The Warforge Miniature Modelling and Conversion

Light on his feet

Time to dredge this up from the depths! Actually, that's probably appropriate, considering we're talking about Necrons and all.

Anyway, I was asked if I'd ever consider doing a commission for something like this guy. Though I have made it my rule as of recent to decline doing any commission work, the dude offered me a decent amount of money, and I started to consider it. I figured I might as well take him up on it and finish this model off, as it's already partly done, as part of the commission, rather than make him one from scratch simply because I don't honestly see myself picking up Necrons in the near future. Aside from the lord and a monolith, that is. I really just do this all for the satisfaction of lighting things anyway.

So! Off I went to continue work on this model. I figured I'd jump back in with both feet and get one of the hardest things out of the way - the wiring from the torso down into the legs to where the power source for the SMT LEDs will be located. As I don't possess a drill bit small enough to actually hollow the legs themselves out, I went an alternative route and made the wiring exposed in a few places around the joints. If the guy I'm making this for paints it up right, they should blend right in as part of the technological detail on the lord.

 

This was literally the hardest part of the model, I think, save maybe the soldering in the chest, so it's almost all downhill from here.

The gaps in the thigh are going to be filled and the legs will be bulked up a bit to match the Destroyer torso I'm using - otherwise, they look way too weedy. The lengthening of the thighs was actually my plan from the start, though I also intended on doing the calves... but there's really not enough room in there for anything but the wire, and if I can't pin it, I am not going to try it.

Eye(s) of Terror

You knew this was coming.

It had to be done. After loads of precarious drilling, filing, and sanding, I now have a light-up necron head for my lord. It looks pretty great mounted on the body, too.

 

One thing bothered me, though, about the way the light looked. The appearance of it, after you drill out the eyes, is not necessarily of the eyes being lit, but rather the eyes being lit at the back of a tunnel. Also, it tends to look like crap when the LED is off, because you've got these gaping holes in the face of whatever you were working on. I needed to add some sort of 'lens' to the outside of the eye that was clear to let the light through but solid enough to be an eye.

I found a great solution!

Using a needle, I sucked up some water effects. The stuff is awful as actual water, but for eye lenses, it does the job once it dries!

Barbeque Ribs

After aquiring the mandatory boatload of parts that would be necessary to facilitate a Necron Lord conversion, I find myself drawn to the use of my SMT LEDs to make the model come to life with built-in lights. I began the arduous process of hollowing out the plastic ribs of a Necron Destroyer to facilitate light shining through.

The initial results weren't bad. In the above picture, I was using an LED pen to illuminate the ribs for simplicity's sake. They had been hollowed out using a needle and some sandpaper - I would poke the needle through the rib indentations clean out to the other side, pull it back out, and make another hole right next to it. Eventually I had poked enough holes to actually remove the bulk of the rib. It's too fine a job for an xacto knife, and I didn't have any files small enough as to cope with the size of the gap between the ribs, so I resorted to the next best thing - sandpaper. Taking some very fine-grit sandpaper, I cut long, 1mm wide strips of it. These strips were then threaded through and into the ribs and either end of the strip was held stable (one end in my teeth, the other between the fingers of one hand) as the spare hand moved the chest piece back and forth in a manner to sand the interior spaces down. After that was done, I took some Ambroid Pro-weld and brushed it between the gaps of the ribs. This was done mostly to smooth things out further, as Pro-weld is intended to melt plastic together, and helped me brush the surface of the plastic even.

Here was another test with a red SMT LED:

Of course, I intend on the final rib lights being green, but that's not quite worth worrying about yet. I have a head to attend to!

Ahnuld’s younger brother

The impetus for this project was really simple - I found some awesome concept art from Dawn of War that made the Necron Lord look like a total badass. To be completely fair, the lord in the actual game isn't all that bad, but some of the wargear options you get in the campaign look sort've stupid. All that aside, though, this particular piece of art sparked an interest in Necrons for me, and makes me want to make a Necron Lord pretty badly. I may actually push this up to a small 500 point force, as all it would take are two squads of ten warriors and the lords to hit an even 500.

 

I've been evaluating the parts that would be needed, and in the course of a few trades I have collected a couple bitz to help me along the way. Getting my hands on Necron bitz seems way harder than I initially anticipated, as the sprues they provide you are pretty much without any frills - you use everything to make the necrons, and that's that. No spare pieces! It's a bitz nightmare, particularly considering services like battlewagon bitz also fall short on this end.

At the moment I am seriously considering simply basing the model off the immortal's upper body and modifying a Warrior's lower torso. A destroyer torso is also an option, but I am not actually all that fond of the pieces and I am not sure why - it just doesn't seem as 'clean' as the metal immortal, although it is notably larger. In all fairness, the immortal has the 'hunch' required, though the shoulders will still require a good deal of lovin'.

As I am usually inclined to do with my projects, I'm working on figuring out how to insert LEDs into this sucker. I have a bunch of scarabs I can put on the base with light-up eyes that I'm sure will help the effect, but I really want to stick an LED into the torso so you can get that sick green glow emanating out through the ribcage. The only problem with this is that the ribcage slots aren't hollow and they are so small that filing them is impossible. I should really learn how to wire up surface mount LEDs. They seem pretty great for projects like this, and I have even seen them used on Necrons to great effect.

I'm probably going to be scratch-building his staff weapon to develop something a bit meaner and more serious looking than what the stock Necron Lord model comes with. He'll also definitely need a resurrection orb, as they seem just too handy if I ever bother to pursue this into a full army. Plus, they're kind've cool.