Primeminister Sinister's Attempt at True Scale

[PrimeMinisterSinister]

Gentlemonsters,
I'm embarking on a true scale squad of marines for a laugh and I figured I'd invite you all along for the ride. I'd love to get everyone's thoughts and ideas on these guys as they're created. As a sidenote and shout out, I'm using Lamenter's tutorial on his website, Master of The Forge. I suggest you check it out. Brother's got talent:
http://masteroftheforge.com/

Back to the subject at hand, I'm not sure what chapter I want these guys to be, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd entertain them for sure. I'm waiting on bitz from several sources to get these guys underway now.
Any how, here are the first pictures. Excuse the blur right now as I'm using my back-up camera. My decent one is out with my girlfriend.
Let me know, folks, what you all think. This should be fun.
-P

[Benzan]

Looks like you're off to a great start. I wish I had the guts to try something like it. But for the moment my greenskulpting skills are good enough to make, blobs.

[Lamenter]

Thanks for the mention mate, looks like you've got a good start.

Nice to see you doing them without hip plates.

Have you got any clay shapers yet or did you use more conventional tools?

[PrimeMinisterSinister]

@Benzan: Greenstuff is easy as pie once you get over The Fear. Just go for it, man. You can always haul it off and try again.
@ Lamenter :No prob, I'm so impressed with your stuff.
I'm not doing the hip plates because I agree that they look better without them. However, I like the regular backpack rather than the expanded ones you prefer. I think it makes the bodies look more massive.
I'm suffering through with a few re-purposed tools. I can't find any of those anywhere around here locally. I'm wondering how hard it would be to make some.

[Lamenter]

Seriously, get some clay shapers, best tool out there, your finished result will be a hundred times better.

I got mine from hobby craft but you can get off eBay or I think heresy-miniatures sells them too. Just one size 2 chisel will make all the difference.

[TomG]

Or check Battlefield Berlin shop, they have clay shapers too. It is really good piece of tools for this.

I use these:
http://www.battlefield-berlin.de/sho...19d15289fac3e9

[PrimeMinisterSinister]

I got a point and a chisel coming from Heresy Miniatures. Should be here in two weeks, so I'll be doing all the trimming and cleaning of parts in the mean time.
Now we play the waiting game.
I'm thinking about doing a small squad of Death Guard and converting one into Captain Garro. Thoughts?

[Lawkeeper]

Looking great man, though may I suggest bulking up his torso? That should add some 'weight' to him.

[PrimeMinisterSinister]

The practice marine continues. Here's a size comparison shot for those of you that like those things. I still need to plasticard the rim on the shoulder pads.
Again, thoughts?

[PrimeMinisterSinister]

Does anybody have any tips on working with plasticard. Should I shape it before I use it as trim on the shoulder pads?

[rrchristensen]

use .25mm plasticard for the shoulder pads. It's paper thin, and bends accordingly. 1mm plasticard is too unwieldy, you really can't bend it reliably.

[PrimeMinisterSinister]

Shoulder pads on test figure completed and the brother is based.
Anyone have any comments?

[Hoarmurel]

Nice model!

I think you have achieved a true-scale marine really well, congratulations, great work!

[PrimeMinisterSinister]

Gaunt and drawn, even by the standards of the Death Guard, Battle Brother Josf Baris is a steadfast warrior as well as an expert tracker both terrestrially and aboard derelict space hulks. This skill earned him much recognition during his time as a scout , but since joining the ranks of full fledged battle brothers, Josf's progress in the arts of war as stalled. However,this seems to sit well with Josf, as he has little ambition for upward mobility. This lack of motive coupled with his willingness to try to understand Xenos culture has seen Josf passed over for promotion time and time again. Regardless, Josf is an excellent fighter and reliable, if unimaginative, Astarte.

I've decided to paint these guys as pre-heresy Death Guard. I don't like the white looking armour, so I've decided to go with grey, as that's what I figure unpainted power armour would look like. New painted pictures. What do you think?

[logan054]

looking good mate

[El_Wacko01]

I'll second that

keep it up

[PrimeMinisterSinister]

Gentlemonsters,
I'm waiting on a few orders and trades to come in before I continue so in the mean time, I'll post whatever it is I'm working on at the time.
I'd like a little feedback on the colour scheme. And if anyone has any ideas for creating Battle-Captain Garro, I'd love to hear them.

[the damned artificer]

The colour scheme is good, I think you're off to a good start here.

As for Garro you should go for an open epic looking pose, with a lot of details and preferably a bare head in my opinion. And a little tip on the iconography part of this project

Take the slaneesh mark here from the chaos vehicle upgrade sprue and cot the two ends off as the red lines show, that will leave you with a descent looking chapter badge for your pre heresy death guard. You could then make a simple green stuff mould of it and duplicate it, the soft nature of the green stuff will allow you to bend it around curved surfaces and superglue to shoulder pads etc.
If you like I can make a test for you to show you, just PM me.
Hope this is helpful to you and good luck on the project

[the damned artificer]

As promised a small how too guide... Part one

This is a lot easier than it initially sounds, so don't feel discouraged

Cut the symbol to shape as shown, and clean the piece so it is nice and rounded with a knife or file (Terminator shoulder pad for scale ref.)

Now glue some sort of rod to the backside of the symbol.
Next step is to roll out some green stuff on a piece of card or such ( I used plasticard), the green stuff should be smooth. This can be done by putting a drop of water on it and pressing a flat object gently on top of it. The green stuff should now be even and smooth. It is important that the green stuff layer is thick enough to catch the detail, so about twice as thick as the logo will do.
Now lubricate the green stuff with some sort of greasy substance like cooking oil or release agent. This can be lightly brushed on with a piece of toilet paper soaked in the oil (I use cooking oil as it isn't toxic and is easy to acquire)
Then take the logo, holding it by the piece of rod, and press it vertically down in the green stuff and make sure it is pressed in nicely making sure it doesn't go too deep.
Remove the logo vertically and that should be it.
Now leave to dry.


Next thing will be moulding your logo (will show the result in a few days when I got time) leave the cooking oil on the mould and mix up a small portion of green stuff and press it in and leave to cure for a couple of hours (about 4 will do) and the gently remove the piece and leave to cure completely.
You will now have a copy of the logo which can be cut to shape and glued to the shoulder pad, and to get rid of the oil wash in soapy water or spirits.

For more complicated pieces you might have to leave the piece being moulded in the green stuff for about 4 hours before removing, as it might spoil or distort the detail if removed while the green stuff is still soft.

My advice for you on this specific logo would be to make a big flat piece of green stuff with room for plenty of moulds and make a big mould that takes 10-20 logos at the time as it will take you a lot less time making the logos for an entire squad.

the technique can also be applied to metal models by simply pressing the green stuff onto the detail you want duplicated and leave to dry, enabling you to mould all sorts of awesome details. Here it will be a great idea to use a bit more of the yellow part than the blue when mixing the putty as this leaves the putty more flexible (The blue part is the hardener) and easier to remove once dry.

Hope this helps and you get as much enjoyment of the results as I do from my own.

[PrimeMinisterSinister]

You're a real credit to the hobby. Truly great stuff.