MkII "Crusade" Power Armour tutorial

[Ufthak]

Hey guys!

Recently someone in the WIP section asked me for a MkII tutorial and I posted it there, then I guessed it really belonged in here. So here goes, for all those Pre-Heresy-army-owners who are bored by doing MkVIs and MkIVs and want a new challenge:

Part A: What you need

A1: Helmet -

I used the helmets from Maxmini (for those of you who don't know them: Linky). They're great, good quality and not too expensive. In my opinion, the ones on the far right on the picture in the store (upper and lower right) resemble MkII helmets.

A2: Torso -

From the standard Space Marine Box, use the torso with the single little skull on it (no Aquilas/Imperialis, no cables), as well as a standard back part.

A3: Arms -

From the Chaos Space Marine Box, use any arm with a gauntlet. These resemlbe MkII army most. Use any shoulder pad that has no Chaos iconography and no studs.

A4: Legs -

Use the standard Space Marine legs with kneepads.

A5: Power pack -

I used the power packs form the Chaos Space Marine box, but trimmed the "wings" back so it looks like a loyalist pack.

A6: Bolter -

I used the standard Goodwyn pattern Bolter, but using one from 2nd Edition could look good too.

A7: Sculpting tools and Green Stuff -

My sculpting tools were a Swiss Army knife, the needle of a compass (for drawing circles), and a nail clipper. I recommend proper sculpting tools though.

A8: Time and, above all, Patience, coupled with a steady hand

Part B: How to do it

Now, the head, the arms, the bolter and the power pack don't need much work, so I won't discuss them. The hard parts are the legs and the front torso. In the following steps I'll only describe how to do the torso, since the principle is the same for both.

Step 1:

Remove the little skull with a knife (on the photos, it'll still be there, just imagine it's cut off):

Step 2:

Using the knife, cut a straight line/indentation about 0,5 mm deep into the torso along the line shown on the pic.

Step 3:

Using the knife or a file/grinder, or possibly sandpaper, cut out/remove all details and features between the cut and the torso belt (Red/Green area). You don't need to cut away much, just enough to fit in a 1mm-thick layer of Green Stuff later.

Step 4:

Fill the area with Green Stuff, smoothing the surface by rubbing with your finger, applying pressure with a flat object (like the flat side of a knife), or (only after the last step, when it's dry!!!) by using sandpaper. While the GS is still soft, use the knife or a similar object to carefully make to long indentations down the center as shown on the pic.

Step 5:

With the GS still soft, apply the details. The MkII armour appears to have some sort of cabling down the center, so create this by adding a set of paralell horizontal indentations between the two vertical ones.

Step 6:

Last step. With the GS still soft, add the last 4 indentations, thereby creating the armour segments.

The result SHOULD look something like this:

Now, the legs use the same principle.

- Using a knife, cut away a ~0,5-1mm-thick layer of the shin and thigh armour.

- Replace it with a layer of Green Stuff. While it's still soft, make the same sort of indentations/lines as described in the torso tutorial above. There should be 2 such lines on the shins and 2 on the thighs, thereby creating the different armour segments.

- The MkII armour has, strictly speaking, two more details many people tend to forget: a cod piece (I call it "dick armour"), and cabling along the thighs. I made the former by cutting out an oblong piece of thin cardboard (such as from a cereal box), put a layer of green Stuff over it, then made 2 indentations/lines as described above. The cabling I made by adding thin strips of Green Stuff to the thighs, then used the same technique as described in Step 5 above.

The result should look something like this:

As a last finishing touch, you can add a spike to the helmet (I think that looks cool). I used an arrowhead from the Warhammer Fantasy Goblins and stuck it into a drilled hole in the helmet. Also, you can add a few studs/rivets to the corners of the armour segments and/or in a line along the side of the leg, one per segment. I didn't do this, though I guess it would look great if the studs/rivets are done nicely.

As an alternative to the above, simply buy the MkII in the "armour through the ages" set. I used some bits and pieces from that set.

Finished MkIIs:

There, that's a tutorial of sorts, I hope. If anyone uses it to create his own MkII armour then I'd love to see some pics :lol: Hope that it was easy to understand and that it helps you with your MkII modelling! If anyone has questions or (constructive) criticism, just let me know :)

[Ufthak]

Any comments? Or, better, suggestions for improval?

[Hasdrubal]

Have you tried platiscard banding for the torso, in order to get clear-cut lines and segments? As is it looks good for a regular tac. marine, but lacks a bit of definition for guys wxith torso fully exposed.

[Ufthak]

No, I haven't tried Plasticard yet, since it's so hideously difficult to get where I live (Freiburg in Germany). I guess it could work, and look good, but I'm really asking myself whether simply to use Green Stuff isn't easier...

[Koenig]

Well, I had the same problem since I came to Spain. Half of the more useful things one uses in miniature modelling and the like are unavailable. My magnets for example had to come from Germany. Simply noone here makes small magnets.

 

Back to the topic: Go to your major hardware store (Obi or similar) and buy a "for sale/rent" sign. I got one 0,5mm thick, about 70cm x 50cm for under 10€, for example. Got a similar sized sheet about 3mm thick at a paper/art store. Funily, I prefer the "for sale" signs as they are cheaper.

 

I "upgraded" a friends old dreadnought I inherited this way and converted him to an Ironclad with two thunderhammers with this material.

The thing I noticed is that it takes a time to get used to cut in a straight line or in curves. I really suffered duplicating the second hooked sword for my Shrike counts-as.

 

HOWEVER all those things don't mean plasticard is useless, quite the opposite. It gives very beautiful results and is quite resistant to damage.

 

I have yet to try, but I have seen some very interesting work (especially weapons) that combined a plasticard structure and green-stuff embellishments (for results, think eldar runeblades).

 

Good luck finding apropiate plasticard sheets, they really are worth a try

[Ufthak]

Vielen vielen Dank König ;) Wo in Spanien bist du im Moment?

 

Yep, getting one's hands on the right materials is a pain in the arse. I virtually finished assembling and painting my assault marines before last Christmas, and have been trying to find the right wire to hold them up in the air since. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find straight, hard, steel wire of the calibre 1mm-1,5mm. Plasticard is virtually non-existent, as are modelling putties (Green Stuff is expensive, looking for a good alternative).

 

Anyway, thanks for the advice :P I'll have a look around Obi or the Baumarkt, maybe find something useful there (though it really sucks that both are on the outskirts of town and I live in the centre) :D

[NuclearMessiah]

Very nice tutorial (thanks for the link to the heads also)

 

I will have to give this a shot for my Iron Warriors as I can imagine they will still have several MKII sets.

[Ufthak]

Thanx @NuclearMessiah :) Hope the tutorial helps you do some nice MkII Iron Warriors! Yep, I guess the iron warriors still had some MkIIs by the end of the Heresy, but particularly some MkIIIs (judging by the Iron Warriors Upgrade Kit) ;)

[Koenig]

Gern geschehen Ufthak, ich hoffe du hattest Glück bei der Materialsuche...

Ich lebe in Madrid...hier findest du fast nichts für den Modellbau

 

Well, as for the wire I made something similar (if I could find the pics now...). Used some wire some 0,5-1mm thick, relatively flexible as they are easier to store and carry. Also, you can give them a pose you had not thought of when you mounted them. What I did was drill in and glue into a foot one end, then the other trough the base, then bent it. For balance I glued a "worthless" volunteer coin into the base so that the miniature gets some stability. Hope it helps (it shure made painting them easier (hate painting jump packs...)

 

Good luck !

[Ufthak]

Danke König :D

I'll bear the tipps in mind when I do my assaulties. I'v already attempted two bases, looking ok, but still very WIP. Thanks anyways :D

[Jakael]

Wow, I think that came out really good. Thanks for the walkthrough and the link! those helmets are great!

[Ufthak]

Always happy to help :tu:

In any case, my tutorial has been added to the Librarium; it's also modified and updated.