29/12/2022

Secundaris Marines

 Just closing the year here! I hope you are enjoying some quality days (I'm working, but the spirit of Christmas is in the air, so it makes it all more easy going) and having a good time. Enjoy and rejoice!

I'm getting back to an old project, my realscale Space Sharks Marines (you may have to have a look at the Carcharodons label on the blog to know what I'm talking about, I'm afraid the project is that old). I used the Space Hulk Terminators to build my Veterans Squad, and it was kind of my plan for the whole army, just to make conversions on Terminators. But you know -I'm really lazy. With the years an easier solution just came out by itself, as Games Workshop produced the infamous Primaris Space Marines. They happened to be just the right size, so my life suddenly became easier!

Yup, we'll have to talk about aaall those Terminator bits I had amassed with the years in preparation of this project. But not today. Ahem.

Before anyone asks, no, of course I'm not doing Primaris, nor accepting that stupid, ridiculous, absurd [redacted] fanfic GW pretended to be official background. My Space Marines are Space Marines. The Galaxy may be quite an awful place, yes, but there are Eldar and not Aeldwhatever. There is Imperial Guard, not Astrabullshitaris. Well, you know. Stuff. I made my peace with the change from Rogue Trader to 2nd Ed and now I'm over it. But another change this big is too much for me.

I may have to change my mind if the future TV show is anything good, but for now I'm sticking to the old fluff. So expect no Primaris, no Intercessors or whatever they are called. I'm doing a Space Marines Tactical Squad, just with realscale fellas.

So to the pics! The conversions are really minimal, as I considered the bodies good enough to pretend to be real Marines. So I just changed the helmet and shortened the bolter

Will look good enough at table distance

You'll believe they're real Space Marines

That's even a 2nd Ed plastic chainsord
 

You might have noticed I added some greenstuff on the Sarge's nose. If my Carcharodons have that quite Maori aesthetic influence, I wanted to make them a little bit racial, as I've done previously. I'm aware that according to official background they are pale as snow and blah blah. These are my Space Sharks. If you don't like my approach, there are many, many fantastic, gorgeous places over the internet being GW-orthodox, and you should spend more time on them. Do that, please.

Making the bolter shorter (well, I don't even know if that new gun is still called 'bolter') was relatively easy. Chop'n'stick, that's it. But the plasma gun proved more challenging.

I take it for granted the weapon in the background is not called a 'plasma gun' anymore

I could have used an old weapon, but I liked the shape of this, with the Picatinny thing and all

I wasn't sure either of what heavy weapon to use, and in the end I used the Rule of Cool:

A Space Crusade Multi-melta

But I wanted something that was visually imposing. Something showing that this weapon is terrifying, that not even a Space Marine can handle easily, stressing the heavy in heavy weapon. Of course I have a visual reference in my mind which is indelible:


 Right, a harness, improving the operator's movements and aim by distributing the weight of that monster over the hips and not solely on the arms or shoulders of the Marine. So, with a bit from the Imperial Guard Chimera set I got this:

I'm only now realising that the Aliens guys have the auxiliar arm on the other side

Well, it looks like I have all the conversions I need, so let's spill some paint on these!

50 shades of grey, Warhammer edition

I may have overdone the highlights and done way too many layers, but once I started I couldn't stop! I even had this issue with the shoulderpads, as there was a point in which they were black no more, but dark grey, even getting confused with the rest of the armour, so I had to tone them down again.

Another trial and error thing was the symbols. I insisted in doing Maori style icons, so I painted tatoo style sharks on the shoulderpads:

Space Sardines

But you know, I could live with that. Where I screwed it up was on the other shoulder, trying to make that Maori thing with the Tactical Squad arrow symbol. As I have no shame, I'm showing the crime:

Squid Games Marines

Damn awful. I repainted the shoulderpads and started again with decals:

Again, I can live with this

So little else! Here you have them:




Hmm, I need a larger backdrop thing

Size comparison shot!

Please notice the different bases regarding height

This is my Carcharodons Space Sharks force right now:

Tactical Squad, Veteran Squad and characters

I have plans to expand these, but you will hear of that next year, for we are getting to the end of 2022. I hope you enjoy these last days of the year and let me wish you all the best for 2023.

Cheers! Happy new year!

24 comments:

  1. SPACE SHARKS ! Love the conversions Suber, and all the tribal markings add to the theme, this will be a Charcharodon force worthy of the name. Hope you have a great new year, and look forward to seeing your plans for next year.

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    1. Thank you! It had been so long since the last time I had done anything on this project that I really went into it with tons of enthusiasm. I hope I keep on painting more regularly!!

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  2. I don’t think the highlights are over the top. These are frikken awesome and make my Space Sharks look like they need an overhaul. Care to share your inspirational images you used for the Māori freehand parts?

    I agree with you 100% tho - no Primaris (tho I do like their sculpts and scaling next to regular human sized minis), space elves and the average emperor fearing joe serves in the Army, which some might call the Guard. That’s my 40k setting too.

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    1. Thank you very much! For these guys I used quite simple patterns, to make a visual difference with the Veterans. If you google "Maori tattoo designs" you will get some decent results. But I found this guide particularly useful for my purposes:
      https://www.zealandtattoo.co.nz/tattoo-styles/maori-tattoo/
      Not only you can see nice patterns (which help to make my freehands little by little, decomposing complex patterns into smaller pieces), but it also provides meaning to them, so you can really get some true inspiration for what you want to tell on the model. It can sound a little bit nonsense, but I felt it really helped me to visually enforce what I wanted to show on these.
      I hope it helps!

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  3. Ah, how I love your kitbashing stuff!
    Great looking!

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    1. Thank you very much! Quite simple conversions, yet effective, I hope!

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  4. Commercial break: "For every other miniature there's Mastercard, but there are some things money can't buy... Conscious and irreverent rebellion against the bullsh*t of GW: Priceless"!
    After the fit of temper, we congratulate you on the usual originality with which you have reinvented your Space Marines, and the inclusion of Maori elements makes them unique.
    We too had dreamed of painting Maori tattoos on the face of a miniature, but we are a little scared by the difficulty... What color did you use for the tattoo ink?
    Happy New Year to you!

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    1. Haha, true genius! :D
      I was terribly scared about tatoos, but you know, there's only one way to lose your fears: face them! I used a dark blue for the tatoo ink (mix of Vallejo Royal Blue and Black). I first made some designs on paper, so when I went on the mini, I more or less knew what I wanted. The only secret is to do it little by little. Just a curved line. Then another. Then another one. Until the tatoo looks more complex that you imagined! "Piano piano si arriva lontano!" :)

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  5. They look great! Conversions are perfect for true scale 28m marines! Love the highlighting and the hand made symbols. I think you should have stuck with the original squad marking :)

    Also thanks for the laugh! Your comments on modern 40k mirror my own! Why does everything need a new name?

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    1. Thank you very much! I think I will need more practice on the squad markings, but I pretend to do that in the future!!

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    1. Thank you! I enjoyed these a lot, I missed doing Marines, I will probably do some more soon(ish)!

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  7. Después del berrinche y la pataleta que has tenido, (con toda la razón del mundo), entras en materia y nos vuelves a mostrar tu regreso por la puerta grande de los Carcharadones. Y justo ese espíritu es el que me gusta…, cuando tú podías decidir crear tu propio capítulo de marines espaciales, dar forma a su transciendo desde cero y encima GW te animaba a ello. Echo de menos aquella etapa menos encorsetada.

    El trabajo de conversión, como dices, es innecesario, las minis con cambios mínimos son viables. El trabajo de los freehands es encomiable, qué paciencia, no sólo los haces una vez, encima los repites porque no te convencen. Y encima, te quedan de lujo.

    Gran entrada para cerrar un año de proyectos. Enhorabuena.

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    1. ¡Muchas gracias! La verdad es que los he retomado con muchas ganas, tenía ganas de complicarme la vida. ¡A ver con qué sigo!

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  8. I think these look awesome. I really dislike a lot of the space marine fluff, as it seems so silly (spitting acid? Really? Do they pee lasers as well?) and my idea of 40k is somewhere between Rogue Trader and 2nd Ed.
    I love the conversion on that massive gun. The smart guns are excellent, and the mechanical arm you've built looks dead cool. It's a really good project.
    Happy New Year!

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    1. Thank you! Yes, I had some struggle with the new fluff (And when I say "new" I mean the 2nd Edition one!!), but I was young, that stuff was well written and they really made an effort to have a coherent background, so in the end I finally embraced it all. But with the terrible coming of consecutive Editions, the background really got lost. The generational shift on the writers was awful and there was a point in which I found I really disliked that stuff, and it was like "oh, but when did this happen?" :D

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  9. Qué bonitos tío. Son la caña.

    Ya tienes una tropilla interesante para 2ª, ¿eh? Cuando quieras...

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    1. ¡Gracias! Sí, con dos tontunas más tengo un ejército de Segunda completo. No digo nada y lo digo todo...

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  10. Every post of yours contains at least one point of genius I reckon. This time it's that servo arm on the multi melta. Such a brilliant idea and it looks awesome!

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    1. Thank you very much! I wanted the weapon to look menacing, heavy, the kind of thing you can't shoot if you are walking (as per the rules!). But if the fella is bearing it without any apparent effort, the effect is totally lost. So this just made it look bulky, yet not totally impossible to bear. I like the general effect, so I think I'll repeat the thing for future squads :)

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  11. me lees la mente, pensaba usar los primaris como marines escala real, y como no tengo cabezas antiguas iba a dejar las que están , tal cual y listo. Muy majas las tuyas por cierto.

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    1. ¡Gracias! La verdad es que con muy poquito esfuerzo se consigue el resultado. Incluso si no tegustan sus armas nuevas, se pueden poner brazos y armas antiguos y no desentonan :)

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  12. Even with minimal conversion, the end results are incredible :)

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    1. Thanks! I wanted to keep things simple as I am just so lazy :D

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