The Warforge Miniature Modelling and Conversion

These boots were made for stompin’!

I sculpted the foundation of one of the Warboss's boots today, it actually wasn't as bad as I thought. I did the entire boot in one go, pretty much. I'm probably going to leave it alone until tomorrow when it's all properly set and then add the details.

 

I had to cut the feet down a bit to get them to be proper ork-foot-sized. If you look at the other foot you'll get an idea of what I mean. I am actually thinking pants will be necessary at this point - here's to hoping I can pull it off!

The Marinekilla 9000

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this! My normal laptop is fried and it's taken me a bit to get a usable replacement. Some awful pictures coming up, as I don't have photoshop to even out the levels and such. These have also been scaled down and saved in paint, so they don't look all that magnificent.

 

I think this new chain axe is a lot less feral than the old one - might make the boss look a bit more at home in a 40k setting. It's basically just a scaled-up version of the standard warboss one - I'll be adding appropriate vents and worky bits to the back once I figure out how to do the intended vents without a problem. I'm also going to cap the bottom of the handle off. I'll probably wrap it, too.

More choppa work

I think I'm going to leave the choppa like this. I haven't made my mind up on the glyph yet - it's not attached - but the rest of it looks decent enough to leave.

That’s not a choppa!

Some more progress, though nothing to write home about. The internet, however, is another matter!

First off, you'll notice he now has his head. This may be subject to change, pending on how well I can resculpt this head into more orklike features. He is missing his fangs at the moment - those will come later. The more astute of you might have noticed that just off-camera is a different looking choppa. Congratulations! I will reward you with a better image of it.

The old choppa is there for scale comparison. This one is much bigger and better suited for the boss, I think - it is also far from done. I need to properly join the axe head (it's all pinned, but putty will help) and add the propper detailing. I took a whack at re-doing the handle strap, and while I don't think it looks as good as on the other one, I've consoled myself with the opinion that most of the handle just won't be visible in his hands anyway - least, not enough to stress out over this. It needs more details - skulls, in particular, I think. I'm going to smack one at the bottom of the handle, if I can find it, and orkify the whole thing up a bit with some rivets when I next get the chance.

Suitably choppy, I think.

Cleanup’s done?

Had a bit more time to dremel away at things. I've shaved all of the spikes off the back and tried to leave the musculature intact, though it's a difficult task as the body's muscles seem so random and wonky in some places. I'm pretty sure the back will be a fairly large sculpting job - Dremelled the other arm down. The only spikes left are on the edges of the face.

Got a couple of different angle shots, as well.

 

I've been looking a lot at a warboss model on CoolMiniorNot I've been enamored with - Ragnar Skulleater. The mini in that is pretty much inquisitor-scale, but I see a lot of similarities in general body structure. Though of course I am not nearly anything of an accomplished sculptor, I've been thinking about what I want to do with this model. I'd like to sculpt pants on him, really - I've been thinking I might be able to do it, actually, if I try doing something along the same lines as that Skullork miniature has - just the upper leg, and the rest is boot. Same with the shirt - it'd be nice to have, but I'm not sure I could sculpt anything that looks even reasonably close...

Still, it's given me a bit of inspiration. Looking at that power klaw, I really like the design - it looks dangerous enough, to be sure. It actually reminded me of the power klaw that one of the Inquisitor models weilds - Witch Hunter Tyrus.

Take a look at the bit on GW's bits page. I'm not sure if it's too big, but it might be a decent foundation for a looted power klaw.

Postscript edit: The link above has been removed, thanks to the demise of GW's bitz service.

Big! BIG!

A bit more of an assembled look. I've pinned the torso in a slightly elevated position that I think it'll be staying in - he's more upright and looks a bit better, in my opinion, when straightened out like that. He's certainly big. Dreadnought-sized, I think. I won't be leaving him on that base - I am just using it to prop him up as I could drill holes all over it without a problem.

Dremels are marvelous tools

Had a bit more time to dremel away at things. I've shaved all of the spikes off the back and tried to leave the musculature intact, though it's a difficult task as the body's muscles seem so random and wonky in some places. I'm pretty sure the back will be a fairly large sculpting job - not just to close that seam, but to proper smooth out all of the musculature.

I have just the arm and face left to dremel down before the sculpting begins, I think, though I'm about to glue the torso halves together and try to putty along the inside to try and cement it together. I think shoulder armor and back armor will help cover most of the awful sculpting I plan on doing.

Cleanup in aisle troll

 

You'll notice in full-body picture I have the torso held with a gap in the abdomen area - this is intentional. I'm going to make him stand a bit more upright, I think, both to make him bigger and to try and work around wonky troll anatomy - he has a pretty big bulge in the middle of his back where the hunch is that looks a bit silly. I'll probably sculpt that loin cloth up to hang a bit higher, in addition to putting stomach armor on, but all that comes later. For now, I have spent the past few hours carefully trying to dremel off those godforsaken spikes from his body. It's super-tedious, but I think it's coming out alright - I honestly didn't wreck the musculature as much as I was expecting. I've got some new putty, called Tamiya Epoxy Smooth, that I'm going to go over the skin with at a later date to properly resurface it, but I think I'm doing decent so far. Both legs have also had their spikes removed.

The choppa's not a bad fit for size, considering I made the axe before I had the boss. I think I'll make a new one, though, a bit meaner-looking, so I can stick this one in a body.

I've been tentatively thinking of names for this dude. I've only thought of one that I would consider, which is 'Big Boss Mungus', and that's kind've weak. I'm well open to suggestions, though.

Package attack

So, I got today's mail.

Looks like a dire troll mauler hitchhiked his way in the USPS Trukks all the way over from thewarstore. I suppose I'm going to have to make him a warboss now, eh?

I'm going out to buy proper dremel bits to grind away at those spikes later today, but I figured I'd practice some of my greenstuffing skills (or lack thereof) by making a relatively simple choppa. It's not really suited to being held by him, as he's so much bigger than I initially eyeballed - from elbow to base of the fingers is the size of a single boy!

Thinking it through

Just messing with ideas for the back. I'm not quite sure I know how this'd work. Perhaps I'd need to rig up some sort of device on his back to both power the armored fist and feed ammunition into the big shoota. A grot riding it's never bad, either.

I was actually thinking buggy tire guards would almost be an appropriate size shoulder pad for something like this, assuming I'm guesstimating at his approximate size accurately. I'll spend some time today working on this idea a bit more before I committ to it. I'd have to re-sculpt a lot of the musculature to hide where I ground down those body spikes, which may be an enormous pain.