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.
I was given the Bloodcrushers & Daemon Prince I did for my local Hobby Shop back in August. But I needed to re-base them so they would fit into my army.
After some internal debate I decided to re-base them for 40k. I really prefer Flamers in WHF and really had no interest in building and painting another 3 or so crushers to fill this unit out. Besides they look really cool on the round bases. I used the 60mm rounds from Dragon Forge’s Sanctuary line.
Again, MAD respect to Jeff Wilhelm. Love his work!
This model was a marathon of painting. Every time I finished a section/part I found 10 more points of detail that needed attention. Towards the end I found myself not giving three damns about several detail locations and how they looked as I just wanted to get this bastard done and off of my plate.
I originally based this guy on a 50mm square for fantasy but he just didn’t fit in. As I’m painting this army for 40K/Fantasy I picked up some rounds from Dragon Forge and he looks at home.
I received a question a few days back on how I did the egg sac look on the back of my Tervigon. The question came at a perfect time because I had some spare green stuff from a small project I’ve been working on. So I decided to answer his question tutorial style!
Here ya go Emilio!
When I started to build my Tervigon a few months back I tried to follow the hobbyist genius that is Hydra of Warpshadow. I just could not get the glue/tissue method that he had developed to work right so I changed direction. The base form of the beast was perfect and since I had already hollowed out his (her?) back for the egg pods I needed my own process.
My design mirrors the interesting albeit gross reproduction habits of the Surinam Toad (read and educate yo self foo!). Eggs suspended in the spongy tissue in the Tyranid brood beast’s back was so perfectly alien I had to do it. And it was easy as hell to do!
Here’s what you’ll need:
Tub-o-Egg Sacs
Green Stuff
Sculpting tool
You have a choice of materials you can use for your egg sacs. Here is an example of 3 mediums I keep for potential projects:
Tub-o-Egg Sacs
Wooden - Sculpy - Putty
Wooden Spheres – Bought from Michael’s. Perfect size but they are all the same dimension. Varying sizes will fit this project better.
Handmade from Sculpy – These are what I went with. You can crank out a score of these little bastards in about 10 min and they are cheap as hell too! Just roll them up, bake them for a few minutes and you’ll be ready. Vary the sizes so you have options.
Green/Grey Stuff – Have you ever had some spare green stuff leftover from a sculpting project that you had no use for? Roll it into a ball and keep it! You’d be surprised how useful that sphere will be a few weeks/months down the road.
Once you have your sacs in hand (gigity) the sculpting work is damn simple.
Green Stuff
Roll up some greenstuff.
Push egg......into putty
Don't hurt yourself...
Push your sac into the putty (gigity) and grab your sculpting tool.
Pock MarksMoar Pocks
That's it!
Prick the putty making a pock-like surface. You can push the putty around into new places to make the sac appear to be pushing out of the tissue.
A Slice of Advise
It would be rather expensive to fill the whole back of a Tervigon with just green stuff. I suggest you use a cheaper medium to fill most of the space and then finish with green stuff egg process. I filled most of the back of my beast with Apoxy Sculpt and added the sacs after it cured.
My content posting has slowed down somewhat over the last few weeks but it has not been due to laziness. Well not entirely at least…
Here are 2 of the big baddies I’ve been working on for my demonic horde. I’ll have better pictures when they are done. My wife annexed the lamp I was going to use for extra lighting. I’ll need to get another one.
I’m also finishing up my old school horror unit (30 deep) and I have a unit of bloodletters that I must complete that I’m dreading (also 30 deep). I hate painting them! They never come out the way I want!
I’ve been a busy bastard lately. I looked at all the armies I own and realized that I have not had a completely painted army since ’04. Heresy! With this fact in mind I decided to focus on getting the one army that I have had sitting around 80% for years now complete; my Tzeentch Demonic Horde. I’ll post more on that later.
This conversion(?) came together while in Michaels. I had been looking for a suitable disk for the scribes for some time and found the perfect example in a cheap metal pendant in their beads aisle. The tome comes from the Covenant of Menoth, with some extra terrain bits I had kicking about.
I was going to add a slew of scrolls and crap around the disk as arcane clutter but changed my mind in the end. I felt it would be too distracting. I’m not finished with this piece. I still have to add the text into the tome as my Prima art pens have yet to arrive. I’ll then flat coat (Krylon Crystal Clear Flat) the model and pick out the gems in gloss varnish. The base comes from Dragon Forge’s Temple line. Thanks again Jeff. Love your work.
I tried to complete this for a Tournament at last Friday’s Vets night and I almost pulled it off. The model was well received but I placed poorly. Really poorly…
Here’s another example of how rare-earth magnets can be used to create some pretty cool custom setups. I’ve built this kit for my friend Dave G. to pay him back for the Forgeworld Hive Tyrant he gave me a few months back. This monstrosity and the Librarian Dreadnoughts are his.
This model is a HATEFULL piece when it comes down to painting. As is testament to Forgeworld kits, there’s 5x the amount of detail needed for a nice model. They go overboard sometimes and it can be a real pain in the arse to paint. With that in mind I decided to set this kit up to allow Dave some piece of mind when painting time comes around.
If you’ve ever purchased a GW plastic vehicle kit you will be familiar with all the leftover bits that you can’t use. Example; a Space Marine Predator comes with all the parts to make a Rhino, but you can’t make the transport because the sponson mounts use up the two side exit ports. Build enough vehicles and you’ll amass a considerable pile of mostly useless bits. This is where a little planning and some rare-earth magnets can come through and save you some cash. Modular units FTW!
I decided to take advantage of me assembling a FW Dreadnought for a friend as a nice intro to the concept of modularization. This method can expanded on to produce some pretty cool results and allow you to take full advantage of all the elements of many plastic kits.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Rare-earth magnets (D203 from K&J Magnetics)
Superglue
Glue accelerant (to save on time)
Side cutters
Hobby drill
Dremel (1/8” dia)
Step - Ia
Step - 1b
Step I: use your hobby drill to bore a starter indentation into center of the body’s arm joint. This is to provide a guide for the Dremel to drill straight.
As a side note, all the drilling in this tutorial can all be done manually with just a hobby drill. You will have a lot more control over how deep/shallow you make your holes but it will take a lot longer to do. As this is a Forgeworld resin kit that is a viable option, but if this were a metal dread you would want to kill yourself halfway through this project.
Step - IIa
Step - IIb
Step II: Grab your Dremel and using light pressure, drill a hole into the center of the body arm joint. Make sure it’s deep enough for the magnet to fit almost flush into the hole. You’ll have to eyeball this as this drill bit is designed for the magnet to fit in the hole like a glove and you’ll have a damn hard time getting it out. If you are unsure, make the hole slightly deeper then you think you’ll need. After doing this several times you’ll be able to eyeball this process flawlessly.
As a point of safety I need to inform you about safe Dremeling. Never drill towards your hands and fingers. Holding a model in the center of your hand and using a power tool is the path to blood and tears. In that order. I’m serious people. A hobby vice is not a bad investment when using the God of Hobby tools.
Step - IIIa
Step - IIIb
Step III: Add a dab of superglue and install your magnet. I like to tip the model on its side and use the surface of my desk to press the magnet in. You’ll see that it fits snugly into the hole. Again it does not have to be flush.
Step - IVaStep - IVb
Step - IVc
Step IV: Complete these three steps on both sides of the Dreadnought.
Step - Va
Step - Vb
Step V: Just like in the shoulder joint of the body piece, drill a starter indent into the center of the arm piece.
Step - VIa
Step - VIb
Step VI: Using the Dremel, drill your magnet hole again. You’ll need to be EXTRA careful on this step as the Dremel tool is very strong and this material is very light and you can end up drilling completely through the arm. Take your time, go slow on the slowest setting and you should be fine. Make sure it’s deep enough for the magnet to fit but flushness is not necessary.
Step - VIIaStep - VIIb
Step - VIIc
Step VII: Sit a magnet on the outside of the one installed in the body. The strength of the magnets will cause them to align themselves correctly. Then all you have to do is add a dab of glue into the arm hole and press the arm firmly onto the body to make it fit. Pull the arm off and hit it with some accelerant to cure the glue and that’s it.
Now comes the cool part, any additional arms you may have can be added to this model. You just have to start at Step V.
Since I was on a limited schedule I could not take the time I normally would to plot out every section of the piece. I’m proud of it, but I think I went in to many directions color-wise. I like to keep my palate limited. The NMM bronze did not come out fully to my liking either but I’ve yet to master that technique. If I could go back in time I would do the sword in a lava theme to tie the Prince to the base.
All nitpicking aside, I really had a blast painting this mini for my hobby shop. GW has outdone itself with this new kit.
