Click for larger image.

Rather than convert all the arms from terminator arms it seemed far more logical to convert and scale up the existing power armour arms. Because most of these arms come bent at 90degree angles they are always quite difficult to fit on scaled up Marines, especially with the bigger shoulder pads. Most of the arms were cut in half at the elbow and straightened, and in some cases plasticard spacers were used to lengthen the arm too. I then bulked up the forearm and added new elbow pads that cover the cuts and spacers I had made.

Sorry for the poor photo quality, the final models will have individual close ups.

This squad is to go with other Mark V squads that I’ve been working on for far too long to make a complete Mark V Actual Scale army. After this squad will be a devastator squad, some characters and some scouts.

I’m not certain about the leg raised in the air. I was trying to give the impression of him stamping down with it, but I’m not 100% sure about it yet, so I may reposition it.

Almost the entire squad have had their feet replaced with greenstuffed feet (using a silicone putty one piece mold – I should probably show a pic of this at some point). This should make running and landing poses far easier to make and provide some variation amongst the squad.

I’ll also be trying to implement Doghouse’s method of converting Power Armour arms for these Actual Scale models. I have a feeling this will be rather difficult, but his turned out very nicely and all the assault weapons I need for the squad are already attached to the arms.

The items and tools used are a mark 7 helm (I use the one with two breather tubes on either side), greenstuff, Grandt Line plastic rivets (0.81mm), a small chisel ended clay shaper and a sharp scalpel.

Start by cleaning up the mold lines. I mounted this helm on the end of a drill bit just to make it easier to hold, but you could just as easily attach to the figure. Take a small amount of greenstuff, two to three times more yellow than blue to ensure it’s nice and soft, and roll it into a ball. Push the ball directly onto the helms forehead and flatten it a little.

Now using the wet clay shaper gently spread the greenstuff left and right around the curvature of the forehead, keeping the mass of the greenstuff symmetrical. If you have too much carefully slice away small amounts with a wet scalpel blade. Once you have a nice smooth curve going across the forehead, take your wet scalpel blade and trim away the excess greenstuff covering the eyes, leaving a square tab over the nose. Finally clean up any rough edges with the wet clay shaper.

Allow the greenstuff to cure. Because of the greater amount of yellow I usually allow at least 6 hours, but you may be ok to handle it gently before then.

Trim the rivets from their sprue using a sharp blade. You’ll need at least 12 but it’s best to cut off a few extra.

Place a drop of superglue on a piece of scrap plastic.
Now using the point of your scalpel blade (or the point of a pin will do) pick up one of the rivets and carefully dab it into the drop of superglue. Because of surface tension you’ll probably end up with too much on the underside of the rivet so carefully brush it against something to remove the excess without actually gluing the rivet down.

When ready push the rivet into place giving the glue a moment to dry before carefully pulling the scalpel blade away. Rinse and repeat until all rivets are applied. This takes a little practise, but once you get the hang of it doesn’t take long at all to do.

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.

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.

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.