Don Quirixote rides again

The wasteland walker turned into a sci-fi Don Quixote proved to be a fun idea. It was apparently well received, and in fact some weeks ago I was commissioned by a pal to build another walker just in the same fashion for him to paint.

Luckily enough I had another serum vial!

My idea was to follow the basic design of the first one, but of course making subtle changes here and there. I thought it would be fun having more engine exposure just behind the saddle:

Simply glue whatever you have at hand wherever you feel it fits in

Yup, those red pieces come from the Space Hulk Terminators I'm converting into realscale Marines

Random pieces everywhere, that's the key

So this was the preliminary setup:

Yes, it should look familiar to you

It was supposed to look more or less like this:

I used the original Kislevite head I had firstly used for my project (and then rejected to make Don Quirixote of Manchae Prime). But my pal told me he really wanted another Don Quixote, not just a regular, generic wasteland walker.

So let it be

The final touch was extra wiring. I mean, plain thread:

It takes more time than you initially think (dammit)

So this is the result:

How does it look next to his brother?

Spot the differences

This new one looks a little bit more worn out, just because the way it is built. The exposed engine works in that direction and all the wiring suggests some problem with the cooling. The pedals were a funny touch, but a pain to build and fix in place, I'm not totally happy with them.

Anyway, I think it works fine and does its part. My pal will be painting it, so I'll ask him for pics when its finished!

I've run out of vials, but the temptation of getting more Sentinels to use the legs for more ridiculous stuff is still there...

Big boned Sigmarites

After the Shadespire Sigmarwhatever I finished a couple of weeks ago, I tried to find nice ideas for my own warband. I wasn't lucky.

First of all, I made some conversions with the weapons; I wanted them to look different and cool, and not to repeat what I had just done. But I didn't find what I was looking for. I was too short-sighted and only thinking in getting an Oldschool looking. So it was all about this kind of heads...

It may work, but I wasn't getting that 'ooohhh, this is it' vibe

Testing all my Empire heads

Then I saw it. Pure coincidence, but I found what I was looking for, although I hadn't known until then:

Ooohhh, this is it

Stormcast Eternal warriors are heroes from beyond time and space, reforged by Sigmar himself and brought to life again and again to fight the eternal war. But in the city of Shadespire mighty Nagash struggles with the very fabric of time. The whole fluff was too tempting. What if something has gone slightly wrong? What if these powerful warriors fight beyond expectations... but in the reforging process something went terribly wrong and they are encased in their forgotten armours, condemned to serve in this unsettling appearance? Say no more, I had a warband.

Leaving the heads and background apart, you can see the conversions I made. All the weapons come from the 40K Grey Knights sprues. They work fine on these models and give them a pretty distinctive looking. The sword and halberd were easy, but the two handed sword was kind of tricky, and I had to make some additional work on the wrists.

After many experiments (many! I could flood you with pics of failed ideas) I came to this:

Mr. Brightskull

I was quite tempted to use the large shield with some sculpted motif (as in the Knights of the White Wolf). But I really didn't want to repeat essentially the very same mini, so I used the other sword.

His twin

What's that?

This is my first attempt with the GreenStuffWorld's Chainmail Plate. I still have a lot to learn, but the possibilities are endless...

How do you know this was a male skull, eh? Are you assuming my gender?

So next step was taking the brushes. My most obvious reference about what I was intending to do was, of course, the amazing Corroded Plate Tutorial at Gardens of Hecate. All the work Ana does is out of scale in awesomeness; if you are not familiar with her blog, please go there. Right now, I mean.

I used the materials I had at hand; no pigments and no special stuff. I lacked the patience to go to the shop and wait for days; I wanted them painted now. My steps are really simple. So the results are obvioulsy way worse than Ana's. But I can live with that, of course.

The base layer is a mix of black, dark brown and silver (all Vallejo).

First wash, using leather brown.

Second wash, with a mix of dark brown and German camo green (Vallejo again). That gets you a true matt looking.

Third wash, generously apllying a mix of dark brown and orange. Make them look dirty. really dirty. BTW, note to self. If you are painting any heraldry whatsoever, do it before all these steps; that way you'll avoid to repeat the whole f@#%ing process. Ahem.

They don't look that impressive, do they? Well, after this, I used the base colour again on the armour and then applied a black wash between plates. That's it. The rest is just paying attention to skulls, clothes, etc., etc.

So in the end...

Mr. Rustyskull

I'd love to live in Castle Grayskull

That thing on the halberd? Well, I'm going to the supermarket, you know

What do you mean if the shield is mine?

Yup, the chainmail is mine too

The armour is not hollow, I was already big boned when alive

I'm not fat, my chest has just slipped a bit

I have to keep up my bones to wield such a sword

This is going to be our next black metal album cover

So this is it! Two Sigmar warbands. Now I must start to think about the Khorne guys, both my friend's and mine. That will be another day, I still have tons of other ongoing projects. No idea of what will be next...

Space Maori tatoo parlor

I've been working on more Carcharodons these days, so I can show you more finished stuff. The first one is most likely the easiest conversion of all, this being the starting point:

The Wolverine 40K Edition

The menacing pose works, so I just had to do some arrangements...

Essentially the same

The spiky claws work fine on Space Sharks, so I left them. Then I tried to give the mini some cultural flavour. The pose calls for a bare head. I tried to sculpt a tongue sticking out, in the Maori style, but I simply couldn't do it. Too small. So the man screaming will have to do. I sculpted some hair and turned the blood drops shaped gems into Maori hei toki, the traditional jade pendants.

When it came to colours, I knew for sure that I had to paint some facial tatoos and not only honour markings on the armour.

Free hugs

A little bit tricky, but it works at a distance!

But also has scary patterns on those hands

Let's go for another pal. This is the original model:

Could you tell me the time, please?

Well, this time I tried something different, yet keeping the pokey pokey idea.

I defeated the Swordmaster of Melee Islandtm

This one is the most Imperial-ish looking guy so far, with all those eagles and stuff. I didn't want to take them apart, as I do like the Aquila and it's clearly a distinctive feature. But he needed some Maori flavour...

He looks angry

But this is not all. I made a third one! I started with this:

It wasn't me! It was him!

Hmm. I kept that raised shoulder, but changed the interpretation of the mini:

I couldn't find another gun

It looks better with some paint on it

Once again I had to rely on the brushwork to give him the touch

I thought the facial tatoo pattern on the helmet could work, and I'm quite happy with the concept. I will repeat the idea on future minis.

So the Veteran Squad has six members now:

Ooops. I apparently need to do some additional work on those bases for coherence

Well, this is starting to look like something! Yet more to come!