Modelling, it's just like riding a bike...

[paulson games]

The new arm design is pretty cool, I really like the gritty pitted bone look to it and looks like a crab claw at the same time.

I think I may need to borrow the trygon tail idea for my carnifex mod.

[dark_gear]

Now that I'm done with the readings I can also get caught up with the Swarm building blog.

Thanks, glad you like the idea. The mini claw idea developed as I was drawing it. Slowly the fingers fused together the thumb became an elongated dagger, creating the claw(lite). I found it also quite reminiscent of old school terminator chain fists for some odd reason...


Let's get the simple things out of the way. Knowing I have to get an army for a 2.5k battle on the 17th, I have to balance conversion work with the drudgery of mass building. In trying to get enough spare Termagants for 2 Tervigons, I've had to buy more of the little gribblies. The only way to power through them is to set up the production line.



Then I realised they were all too light so out came the air rifle pellets. Thankfully I bought a big tin because at 2 pellets per base it adds up pretty quick. It also requires a lot desk space.



I did some math from reading Battle Reports and it seems that on average, when running 2 Tervies, (which should also make for great conversion projects) you can poop out about 44 Termagants before pregnancies get aborted by the dice gods. Therefore, counting the 20 that one needs to field the 2 Tervies as a troop choice, I need a minimum of 64 to make I don't run out. Maybe I could cut down on costs if I just converted some Hormogants? Mind you, if i do that then I'll never have enough to field the Apoc Without Number formation <le sigh> Still a long ways to go...



Speaking of swarms, I did some counting and realised I finally had enough rippers to start making bases. The production line was setup and ready to go.



I also found a use for those seemingly useless plastic sphincters GW includes on most Nid sprues. There are 2 designs, a 2 "cone" and a 3 "cone" base. Considering I had enough to create 2 squads of 8 bases, the squads will be differentiated by which "cone mound" it is glued to. Another possible use will possibly be an orifice through which Termagants will be delivered into the world. More on that once I start converting the Tervigons.



After the tedious bits were out of the way I finally could get back to the Tyranid Prime.
Try as I might the original deathspitter mod just wasn'nt working. It was too bulky and took away the focus from the bonesword. Furthermore, the empty lower arm was also in the way of the sword arm so I scrapped that one too. Instead, I opted for a Plain Jane deathspitter with standard feeder arm. This design changed opened up some much needed space on the model for a Lash whip more in keeping with the Sword, something that could make use of the sketch I posted at the start of the weekend.



Starting with a Ripper as a base, and following the fluff from my last post, I ended up with this final design.



While that was curing I turned my attention to the torso. It just didn't seem to have enough height and bulk, which meant it was time to add some extra armour.





Following this I realised the Warrior's head should also reflect its stature and status.
Here then is a close-up of the bulked up cranium and the beginnings of a bigger, more muscular throat and neck to connect the piece to the torso.



Once it cures I'll finish off the throat and bulk up the ribcage so that it all fits visually.

C&C welcome as always.

Cheers,

Dark_Gear

[mangozac]

Resin Addict is being overrun by 'nids! Get out the big guns!

Of all of the modelling goodness your posts present, I'm particularly amazed by the cleanliness of your workspace!
Other than standard "awesome" and "great idea" comments I don't have much feedback to give. Once again your GS work is really superb and I love the barbed end on the lash whip. It's so great to have you back on board!

[Warhound]

±± Manta strike inbound Shas 'O.. commence in 3 Kai rotaa±±

I have to admit that I am a closet Tyranid fan, as it is the army that I actually had and played with the longest in all my years of service;-)

The work here is great! I love the revisit to the lash whip- it really looks like it would squeeze the symbiote to shoot the tendrils out and it would writhe and thrash and oh my.....!!

The fore arm on the sword arm though it not as finely sculpted, and due to its thickness, the blade itself with the instep, is now too fine..? I would revisit this also..?

The extra armour cowl works well and the bulking on the head is tied in nicely!

Great work man- I cant wait to see your Tervigon interpretation! There are some great examples (read inspiration) on BOLS at the moment!

cheers
WARHOUND

[paulson games]

That lash whip looks totally brutal in a good way.

I really like the bulked up carapace armor, very smooth greenstuff work.

I am likewise envious of your super clean workspace, my table is so over runn with junk I barely have and 6x6 inch area of free space the rest is burried in half complete models, paint pots and assorted junk.

[Wolfs16]

Ooh my goodness... I am lost for words!

I love the new Bonesword concept! It feels so natural; a logical evolution. The lash whip is also a stroke of genius! I can image the Warrior standing on top of an overpass, scanning over the battlefield. His Bonesword glows with alien energies and his lash whips begins slashing the ground in anticipation. The Warrior roars at the flayling appendage, calming its excitment. With it's symbiotes under control, the Warrior runs into battle...

I really like how you bilked out the armor. Your extra green stuff carapace looks great and realy adds to the commanding feel of the beast. The bulled out head/neck is perfect too! I agree about your new choice in Deathspitters though, the focus should be on the Bonesword & Lashwhip, not too much on the shooting weapon.

Keep up the good work man!

[dark_gear]

Wow, thanks for the deluge of responses guys! Some great points were brought up, bear with me as I try to address them all not so much per person but by topic.

The workspace: I just had to laugh. If the desk looks clean it's only because it's a mixed project area and my bitz box is off to the side (since it's too big to fit on the desk). School papers and reading material have to share the space with the Hive Mind Spawning Pools so I tend to stick to one project at a time. You'll also notice that I have more than one cutting mat. When it's homework time I vacuum up all the plastic shavings and shove the big green mat under the desk. My wife still hates that room because there's no space for her in the "office" and there's 40k boxes everywhere. After nearly 2 years of wedded life I've learned that the best way to keep the peace is to clean up as often as possible.

Lash Whip: Wolf, awesome bit of fluff there, you totally captured the feel I'm going for. If every symbiote weapon really does have a mind of its own why is that so many of them just does don't have any presence whatsoever? The answer is simple... To give conversion junkies a good kick of inspiration Having looked at the design that came with the older hive guard (which I tested originally in a previous pic), the "girth" of the tentacle just seemed too slender to fit the stated purpose of tying up opponents. The slender tendrils just seem like a nuisance rather than a threat. I still feel it needs a few more blood vessels connecting it to the arm due to the bulk of the tentacle but at the same time, judging from your collective reactions, every other part of the design needs to be locked down.

Bone Sword: Now that I have a finalise Tentacle of Strangulation done, I have to agree that what looked fine before now looks a little slender. At first I felt that the careful was enough to make it mesh smoothly with the ripper's mouth but now I really need to add some GS to ease the transition and bulk out the mouth. What I'll be going for will be based on the idea that the sword should like an octopus beak on steroids, as described in this article:





Further to that I totally agree with you Warhound, the shield forearm needs some extra work. Compared to the detail of the sword, the armour cowl and the lash whip, there's a drop in sculpt quality. It was a 'first draft' attempt at the shield arm and it needs a revision. Working on it with sketches. Updates coming when its satisfactory.

If you read the first page of this lesson on Octupii you will learn a really cool detail regarding their blood that could also explain why Tau blood (and therefore skin) is blue. Their oxygen binding cells are copper based, not iron based like ours. Incidentally, copper-based blood is less oxygen efficient than iron-based blood so octopus have 3 hearts to cycle their blood. Bringing this back to Tau, maybe they are horrible at CC because their copper based blood means they have a much lower anaerobic threshold than iron-based lifeforms, such as humans.

Carapace: As clean at it looks, following a fit test with the improved cranium, I'm finding that the neck is far too exposed (pic forthcoming). In other words, the cowl needs to wrap around the whole of the carapace, not just be a peak on the top plate. Worked on bulked up cranial plates while on the bus earlier, will post the sketch as soon as I can capture it.

Future Monstrous Creature designs: First up will be a Tyrannofex so don't hold your breath for a rockin' Tervigon just yet. All I can say about them is that there is some great inspiration on Bell of Lost Souls thanks to their current conversion competition. Info can be found here:



Anyways. that's it for now. Just realised I've been typing for an hour and a half.

Cheers,

Dark_Gear

[darkman]

[dark_gear]

Cough, <taps microphone>

Well I'm be damned if school and work can really kill the hobby time. 9 months later, the hobby gets kicked awake again during a quick trip to the Seattle Battle bunker where, lo and behold, they had an "overstock" of tyranid shrike wings. A small squad of shrikes would look quite nice flying around a city dio or in formation around a Harpy conversion...

6 pairs and 4 hours of driving later I'm finally taking my first slices into resin. Pictures soon.

Darkman: What model did you use the widening technique on? Any pictures?

Marc "Once in a Blue Moon" Renaud a.k.a. Dark_Gear

[mangozac]

Hey Marc it's great to hear from you again! Looking forward to another burst of progress

[dark_gear]

There's still a lot of GS and conversion to do on these models but they are getting there. In the meantime please ignore the bits of brass or the magnets showing up all over the place

All of them have magnetised lower arm sockets so that I can swap in swords and/or whips once they are done. For the time being these Shrikes are a flying shooting squad that gives some extra range support for advancing Gargoyles which are in turn only there to screen the eventual Harpy by flying in front of it or by tarpitting marine heavy weapon squads. In my last game, 14 gargoyles tied up a 10 man tactical for 3 turns, allowing the rest of the force to get closer without being shot to bits.

The whole Nid army is being based to fit within an urban setting so I've been playing with materials to give the squad the appearance of quickly landing on, leaping from and jinking through rubble.

Most have had brass rod inserted in their joints to solidify the surgery on their limbs. Rods were also added to serve as mounting hardware to give the models a look of floating above the bases as though they are just taking off or landing.

Thanks to a stuffed bitz bin I found I had enough rending claws left over to replace the usual hooves with a foot that seemed more appropriate for a beast that could probably snatch a full-grown human from the ground.













Once all the bases and GS for the current models is done then I'll start work on the Sword and whips for the whole bunch based on the design that was used on the Tyranid Prime that I was working on back in January. Let's just hope I can actually finish them before work gears up to 60 hours a week again.

C&C welcome as always,

Cheers,

Marc

[mangozac]

Looking great Marc - I see much greenstuffing in your future

I must say though, the majority of them look quite precariously posed, particularly the one atop the lamp post. If you're planning to game with these guys they would seem just too unstable to me...

[Kennui]

Madness! almost makes me want to play with nids again.. Still have a ninjafex half built. Sold the rest of my nid parts but would love to do similar things.

Mr. Lamppost can use a big round piece of metal under the base. But detaching it for gaming is more practical.

[dark_gear]

Well spotted about the precarious balance guys. It was the intention from the start to pose the Shrikes in such a way that, first, they seemed to leap off the bases and secondly, that the methods used to keep them in those poses would be invisible as possible. The poses for all the models is so out of balance (especially Mr. Lamppost) that if it weren't for about 12 pieces of squished and super glued lead shot underneath each base they would topple right over.

All the bases are drilled to accomodate a styrene sleeve for the brass pinning rods that were drilled into the legs of the models. Whenever I get to that harpy, I'm certain that I'll be much better off just mounting to a steel plate since I can't foresee a trigon with balrog wings being held steady by anything less.

Kennui: What's a ninjafex again? Since I don't really assault too often with them I don't keep tabs on the non-shooty variants.

Cheers,

More pics as the swarm progresses.


Marc

[Kennui]

You should also consider, if you intend to game with tall bases, slopes and tiny angle variations that could throw a model off balance even if you have a ton of metal on the base.

A ninjafex is a Carnifex train in the way of the ninja. AKA tyranid project that I shelved. I have a thread with active pics if you'd like to see.

The general idea was a very unique adaptation made by the canifex (and lesser creatures) to survive once cut off from a hive fleet. They aren't a splinter fleet or tyranid infestation. They are simply living on the planet with you.

Genestealers and lictors have no probs being sneaky but the carnifex had to go through a long and arduous training program before he could hide from the imperials and PDF.