Tech support

 It's been quite some time since I last made any addition to my Carcharodon army, but there was one thing I’d known for ages I really needed to add: a Techmarine. A Techmarine is essential in an army, because you need one to include any kind of vehicles, support weapons, or a Dreadnought (remember, 2nd edition Codex). So I just had to get one in there somehow!

The new model, the Primaris Techmarine, honestly did appeal to me for this project. But looking at it closely, I came to the conclusion that it’s basically just a standard Primaris armour with a few trimmings. Honestly, for what it costs, I almost preferred to just build one myself.

And so I did!

I started from a Primaris armour:

The torso comes from a regular marine

 I enlarged the torso and added some greenstuff on the feet. I know, I know, you're not impressed. Let me add more weird stuff...

The loincloth took ages!

It looks awful now, but I need just a little faith...

Black priming always helps to hide errors

I used some Terminator and Skitarii bits. At this point I faced a hard choice. There's one thing I really don't like of Techmarines. I don’t like that overloaded look with all the bionic arms —it’s like a cross between Doctor Octopus and an armoured Swiss Army knife. Over the editions they’ve just kept piling on more and more gadgets, and it’s got to the point where it’s simply over the top.

What’s more, the servo-arm on the backpack gives me headaches. I mean, it’s clearly a hydraulic arm capable of, among other things, lifting heavy loads. But sticking that arm on one side of the backpack completely throws the Techmarine off balance. Any big load is just going to topple him over. I can’t picture him using that arm as a jack to lift a Rhino while fixing its track.

So I scrapped that idea completely. Anyway, I realised my memory had been playing tricks on me. Thanks to later editions, I was convinced the servo-arm had its own in-game effects, that it was a piece of gear with its own rules. But it turns out, not in Second Edition. After going through the Codex over and over, I finally saw that nope, it’s just a decorative element. This is my chance! 

 I completely changed the concept and thought that what I could add was a small auxiliary arm for manual work — a third hand to help him handle tools and little bits and pieces.

Tiny retractile arm!

This first attempt was made with little plastic rods —Skitarii backpack antennas. Needless to say, it was a terrible idea. The whole contraption fell apart to bits; the joins with green stuff didn’t hold up. The arm needs to be a single piece.

 

Solution: just a clip bent and cut wit some additional greenstuff

Anyway, since we’re just talking about pure aesthetics here, the idea of having a servo-arm, something to help him repair heavy machinery out on the battlefield, still felt logical and interesting. Freed from the burden of game rules, I could make it however I wanted.

Kinder Surprise eggs to the rescue!

What if what the Techmarine actually uses is a servitor that follows him around and helps with the heavy work? That way, the little arm on the backpack still makes sense, but the ability to handle big jobs is still perfectly doable.

Heavily inspired by Space Hulk's C.A.T.

 Little by little, the Techmarine was taking shape…

What a change since the first pic!

And so was the servitor, even if only in its most basic form.

Again, I need a little patience from you...

 New problem. The Techmarine’s arm didn’t hold up. With a small knock the ‘hand’ (made from leftover Skitarii antennas) fell off, and to this day I still haven’t been able to find it. The whole arm really needs to be a single piece. Just one.
I had to admit defeat and give up on the original idea in favour of something more practical: a laser cutter (or maybe a torch) from the Servitors kit:

A compromise solution

 It’s not the solution I wanted, but it still looks reasonably good and, honestly, I needed to move on. I’ve spent more time just on that tiny arm than on the entire rest of the model.

As for the servitor, that’s where I really did give it a proper servo-arm:

Armoured Swiss Army cockroach

I thought of adding more wires, but I refrained myself

 Well, here it is, the final result:

Tautoko hangarau ("Tech support" in Maori)

All this just to justify the servo-arm

Duel of the servo-arms

Ooops, blurry pic! Dammit! My bad

(You were supposed to see the Carcharodons emblem on its back)

Now I can deploy that Rhino and that Dreadnought I already have!

 

BONUS!

Just a single pic, as it really didn't involve much work (at least compared to the above). Now that I was doing the Techmarine, I only had a kind of character left, the Standard Bearer. I had a Primaris for that, the generic guy from the Dark Imperium core box. With a couple of bits I got this:

That giant maw was quite a challenge to place!

BTW, I have Carcharodon decals, but they don't fit in the central space on the banner! Too little or too big. So I had to freehand the Space Sardine.

I have to admit I don’t like that generic sculpted banner. It doesn’t really feel like fabric; the skull, the laurels… everything’s sculpted in such high relief that you’re not quite sure how to read it. I considered making a plain banner myself to paint on it, but again, it was just too much work, not really worth it.

With this I’ve got all the characters for a Company: Captain, Chaplain, Apothecary, Librarian and Standard Bearer (though I doubt I’ll ever actually use that last one). A squad of Veterans. Two Tactical Squads. A Rhino. A Dreadnought. I’ve already got in mind what I’m going to add next. When I do, I promise a family pic.

But... Hmmm, this is already a full Second Edition army…