Ghost Ship (Updated 6/17/2012)

[Devo]

So I broke out my Cthulu-inspired vampires again with the advent of the new book. So many neat toys that fit my army theme!

One of the units I really like in the new book is the Mortis Engine, but... what the heck is it? That doesn't fit my theme! So I decided to replace it. Ultimately, I decided on making it into a ghost ship, as it would have all the elements of the unit out of the book, using model pieces I'd already added to the army. More on that, later.

We have a long way to go. :ugeek:

To start this off, I needed a ship. I had ideas of finding something that would match my concept, but I nothing came to me. (And, honestly, I had an idea for how to build the ship, so I didn't look all that hard.) I did find my inspiration, though, in the Shadewraith, the Dreadfleet undead ship. Link

I knew I'd run into some problems recreating that. Primarily, I wouldn't be able to make it a realistically-sized ship and keep that scale. It would be far too big. I was planning on going big, though (I am using Cthulu in my army as a Terrorgheist), but the Mortis Engine is Large, so it would all work out.

So I built the ship from scratch.

I started with the hull, as ship builders are wont to do. Going to my favorite medium, I carved a wishbone shaped hull frame from plasticard. The idea was to create a number of these, and maybe cut the middle out of the narrower pieces used at the front of the ship.

Wishbone

I'd need a lot of those, and carving each out of plasticard wasn't something I wanted to do, so I made a mold of it.

But pouring resin for one of these at a time would be too slow, so I made a duplicate, using the mold I had, then made a bigger mold, so I could do two at a time. (Three, with both molds going at once.)

The second mold was really rough, but a little clean-up of each piece wouldn't hurt me. Plus, this is for a ghost ship, so having rough-looking timbers would just work in my favor. (I hoped.)

Next, assembling the hull!

 

[Devo]

The Hull

Now I needed a backbone for the ship. I went through my plasticard stock (and went to my local gaming store to pick up a heck of a lot more) and saw that I could cut out grooves in a square plasticard hollow rod and the hull frame would fit perfectly.

Better, I could slip a piece of plasticard into the tube to hold the hull pieces in place, allowing me to align the entire hull before gluing it all together.

The plan was to cut notches out of the foreward hull piece, so I could "bend" it up into a curved prow. That wasn't thought out too well, though, so I eventually just had to cut a separate prow.

The Hull

Another bit of luck here. I was impatient for the last few pieces to get out of the mold, so I pulled them before the resin fully hardened. I started cleaning them when I realized they were warping, so I pinched the ends together a bit before setting them down to let them harden in that shape. It made for a narrow front where the hull pieces actually slope up somewhat from a side-view. It worked out well.

A little size perspective, though having the models closer to the camera might be throwing it off a bit.

I added an inner rail to the hull, to define where the deck will be, then threw down some planking for the bilge floor, to cover the ugly backbone. It's starting to look like a ship!

(The ship is sitting on a chariot base: 50mm x 100mm)

Generally speaking, I just slapped the decking down -- a methodology I'd be using for much of the remaining construction.

Next: Hit the Deck!

 

[Devo]

The Deck

As with the bilge planking, the deck is just thrown together.

It sits nicely -- if not exactly flush -- with the hull.

How about an aft deck?

I picked some wooden dowels for the mast. That same hollow, square plasticard fit one of the dowels very nicely (round peg in a square hole, however), so I added a place to stick the three masts of the ship. (The masts would have to be removable, for transportation.)

The keen eye'd observer will note three mast seats, but only two masts. My shoddy construction was working against me, here, and I placed the seats without thinking about how the masts and sails would interact. Three makes this much too crowded.

Enter a ghoul, for scale. I don't think there will be adequate room for the sails with all three masts in place, though I'll probably play around with it to see what it ends up looking like.

And that's as far as I've gotten for now. Next up:
1) sparse side planking to cover the deck-line and break up the monotony of the hull skeleton.
2) The prow figure (remember what I'm using as a Banshee?)
3) Improved masts with sails
4) Miscellaneous decorative bits. It wouldn't be GW without skulls.
5) Magically mount this sucker on a base, somehow. I have a GW Mortis Engine/Coven Throne partially assembled. I'll likely use some of the banshee/ghosts/skeletons on this ship, supplemented with my own undead models and maybe some green stuff.

I dunno. We'll see where it goes. I like where it's gone so far, though!

 

[Burnanation]

RE: Ghost Ship

That is AWESOME!!!!

Keep putting up the photos.

 

[Adam_Barrow]

RE: Ghost Ship

I've loved your army from the first time I laid eyes on it. And this is just such a cool addition. Bravo.

 

[Devo]

A bit more work

I did a little more work on the ship tonight. You won't see a lot of it in these pictures, but that's because they aren't really great pictures. I do my painting logs nice and easy!

Pictures! Here is the updated ship standing next to Cthulhu, my Terrorgeist. By the time I'm done, I'm pretty sure that the ship will be a few inches higher on it's base (it's just magnetized to the chariot base for now, so it stands up easier). The masts will be extended, too. This thing is really going to get in the way during games!

If you look those pictures over, you'll see some random siding on the boat, a fore-mast (don't know what it's really called), the figurehead (more pictures of that in a moment), windows on the back cabin, a steering wheel (which isn't glued in, yet, as I'm afraid of breaking it if the model isn't on a stable base), a ghoul behind the wheel (for perspective), and casing for the wheel chain (a support beam that goes from under the wheel to the not-yet-attached rudder.

Here's a better shot of the prow, with my banshee and cairn wraith on the right and my spirit host on the left.

The banshee and figurehead are Reaper miniatures, as are the spirit hosts. (Minus the basing material on each, of course.) The Cairn Wraith you probably recognize as a deamonette, modified only slightly.

A few more pics:

I'm contemplating using more of those Spirit Host models for my ship's base. (In part because using the same models for my Spirit Host and the Mortis Engine's Spirit Horde appeals to me, the same way the banshee is the same.) I'm thinking that I could simply put a number of those Hosts close together and have the ship "riding the wave", as it were. A little extra green stuff between hosts would tax my GreenStuff abilities, but it seems doable.

Anyways, thought you'd be interested in seeing more.

 

[Mr Saturday]

RE: Ghost Ship

A ghost ship is a great idea for a mortis engine, I'll be very interested in seeing this progress! It think the host under the ship, dreadfleet style, will look fantastic.

 

[Burnanation]

RE: Ghost Ship

I love themed armies, and the more I see the more I think... Sweet Sauce.

 

[Rorschach]

RE: Ghost Ship

That's some creative thinking! Love how you're building this from scratch, looking great so far.

 

[Devo]

RE: Ghost Ship

Not much to say, yet. Maybe I'm just tired.

Added some details to the ship, including scoring the wood a bit. Don't quote me on that. :tongue:

I rather like the little drips of water all over the place. I tried to add them in out-of-the-way places, so that I wouldn't knock them off when picking this piece up. It gives it that wet, just-came-up-from-the-bottom-of-the-ocean look to it. Well, it might, once I get it painted. I've thought of adding barnacles to the exposed hull (not frame) section, at the bottom of the ship. Hmmmm.....

I've wanted to use this Tyrannid spore set piece for forever, somewhere in this project. Glad I finally found a place for it!

There's a rat in the bilge!

Another image with the first run at a sail.

It's not a real project if you haven't bled on it.

And, finally, masts and my most recent sail attempts. These aren't really connected, yet. I've got wire coming out of the back/center of each sail to connect it eventually, but I haven't really decided how I want to do it. I'm contemplating using just very strong magnets, so that it's easy to transport without breaking. I think if I were doing this a bit more "realistically", I'd attach a ring to the mast (just underneath the connection to the next mast-section) and tie the sail off to the ring. That will drop each sail down about half an inch, though, so I'm not sure I want to do that. Maybe it will only be a quarter inch -- I'll play around with it. I've got three more sails to put together, and then the flags. (I have a standard from the Skaven Doomwheel -- it doesn't look as impressive on a model this size!)

Another comment on the sails: they are made of plasticard of moderate thickness, with the folds carved out (one side only, really). This leaves them a bit scarred, but I'm hoping a heavy base coat will fill in the more severe-looking cuts. After that, it's up to the paint to make it look better. Here's hoping!


Ideas? Suggestions? Comments?

 

[Chephron_nightshade]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/2/12)

I recommend using liquid green stuff to touch up the sails before priming. Also if you slowly buildit up in layers you could add more depth to the sails with liquid green stuff.

 

[Mannerheim27]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/2/12)

I second the green stuff element to the sails. Nothing drastic, but just subtle as it'll add contrast and depth to the sails.

Overall, this thread is AWESOME! I love scratch-built stuff like this! Keep up the excellent work.

All the best,

Jacob

 

[Mad 'At]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/2/12)

Cool boat

I would suggest you to try and bend the sail in boiling water to give it some cooler shapes, I do it al the time for my banners, might be a little harder for since the sails are so big, and probably a bit thicker. My two cents anyway.

I'm looking forward to seeing this thing completed.

 

[Cthulhu]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/2/12)

Wow, this is one of the coolest project I've seen! It looks amazing so far, and getting better with each update.

One thing that is hard to make out in the pictures is if the planks have wood grain carved in. If not, do you plan to add that?

 

[Devo]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/2/12)

I bent the sails a bit, using a heat gun. You can see that in the last picture.

Good idea on the liquid green stuff. I have some (visible in some of those pictures) but never thought to use it like that. We'll see how it turns out!

There is no wood grain on the timbers. Carving wood grain into each plank would be a bit too much work for me. I might try painting it on there, though, as that will solve one of the problems I'm anticipating with painting this beast.

 

[Cthulhu]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/2/12)

Yeah, you are right, carving wood grain would be a horrible amount of work. Liquid GS might be a solution there as well, I just realized. Never tried myself, but I imagine scoring some lines in a thin layer of liquid GS would go pretty fast and look nice. I honestly can't recommend free-hand painting grain, it's extremely boring and I've never had good results with it. Can of course be me that lacks the skill, though

Whichever way you choose, I'm sure you will make it awesome.

 

[Santawraith]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/2/12)

You've been working on this all of five days?? Wow. I'm going to worship you now, oh great scratch builder.

I can't wait to see more and more from you, and when you add paint to her, I may just die from sheer bliss.

 

[Devo]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/2/12)

You've been working on this all of five days??

No, I've been posting about this for five days.

I've been working on it for seven or eight days.

 

[Mad 'At]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/2/12)

I bent the sails a bit, using a heat gun. You can see that in the last picture.

I see, never mind then. I might have to try this heat gun thing...

 

[Devo]

Spirit Horde

Hurray! My Reaper order came in today. Enter the Spirit Hosts! :ghost:

Six of the Reaper Nightspecters went into the base for the ship, the same model I used for the Spirit Hosts. (See earlier picture.) These were just jammed onto a chariot base and simply cradle the ship. The spirit's connection to the base is pretty ugly across the board, but remember that this is going to be half an inch under water, so the joins where the spirits meet the base won't be seen. I'll reinforce that by painting the bottom 1/4" black, or something.

I'm not sure how the ship will ultimately be added to the base. I feel like the ship needs to be sitting on some of the fog inside the cradle. Hm. Ah, well. I'll get to that later.

Pictures!

After charging in against some Empire guys I dug out for perspective. The ship goes up against another unit as well as any other monster, I think. Standards will get in the way, but to be honest, my Mortis Engine isnt' in too many fights so this may not be an issue.

Anything charging the back of the Engine is going to have a hard time fitting flush up against the model, but if something charges this in the rear, I'll be removing it soon, anyway.

Hard to see the detail on these shiny pewter minis, but here's a closer look.

Farther.

Finally, for my own amusement, Cthulhu (my Terrorgheist) and the Mortis Engine charge a detachment of Swordsmen. Good luck, boys!

It was suggested, and I think rightfully so, that having just a single mast will help mask the stunty nature of the ship. I was hoping that sinking the base into a pile of spirits would do the same and I think this is coming together just fine.

 

[Cthulhu]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/4/12)

Looks fantastic with the spirit hosts! And one mast indeed fits the size of the ship the best.

 

[Johnny-Crass]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/4/12)

I love the use of the reaper spirit hosts. This is fantastic

 

[ftayl5]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/4/12)

I'm undecided if one or two masts would be better. But either way this thing is awesome!!!!! Such a cool, brilliant idea and very well executed so far.
If I say I'm going to hold my breath until this is finished would you feel guilty enough to drop the rest of your social and professional life and focus on completing this?
Really awesome work.

 

[Santawraith]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/4/12)

Drool's wow after I thought it couldn't get any better well done devo.

 

[Devo]

RE: Ghost Ship (Updated 4/4/12)

Okay, it's been a busy week, but I have gotten some work done on my ship. A little bit of paint, to be specific!

I have a long way to go. A long way....

First, a little extra work on the base. When you last saw it, there were six Nightwraith models that the ship balanced on. I cut a seventh down, bent the top, and now the back of the ship rests on that. I had to add a couple of tentacles (because, well, they're tentacles ) and then some rocks, like the rest of the army. There are holes (visible) on the fore tentacle and the aft mistwraith where the ship will be pinned to the base. When I put it all together, the base already lifts up when you pick up the ship, so I have high hopes that the pinning will keep it all together, once I get glue in there.

It's a bad picture, but that's what I promised at the beginning. Front of the base is at the bottom of the screen. Oh, and there's some paint on there, too. The outside is finished more than the inside, and the front right is done even more, as you'll see later.

Side view. Front of the model is to your right. The tallest of the tentacles reaches higher than the waves, which means it reaches up into the ship. Really bad lighting here, so you get an idea of the brightness of the mist better than the color, but it's all you get for now.

I did a bit of painting on the deck, too. I think I'll be picking out a few more details on the planking, then I've got all the stuff on the deck to paint.

Slightly closer picture, not that it helps my painting look better.

And, finally, a side shot, including the bits I have closest to being finished. The first three ribs on the ship are probably painted up as much as they are going to be. I might do one more highlight. We'll see. The mist just below those ribs are, again, close to being done, but they need quite a bit more work. I haven't done anything at all to the skeletons.

You can see the tentacle sneaking in just behind the 5th rib. The rat is behind the 6th rib. As another bit of perspective, the bottle of paint is under the center of the aft deck.

Hmmm.... Looks like I took one more picture. Okay, here's a closer shot of the nearly-complete forequarter of the ship.