Bubble Helmet Marines

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I love your stuff (so characterful!) but think the librarian needs a little something such as a glow or lightning effect around his hands - at the moment, his arms look more like he's a zombie or trying to convince someone he knows kung fu than suggestive of the generation of any mystical or magical power.

Excellent point! I wonder if transparent plastic lightning will work (see Force lightning accessories on Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious action figures, from Star Wars)?

On the other hand, I think your "techmarine" is wonderful.

I second that.

Bucket disco brain on back and might there be an infant in the front container hmmmm?

Like Bridge Babies in the video game Death Stranding? As this is for the Warhammer 40,000 wargame, I think a Bridge Cherub will be more appropriate.

[War of the Eagle]

Been following you on facebook for awhile but gotta say I love your repulsor conversions. They just lool so much more aggressive and scifi the way you converted them.

[thesilverback]

These are great looking.  I really love the bubble head look especially on the Mechanicus.  

 

Also do you have a link to Mr. Handy, I can't find him.

Edited July 25, 2021 by thesilverback

[INKS]

awesome conversions and well painted.

[Rogan]

There's something eerie about these bubble helmet marines.

But they're so awesome, too!

The librarian in particular is so far away from what you'd usually see, it's a true joy to behold. :)

[McGibs]

Thanks for the comments guys!

I think the Mr. Handy mini is sadly out of production (I bought a couple years ago, and they've been sitting in my closet). I think Brother Vinni's swaps models in and out of sale, so it might come back in the future.

 

I took your advice and tried some lighting effects on the Librarian's fingers using the Tesseract Glow technical paint. I don't usually do painted effects, but this seemed as good a reason as any. The green didnt look so great on the white-armoured gloves (sort of like he got green cheeto dust on his fingers), so I knocked the armour back to the grey/teal so the effect could "glow" a bit more. I think it looks decent enough, but let me know what you guys think.

 

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/retromarines_librarian03.jpg

 

I also got through my five man Blade(taser?)Guard squad. Obviously the blinged out stock versions weren't going to fit with my army's clean sci-fi theme, so I went for a pretty straightforward  "breaching team" look instead. The shields are from the Necromunda Subjugator kit and worked out perfectly.

 

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/retromarines_bladeguard01.jpg

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/bladeguard_retromarines02.jpg

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/bladeguard_retromarines03.jpg

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/retromarines_bladeguard_turn.gif

[McGibs]

Big Daddy Dread ready for stompin!

The Redemptor kit is pretty great, I just replaced the sarcophagus with a Kharadron dome that happened to also perfectly fit one of the larger bombshell Mini's bubble helmets. Other minor changes were to swap out the teeny-tiny icarus rocket pod with something a little chunkier, and integrate the small gatling gun into the palm of the fist. Really happy with how this one came together!

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/retromarines_redemptor01.jpg

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/retromarines_redemptor02.jpg

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/retromarines_redemptor03.jpg

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/retromarines_redemptor_turn.gif

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Dreadnought.

[Inquisitor lorr]

Wow these are stunning! I absolutely love the whole army - so much character. I would snap these up in an instance were they a production army!

[space wolf]

I love dreadnoughts! I love YOUR dreadnought! Well done, well executed, beautiful concept.

[thesilverback]

Wickly cool, you never cease to amaze me, with you bubble heads. 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I like the glow effect on the librarian - I think it does a good job and showing that there is something different about the model.  The only change I would do would be to get some of the glow off of the helmet bubble as well.

 

I also really like the shield & shocker marines - as you said, the subjugator shields are perfect for what you are going for.

 

The dread is also very nice, and the larger rocket pod works well with the more bulbous front.  A question though - why was it important to you to put the small gatling into the hand rather than have it on the outside of the arm?  Not that there is anything wrong with that... it just seems like a bunch of work when (to me at least) having it in its original position would equally be in keeping with the look of the army.

Edited August 11, 2021 by Dr_Ruminahui

[McGibs]

Thanks for the feedback!

The helmets are sprayed with mirror-gloss black enamel, so there's not much I can do to add OSL or any effect like that. It is very reflective though, so it will reflect the hands if they're at the right angle.

 

As for the dread gatling gun, I felt that the default weapon placement looks quite unwieldy hanging off the wrist like that, just waiting to get damaged in a brawl. Placing the gun in the palm was no hassle, there was already a socket there that was the perfect size to place the barrels. It also reflects the hand-gun placement of the stormbolters on Heresy era Contemptors.

[MadGreek]

You know, I wanted to hate these. I saw the first picture and thought - "Why? No!" I wanted to hate these.  By the end of the 5th page, I REALLY liked what you did. The bubble heads look awesome, and the Dread is gorgeous. 

[Brother Pheidias]

The Redemptor Dreads overabundance of weapons really fit well with your bubblehelmets!

[Smoke Frog]

Amazing work on the dreadnought! The conversion looks flawless, like you bought it that way!

[Marshal Reinhard]

That thing definately does R2-D2 noises. Maybe more threatening though.

[McGibs]

This dreadnought was one of the first models I converted for my army, but I had him go through a bit of an upgrade. New gun, some backpack vents, and extended torso to make him contemptor sized (he used to be a chaplain dread)

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/retromarines_contemptor_champ01.jpg

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/retromarines_contemptor_champ02.jpg

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/retromarines_contemptor_champ_turn.gif

 

And I also did up a unit of Servitors, which are the guys that win games of 9th edition. These were just some fun robots I had kicking around and wanted to paint forever. The Fallout Securitron and Brainbot are from Brother Vinni's minis (possible out of print now), and the two floaty bots are from Bombshell minis.

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/retromarines_servitors01.jpg

http://mcgibs.com/wp-content/gallery/miniatures/retromarines_servitors02.jpg

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent works.

[Doghouse]

This army is a breath of fresh air, well done.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Not sure if I like the new backpack vents on the dreadnought - I kind of liked the radar dish on the one earlier in your thread, and I feel the vents make it look too much like a bigger marine power armour.  Still a super cool model, though.

 

As for your little robots, they are adorable - your refrigerator blue colour scheme really works with them.

[McGibs]

Well, the vents are specifically to make them look like oversized marines, so mission accomplished I suppose? 

I tried to find a suitable place for the radar dish, but nothing looked quite right unfortunately. 

[Beef]

Amazing, the dreds look like something from that game Bio Shock.  Amazing attention to detail and painting.  As some others i was not a fan of the bubble head to start with but you have done an amazing job and the marines fit your narrative of a mecanicus army.

[Smoke Frog]

Amazing work, that contemptor dread conversion is inspired! As are the servitors.