Hierophant Test Fit 002: Now with green stuff

Some of the preliminary sculpting work on the hierophant. I am not confident in my sculpting abilities but being committed as I am will inevitably drive the project forward. I have stuck to the easier parts of the sculpting work i.e. the foldy bits at the limb joints. However I did also get a rough shape down for the hooves of the hind limbs and the 'palms' of the forelimbs, but that was tough to try to get them to slightly appear like each other. I get the feeling that I will have to build up all of the greenstuff work a single detail ata time. I have started with the muscle bundles on the (creature's) left 'palm'.

I am happy with the posing and the base size. I have cut the base out using a powered saw and sanded the edges slightly. The model should be very useable in games, and with an upcoming Apocalypse release, this bugger might be ready to rock some really big 40K playgrounds.

Test Fit No. 1: Hierophant Biotitan

So this is roughly the posing of the model as I am currently shaping it. Apparently I need to go back and fix the alignment on the beasty's upraised limb. Other than that it essentially meets the requirements I set out at the beginning of this project: three limbs on the ground and a smaller foot print for the base to allow the creature to be useable in games.

The limbs are still too thin to fully support the model. I noticed this when I first got it as the previous owner had used it frequently and had not based it. All of those fine limbs were bent from the weight of the model, causing them all to bow outwards. Even with the hooves as a better support point for the rear limbs, the thinness of the limbs look like they will start to bend out again even when mounted on the base. So I may have to have a set of ruins on the base that will serve as further supports for the rear limbs, thus taking some of the weight off of them.

In some photos you can see a white, vaguely  triangular-like shape under the bio-titan. That is the shape of the base and it has been cut out of a piece of masonite already. And yes, I am still ducking the green stuff work. Don't judge me.

Hierophant Legs: Forelimbs continued (finally)

Wired these up too and prepped the plastic bits I will be using. Still a bunch of greenstuff work that I am avoiding but am working towards getting this project back on track. Here are the initial setups for both forelimbs.

Sidelined...but on the bright side.

Well I had to take a pass on the 40Kegger tourney due to an impressive headache and lower back pain.  So overall my weekend was less than optimal. Still I got some production done. My Ultras now have a second Terminator squad and a Terminator Librarian, so that's cool. I also got molds made of my FW Ultramarines Rhino doors to gussy up models and bases. I even assembled a Whirlwind and Vindicator using my newest casts but these will not see paint for a while. Other projects await my attentions again. So here are some photos of the Ultras. I realized as I looked at these, and the previous work I have done on this army,  that these are not my best paint jobs. I feel I have a lot of respect for the Chapter as described by I do not really feel anything resembling the passion I feel towards my Wolves. Weird. Still there is a lot of conversion work throughout this army that I am quite happy with. Check it out.

Section 1: Launch Rails is essentially based

So continuing with my mad idea of doing a ship's deck as my first terrain board, I have managed to get the first section covered in card over a base of foam sheeting.I really went for relatively random sections of card shapes but all made with clean cuts to emphasize the mechanical nature of the setting.

I have included shots with what will eventually be detailed hull/portal supports, including one from the perspective of a terminator model. Unfortunately I do not know why the page insists on displaying this photo sideways.

Speaking of terminators, the 40Kegger tourney is coming up and it will be my first experience at it. Players are bringing 1000 pt lists and I am taking an Ultramarine all-foot army. The list requires me to paint a second terminator squad and a terminator librarian. I was not looking forward to purchasing a new character models as prices have risen to the level of insanity, but then I remembered that I had a copy of Space Hulk in the Closet of Shame (TM to the Fijalman). So the models have been assembled, converted, and based. Now to paint with two weeks to go. I'll put up pics when they are painted as they are primed black currently so detail will be hard to see.

Third of three projects on the go

So I apparently just can not get excited by the Nid codex. There is a 1000pt tourney coming up in May and I planned to take Nids. I really did.But there is no play style in that book that I like or could make effective. So I am bringing my Ultras instead. An all infantry list led by a Terminator librarian (from the Space Hulk box), 2 tactical squads and a pair of Terminator squads with Cyclones. The list necessitates the painting of a Terminator squad and the Librarian. Six models is not too bad and it will expand my 1st company and character complement as well. There are alternatives however. A pair of Thunderfire canons would cost only 200 of the 2nd Termie unit's 230 pts.Or a landspeeder unit...or other stuff as will be decided shortly. 

The hierophant is still in progress but I have not yet done anything new to it recently but I do intend to get back to it soon.

And the newest project, the table of terrain #1. And I have really decided to go big. Originally intended to be an Adeptus Mechanicus forge world table, it has morphed into a space ship launch deck. I am trying to incorporate my Space Wolf display base.

The intent is to have a large frame structure throughout the entire table. I had played with a lower profile for the arch portions you can see in these shots but I decided to go with the taller profile. I wanted the launch track to exit out of a large profile that would dwarf the ships.  I am hoping to give players the sensation that they are reaching into a ship to play a game. I am hoping the frame throughout the table will strongly convey this feeling. Here are the initial concept shots. The teleport pad is in some of the shots and I have laid out what will be a cargo elevator in the floor behind the Thunderbolt.

Storm Eagle Control Surfaces Template

Hopefully this works. Near as I can tell I can not post a file for download so I have scanned in the images and posted them as a jpeg instead.I have included a legend bar to show the scale of the drawings as well (the bar marked as 5cm).

I do not have any templates for the body itself, but I can tell you that I extended the main body by about 2 inches. This portion was done on the fly and completed before I thought to keep a record of what I did to convert it.

Hopefully these are helpful to whomever wishes to use them. I want to say I would appreciate a mention that these came from this blog (i.e. mine) but considering I am copying a design conceived of by someone else, it would make more sense to say "Have at it".