Htogrem Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Greetings Unforgiven! I've lurked on the BnC for years, and I've only recently started looking at the Dark Angels forum. While I don't play, the Dark Angels have always been my army. Funny it took me so long to come here. I started this topic in the WIP forum earlier, so you guys get the benefit of a second draft of that post. It was rushed and now I completed the way I wanted. Despite his age, I think Azrael holds up reasonably well with the current model range. There's just a few things that need some help. First is his size, he's a little short and needs some bulk. Second, are the hands. The hands in almost all of the old range of models drive me nuts. If you could open them up everyone would have spider hands. Third, he has a dinky head. Even way back when, he had a dinky head (in my opinion). BEHOLD!!!... my WIP already in progress. Honestly, I never intended to post anything online (ever), so I got pretty far along before I decided to make this project log. As you can see, I chopped off his arms and head. Also, I cut off his legs just below his knees. To bring him to proper height I put in a 1/16 inch spacer and glued him back together. I'm reasonably pleased with how the re-sculpt of the robes are progressing. I work on my dudes once every five years, so my sculpting skills aren't where I'd like then to be. What better way to practice than a project that needs mass amounts of sculpting? I started bulking out his back and added the backpack socket from a plastic marine. I'll be using a plastic backpack to recreate the classic one. I added armor plates to his backside to bulk out the robes on his legs. I will be re-sculpting the belt as it originally appeared. In the end, his whole back is going to be GSed. I bulked up both feet, and need to add the rim of the boot sole. I may need to trim the back and reattach the backpack socket. There are still robes to sculpt, and I don't want him too bulky. I'm going to add to the holster so that it looks like it holds a bolt pistol. It just needs space for the magazine. It's one of those little things I've always wondered about (like many, many others, I'm sure). I will be using the head from the 90s Dark Angels Veteran sergeant. It's just about the the same size as the plastic marine bare head and the face is almost identical to Azrael's. When I removed it from the sergeants body, I did a poor job and destroyed the jaw. However, it works out because the sergeant's mouth was closed and Azrael is yelling, therefore needing sculpting anyway. In addition to re-sculpting the hands, I will be lengthening the arms slightly. I'll also be doing a minor modification to the combi-bolter. All said and done, I want to retain the look and feel of the original model. The intent of the project was to retain as much of the original model as possible with only minor changes, but as I progressed it became clear that it will be necessary to re-sculpt nearly 75% of the model. Now I'm doing my best to restore detail as close to the original as possible. I am little more than a novice sculptor, and this will tax my skills to say the least. Of course, the only interesting projects are the ambitious ones. Comments appreciated, and thanks a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vissah Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I know this is gonna be good :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frater Cornelius Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Don't forget his shiny helmet (and the unit that is so incredibly impressed by said helmet that they shrug of lascanon fire) :3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SvenONE Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I didn't mind the Azrael model until the new codex came out. The company master/Azrael image puts his model to shame if you ask me. I've started working on a conversion to try and get that result using the Forge World 30K legion praetor and various DA bits I have left over. Looking forward to seeing your result! Robe resculpt looks great, and with a metal model nonetheless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djgoldsmith Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Nice work. Always liked the Azarel model, and the others from that era (zeke especially) but they are tiny by today's standards, I have some old termis that are smaller than regular marines. Anyway, looking forward to seeing a more appropriate height. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Htogrem Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 Thanks guys! Immersturm, I actually painted the helmet bearer a long time ago. At the least, I'll update his paint job when I paint Azrael. I might add some metal trim to the wings. Not sure yet. SvenONE, I hope you post him when you finish, I love the Forge World stuff. When I first thought about modifying Azrael, I considered adding details to give him the look of the current DA range and art, but decided to leave him classic. I plan a similar project for Ezekiel, and I'm going to go further updating his look. djgoldsmith, Ezekiel's body is just about the same size as the plastic dudes. He just needs height. When I get to him, I just need to snip his feet and extend the robes. His arms also need work, but it'll be some time before I get to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanSturrock Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Beautiful work! Looking forward to seeing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Beautiful work! Looking forward to seeing more. Seconded. Any spare Azrael around for a comparison ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Htogrem Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 Unfortunately not, Augustus. I started the project without the intention of logging it, otherwise I'd have taken a couple before shots for later comparison. I'll look for a good pic of an unfinished Azrael to give a comparison shot later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Htogrem Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Update time! Please pardon the poor photography. I lengthened the robes around his left foot. Using the DA standard bearer as a guide, I built up the robes on his backside. I like how GW updated the Brother Bethor model by bulking up his legs and giving him some modern bits. When I went looking for inspiration for this project, I was surprised to find they did that. I didn't think they would update that particular model. Good thing for me, it had exactly what I needed to see. Still needs work, that divot is a little too deep. Start of the backpack. I used skulls from the WFB skeleton regiment. The cables are from something I chopped up years ago, possibly a techmarine servo arm. Need to add spikes, and fill in some cracks. I think I'm going to do some riveted iron work at the base of the skulls. His legs are getting there, but the green stuff needs a lot of clean up. I'm going to finish the lower half before I move to the torso. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gillyfish Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Looks good - I'm keen to see how this develops. So far it looks like it will result in a really good looking model. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Nice. Those skulls look menacing. Are you going to have him wearing the Lion Helm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Htogrem Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 He's going to be bare headed. I'll be using the head from the 90's metal DA veteran sergeant. Very similar face to Azrael's, and it's about the same size as plastic marine bare head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 ;( I know the end results will look great. Only...I have an aversion to non helmeted marines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimm Blade Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Great start to the project! I am excited to see more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Htogrem Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 Thanks Grimm! Augustus, because what self-respecting marine would go into combat without a helmet? I totally get it. I used to avoid bare heads, although that was because I hated painting faces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Htogrem Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 Here we go! Still working on the photography. I use a Droid, and everything looks fine there until I load them to the computer. I'll figure it out. Advice is welcome. The back of the robes are pretty much done. I dread the paint job, as it will highlight all the imperfections in the green stuff. It isn't smooth in many places, blending GS to metal and GS to GS is difficult. However, to learn, one must do. Here's the direction I'm going with the holster. I converted the plastic holster a long time ago, but never ended up using it. I've always assumed the holstered side arm on space marine models and kits, was intended to be a bolt pistol. It always bothered me that bolt pistol with a magazine clearly would't fit. Aesthetically, it's a nice clean look. However, it's one of those things I choose to fix on my dudes. (I really like the Legion Assault Squad from Forge World. The holsters look like they actually hold a bolt pistol.) While the plastic pistol's magazine sticks out of the holster, Azrael's holster will encompass the entire pistol. More GS work to the backpack. The skulls were trimmed and glued on slightly different to each other, so I'll need to disguise that with GS. As a matter of interest, here is a robed scout I started years ago. Sure, DA robes usually denote veteran status and the Inner Circle. However, the image struck me and I thought it would be neat to have a squad of robed scouts. He's the only one I did, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Well done, dude. I'm liking how this is turning out. I can see scouts wearing cloaks and robes in order to obscure them in their missions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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