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

[dark_gear]

Hey guys,

It's been a long time since I've put files to plastic but on January 6th, something wonderful happened. A new rulebook came out for WH40k and I fell in love with a new slough of models. Time's a wasting so here are the WIP pics.

Bought a Trigon on a whim. After much reading it turns I probably won't field him at all so I just decided to convert him into a suitably monstrous Prime.

First up on the chopping block were the top claws. If this Trigon is going to be a leader it needs a pair of talons that show a bit of age and brawn. A set of crushing claw forearms make for a suitable "up armoured arm".


The kit comes with distended jaws but the "connective tissue wasn't to my liking. The first idea was to use the tongue from the acid maw Carnifex head...


but with quick caliper testing I realised that the bio plasma mouth is




After a quick clean-up the mouth is done, mostly.


Seeing as how I really don't care to use GS too much on my projects when just precisely melting the plastic with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement will typically do just as well if not better, the interior space of the jaws was filled with a fragment from the space set of teeth that came with the kit.



Looking at the tail there was just no way I was going to give this gribbly a rattle. The standard pincer also didnt look quite deadly enough either so out came the files again. Notice, still no GS



The completely kit.






In closing before anyone asks, I probably won't be painting this for a while as I have a)school b) a ton of gribbly projects to work on before a big game in 3 weeks. Besides, I've always preferred modelling to painting. Maybe it's the fact that a knife or a file always goes where you point it. Paint on the other hand seems to have an infernal twisted mind all it's own lol. Also, after doing a preview, I realised that there's some wierd image cropping issues. Until I correct the sizing issue, sorry to say but you have to "right-click/view image" to see the full image.

Marc a.k.a Dark_Gear

[mangozac]

It's just like old times again *wipes tear from eye*

Nice start Marc! Your thought process is exactly the same as mine would be on such a project. The Tamiya liquid cement trick is a good one on organic models like this but I'm not sure how well it would translate to armour.

Oh and don't worry about the pics - I modded the forum so that it will automatically resize them in posts, but it doesn't do it in the post preview. I'll have to fix that one day

[Warhound]

Awesome Marc!

If it wasn't for the other million projects either on desk or in mind, I would be following suit very shortly!

Agreed on the cement test- not the gloopy stuff, but the watery stuff is ace! You mean I can melt, weld, create volume and glue all at the same time?! Genius!

It would be a shame to not see some paint- I don't think we ever have, have we?- if not, then I will still be happy to see your plastic dabblings;-)

cheers
WARHOUND

[dark_gear]

Hey guys,

Come to think of it you're right Warhound, I never did show any painting except for that partially painted first Carnie kit (the blue metal flake scarab look-alike). I did paint a couple necrons back in the day but the Necron-Lord was smashed by the cats (god love them but sometimes...)

As for the cement I've found it just as well on armour as on organics. If you look back at the old xv-8 conversion thread (circa battle-suit buid-off) or the super smooth Pathfinder Fish you'll see that all the surfaces were treated to "cement painting" for smoothing. What I've found works best now is to have 2 pots of cement. One fresh one and one milky one. After multiple "painting" sessions the melted plastic paste that unavoidably builds up on the brush during application saturates the working solution. The fresh pot is just for gluing until it starts to thicken as well then it gets dumped in the bottle of "milky glue and gets replaced by another fresh pot. Typically by the time the fresh pot is milky the sculpting pot is down to about 25% percent anyways so it all works out.

if only more modellers would realise how much better the cement is to the gloopy stuff or <shudder> Cyanoacrylate. I had a short discussion the other day with someone who was trying to tell you also sculpt and file it... Looking at the seams on his model I just smiled, nodded and walked away. What else can you do really?

i'll catch you all later, models are staring at me...

Cheers,
Marc

[dark_gear]

After that Trigon reached the 98% mark (something about the jaws that I figured need some rest time before I attempted finishing them) I moved on to some old Tyranid warriors.

After a year and a half of neglect, my warriors are getting some attention.
First up is a Venom cannon warrior. Due to the bulk of the gun it just seemed to awkward to be carried by hand so I figured the symbiote would be latched onto the back somehow.
The cannon was filed down to what I though it would look like without any hands wrapped around it.
Connecting it to the back is the original arm, filed round to fit into the gun's socket.
Extra protection was added to the side of the gun from a spare Trigon thorax armour plate.
A tiranid gun also isn't complete until some blood vessels keep it well nourished so I chopped up the fugly arm that normallly plugs into it.
A bit of GS was added to finish off some seams and add an extra plate on the gun.









Next up is a Barbed Strangler Warrior, based on the same priniciple of back-mounted weaponry.
This one was a bit trickier due to the fact that I wanted the ammunition sacks somewhere close to the actual gun. A lot of cutting would be involved...
Problem was solved when I realised that the forearm that carries the ammo feed is just the right size and length to replace the original gun arm.













To make these just a little less distracting I'm planning on giving them just a quick coat of primer but that's about it. The sheen that the cement gives to the plastic is just too distracting.

Next Project: Tyranid Warrior Prime (where some over-sizing techniques I saw on Dakka will be tested)

see:

Cheers,

Marc

[dark_gear]

My first stab at a Tyranid Prime conversion was an attempt to get a quick build using mininal custom parts. One look at the flimsy arm and the chunky sword on a normal warrior body and I knew I had to start over. As luck would have it I stumbled upon an interesting post of DakDak. I was going to try my hand at an upsized model.



I've been fighting with a nasty cold for the past 3 days which means I've had a lot of modelling time and was able to make the time "lost" on the first concept.

First up is the chest piece. As I didn't want to mess with the proportions too much the thickness of the torso was thickened with a thinner plasticard than what was used for the width.



Incidentally, toe nail clippers, with their strong curved blade and sharp tip are much better at cutting clean edges than the GW sprue cutters. Plus they sell for about half the price.




The thighs get a similar treatment.




Completed thigh with the usual cement smoothing.


Going through the bitz bin, a carnifex headpiece catches my eye as a suitable enhancement for the tail. The tail is squared off to fit inside the drilled out part. Due to some precise filing and the ubiquitous Tamiya extra thin cement, still no GS required for a seamless assembly.


In light of model's bigger size I figure it can hold a deathspitter in one hand so the weapon gets filed down until the support hand is gone.


Finger holes are drilled out and smoothed with more Tamiya cement. The elbow gets drilled out to make the arm a bit longer and make it poseable.


Lash whip is next.
Here I figured that a Devourer would make a suitable starting point. The angle of the handle, it's size and the selection of small tubes connecting the weapon to the arm just worked. Underneath the GS is a brass armature. I don't know what that batch of GS but it just go where I wanted it to. There were numerous hard yellow fragments that just didn't mix in at all. The more I worked on it the more chunks would work their way to the surface. I did my best to smooth it out but in the end it seemed all I could do was sculpt the stubborn areas to make them look like the that fleshy muscle we have underneath our tongue.


I primed with a quick light coat of German Grey and I'm not too sold on the end result.


Leaving it aside for now until I either get a better idea or some feedback.

Remember that Bone Sword I built at the start? I've never really been a fan of the typical square top Nid swords as they just don't look enough like bone to me. I figure they should look like sharp edged antlers and have a bunch of nasty stabby/slashy tips and edges. This might have something to do with the fact that I use to sculpt antlers into punch daggers and letter openers about 10 years ago but that's a different story .

Seeing as how the bone sword is also a symbiote that constantly heals itself to keep the edge sharp I figure it would have a decent sized body at it's base. It turns out that Rippers are the perfect size compared to a rending claw. All it needs is a bit of filing and carving to make the hand (with finger tips removed) fit inside the chitinous basket guard.

As usual I just sketch to scale directly on styrene to explore some ideas. Two shapes are keepers.


To keep the round areas intact and to cut down on filing time later on, I drill out the detail areas.


The two shapes cut out. The idea with the one on the right was that it would extend past the fleshy and create a ridge that would later be GS'd. Turns out I prefer the left one.


Filing and shaping took just under an hour. Compared to the first design, I'd call it a sizable improvement. Still some GS work to do on it but I'm thinking it's a keeper.


Having now done a fit test with the nearly finished sword arm it becomes clear that the much-maligned first version of the lash whip has to go. More as the story unfolds.

Comments, critique and suggestions (has anyone ever coined CC&S yet ) welcome as always.

Marc.

[mangozac]

I might just have to get some of this brush on cement!

I've personally never been a fan of sword style 'Nid weapons - if you want something to slice with giant claws are so much more awesome. I've seen a few guys using that widening technique on their warriors and it seems to work quite well.

[dark_gear]

Just a quick update

Finished GS work on the Bone Sword. As I was working on it a little voice told me to extend the forearm downwards like a bone shield. Gotta love it when inspiration whispers things that actually fit the goal.

Inside view


Outside view


And yes Zack, if you're doing any kind of work on plastic kits, the Tamiya stuff is, as has been said before, ace. Make sure it's the extra thin stuff though as the normal cement just doesn't work the same.

Also, I was never too sold on the idea of Sword Nids but with the new Dex it would be silly not to. Besides, it's nice to carve a sword again even if only out of plastic. The last one I worked one goes back to about 6 or 7 years ago.

Cheers,

Marc

[Vaaish]

Hmm, I like the idea you have with the back mounted weapons for your warriors, but I don't think the execution is quite there yet. Your first one seems to grow out of the back with a somewhat awkward support structure and the second one doesn't feel like there is enough support to hold that large of a weapon. Perhaps you could instead mount the weapons directly to the shoulders with the tubing and other biostructures coming out of the back to power the weapon?

[Wolfs16]

And so it begins...Did you know that your Carnifex conversions over at ATT got me really motivated to work on my Nids back in the day?

Anyways, let's talk bugs.

I really like the Bonesword conversion. While I have always felt like the Bonesword was kind of a goofy weapon for animals to have, I think you did a pretty good job! Any possibility of casting that bad boy?

Did you see this article made by Hydra on how he makes Lash Whips and Boneswords? I think it is pretty effective and would work well with the ideas you have going already.


As for the back mounted weapons, the supports do look a little flimsy. I like the idea, I'm just not sold on the execution. Hmm, maybe if you fixed it to the shoulder directly and made the connection through the back. Actually, come to think of it, Nids that have weapons mounted anywhere than their arms usually have a pair of feeder arms going over their back or something (See Biovore).

I'm interested in seeing how your Tyranid Prime comes out. I think that is a mini with a lot of conversion potential.

[dark_gear]

Woot! One more mind for the Hive! As alsways, glad to be an inspiration.

Shortly after completing my bonesword arms I stumbled upon Cirillo's initial sketches for boneswords and lashwhips. Pardon the image spam but I'm sure you'll agree it's well worth it.




it seems that the same people who opted for boxy battle suits were in control of the nids because these sketches would have made for amazing warrior bitz. I might just apply his ideas on a warrior sword squad

I also agree about swords on alien bipedal facerippers. If it's going to carry a symbiote that functions like a powersword, it just shouldn't look like a standard meat cleaver, seriously. At some point I was toying with the idea that a proper Nid sword would be more like a 4 part staff. The handle would have been a barbed spike with plates that cover the hand (much like I've done already thanks to the sacrificial Ripper) whereas the 3 top sections would be 3 individual entities that look like rabid, barnacles connected via tubes and cartilage. The clawed toes at the base of each one would clasp it's neighbouring critter. When far from flesh the mouths would be closed, looking more like 3 jagged shark teeth pointed towards the front the sword. When in close proximity however the beaks would open to reveal row upon row of small razor sharp teeth that spastically shred anything that the foot long mouth tendrils latch onto. But then I realised it would be PITA to model that on a warrior... If ever I sketch it up i'll post it.

Regarding the casting of the current version, I have no idea where to start on something like that but if someone were so inclined to give a mailing address I could gladly arrange for a delivery.

As for the guns, while I agree that the Deathspitter definitely needs some beefing up, I can't bring myself to reconsider mounting them directly to the shoulders. I tried and it wasn't at all what I am going for design wise. Basically, if the weapons are symbiotes, in my mind, they are mostly stand-alone entities that don't need the host to sacrifice 2 limbs to feed it unless it's a dedicated ranged beasty, such as a biovore. Therefore, seeing as how the Warrior is mostly a CC or medium range creature, by my self-imposed design rules, the four main combat arms are to remain as is. Having acknowledged that yes the connections need some bulking up, that no, it's not going anywhere else on the body, and that none of arms will be rerouted to feed the gun, let's see what we can come with to make it work. I know it's a challenge but why do what everyone else does.

Cheers,

Dark_Gear
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[mangozac]

Cirillo certainly is the master concept artist!

Unfortunately, I don't totally understand your long description of the bonesword idea. Best do a sketch for us

If you want to do anything for casting you need to make sure that the entire part is scratchbuilt, rather than just an elaborate conversion. Judging from your greenstuff work I don't think that would be a problem! If you did want to look at getting some parts cast (they are certainly good enough quality) I can probably hook you up.

[dark_gear]

Hey,

Just a quick update. Seeing as how an image is worth a 1000 words, or in this case, a paragraph, I present to you the 15 minute render of the aforementioned sword. The small section on the left is with open, tendril ejecting, barnacles.



While it's a bit too detailed for a Warrior. In a Tyrant's hand's this could be a suitably ghastly addition.

Later,

Dark_gear

[mangozac]

Hey Marc, a picture is indeed worth much more than a paragraph

The barnacle concept is a cool idea, but for me the problem is that it's still shaped like a sword. Don't ask me what it should be shaped like instead but I just really don't like swords on 'nids! It's very reminiscent of Davey Jones' crew from Pirates 2!

[dark_gear]

Pardon the slow progress, school has been kinda hectic.

Thankfully there is the daily commute where I can get in some sketching time while working towards the weekend. Somewhat fitting into our conversation about the credibility of swords on Nids, I started thinking, maybe just maybe, the Ordo Xenos mistook misshapen (or barely formed) crushing claws for a sword. Case in point...



Considering the amount of shard spiky bits on Nids one has to wonder what exactly differentiates talons from swords. From my understanding, a bonesword is a scything talon that has evolved enough to become a symbiote rather than just be a brainless stabby hand extension.

That whole train of thought got me thinking of lash whips too. Starting with a Ripper as a base I figured that since they are small and very simple creatures to breed, maybe they could be used as a base for more than boneswords (not that I want to dwell on the notion of swords or anything...). Who knows, maybe rippers evolved from some type of voracious sea-dwelling creature. Their biomass was taken in and their dna was tweaked so that the flowing tentacles have fused into a long bony member or one single large powerful tentacle. If such is the case I figure the one Uber tentacle would still have element of its previously divided self, hence it would have flesh hooks coming out of a split tip to properly snare meals, uh, I mean opponents. Which led to this 15-minute subway idea



More news soon, working on the photos from the weekend after I finish some readings for class.

Dark_Gear