My original concept was to follow the style GW’s heavy metal team provided except to paint the body as if it was carved from onyx instead. The blue while completely beautiful seems a little out of place to me. So I opted to change direction for this kit and challenge myself at the same time.
Here’s my concept:
Base
60x100mm resin base from Dragon Forge’s Temple line.
Onyx paint scheme with directional highlighting.
Gloss varnish
Body
Sandstone scheme for contrast against the gloss/black of the base.
Claws in gold
Armor/Wings
Antiqued gold with multiple highlights.
Blue/Red gem detailing
Wing ‘feathers’ and body surrounding the abdomen cartouche will be in onyx to tie the model to the base.
Hood/Face
Death mask will be gold matching the body. Someone knocked of the false beard at the store so that’s out.
Hood will be in onyx with gold detailing
I’ll be trying to knock this out in phases:
I – Sandstone body and base
II – Body armor, tail, & wings
III – Torso, hood, & face
This concept will focus on contrast, color control, and balance. I have not challenged myself in a long time so this will be fun.
When I heard this model could be in a Black Box this I demanded that I’d be allowed to paint it. Ok, I begged again.
The only stipulation Bing gave me was I had to build it in the store which meant people handling it before it had time to fully dry/cure. It got knocked about quite a bit before I got to take it home (Note the missing beard extension). If I can’t find that missing piece I’ll have to putty over that hole.
I thought GW outdid itself with the Dark Eldar line. This new Tomb King stuff is nothing short of astounding.
I mentioned back in Jan that the reason I decided to create my own bases was to show off two paint schemes that I was proud of. Well, here’s one of them so you can see some of the bases in action!
Since I went with a white scheme I wanted a minimalist base design that would not distract the eye. I installed a magnet into the bottom of the Ravager so I could mount it on top of an acrylic rod.
I’ll be posting more Dark Eldar stuff shortly. This paint scheme is easy-mode!
Now that my disk/bases are done I’ve started to put them to use. The bases will get their debut here in a few days. My first (and easiest) project will be a new Herald of Tzeentch on a disk. I’m also designing some modularization into this project to allow me to transfer the disk/rider to a large base to serve as a chariot.
I sat down this weekend and hammered out a paint scheme for these resin disks of mine. I think it will take a few more attempts before I have something satisfactory but this design looks solid.
After painting, I mounted the disk on a Dragon Forge base I had waiting. 60mm Sanctuary in case you are wondering. Prior to painting a drilled/Dremel’d a two holes in the top and bottom to accommodate magnets for the rider and base. Unfortunately my dremel’ing was not level so the magnet set at a slight angle. It looks cool but it’s not ideal.
The Herald is made from the new plastic Pink Horror kit. I chose the champion and tweeked it to my liking. I added some brown apoxy putty to the bottom of his tail for the magnet. I filed it level and added the magnet. The polarity is aligned to the magnets installed in the acrylic rod of the base and the one in the disk. They should hold nicely.
The herald will be white so he stands out but I could not wash him on the disk so I set this little rig up.
Here’s the resin base I’ll be using for this new disk design. Again of Dragon Forge make, Temple 60x100mm this time. Damn I love his bases!!
I’ll need to place another resin base order this week come to think of it…
When I first started this blog, I found myself drowning in a deluge of spam so I decided to lock out the comment field for a while. I never unlocked it.
Part II of my Disk of Tzeentch project! I worked on this disk for about 2 days sanding, gap filling, and filing and sanding again. It took a while for me to get it to a acceptable standard for casting. I’ve never been more pleased with a projects outcome.
It did have some points of serious concern for molding. First of all, I was not completely sure it was watertight. I really didn’t want rubber flowing into the disk and screwing every thing up so I gap filled with Apoxy-Sculpt and filed it smooth where I could.
Second, it has a considerable undercut. This could pose a real problem with air bubbles and getting the resin out of the mold. The undercut does taper/slope towards the center so air bubbles were not a problem. The longer set time for the resin REALLY shined here and I was glad I made the switch. The rubber I chose is very strong so the undercut should was not an issue.
Molding was easy. I discovered there was a trapped air bubble in the rubber after demolding but I could see this would not be a problem.
I dared a cast last night, and it came out perfectly. I’ll need mold release as this resin sticks to my tiles with a death grip. I was lucky to get this off the tile while it was still barley soft. The first cast of my bases did not survive. They could not be removed from the tile. Had to throw it away. /sadpanda
Welcome to Part III of my custom resin base project. Mold Making!
I mixed up the rubber in a large plastic paint pot. Now this stuff usually needs a scale to measure out the 10:1 ratio but as I was using the whole trial kit that was not necessary. Each mold was poured slowly in a very thin stream into a corner (if it had one) so the rubber could work it’s own way around each base. This method prevents air bubbles.
It took 2.25 trail kits for these 7 molds (had to whip out the scale for the last bit). I made sure that each one had at least 3/4 ‘s of an inch of rubber padding. Each mold performed excellently and there were no leaks (I did spill a little on the side of a few). I allowed each base to cure for 22 hours. I usually give it a full day but I was really impatient this time.
Demolding was easy. I recovered the clay and saved it for future projects in a ziplock bag, then GENTLY pried the mold boxes of the round set off of the tile. The hot glue came away from the granite with ease. Be sure you take your time here. You don’t want to go yanking the molds up as you can tear the rubber and ruin the mold.
The acrylic boxes took a little more time. I had to cut the sides a little with an X-Acto and then peeled each side away. As expected rubber seeped under some of the bases and I had a bit of cleanup work to trim all that extra rubber away.
Welcome to Part II of my custom resin base project. I’ve been waiting for almost 2 months for this part and I couldn’t wait to get started, so here we go!
A few weeks back I picked up some granite tiles from Lowes for use in this project (and they worked perfectly). I plotted out real estate for each object to be casted on a tile.
After each was roughly in place, I placed their respective “mold boxes” down so I could gauge the room each would need. My mold boxes being a pair of plastic cups and old plastic bowls. The tops of each were cut off with a X-Acto knife.
With a hot glue gun affixed each set to the tile followed by each mold box. This part was pretty annoying as I had real difficulty getting the bases to lay flush on the tile without any gaps. I anticipated this problem and tried crazy glue but it would not cure for some damn reason (I assume it needs air to cure?). Gaps will allow for rubber to get under the object and give you cleanup work after the mold has set. I only managed to get the 40mm and 60mm sets to sit flush. All the others had small gaps. I’ll need to find a better solution…
I need again sing the praises of acrylic sheet. It makes for perfect mold box crafting material, as it’s cheap, easy to cut, and most importantly CLEAR. I used 3 10×8 inch sheets for the last three boxes and cut them into 2.5×10 inch strips. I glued the bases down (cursing the gaps), built/glued the boxes around them and sealed the edges with non-drying clay to prevent leaking.
I then brushed some mold release to avoid possible sticking.
I was asked back in November if I could recreate the Blue Scribes conversion I did for a in-store tournament in September.
Unfortunately the answer to that is no. The broach I used for the disk in that conversion is likely gone forever. I’ve gone back to Michael’s no less then 10 times trying to find it without success. I don’t think they sell it anymore. So screw them! I’m making my own!
The Disk of Tzeentch is a mount akin to Khorne’s Juggernaut or Slaanesh’s Boobworm, but the disk model GW has released is very uninspired IMO. This conversion will allow me to give the disk the appropriate amount of painting attention I feel it deserves.
I know this design is not very demonic but my logic is solid. By GW’s own fluff, Sorcerers have to catch and transform a screamer into a new form in order to gain this mount. I’m going with an arcane flying platform to represent my disks which I feel is fitting for a servant of Tchar.
Here is my current master:
Top
Bottom
I’m ordering some casting resin and silicone rubber this week for my resin bases and this project.
Coming down from holiday business, a Warcraft expansion, and restarting school. Now it’s time to get this blog rollin’ again!
I wanted to take a stab at making my own resin bases. I have two paint schemes that I wanted to show off and the bases I have in mind would be perfect for displaying both. I’ve decided that my first, and likely only, base series will be a diamond plate design. I wanted a base that didn’t distract from the design so this style will be perfect.
Dragonforge Resin Blanks
I started with some resin blanks from Dragonforge. Jeff Wilhelm created some blanks for you to craft your own custom bases. I picked up some bike bases, 30mm rounds, and 2 large oval blanks for my set. The 25mm & 40mm will come from my base box.
Use a dust mask here.
I will be using plasti-card sheets with diamond plate detail for these bases (Plastruct PS-155). I needed the sheet to adhere to the bases as securely as possible so smoothed the top of each base with fine grade sandpaper.
Just enough sheet
I only had 1 whole sheet and 1/2 of another I needed to plot out carefully how many bases I could get from each. It turns out I had EXACTLY the amount I needed. Lucky me!
So far so good...
Using a T-Square I measured and cut enough for each base and glued them down with superglue. I used a paper towel to clean up excess glue under the sheets. The larger pieces were set to cure under a heavy book.
Perfect!
The next part was the easiest but most time consuming. I trimmed away most of the excess sheet with a fresh x-acto knife. I started with cutting the corners away then picking the bases up and trimming as close as I dared. I left a little rim of excess sheet because I don’t know about you but I find it difficult cutting a perfect circle with a razor blade. The rest of the styrene sheet was filed away with one of my flat hobby files. This allowed me to get a perfect seamless rim to all of my bases.
This part took forever, but the results were very satisfying! Take your time here and file in one direction down towards the bottom of the base. Going in the other direction will only pull off the sheet and piss you off rightly.
The next phase is the casting phase. I’ll be ordering some silicone rubber this week so I can make some molds of these bad boys. I think the time I took to get the edges smooth will pay out nicely with some seamless base edges.
Stay Tuned!!!!
Update – I took some detail pictures of my masters so you can get a closer look.
Master Lot 30mm 40mm 40mm x 75mm 60mm & 60mm x 100mm120mm x 95mm
