Veteran Sergeant does True Scale + Blackstone Fortress

[Veteran Sergeant]

Realized I kinda left that last post hanging. Problem was, I moved to a great new place right by the beach, right before summer. After that, it was all surfing and vacation rental Zonies and patio barbecue parties and I got distracted. A couple people PMed me recently asking questions about the plog, saying their posts had been removed for necro-posting. I'm still around. I just haven't had the inclination to 40K revently. I'm in love with the new Genestealer Cult though. I had a Cult army back in the day, so chances are I'll end up with some of those.

 

 

Made up some Mordheim figures for our campaign, and fooled around with some Romans from Warlord Games (not impressed, the scale is terrible). Also magentized up all my ships for X-Wing, but none of those belong here. Still haven't even touched Betrayal at Calth (what a waste of money that's looking like, lol). The blog continues to drive quite a bit of traffic from organic search results, especially anything to do with True Scale Space Marines which is cool.

 

 

But, I figure I'll deliver the Chaos Marine in the previous teaser, at least. I'd wanted to get a bunch of them done before dropping the post, but it never happened. He's been Tall-scaled (but not cleaned, gap-filled and finished) using Raptor legs and parts from the old Chaos Marine kit (which I hate).

 

I trimmed the "stalks" on the Chaos Backpack. Never liked that design. Gave him some severed shrunken heads that I think came from a Lizardmen kit, but I'm not 100% sure. Would be fun to continue making Chaos Marines from the handful of parts from that kit that I actually like. Belt-fed bolters are the worst thing since... something pretty awful, and the rest of the kit also leaves a lot to be desired. I really wish GW would finally do a new Chaos Marines kit. They need it more than any other first-tier faction at this point.

 

[Sheesh Mode]

Working on Chaos Space marines has encouraged me to leave shins alone. Far too many details are left on the shins for me to effectively manage at my skill level, what are your thoughts in this area? 

[Veteran Sergeant]

Working on Chaos Space marines has encouraged me to leave shins alone. Far too many details are left on the shins for me to effectively manage at my skill level, what are your thoughts in this area? 

 

it's a pain in the butt, lol. I was planning to resculpt the bottom of the lightning bolts (which wouldn't really be that hard), but I never got around to it. You could easily use .5mm card or a tiny amount of GS to accomplish simple forms like that. There isn't a tremendous amount of skill involved in creating small details like that which don't even need to be super exact. Though, for anything more ornate, yeah, it's pretty limiting.

 

But main reason I avoided Chaos Marines is that the models are just so ugly. There's like 40% of the kit I won't even use like the helmets with the ridiculous horns on them or the awful belt-fed bolters. Forgeworld has a lot of great alternatives, but their stuff is priced beyond where I can reasonably justify the expense to myself. I love the idea of doing some Chaos Marines. It's just that all the parts I want are prohibitively expensive for a side hobby. It's easy to justify one head for $3. Suddenly, $60 later... I don't know why I haven't taught myself how to recast yet. For example, I want to do Necrons, but I want them to look more alien, and the only head that does that is the Deathmark one, so I'd need a ton of them.

[Daemon2027]

Good to see you still working even if it's not so much. Fo some reason I find it a moody pain to extend plastic models, so much easier with resin. I'm with you on the CSM kit really needs an update.

[Grand Master Aldric]

 I really wish GW would finally do a new Chaos Marines kit. They need it more than any other first-tier faction at this point.

 

 

You mean another new one? They got a new one this very month last year.

 

and: YAY its back i thought this place was dead glad to be proven wrong.

[Veteran Sergeant]

Good to see you still working even if it's not so much. Fo some reason I find it a moody pain to extend plastic models, so much easier with resin. I'm with you on the CSM kit really needs an update.

Project fatigue probably has as much to do with it as anything. Honestly, I have a ton of Xenos models I did a few months ago (Orks, Eldar Corsairs and Tau), but they can't be showcased on here, lol. So the plog went dark until I was back to something with an Imperial or Chaos flavor. Which I thought would happen with Betrayal At Calth, but the longer I have it, the more I think about just selling it (or at least components of it). A Space Marine is a Space Marine. Changing the Mark of his armor is basic aesthetics; it doesn't create a new pose or a new character. 

 

As far as new Chaos Marines, this is the kit on their site:

 

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-WW/Chaos-Space-Marines

 

And it's the same garbage models they've had for like ten years, maybe with a slight packaging update.

[Sheesh Mode]

 

Good to see you still working even if it's not so much. Fo some reason I find it a moody pain to extend plastic models, so much easier with resin. I'm with you on the CSM kit really needs an update.

Project fatigue probably has as much to do with it as anything. Honestly, I have a ton of Xenos models I did a few months ago (Orks, Eldar Corsairs and Tau), but they can't be showcased on here, lol. So the plog went dark until I was back to something with an Imperial or Chaos flavor. Which I thought would happen with Betrayal At Calth, but the longer I have it, the more I think about just selling it (or at least components of it). A Space Marine is a Space Marine. Changing the Mark of his armor is basic aesthetics; it doesn't create a new pose or a new character. 

 

As far as new Chaos Marines, this is the kit on their site:

 

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-WW/Chaos-Space-Marines

 

And it's the same garbage models they've had for like ten years, maybe with a slight packaging update.

 

That's understandable, particularly considering your training and background. Big horns are simply stupid from a practical standpoint but they are pretty funny from a gaming perspective. The horns are extremely useful when you cut them off and put the tips on the marines foreheads. It achieves the original goal (of making 'evil' marines) while subduing it to avoid its comedic nature. 

 

But what else would you expect from guys who think an angry space anus is a safe place to live?

[Veteran Sergeant]

So instead of modeling yesterday morning, I spent about two hours condensing my bits collection. When I moved to the beach (from close to the beach, can you imagine how bad my miniatures buying problem would be if I lived somewhere with sensible housing costs?), I lost a lot of storage space when I gave up my big garage for a 1-car. It made no sense to have so much square footage in models. So I took to cutting about 60% of my bits off the sprues (some of these were dated back to 1998, lol), and separating them out by type so that I'd have a better idea of what I had. I've also started to figure out what I am never going to use and can probably be sold on EBay. I left anything that was at least 70% complete on the sprues for organizational purposes. It was just all those sprues that had a handful of components on them and were wasting space. I also had a lot of disorganized bits (multiple bags of heads, torsos, accessory bits, etc).

The verdict? I probably have more than enough Space Marine parts to finish my Battle Company, perhaps minus a few heavy weapons. I put together a bag of MK VI parts (heads, helmets, studded pads). Not sure what I am going to do with them. Might use them for Heresy if I ever get around to working on Betrayal at Calth. Then I have bags of Big Ammo Pouches, Little Ammo Pouches, Grenades, Mixed Pouches/Grenades, Knives, Flamers/Plasma, Melta, Pistols and Holstered Pistols, Misc Arms with weapons, skulls/trophies plus I'm sure a couple bags I've forgotten about while writing this. I then put together a Core Components bag with Mk VII legs, Mk VII/VIII torsos, MkVII heads, bare heads, backpacks, arms, bolters, shoulder pads. And a bag for Terminators and parts for Terminators. And a bag of Squats, lol. Then I did ones for IGuard, Eldar Corsairs (E & DE), Tau, Orks and Chaos. I don't have a bag for Necrons yet as the Necron collection is still small and most everything I haven't used is still on the sprue for organizational/inventory purposes while I work on them.

On the left is the box full of discarded sprues when I was done. Mind you, that's not all the sprues. It's just all the ones that are now empty.




My buddy over at SquadPainter has been badgering me to paint more of these guys long enough that I'll probably start having some "finished" models. It took forever for me to be happy enough with the results of the Space Marines to declare them "done" and ready to be paintet that the only things I had painted were metal Guardsmen. Maybe soon I'll have an actual army.

[Veteran Sergeant]

If you believe this nonsense, I'm putting colors onto Space Marines. My buddy at http://squadpainter.blogspot.com/ finally convinced me to put paint on these guys. Previously I'd been too preoccupied by the idea that the models are never perfect or "done", so I just decided to get to business. I still need to do a lot of work on the ones I've started, but at least this one has all of its core colors.

 

So, I present you the work in progress of the first painted (by me, at least, a couple of guys have used them for Deathwatch) member of the Invectors Space Marines Chapter.

 

 

You can see a lot of my test-models for the colors in the background. Those silly little pewter midgets. He needs some more shading, decide on a lens color, and some touch-up, but I've been pleased with the way the color scheme came out. Working on a transfer sheet so I can get the Chapter logo on there. 

 

 

Then, finally, he'll need basing so he isn't perched on a piece of sprue anymore, lol.

[KBA]

Looking good :)

[Veteran Sergeant]

A teaser for what I'm working on, since for the first time in a while, I'm actually doing things with Space Marines again.

 

Counts-As Deathwatch, using actual Deathwatch parts. I like the MkVIII kits. They're taller than normal Marines with slightly better proportions, meaning they need less extension to bring them to the same scale as the rest of my Marines.

 

 

Making my Dreadnoughts a little taller with some plastic washers.

 

[RedGabe]

Awesome and brutal conversions! Most excellent work. Very inspirational :)

[Veteran Sergeant]

Took a couple weeks, but here's the size comparison. The clowns I ordered these from forgot to ship them for a week.

 

 

[FuriousFerret]

The similarities in size and width are uncanny. So, will you be switching to primaris marines, or stay with embiggened midgets?

[Veteran Sergeant]

Honestly, I haven't really been working much on this project, so I am unlikely to switch beyond the ones I now have. I've been working mostly on Wars of the Roses stuff, in what little hobby time I have these days.  But I know this project log still gets a fair number of visitors (based on the people who end up on my external blog from here), so I figured I would add those comparison images so people could see. 

 

I always have stuff I want to do with this, but never the motivation to actually get a lot of it done, lol.

[Cryptix]

I don't know why I haven't taught myself how to recast yet. For example, I want to do Necrons, but I want them to look more alien, and the only head that does that is the Deathmark one, so I'd need a ton of them.

If you want, I can PM you one tutorials using liquid blue-stuff, green-stuff, and milliput. It's super easy, what I used to recast some Devourers for my Termagants.

[Veteran Sergeant]

So, I've been out of action for a while. Kinda burned out on 40K in 8th Edition after they tossed the canon in the trash and resurrected Guilliman and introduced Primaris (because how else do you keep selling more Space Marines?), etc.

Went back to my first love for a little while, historicals.  I created a unit of 28mm Perry Wars of the Roses for and wrote a historical article on John, 9th Baron Clifford. A rather fascinating man, if you fancy a little light history about blood feuds, revenge and murder.

 

But what brought me back?  Funny enough, the decision to start selling off the hundreds of dollars in miniatures I had sitting around that I was probably never going to get around to. I still don't like 40K, but I do enjoy all the "small games" like Space Hulk, Necromunda, Deathwatch: Overkill, etc.  So I bought the components for Blackstone Fortress on the cheap on EBay (helped to have a $5 coupon for Ebay too), and I'm going to dive into the collection to fill out the ranks.  I actually love the miniature from Blackstone Fortress, but I just don't need them.

 

So here's a sneak preview of the donor figures I've decided on for proxies. I still need to dig through the collection and find my old Ministorum Priest.

 

I have Eldar rangers, but I kinda like the idea of substituting a Sniper Scout for that model.  I'll give him a sword on his back or something.

 

 

And yeah, that old Rogue Trader dreadnought fits on a 32mm base.  Mostly. Sorta.  it,  I'ma do it anyway.

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by Veteran Sergeant

[YoungWolf7]

Sorry to hear about the burnout. Been there. I don't play at all as my friends all walked away from mini games altogether and the trolls at the LGS are intolerable. The last game I played was... 5th ed?

 

Anyway, hobby for the hobby's sake. That's all I do. Hope to see you around more. I've missed this thread and the inspiration it was to me.

[Yosef Hausakluif]

I hear ya. Growing up with 40k since I was 11-12 years old and now 41; I’ve had a hard time too getting used to all the canon changes. Not to mention having tons of old models and slowly moving into the primaris age. Your models though from start to most recent are super interesting and prescient in many ways. It blew my mind after reading through the thread again how cool it is that you basically created the primaris bolt pistol before the big GW did and also the one marine with a wrist communicator is so similar to the vanguard primaris one too. Great job and follow your inner converting voice again; it’s obviously spot on ! Edited March 14, 2020 by Yosef Hausakluif

[Veteran Sergeant]

What's this?  First new 40K model in 2 years?
 
I don't usually post early versions of models, but here's my Garran Branatar proxy for Deathwatch Overkill.  Moved the head up and the arms down to make the suit wearable by a human shaped person.  He's just held together by tac putty right now and the green stuff is just in its initial structural form on the collar and waistline.

 

Base model is an AoBR terminator I've had sitting around for years.  Not totally sure where the heavy flamer is from.  Sentinel kit maybe?  Melta is an inferno pistol from the Sanguinary Guard.
 

[YoungWolf7]

Good to see you active again. That flamer is from the Dreadnought kit.

[Veteran Sergeant]

Been working on some Genestealer Cultists to stand in for the Traitor Guard in Blackstone Fortress (going to replace everything in BSF with Genestealers). But then I said to myself "I really need to do that Chaplain Cassius proxy I've been thinking about for like a year."

 

So this happened.  

 

[Sherrypie]

Oh I like that, the winged axe is suitably ornate for a chaplain.

[Jukkiz]

hmm, but chaplain Cassius has combi-flamer or is this your own chaplain?

[Veteran Sergeant]

Yeah, I was thinking about what crozius I wanted to use,but then I thought, "Wouldn't it look cooler as an axe?"  And turns out, everything looks cooler as an axe.  It's just an early version. I've got to clean it up, but I made it by clipping the wings off of the piece from the Rhino kit and gluing them back to back. 

 

hmm, but chaplain Cassius has combi-flamer or is this your own chaplain?

 

The Chaplain Cassius version from Deathwatch Overkill just as a master crafted bolt pistol.  I don't play 40K, nor will I probably ever again at this rate.  If I did, he'd just be a regular chaplain.  

 

I'm duplicating all the playing pieces for the board games right now.  I bought the boards/cards/rules etc for Deathwatch Overkill and Blackstone Fortress for cheap on EBay without the models.

 

This is the Cassius I'm proxying.