Xedric is back with Xenos

[xedric]

xedric is back with nids and orcs!

Long time lurker is making a new entry! You might remember me as a newb 2 yrs ago posting some csm stuff and wraithlord that are old projects on hold....

Now Im still a newb... BUT Ive bought the new tyranid codex and Ive decided to build an army. This time Im gonna try and keep it simple so I get it done! I'm going to paint it kraken and for the bases I'm thinking forest. My initial plan was "alien forest" thinking pale creamy colors: white, green and blue. Now I'm not sure. We'll see. Modelingwise the bases will be sand, grass and some parts from GWs tree kit. I've started making the bases but not painting them yet. I've started one gaunt paint test as you can see below.



I am currently working on a brood of 22 termagaunts and for the most part they have simple poses and bases. A few of them get a little more work so the brood has some variety.



This was an experiement to see if I could straighten out the leg and make the gaunt stand on a branch. Fiddly with so many small pieces! I like the result though.



That's all for this time. Expect more and please leave a comment!

[TheConverter15]

Wow, these are fantastically converted!! Each one is pretty cool! High expectations for this!!

[Arkangel01]

Liking the tree standing pose! Oozing character and makes a nice centre piece for the unit 'This way boys!'

[xedric]

Weeeee! I has comments! Many thanks Arkangel and TheConverter!

So tonight I sprayed em all and managed to paint a few hooves and claws. I'm sorry to say that as I walked out on the balcony to check the weather with a box of nids in hand I stumbled on something and one nid fell off the balcony! I went down to search but didn't find him :'(

I'm glad I got all the rest sprayed though.



It's lovely to have a box of nids to paint And as I said the hive mind is making progress! Slowly but surely...



Only hooves, claws and spots so far. Tomorrow some red! I'm not sure if I should red->wash->highlight or red->highlight->wash. Any suggestions is appreciated! After the wash I need to pick out details and do the bases.

After these terrmies are done I might move on to some warriors or tyrant or a guard. Not sure yet... Luckily I have time to think. Not done with the terrmies yet! I bought the guard as practice before moving on to the tyrant. I want to repose the tyrants legs and I want to practice on the guard first...



Any thoughts, suggestions andr/or crit is MUCH appreciated!

[xedric]

So the plan is to make a tyranid army to play with... And orcs! I need to quiet the hunger for converting and if I let myself get carried away converting the nids they will never get done. I need to get the nids done so I can play!

But I'm satisfying the mek inside with some killa kans. The plan when I bought one box was to turn the three into six kans. Scratchbuilding three more bodies didn't sound like the fun part so I bought three bodies on ebay for cheap.

Now I'm scratchbuilding arms and weapons instead which is great fun. I need two more CC arms (since the box has four). I also need two grotzooka arms and two rokkit launcha arms to have three of each. Great fun!



Above is the first body that I enlarged a little and the first CC arm.

The humble beginnings of another CC arm.



The idea being a hand of course. Turned out ok so far. Inspired by I can't remember who but he made this awesome huge orc with similair hands and a grot riding on one shoulder.

[xedric]

Since there are only three pairs of legs in the box I need to build something for the other three kans so they can move around the battle field. And I choose... wheels!



Some more progress since these photos where taken. I'll add them asap.

Comments and crit appreciated!

[edit: it seems I cant edit the title of the thread... I hope its ok for mixin in some orcs in the thread. Dont feel like having two blogs :/ ]

[alphachicken]

some really nice plasticard work xedric, keep them up =)

[TheConverter15]

Thats a cool killa kan!! That missing termaguant is officially MIA

[drear]

the kans looking amazing! reminds me of the fallout new vegas secirity robots! monowheel ftw

[MOMUS]

The hand reminds me of the arm that grabs elizabeth(?) at the start of the new bioshock.
Fantastic work!

[xedric]

Many many thanks for all the kind comments! *BIG SMILE*

So the idea was to NOT get bogged down with difficult conversions on my tyranids, but apparently I didn’t listen. Well in my own defense the idea of buying the tyrant guard was to get some practice working on metal figures. So it’s really slow progress on the tyrant guard since I’m currently reposing three joints. I’ve never done this before and I’ll need to repose at least one more. And make a lash whip. I’m also thinking about redoing the scything talon since I’m no fan of the current design. It will be fun, but as I said, slow progress on the tyrant guard…



First some photos of the bits laid out that I planned to use or be inspired by. Below the beginnings of a lash whip hand. Not sure if I’ll use this or the warriors devourer that is bigger. The problem is that the warrior bits where bought second hand and the base coat is pretty thick removing some details. Either way I’ll remove the talon and put on the devourer hand and then sculpt a whip.



This was the first joint that I cut up so I could repose the arm away from the body a little. Next problem I’m working on is the hind leg that is posed standing on the tree log.



After the hind leg is done its time to fix the middle clawed leg thats standing on the log. I will have to repose the upper part of the leg to fit the arm socket. Just one joint to saw, file, pin and fill out. Easy…

Keep commenting and if anyone wants better photos of some certain part, other angle or tools just let me know.

[Dezmord]

Not sure if I’ll use this or the warriors devourer that is bigger

Unfortunately, it isn't. The Warriors and the Gaunts share the same weaponsize, which looks a little too big for the Gaunts and a little too small for the Warriors

[xedric]

Ah... I see. Maybe its a carnifex devourer I found among the 2nd hand bits then. As you see in one of the photos there are two devourers next to each other and the black sprayed one is bigger. I might see if I can get some of that paint off to bring out the details, otherwise Ill go with the gaunt/warrior devourer...

[Dezmord]

As you see in one of the photos there are two devourers next to each other and the black sprayed one is bigger.

You're right - that's the one-handed one for Carnifex/Hive Tyrant. go with the smaller ones, they are easier to find

[xedric]

Thanks for the advice!

More photos should be up tonight. I did some sculping/filling on joints yesterday.

[xedric]

Finally! Back leg done and only three legs left on the guard. Two repositioned joints on the back leg. Fiddly and tiring for the fingers…



Next image is the lash whip arm (top) where the joint is redone so the arm is further out from the body. Im not sure if Ill redo the talon arm (bot) too… First I’ll finish the whip.



Last image shows the middle leg and how it will be posed. That joint is drilled, pinned and will be glued and sculpted tonight.



Btw. Notice how there are two bottles of glue in the background? They are standing next to a lamp that I realized is drying out the super glue. I just bought a new bottle a month(ish) ago and now its really really sticky and thick. The new bottle I bought today will not be placed right under a lamp….

[xedric]

After a few nights of work on the tyrant guard I realized I needed a break and so I started on killa kan #3. (btw my first citadel finecast will be a tyrant guard! so much easier to convert...)



I wanted to use the same face as for kan #2 so one thing I knew I wanted to do was redo the jaw. This is also going to be a rokkit launching kan and I’m planning to build one of them boxes full of rokkits that the mek has seen the humies are using. All three rokkit kans are mono-wheeled like this one will be. Pardon my quick sketch. On to real photos.



So I cut of the original jaw and have started work on a new one. The paper version is just a test template. I added a thin strip of plasticard at the top of the jaws plate since I want the teeth to point out slightly. Next step is to smooth the plate out with some magic sculp and then the teeth will go on. I think this jaw will look good!



The first thing I did was to stick the body together. This time I wanted the kans body to be more simple so I just stuck it together and started building the mono-wheel and the back. More detailing will be added to the back.



The CC arm has only had a few small changes. I wanted to straighten it out a little and make it longer. A few more details will be added.

[xedric]

Now the rokkit box. Im not sure if Im happy with the size. I might make a smaller one and see which one I like the most. I also made a small sight to go on top. Not sure I like it. Feedback appreciated! The sight is just blue tacked on atm.



Next question is what to do with the outer side of the box, the one with a ? on it and that Ive got my thumb on. Any suggestions?? Im thinking either just some detailing, or some free hand or some extra rokkits stuck to the outside. “The rokkits in the box is not enough! We need moar rokkitz! Stick some to da outside perhaps?”

Suggestions and feedback appreciated!

[andyg2006]

Brilliant work, by the way Xedric...very impressed.
I'd suggest something like either an Imperial vehicle door (if you have one and if one fits) to represent the ramshackle nature of Ork technology and the idea of Orks looting bits from their defeated enemies.

You could go with whole loads of wiring going from the sides to the back (e.g. could be firing mechanisms, or just bits of wire they didn't get rid of when they ripped the box off whatever they ripped the box off, or saving them for later for another "Mek Kustom Speshul")? From the front, it looks like you're using 6(?) rokkits, so you might want to represent that it's got 6 lots of firing mechanisms (or, more accurately for Orks, just one 'big red button' that fires them all at once)?

Alternatively, how about a fellow gretchin hanging off the side pointing forwards (perhaps with a set of binoculars around their neck and/or a flag in their pointing hand) and a megaphone/commlink to shout directions to the grot inside (e.g. due to the haphazard way Orks make things -and by getting distracted by the urge to make louder and louder guns- maybe they just forgot to leave an open vision-slit for the pilot)?

[xedric]

Brilliant work, by the way Xedric...very impressed.

Many Thanks!

I'd suggest something like either an Imperial vehicle door (if you have one and if one fits) to represent the ramshackle nature of Ork technology and the idea of Orks looting bits from their defeated enemies.

I dont have any IG bits but I like the idea of a door. The orks would need to reload the box eventually so a door makes sense. I might scratch build an orky door and paint "reload here" on it...

You could go with whole loads of wiring going from the sides to the back (e.g. could be firing mechanisms, or just bits of wire they didn't get rid of when they ripped the box off whatever they ripped the box off, or saving them for later for another "Mek Kustom Speshul")? From the front, it looks like you're using 6(?) rokkits, so you might want to represent that it's got 6 lots of firing mechanisms (or, more accurately for Orks, just one 'big red button' that fires them all at once)?

Yes, Im planning for 6 rokkits. Slightly different sizes. And there will be wires.

Alternatively, how about a fellow gretchin hanging off the side pointing forwards (perhaps with a set of binoculars around their neck and/or a flag in their pointing hand) and a megaphone/commlink to shout directions to the grot inside (e.g. due to the haphazard way Orks make things -and by getting distracted by the urge to make louder and louder guns- maybe they just forgot to leave an open vision-slit for the pilot)?

Now this I really like! Brilliant idea Too bad I dont own any gretchins... I might take a look on ebay for one. Or does anyone out there want to trade me a gretchin?

And all you others watching dont be shy... dont hold back on your ideas, critisism, praise and any other thing you might want to say when you comment