Grey Knights & Inquisition - Finished interceptors

[Hexagon Sun]

Hello,

 

I've been building a new terminator Inquisitor as a replacement for my classic metal one and thought it was to the point where it was worth showing. I'm usually a lurker on here but figured it was high time I started getting more involved and it might give me some extra motivation to crack on and finish him. He's been through a few incarnations whilst I played with parts as I initially wanted him wielding the hammer two handed but then I couldn't get the psycannon to a position where I was happy with it. I tried it on his arm, shoulder mounted and even a servitor on the same base. I thought the arm mount looked too bulky when he's trying to swing a hammer two handed so I gave up and went one handed instead.

 

I'm pretty happy with him apart from needing to tidy up and lot of the green stuff that's filling gaps. I need to add some Inquisition iconography to his right shoulder and some other bits and bobs to his armour if I can squeeze it in. I tried to remove the GK iconography as I wanted it to look less like a terminator with a head swap. The psycannon is built from a few other bits as I only had PA ones left and I've used some guitar string to create/replace hoses. The cloak took a bit of shaving down to get onto the GK torso but it's fairly neat now.

 

Any CC is welcome.

 

Also, if you want to see the rest of the army then there's a finished Dreadknight here and the WIP stuff here

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Inquisitor/inquisitor_1_zps5b08a09e.jpg

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Inquisitor/inquisitor_sides_zpsdd1c953c.jpg

[deathspectersgt7]

Nice looking quis.

[Olis]

He's a beefy lookin' bugger, isn't he?  I'm sure he'll look cracking with some paint on him. ^_^

[Kriegsmacht]

He looks awesome. Where is his head from? never seen that one before. Is the top knot added onto it?

[Stercus]

That heads got dark eldar written all over it. Looks delightfully sinister.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

The posing for this guy is really evocative and the conversion works looks great, but your GS looks a bit rough. You might take some high grit sandpaper to it to smooth it out a little.

[Hexagon Sun]

Thanks guys, appreciate it.

 

@Kael24 Stercus got it in one, it's a Dark Eldar head. I just shaved off the bones each side of the topknot and voila.

 

@BCK Tell me about it. My GS skills aren't too hot as yet so I need all the help I can get. I've got some P600 grit but would you suggest going finer? I'm wary of how much will show through the paint as I'll be using an airbrush. I find getting into the nooks and crannies pretty difficult even with a small bit.

[lamby]

Dude looks like a tank!

 

If you want to sand plain GS, I'd suggest using thin superglue to paint a thin layer first, then go at it with 400-600 grit paper, not a metal file!

But if you really want to be able to sand - I sand all my sculpting - mix your GS with milliput - it sets harder and sands really well, plus if you sculpt it 'half-baked' ie dried about an hour, it'll give you harder edges.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

 

@BCK Tell me about it. My GS skills aren't too hot as yet so I need all the help I can get. I've got some P600 grit but would you suggest going finer? I'm wary of how much will show through the paint as I'll be using an airbrush. I find getting into the nooks and crannies pretty difficult even with a small bit.

 

Ideally, you want to try to get the smoothest finish you can on the GS while it's still wet. I suggest a good lubricant(I use olive oil) and a clay shaper of the extra-firm type to help get a smooth surface before it dries. If don't have clay shapers or can't afford them (the large, good quality ones are a bit pricey), use the largest knife-like metal sculpting tool you have and use the flat side to smooth the GS.

 

Here's a picture of the commissar in my Vostroyan command squad, taken while the GS on the outer housing of power fist was still wet, both in terms of the GS curing and the olive oil lubricant on it to show you what I mean:

 

http://i.imgur.com/xLFv3jh.jpg

 

But, even when you get it that smooth with the sculpting, it doesn't always stay that smooth and even after it cures. If the surface has become uneven or a little wavy, I take a fresh and very sharp X-Acto blade and scrape the surface, holding the blade at approximately a 45 degree angle, to level it back out. After that, I'll hit it with 600, 800, and 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper that I get from an automotive paint supply store. Don't use anything less than 600 grit.

 

Always wet sand the GS so you don't aerate the dust. I know that GS or Kneadatite is non-toxic, but that's mostly meant to mean you can handle it without it poisoning you - the manufacturer never intended it to be ingested. On that note...

 

Do not lick your sculpting tools, and do not breathe in the dust if you sand it.

 

Now, Lamby mentioned using a thin layer of super glue on top of your GS or mixing it with Milliput to make it easier to sand because GS can still be a little soft when it cures, which are both good suggestions if you let the GS cure normally, but I always put my GS under a lamp to speed up the curing time and it also has the additional benefit of curing a lot harder, making it easier to sand.

[lamby]

^{Bother Chaplain Kage... That is superior sculpting - I am not in that league!}

^{I've not tried accellerating the drying process to get a harder finish, might be something to test out.}

[Hexagon Sun]

Thanks to both of you and especially BCK. You really went above and beyond answering my question on which grit to use which is really appreciated.

 

Those are some great tips and your sculpting is completely next level. I'll try to put some of that into practice on his shoulder as I'm toying with trying to sculpt something on there. I see you dropped a thread on the tutorials sub forum about sculpting and I'd be interested to see your approach to cloth as I was thinking about doing a Dark Angels successor at some point.

 

P.S. The Vostroyans are some of your best work yet and the commissar is actually my personal favourite.

[Olis]

*snip*

Those are some damn good tips, BCK. The challenge now is to remember them... :lol:

[Badaab]

Another great source of sculpting tools is your dentist's office.  Often times tools are used to the point where they cannot be sharpened anymore, or sterilized safely anymore, so they have to toss them, so just ask next time you're in.  This is where the majority of the tools I use to sculpt come from.  I'm lucky enough to have a family member who's a dental professional, so I try to grab available tools whenever I get the opportunity and then have spares I can share with the community.
If you're looking for a putty finish that allows for sanding- try mixing your GS with Miliput or some of the Squadron putty varieties- this stuff dries a lot harder and is easier to work with in a subtractive manner.

[GuitaRasmus]

The single best tip I've ever gotten about sculpting, was from my buddy and modelling/painting partner, Tue Kaae (Check out his work - he has incredible skills and imagination).

 

Ready? Here goes...

 

Almost never use only greenstuff. 95% of the time I use a mixture of Greenstuff and Milliput (1 parts to 2 parts milliput) - It's much cheaper than greenstuff alone, and has all the best qualities of both. I can be smoothed with water, and edges can be blended perfectly into the existing model - you can even use a wet brush for smoothing. It still handles much better than pure milliput, and has some of the elastic qualities of greenstuff.

 

I truly urge you to try it out - my sculpting work made a quantum leap after discovering this medium.

 

(PS: Use regular milliput - it works better than Milliput Fine).

[Olis]

Miliput. Gotcha. Great tip.

[Hexagon Sun]

That's brilliant, thanks to both of you for the tips. I'll pick up some milliput today and I'm due a dentists trip so I'll have an ask when I'm in about tools.

 

I've got a forgefiend to paint this week but hopefully I can fit some sculpting practice in at some point to put this all together.

[mcme]

when will we get to see some more of your amazing work???

its been a while

[Hexagon Sun]

It has indeed, I seem to have had a lot going on recently which has meant not as much hobby time. I'm hoping to get some more done on the inquisitor early next month as we're getting work done to our house for the next couple of weeks so everything is a bit up in the air. I did finish the forgefiend and also started on Solomon Lok though so here are some photos of those as a stand in for some real progress. The lighting on the Solomon Lok photos is poor but I think you can see where it's going so far.

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Random/Forgefiend_2_zpsb787759a.jpg

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Random/Forgefiend_1_zps2dad80af.jpg

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Inquisitor/Solomon_Lok_WIP_1_zps81c057ab.jpg

[Doghouse]

Very nice :tu:

[That Guy Matt]

He's looking pretty awesome to me.  Looking forward to seeing him painted.

[Hexagon Sun]

Well I said I was busy and it turns out I ended up busier than I thought! 6 months later and I've been on holiday, got engaged and had a burst appendix out. A bit of a whirlwind half a year, but I have been trying to gradually chip away at my pile of bare plastic in between times. The new GK codex dropped in between all of this and as a result the inquisitor has been shelved for the moment until I get the main army complete.

 

This is a bit of a mega post in terms of updates since it's been so long. I've also got more photos to take of the finished troops but first here's my completed land raider for now, which was a fun exercise in trying out some techniques from the FW masterclass book. It's a bit rough and ready in places but I learned a lot in the process so I'm hoping it'll stick with me for the next things in the painting queue.

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Land%20Raider/finished_front_zpsff1bz65o.jpg

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Land%20Raider/finished_right_side_zps9yy2vdcb.jpg

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Land%20Raider/finished_back_zpscd2mrdva.jpg

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Land%20Raider/finished_left_side_zpsfn2btdzy.jpg

 

Then onto some of the WIP stuff. As I needed new HQs in place of the inquisitor I've made up a grand master/brother captain with magnetised sword/hammer and storm bolter/psycannon and a librarian with force stave.

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/General%20WIP/gm_libby_wip_bare_zpsikkrsplh.jpg

 

I know dreads aren't the most optimal choice, but I picked up two of them 2nd hand for a song and wanted to paint them up anyway because they look awesome. I had a bit of work to do as the previous owner had damaged the power plant on the back quite badly. After looking at a few photos online I decided to construct something out of plasticard to bulk up the back and also give the pipes something to marry up to. I think it looks fairly passable and since the photos I've undercoated it which makes it blend in nicely. I picked up some new arms and added some magnets to finish it off as the autocannon arms were pretty bad casts with a lot of mould slippage. I might still see if I can fix them up but it might be too much work for the sake of £9 each.

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Dreadnoughts/dread_wip_bare_front_zpscihq9rnj.jpg

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Dreadnoughts/dread_wip_bare_back_zpsvxdumt9d.jpg

 

I also picked up a stormraven with all of the unused sprues that was fairly lightly undercoated for a decent price. I've been at work sanding and scraping off some mouldlines and glue marks but it's cleaned up quite well. I then got stuck in with some more magnets and did all of the options.

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Stormraven/sr_bare_magnets_zps5fn7uqej.jpg

 

Anyway, I'm on with a rhino at the moment so hopefully there'll be much less of a gap between posts this time. The techniques I applied to the land raider should come in handy.

[Hexagon Sun]

Hi again, I managed to take some photos of the other finished stuff tonight and the WIP rhino. Some of the painting is a bit off in places, but I've been so nightmarishly slow I ended up just wanting them out of the way and I ended up rushing a few bits to game with them.

 

I also thought it'd be a good idea to magnetise as much as possible, so I made a rod for my own back. But now I can put down an army and at least know it's WYSIWYG, more for my own memory than anything else as I always seem to forget who's got what at a crucial time.

 

Let me know what you all think, I've got another interceptor squad and some purifiers to go so comments are always welcome.

 

Magnets magnets magnets...

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Misc/magnetised_bits_zpspu4scola.jpg

 

Strike squad / Interceptor squad with changeable backpacks, special weapons, justicar weapons and a hammer.

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Troops/interceptor_squad_zpstvuujqd8.jpg

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Troops/strike_squad_zpsxfvyiplo.jpg

 

Lots of terminators with magnetised weapons and arms. I also put magnets on the special weapons but haven't painted up anything other than psycannons so far.

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Troops/terms_squad_halberds_zpsmvqcakpg.jpg

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Troops/terms_squad_falchions_zps7poeypfx.jpg

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Troops/terms_squad_swords_zpszevaumlo.jpg

 

And finally the WIP rhino which is currently on the painting table and the spare storm bolter is for the Land Raider.

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Rhino/rhino_wip_1_zpsqno3jbhg.jpg

[Hexagon Sun]

I haven't had time to get my airbrush out so I opted for doing more on Solomon Lok the past few days. The surplice underneath has changed to white as I felt it was a bit more neutral than cream. I ended up doing it a few times as the blending was a bit too stark on my first attempts.

 

I'm having a bit of a dilemma about what colour to do the embroidered writing on the hood and scarf as I thought yellow might be a bit too bright.

 

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o551/hexagonsun1/Grey%20Knights/Inquisitor/solomon_lok_wip_2_zpsz0bpsrom.jpg

[deathspectersgt7]

WHOA!!!! Man you've been busy looking GOOD!!!

[That Guy Matt]

Grey-t Knights