BCK's Thread of Stuff: Maybe not eldar...

[Sagentus]

Look amazing!

[The Traitor]

The back loincloth looks surprisingly well, much better than a single chain indeed :P! The wing is also looking good, can't wait to see this beast finished! Also do you plan to leave the axes like that or plan to give them some detail? The ufilitarian look does fit the bloodthirsty fluff, but maybe a khorne simbol or some spiles would look fitting?

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I'm impressed how much effort you put into the Bloodthirster. Unless an Act of God deems otherwise, the completed model will undoubtedly be AWESOME.

 

I honestly didn't intend to cover up so much of the original model when I decided to pledge this for the Arena Challenge event, but it's been fun (mostly) to really push myself and see what I can do. 

 

Look amazing!

 

Thanks!

 

The back loincloth looks surprisingly well, much better than a single chain indeed ! The wing is also looking good, can't wait to see this beast finished! Also do you plan to leave the axes like that or plan to give them some detail? The ufilitarian look does fit the bloodthirsty fluff, but maybe a khorne simbol or some spiles would look fitting?

 

They'll get some more attention and I do have an idea for a Khorne symbol on the angular axe that will either look or amazing or go horribly wrong and I will need to build a new axe head. 

 

First wing is attached. 

 

http://i.imgur.com/bWjZZ7Z.png

 

I mixed up some Milliput and rolled out a very thin sausage of it and dropped it into the pin hole on his back and used the pin itself to sort of scrape it around the inside surface and hopefully get good contact. After the final position was decided on, I put some super glue in the pin hole and held it in place until it cured and then used the rest of the Milliput to build up a good layer around the join. Being water soluble, I took an old beat up paint brush and used it to smooth out that awful stuff. Since Milliput cures as hard as a rock, I'm hoping this will keep the wing securely in place.  

[hushrong]

In regards to the putty I swear I know how to read haha.

 

Thirster's cloth is also looking good! As is the new musculature on his wings.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Alright brothers, you probably know by now how I'm a stickler for trying to put as much realism into my sci-fantasy figures as possible, and this is why I had to wait so long to get to detailing the back of the Bloodthirster:

 

http://i.imgur.com/kWEbXic.png

 

I know it might look a bit excessive, but I have my reasons why the back and wing musculature is so large comes down to realism. I've never liked the way most any sort of bipedal, roughly humanoid creature with wings just has what amounts to a bird or bat wing pasted onto its back with no changes to the surrounding muscles. If you look at the anatomy of birds or bats, you'll see how practically all the muscles in the torso, front and back, are connected to the wings in some way because they take a lot of muscles working in unison to get the range of motion and the strength required for flight. 

 

Unfortunately, there is no real biped or even a quadruped in existence that has a limb setup like this where the normal arm and the wing "arm" are so close together, so there were nothing practical to study for inspiration. Instead, I turned to fantasy, and one particular artist and subject: Todd Lockwood's dragons from D&D 3.5. I remember the first time I saw one of his dragons I immediately thought "Holy crap, that looks like it could realistically fly" and I drew heavily on some of his stuff for my daemon. 

 

http://i.imgur.com/G5JljpJ.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/KkJKkyU.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/cLoI3wB.png

 

I'm very proud of how it turned out because it looks fairly realistic to my eye, I think the muscle sculpting was pretty good, and most amazing of all is that I used exactly all of the GS/PC that I mixed up and that very rarely happens.

Edited July 25, 2017 by Brother Chaplain Kage

[The Traitor]

Oh my, that looks good! I actually still play 3.5 D&D edition, so I get to see those very same dragons every gaming session we have while I pass through the monster manual :P! I really like your attention to this kind of detail and how you try to make everything as realistic as possible, it gives your models a very recognisable touch and makes them look more credible to the eye, I should try to do more this kind of stuff myself. Also congrats on calculating your GS perfectly, I have a collection of left over balls and tubes waiting for something to fit (most times the core of my press molds...) ;).

[Jukkiz]

You could see what winged hive tyrant looks and if you don´t like your wing setup, you could change to those big ones. The muscle definition is not there on model but yours does look pretty spot on.

Also some other "fantasy" demon art should be good for muscle definition.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Since the last post I have reworked some of the muscles for the back (will get more detailed pics later) and attached the second wing. My mojo seems to have abandoned me the last few days and I haven't been able to get any new work done. The deadline of the end of the month isn't too much of an issue now because my Challenge partner won't finish on time due to a late start which will also give me some time to think on a suitably impressive base for this green stuff monster. I asked for basing ideas in the Arena thread and a "mountain of dead space marines" was the most popular response. If anyone else has a basing idea, I'm all ears - I have very little experience with it. 

 

I thought I'd do a little comparison pic to give an idea of the slightly larger size this guy is than the original. 

 

http://i.imgur.com/WoCDIxT.png

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

My Arena Challenge for August will be a custom Khârn the Betrayer. I tried to this about 4 years ago for a friend, but changing ideas on what he wanted on the figure and my sculpting skills not being up to the task to do what I wanted justice saw the project stall and die. 

 

http://i.imgur.com/BnSlIoQ.png

 

This time around, both my sculpting skills and confidence in what I can accomplish with them are much higher and it will be nice to finish this one on the second go. I already have some ideas for parts, but the pose is the thing - maybe everything. The first version went with the idea that Khârn was stalking his prey, an implacable force of death and destruction that can't be stopped. Do I go for that again? A frenzied running pose? More like the original figure with Gorechild held high in exultation?

[Sagentus]

The bt is coming on and looking great. Glad to see you have another month to finish and help get through the burnout.

 

I look forward to seeing your rendition of Khan. I personally like the frenzied attack pose, kinda shows his insane personality and strength.

[jaxom]

I asked for basing ideas in the Arena thread and a "mountain of dead space marines" was the most popular response. If anyone else has a basing idea, I'm all ears - I have very little experience with it.

 

 

I think continuing the Sobek theme would be good; having striding out of a river of blood onto land to kill more. Build up about 1/4 of the base with GS to be ground, fill the rest with red tinted transparent water (or one of the various other ways to make water features on terrain), maybe a few clusters of rusted swords and spears sticking upright like river-fronds.

[Vairocanum]

Wow, can't wait to see Khârn completed with the experience you have now! Personally I would love to see a "frenzied running pose" as the new GW version looks a tad lacking for me. 

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

@Jaxom: That sounds like a neat idea if I had planned it from the start and cut off his legs at a certain point to give the illusion he's sunk into the mud somewhat. 

 

@Vairocanum: I wasn't real impressed with the running pose on either the 30k or new 40k version of Khârn. 

[The Traitor]

Yeah, I think that Jaxom idea could look awesome, though legs would still be visible if you use water effect, so don't cut them! As for Khârn, have you thought making him interact with other models? I think that is what makes FW bases so awesome, maybe you could put him on a static pose slowly cutting off the head of someone kneeling in front of him. If you prefer him to be alone though, something I have always wanted to see with Khârn is a version of him holding Gorechild with both hands, I almost never use the plasma pistol when running him, it might as well be on his belt... Maybe the axe risen above his head and him grabbing it with both hands, like just about to strike the final blow?

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I don't like models attacking or killing another model unless it's a display piece or diorama, but I have been wanting to pose a marine with a two-handed overhead weapon swing like you mentioned and the issue was always with the shoulder pads getting in the way. With only one on Khârn, it might be possible. Also, I know his helmet is iconic for the figure but I've never liked the bunny ears of Khorne and won't be doing anything like that. 

[Dantay VI]

Go for a sideways double handed swing like the FW heavy Chainsword.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Like Gabriel Seth? If the overhead swing doesn't pan out I will try that option. 

 

A number of years ago I did some base coats on some eldar fire dragons with my airbrush and now I'm in the process of stripping any of my painted eldar stuff. I put my fire dragon exarch in the Super Clean late Friday night and forgot about him due to some car troubles I had to deal with on Saturday and Sunday. I wish I had been filming it when I pulled the figure out of the tub because I could already see a lot of exposed metal where the paint was just gone and then the motion of pulling him out of the liquid was enough to make the rest of the paint slough off. I'm not kidding, it came out of the tub completely clean down to bare metal and I didn't have to scrub anything!

 

http://i.imgur.com/ZjvUIh2.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/G1hpQ4F.gif

 

I am continually blown away by what a fantastic paint stripper this stuff is. 

[Sagentus]

That stuff has done a great job. What is the product? And does it work the same on plastic?

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

It's called Super Clean and it does work very well on plastic. Unfortunately, it's not available in Europe. 

[Sagentus]

Dam that's no good, really want to strip and repainted some bits. What would you say was the best equivalent supplied in Europe?

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I think Dettol is the best thing for plastic over there, but I've heard from some people on that side of the pond that they changed the formula in the last year or few and it's not as good for paint stripping as it used to be. :(

[Sagentus]

Hmm I will have to do some research into it. Not in a major rush for it, got plenty to paint in the meantime lol

[GuitaRasmus]

Dam that's no good, really want to strip and repainted some bits. What would you say was the best equivalent supplied in Europe?

 

Not to butt in, but I discovered regular 93% rubbing alcohol as a brilliant paint stripper, some years ago. It works on plastic and metal, but you have to be careful with resin - if left for more than 15-30 minutes, it starts to get rubber-like. It works pretty fast (5-10 min), but requires some scrubbing with a toothbrush. 

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I tried doing a recessed Khorne icon in the straight edged axe and screwed it up, so I made a new axe head. 

 

http://i.imgur.com/btpmeHV.png

 

And let the Khârn-age begin. 

 

http://i.imgur.com/Sb19Z1r.png

[The Traitor]

Well, I guess you at least warned us about the axe ;)... And I see what you did there lol, really looking forward to seeing your Khârn!