This is only my second Mark VIII power armour conversion. The first work in progress pic below shows the three basic components (legs, torso and head) assembled and based to give an early impression of how the final model will look. Normally I make the legs and torso separately and assemble later but I think doing it this way is probably a lot better. The components basically form a skeleton onto which you can sculpt the surface details. Because the surface needs to be highly polished it is best to treat the “skin” of the model as a separate part of the process to the structure underneath. If you try to establish structure and surface detail at the same time you make it twice as hard for yourself.

This guy is an Imperial Fist of the Deathwatch, carrying a Storm Shield and Thunder Hammer. The Thunder Hammer is a modified version of Lysander’s weapon and the shield is a FW Black Templar Storm Shield with all the detail removed. To do this I first removed as much detail as I could with clippers and a knife being careful not to damage the shield itself. Because of the harmful nature of resin dust I took some fine grade wet&dry paper and sanded it off under a running tap (not hot water) until I had a smooth finish. This way the dust is just washed away harmlessly, leaving your lungs intact.

The Imperial Laurel on his helm was done very easily with a bit from one of the Space Marine box sets. Find a Tutorial here.

I really wasn’t sure how well this model was going to turn out, but now I’ve finished it I have to admit that it pains me to part with him. Rather than repose the legs I simply based him on a slight slope, and stuck with the out the box pose of the legs. This approach is a simple way a huge difference without having to chop up legs. Making Mark VIII armour requires a little more attention to detail but isn’t so different from Mark VII to be a big issue. Most of the rest of the model is standard procedure, building a base model on which to sculpt a “skin”.

I didn’t have a second Deathwatch terminator pad (found in the box sets) spare so I cast another one using a Blu-Stuff one piece mold which I then cut up a little to add an Imperial Fist icon. The helm is also magnetized with an alternative bare head allowing them to be swapped over whenever, also allows easier painting.

As I can’t keep this mini for my own collection, I’ll be using it as a guideline for my own Lamenters Company Champion when I finally get time for my own army.

This mini was made as the prize for the winner of my “name the website” competition that I ran over on Warseer.

He requested a marine in Mark VIII armour carrying a thunder hammer. Originally I was going to make a flying through the air pose with his thunder hammer held two-handed ready to strike, but after putting together the  initial pieces the model looked too OTT. I often find this to be the case with action poses, they often lack a sense of realism. This can be especially true when the model lacks elements that can be used to show movement like flowing cloth for example.

Originally I tried to pose the arms like the 2008 Games Day Space Marine with thunder hammer. In the end though the pose just didn’t work with his stance so I altered it. Positioning arms can be incredibly difficult to do when both arms are holding the same weapon. To make the Mark VIII I used this image as my main guideline.

I normally attach a model’s head last as I always feel the direction it’s looking has the most overall effect on its pose. In this case (because of the gorget on the Errant design) the helmet would not sit comfortably in any other position without looking odd. I also had to trim down the helm to make it fit. The greenstuff on the helm is to try and represent the “sharper” look of the helm in the illustration, and deviate slightly from the mark 7 design.

 

 

I decided to bulk up the greaves after adding the circular joint protecting the ankle. Whilst the plastic terminator legs work wonderfully for scaled up Space Marines I sometimes prefer to add a bit more size to them. The knee pads were made to be slightly pointed and I decided to sculpt a new set of chunkier straps across the chest rather than use the standard component. I made the Thunder Hammer by modifying the plastic one to look more like the GD Space Marine version. The simple inclusion of an Imperial Eagle on either side and a little Green Stuff is enough to make it non-standard.

I decided to resculpt both hands so they’d look similar and because the standard right hand did look bizarrely small. They were perfect (this was one of my earlier artscale conversions) but they were passable.

Work in progress pics.