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Warboy's WIP Russ conversion (pic heavy)


warboy

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i decided to enter the golden deamon this year, and decided to make a truescale conversion of russ.

 

this miniature is based on the Jes Goodwin illustration in the 2nd ed codex.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/c/cc/Leman_Russ_Jes_Goodwin_2.jpg

 

i'm not going to go into great detail about how i did the truescale conversion, as many of these tutorials are easy to find, i will however go into further detail about anything you guys ask about.

 

he's roughly 1/3 green stuff and took about a week and a half to sculpt and construct, and a further week to paint.

 

i'm still sculpting freki and geri, pics to come!

 

hope you like!

 

This is the earliest photo i have, an early mock up, you can see alot of the green here.

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00065.jpg

 

Half time photo

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00071.jpg

 

Close up on purity seal/leg (base was only painted and not detailed at this stage)

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00073.jpg

 

Full size view

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00083.jpg

 

Size comparison

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00081.jpg

 

Close up on Arms

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00075.jpg

 

Back view

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00077.jpg

 

Close up of the banner

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00086.jpg

 

Close up on shoulder pad

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00084.jpg

 

Close up on face

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00085.jpg

forseti:

 

i don't like any of the official artwork of russ, but i dislike this one the least. besides which, mine is mostly a 2nd ed army and this picture suited the look and feel i have going anyway. i actually intend on using this as a gaming piece after the competition for apocalypse scenarios or even as a proxy for ragnar/grimnar.

 

hendrik:

 

i thought golden deamon was a painting competition, judged on the quality of the paintwork, not on who can get the colour scheme closest to the 'eavy metal team's?

 

i went with the bright colours (a custom colour called "shadow wolf grey", blended up to space wolf grey around the edges and with a ghostly grey sharp highlight) because that's how i paint the rest of my army (that's not true, most marines just get a flat coat of SW grey, so if anything Russ is one shade darker) and i want them nice and cohesive looking. also this is a post heresy russ, he's wearing MK6 armour.

 

i did consider doing him in heresy armour when i first started, but didn't feel up to the task of making it (i have nothing in my bits box that even looks close) and a grey marine in heresy armour would look very out of place in my company of sky blue wombles. i made an executive decision to make it MK6 based on the parts i had available, and the source material used. i'm currently converting a MK6 helmet to be the wolf helm.

 

thanks for your comments!

moar comments/questions encouraged.

Well MK 6 is Heresy Era armor, even MK 7 was around late in the Horus Heresy. The only mark to be designed since is the MK 8.

 

Anyway looks very good, the only thing I Don't like are the runic script along the sword, it looks a little sloppy but that's really just nit picking at this point but for Golden Daemon you might want to touch it up some.

 

Otherwise a very nice conversion and a great paint job. Woulda been nice done in more traditional Heresy Era colors but it looks very good this way too, nicely done!

Le t me start off by saying that your conversion is top-notch. I also like the nod to the RT-era Russ (Yes, it was RT-era. Trust me, I was there. Granted it was a very little while before 2nd Ed, but still RT-era.). Don't get me wrong, I truly believe he should be hairy and crazy looking, wolfy bits abound, but this is really one of my favorite incarnations of him.

 

Onto my constructive criticism...

 

Now this could be any number of factors which aren't present in person, but the model seems very flat. I can see it isn't on close inspection, but first glimpse makes it seem as though only the base coat is done. Your blends from your custom color are great, but they are hard to see. Again this could be the lighting, camera flash, it's late at night here, etc.

 

I'm extremely intrigued with the wolves in particular. I think that if done a darker tone than Russ, they will accent the light colors of Russ' armor, at the same time, forcing the audiences' eyes to focus on Russ. Keep it up! I eagerly await the next update!

 

-J

thanks for the comments guys! keep em coming!

 

lord noble:

 

yes, you're right, my mistake. it was the RT-era Russ, they had a mini for him and all, but i was never lucky enough to get one. but as i said, i based it of the illustration from the 2nd ed codex, although the mini is awfully similar.

 

and you're right about the blending, it's probably a combination of all those factors, that and the colours are very similar. it's easier to make out on the full size view and the size comparison, look at the shoulder pads in particular. i assure you, in person it's a different story.

 

having said that, i'm still not happy with the frost blade, as you pointed out, the runes are pretty poorly applied, the black is just an undercoat for the glowing blue i plan to paint over it (lightning bolt blue/ice blue/space wolf grey/skull white). BUT i can't seem to get the yellow to blend properly on it. after undercoating i basecoated it with iyanden darksun, then layered on some watered down golden yellow, then did a sharp highlight with sunburst yellow, but it's really hard to see the detail, the whole thing just looks golden yellow.

 

anyone got any ideas/suggestions?

 

while you think about it, here's some WIP shots of Freki, he's a standard gobling riding wolf with his body lengthened and widened, and with a much bigger mane sculpted.

i just went and bought some chaos warhounds though, so i might try to frankenstein them together to make some giant hideous super wolves.

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00088.jpg

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00087.jpg

Nice job, very true to the artwork. As for your painting dilemma, have you ever tried other brands? Vallejo makes some of the best paint around, and I've also had good luck with delta ceramcoat, but that may not be available outside of the US. If I remember correctly vallejo has a line called game color and they have a nice bright yellow, but I would look for the normal vallejo paints because they are less expensive than g-dub paints, and are of same or better quality.

after a few days repeatedly painting the blade and messing up the runes, then stripping it and repeating ad nauseum, i finally have my yellow situation sorted. turns out i just needed to use my super paint mixing powers and add some white to get a better contrast.

i've also been trying to figure out how i want the runes to look, and i've settled on something like this:

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00092.jpg

 

also, gator, you made a good point, the chainsword was waaaay too big. i've now shortened the handle a little, and reduced the blade length by 3 teeth. it's still slightly larger than a standard chainsword, but not in an over the top way.

also, after messing up freehanding the runes so many times, and while sculpting some fur for geri, i struck upon a brilliant idea.

one of my VERY old scalpel blades that i use for sculpting makes the exact shape i was trying to paint if you press it in to green stuff.

so, i layed on a little GS, pressed it flat on the side of a paint tub and then carved the runes along the blade. hopefully this will make it that much easier to paint and make them pop that little bit more. anyways, here's the photo.

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00091.jpg

 

and now back to work.

You know... you might try it as a Diarama... with him posing in front of a remembrancer with a bored look on his face, and a teen tiny print out of the the original artwork on an easil, with perhaps a converted inquisitorial mystic painting him, or maybe a converted WFB imperial soldier *some of whom look like fops*.
You know... you might try it as a Diarama... with him posing in front of a remembrancer with a bored look on his face, and a teen tiny print out of the the original artwork on an easil, with perhaps a converted inquisitorial mystic painting him, or maybe a converted WFB imperial soldier *some of whom look like fops*.

 

that sir, is a brilliant idea.

Well MK 6 is Heresy Era armor, even MK 7 was around late in the Horus Heresy. The only mark to be designed since is the MK 8. !

 

Mk 5 was available during the Istvaan campaign

 

Mk 6 was around on Mars during the Siege of Terra

 

The Space Wolves were nowhere near Terra so any Pre-Heresy, or even Heresy era SW forces would have no access to anything newer than Mk4 realistically. I could just about stomach Mk 5 on the ground they were equipped with new gear to go and burn Prospero. But no no no to Womble armour.

You've captured the artwork brilliantly, and the most recent pic of the sword is very cool. Your sculpting work is very good.

 

I have to agree with the poster above who mentioned the model looking a bit "flat." It could very well be the lighting (it's hard to photograph models well), but an additional highlight level and perhaps even a lower level in the shadows wouldn't go amiss.

 

Overall, excellent work. I agree the diorama idea is brilliant, and look forward to hearing how you did!

The Space Wolves were nowhere near Terra so any Pre-Heresy, or even Heresy era SW forces would have no access to anything newer than Mk4 realistically. I could just about stomach Mk 5 on the ground they were equipped with new gear to go and burn Prospero. But no no no to Womble armour.

 

I haven't read anything like that, MK VII was used during the Siege of the Emperor's Palace and MK VI was used during the Istvaan Campaign. Corax was described wearing it. Now maybe the whole Legion wouldn't have been supplied that in mass, but this is Leman Russ, it's most deffinitely plausible that the Primarchs were kept supplied with the latest and greatest in Imperial tech. Mars was sending each Legion regular shipments of munitions and equipment after all, Terminator armor was in it's infancy after all and in field testing. I would imagine that early suits of MK VI would have been sent to each of the Legions for field testing long before they were produced en-mass allowing for most if not all Legions to have had at least a modest supply of MK V and VI armor regardless of where they were or what they were doing before the Heresy broke out.

 

Also remember Mark V was being mass produced to stem the demand on the technically superior MK IV armor at least a while before the Heresy broke out.

 

In any case the Horus Heresy series talks about Marks of armor every now and then and MK VI was deffinitely available as was MK V, MK VII wouldn't have been available save for those fighting in the Siege of the Emperor's Palace but everything before that was at least in prototype circulation at the very least.

 

Anyway that's rather off topic, in short I think the model looks brilliant and the fixed up Chainsword looks MUCH better. I can't wait to see it all finished! :)

so here's a quick update, mjalnar is painted, i'm happy with it for the most part, but i still need to blend the handle/blade a bit.

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00095.jpg

 

now that i'm happy with my yellow technique, i've redone his right shoulder pad using a terminator pad and some plasticard to make it a proper MK6 type, as depicted in the art.

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00098.jpg

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00100.jpg

 

also, here's the converted wolf helm made with a mk6 helmet and the big wolf skull you get with logan grimnar.

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00094.jpg

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Warboy1982/DSC00093.jpg

The wolves are insane! Maybe you could do the wolves grey instead of brown to match Russ's pelt. (Brown would look good to to contrast it though.) You could dust the wolves fur with snow to make it look like they've walked through a blizzard.

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