Sculpting the spine

Well, after a long break from doing anything (I could say I was working, but really school got in the way and I have had comp issues. Combined with me not exactly being good about updates and ya...) I am back. I started working on my baneblade agian about 4 hours ago and the greenstuff still isnt dry because I work in a basement and its really cold. So I started this post. How do you sculpt a spine? It seems like it would be really complex to do because of all the detail but is it really? I attempted one and will have pictures up tomorrow (along with what I have done with the baneblade), I am thinking about a tutorial on how I did it but it depends on how much everyone likes it.

(picture stolen from http://www.backache.md/structural-anatomy.htm)

First Hell-blade rolls off the line

Wow, this project is going along really fast, I already have one ship done. This one was a test really, the template wasnt put togeather very well, it showed what the shapes look like from the top but not what they look like when you cut it out, leaving a lot of choice in the final angles and such (I hope that made sense). Obviously this one isnt really done, it still needs plasticard strips along the foam core so the edges look neat and it needs some details. It is also missing a cockpit. The reason is before I work on the cockpit I need to get sentinel pilot bodies and those would cost money, but I am saving my money for my nurgle army (its getting ignored right now, but its still there). If anyone would like to donate any sentinell pilot bodies (or any autocannons) let me know, I would love to take the donations. But for now I just cant spend the money on these ships while I work on building a tournament capable nurgle army.






On a side note here is a nice picture of the forge world Xana II, it is a wonderful place. If you look closely you can see a new Hell Blade rolling off the production like now :P

I decided to name this ship, as the first one off the line, Orifice. Since I have a lot of them being built and I am trying to keep busy I probably wont get a lot of them named until I have a lot of free time (for me it takes a while to come up with names, just a curse I guess). If anyone has any suggestions of nurgley names for these (or the Hell Blades that will be built soon) let me know and I will add it to the list.


Edit: I forgot the title :P

What I have been doing

I worked on a bit of greenstuff, but not much. I did the scythe for my daemon prince (and that's about it). I think it looks really good with the top part of a nurgle icon for the top, sculpted some backbones on the blade and on the back of the staff. I still need to work on something for the bottom (probably another blade or something), GS the backbone on the staff all the way down, and sharpen the blade.





I got ahold of the siege of vraks 2 (and planetstrike) and so I started working on some hell-blade and hell-talon ships for the chaos army (that I havnt finished yet). I am cutting the wings out of foam board and then reinforcing the edges with plasticard strips (probably going to use a paper cutter to get straight strips). Next I will build the structure with plasticard bits (reinforced with sprue at the joints). For the cocpit I plan to cut clear plastic bits (like from blisters or toys) for inserts. For paint I am thinking a copy of my nurgle scheme with a lot of rust because I dont want to add much green stuff onto them.

To start off I will probably only do four or five fighters and a pair of bombers but I want to expand eventually to use this entire sheet of foam board at about a 2-1 (or maby 3-1) ratio of fighters to bombers and build a Harbinger bomber eventually to top the squadron off. (also, I think that these are the first fighters in the independence/KC area, or at least I havnt heard of any oters)

A progress update

I have been hard at work on my plague marines, since my last update I have 4 ready for the first step of a bigger stomach, 7 ready for the second (one is ready for a paint test when I go out and buy paint) and 5 (banner carrier counts) done with that and in need of more tubes and other stuff(like arms). I have close ups of the four done and the banner carrier.



I think so far they are coming out good but the picture might be a bit to far out to show it. The gun is for the top left guy, its held by tentacles :D. The one on the bottom left has an eye in the tentacle that ends near his head.


This mess of sprue is a future daemon prince, I decided I wanted him to be covered in robes so instead of sculpting a body and covering it up I glued some sprue into a tube, attached more sprue for wings (GS will be added to these later) and put wire in for where the arms will go. I am going to sculpt arms on him, decide what to do for his head, and work on his wings tomorrow. Then I will be ready to start on the cloth for him, I will use a tip someone told me and wrap him in tissue paper sprayed with hair spray for strength and then painted (with a base coat) for a bit more. Hopefully I didnt bite off to much sculpting this guy, it will be my time sculpting a lot of stuff...


I will try to test my list out tomorrow but school enrollment also means I might not have time...

Finalized my list, now to test and build

This is the final form of my 1750pt list for a tournament coming up in november. I need to test the list out a couple times (and I know just the guard player to test it on) so I have a good idea what does what and such, then I need to start building like my life depends on it so I will have it done soon. It looks like a solid list but not liking the lack of CC, I play tau normally so CC always ends me. I have some conversions in mind for the prince and will have some pics of how I am doing my plague marines in the morning after the greenstuff and glue dries.

Daemon Prince -175
-Wings
-Mark of Nurgle
-Warptime

Plague Marines(x7) -306
-Aspiring Champion
-Powerfist
-Combi-flamer
-Meltagun(x2)
-Rhino
-Extra armor
-Personal icon

Plague Marines(x7) -251
-Plasma gun(x2)
-Rhino
-Extra armor
-Havoc launcher
-Personal icon

Plague Marines(x7) -251
-Plasma gun(x2)
-Rhino
-Extra armor
-Havoc launcher
-Personal icon

Plague Marines(x7) -251
-Plasma gun(x2)
-Rhino
-Extra armor
-Havoc launcher
-Personal icon

Summoned Lesser Daemons(x5) -65

Summoned Lesser Daemons(x5) -65

Chaos Havocs(x7) -235
-Mark of nurgle
-Missile launcher(x4)

Obliterator -75

Obliterator -75

TOTAL=1749

A new project (with a deadline)

I am very interested in chaos, and my tau just arnt tournament winning. There is a tournament coming up on november 21st (113 days) and I am hoping to get a 1750pt chaos army done. I dont have to have it painted, just put together WYSIWYG style. I have some marines that I have been working on, I have some money that could get me one vehicle (out of three in 1500, maby more) and I have some termies, not the best choice for a tournament setting but they are done. I have a simple conversion in mind for one prince and for the other one I have no idea. Here is my list so far. The champs are in there because rapid fire range is assault range and I used to play tau. The rhinos got there Havoc launchers to give me some extra long range shooting.

Daemon Prince -175
-Wings
-Mark of Nurgle
-Warptime

Daemon Prince -165
-Wings
-Mark of Nurlge
-Nurgle's Rot

Plague Marines(x7) -316
-Aspiring Champion
-Powerfist
-Melta gun(x2)
-Rhino
-Havoc launcher
-Extra armor

Plague Marines(x7) -316
-Aspiring Champion
-Powerfist
-Melta gun(x2)
-Rhino
-Havoc launcher
-Extra armor

Plague Marines(x7) -221
-Aspiring Champion
-Powerfist
-Plasma gun(x2)

Plague Marines(x7) -221
-Aspiring Champion
-Powerfist
-Plasma gun(x2)

Vindicator -145
-Daemonic Possession

TOTAL=1499


I still have about 250pts to play with and I really like my termies, they each have a power fist and combi bolter (not the best options but they are AOBR termies and I dont want to change it that bad). For delivery I think I will go with deep strike because I cant think of anything to drop for a land raider. I might food slog them across the field but that seems stupid. What do you think of this idea?



By the way, if you live in the greater KC area (or within driving distance) you should check out the tournament, it could be fun (but I call first place, got to get my guard army built eventually).

Finially, an update

Its been a while since I last updated (if only the internet wasnt so distracting). Here is what I have been working on when I worked on something.


I had some fun working on this plaugereaper, and for paint I am thinking a light grey for show camo. Then sponge painting rust effects on top of that (and doing a couple of washes). Then I will paint the GS work and the details.


I did a lot of work on this plaugereaper, The Morbidus (named as I typed), I plan to do some more but not much. A lot of the work will be around the admech symbol, I think it looks really good so far but I want to add something more nurgle-y. Not sure what that will be though, I will come up with something though.


I used easter eggs for the plaugereaper's goup things. I am going to use bendy straws to conect the eggs to the turret. I am also going to fill the egg (after paint) with epoxy and bitz so it looks realistic (and gross).


I want to do two nurglings standing on top of each other (that I sculpt), with the one on top holding a big spoon and wearing a chef's hat. On the other side I want to have one nurgling ladling the stuff somewhere (havnt decided where yet). Here is the start of one of them, I still need to add eyes, guts, arms, and everything else.


I also added some body parts into the tracks (those guardsmen need to run faster).


Here is the start of a mouth I am sculpting onto the front of the plaugereaper, I am not sure what I will do with it, maby a big tongue sticking out of it or something.


I put a lot of time into this guy, I hope I can paint it good enough, here are some more close ups of some of the work I did.









I also worked on the gun but I cant decide what sort of texturing to give it, anyone have any ideas or anything?



Here is a close up of the banner (but it was a bit shaky). I am hopeing to have someone else paint the banner because I dont think I will do very good on it. I tore up the edge with a pair of scisors so it would look used, I though about gun holes and such but I still have to heat and bend it, talk to someone about painting it, and then will think about it...





I am saving money for my guardsmen and will start buying some stuff soon. I hope to be able to have some updates with guardsmen and hope to have some updates with them soon, it might not be until late october though