Leave No Model Unconverted (A Tall Scale Battle Company in the making)

[Veteran Sergeant]

decided to bounce this one off of WarSeer too.

So I have finally decided to turn this into a P&M Blog because I hope maybe that will keep me on track. I'm a very lazy modeler at times. I work full time, I go to school full time, I have a girlfriend who also unfortunately full time, and I am still in the Marines as a Reservist. So my free time that isn't spent on sleeping, or homework, or girlfriend maintenance, or the gym, I sometimes have a hard time keeping on track with my project. I don't play a lot of 40K anymore. I was big into the hobby starting in 1993 at the tail end of Rogue Trader, and played a ton of 2nd Edition, and some of 3rd, and then only off and on since then. However, when I was kid, and thus a young, under-funded 40K player, I had always wanted to have my own Battle Company of Marines. Problem was, I had two small Fantasy armies, and three small 40K armies and one big one (and a Necromunda gang, and a Gorkamorka gang...). So I never had the money available to just flat out waste on frivolous, excessive Marines.

Enter the well funded adult gamer version of myself, lol. So, with the help of Ebay and a reclamation of my old figures, I now am now pursuing my dream, lol. However, it would be too easy to just buy 100 Space Marines, some tanks, and such. Any lame average Joe with cash to blow can have 100 Space Marines. Nope, I'm going to convert them all. All of them. Everything in my army will be converted, somehow, no matter how small. The Marines will be easy, since I've adapted some techniques for "Tall Scale" (as I call it) or "biggerizing" Marine figures. I don't like the Terminator Legs versions. If they aren't heavily re-sculpted, the end up looking like Kim Kardashian with a giant ass and a way too small waist. Some people make phenomenal ones, don't get me wrong. Apologist's Ultramarines come to mind. But that's just way too involved for me. And second, it often makes them too big. Space Marines are supposed to be 7-7.5 feet tall. Really just a head taller than normal men, for the most part. Plus, I want to use the standard Mk VII plastics and just fix the proportions.

Very quickly, I decided that my project would address my long standing problems with Space Marine models.
1. They are too short, obviously. Space Marines should be 7-7.5 foot super-soldiers. The GW human figures are probably just too tall, but too late to fix that; gotta make the Marines bigger.
2. They don't have enough ammunition to fight wars. Marines need to be loaded for bear. Look like they could actually fight a war. So all of my figures would have ammunition pouches, grenades, combat knives, etc.
3. All the Marines should have helmets because no good Marine would be without his helmet. It's just dumb. Encased in nearly impenetrable ceramite, only to leave you nugget exposed, and lose all the life support, communications, imaging and targeting enhancements of the helmet? Idiotic.

Also, the Battle Company had to be "Counts As", WYSIWYG for the Standard, Blood Angels, and Space Wolves codex lists.

Plus, being that I was going to convert everything, my last challenge was to only use Mk VII parts, but also ensure that every model had a character of its own. That they weren't just carbon copies of Marines with bolters, but with believable poses. This of course is not going to be easy with a whopping fifty two bolter Marines in a Battle Company, and forcing the majority of them to wear helmets.

So I set to work, with some plastic card, and a dream. A lot of these are old photos of rough prototypes that I didn't fully sand, or gap fill, etc. Excuse any rough early modeling problems. At first, I wasn't sure how tall I wanted them to be. So I went with 1mm extensions to the thighs (which I thought were too short anyway) and an extra .5mm at the waist. The results were decent:



The tall walking stance makes him a bit taller than he actually is, but it was a good start. Next to him are Hasslefree's McKenzie (part of my new Imperial Guard project), a 2E metal Cadian, and Sgt Bylkow (one of of my favorite Squat models). Left his weapon off for the detail.



Decided this wasn't tall enough. So I moved up to 1mm at the waist. This was starting to give the height I wanted, but I only had about 25 or so walking legs, and they aren't cheap on EBay, and well, if they were all walking it would be a bit homogenous. So the firing stance models had to retain height too.




So now it was time to start working on some individual models.

This guy was posed to be pulling a grenade off of his belt. But instead of using a pre-posed hand, I cut and repositioned one of the bolter support arms, bent the fingers closed around a grenade separated from the grenade bundles.



Bolter Marines:



Arms have all been cut and re-positioned, for two reasons. The standard "hip firing" bolter cradle formed by the arms in stock form looks dumb. And second, I wanted some more dynamic looking poses, not just the more realistic ones.



The metal arm is from an old Devastator sergeant.




Part of the feeling I'm trying to evoke with this "army" is that of how I envision the Space Marines. These guys are seven foot, functionally immortal, genetically engineered super warriors. Human, but something more than human, and something a little less. I want to illustrate that they are both completely ruthless towards xenos. I plan to have not just Marines brutalizing the Eldar corsairs (that way I can utilize both Dark Eldar and regular Eldar) I've decided the Marine Company is fighting, but also abusing Eldar prisoners out of a complete disregard. But I also want to hit on the Marine commitment to humanity. Show them protecting children, or wounded Guardsmen. I've got a pretty amazing idea for an objective marker that you guys will have to wait for.

Anyhow, I hope this work interests you guys. I'll try to keep this getting updated now that I've committed. Sorry for some of the mold lines I didn't file, lol. Sorry for some of the legs that haven;t been filed smooth and flat where they have been extended A lot of these pictures have been taken in progress over the last couple months, being send to my buddies via email for critique. So they don't all represent the current states of the figs. But, taking new photos is way too much effort right now. But as I go along I'll try to give you guys some ideas where it is at. Right now, my Battle Company is about 25% complete. So you guys should get to see pretty much the entire evolution of it.

Thanks for any thoughts you guys have. Especially any criticisms, ideas you don't like, etc. I'm definitely open for anything constructive or suggestions.

[Veteran Sergeant]

I always liked the old Auspex, in theory. But the bit for it seems way too big and way too clunky. So, in some of my musings (yet to be revealed), I thought about a flip up wrist display.



Of course, un-drilled barrels was out of the question, so that was rectified. Some of the models have weird poses, but that's because eventually they will all be based. So they may not stand flat on the standard bases.


The Marine on the far right is Brother Givenicus. Eventually he will have a grievous energy weapon style wound that has rendered his left arm useless. I cut all the fingers apart, and bent them to appear limp and useless, and re-positioned the thumb.






Now I needed some special weapons. I present the shortened Assault Pattern flamers and meltaguns:



Some more Marines:

Mid draw. Arm cut and the the fingers bent to be around the grip of the knife.



I have decided that the heavy weapons Marines will have the helmets with the extra targeter mounted on it. Plus, I decided the Tactical Squad Heavy Botlers will have box mags instead of the giant belt fed apparatus. Devastator Squad HB's will have the belt apparatus, but I figured Tactical Squads would need more portable weapons. This is an early version, and I have since modified the box mag to be better looking. Plus, there will be Bolter Marines from the rest of the squads who will be carrying extra heavy weapon ammo (missiles or bolter mag boxes).


This one is the newest. A severely in-progress WIP. I wanted to inflect some more Rogue Trader era brutality to this army. I'm a huge fan of the darker, more brutal Space Marines of the old days. This one needs a ton of work, obviously, but here's the start. The Tau helmet mounted on the shoulder pad came from the Chaos tank sprue, and was clipped and filed down to match the shoulderpad contours. The idea of a mounted helmet came from the multitude of RT era drawings with severed heads. But I didn't want it to be too brutal and cross into Chaos tainted territory. I feel the Chaplain, once he's been modeled up, will be keeping a close eye on Brother Brutus.

The severed head is a Wood Elf sorceress head, the hand is the Grey Knight Daemonette head hand. The Dark Eldar is a classic 3rd Edition warrior that we had piles of from the three 3rd Edition boxed sets we had that nobody ever bothered to assemble. The helmet is a Black Templar helmet with studs, to mix up some of the helmet appearances. Plus, I think it makes Brother Brutus look a bit more harsh and maybe a bit more unbalanced and potentially vicious.

Because the original feedback for this guy said the first posing suggested a bit of bolter sodomy, I redid Brother Brutus a little bit.

Originally I had no intention to include a sling since the Marines are supposed to have mag-clamps. But I decided to see if I could make a futuristic one point rig-sling using a staple. In the real world, one point slings aren't terribly popular with operators anymore because the dangling rifle has the annoying tendency to want to smack you in the junk. But, I figure if you have a plasteel and ceramite codpiece, you can risk it. Not sold on it. May end up removing it, and going back to the mag-clamp.

I made a new corpse too. I really liked the look of the slumped over one I originally had. It looked natural, and brutal, for a body that had just had its head hacked free, and fallen forward against the Marine before coming to rest on the ground. But I don't want the figure to be comical. I want it to be a little horrifying, or at least disturbing, lol. Really trying to capture the brutality of the Space Marines. I'm willing to have a little fun with these guys, but at the same time I want them to be intimidating like they should be.

[Dudde]

Veteran Sergeant - Jaw dropping amazingness!!!! The way you execute your marines is wonderful. Could you do a tutorial. I agree with you that the guardsmen are too big, but what can we do? email Games-workshop? Anyway I like the rogue era brutality, lately the marines seam like chickens.

Can't wait for more.

[Hadriel Caine]

Great conversions here. I like your vision and execution. They look like hardened professionals. The extra pouches and grenades are spot on.

[Veteran Sergeant]

Veteran Sergeant - Jaw dropping amazingness!!!! The way you execute your marines is wonderful. Could you do a tutorial. .

I don't have any Marines at that stage of development right now, but next time I start a new one, I'll try and give you a good idea. It's not terribly complicated if you're not modifying the stances too heavily.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm glad you like them. I'll try to get some new models worked up soon.

[Veteran Sergeant]

Here's a better picture of that Marine and his pose. He's actually tied for my favorite between him and Brother Brutus as well.



Amusingly enough, he was just a test model to prove the auspex concept for an upcoming model in the Command Squad. I think there will be an auspex Marine in ever squad. I mean, there's enough of those useless bits lying around, lol.

Here is the first of my magnetized Sergeants. He's mostly completed.


Right now he only has three options (chainsword not shown), but I'll get around to it. His right leg has a tiny magnet to hold a bolt pistol to it for situations when it would be needed for the model. May end up giving him another tiny magnet for holding meltabombs.

Fixed my Heavy Bolter guy too. Wasn't pleased with my sloppier box magazine that I tried to rig up.

[Veteran Sergeant]

So have you ever wondered why the bolt pistols don't fit in the holsters that are on the Marine sprues?


The answer is Games Workshop doesn't care, lol. However, the new answer is because they are holding the Horatius Pattern Bolt Sidearm. A defensive weapon, it has a six round magazine, and was named after a legendary Space Marine hero whose troops held a bridge for a day and a night against an onslaught of Orks before reinforcements could arrive.

The Horatius pattern bolt pistol has been sliced down the center, with the inside faces filed down to make the weapon skinnier, the front sight trimmed off, and the magazine shortened. It's not a perfect fit in the holster, but it is close enough for heroic scale work, lol. I still need to decide how to give it a stubby barrel protruding, but I thought you guys might like the new figure.

This Marine has dropped his rifle to transition to his sidearm for immediate threat engagement.


Some detail shots of the weapon itself:


I haven't decided whether or not to put the front sight back on or not. It's perfectly believable it could be flip up. At the same time, the Marines don't actually use the iron sights on these weapons, so hey. The front end of the weapon looks flared in the picture for some reason, but it is not that way in reality.

The right arm is from the gunner arms on the vehicle sprue. I may bend the fingers on the left hand to "wrap" the firing hand better. The post is a close approximation of the traditional isosceles pistol stance, with the offhand wrapped around the front of the firing hand in the push/pull bracing and recoil compensation method.

[Lt.DustyMillar]

that is a really nice pose, very dramatic. it looks to me that he is moving in to finish someone off with the side arm rather than waste his main bolter's ammo (in another game/model i would say he is going to move in to capture someone but Marines dont take prisoners really do they!)

also what colour scheme are you going to paint these great models in?

[jønke]

Very impressive and very inspirering. Will defo follow your work.

[Veteran Sergeant]

that is a really nice pose, very dramatic. it looks to me that he is moving in to finish someone off with the side arm rather than waste his main bolter's ammo (in another game/model i would say he is going to move in to capture someone but Marines dont take prisoners really do they!)

also what colour scheme are you going to paint these great models in?

I've been playing with some paint schemes for them. I think I have it nailed down, but I'm not positive yet. All of my old 2nd Edition single piece metal cast Marines are test models for paint after their Simple Green baths, lol. I can't bring myself to cut them apart (not to mention the amount of work involved) as they have too much sentimental value. I've got the back story and scheme mostly worked out, but I'm quite fickle about the details, so I want to make sure I'm 100% with it. It's far easier for me to model than it is to decide on a paint scheme, lol. Which is good. Because I've got a ton of modeling to do in the mean time.

As far as taking prisoners, I want to put my own spin on that as well. I feel like Space Marines would actually take prisoners. The intel value of EPWs (POWs) can be incredible, especially when you have all sorts of inventive ways to pry it out of them and no worry about ethics or morality. I want to model up some chapter serfs to serve the company as well, but we'll see. I'll probably end up tying in my existing Imperial Guard company as either part of their "crusade" or as chapter serf infantry similar to the Ultramarines' professional PDF forces. I flitted with the idea of doing these guys up as Ultramarines specifically because I could redo my IGuard as Ultramar PDF, and also because I think the Ultramarines get a bad rap a lot of the time that they don't deserve. I wanted to create a Ultramarines army that would more accurately represent how I envision "Codex" chapters to be, and also one that would make the Ultramarines haters uncomfortable with liking a UM army, lol. However, I think that I will make them a Second Founding Ultramarines successor chapter so I can be a bit more creative with my paint schemes without totally reinventing the fluff. There's nothing to say that a successor chapter couldn't have taken Guilliman's model and managed to succeed post-division.

[Veteran Sergeant]

Damn you, now not only do i have to strip the 30 marines i have lying around waiting for a new paint job, but i have to put serious thought into stripping down the ones i have already painted and cutting everything up to do this to them.

Sorry! :*)


So I decided to reclaim some old metal heavy weapons. Took a solid bath in simple green to strip the paint, and whatever madness I used to paint this guy's weapon way way back in the day was quite stubborn.

But, in the spirit of capturing the feel of Rogue Trader, I bring a 2nd Edition las cannon.

Cut the right arm from an assault Marine's bolt pistol, filed and re-positioned it to fit the grip of the old heavy weapons. Then I took the bracing arm from the missile launcher, clipped the hand and rotated it to properly brace the position of the lascannon.

And here he is with his other two Devastator brothers:





The metal lascannon on the right has a nice, weighty feel to it, but damn, is it a pain to glue it together. I had forgotten about that, lol. You get spoiled working with all plastics. Obviously the missile launcher will eventually have something under his foot that he is stepping on.

The next magnetized Sergeant is in the works, but I haven't finished any left arm options yet, lol. He's a bit more dynamically posed than the first guy.

[Veteran Sergeant]

Been super busy, but here are a couple of new guys. Semester is coming to an end, work will have finally settled down, so I should be able to get back on the wagon.



On the right, is Brother Lefty. Marines are ambidextrous, but there's no reason to fire left handed unless you have to. But sometimes perhaps there's a wall or something to fire around. I feel like left handedness is close to heresy though, so perhaps Brother Lefty will be under close Chaplain scrutiny too.

On the left is my reloading brother. He's in mid action, having dropped the empty mag on the run and is moving to his pouches for a spare. Not 100% happy with him yet, so I may end up re-posing the left arm at a different angle.

[Dudde]

Veteran Sergeant - OMG

[Rhaivaen]

5 stars! rating added.

[Nehemiah]

These are some awesome looking marines.

[Captain Brown]

5/5 from me as those are some really fantastic conversion poses...and I have not seen any paint yet!

Keep it up,

CB

PS: I came hear after seeing your comment on Col Jacka's thread...I was wondering if you were starting the rifle company.

[Veteran Sergeant]

Well, the Imperial Guard company is in place, for the most part. But it hasn't been used since 2nd or 3rd Edition, and it needs some updating for the newer codex books and metagame. I think it's about 130 or so strong plus some tanks. No real idea how many models I own at this point, lol. I kinda wish they'd had plastic Cadians from the start back in the day. Converting metal models is so much harder. Plus the new Cadians look nothing like the old ones, so they're probably going to end up as Veterans or Stormtroopers once I've converted a few up.

Glad you like them though. Got some more stuff on the horizon here, including an overly ambitious project that is still in the planning phase.

[Carot]

This is some seriously inspirational work.

You're making me want to start some of my own....damn you.

[synthet]

The auspex convertion is brilliant (and the rest of the army as well)! Would you be offended if I used that idea myself?

[cogsoldier89]

Thats some nice work there. Its always great to see some different looking marines on the other side of the table for once!

Just a thought, but ive seen someone make "pip boy" style wrist scanners for his sarge's, looks really good, and would suit the style of your marines i think