Utgardian IG (DIY Halo-style vehicles - Flyer)

[Nostromo]

CommodusXIII:

That was the idea

But several of the rivets still turned out too massive - but for the purpose of 40k-ing the tanks, it works good enough. However, i'll try something different on the next tank. Still with rivets, but more effort (yes, THAT's what i need... do it even more complicated so it takes even longer. How many tanks do i need in the end? .... Should be done a few years after retirement).

 

Brother Cristopher:

Regarding uniformity... on first and second thought, i wanted to contradict. On third thought, i agree. You can explain everything with lore... but it all comes down to a business related decision by GW. But for Primaris, no other mark of armour is necessary - or would ebven make sense, since the other versions of armor accessible to normal marines are simply outdated models. But anyway... i am no fan of the whole primaris concept.

 

Custom designs, supported by a (credible) backstory are in defiance of GW's policy It's also fun to take your time and devise reasons why your plastic or cardboard tank is so different than expected.

Amen, brother!

 

Oh, i understood what you meant about the "making sense" aspect. Maybe i should point out that for me, it may be important in general - but it is also VERY dependant on the specific army. With my Dark Angels i stick - with a limited number of exceptions - stubbornly to the codex (that was valid at that time... i started with 3e...). So, it is again the narrative influencing the respective army.

So you see - it is not only what was intended by GW what makes my IG different from my Dark Angels. You could say they defy Mars as much as i do GW with them.

[Nostromo]

News from the category „what did I learn recently?“

The major task is still painting the three tanks.

The first washes are done - but I think I will try applying only oil washes on the next tank (which I will add on the current tanks during weathering).

But most of the results look ok - but the camera stubbornly refuses to show it, so no photos.

 

For edge highlights I tried drybrushing and direct application. The former is messy, the latter slow and a little less messy. I think I will use both on future tanks - and drybrushing only on hard edges. Using drybrushing on flat edges had the chalky effect that was to be expected- and with this camo pattern the result is even worse.

You surely already have noticed that contrast in the pattern is quite low - to a certain degree intentional.

I have mixed the two secondary colors with the primary color - at the cost of contrast. But drybrushing reduced contrast even more. Well, I can still say it was intended - and it does not really look bad.

But as soon as weathering comes, washes and pastels will have the same effect on the camo that drybrushing had.

And... I had to do some repairs after edge highlighting with both techniques with a glaze of the base tone... which again reduced contrast.

 

Now - what did I learn?

On the next tank, I will modify the colors of the camo pattern.

Now, the base color is greygreen.

Secondary are charcoal and sand with charcoal mixed 1:4 with greygreen and sand 4:1 with greygreen. I will make that 1:3 and 6:1 next time to add contrast.

And I will try to work less messy during washing and highlighting... but washes will be done differently anyway.

 

In the meantime, I experiment with converting plasma weapons to better fit the Eisenkern scale.

[Nostromo]

a little progress that is finally barely visible.

The photos look worse than reality... but still, far from finished.

anyway... suggestions for improvement?

[Naryn]

Absolutely gorgeous. It’s amazing how well the rivets and the paintjob tie it into the Imperial Guard aesthetic!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The tank is well done.

[Nostromo]

no progress since the last painting session - but a close-up to give a better impression on highlights, shadows and the general color.

A shame... lenses and lights soaked op the majority of time since the last step - but due to camera and light, those are outright invisible on the photos.

I am rather excited by a different painting tecnique i tried on the rolled-up tarps, barrels and other stowage - that looks interesting...

At least i think so.

[Nostromo]

Something different in between... i let myself get distracted.

But still, it IS equipment for the Utgardians.

I see no point in buying complete boxes just to get heavy weapons - and since i already have begun scratch building them for the vehicles, i can just build some fpr the infantry - or so i thought.

So, this is the intermediate result of the first series of test builds for the first type of weapon. The fourth iteration - and the first looking ok. There is still room for improvement, though

So... what is this?

Asked differently: as what kind of weapon would you classify this?

[Nostromo]

The first tanks are done - for now, at least.

I have a few half-painted additional weapon options in the drawer and maybe i will improve the weathering on Macharius and Basilisk - but first, i have other things to do.

Like the half-finished counts-as-Tauros (still white on the photo below) which still lacks his main weapon and paint.

Here they are in a size comparism shot. Weird but true - even while the angle indicates something else:

Chimera and Basilisk are almost the same size as the Leman Russ. The length difference is only about 1 cm

and a shot of the chimera with a Leman-Russ Punisher configuration:

and since this is a WIP-Thread...

something WIP.

Trouble is... this little bugger will in the end approximately have the dimensions of a Thunderhawk. About 30 cm long... a bit large for a Valkyrie/Vendetta/Vulture - but who cares?

[Nostromo]

since the last update, i have been busy... but since it was mostly try&error, the results are less than impressing.

Anyway...

i have completed the level-0 structure of the wings - just the right wing on the foto. Needs magnets...

And here is an intermediate stage of the cockpit. I wonder if the seat is large enough... For scale purpose with the pilots legs.

The whole section needs to be completed and painted before i put it in the hull from behind.

Thosewho know the Pelican will by now have noticed that i have reduced it in size to almost 50%, making it a one-seater. Just because i did not want it to get much larger than 30 cm in length.

The passenger compartment for 10 soldiers is about the same size as a rhinos interior, so all is well.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Those tanks are super cool looking, great converting!

[Naryn]

Wow, I had missed the last update with painted tanks! Absolutely stunning work. The Pelican is looking quite good too!

[Nostromo]

It takes time...
but every few weeks, there is indeed some visible progress.

This was about two (?) weeks ago:




Not really bad... but it looks way too edgy.
So I tried something to make the edges rounder while adding the second layer.
This Photo also shows a first few details from the 3rd layer.
The lines on the second layer will give you an idea what takes me so long - and hints at what will come later.


And, as a spontaneous idea, more detailed engine intakes. Just two parts - not counting the casing - that alone took almost a day

Edited November 22, 2020 by Nostromo

[Brother Christopher]

The rounded edges make the vehicle detract even further from Imperial aesthetics, but I've gotta say this - I love them. In my opinion, you've made the right choice!

 

Do you design this by yourself?

[Nostromo]

Thanks - and coming from you, i appreciate it even more.

 

yes, it was the right decision. But i was really afraid it could go completely wrong - and then the whole model would have been ruined. Such a relief!

 

And you are of course right with the non-40k aesthetics. It is intentional, as the vehicles are designed after Halo models. The whole army is not very 40k-ish, but part of the project to create a crossover between 4 very different designs* and make it all look as if it might still be a part of th universe.

 

As for my own design-work... this is very different in each vehicle and on a meta-level, every vehicle is an etremely different kind of project.

 

The tanks are loosely based on an alternative design study for a Grizzly/Scorpion.

Here i took a few dominating elements and designed the tanks from scratch - and recombined the elements for different kinds of tanks that in the end have a common design vocabulary.

The Macharius is a quite simple hybrid between a Macharius Vulcan and the Halo tank - and the two others are modifications of that concept. In the case of the basilisk again a hybrid that added a PZH-2000 to the genetic pool.

 

The Bullfrog is based on a beefed-up, modified warthog. No really significant design of my own, just reproduction of a photo to 3D.

 

The Pelican so far contains the least work from me, since even the base structure is a STL-file i found on the net. Hence the sharp-edged shape (and more 40k-ish) in the previous stage. The purpose here is to find out how much i can improve that base structure and research techniques to achieve that.

 

Learning. 2D & 3D CAD, geometry, try&error pencil&paper and quite a lot different ways to teach paper obedience.

 

----

* those 4 designs are:

Mantic GCPS Marines

Halo

Dreamforge Eisenkern

Wh40k

Edited November 17, 2020 by Nostromo

[Nostromo]

More details on the surface.

That bugger is so huge...

maybe not much longer, but definitely wider than a Valkyrie

[Nostromo]

you thought the project is dead - didn't you?

Confess your lack of faith, filthy heretics!

The last weeks had been quite frustrating - both job-wise and because of a deep cut in motivation

You might remember the little challenge related to the cockpit interior which needed to be completed before i could really go on with the hull.

The frustrating part here was that the interior needs to be painted - but that not much of it would be actually visible/recognisable from the outside. So it felt like a waste of time on a really sloppy and ugly paintjob.

But it turned out to be just enough.

With the cockpit glued in, i could finally assemble the Level-0 structure.

And i tell you... that turned out to be a real mess.

Have you ever tried to design a paper model? The shape is one thing - planing where to glue the parts together and to aniticipate where gluing gets really difficult is something different. In short... the fail was epic.

But since the plan is to cover the whole thing in at least 1, in some places up to 3 additional layers, the wide gaps can be hidden.

If i thought of myself as a real papercrafter, i could only hide, run, change my name and never return.

But i went on and added layers.

By now, 3/4 are covered with layer 1, 1/3 has layer 2 and 1/5 even has layer 3.

The last photo was a mockup with all parts loosely positioned.

This is no mockup any more...

[Brother Christopher]

I'm glad to see you getting back on track with this one. I can feel your frustration, but I'm sure you'll overcome the challenges. Dealing with problems that you faced and described is an inherent part of this hobby, though. Regarding the gaps, if you plan to paint the model, you can try filling them with some putty. Back when I tried to build a card stock Rhino, I used to Milliput to satisfactory effect - it didn't soften the paper and cured nicely.

[Nostromo]

Thanks brother, the encouragement is much appreciated.

Actually, the mentioned challenges (mostly) have already been overcome by covering gaps with paper.

This is annoying because the parts on level-1 are inevitably slightly larger with a little different shape than those on the layer below.

Mainly to compensate the gaps - but even more because l1 serves to make the overall shape round, whereas l0 ist still angular... which results in a very different geometry. No, i did not calculate that. Try & Error with each single part.

 

Hobby Hint:

Speaking of round shape... we all know that bending paper only works in one direction at a time. Which gets quite challenging if the intended shape is bent in more than one dimension.

I mention this because you wrote of filling gaps with milliput to avoid soaking paper. Actually, soaking is what i WANT here (on level-1).

Because... soaking results in that damned annoying warping effect. Which is a result of paper bending and stretching in multiple directions. This is something i put to good use here. It has its limitations - do not expect to be able to create something like a perfect sphere from a single piece of paper. You still need multiple parts for heavily bent surfaces - but soaked paper allows in this case much smoother, rounded shapes.

AND it does definitely NOT work for a level-0 stucture.

 

And all of a sudden, even Eldar Grav Tanks move from the box labelled "forget it, can only look crappy" to "might actually turn out nice".

 

Oh... and also from me my best wishes for the oncoming wedding.

You know...

ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul. Ash nazg durbatuluk, aragh burzum ishi krimpatul

You do?

[Nostromo]

An update on the upper rear.

Again a large layer-1 part that took >10 iterations and a first few layer-2 parts on top.

And in case you can't see what part that might be - it strecthes from the 6 rectangles to the top of the photo (and wraps in the rear around, covering almost the whole rear and the back of the rear...wings

[Nostromo]

This time with some impressions from the part design and building process.

At the moment i am working on the pair of rear thrusters.

The pelican has two pivotable pairs of thruster...modules?

The font two attached to the wings (those are 80% done) and the rear pair ... well, on the rear.

Each module is supposed to feature two pairs of thruster nozzles - on pair facing down, one pair backwards. Later more on this.

Step 1:

On the screenshot above you can see what the level-0 structure looks like. Edgy, angular... on the photo below you see layer-0 already covered with level-1 to make the whole thing rounder and more organic.

The large part is a WIP-version of layer-2. WIP, as you can see some notes on what to change after the last attempt of checking position and shape.

To achieve the round shape, the parts should be as large as possible. As you see, i indicate on level 2 where level-3 parts will be applied.

The details on the l-2-part are not cut out yet.

Below is the corresponding l-3-part.

Completely cut-out and ready to glue on - i obviously noticed in the last moment that l-2 did not fit good enough.

Comparism shot of one module still with l-1 (right) and one with level-2

looks nice enough.

And then i realized that this fancy detailled side is... the inside. Facing the hull *triplefacepalm*

So... back to drawing, i need an additional l-2 part forthe other side.

The modules are still missing the jet nozzles.

The prototypes worked nice for the downward thrusters of the front (wing-)modules. For the rear thrusters, they are WAY too large.

Even downsizing by 20% is still too large, so again 20% smaller.

Here are all three sizes - the smalles almost done and the 7 parts required for the next nozzle.

... and i thought the wheels on the tanks were annoyingly tiny...

now i will need to make at least 6 more of those.

And since the backwards-position where they will be applied to on the rear modules is not vertical, now i need 4 agled, tubular parts for them to sit on.

[Nostromo]

I call the rear thruster modules done. Is there a better expression for those parts? It sucks to improvise terminology the whole time...

Anyway, they only need magnets and then they are finished.

I am almost satisfied with how they turned out.

Just... i got inconsequent here with design. That does not really hurt and it does not exactly look bad - but i am not really happy with the design difference between the surface structure on the front half and the rear half of the module.

I wanted there to be a difference - just because the front section will also be painted a little different to indicate heavier armament, the rear should look more technical. THAT went wrong - i got carried away a little here. It surely looks "scify"... but not the way i intended.

That surface does not say "human" any more... it is more like Tau or even Eldar.

"Good" is not always also "right".

*sigh*

But i will remember that pattern when one day i turn to Eldar tanks.

Next step are more details on the front thruster modules

[Triszin]

This stuff is great

[Monstra Sumus]

Wonderful stuff. I'm in love with the Chimerusspion.

[Nostromo]

Thanks for the praise

It really helps to keep up motivation.

This time:

hinted-at weapons on the front thruster/wing modules

i was almost about to say that those fin-shaped parts that the iris-hatches consist of are the tiniest parts so far. No, that would not be true. But they are the tiniest parts that are more complicated than punched-out circles or other simple geometric shapes.

Still WIP and more greeblies to add.

[Brother Christopher]

I've been away from this subforum for far too long and I missed some of your previous updates, but wow - the main structure appears to look better and better and the detailing is just great. Sure, there are some xenos-aesthetics involved in the design, but I wouldn't care about that too much, considering the inspiration for the project.