Well I finally managed to finish this squad. The arms on this squad are from the terminator models as apposed to the power armour arms used on the previous squad. It’s a lot more work but ultimately a much better finish. The brief for this squad was for mostly charging poses. I didn’t manage to achieve the standard charging pose of GWs Space Marines, but for the most part have created a sort of striding pose, which I’m rather pleased with. I think the running pose can take away from the sense of weight that I try to instill into these conversions, and are best left for Assault Squads with jump packs. All models are WYSIWYG with the exception of two carrying combat blades instead of bolt pistols. The arms on the sergeant are magnetized as I’ve already pointed out before. I got the chance to experiment a little with “brownstuff”. At the moment I’m just trying to get a feel for it. Despite many people preferring it to greenstuff, at the moment I’m more comfortable with the good old green-chewing -gum.

The full squad. Click for a larger image.

Various size comparisons. Click for larger image.

Sergeant weapon variant 1.

Sergeant weapon variant 2.

Completed Project Mark V, Squad

Just thought I’d give a sneak peak of the squad I’m working on. The rest of the squad just needs there rivets adding and they’re finished, but for now here’s my favourite. There’s something about the scale of heavy weapons on an Actual Scale Space Marine that is really satisfying. I’m pretty sure I’ll be using lots of them in my own Space Marine army.

Completed Project Heavy Weapons, Mark V, Multi Melta

Delays, delays, delays…

At the moment I’m about 10 days behind my planned schedule. If I’ve agreed to produce projects for you on commission please be patient. A lot of personal stuff and a general in ability to plan ahead have seen me put off some work that should have been done already. I hope to claw back a bit of time over the next few weeks. I promise the wait will be worth it.

For anyone thinking about commissioning a project, there is a waiting list developing. To add to this, September will largely be taken up by a “Top Secret Project” (tba) that will mean very little commission work happening at that time. I’ve got room for a few more projects before then but all others will have to wait till October.

Because I’m behind, the basic tutorial is temporarily being pushed back till I can find the time. Commissions must come first obviously.

Thanks for your patience.

Miscellaneous Top Secret Project

Even though I hadn’t intended to start this for a few weeks, I fancied a change and doing something not in power armour. The client requested Commissar Ciaphas Cain converted from a FW Death Korps Commissar. The replacement head came from a Master of Ordinance mini from the advisors box set. I also tried out my newly arrived ‘brown stuff’ putty as apposed to the usual greenstuff. I have to say that it’s definitely nicer to use than greenstuff. Too expensive to use on everything, but the reduced elasticity makes it ideal for small details. Still a lot to do to this mini, but the hardest part, the head swap, is done. Took a good few hours to carefully remove the original head and trim the new one to fit, but eventually the result has turned out really nice. One of the other major features of this model is the ornate double edged chainsword. I couldn’t find an existing chainsword with the right dimensions of details, so I had to make one. I basically took the teeth off of two chainswords, glued them together. I then added a trimmed down motor bit from a Space Marine chainsword. The handle is from an catachan knife and is perfectly scaled to fit this model. The outer casing for the blade was filed off and then resculpted with brownstuff to make a clean finish.

After working on this mini, I’m very tempted to buy myself some Death Korps of Krieg Grenadiers, to use as Inquisitorial Storm Troopers. It’s a very nice model and better proportioned than most other Imperial Guard models.

Work in Progress Ciaphas Cain, Commissar, Forgeworld, Imperial Guard

Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the soon to be tackled projects, some for myself, some on commission.

Heresy Era Alpha Legionaires Squad (equipped in Mk III and IV power armour)

Blood Raven HQ (counts as Vulkan He’stan – regular scale)

A range of Red Scorpion Captains (regular scale)

Actual Scale TERMINATORS!

Deathwatch Marines

Huron Blackheart

Adeptus Custodes test mini

Ciaphas Cain conversion

A tutorial: “How to make an Actual Scale Space Marine”

Possible Imperial Guard conversions.

Master of the Forge (Lamenters chapter)

Miscellaneous

Here’s the first of the finished members of the Mark V Tactical Squad. As per the clients orders this model has magnetized swappable arms, so he can be equipped with bolter/bolt pistol and power sword/fist. Still need to drill out the bolter and perhaps add a back banner. I’m very pleased with the way this has turned out. I feel there is some progression and improvement on the previous squad.

Also for your viewing pleasure I have one of the near completion marines from the same squad. The dagger (not entirely WYSIWYG, but looks pretty cool) is from a Catachan command squad (I think). I’ve tried to pose him as if he’s firing at close range, hence the slightly lowered bolter, with his combat blade ready to slash out at the approaching enemy. I also swapped out the magazine on the bolter for a belt feed, as these marines are meant to be heresy era. All marines in the squad also have the same style of back pack, which is pretty close to the accepted old mark back packs. I used a simply greenstuff mold to make the basic layered plates shape and added rivets from the Grandt Line range.

Work in Progress Combat Blade, Magnets, Mark V, Rivets

At the clients request the Space Marine shown in the previous post has magnetized swappable arms, power fist/sword and bolt gun/pistol. He’s also requested a similar thing for all members of the Actual Scale Terminator squad I’ll be starting soon. This is a great way of getting value from models I feel, and from my point of view as a converter is a nice little touch to a finished product. Sure this is nothing new, but it got me thinking whilst I was repositioning one of the arms on a veteran sergeant. It wouldn’t be too extreme to place tiny magnets between forearm and elbow, and perhaps small ball magnets where the head/helmet attaches to the body (as well as at the shoulders). This would give not only swappable arms but posable arms and heads.

Things like this, as well as fibre optics in the eyes and motors driving the spinning assault cannon (seen it done a few times now), speakers built into a Squiggoth, are great novelties, but is it going too far?

At what point do wargames figures become toys and is it something the average gamer wants?

For me personally I think magnetized arms/weapons and wargear are enough, but I’d be interested in knowing what others think of this sort of “upgrading” of miniatures.

Miscellaneous Fiber Optics, Magnets, Motors, Random Thoughts

I’ve made some slow progress on the second Mark V armour Space Marine squad.

Click to see larger image.

Progress feels quite slow when working on large squads such as this, however, I’m pleased with how they’re coming along. I’m going to be making these using terminator arms. I have a shortage of plastic studs right now so that feature of the models will have to wait until last.

Work in Progress Mark V

Here’s a small update on what i have on my desk at the moment.

This is the work in progress for a second commissioned Mark V armoured Tactical Squad.

The client asked for the squad to be charging forward. On the majority of the figures I’ve tried to position the legs into striding poses, or at least a little more dynamic than the usual generic Space Marine pose. The positioning of the arms and heads will have a large effect on the dynamics of each figure, so I think they’ll look like they have more movement when finished.

The backpacks are coming along a lot more nicely than the previous squad. The helmets are also nearly finished, with just the addition of studs to come. All the torsos on these Mark Vs come from the assault marine sprues. Once they’re filled out with greenstuff cabling they are suitably bulk to fit the model.

Because I had a shortage of terminator legs with knee pads (that would need trimming down anyway) I opted to use the other variant and carve a groove to separate the greaves from newly formed knee pads. I’m fairly satisfied with the result, in fact I think they’re better than the previous squad.

The checklist of things left to do on this squad is as follows:

greenstuff all the calves and thighs, the abdomens and groins.

convert and attach arms & weapons

finish backpacks

add studs to helmets, greaves and shoulder pads

greenstuff the boots to make them chunkier

add final detailing

Hoping to have these finished before the end of next week, as I have a lot more projects booked to have to make a start on.

Work in Progress Knee pads, Mark V

Thanks to Doghouse posting a pick of one of the old style backpacks in his Warseer Project Log, I managed to improve on the backpacks of the MK V conversions I’ve been working on. Here’s the first, a definite improvement over those issued to the last squad. This one will be used to create a small greenstuff press mold.

Work in Progress Backpack, Mark IV, Mark V, Mark VI