Modelling: Doghouse Pattern Truescale Marines

[solid snake drive]

Will be up asap, I'm completely snowed under with real life stuff at the moment. :)

 

 

:D yay i can't wait... I'll only be making one batch.

 

 

I'd make an army if I had the money. :D :D

[Doghouse]

Sculpting the Legs

 

This is going to be fairly image intensive as I'm going to be explaining the finer points of some simple techniques to improve the quality of your GS work.

I used the following to work with the green stuff, a simple GW style sculpting tool and a small tub of vasalene.

 

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/Doghouse12/Picture043-2.jpg

 

The trick to working with vasalene is to apply it to the flat underside of the rounded end of your sculpting tool by lightly dabbing it in the tub and then wipe it on a spare bit of cloth or rag. Avoid doing this with tissue as fibres may attach to the vasalene, ideally you want a thin greasy film or residue left on the end. You can do the same with water but in my experience this is the best technique to use.

 

Preparing the Legs.

 

First off you need a pair of plastic Terminator legs. For the time being I want to keep the tutorial simple enough for everyone to have a bash at regardless of skill level so I'll be making an MK VII style marine.

 

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/Doghouse12/Picture039-1.jpg

 

The first thing that I have done is to base the legs on a standard infantry base, this is more of a personal preference than a rule of thumb. I like big marines but prefer them to be based correctly.

Once that's glued in place and dry I've cut the top of the rounded part that connects to the torso flat in preparation for the torso later int he tutorial. I will be demonstrating how to sculpt the entire torso but don't feel that you need to do that if you're not up to it. You could use a regular marine torso at a pinch if you wanted to but he'll be a bit thinner and not as imposing.

 

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/Doghouse12/Picture040-1.jpg

 

As you can see here I've removed the thigh plates at the top of the legs. This isn't one hundred percent neccesary really but as I'm going to be demonstrationg how to model the thigh armour it suits my needs here. If you want you can just work around them.

 

The Greaves

 

The Greaves are the lower half of the legs, the large armoured part of the leg that protects the shins and partially covers the feet.

The key to making the legs is that it's basically filling in the gaps on the terminator legs.

Place a a blob of GS in the centre of the leg like this:

 

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/Doghouse12/Picture041-2.jpg

[Mordus]

we place a blob of GS and then WHAT?? GAH!

I MUST KNOW!

bleh...

[Doghouse]

You PM me and I give you the details of an off shore account where money can be deposted to get me to finish the tutorial! B)

 

I'm working on it right now mate as I type, just uploading the images. ;)

[Doghouse]

You then flatten out the GS filling in the gap so it looks more like this:

 

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/Doghouse12/Picture042-2.jpg

 

To achieve this look you need to use the following techniques with the sculpting tool. As I'm self taught I don't know the technical terms that are used so will be using my own to describe my methods.

 

Smoothing out the GS

 

Using the flat rounded end of the tool you roughly press the GS in place pushing it out to the edges to fill the gap.

 

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/Doghouse12/Picture037-1.jpg

 

Don't worry about filling it all the way if there isn't enough GS as you can add another blob whilst it's still wet and work it in by smoothing it out.

 

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/Doghouse12/Picture045-2.jpg

 

Which gives you something like this

 

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/Doghouse12/Picture046-2.jpg

 

The technique for creating sharp edges is fairly simple and we'll be looking that in the next part.

[Doghouse]

To get the GS smooth you can used the following methods using the round end of the sculpting tool as seen. These techniques are best used for large flat areas but can be adapted for other means.

 

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/Doghouse12/Sculptingone.jpg

 

Rubbing

 

This is a simple method for getting the area flat and for spreading the GS out. It's just a simple matters of pushing the GS outwards towards the edge and moving the tool in an up and down motion afterwards to flatten it out.

Some pressure is applied at first but at it takes shape less pressure is used.

 

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/Doghouse12/Sculptingthree.jpg

 

Smoothing

This is the second step and a good one for getting that smooth surface that you are after. Both techniques here (rubbing and smoothing) use the vasalene method and are done straight after applying the GS. Smoothing can be done anything up to fifteen or twenty minutes after the model has started to cure. In fact it is worth coming back every five or ten minutes for the first twenty minutes to smooth the GS areas over again.

To smooth the GS lightly move the tool in a circular motion over the areas. Concentrate on small areas at a time and only apply extremely light pressure.

 

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b141/Doghouse12/Sculptingtwo.jpg

 

Before moving on with the main tutorial I'll add some bits about forming hard edges.

[StratoKhan]

Thanks for devoting so much time to this, it's simply great.

[klown]

Niceone mate, im in the proccess of having a go at true sclae as well as inspired by synapses awomse chunky true scale dudes.

 

Just a quick bit I thought id point out about true scale is that marine thighs are one of the most out of proportion. Quick tip with anatomy is that for the arm if hanging down will come to rest (the hand) about halfway down the thigh. I dont know if you knew that or not or just hadnt gotten to it yet but yeah its one of my rule of thumb things I keep to when playing with scale.

 

Waiting for some more from you, Ill definatly be following :) :): D true scale are the new awsomeness!

[HellChyld]

he's not doing true scale though as you can see his tutorial for true scale. this is more actual scale which I like better. Looking forward to seeing more Doghouse and I'm having problems with the torsos's but I'm sure with a little time you'll have me over that hurdle

[Doghouse]

Thanks guys, more to come asap. B)

 

StratoKhan: No problem, it's always a pleasure to contribute to the B&C! :pinch:

 

klown: Yeah I know the ones, his design is based on mine. :blink:

The main problem with his version is that are too tall as he once admitted to me. I did a lot of work on the proportions for these guys and consulted Philip Sibbering about scale and size before going ahead with them.

That's not a slur on Synapse's work though in any shape or form, he's an excellent sculptor, we get on really well in our posts and I can seriously see him going on to do great things. :woot:

My guys stand at roughly seven foot six which is about right when compared to a guardsman model. :P

 

Nephren-ka: Definately, I'll be going over the sculpting of the torso in great detail later in the tutorial. It's not as difficult as it seems once you get the hang of it.

[Tsuro]

Nice work with the tutorial Doghouse, its great to see you continuing with it; It was your actual scale marines that inspired me to have a poke at doing my own. Though I fell into the trap of making mine too big as well (that is, bigger than I wanted. I think I was aiming for 8ft)

I worked up from a guardsman's height, Which I took to be 31mm = 5'10" . If you don't mind me asking, How tall did you decide they were?

 

 

Tsuro

Edited April 5, 2008 by Tsuro

[BrotherDamascus]

aah, thanks for putting the time and effort into this mate :P its nice to see that your carrying on with this Actual Scale tutorial :)

 

im in Rapt attention and im definatly keeping a close eye here - i cant wait toi try out my own :) perhaps ill get started tonight :)

 

Wish you all the best Doghouse :)

 

<<Damascus>>

[demenhoth]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! i can't wait for the rest. you're my hero Doghouse.

[Lamenter]

Inspiring work. Can't wait to see more.

[klown]

Yeah playing with my test mini last night came to the realisation that while he is awsome chunky, hes to tall :o, prob finish him though just to have a crazy huge marine then play around with proportions using yours and synapse as a mashed up guide, looking through it, I like your guys proportions but I like the more fluff proper way that synapse guys look being quick chunky, with smaller heads as they look in the newer art, I love that style and will try to mash the 2 together good times ahead :D :D

[Hally]

This is such a fantastic tutorial.

 

The fact that players help eachother like this kinda warms my heart.

[Mordus]

Once this tut is finished, im printing it, stapling it together, going out and buying all the bits, then making a squad of pre-heresy actual scale ECs, then doin a whole army if they turn out well. Get going! *pushes 1 pound into slot on side of "Doghouse tutorial" machine*

[Xavyer Jubal]

NOOOOOOOOOOO now doghouse is gone the tutorial will never be finished *gets in the corner and cries*

can some1 show me how to sculpt the torso of the doghouse pattern astartes pls?

 

Xavyer

[wiplash]

errm hes come back if you havent noticed the post saying hes leaving was early this year and his post in this thread was 3 days ago :P

hip hip hooray for doghouse, ooh you sculpting beast

keep it up man its ausome

[Xavyer Jubal]

woops :D

then i hope that he will show it ASAP :tu:

Keep on sculpting doghouse :eek ur the best

 

Xavyer

[dreamer]

great tutorial im a fan of your great work and im whating for the continue work so i can begin my army of true scale marines :P

 

 

 

 

(sory for the spelling)

[War Angel]

ARGH, they look so awsome, i wish GW made them that size, I dont think id have the willpower to mess with termmi legs that come 5 per 20 bucks

[Inquisitor =D=]

.... ;) ......

 

 

 

<_< *checks watch*

 

 

 

You coming back to us Doghouse? :(

 

=D=

[Doghouse]

Thanks guys you're all more than welcome. :P

 

Don't worry I'm still here and working on the tutorial. I'll be updating it asap. ;)

[Bigger-than-Jesus]

ARGH, they look so awsome, i wish GW made them that size, I dont think id have the willpower to mess with termmi legs that come 5 per 20 bucks

I'd feel the same, only I have some spare from my DA. And Doghouse, how far out do the torsos go? And for those who are sculpting deficient would modded Assault marine torso back work?