a model which has had so much time put into it). Thanks for the comments/views, all is appreciated!






Now for ideas for my next project:

I was looking through my ogre bits and found an extra bellow arm. After looking at it for a minute I realized something - it doesn't have to be a hand cupping the mouth, here's what I saw...



That's right: for my next project, I shall begin work on a Shaolin Ogre Maneater. Though I have yet to decide whether I wish to scult an old kung fu master like Master Liu from Kill Bill or go with a younger monk. All I can say is that this is going to be one hell of a WIP. Stay tuned for painting/modelling progress.

That is one sweet ogre! I look forward to seeing some paint on him.

Finally time for some painting. I've begun work on the ogre but at the moment he's looking far too shabby to show (if it weren't for one pot of paint running out I'd be done by now) though by the beginning of next week it will be a case of 'everything is fine, nothing is broken'.

Anyhoo, here's the carpet. I have gone through several stages of painting and repainting but unfortunately I get so caught up with my brushwork I forget to snap the occasional photo.



A mixture of flash and bad lighting does not really do it justice but I spent ~4 hours on this alone (I measure by approximate episodes of MST3K). Firstly I began with the red because I was set on using this colour to offset the white, green and blue of the ogre's clothing, jewelry and of course the feather. The mixture of primary colours would really make this piece stand out in the crowd! I apologize in advance for bad spelling of GW paints, the pots are so old and covered in paint its impossible to make out the names.

Anyway: Mechrite Red was the initial colouring along the borders/central plate and the outer teeth. After this I painted the jagged lining with a mixture of Scorched Brown and Dwarf Bronze. The lowest layer was Adeptus Battlegrey. After this I did the teeth on the central plate Astronomicon Grey. The tip I always give with painting is to make sure you have a solid base coat, I don't start a single highlight until I am sure not a single bit of undercoat is showing (crazy like that). Now that that wasy out of the way, it was time for the red highlights. Mixing Mechrite Red with Blood Red I did the first few highlights, then mixing in increasing amounts of Blazing Orange I did a couple more highlights (which can be seen on the central plate most obviously). It was during this stage that I realized I had made an error with the red teeth on the second layer, and as such I corrected them to Astronomicon Grey and began highlighting the teeth, adding increasing amounts of Skull White for five for six highlights. With the jagged lining I highlighted with Shining Gold and finally Burnished Gold in a criss-cross pattern to simulate the stitching, however after examining it in the light, I covered over this disaster decision with Iyanden Darksun. From here I added increasing amount of Skull White to the yellow for about five highlights. From here, the only thing left was the bottom layer. Now after playing the ogre on top, and seeing that bland, neutral grey I decided to do a quick test with blue, green, purple and brown in the corners to pick a new colour and decided upon brown (an ogre-esque colour). Mixing Scorched Brown with Iyanden Darksun, I did between six and eight highlights using progressively more Iyanden Darksun. None of the carpet has been washed and I don't intend to, I've found the colour are bright enough to attract the eye and any kind of wash would simply serve to show the brushstrokes on the highlighting.

I reckon that for nothing but a bunch of plasticard and greenstuff it's turned out to be a fun painting experience, with lots of flat areas and intereting indentations to work around.

Now for something completely different:



My FW order has arrived with many christmas goodies, including an Armoured Land Raider Proteus and Caestus Assault Ram. However there was a slight issue with the Assault Ram so I am waiting for that to be resolved before proceeding with that.

Onto the Proteus: This kit had a lot more pieces than expected, the main hull alone has 20 pieces (not including sponsons, pintles hatches or tracks), and it has a lot of excess resin, I mean a lot. Cleaning it took the better part of the televised Little Shop of Horrors (that was just washing the release chemicals off, removing the sprue/rough areas took longer). However the kit is pretty self-explanitory in assembly, far easier than the Elysian Tauros I assembled earier in the year.

So far I have magnetized the heavy bolter to it's housing (as seen in the dark area on the second row, second from the left) so as to avoid having it rattle around. First I intend to assemble the hull fully before adding the sponsons or tracks, and I shall be replacing the doors with Iron Warrior Rhino Doors so this might be added to my pre-heresy collection (psyched to hear about pre-heresy terminators in the works from FW!). It was not until I received the kit that I realized the MkIIB doors were rhino sized instead of Land Raider sized.

That flying carpet ogre is totally awesome, haha!

Now to dodge again between projects:

Here are the few select pieces to begin my shaolin ogre maneater:



The open palm was cut from the ogre hand holding the bear trap, while the other arm was cut from the ogre bull banner arm. Do not worry about the poor quality of the open palm, because I plan to sculpt some greenstuff handwrappings to cover that up. I wanted a distinct 'tiger claw' type hand because it is an easily recognizable style. The banner I intend to turn into a staff with a large studded club head on the end. I have gouged a bit of the the ogre's neck on the left side so I have have the head turning to the left giving it a more dynamic pose.

For the legs I intend to do much the same as the ogre on flying carpet: take the leg off up to the hip, remove the boots from the legs, greenstuff the legs posing, however there will be some stark differences from my first piece. I intend to have baggy pants up to just below the knee, and after that tight leg wrappings (much like those seen on the Firebelly model) with a set of simple cloth shoes (based upon the ogre boots I salvage from the legs). The legs shall be posed with the right being completely straight, and the left being bent so the bottom of the foot is touching the inside of the right knee (in a du li bu stance). Since this model will be entirely plastic I see no real issue with balancing the model as I will be able to run a pin up the entire right leg to stabilize it to the base.

I do not know if I have any desire to make him a simple cloth shirt or leave him barechested with a gut plate (which shall be plain, having filed off the ogre teeth from one of the regular bull gutplates. I realize this model does not exactly sound or at the moment look completely coherant with all the ideas but in the end with ogres its more about the feel and aesthetic rather than accuracy or practicality.

this is great, for your shaolin master dude-thing will he be holding the staff behind his back, starkiller style?

Pretty much, though I'm really having to work the model in order to get the pose right (either need a new arm of have to greenstuff it out from the socket like my last model.

However I am thinking once I remove the legs the posing will be a lot easier (and will probably be able to get the staff fully behind his back) because the hip is currently in the way, preventing me from turning the wrist further.

Wow that is a really imaginative conversion. I also like how you explain everything as you go. Can't wait to see him painted!
SUBSCRIBED!

Well there has been little pogress lately due to demands on my time from outside sources. However I didn't think I showed enough steps in my Araby Maneater so I've decided to try and go through each step so everyone can make their own shaolin maneater


(Is it me or does this kind of look like a Mr. Potato Head now?)

This step was a simply matter of sawing the legs off the ogre body using a hobby saw, then carefully cutting off the boots from the bottom portion. After that It was a simply matter of cutting along the creases on the Ogre's hips so that I could easily sculpt and modify the posing. After some filing the edges, this step was complete.

The next step will be to get the posing right using paperclips for the skeleton of the model, then cutting and filing the boots to complete the shins/shoes. The boots will have their curled toes flattened to make a smoother cloth shoes, closer fitting to the ogre's foot. The shin will be a simply matter of cutting all the area above the ankle into the shape of a calf so that it will be ready to wrap the length of greenstuff cloth around it to form tight leg wrappings.

EDIT: Had time to do a quick mockup using paperclips to show the final pose.





I am still deciding whether to greenstuff in an open shirt (much like the Ogre Ninja Maneater). For the colour scheme it's all starting to fall into place: bright orange clothing with white wrappings, pale-ish skin with six red dots on the forehead

That's looking promising. He has a very dramatic pose. I might just make my own Shaolin Maneater... if life permits. For the colour scheme use this as a reference, blue looks great with white and orange IMO.

The new year has landed me with many new projects, projects that require lots of modelling putty. I have recently sent out for more greenstuff (an additional 3') and I can only hope my dwindling supplies can last me for another week. I have tried out milliput and found that it sticks to everything. The yellow-grey mixture I find is too granular even when fully mixed (that and it tends to cake underneath the fingernails). Hence I've decided that Milliput shall be great for bases and filling work, but not for detailed modelling work.

Anyhoo, back to the shaolin maneater. I have begun greenstuffing the legs as seen below, remember that the shins will be covered in wrapping so the rather crude workmanship will not show when this is finished. As seen I have also cut and filed the boots down to something resembling traditional footwear. I have yet to wait for the sheet of greenstuff to dry fully so I can cut out the soles of the shoesand add some extra height to the model (making it more distinguishable from a regular bull). The pants are not yet complete, this is only the very basic first look at the pose that the ogre will be in. Once both legs have their foundations in place, I can begin on the detail work starting with the leg wrappings, then the pants (I dread having to sculpt creases, as I don't think I am up to that level of skill yet).

Still: early days, these picture might make the final product all the more surprising for all I know.

Cool idea! Having practiced shaolin myself, I'd suggest raising his right foot a bit more, with the sole of the foot perpendicular to the ground. Still, that's just nitpicking, you're doing a great job!

Well after further distractions (like assembling and painting an entire Black Coach) I have made further progress on the shaolin maneater.

Instead of using greenstuff wrappings like I did for the turban of the araby maneater, I tested out paper thin plasticard in its place and to my surprise it worked just as well if not better. The material doesn't tear as easily, is lighter so it sticks better to the surface and saved me a lot of time pressing greenstuff (not to mention saves me said greenstuff). The wrappings may look messy but trust me once the actual pants are complete (the current thighs are the base, not the finished product) it will cover up most of the chaotic look.

The wrappings were made by cutting the plasticard into strips of 18-1/2" long and 1/10" wide and supergluing one end to the leg and gradually wrapping it around whilst applying superglue to the contact side of the plasticard. Make sure that at all times the plasticard moves with the contours of the surface so that it creates a natural look, otherwise it ends up looking half baked (pictures below are the best attempt i've had after several failures).

I am now considering make a vest-like foldover shirt in order to really set this apart from a regular ogre bull. However with my current skill it would probably end up looking flat and uninteresting.

Looking good!

Again, a massive break but things have been a little hectic recently which means I haven't really been in the mood for sculpting. This post is in memory of my dog Jackson.

The process for the right leg was pretty much the same as the left, greenstuffing the base of the thigh before waiting for it to set and then adding another layer to do the detail work.

Anyway, this next stage was certainly the most touch and go and time consuming so far. Using a scalpel I pressed into the greenstuff along the intended folds in the pants, using the sharp edge to push upward to create the illusion of folds as best I could. The right leg turned out to be far harder than the left given the pose.

Then after examining the final pose, I found that it didn't look quite right standing up straight, that I hadn't quite captured that du li bu stance. Instead I found that by angling the model slightly forward, I had created something far, far better. Instead I had stumbled upon a perfect running stance. The ogre was no longer posing, rather rushing forward to the enemy, ready to lay down the hurt with his staff.

However there continued to be an issue with the legs. The folds I greenstuffed are far too large to fit with the soft folds of the original ogre bull model. As such I am planning on sculpting a tabard-like cloth fold in a quasi-asian style in order to cover up the problem area.

In addition I have taken a regular ogre bull gutplate and cut/filed off the maw teeth in order to create a perfectly plan, smooth surface in order to capture the plain aesthetic. I am planning during the painting stage to have this as a polished bronze with the two characters of Shaolin written on the centre in black with a red border.

I am considering adding the generic ogre satchel to one of the hips to represent him carrying all his worldly possessions with him. Anyway, enough words, more pictures! Everything except the legs at this stage are only bluetacked to the model.

Now for the final stage of the Shaolin Maneater Ogre!

Much like the legs, I did a small amount of wrappings for the right hand, which continues the wrappings on the ogre arm selected.

After that, using baking paper I pressent out a sheet of greenstuff to about 1mm thick and cut it into a rectangle which would cover up the area on the back of the model where the legs meet the body. Then there was supergluing the satchel to the back of the model which would cover up one side of the hip joint.

Next was the angling of the head, which simply required some greenstuff for the exposed side of the neck. Then were was the joint on the left arm to the body, because the pose required the arm to not sit flush on the body, there was exensive greenstuffing on that joint, the main challenge was getting the greenstuff to flow with the contours of the muscles

After that the final touch was pinning it to the base, easy enough. Honestly the pictures don't do it justice but I have yet to find a simple tutorial on making a decent photo box. Any links or advice would be greatly appreciated.











For colours the clothing is most likely going to be a bright orange. As for the skin, a pale shade and the metal given a polished look, but still worn in places.

He looks Great!
Who Knew an Ogre could strike a pose like that?

Great work on the Maneater! The normal ogres are so static in their poses, they cry out for great converting!

Keep up the good work!
Rawson

Well with my main current projects out of the way (sculpting that is) it is time for an army wide focus. I called this blog the Chaos Forge firstly because of my first major conversion idea (converting an anvil of doom into a chaos dwarf forge for a centrepiece) and secondly because I have so much stuff going on at one time, I knew this blog was going to turn out with bits and pieces of projects everywhere.

However there is one large project coming up which you will be seeing bits and pieces on as it is slowly completed. It will be both my playing army as well as my Games Day Armies on Parade. Since I managed to win my store and get through to Gamesday, I saw the kind of effort and time required to win, and that's what I'm going for this year.

All I can say is this one is going to be the fight of the century.

Now it's only a small matter of acquiring some cheap GW terrain (unfortunately all my regular stores have stopped stocking the terrain I need as everything bar the modular hill has gone direct). If anyone knows a store still stocking discount citadel chapels, watchtowers, witchbane towers or the like which still ships to Australia (or better yet is located in Australia) it would be very much appreciated if they would either PM me or reply to this thread.

Anyway, this needs more pictures.





So what we have here is: 12xOgre Bulls, 6xIronguts, 8xLeadbelchers, 1xIronblaster and 1xStonehorn. I pretty much already had all of the characters long before the new ogre release and the better part of them are already assembled and painted. Expect peglegs, pistols and plenty of eyepatches to go around!