lamby

Thanks all!!! And here's a link to a video turntable of the girls all painted up (pics incoming): Bas-Lag Mercs Thanks for looking!

Bas-Lag Mercs The first time I read Perdido Street Station by China Mielville I was astounded appalled amazed at the fascinating and utterly different kind of fantasy horror steampunk aesthetic with deep social and political themes woven into the intricate world of Bas-Lag. So, in my first post back after under a year: here's a trio of Bas-Lag inspired 'lets build a few quick models for painting practice' mercenaries that rapidly got out of control!!! First up is Dyce the Axe-woman, once destined for an Inquisition warband. All I did was replace the pistol she was carrying with a human-sized rivebow, which is a crossbow that fires chakra (discs) instead of quarrels, for the non-Bas-Lag initiated. The bow was made from a Necromunda Delaque flechette carbine and the top of Sisters of Battle bolter/bow combi-rifle: Next up came Byrn, to whom I replaced the brass strips supporting her flamers with greenstuff, and that was it: Lastly, I had randomly bought some of the Callis and Toll models… so Lyssa Revenya became an archer. I cut away the existing arms and the rope, replacing them with the bow and some arms from the Daughters of Kaine Blood Stalkers. The quiver on her back was also from the Blood Stalkers with some added tech bits, and a strap of Tamiya Quick Type to mount it. Lastly, the bases. I took a press copy of Lyssa Revenya's cobbled brick base, rolled out some terracotta millput, and pressed myself some cobble sections. When these were dry, I jigsaw-puzzled them into a section about 3x2cm, and made another press-mold. The display base was made from the lid of a Staminade tub that I smoothed the sides with the Dremel and a lot of sanding. I cut a circle of 5mm thick cork sheet and cut out the three circles for the bases, then glued the circle to the display base. The individual bases had a steel washer epoxied underneath, with corresponding magnets on the display base; this made the top of the cork and the bases the same height. A sheet of terracotta milliput was rolled out over the entire surface of the display base and model bases (which were sitting securely in their magnetised cut-outs). I let it dry for about 30 minutes, then pressed the cobble-brick mold in relatively straight lines; due to the press-mold having to be lined up and pressed multiple times, the milliput did some random things but all in all, it worked! I let it dry another 30 minutes, then used a wet xacto blade to slice around the model bases. When it was all rock-hard 24 hours later, I cleaned up the edges of the model bases and cut-outs, then added some small pipes and cut out some of the cobbles to make small puddles which I filled with resin (after painting). Added the three small lights cut off some old Warhammer terrain, and the bases were complete! And so, onto painting... Thanks for looking!

These tools - mini mitre tool and mini razor saw:

W][P Moved onto a started-simple-but-did-not-end-that-way conversion... Sisters of Battle gone rogue... Not sure why yet? I find these sporadic builds often lead to some good characters, so when I get distracted away from one work to another I just run with it. Cut away the original Warcry shins and replaced them with SoB greaves, then used milliput to fill the gaps at foot and knee. The weapon is a SoB bolter/crossbow with the string cut away - it throws the explosive-tipped quarrel via an EM-field. Replaced the barrel with smaller diameter copper tubing. Also added a longer magazine to the bolter. New left forearm from Sisters of Silence to get the weapon-resting-on-the-knee angle correct. Quiver and little buckles taken from a Melusai Blood Stalker. Used Tamiya Quick Type to sculpt in the back of the vest where the original hump-of-feathers was, and sculpted in the rear fur of the collar in extra-soft greenstuff. Thanks for looking!

T][TANS - The Siren + The Siren - Last of the Titans - is complete! + WIP Imagery: + The upper body is from the Medusa and the lower is yet another Melusai. This will be the last time I use a Melusai tail (promise!) At this stage I wasn't sure if she'd have weapons or maybe just talons. Obviously she needed arms and many tiny details and she definitely needed a new head/helm. + + And - just like with Scylla - I had to re-sculpt scales on the main body section to make the illusion she’s bigger than you see. + + And I also had to sculpt scales again to redirect the tail to vanish into what will eventually (hopefully) be the murky depths of her pond. The intention will be to fill the pond with colored resin. + + In concert with the scale sculpting there were four sculpting sessions on the belt and three on the helm to get her to this stage. + + To get that belt/armour filigree detail I used Tamiya Quick-Type mixed with about 30% Milliput, rolled extremely small and thin, manipulated with a wet brush to get the basic shape. (If you are lacking true frustration in your life, give this a try...) Once the first layer was dry, it was sanded and/or carved with a hobby blade to even out the thickness. For a much more detailed tutorial on this method, do yourselves a favour and join Valbjorn's Patreon: https://valbjornsculpts.com + + I didn’t take any pics before the sculpting of the helm. None of the available Splintered Fang helms seem to have open mouths, so I took the back and mohawk-hair from a standard helm and glued an open mouth Witch Elf face on the front, before then sculpting the helm over it all. + + Finally used 5 minute epoxy to attach the head and some more GS/MP to smooth the neck/head transition. + The arms were fiddly - as is usual for me it seems… The left arm was built from two pieces, the upper arm from a Witch Elf, the lower from one of the Night Haunts. The right arm was made in almost the same way, except for some reason that Nighthaunt hand came without a thumb, so I had to slice a thumb from a random old hand and glue it into place, before sanding it back to get a seamless join. Finally I added a curling bracelet on the right forearm as it looked a little thin in comparison to the left. + + I suppose I better paint them now… + Thanks for looking!

Thanks! WIP 3 - T][tans - Scylla + So this was as close as I got to the finish line for the Grimdark Compendium June comp submission; too much sculpting to fix her up added to work getting in the way of hobby got in the way, and I would’ve had to compromise the end result by rushing the pre-paint stage of prime/sand/re-prime and she will be a better mini for that. Her armour and belt decorative elements were sculpted in Tamiya Quick-Type over the previous layer of Greenstuff/miliput. The blade of the spear was made by soldering thin brass rod to a piece of brass plate, then soldering that into the copper haft head, then used a file to shape the brass into the leaf-blade. The shield was done by gluing in a plastic skull and sculpting the tentacles using Greenstuff/miliput mix. Added the chain-thingies for some weirdness, then brushed on Stynelrez grey primer, which revealed flaws in the shield-arm join and some other areas which have to be fixed; basically sanded down, possibly some minor repair sculpting. + Thanks for looking

Thanks All! + WIP 2 - T][TANS - SCYLLA + Lots of sculpting going into Scylla! Back when I mashed all those Melusai tails together I was pretty care-free about it and damaged a lot of the scale texture, as I was originally going to cover most of the tentacles with robes, but have since changed my mind… So for a few days I’ve been madly re-sculpting scale texture. I've added whole sections of scales along a number of the tentacles, over six sculpting session. Also notice the addition of the female anatomy, which has been sculpted over to make an armoured chest-plate. And filled in the helm engraving. And sculpted the beginnings of a belt and a scrap of a side-skirt. Probably not going to make the June 30 deadline for submission to the Grimdark Compendium challenge but it has certainly forced me to work at a faster pace! Thanks for looking!

+ WIP - T][TANS - SCYLLA + And… back: to frantically working on Scylla, a new (old) Greek mythology-inspired mini for my Inq28 Titans horde. Why frantically? Because this month’s Grimdark Compendium challenge by @grimdarkcompendium has galvanised me to complete the build and paint (!) her - Blanchitsu / Grimdark style! First started 3 years ago - just after smushing the pile of Melusai tails together I was deployed to Afghanistan for 7 months. When I returned home in 2021 I was then side-tracked away from the Titans into building femme Astartes. + Back in 2020, it all started with a random pile of Melusai tails: First basic steps of the base: Tentacle pile taking shape on the base: And so to 2023... Glued yet another Melusai tail to the top of the tentacle pile, and melded the pile of tails together with GS+Apoxie Sculpt. Then pinned and glued the upper human half on top - its a Warcry Splintered Fang Clearblood , as they’re good Hoplite conversion fodder: I decided the GS bulking her out around the middle was too smooth and too much of it, so i removed most of it. Back when I mashed all those Melusai tails together I was pretty care-free about it and damaged a lot of the texture, as I was originally going to cover most of the tentacles with robes, but have since changed my mind… So for a few days I’ve been madly re-sculpting scale texture. + Added a whole series of scales along a number of the tentacles, over three sculpting session. Also added female anatomy, which has been sculpted over to make an armoured chest-plate. And filled in the helm engraving: Sculpted the back-plate of the armour... and a whole lot more scales: + Still to do: Bit more scale texture to sculpt, and refine. Shield and trident just about completed. Then to add some minimal skirts to hide some of the areas where the tentacle connections don’t make anatomical sense. And some form of abdominal armour/belt to attach the robes to. + Thanks for looking!

W][P - Sister Luna + W][P of Sister Luna - she's wearing Paladin-armour (similar to Sister Smash - real name pending), toting a BFG* and a hell of an attitude... * Big Frikkin Gun For a months I've been trying to outfit one of the Sisters with a sniper weapon but nothing seemed to work. Then I discovered the amazing work of Lunax7070 who is the undisputed modern-era king of truescale Astartes. Sister Luna is a shameless tribute-build to Lunax7070's Astral Claw; that weapon-stance, attitude and aggression really works. She's built mostly using Severin from the Steelheart's Champions, which I bought to use as test models while learning to use oil paints, hence the dramatic monochromatic W][P pics; in full colour she's grey and blue and green and partially painted and just a mess. The original model lost his his legs, his head, the gigantic Final Fantasy sword and both arms, and the plumed-helmet he was holding, and transformed from a male Stormcast to an Amazon Astartes. I replaced the lower legs with Stormcast Paladin legs, as I wanted the armour to match Sister Smash (real name pending); after cutting away the legs I had to sculpt back in the upper thighs and the two pteruges* damaged in the leg removal process. *Pteruges: the defensive skirt of leather or multi-layered fabric (linen) strips or lappets worn dependant from the waists of Roman and Greek cuirasses of warriors and soldiers, defending the hips and thighs. The right shoulder pauldron comes from an old Chaos Terminator, with the little triangles beloved of Chaos scraped off, and the lower trim and guard rebuilt using styrene sheet and some GS; still have to add the tiny rivets on the lower trim to match the upper. The left shoulder pauldron is - as usual - from a Grey Knight Terminator. Her fore-arms and the basic shape of her BFG comes from a Vanguard-Raptor Longstrike crossbow; I pinned the forearms to the Stormcast torso to get the right position and then used styrene tube and Apoxie Sculpt to build the upper arms. The ridiculously long crossbow was cut down just forward of the left hand, and the spike-stock was also sliced back. I used styrene sheet and Apoxie Sculpt to build over the crossbow body, then chiselled out the chamber-well and added the cocking-lever. + I imagine her BFG as an Imperial Guard .75 cal* sniper rifle that she liberated and sawed down to Astartes assault-weapon size; there's the beginnings of some character fluff there but I'll leave that alone for now. I'm vaguely modelling the BFG off an FN SCAR-H with the M203 attachment, though it's a bit more chunky and there's some detailing to go yet - this is a W][P after all. * Apparently, standard bolter rounds are .75 cal Bolter Ammunition + W][P-wise - more old-paint removal to occur on the cloak/robe, BFG detailing, rivet detailing on the right pauldron and upper torso, adding a baldric-slung curved short-sword to tie her back into the exisiting Sisters, and adding holstered bolt-pistol secondary on the right hip. + She's definitely going to lose that itchy trigger finger. + Thanks for looking!

Thanks for the comments Dr_Ruminahui ! You are correct, not sure what I was thinking with the sword idea... I've tried a few different items on that left hip and it just makes her too busy. Cheers Pearson73! See comments above ref the sword. A note on scale; I'm trying to keep the scale of weapons down in comparison to the general GW trend, seemingly bigger is better. Been reading the 'Between the Bolter and Me' blog posts about scale, so I'm using the more human-sized weapons for these true-scale-esque Amazons; for example, all the bolters are from the Sister's of Battle, which are much better scale for Astartes than the actual Astartes ones. Thanks so much, Valkia the Bloody! Finally, please enjoy this reel I made for Instagram: deconstruction

Cheers Lord_Ikka! I cut copper and brass with these two things: https://www.hobbytools.com.au/wood-handle-for-ultra-fine-saw-blades/ and Xtra long mitre box

WIP of Amazon Astartes number four - the Standard Bearer. (She would've been number five however I've decided I don't like Sister Dread so she's waiting on the workbench for a re-build.) This lass is built primarily from the second of the femme Sequitors; not sure which Stormcast the arms are from. The head is an old Dark Eldar Witch one; going to use some greenstuff to detail the hair a bit. Left shoulder pauldron is an old SM Terminator one with everything except the skull scraped and sanded off. The small axe is from the old Chaos Marauder's kit - an absolute gem of kit for bits; though I've replaced the plastic haft with my now-standard copper tubing. The slung weapon is an SoB bolter with foil strap; the foil has been 'painted' with milliput paste to strengthen it. The base is a greenstuff/Apoxie sculpt 'cast' of one of the previous cork ones in an attempt to speed up the base-build process. Tossing about the idea of slinging a curved sword on a baldric low on the left hip. Grey Knight terminator pauldron on the left side, replaced the Stormcast lightning bolt thingy on the front of the robe with an ][. The standard is just a copper tube with the plastic end of a Chaos marauder spear, and as yet there's nothing on top as I have to decide whether to make it a banner or something else. Thanks for looking!

SISTER DREAD - WHICH WEAPON? Naginata, or Chainsword? I keep going back and forth on the naginata blade or the chainsword? What does the wider community think?

+ SISTER DREAD + Here’s the fourth (of a planned 5) Amazon Astartes - Sister Dread. She’s an amalgamation of two AoS Stormcast Castigators. I didn’t like the weird pose on the female one, so took the slimmer lower legs from her and transplanted them onto the male one. Then it was a case of shaving down the male torso, arms and those thick upper thighs. (She’s still pretty thicc ...) Then GS sculpted the tabard back in. Also added new gloved hands as the originals were holding the big crossbow-thingy that I'd tried to convert into a sniper rifle. Slinging the bolter was far more of a nightmare than it should have been. Originally she had a sniper rifle, but it didn’t really fit with the rest of the team. I switched the rifle out for a naginata similar to Sister Sin’s, but the blade was just too long, hanging off the base. So Repentia chainsword for the win! Thanks for looking!

Thanks!!! Tiny complicated things Hi - my name is Lamby and I make tiny complicated things! Press-mold copy of the Sororitas holstered bolter, using Apoxie Sculpt and some bolter bits. More details on the jetpack for Sister 3. Patched the holes in the Nurgle axe, fixed the edge. Built the haft from copper tube that was cut around its circumference at intervals then fitted over a bent wire to get the subtle curve. This is the weapon for Sister no 3. Thanks for looking!