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Eagle Eyes ongoing army log -- Libby's face, & some base


JeffTibbetts

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's what I did in my free time over the last week or so… BASES!

This is a big project for me for a few reasons. It's my first scratch sculpting of just about anything. I've only used greenstuff for gaps and small details. It's the first time I've bothered with basing much at all. It's always been an afterthought but I was inspired by folks on this board. Lastly, it's my first time making molds and working with resin. Lots of learning all around.

Here's some fluff to set things up, if you want it:

The air was full of smoke and the pop of flames cooking flesh. Xlotl switched his lenses to a broader spectrum and dropped in the auspex-net for good measure. The few red icons that remained were fully surrounded and winking out quickly. His work was done. Now he could afford to think about what had happened. He knew this place almost as though it was from a previous life. It was like that, he supposed…

He stalked forward, still crouching low with a fresh clip in his bolter. One could never expect the enemy to stay down, and he remained wary, senses tuned. His boots crunched bone, brick, and the detritus of the shattered village below the weight of his armor. Soft ashes covered everything, muting the echoes and lending an eerie timber to the sounds. The village tried feebly to push up through the blanket of ash and embers. Everything black and gray. Here a broken jar, food that will never be eaten spilling out to smolder. A bronze cooking pot, cracked and twisted. Crumbling piles of bricks. The occasional body, flayed, burnt or dissected beyond recognition. Patches of burning promethium still played over what was left. Soon there would be nothing.

Movement caught Xlotl's eye over his left shoulder. An old woman, holding the hand of a child that was no longer connected to a body. She had climbed out from under some wreckage and began wailing and pulling her hair. He stopped, straightened up and walked over to her, drawing up his full height. She was covered with soot and ash, and the trails of her tears left brown streaks through the gray. He stiffened involuntarily as he looked at her face. He looked down at the wretched woman, knowing she could not be allowed to live.

He didn't need the facial recognition software to pull up her dossier. He didn't need to be reminded in scrolling text his peripheral vision that her skill-set was limited, and that her usefulness as a serf was negligible. No commander was needed to issue the order that he knew he must comply with. He reached up with his right hand, and removed his helmet with a hiss. The full stench of the destruction wrinkled his nose. The woman looked up at him and gasped at the pale man, staring down at her with sad, deep green eyes.

Xlotl's mother gasped, the burning sensation in her chest stealing away her sobs. Her lips formed his name, one last time, as her body slid off the edge of the combat blade and fell heavily into the ash. A small cloud rose, and covered her body in a fine grit. The lonely warrior turned around to return to his squad, in silence. He did not look back.

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I started by sculpting some 'burned village' themed bits to be added to bases. This is on the back of a Ghiradelli chocolate bar, which was extremely delicious. You're welcome for making you hungry.

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Made some molds out of a two-part rubber. Works pretty well and remains flexible.

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Here you can see a couple of greenstuff bits in the fore and a couple resin bits in the back. The rubber was a bit too thin for real greenstuff push molds. GS is just too stiff and deforms the rubber except for a couple that were very small. I glued the bits down and painted GW textured paint onto the base for starts.

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I took a round of GW sand and poured in some scale modeler's gravel to add variety to the mix, and white-glued that down in patches on the bases. I wanted some of the lower textured areas to remain, and some bases have more or less for variety. After that had dried for a little, I painted on some thinned-down white glue over the top to give it more purchase and seal it in a bit.

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Adeptus Battlegray base, nuln oil wash. Oh, and a little something shaping up in the corner there with some white.

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Here's the set almost done. I added some large patches of Agrax Earthshade, small blobs of Coelia (is that how it's spelled? I can never remember. In my head it's Koala) Greenshade, and then dry brushed it all with the bone dry compound and then the white compound. The flames took a little more work, and had layers of yellow ink, Blazing Orange, etc. all dry brushed, and then white closest to the flame. I kept all brush strokes radiating away from the flames and I don't mind saying that I think it looks awesome. I have since added an actual brush highlight of Blazing Orange to the tips of the flames to make it look a little more defined.

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A close up of the bronze pot. I just dry brushed a bit of bronze on top and picked out the contents in black.

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Finally, added the edge of brown to the base to finish it. I'm considering adding a bit of fine ash to them in small patches in a light color, but I'm concerned that it will look like snow and I don't want that.

Comments? Bring them on. These are just a test.

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Does the rice make the watered-down white glue dry faster?

 

Honestly, I actually thought the pot was something more... Uh... Okay, at first I thought it was poop. Yeah, I'm a terrible person. It has to do with the way the top of it is 'coiled'. The severed arm is awesome though! I'd go with a more wispy fire as well. Or just have slightly sharper flame tips. You know, a bit more verticality (is that a word?).

 

Also, I think you'll be fine for ash, assuming you don't dust it on with a pure white colour. Which might be difficult given that you're already highlighting with grey... Hmm...

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Hahaha! That pot does kind of look… organic, doesn't it? That's partially because I took that shot top down. Normally you can see a lot more of the pot, and it sits kinda crooked. That's pretty funny though. 

 

The rice is actually what I was pouring the resin over. Those little yellow molds have rounded backs so they don't sit flat. I plopped them in rice to A) keep them upright and B) catch any resin that dripped over. It worked really well. 

 

The flames are tricky. I don't want them to get real high. They are already a bit distracting but I thought they'd add a lot of interest if used sparingly. I'm worried that if they get wispier they will draw too much attention. They're not Salamanders, after all. I really just wanted to hint at the desolation. These bases are a story-telling medium. Did you read the fluff bit I wrote? :D I mistakenly didn't save it right away but it's there now. 

 

As for the ash, I was thinking that if I do use it, it will be pretty sparingly. I may not bother. These take quite a while as it is, to be honest. I just might like the pop, so I'll play around and see if I can find something that looks good. 

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I like the fluff. Nothing like a bit o' matricide to bring home some grimdark.

 

If you don't want the flames to get any bigger, make them the same height as they are now but with less bulk/body to them. It'll look more like they're burning away rather than building up. At the moment, that one sort of looks like you'd expect it to flare up a bit more.

 

OR! I could be imagining everything, I study neither fire nor sculpting!

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Dang, no. You're right. It's tough to get it right in terms of sculpting, but looking at it… It's kind of fat. I'll try some thinner, wispier ones. They're a censored.gif to sculpt, but I could use the practice. Knowing me, I'll probably make at least some of the random body parts (I have an arm, head, and a child's torso/back sculpted so far) flaming a bit. I think I should eschew bothering to cast the flames and just greenstuff them up if and when I need them. It's all too easy to get air bubbles up in there.

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Ah, yeah. That could be cool. Too bad it would open up for too many colors to replicate that idea more completely. I like the idea of fresh vegetation and a line of creeping fire. Interesting. 

 

Thanks for the pic, though. That helps a bit. 

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Naw, the pic is just to show what I meant, wasn't meaning that you should do fresh vegetation on one side and dead on the other. It's just that the flames are little and crackly, and still rather bright.

 

Though now that you mention it, the fire as a divider is kinda cool too...

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Here are 5 based marines. I liked the sand bases for the contrast, but I like these even better because the tones blend so well. In essence, even though there's a lot going on with the bases I don't think they detract from the models.

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My flash is pretty great. :D These guys were all de-based and then pinned and superglued onto the new ones. What a pain! Good thing I didn't have all that many based up.

I'm worried that some of the bases will have too much variation in height… I guess I'll set them aside for assault legs with just one foot down… I now have about 7 or 8 more bases ready. I'm getting the technique down, as long as I can keep up and cast more detail bits. As noted in the thread, I think I'm going to sculpt any flames on a per-base-basis instead of trying to cast them. It's okay but I think I can do better by hand and I don't plan on having many of them.

I will probably add SOME kind of OSL to those marines with flames on their base, but I really don't want to get carried away with it so I imagine it will end up as a simple brush highlight where the light would reflect on the armor. I've always thought of PA as having a sort of satin finish. Not too glossy but not totally matte, either. Kind of like plastic, actually.

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Thanks, man! I don't know why but the whole process of sculpting, making molds and casting has been one of my most rewarding hobby tasks in years. After working on it for ages, mostly on the couch while my girlfriend watched TV shows or played Skyrim, I showed her the first bases. She looks right at me and says in deadpan "Was that really worth the effort?" 

 

Yes it was. God I love that woman. :D 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Some progress! Sort of…

I found the new Librarian for half off at a game store. They had a bunch of stuff on clearance but I was too broke. I've had my eye on this fellow for some time, though, so I couldn't pass him up. So stoked. Here's how he looks (stock first) pre paint.

And for fun, here's my fluff for him:

Epistolary Yaluk, nickname: Amoxtli Chueco or "crooked book."
Yaluk is a powerful telepath and has often uses his power to extend the "eyes" of the Eagles beyond flesh and technology. He often travels with the 3rd company and has typically brings a codicier apprenta. He is not well trusted by the serfs who serve the chapter because he has a reputation for entering their minds with little provocation and fewer apologies. It was a member of The Lost who first gave him his nickname but now most of his brothers refer to him as Chueco as well. He is actually well-liked amongst his peers, and he's a good leader and cunning strategist. He often accompanies small forces and scouting parties where his mindsight is of great use. One could argue that, while Chaplain Yayauhqui is the heart of the company, Yaluk is the brain. While Captain Temoc is holed up in his aerie looking over high level strategy, it is Yaluk who performs many of the minor command duties and tighter missions.

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Seems legit. Now I'll show him 'exploded'

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I dropped magnets in both wrists and I'm working on converting a force sword from the DA upgrade sprue, and a jump pack with some greenstuff and other bits added.

I'm super pumped for this project because I've not liked any Librarian sculpts until this one, but $30 was way too much for me to justify dropping. $15 seems like a steal. I'm still not 100% about the head. I really like that head, but I'm not sure it fits him. Test fitting some others showed be right quick that any normal head is a tight fit, though. We'll see.

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Ok ok, I confess, I came late to the thread, but what, what clean green you have done !  I did wonder if it would be just simple paint, but after looking at your bare head marines and your subtle highlights, I think you've done a grand job of keeping your paint work nice and clean.  Although normally I would normally suggest more high/low lights, I think it would spoil your existing look and take away from what you've done so nicely.

 

As for the decals - did you sort that out ?  If not, go check out the likes of Humbrol "Clear", there's a video of use on their .com website.  I am wondering if it is worth using as a layering process to disguise the layered transfer on just the shoulder pad with the Clear, then finish up with the matt acrylic varnish to dull down the shine and smooth out the layers as per the vid clip.  Thoughts and outcomes on a postcard, sadly my local never has any of the stuff in when I visit :)

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Hey Jeff, everything looks pretty awesome, got a lovely clean look to the green. Enjoy the Librarian, that blue will work really well to compliment the sharp green.

 

I dunno if you're keen on freehand, but I was wondering if you had considered doing some warpaint / tribal tatoos on some of your bareheaded guys, to hint at the whole aztec feel to their homeworld. I just think it'd look kinda cool, with their armour currently looking pretty clean & utilitarian, to have their links to their home culture concealed behind their battle plate, so you only really get a feel of it when they are exposed.

 

Maybe something like this?

http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/2/Open/PBS/Secrets%20of%20the%20Dead/Season%207/701%20Aztec%20Massacre/_derived_jpg_q90_600x800_m0/SEDE%20701%20Aztec%20Massacre%20war%20paint.jpg?partner=allmovie_soap

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Thanks for the comments, guys! You know, IHF? You've got a pretty good point. I have no problem with free handing some stuff. Might be nice to allude to the culture like that. For a while I was going to go with full on facial jewelry but I decided not to. That's their old life, you know. But, on the other hand, they like to pay lip service to their roots, and face paint could do it. I am a big fan of odd contrasts and there is more like that in the works eventually. Maybe I should do it. I think I might play around in photoshop and see if that would work.
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As for the decals - did you sort that out ?  If not, go check out the likes of Humbrol "Clear", there's a video of use on their .com website.  I am wondering if it is worth using as a layering process to disguise the layered transfer on just the shoulder pad with the Clear, then finish up with the matt acrylic varnish to dull down the shine and smooth out the layers as per the vid clip.  Thoughts and outcomes on a postcard, sadly my local never has any of the stuff in when I visit :)

Thanks for the kind words. I wonder sometimes about the subtly but I think it works for them.

 

I frankly haven't had the money to get the paper and do my next test run. The plan at this point is to try my local print shop one more time, and failing that to have a buddy of mine in Portland, Oregon try to scree print them. If that doesn't work out it's back to the drawing board. I'll look up that company you mentioned, though. Thanks!

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really really nice clean paint

I love your theme.

 

I vote for a test on the war paint too.

I think it could work since your sm are not over detailled with cultural references.

I remember in the 90's the war paint of the scouts in Space Hulk and their mohawk and even chapter as the Dark, Blood and other angels were wearing some. It was kind of strange, a little Mad Max II.

Yes I'm old.  

But I do undertand the doubt of going in that direction. I think you should try on your next sm model and see how it feels.

 

Once again thumbs up for your work !!!

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