Jump to content

Modelling: Legion of the Damned

juckto

By juckto
in + Modelling Tutorials +

Recommended Posts

juckto Veteran

juckto

Posted
Posted

Contents

 

My tools

All my conversions here were accomplished with a simple set of tools.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/tools.jpg

From left to right:

Lip balm - for greasing up greenstuff

Brass rod - for poking out eyes

GW scuplting tool - for (surprise) scuplting

Stanley knife blade - incredibly thin and sharp blade. I use it for scuplting.

Craft knife - for all plastic conversions

Glue - for sniffing gluing

And of course, a chopping block but also smooth surface for greenstuff work.

 

Skull backpack

Right, let's start off with something simple - exchanging backpack vents for skulls. This hardly needs a tutorial, but hey, baby steps.

 

  1. Get any old backpack and a couple of skulls. Here I've taken one from an ork's topknot, and one from the chaos accessory sprue. Technically you should get 2 from the same source so that they match, but I'm not too concerened.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/back_1_1.jpg
     
     
  2. Trim the backpack. I reccomend making the first slice a little bit wider than you need, then carefully trimming it back.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/back_1_2.jpg
     
     
  3. Once you have the skulls cleaned up, take a straight slice off the back of them. Line it up to see if it looks right, and carefully shave some more off if you need.
    By changing the angle of the slice you can get the skulls to look out, or down. Heck, you could even slice the sides of the skull instead of the back and get them to look forwards or backwards.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/back_1_3.jpg
    (At this point I noticed that the two skulls had quite different jaw lengths, so trimmed one up).
     
     
  4. Glue it together - as you can see, I went for skulls looking "Out".
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/back_1_4.jpg
    (Yes, I know I made a bit of a mess on the right hand side.)

 

 

Skull bolter

Another simple conversion.

 

  1. Take your bolter and trim off the biddy bits above the barrel, they'll just get in the way. I also shaved off the emblem on the side cause I figured it would be obscured by the skull when I finished.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/bolter_1_1.jpg
     
     
  2. Get your skull and trim most of the jaw off as indicated so that'll sit back on the gun.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/bolter_1_2.jpg
     
     
  3. Next we want to gouge out the centre of the skull to wrap it over the bolter. So turn it upside down and make two cuts as shown to start your gouge.
    Don't cut from the direction this photo is taken from! Cut from the base of the skull inwards and downwards.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/bolter_1_3.jpg
     
     
  4. Start scooping plastic out out until you have the correct depth. You may want to trim a little bit off the top of the bolter too, but I would be very wary of that. Gouge too much out of the centre of the skull and it doesn't matter - trim too much off your bolter and you'll ruin it.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/bolter_1_4.jpg
     
     
  5. Glue it on.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/bolter_1_5.jpg

 

Spine bolter

Simple greenstuff conversion.

 

  1. Grab a bolter. No trimming or shaving required.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/bolter_2_1.jpg
     
     
  2. Roll out a thin tube of greenstuff and lay it over the top of the bolter.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/bolter_2_2.jpg
     
     
  3. Get a blade and mark out where you want the joints to lie.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/bolter_2_3.jpg
     
     
  4. Using whatever tool works for you start picking away at the joints, trimming the tube to shape. (iirc I used the tip of my sharp blade)
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/bolter_2_4.jpg

 

Skull knee

Replacing knee caps with skulls - this conversion really frustrated me. 4 out of 5 times the skull didn't come out looking how I wanted, and the fifth time I would manage to smudge it with a unwary finger while I worked on the other knee.

So I advise allowing one knee to cure before starting on the other!

 

  1. Take your model and ...
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/knees_1_1.jpg
     
     
  2. ... lop his kneecaps off! Mwahahaha. Poke the exposed surface a little with your knife to give the greenstuff something to "grip" to.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/knees_1_2.jpg
     
     
  3. Reform the knee using gs and poke out two holes for the eyes, about halfway down.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/knees_1_3.jpg
     
     
  4. Trim underneath the cheeks. Make this a tight angle.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/knees_1_4a.jpg
     
     
  5. Get the blunt end of the scuplting tool, and press it lightly against each temple and the brow.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/knees_1_5.jpg
     
     
  6. Using the edge of a blade, press on each side of the nose to seperate the upper jaw/nose from the cheekbones.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/knees_1_6.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
juckto Veteran

juckto

Posted
  • Author
Posted

7. Do a better job of cleaning up the skull than I managed to :). Sigh, looking at it now I should have just left it at the previous step.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/knees_1_8.jpg

 

 

Bone trim

Simple idea - replace shoulder pad trim with bone shapes. Unfortunately my one didn't turn out great. Okay, but not great. Perhaps with practice ...

  1. Take your model
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/shoulder_1_1.jpg
     
     
  2. And shave off the trim on the shoulderpad. In hindsight I reccomend shaving it all off, not just patches as I have done below.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/shoulder_1_2.jpg
     
     
  3. Slap on some greenstuff. Don't worry about neatness.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/shoulder_1_3.jpg
     
     
  4. Scuplt the greenstuff to shape. Femurs, rib bones, humourous, whatever.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/shoulder_1_4.jpg

 

Ribcage pauldron

I quite like this conversion. Pity I screwed it up slightly.

 

  1. Get a model with an attached shoulder pad, you'll need the bulk underneath it.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/shoulder_2_1.jpg
     
     
  2. Because the second step is to gouge out the entire surface.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/shoulder_2_2.jpg
     
     
  3. Then I strongly reccomend you look at a real ribcage for guidance.
     
     
  4. The next step is to fill the shoulder pad to the brim with greenstuff and, using a blade, sketch the ribcage into the gs.
    Make sure you get the centreline in the correct place!
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/shoulder_2_3.jpghttp://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/shoulder_2_2b.jpg
     
     
  5. Cut away the triangles in the corners and centre, then start working on the gaps between the ribs, scuplting them to shape (I used my thin blade). Next photo was taken halfway through this, when I had the right hand side complete.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/shoulder_2_4.jpg
    When I started on the left I realised my centreline was offset and while I did manage to fix it, the final product ain't so great looking - the ribs managed to get flattened and squarish.

 

Exposed skull

This was a lot easier than I was expecting it to be.

 

  1. Take a model with a bare head.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/head_1_1.jpg
     
     
  2. And lop some of it off. Once again, poke the surface a little to give the gs something to grip to.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/head_1_2.jpg
     
     
  3. Replace it with a ball of gs, slightly smaller than the original. This will be the exposed skull. Allow it to cure overnight.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/head_1_3.jpg
     
     
  4. Get some gs and roll it out as flat as you can.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/head_1_4.jpg
     
     
  5. Cut a thin strip of this out and wrap it around the edge of the head, and use a sculpting tool to smooth it into the original skin.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/head_1_5.jpg
     
     
  6. Then use a knife and play around with the upper edge, making it a bit ragged. Just make sure you don't smooth it into the lower bulb.
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/head_1_6.jpghttp://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/juckto/Wh40k/LotD/head_1_7.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.

  I accept