The Warforge Miniature Modelling and Conversion

A post of suspense and intrigue

So.. nothing really new for the head. Same old same old.

Or is it? What's that on the back there?

Flipping it over, we can get a look at some of Ein's super-barbaric wiring.

Results?

Now to build a flamer and disguise that toggle switch a bit!

Iz we stompin’ yet?

Just entertaining myself while I think about what I'm going to do for the rest of today regarding this. I've decided to wait on making the head until I get the circuit for the eyes and flickering red led.. just trying to figure out what else I can work on until it arrives.

Maybe the grot bomb.

Also, as I've been told, the catachan legs have a belt, as do the cadian torsos.. so I dissembled the two guardsmen, chopped the belts off, and repaired them again.

I put the gargant on it's base just to see how it's all shaping up. I added the ammo belt in just a few minutes ago - I know it needs to be shortened and hang better, I'm about to go do that with some bent paperclip cuttings to make it hang closer to the weapon. Also, the gun arm is holding it up, again. The blue thing that was supporting it from underneath kept falling out now with the new terrain, and as I haven't screwed the gargant to it's base yet it'll have to just hold itself up like that for now.

 

Click on that one directly above.

I think I can add in some cabling to the top of the head.

Photo overload

So I have some interesting pictures and a whole lot of text. I'm sorry for any of you 56k users, there's a lot of images to suffer through below.

Firstly, while I wanted to add one guardsman being defiant and brandishing dual pistols at the gargant, I didn't have the necessary parts. However, I did manage to make a commander/commissar type dude with a large hat - he is standing there defiantly, chainsword in hand and pointing at the gargant as if to say, "Come get some!"

Of course, pesky comissars armed with chainswords are nothing to really be concerned with. It's reasonably safe to assume he was soon incinerated by a blast from the gargant's head-flamethrower (which I have yet to make! ).

I strapped a few extra bitz onto these guardsmen just to make them look more detailed, and tried cleaning up my greenstuff on their joints a bit. I basically sculpt like a monkey, I'm not going to lie. They're removable for painting and won't be glued down till I'm good and ready.

Now, this is something of a before-and-after of the ruins I added in. The base is now 90% done, pending a bit of work on the road and sidewalk area and a bit of sealing with the new putty.

Before the putty was added onto the new ruins:

 

After the ruins were... well, ruined:

 

And a grot footprint before and after:

 

Overall, I consider this to be a very successful attempt at a large-scale base and I think the things I've learned are pretty valuable. I unfortunately am now all out of putty, so touchups will have to be with elmers glue if any are necessary.. I'm letting it sit overnight and I'll be sealing the whole putty base up with glue tomorrow. I think the base does the model justice, in any case.

Brave Sir Robin ran away

Haha. Guardsmen are so easy to convert!

 

This dude's pinned in, but not attached yet as I figure he'll be easier to paint if I can get at all his angles. I'm thinking I'm going to put one more standing near him turned sideways and pointing at the gargant in a "Death approaches!" pose.

I got myself a Sanctum Imperialis box from a place about an hour away.. but I think it was worth it. I'm setting the ruins up presently - pictures will be up when I get it all done.

Still waiting on the circuit for the head.. but I'm going to have to start building around it for now.

Takin’ care of business

So, it's dried.. it doesn't look bad, but I need to figure out some way to seal all of this material down - the putty is hard, but a little brittle and crumbly and I don't want it continually falling apart on me. I'm thinking maybe watered down elmer's glue would help.. I'd prefer to not brush too much on the base as it'd end up brushing some of the extra material off. Any ideas would be appreciated - I sadly may have to elmers + retexture everything in an additional layer for the sake of strength. The gun arm is supporting the gargant in this picture because I haven't finished pinning it yet (nor will I until after painting) so don't consider the arms to be in a truly proper position for these pictures.

 

Stompaholics Anonymous

There's one major problem with Imperial Guard.

DEY'Z TOO EASY TA CRUSH!!!

I did the gargant's gaming base up. Hopefully they'll be rock-hard when they dry by tomorrow, but I have a sneaking suspicion they'll be a bit crumbly around the edges and need some sort of reinforcing coat of.. something. Maybe watered down elmer's. I tried to match the contours of the diorama base's geography on the gaming base.

Please also note that since these pictures went up, I noticed mold lines I missed and cleaned them up.

The rubble per square inch factor is about the same as I hope to have on the final diorama base, once I get walls set up and figure out how they'll crumble (and make suitable plasticard tiles). The guardsman's reaching out to his running buddy(s) for help, as his lower half is pinned beneath the gargant. One can only assume he's having a bad day.

You can see the stepped spot in the footprint - this is to angle the gargant forward about 10 degrees, and lift the back leg up into the air a touch so it's not dragging. It's also a good effect for the gargant walking anyway, as I imagine the foot digs in at the toe to lever the whole monster forward.

There'll be some spilling sand around the sandbags to suggest they've been knocked over - I didn't want to do that on the base at the moment, as only the bottom layer would stick to the paste I'm using. I drilled a hole through the gargant's foot and the base - when I'm ready to attach the gargant down to the gaming base for good, a screw'll do the job nicely and thread into the foot to hold it securely down to the gaming base. A screw covered in glue, most likely. But I think I'm going to paint the base first before I make any final attachments like that, as reaching underneath the gargant to drybrush terrain isn't my idea of fun. For now, I'll use a nail to pin the gargant - that is, when everything's had a chance to dry overnight.

I think this has been a successful first go at something bigger than an infantry base. Or, will be, when I get some imperial building walls to stake in there. And the thousand other things I want to do. >_>

Comments, advice, crits, whatever welcome.

Like wood putty in my hands

So this has been an interesting experiment. I've never done any large-scale basing, so of course jumping in with both feet for a diorama is leaving me a bit surprised with every attempt, but I'm not dissapointed in it yet.

 

I found some putty-esque substance in my garage, as I was looking for interesting material to do the base over with.. I put the curb and sidewalk, and proceeded to heap some of this stuff on and then start shaping it with a sponge brush and my hands into some rough geography. The pictures don't quite show off any tremendous contours, but I didn't want to get too adventurous seeing as I don't have the walls that'll be going in yet. I'll hopefully be going out to try and get one of the new imperial cities of death buildings tomorrow to turn into rubble and wrecked building walls, as my attempts with foamboard have proven frustrating and unfruitful throughout the course of the day. I'm about to go down into the garage and try and drill a hole in the circular base where the main front foot is going to be standing - I'll probably 'pin' it with a thick nail or something of that nature. I'm also hoping to put a slight elevation on that foot - it'll dip into the ground at the toe, to show that it's 'digging in' to take it's next step as it moves forward, and will elevate the back foot up a bit to prevent it from 'dragging' as the gargant walks. I'm hoping all the extra rubble and walls and stuff I want to add in won't be too challenging - I figure worst comes to worst I can dremel myself an adequate space in the putty once it hardens, add extra rubble in (or the walls, if I didn't leave enough room), and re-putty around it.

Interesting so far.

These ruins are ruined!

I gotta tell you guys, working with this foamboard stuff to make ruins is harder than I would have thought. I'd appreciate any suggestions or advice on this sort of thing!

There's two footprints - one with the grot, and the other on the very top edge of the base. That 'low!' comment written on the board is so that I remember to keep the wall section at that height basically knocked-in - some rubble and bits of wall will be strewn towards the center, where the gargant is, but mostly it'll just be knee-high wall left. I need to make 4 more sections of gothic-esque wall, then buttress and detail them.. I've no idea how the detailing's going to work. Also, I assume I have to seal the foam with some sort of watered down elmer's glue..? I'm not really interested in melting the thing when I spray prime it : ) I got a street-paving 'kit' thing from my local hobby store meant for dioramas - it's a brush-on asphault texture sort've thing.. I think I'm going to lay the street down, then the curb, then build the rest of the diorama's base up to match the curb's level.

Brand new diorama plan

The wall behind the gargant will be majorly busted down - like the gargant just walked through what was left of the already ruined building. The street in the back corner's just for a little bit of interest, and there'll be rubble scattered ahead of the gargant here and there. I'm shifting the whole thing to an angle.. (gargant walking from corner to corner) because I think it'll be more interesting on the whole than a simple profile diorama.

The Evil Eye

It liiives!

Bent, cut, and sanded some clear plastic down to fit into the eyes.. the sanding was done over the front face of the eyes to make the surface foggy and diffuse the light from behind the eyes. The light I used for this test picture is one small red LED, but the final version will have two green ones located directly behind the eyes to provide a nice sinister glow. Sorry that it's slightly out of focus - setting the timer on my camera so I can hold two things removes my ability to manually focus on objects.

Still, you get the idea of what I'm aiming for. I added a bit of armor trim around the eyes to keep the light from bleeding out. I try to avoid using greenstuff where possible as I'm really bad with it. Still waiting for the things I need in the mail to be delivered, but I don't expect them to arrive tomorrow as it's Sunday, so I'll be working primarily on the base then.