With the exception of the bases the Primarch twins Alpahrius and Omegon are now finished.

This has probably been my most challenging project to date. The whole thing is about 90% self sculpted with a few bits used as armature to sculpt over. Alpharius especially is one of my favourite ever and I’m tempted to model a Space Marine Captain for my own collection based on him.

Starting off from where I left off last update, I detailed the back of the cloak with similar hydra iconography that I’d previously added to torso, three on each side. After this I then molded the cloak with a big chunk of Blu-Stuff ready to make a replica for Omegon. There is just enough flex in that mold to remove it from the model even though it is partially wrapped around it.

I then filled the mold with soft Green Stuff, smoothing it out with a large round cup soft clayshaper on the inside of the cloak. I waited 1 hour for the Green Stuff to firm up a little but not too much. This allowed me to carefully remove it from the mold without wrecking it and also fit it to the Omegon, shaping it more to my liking.

I wasn’t entirely certain how to pose Omegon so I was going to just see how it evolved. After attaching the new cloak I thought of doing somthing similar to GW’s Master of the Fleet model where he’s gripping his cloak in one hand (sort of pulling it back. Whenever a model has a cloak, purity seals, banner or other fabric item I always try to imagine wind blowing in a specific direction. In this case the wind is blowing his cloak from behind and to keep it out of the way he’s pulling it back with his free hand.

Next up was shoulder iconography. The client specifically requested a design for the shoulder pads to emulate this piece of artwork he forwarded to me. As you can see Omegon differs from Alpharius in that he bears the Omega symbol. Because the icons appear on right and left pads I made life easier on myself and molded both in Blu-Stuff. I then filled the impression of each icon with Green Stuff and pushed it onto the opposite pad (rather than letting it cure and gluing it in place after). The tiny chains around the outside of each icon were added later on. I did these chains in sections, doing the loop parts first, and after they had cured adding the tiny links between each of the loops. Anyone sculpting tiny details like this might want to ensure a more yellow than blue mix to keep the Green Stuff extra sticky and help it adhere to the plastic/resin surface better.

The final element was to replicate the head (again using Blu-Stuff) and redesign the backpack into something more akin to Mark 6 Power Armour. To replicate the head I made a cast of the face and after it had cured re-scupted to rest of the head. For the backpacks I used my standard approach of cutting the ends off of two backpacks and gluing them together to make one wider backpack (an alternative is to cut one in half, add a plasticard spacer and fill the gap with Green Stuff). I sculpted the layered style of armour on top of the plastic one layer at a time, starting at the bottom. After I had done this and added an extra layer of armour to the top and made a copy using, yes you guessed it, Blu-Stuff. The copy needed a little cleaning up but nothing major. The final step was to add rivets (from the Grandt Line product range).

This final pic is kind of how I imagined the finished models in my minds eye when I started the project with Alpharius in his commanding pose and his secret twin brother skulking in the background. I’ve not done anything more to the bases than provide platforms (supposed to be discarded/wrecked metal of some kind) for them to stand on. I may detail them up but at the moment I’m assuming the client will want these to match the bases on the rest of his army. On the subject of which, when these two models are stood next to regular Space Marine minis they do look suitably “Primarchy” (see previous update for size comparison pic).

I was slightly concerned at the beginning of the project as to whether I could pull off that “Primarchy” look without super detailed and stylised armour. I can’t help but admit I’m very pleased with these, and I’m rather looking forward to my next Primarch (Sanguinius) and some very ornate and detailed armour, I think that’ll step up the challenge to new heights.

I’m sure I’ve left out huge chunks of detail and obvious stuff so if you have any questions about this project please leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Apologies for  the lack of posts so far this year. I had the pleasure of being hacked last week (this site and a number of others) which is one of the reasons this post is so late. Although the actual damage incurred was quite minor and cleaned up within about 3 hours I decided to tidy up and remove any other vulnerablilites. Unfortunately I mistakenly deleted the wrong database, effectively destroying this site. It took me a further 2 days to repair the damage I’d done myself but thankfully I was able to recover everything.

Anyhow back to the work at hand…

I don’t have any work in progress shots of the arms and shoulder pads being added so the best I can do is describe my methods. I first opted to use a sword from the Grey Knight Terminators kit (great kit!) with the power generator bit carefully removed from above the hilt to make it a bit more traditional looking and also make it the correct height for the pose I wanted. The sword was re-assembled from 4 bits: the blade, the guard, the right hand and the handle (grip & pommel). The handle was pinned on but the rest of the parts glued with liquid welding glue to make sure the bond would be clean. With delicate parts superglue can be a nightmare if you’re not careful. I cut out a little gap in the base to rest the tip of the blade in and filled this with Green Stuff to make sure the tip would have a perfect fit when pushed in.

The arms started out as standard plastic arms. I basically use them to ensure the size of the arm is always accurate. Spacers (about 1mm) were adding to lengthen the forearms, and the upper arms were replaced with wire (paper clip wire is perfect) which I used to pin the arms to the torso. I then began the process of sculpting a thin skin of Green Stuff over these arms, trying to keep edges as sharp as possible. The forearms, hand, elbow pads and upper arms are all done separately and allowed to cure before moving on, otherwise you are guaranteed to mess something up.

The shoulder pads are resin casts of a single pad a made some time ago. They are pretty much a perfect size for this conversion although I had to do a little repair work on the corners. Whenever I try to repair imperfections in smooth armour I always use a soft mix of Green Stuff (as much as 3:1 yellow to blue). This helps to smooth the Green Stuff into the existing shape to keep it as clean looking as possible. Positioning of the pads took sometime to get right. It might sound like a simple thing to attach shoulder pads but the pose of this model can make them look awkward. I did a lot of trimming and shaving of bit of the model that wouldn’t be seen to get the fit just right. Now might be a good time to mention dry fitting. One of the reasons my conversions take a long time is the shear amount of testing and dry fitting of components I do during the build process. I probably spend more time looking at and thinking about a model than actually making it, but (at least for me) it’s all part of the process of getting things just right.

At this point I added some more detail to the head, an ear on one side and the usual space marine headset/plugin set up. I knew when I started the project that the swords position in the pose would likely cause some problems obscuring the face. The simple solution was to very slightly angle the head to be facing to the side. Essentially the direction of the head determines the front of the model as it’s the automatic focal point (it’s a human thing for the eye to look to the face first).

Next up was the cloak. I’d been playing around with using some wax sheets to help me with the cloak making process but it just wasn’t panning out as I had hoped so I reverted to a more standard approach. I took some of the plastic that Green Stuff comes supplied in and mixed a large amount (2:1 ratio, yellow to blue). After pressing onto the plastic as best I could with my fingers, I took the handle of my large clayshper, wet the handle and used it in a rolling pin fashion to spread it as thinly and evenly as possible (as shown above). I left this for about 1 hour before applying it to the mini.

Leaving the plastic in place I pressed it into the back of the model and tried to shape it into something well “cloak shaped”. This was then left for a good few hours before peeling the plastic off. I deliberating made this rough cloak too large, because at the end of the day you can always trim is down, but adding new Green Stuff is a lot harder. Even though this was pressed into the back of the model once it was fully cured I was easily able to remove it and the dry fitting process began.

I slowly whittled down the edges of the cloak with a scalpel making sure the overall shape was what I wanted by continually testing it on the model. Once I got the shape right I then set to work on it with “wet & dry emery paper” under a running tap, cleaning it up and sharpening edges.

Looking at it so far, I’m at the stage now where I can start detailing up, I just want to be careful not to go overboard. The back pack definitely needs work to make it more fitting for a Mark VI suit. I think the cloak needs some more work for sure, either decoration like the hydras on the chest plate or maybe more folds and flowing shapes (or both).

So far I’m really really liking how this is shaping up.

Also, here’s a quick pic of Omegon (Alpharius’ twin). As I’ve said before, I want to try and make Omegon a bit more stealthy/shadowy posed. At the moment I see him in a sneaking forward pose with him in the process of drawing his sword from a scabbard. However, we’ll have to see how that evolves.

I put the finishing touches to the Gabriel Angelos conversion a few days ago.

The two main parts of the conversion that I think require some explanation are the cloak and the Thunder Hammer (which I’ve been informed is correctly called Godsplitter).

Originally I had tried to sculpt a cloak using a sheet of wax I’d been given (basically candle wax in a 2mm thick sheet). Using metal tools and a lighter to heat and shape the wax I tried making to make something resembling natural cloth. However, I couldn’t get it to work as intended so I’ve shelved that idea for the time being.

Instead I made a partial mold of a chaos warrior cloak, sculpting the top half to fit the rest of the model. Having it made from Green Stuff allowed me to trim it down and shape it to fit much better.

The hammer was made starting with the trimmed down Grey Knight Thunder Hammer (the power armour version). I started by filling in the central part to make it into one large block. I wanted to make the head of the hammer look like it was made from something like a chunk of ore or volcanic rock, that then had a metal casing riveted onto it. I put a thin covering of Green Stuff on two of the faces of the hammer and then added a texture to it by pressing a piece of sponge into it while still soft.

The rest of the faces of the hammer head were done one at a time and rivets added (Grandt Line product) while the Green Stuff was still soft (no glue required).

I wasn’t sure whether to add the reinforced plating to the legs or not, but it did seem like something was needed. I wasn’t sure about this conversion until it was in the final stages, something I find happens quite often in the process. I usually feel that the project isn’t working out as well as I had hoped until it is in the final stages when everything seems to just come together.

I’ve kept the client of this conversion waiting a very long time for this piece, but I promised I’d have it finished in time for christmas and I intend to stick to that.

Originally the brief was for an Artscale Gabriel Angelos based off of specific pieces of artwork. However, because this model will be used in competitive play the brief was changed to a regular scale conversion. Even so, I decided to take the liberty of altering the size of the mini ever so slightly but still have him fit nicely of a 25mm base.

First I removed the legs from the groin section on a standard pair of plastic legs and pinned them back on with a bit of a space left between each component. I then filled this with green stuff to lengthen the legs ever so slightly. I’ve seen this done many time before with plasticard, but in the end I just use the material I’m most comfortable with.

I then added a thin skin of Green Stuff over the legs to add a little extra mass. The thigh, knee pad and greaves were bulked out separately, each time allowing the Green Stuff to fully cure. You can see on the above pic the difference this small amount of Green Stuff can make to the overall look of the leg when compared to the unaltered “thin” leg. The final conversion will stand about 4mm taller than a standard Space Marine but at the same time won’t look in any way out of place.

I added a Green Stuff collar to the torso, in an effort to simulate the artwork I was basing the conversion on, and also because I like to see a proper gorget on power armour. The brief required Angelos to have a half mask on his face, bionic looking but more akin to a mask than the usual bionic skeleton. To do this I cut away a part of the plastic head (a trimmed down Grey Knight head btw) and added a tiny eyepiece. I let this eyepiece Green Stuff cure fully before adding the actual mask around it. I may still add a few tiny tweaks to the mask, I’m not entirely sure yet.

The final mini will be holding Godhammer (his personal Thunder Hammer) out in front of him in a 2 handed pose. I’ve built the basic hammer from some Grey Knight components but have yet to remake the actual hammer head, which needs to be one solid block rather the way it is now. I’ll probably opt to use plasticard to do this.

Finally, other than adding artificer details to the armour itself I need to add a cloak suitable for a chapter master. I’m currently experimenting with a couple of different methods to do this (as I also need to make cloaks for a Primarch project) but I’ll be showing a “How To” guide on it once I figure it out.

This was my second Lord Commander Culln conversion, commissioned after I made the first one. I followed the same guidelines as before only really altering the cloak. I took this cloak from a Hector Rex Forgeworld mini (with a lot of whittling of the inside to make it fit). Even though it doesn’t match the original artwork as closely I think I prefer this particular model.

This particular character conversion was done for a client’s (forum username Roleplayer) Blood Raven army. You can follow his immense Blood Raven Project Blog here. The conversion is mine but the paintjob is by the client and I think you’ll agree it’s top notch.

This particular Blood Raven character will count as Vulkan He’stan. Overall he came together really well in the end. I had to resculpt the cloak to get it right, and the addition of power cabling, studs and accessories has really helped complete the model. I left the pads and belt buckle plain, to allow for painted iconography of the client’s choice (personal heraldry I would assume, because he’s at least a Captain in rank).

I first converted a fist mounted weapon, but have since removed it to be done again, as I didn’t feel it was good enough. The cloak originally came from a Chaos Terminator Lord with lots of filling in to make it less raggedy. I really like the way the official Vulkan model’s cloak drapes over his shoulders and so replicated it here. The raven is just a fantasy bit I picked up from bitzbox.co.uk on a whim. The backpack has been converted from bits from a couple of thunder hammers.

Originally I had planned to have the entire backside of the cloak made from bird feathers, but due to the thickness of the cloak already I changed this to have just a few decorative feathers.The torso was based off of a Mark VIII chest with the eagle detail (behind the head) taken from the Assault on Black Reach captain model. The legs came from a veteran model and the tip of his spear from a White Scars biker sword. The flamer gauntlet is simply a converted power fist, stripped down and re-modelled.

Work in Progress pics

I used the official Vulkan miniature as the design base for this conversion but I want to re-pose it (as well as true scale it). I tried to give him the striding pose shown in the artwork in the codex but I wanted the arms posed differently because when arms are positioned across the chest to much of the model is obscured from view. Originally was going to use a Nemesis Force Weapon as the spear but it just looked like I couldn’t be bothered to do it right and had gone for the simplest option. We couldn’t be having any of that, so I went a different route.

The handle of the spear came from a thunder hammer (as did the attached hand) with the shaft made from plasticard rod. The spear tip came from the Assault on Black Reach Captain model (bought one specially). It’s a slightly different sword design that means the blade works brilliantly as a spear tip.

The guantlet was converted from a veteran powerfist, that was slightly smaller than the usual plastic power fists and on a scaled up model doesn’t look so much like one. Find a similar version done in plastic here.

The pose took a lot of fiddling to get right. You have to keep dry testing it until you find something that works. The cloak was the hardest part of the mini to create and  was a definitely learning experience. I’d recommend doing cloaks as a separate part of any model unless you want to make life harder than it should be. I built it up slowly, first the basic shape and try to get a smooth finish and then the scales where added literally one at a time (not something I’d recommend). I’ve tried to convey a sense of the wind blowing from behind him in the direction of his aim, hence the shape of the collar.

I decided to leave off the icon on the back pack, as it’s one of the elements of the official model I dislike.