Modelling slings

[Kierdale]

I'm looking for advice on modeling (and explanations of, to some extent) different types of slings. I'm wanting to model a couple of marines with their weapons slung (one a plasma gun, the other a Phobos pattern bolt gun) and wondered if anyone could advise me on how this could be modelled, how it should look, where the sling should attach, etc. If I can pull it off well enough on those two them perhaps I will do the same on my Umbra Ferrox-armed Sternguard.

Any and all advice is appreciated. My experience with rifles is limited to firing a .22 with a basic 2-point sling in the ATC in my youth :angry:

[red_starrise]

I'm looking for advice on modeling (and explanations of, to some extent) different types of slings. I'm wanting to model a couple of marines with their weapons slung (one a plasma gun, the other a Phobos pattern bolt gun) and wondered if anyone could advise me on how this could be modelled, how it should look, where the sling should attach, etc. If I can pull it off well enough on those two them perhaps I will do the same on my Umbra Ferrox-armed Sternguard.

Any and all advice is appreciated. My experience with rifles is limited to firing a .22 with a basic 2-point sling in the ATC in my youth :)

 

I've done 2 point slings quite a bit on bolters, especially with combi-weapons (on the AoBR sgt this allows me to swap out the gun depending on the list). I use thin strips of paper & attach them just beneath the barrel on the bayonet lug & at the back, just behind the grip. I don't have a very good pic at the moment, but here's an old one:

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x84/red_starrise/40K/Imperial%20Fists/CIMG5097.jpg

[rusty1109]

O_O Is that a POWERTHUNDERHAMMERFIST!

[Kierdale]

Thank you Red Starrise, that definitely seems simplest. Nice idea on modeling it so you can swap combi :) Is that a LSS handle-turned-foregrip I see too? Nice!

 

I'll probably go with 2-points, though would still be interested to see if anyone had modeled other types or had advice on them?

[Durus]

For reference the 3rd edition auspex sarge and the UM Tyranid Wars Vet

 

I did something similar with plasticcard here on the musician. Just a small strip of 1mm thick plasticcard glued to the body and the drum, after I had the drum attached to the hip. Once the glue is dry you could sculpt a clasp/buckle on it.

[red_starrise]

Thank you Red Starrise, that definitely seems simplest. Nice idea on modeling it so you can swap combi :) Is that a LSS handle-turned-foregrip I see too? Nice!

 

Yes, it's a LSS rappelling handle & some plastic rod to make an aux grenade launcher for my honor guard.

[Kierdale]

Thanks Durus (and again Red Starrise), I'll probably give it a go this weekend.

[Kassill]

For reference the 3rd edition auspex sarge and the UM Tyranid Wars Vet

 

I did something similar with plasticcard here on the musician. Just a small strip of 1mm thick plasticcard glued to the body and the drum, after I had the drum attached to the hip. Once the glue is dry you could sculpt a clasp/buckle on it.

 

 

That looks suberb! I bet it would look great on a bolter! :)

[AdeptusDavidus]

I've used brass strip to model slings on a few minis. It's a little harder to work with than plasticard, but when I was trying it with plasticard, I had horrible luck with the little strips of plastic breaking (there are ways around this - mostly involving hot water - but I was too impatient to do it properly). I've also used the lead foil from wine bottles, not for slings specifically, but for seatbelts and such on model aircraft.

 

I've not built any models lately, but if/when I come back to it, I'm thinking of modelling boltgun slings as single straps running from the boltgun itself to an attachment point on the power armour. I'll probably fiddle around with a stock blank to figure out where the attachment points should be to feel right.

[Ovidius Incertus]

You could try a single point style sling as well. The sling would attach to the bolter at the butt end (plenty of flat real estate there). The sling itself would then loop over the mini's right shoulder and under his left armpit (or vice versa, I guess) and a smaller bit of sling would lead from the loop and attach to the butt of the bolter. (A real single point sling is essentially a loop with a single leader coming off of it and attaching somewhere at the butt end of the rifle.)

 

With a single point sling, you'd have two real options then for positioning the bolter (or PG): it could either dangle vertically, magazine facing either left or right, probably with the muzzle hanging at the level of the SM's knees or slightly below; or, depending on how you've positioned your SM's left arm, you could have the bolter swept to the left side of his body (presumably with the magazine facing rearward). Real kudos if you repositioned the left hand so the palm faced down, sweeping the bolter to the off side while the SM did something like draw a sidearm with his dominant hand.

 

Unfortunately, the absurdly proportioned weapons (or, rather, the too small SMs with oversized weapons) take up a lot of room on the body when they're not in the positions GW has actually modeled the figures to stand in.

 

If you're not set on using a paintable material like plastic, perhaps you could try using a thin strip of ribbon from a fabric store to make the sling (say in black or brown). It would certainly give a certain suppleness that you'll never get out of plastic. Just make a loop over one shoulder and under the opposite armpit, pinch and superglue the ends and then superglue that to the end of the bolter. If you do that, it might actually dangle like a gun on a sling would, and not be so rigid as a plastic sling.

 

Another, natural pose with a weapon slung would be to have the gun horizontal across the chest (using a two point sling, attached at muzzle and butt ends of the gun). The sling here would be coming off vertically from its attachment points and looping over one shoulder and under the other (probably over the shoulder at the butt end of the gun and under the shoulder at the muzzle end). Unfortunately, I think this is pretty darn difficult because the gun's just too big and the chest too narrow. I can't really envision what arms you'd use for either side and what they'd be doing...maybe holding an auspex in the left hand and pointing with the right hand? You'd need both arms either up or out, away from the body, to make a horizontally slung bolter work like this. I think a PG is too long to attempt this pose.

 

A three point sling is, I think, pretty out of the question, if only because I hope after 38k years of war-fighting, man has figured out the three point sling is absurdly cumbersome to use! ;)

[Kierdale]

Thank you very much, Ovidius. I've been busy recently and am only now getting round to doing the slings, luckily. Your advice is much appreciated.

I'm doing a one-point sling for the apothecary's bolt gun and a two-point for the plasma gun. I'll post photos when they're done.

I might try something a bit fancier (hands posed pushing the weapon aside, as you suggested) on a future project :lol: