Thursday 4 April 2019

Weapon Symbiote


I've gone a bit Tyranid/Cthulhu on the arms. I'm not an engineer and its unclear how effective tentacles are as weapon mounts.  They probably make a decent emergency defense measure in melee combat.  I suppose it doesn't matter when it comes to Chaos and anything goes really.  But the geek in me which loves world building and wants to preserve the suspension of disbelief keeps trying to figure out why tech adepts would attach mechanical tentacles to the arm socket of an Imperial Knight.



Maybe they just spontaneously grew out of the body because Tzeentch thought it would be funny.  I definitely want to give the impression that the torso contains something ghastly and organic and this helps.


The influence of Lovecraftian horror and The Hive Mind continues on the gun barrel.  I used a Forgefiend Hades Autocannon in place of the Avenger Gatling Cannon and was wondering what to do about the large socket where the weapon is supposed to be mounted.  The hole is so big I figured I could put a marble in there and pretend it was some kind of monstrous eye.  But my marbles didn't fit.  Unperturbed, I smashed a couple with a hammer and used a broken shard.  In a way it turned out better because the coloured streak of plastic in the centre was missing and so I had to hand paint an iris on the inside.  Leaving the pupil as clear glass produced fairly convincing results.


The 'shoulders' were sculpted from scratch with epoxy putty.  This was fairly time consuming and I practiced on some old models first but I quite enjoyed it.  I'm getting better with green/grey stuff and it's mostly down to the tools I use.  If you are just getting into green-stuffing then I recommend watching a series of videos on the subject by The Modern Synthesist.  It was Mr. Pink who first put me on to 'clay shapers' which are absolutely indispensable if you are going for a smooth look.  I didn't really plan it out and only wanted to bulk out the tops of the arms and attach the tentacles initially.  So I just put some ambient trance music on and went with the flow.  I added some plasticard rods and used my trusty tentacle maker to give it a more bio-mechanical look.


 The Thunderstrike Gauntlet was easier, mainly because the claws that come in a Heldrake kit make for the most excellent ready-made fingers.  I'd seen other converters use them in the past but they mainly mount the digits on the arm supplied in the original kit.  I didn't possess this bit of kit however so had to make do with a Maulerfiend forearm.  I was stoked with how it turned out and think it looks very sinister, like an elongated claw hand.  Initially I wanted to model it as a clenched fist but I'm glad I opened the hand up now.



I need to work on the head and torso next which will be tricky because the LEDs and battery have to fit inside and I want to be able to change the bulbs if they break or if the mood takes me.   I'm also going to change the paint scheme and have gone for 'Psychotic Illusions' colorshift paint which blends from green to purple (see opening picture).  I'm sure Nyarlathotep would approve.


14 comments:

  1. That is truly a horror. Love it!

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  2. I love the sculpting you did on the mecha-flesh!

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    1. Thanks Xar. Can't decide to paint this as flesh-metal or skin-like. I like your term 'mecha-flesh' though.

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  3. Fantastic work! Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

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    1. So am I! Its been sitting on my desk for about 6 months and was in danger of ending up in the 'hobby pending bin'. Thanks Mike.

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  4. I'm envious of your skills sir, quite envious...

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    1. haha, there's still plenty of time to ruin it! thanks Cheef.

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  5. Wow, awesome conversion...you've captured the Chaos feel in this piece, no doubt. Very cool details amazingly executed! Congrats on the results.

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    1. thanks DAM, still a ways to go and that's before I even start painting...

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  6. Bloody awesome! That marble eye looks really cool. Will follow your link later in the hopes that I can then sculpt like that.
    On a side note psychotic illusions is an awesome name for a paint.

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    1. Yeah, the tutorial is definitely worth a look and clay shapers should be cheap in Gordon Harris or the French Art shop although I wish you'd try out epoxy putty instead of milliput. Agree on the colorshift name, I should have tried that one first!

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  7. That is awesome! I kinda figure tentacles just sort of happen when Chaos is involved, and don't try to think about the effectiveness too much. The added bulk around the shoulder joints kind of makes it look like some kind of comic book character who's been overly buffed out by some dangerous drug or mutation or something. And that claw is just epic!

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    1. Maybe I should call him Venom Bane! He will be wearing a mask at any rate. I concede the point on the tentacles: this is Chaos. Just like Nids, I should never have to worry about the addition of tentacles.

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