Modelling with Devo -- Defiler+ (7/14/09)

[Devo]

I want to put a generic work log up here. This won't be Vampire Counts, likely, but I really like this forum so I'm sharing some of my random work with you.

I have a few projects that I'm working on, and may come up with some independent stuff every once in a while. I really want to get back to my Cathedral Sisters of Battle, for example -- specifically, I have a cathedral Land Raider made up that I'm in the middle of painting. I'm at the tiresome stage of detailing, however (and this particular Land Raider demands a fair amount of detialing), so I've stalled out on that project.

But on to my first piece. I built this guy over the last few days (the days leading up to and surrounding a two-day Fantasy tournament) and I'm really stoked about him. I think it turned out well.

I want to play around with a Steampunk theme and started with a Marine. He's built using pieces that I can easily replicate or replace, in case I need to build 30 or 40 of them.

Front View

Yes, he has a valve on top of his head. ("Someone help me get this helmet off!" ) Not really sure how to do the eyes, yet. I imagine each model will have it's differences. Helmet and eyes are going to that primary difference, which means I can experiment a bit until I find something I really like.

There are two colors of brass here, a darker (e.g. the body) and a lighter (e.g. the shoulder gears). The picture loses a little of that difference but you should see it now that you know it's there.

Three-Quarters Side

I had this model painted for five minutes and there's already cat hair on it.
Better view of the gun striping and the right legometer, which is running far below capacity. (His leg is angled, though this picture doesn't show it well. If he were to straighten his leg, it would level out that gauge.)

Rear View

This is his boiler, with water tank on top, a steam vent, and the burner down below. I should throw a touch of yellow into the burner, to denote the fire. I should probably also dirll out those smoke stacks coming out of the top.


I haven't based him yet because I'm not sure what kind of base I want to do, yet. That will be decided once I come up with an army, I'm sure.

The over-arcing theme will include a lot of steam engines, valves, guages (meters), gears, and pipes. And brass. Lots of brass. And zepplins. And robots. Yeah, robots.

Anyways, what do you think? Too monochromatic? Not enough... what?

 

[Onikaigo]

RE: Modelling with Devo

This is awesome. You said that those parts are easily replaced or replicated; Replaced from what?

It'd be amazing to play those as Space Marines, while my Orks are like, "Uhh, Boss. Thes'uns ain't hoomin! Dey's sumthin else, me choppa broke over dat skull dere!"

 

[The Dark Sheep]

RE: Modelling with Devo

Interesting project. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

I'd say they need a little more bling than this one has. Maybe some iconography and stuff?

 

[Devo]

RE: Modelling with Devo

Many of the fun pieces that will make this project work came from a model chem-plant kit, though I can't think of the manufacturer's name right now. In that came a dozen pieces like the one I used for this guys head and a dozen of the boilers. There were a like number of other pieces that would be useful (like the valve control), and a number of larger boilers I'll be using for vehicles.

The burner is a smoke launcher from the IG vehicle sprue. The shoulder pads are the expensive part, as they are generic game tokens from Litko Aerosystems (manufacturer). Those are 6 or 7 dollars US for 10. I'll be looking to find a cheaper alternative, though. Small plastic gears, or the like.

Oh, and the gun is from a box set of VOID miniatures, bought many years ago. I've got 20-30 of those, I think, with another 20-30 alternates.


And this guy doesn't have his iconography, yet. I'll do decals for his shoulder pads, describing army and unit. My local game store has decal sheets for 15mm stuff, so I was going to look those over for small arrows and the like. Little signs I can add to various places on the armor. If I can't find anything, though, I'll print it up myself.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

RE: Modelling with Devo

Lol, I love it. very Steampunk and one the decals are on it it will be perfect. I would prefer a little rusting around some joints, outlets etc, as this generally occurs with steam. Great work.

 

[Goggalor]

RE: Modelling with Devo

That is amazing i love the idea. some love has gone into that model. How long are you looking at for a whole force? It is not too omchromatic as a whole army of bronze marines would look good on the table top.

 

[Devo]

RE: Modelling with Devo

I was struggling with whether or not to add verdigris to the model, but couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm thinking that these guys take meticulous care of their armor, which means cleaning it up and buffing it out all the time.

But like I said, this is a concept model. For my next one, I want to try blacklining instead of washes. I think that will make it pretty dynamic.

 

[Devo]

Graven Wall: Tomb Kings Idea

So, here's an idea you can sink your teeth into. (Ha! Bet you never heard that one before!)

I stole this idea from an army I saw at a recent tournament. Yoink! I tried to ask online how he did it, but got only vague answers. It was enough to get started, though.

First, the concept piece.

This is a Tomb Kings army (obviously), where the back rank is not only decorative, but count as models in the unit. I have a Tomb King concept half-finished that I put aside a couple of years ago becaue I couldn't find the right ZING! to see it fielded. This completes my army. (Well, it motivates me to include it and finish the army.)

My plan now is to create one of these walls for each ranked unit. A chariot behind the Tomb Guard, soldiers behind the hth skeletons, and a crop field behind the servants (skeletons with bows). Fortunately, I have a few Wargods of Aegyptus pieces laying around (sigh) that I can use, so the wall will show living soldiers despite dead ones standing in front of it. (Which is fairly critical to the theme of the army.)

So, how to do this? The instructions I got were "carefully flatten out the models with pliers and carefully carve into some pillars of styrofoam." Plenty to start with!

So this is what I did.

1. Plan.

I drew some lines on a piece of paper 20mm apart and laid out my models. Finding the right models (you want flat models posed dynamically) was a little work, as was cutting the chariot down and flattening that out.

2. Verify

After cutting some pink insullation foam to 20mm columns (and you'll note that I went 20mm x 40mm with a couple of mine), put your modified models on top to verify they'll fit.

3. Carve

Setting the model where you want it, carve down into the foam to dig out a spot for the model to sit. Try not to take out too much foam, but we'll correct that later. Part of what I did for this one was to take a foam cutter carving tool (a hot poker, essentially) to help melt out the rough edges caused by my cutting. You won't need to do that if you don't have the tools.

4. Adjust

Modify your carving as necessary to get the model (or section of the model if you've gone the way of the concept piece and cut your model into pieces) correctly set. One of the things you can see in this picture is a baseline that I drew across the columns. I wanted my carvings to stand above where the models in front of them will stand. I didn't want the unit to block the wall carvings.

Set the model deep enough that it's as flush with the outer wall as you can get it.

5. Putty

Using a soft putty (soft isn't necessary, but it's what I went with), put a thin layer of putty at the bottom of your mold. Press the model down into the putty. You don't want to put so much putty in that you're filling in the entirety of the hole. You just want to set the model. Fill in the gaps around the model, remembering that you're going for a carven stone look -- leave no gaps behind any portion of the model.


And to be honest, that's as far as I've gotten so far. The plan now is to putty my other pieces, let them dry, clean up the columns (removing excess putty), rough the columns up a bit to show age, then paint them a (heavily inked) monochrome sandstone. I may carve in some egyptian-looking hieroglyphs, or just do some decal work.

This same concept can be used with any mausoleum-themed vampire, also. Perhaps your empire-themed undead army is standing before graven images of their last battle. Build the wall out of empire soldiers!

I'll be sure to get pictures up of the next stage. I can't wait to see this done!

 

[Crimson]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- the Graven Wall (6/30/09)

Wow, gotta say I can't wait to see the result too!

It looks really great, I can imagine that some would use this same concept when designing a display board for their Tomb Kings army, or perhaps a Barrow Kings themed Vampire Counts.

 

[SeldoM]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- the Graven Wall (6/30/09)

Haha!! Great stuff mate, kudos to the guy you stole the idea from and a tap on the back for you to have executed the idea so nicely.

 

[Devo]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- the Graven Wall (6/30/09)

I've got too many projects going on right now!

I'm putting the final touches on my second Ghoul concept paint job for my Cthulu Strigoi (just water effects and some top-coat). The construction on the graven wall is done and it's been primered. I've primered the last of the Tallarn Imperial Guard I'll need for a tournament next month and modified the Sentinals to accept magnetized weapons.

And finally, I have the legs and body of a new Steam Dreadnaught done. I haven't worked out how to do the arms, yet, but that's the project for the rest of the day, I think. This is the one I'm really excited about right now! I'll get pictures of him up later today.

 

[Devo]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- the Graven Wall (6/30/09)

Here he is. I've had more difficulties coming up with the pieces of this model than anything I've ever worked on. I went through at least two versions of every component except the main body. It took me four hours just to get the feet!

Anyway, here he is, with sans paint. I made him modular. The arms come off, as does the front faceplate. Originally, I was going to keep the front plate seperate just so I could paint behind it, but decided to magnetize that, too, in case I wanted to do something else in the future. (like make an Imperial dread faceplate and a Chaos dread faceplate.)

This guy's got everything you need in a steampunk vehicle. Clocks, dials, valves, flywheels, belt-driven wheels, compressors, tanks, burners. Everything!

I had a devil of a time with the arm on the left. I really wanted to use the Empire Hellblaster, but a wrist-mounted version came too far forward. I had the idea of shoulder-mounting it, but then there was a shoulder-mounted gun and no arm. Is it still a shoulder-mounted gun if there's no arm? So I aded the pipe you see below the shoulder. The front bulb is going to be painted with a glass front, so you can see the water level of the system.

As you can see, each system (body, left arm, right arm) has it's own steam tank.

I don't think any of the pictures properly capture the front plate, but I really like it. It sits slightly away from the boiler -- and it includes a giant clock! The shield that protects the waist joint will have multiple meters on it. I'll probably leave the shield that protects the exhaust port blank. (Though it is almost large enough to put the army's symbol there.)

I picked up a couple of leftover Chaos Defiler sprues at a recent bitz sale, and I love this arm. This was my second attempt at an arm, the first was a spinning morningstar, leaving what I now have as a hand available for this model. The heavy steamer (flamer) will be fed from the glass tank on top and to the back of the arm.

The requisite burner, which looks too much like a smoke launcher because I didn't bother modifying it. The round bit is another meter, naturally.

Tubing, a flywheel, a chimney, valve, hard to see meters -- what's not to like about this guy? The vents on the very top (three, made up space marine backpacks) are his emergency steam release, which has the same effect as smoke launchers.

This arm only barely comes together. I don't like the "realism" of the engine, but I do like the belt-driven wheels. And the gun actually spins!


I need to clean him up, then I'm going to start painting. Lots of fiddly bits, though, so it will take some time. [sigh]

 

[Crimson]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- Steam Dreadnaught (7/3/09)

Wow, that looks great. Where is the clock face from?

 

[Devo]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- Steam Dreadnaught (7/3/09)

The clock face comes from the Citadel manor house building set.

I forgot to throw in a picture of this guy side-by-side with a plastic dread for size comparison. This guy is only slightly larger, which is typical of my builds.

 

[Crimson]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- Steam Dreadnaught (7/3/09)

So what are you going to be working on next, more infantry or other contraptions?

 

[Devo]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- Steam Dreadnaught (7/3/09)

I threw together a quick proof-of-concept clank last night (anybody read Girl Genius?) that should take about 10 minutes to paint up.

I'd really like to make up a vehicle next, but I'm stuck on how to make it out of curves, instead of the square edges I'm used to

 

[Devo]

Clanks!

I came across how to do this while playing with my original Steam Marine.

Clanks!

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- Clanks! (7/4/09)

The Dreadnought is just pure awesomeness Devo, it's like the Chuck Norris of Dreadnoughts! I really can't wait to see you paint up that. You're right, it's got everything you could want, gears, drive wheels, pipes and a clock!! In fact I want it........

Clacks is good as well, very funny The shading you have done on clanks is better than the steam marine in the first post, IMO you should do them all this way.

 

[Crimson]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- Clanks! (7/4/09)

Nice work on Clanks, looks like he's wearing a top hat.

 

[Devo]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- Concept Pieces (7/6/09)

Here are a couple of concept pieces. One is supposed to be something akin to an environmental suit and so represents a Plague Marine. (The model will probably go on a smaller base, but still may be a 40mm round.) The other is a Noise Marine.

They'd be easier to pick apart if they were painted. With less glare, for example, those pipes on the Noise Marine would look more like steam whistles.

 

[Onikaigo]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- Concept Pieces (7/7/09)

A noise marine using a plunger! That's excellent! He should be nurgle, he really should. who else would need a plunger?

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- Concept Pieces (7/7/09)

Some great modelling there devo, it's really inspiring how well you do the conversions, PM sent.

 

[Devo]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- Defiler (7/9/09)

Okay, I couldn't take it any more. I had to go out and get a defiler so I could work on it. This is vaguely distant from my first concept, and not quite what I had in my head overall, but it works well as a first pass.

Lots of work to do on it, certainly.

As you can imagine, this guy is enormously top-heavy. I can put some weight in his tail, but I'm not sure where I'm going, yet.

I've made him modular, so he breaks down for easier transportation. The head comes off, as does the tail and cannon. He's still going to be a beast to transport. :roll:

I'm not happy with the placement of the head -- I think it's a little too far forward.

The armored plates on the legs help keep those from looking too skinny, but I sort of want to get rid of the spikes. Ot sure where I'm going with this, yet.

If you know the Defiler, there really isn't anything added to it yet but the head, tail, and gun. I'll be working to steam it up a bit but it's already nicely mechanical!

 

[Onikaigo]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- Defiler!

...That thing is Monstrous. Seriously. I don't know what to say, honestly. It looks like a mix between Transformers and a demented child of Freddy Kreuger and a Beehive.

I don't know what to say, still.

 

[wuffingas saxon]

RE: Modelling with Devo -- Defiler!

Love steam punk. Love these models (although I'm not sure about the pipe organ affair on the defiler's head).

Where did you get all the widgets and doohickies?

Keep it up. I can't wait to see the whole army.