I gotta admit I’ve never been a big fan of the plastic Space Marine bikes. Not sure what it is about them, maybe they’re too “blocky” or something they’ve just never appealed. Now I’m not saying this to blow my own trumpet but I’m genuinely surprised by how much I like this bike conversion I’ve been working on. When I started it I had no real idea or plan on how to do it, just a pile of assorted SM and Ork bike bits. It’s come together very nicely so far (note the rider is temporarily tacked together, but he’ll probably end up with the sword), I may add 2 or 3 to my own collection much later on.

Work in Progress Actual Scale, Bike, Salamanders

Hi all. It’s been a while. The last week has been a major pain, trying to clear out about 20 years worth of junk from my home (I’m a terrible horder), and so I’ve not had a chance to get much done. On top of that I ran out of greenstuff today and my latest order of the stuff seems to have gotten lost in the post (aaarrggh!!!). I’ve got a bit of an update here, but until I can get some fresh GS I’m gonna be flexing my paintbrush for a change.

First up today, SIlicone Putty!

I’ve mentioned this a few times over the last few months so I figured I’d give an example. As I’m working on a Grey Knights army, I decided to make a mold of a special purity seal for them. In some of the GK artwork they can be seen with really long flowing purity seals, which I think not only look really cool but are especially useful for hiding less than perfect sculpting.
So here I sculpted a long flowing seal onto a piece of plasticard.

The silicone putty comes in two parts, both of which are of, well a putty consistency (obviously).

Take two small equal sized amounts. They are very easily mixed just using fingertips and takes probably no more than 20-30 seconds. It’s not exactly messy, but you’ll want to wash your hands afterwards.

It hardens very quickly, so as soon as it’s mixed into one colour, press it onto whatever it is you are molding, being careful to sort of spread it over the piece so as not to capture air bubbles.

Give it a minute to set, and pull it off. It captures details very nicely (you can see my fingerprints on the putty in the photo above). Whilst normally on larger objects the mold has some flexibility, on small pieces like this there really is none. It’s very easy to cut and will break if you use too much force, but the beauty of this material is that Greenstuff will not stick to it at all, so there’s no need for any kind of release agent.

When making the cast a soft mix is highly recommended (ie: at least twice as much yellow as blue) and you’ll need to press it into the mold with a wet tool, otherwise it’ll stick to the tool and be pulled right out of the mold.

I’ll be using this particular mold to add flowing purity seals to all my Grey Knights, which will certainly add a sense of movement to a fairly static pose that most will have.

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Actual Scale bike.

This is the bike for an Actual Scale Salamanders character (will count as Khan). The rider is currently in bits, but the main structure of the bike is built as you can see. The exhausts might be a little bit flared. The whole thing is about half as long again as a regular bike, hence the need for a custom base. The front of the bike is a little rough but I’ll be sculpting a large imperial eagle on it as soon as I can get some more GS. The plastics are a combination of Ork and Space Marine bikes and I think the exhausts may have come from a Baneblade (I’m not too sure).

Work in Progress Actual Scale, Grey Knights, Purity Seal, Salamanders, Silicone Putty, Space Marine Bike

Durendin’s about 99% done. It’ll be a while before I paint him because of other work, but it’s nice to see him realized. I had a lot of trouble finalizing his pose, but eventually settled on a crozius resting at his side rather than the usual held aloft pose common to all Chaplains. It helps give an impression of weight to his mighty hammer, but also allows the fitting of the shoulder pad to look far less awkward. Although this model has 9 pins holding him together, there are elements that are definitely fragile (the iron halo for example) but there’s not much I can do to improve that. Guess I better not drop him.

Work in Progress Actual Scale, Chaplain, Grey Knight Chaplain, Thunder Hammer

Hey all,

So I finished a number of projects recently and have managed to clear a bit of space on my desk for some fresh stuff.

I’ve just started piecing together 2 Actual Scale Salamanders characters that will count as Kantor and Khan. The challenge of an Actual Scale bike is proving challenging, but I’m starting to make progress with it (pics incoming).

I figured I would try and have a few different projects on the go at once, so I can keep switching over whenever I need a break. My second currently running project is a set of 3 more Red Scorpions captains. These will be regular scale (for a change) and painted.

I also decided I wanted to do some work on my own collection, else I’ll never have any Space Marines of my own. I’ve been quite keen to make a Grey Knights Chaplain for quite some time, and whilst there are a hundred other models I want to work on, this is the one that’s peaked my interest right now. I was also highly inspired by this amazing image.

I’m sure some of you would argue against the existence within the fluff of GK Chaplains, but I rather like the idea, if nothing else just for aesthetic reasons – Chaplains always look cool, but a Grey Knight Chaplain should be something really special.

I started this with a few ideas in mind. When finished it will fit approximately the description of the Chaplain mentioned in Ben Counter’s Grey Knights book, ie: all black power armour and a gun metal skull helm. I also had this idea of him carrying a thunder hammer that looks similar to a crozius arcanum. I’ve made a largely scratch built double headed TH, but I’m not entirely sure I’m satisfied with it yet.

You can probably see where the parts have come from. The legs are from the Grey Knight Terminator Brother Captain, and the torso/head is from one of the standard Chaplain models. Normally I would make the torso from plastic and green stuff to give it extra depth and position the head properly, but in this case I felt it look good as is. I’m not decided yet on his final pose or weapons. You can see a selection of possibles here (swords, thunder hammer (crozius), stormbolter and storm shield). Any thoughts?

I do know I want him to have a large book (in photo), either on a chain, or held in his hand, as imagine one of his roles in the chapter is to record the names of the Imperium’s greatest unsung heroes.

In games terms, he will “count as” one of the Grey Knight Squad’s Justicar.

Work in Progress Actual Scale, Chaplain, Grey Knight, Grey Knight Chaplain, Thunder Hammer

Here’s the big man himself.

I forgot to take size comparison photos again, but you can kinda see how big he is just based on the fact he’s on a 40mm base. The cloak looks a lot worse than it does in the flesh. I’m fairly pleased with how the Hamadrya turned out, a little larger than I wanted but the positioning and pose are spot on how I wanted him. The plastic torso on the Hamadrya came from a Warhammer Zombie for those who are wondering.

Overall I’m most pleased with Huron’s Power Fist. I’ll definitely be attempting to better it in future, but it’s a nice start.

EDIT: Here’s the scale comparison with good old Lamenter Bob.

Completed Project Actual Scale, Hamadrya, Huron Blackheart, Tyrant of Badab

I haven’t devoted much time to these, but I’m giving myself 2 more days to finish this squad. Here’s the progress so far, pictured with my own unfinished Bane-Raider. I think they look pretty cool. The sergeant carries a power maul (I ran out of sergeant power sword arms), though I may swap it out depending on the client’s wishes.

Click for larger image.

I’ve been putting some time into the long awaited tutorial, which will be finished soon. A little later I’ll also be putting together a tutorial for these Terminators.

Work in Progress Actual Scale, Custom, Magnets, Squad, Terminator Armour

Here’s the whole squad. If anyone’s wondering what the labels are for, each squad member has 3 pairs of arms that will be bagged up with each model. The arms won’t be interchangeable between models so I need to track them. When the conversions are finished I’ll mark them with with different colour paints.

Click for larger image.

Work in Progress Actual Scale, Magnets, Terminators

Hey guys.

So I’ve been taking my time, 3 weeks almost. Hopefully this is worth the wait. I can honestly say this is the highest quality conversion I’ve ever done, and it’s just the first of a squad of six. The remaining five are all about half way finished, but I wanted to get at least one presentable to have something to show for the long wait.

Click for larger image

The Crux Terminatus still needs finishing, and he’s pretty plain, so could probably do with a few accessories. The arms are completely unmodified, and I feel they look fine, though I’m tempted to try enlarging the powerfist and forearm holding the stormbolter, just to see how they turn out.

I’ve really tried to push myself to get a clean/sharp finish to the greenstuffing, and there are only a few small areas that I’m not 100% happy with. I was concerned about getting the scale right. I wanted to have the Terminator suit to be larger than the Actual Scale Power Armour, but at the same time not make it look too big. There are quite a few elements that I ended up redoing so there was a lot of trial and error.

I shall keep the details of construction for a later date. All the members of this model’s squad will have their arms and pads magnetized with a full array of weaponry, making them more cost effective models for the client.

I plan to one day make two squads based on the Space Hulk Terminator Squads for my own Blood Angels, retaining all the details and poses.

I’ve also recently made a tentative start on a Space Marine Force Commander and Huron Blackheart (Badab Era). The tutorial I’ve been promising for so long has received a bit of attention too.

Next update will be the rest of this Terminator squad, hopefully not three weeks away

Work in Progress Actual Scale, Prototype, Terminator