This is a an Artscale version of Talos from the Night Lords Legion based upon available artwork (mostly from book covers). From what I can tell he seems to be equipped with almost a full suit of mark V armour. Whilst I could have fashioned one of my own style Mark V helm I decided to acquire one of the relatively Forgeworld pieces as the quality is just so nice.

I really wasn’t sure how to proceed with this project at the beginning (the pose is the first important step), in this case I went back to the artwork (featured on one of the covers) and deciding to use that as starting point. Even though I’d already tried something else and this meant scrapping some of the work I’d already done the project wasn’t going in the right direction at the time. This is another example of how taking steps backward in the conversion process can be highly beneficial, and something I recommend you be willing to do from time to time.

To achieve the finish on the cracked chest plate I first sculpted it untarnished, and just before it had finished curing I took a scalpel to the chest plate to simulated the cracked armour by chopping into it, again referring to the artwork. I ended up pushing a small wedge of plasticard underneath the torso to better mis-shape the rent in the armour. Although the chest eagle took 3 attempts to get it how I wanted it, I think once painted up nicely this will look obviously damaged, where as my earlier attempts just looked scratched and a bit lame.

Work in progress pic.

My favourite elements are the sword and the Night Lords shoulder pad. I should note that I re-made the sword hilt into something a lot better after taking these pics but I forgot to photograph it before sending it off to the client.

The cloak and banner are from the Assault on Black Reach Captain. I managed to acquire a FW Huron model and decided to go ahead and transplant his shoulder pads onto this model (the clients chapter uses Lion iconography). Whilst this might seem difficult at first, simple patience and some whittling down of the resin from inside each pad gets the job done. I replaced the crux terminatus with a little space for chapter iconography (that’ll be up to the painter). I had intended to add details to the back of the fist but I felt the model would simply be overloaded with imagery (how many eagles can you fit on your armour? hehe).

I’m quite impressed with just how nicely the Assault on Black Reach Captain can be converted and incorporated into other minis, I might have to get a few more (he has the nicest power sword). The fingers of the fist were built of three pieces each and two for the thumb, all cut from 2mm thick plasticard sheet and very carefully trimmed and filed.

Find a size comparison photo here.

Click to enlarge.

As part of the Mark V armoured Space Marine army I’ve been building for over a year now I present the Devastator Squad. A large amount of sculpting per model has kept me really busy. Note: some of the shoulder pads are missing on the above pic because the client was to supply his own.

As part of the criteria for this squad the client asked for the sergeant to be holding a pair of binoculars up to his face, which has actually worked out simpler than I thought.

Finally able to make some progress on this squad. All the studs and cabling just mean these take forever to make (Mark V’s are going to be a rarity in my Lamenters force I can tell you that much). This is the basic 5 man squad with four missile launchers and I have to say I am really digging the Forgeworld heavy weapons, they are a great size for artscale conversions. The squad has a further 3 guys with alternative heavy weapons that can be swapped out depending on the enemy.

Rather than convert all the arms from terminator arms it seemed far more logical to convert and scale up the existing power armour arms, if nothing else than to make the posing a lot simpler. Most of the arms were cut in half at the elbow and straightened, and then plasticard spacers were used to lengthen the forearm too. I then bulked up the forearm and added new elbow pads that cover the cuts and spacers I had made. You can find a Mini-Tutorial on this method here. Additionally you can see how I made the scaled up (widened rather) Jump Packs here.

Here’s a quick tutorial on how I make my version of the mark V power armour helmet.

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.

This squad was done as part of a commission for a full army of Artscale Space Marines all in Mark V armour. You can find all posts pertaining to that army here.

The client who commissioned this squad requested that they be striding 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 also play a large part on the dynamics of each figure. Note: half the shoulder pads are missing on the main pic because the client is providing his own.

The backpacks were made using a different technique than those on the previous squad. All the helmets were converted from a specific Mark VII helm with two breather pipes either side of the respirator. The helms had a bit of Green Stuff work done on them before studs were added. You can find a Mini-Tutorial on how to make these here.

Because I had a shortage of terminator legs with knee pads (that would need trimming down anyway) I opted to use the other kneepad-less terminator legs and carve a groove into them to form an appropriately sized knee pad. As per the clients orders the sergeant model has been given magnetized swappable arms, so he can be equipped with bolter/bolt pistol and power sword/fist.

Unlike the first squad these conversions are all kitted out with terminator arms rather than power armour arms. These are a better fit for scale but the alternative is to re-model the power armour arms (Mini-Tutorial here). Of all the models in the squad I’m particularly pleased with the Marine carrying a Multi-Melta (click here for all-round view).

Sergeant with swappable arms on both sides.

Work in Progress (the halfway mark)

Various size comparisons

This widened back (made for a scaled up Space Marine model) was done in a simpler and cleaner way to that featured in my Artscale Tutorial. The basic approach is to cleanly chop a single back pack in half down the centreline. Glue it back together with a plasticard spacer in the middle (approximately 3mm). At the top fill in with Green Stuff and score lines to into it. Then attached layered armour plates over the remaining gap. This could be done with plasticard but on the example above I sculpted one piece in Green Stuff and made a mold using Blu-Stuff. The rivets were added later (Grandt Line premade rivets).

Sorry no WIP pics for this squad, I was in such a rush to complete them I forgot all about it. This squad was done as part of a commission for a full army of Artscale Space Marines all in Mark V armour. You can find all posts pertaining to that army here.

All the models are fully WYSIWYG, mounted on 40mm bases rather than my usual 30mm. Although these were quite difficult to make, I found myself wanting to keep them (I picture them as an Ultramarine honour guard, but that’s just me) which I think is a good thing for anyone working on commissions. Each model was made using the basic Artscale Tutorial with modifications to account for the details of Mark V power armour. I’ve also posted a Mini Tutorial on how to make Mark V helms here. All the models in the squad use the standard unconverted power armour marine arms. This is the only group of Artscale models I made that didn’t have modified arms. I found these to look satisfying enough but at the end of the day the perfectionist in me meant I would always scale up arms in future.

Note:some of the blank pads have a notch missing out of the front. I didn’t have any others spare at the time for their “squad photo”, but I replaced them later. The Mark V chests were made from assault squad torsos. Once some of the areas were filled in the straps became a cable like element perfect for Mark V armour.

The sergeant was made with a tiny rare earth magnet in the torso so that he could have an swappable arms, one with power fist and one with power sword.

Comms Specialist

Shown for size comparison.