Space Marines? .. Iron Hands!

[Brother Argos]

Oh I would love to do some Terminators ... possibly some in the Pre-Heresy style ... hmmm ... >grins<

[chaplain belisarius]

very nice looking iron hands there! lovingly converted and painted, most black armoured armies tend to look kind of unfinished but not these! :)

[kanan]

Hail Fellow-Battle Brother, wow!!!! i mean WOW!!!!!!! truly inspirational Marines there Brother Argos. ~smiles~ id just like to thank you for making Bolter & Chainsword. without you 50,000+ power armour modellers/convertors/painters/gamers would not have somewhere they can call home.

 

we are all indebted to you.

 

best regards to you at this time and i do hope you have a steller xmas and new years.

 

kanan aka Ariel Nathielle

 

-][-

 

 

 

peace

[Dark Sensei]

This is still pure pleasure to see.

Just an idea like that, perhaps it would look fine to have some rust-dust on the feet and lower part of the leggins, considering the fact they fight in sucha dusty place. This kind of dust would look great on black armar btw...

 

Merry Xmas fraters

DS

[Zeller]

Does anyone else notice the similarity between the Iron hands cog symbol and the Nurgle symbol?

[Dosjetka]

Does anyone else notice the similarity between the Iron hands cog symbol and the Nurgle symbol?

Now that you mention it, yes :huh:

 

Ludovic

[Chaplain-Skylax]

Excellant work brother.

 

How mush was the etched brass?

[Chaplain Desmodus]

Very cool stuff David, merry xmas and happy b-day also. :eek

 

Nice to see that you put your usual level of conventrated effort into your models, also that you seem to manage to crank finished models out at a fairly high pace, well done. :eek

[Veteran Sgt. Valour]

I am inspired by the results! Please keep up the great work, and continue posting the pictures.

[Terminatorinhell]

Your painting is amazing! I love the lenses! What exactly is a "tonal filter" by the way?

[Brother Argos]

Wanting to do something original when modelling is always difficult, there are thousands of modellers all of whom have excellent ideas and do their very best to make them into reality. We all are constantly inspired by the works we see on-line and in the real world, to the extent that it shapes our thoughts and often strangely limits our ideas as we sub-consciously copy what we like. With my Sgt. figure I wanted to try and do something original (or at the minimum rarely seen) and at the same time appropriate to the space-hulk theme I had adopted for my Iron Hands. The initial idea came from the normal practice of making special figures somehow more pronounced on the battlefield, people seem to alter their height, often placing them on bigger / higher bases. With that in mind I decided to "raise" my Sgt. above the crowd and use the "Vertical" space on his base somehow.

It didn't take too long to combine "Vertical" with "Space-Hulk" and decide on a scenario where either my Sgt. was descending or ascending onto a new level. That then led onto ladders between levels and I suddenly had the image I wanted, he would either be the last man to leave the level and firing into the crowd of opponents chasing the squad as he climbed up, or first man down onto a new level scanning for and finding enemies to fire upon as he descended. Here is what I saw in my minds eye on Christmas day as I sat with my family: -

With that image in my mind I set about making the base ... I used two thick strips of plasticard for the sides of the ladder, I taped them together with masking tape and measured and drilled the 1mm holes through them for the rungs. I then rounded the tops to give the feeling that the ladder only stopped a little way above the marine, as it would be impossible to show a roof this would be essential to the illusion of height. Then putting some treadplate plasticard on a base and cutting through it, I pushed the sides of the ladder down into the base and glued them. The rungs were then added one by one and also glued but the ends were left with 2-3mm randomly each side, I did not do the last rung as I needed to thing how the hand would attach to it.

I then held my rule along the outside edge of the ladder and using that as a cutting guide, I used my flush cutters (the GW ones) to cut along the ruler, therefore insuring each rung would end at the same distance from the ladder, small details like everything being level help significantly to make the mind accept what its seeing. So with the base done I set about the creation of the Sgt. the first thing I would need would be an extended arm, if you think about anyone hanging onto a ladder while firing, the hand/arm holding the ladder is usually extended and taut as it takes the weight. The pointing arm with the index finger extended was my final choice, I drilled a 1 mm hole through the "fist" portion and then assembled it with the top rung through it and glued the run into place with an arm dangling from it. The chest and back plate were easy to find and I used the techmarine plate with the cog and skull on, I did add a small cog to the belt buckle after filing it flat to enhance the IH style.

Next came the legs, I knew the running legs would give me something close to what I wanted, but upon closer examination the position of the feet would wrong. The foot in contact with the rung would need to be compressed and the other foot would need to be extended either coming up from the rung below or descending towards it. This all involved some drastic foot surgery as I removed appropriate looking feet from another pair of legs, tidied them and then attached them to the set of legs I wanted. Obviously removing and reattaching feet also cost me the power cables normally found from ankle to foot, so using some of the dragonforge ribbed cabling I set about recreating the power cables. Once finished I was pleased with the result especially as the ambiguity of whether the figure was climbing or descending still remained. I then stuck the backpack on and gave it a slight angle to show the shift in weight while climbing, I had used this small trick before as it emphasises the figures movement without being very obvious.

Next came the arm with the weapon, I normally magnetise everything I work with and this would be no exception. I planned to have another outstretched arm and to sever the hand after the wrist joint. Having done so I drilled a hole into the wrist for a 2mm rare earth magnet. The magnets I use are strong enough to hold a plastic/resin weapon in place without it rotating and a matching magnet would be placed into the hand holding the weapon. The initial two weapons chosen were a plasma pistol and a bolt pistol, but my plans include all possible weapon options for a sgt in a tactical squad including powerfist. Lastly I chose the head I wanted, it had to have bionics and have some energy in the facial features, One of the Admins on the Bolter & Chainsword (SCC) had the excellent idea of using the Shadow Captain Korvydae head from ForgeWorld and I must say I think his choice was excellent (I also happened to have one in my bits collection).

After all this modelling I was left with the figure you have seen above, held together with blu-tac while I get the positioning right, I need to "assemble" him with glue now (all apart from the arm on the ladder) and start work on the magnetised weapon options. Once all that is done I need to go and fill in some areas with green stuff and make him a new curled index finger. Then I can start work on painting him!

I hope he meets my original conditions of being both themed and original, I don't recall too many marines in this position (apart from some really old GW dioramas).

[SCC]

As I said last night David, this guy is extremely cool, I can't recall anything quite like it either. The old RT era dioramas you mention are the closest thing I can come up with too (I used to love those, Marines fighting through tunnels and complexes and stuff, one day I must do more than paint a few figures of my Space Wolf PA Space Hulk themed army).

 

It's the little things I like, the Korvydae head works brilliantly, the 'fully' hollowed out bolt pistol looks much better than the more normal half or two-thirds that I use and there are enough IH touches to make it plain who this guy is. Looking forward to seeing the paint go on, it looks like you've taken the smart route and just glued the arm in place at the moment, correct? The body looks tacked on so removal for nice, easy painting looks simple enough.

[Brother Martemis]

that is beyond awesome - and yup, you've managed original.

 

i have the feeling however; it won't be unique for long....

 

 

can't wait to see what you will do with terminators though (no pressure)

[camsmush]

Superbly painted - I will be following this thread.

[Captain Mick]

Great model, well done :lol: .

[Brother Argos]

@ Chaplain-Skylax : The etched brass was between £5-8 for a sheet with LOTS of rivets on!

 

@ Chaplain Desmodus : SVEN!!! ... Thanks and long time no see ... I wish you were doing more of your old style flesh eaters ... they are excellent!

 

@ Terminatorinhell : A tonal filter is a very very thin wash of water with a hint of paint in it ... it alters the tone of the base colour without overwhelming it in any way. I often use them on my white bolters to give the "blueish" tinge. Basically 20-1 mix water and paint with a hint of flow improver added in.

 

@ SCC : Thanks Chris :D ... the advice on the head was excellent!

 

@ Brother Martemis : I might be going old school with my Terminators ... more later!

[Doghouse]

Now that is a seriously cool idea, extremely original as well which is something that you don't see a lot of nowadays. :D

[Brother Argos]

Thanks Doghouse, trying to find something original is too hard these days!

 

I have no idea where to go for an HQ unit ... But I will cross that bridge when I get to it!

[chaplain belisarius]

that is a very cool model brother argos! :P

[Brother Martemis]

Thanks Doghouse, trying to find something original is too hard these days!

 

I have no idea where to go for an HQ unit ... But I will cross that bridge when I get to it!

 

 

given the 'space hulk' theme that this squad is building, perhaps bridge is the right word, around, inspecting command podiums and what-not, could convert ( if you have one ) the dead terminator from space hulk, into a reclining terminator captain...

[Brother Argos]

Not sure about A "bridge" theme ... Although an engineering section has some appeal!

[Zynk Kaladin]

Giving a whole new meaning to "death from above".

[Terminatorinhell]

Looks like an epic game of bugs and ladders (snakes and ladders anyone?).

[Brother Argos]

@ Zynk Kaladin : That is actually quite good ... "Death from above" ... although I still haven't decided on descending or ascending!

 

@ Terminatorinhell : I still haven't decided on the opponent they are "facing" ... could be bugs :cuss ... or Orks ? ... or Chaos Marines ... basically any of the typical space hulk nasties.

[onipunk]

Heh, reminds me of some of these accident helpline adverts you see on TV all the time. "Have you had an accident or injury at work recently that wasn't your fault? Call the Imperial Accident Helpline now for a no win, no fee case." "I was on a ladder in a space hulk, I wasn't quite sure whether I was descending or ascending, when the ladder came loose and I fell to the floor, crushing my arm under the ladder. I managed to claim £2000 in compensation with no hassle." ~ Brother-Sergeant Vanadius Estraken of the Iron Hands Chapter.

 

All joking asside, he looks fantastic, and the Korvydae head is a great choice, but it sits in the neck a little strangely, mainly because I think the rounded neck pin is too large for a standard torso. Might be worth shaving it down to fit in a normal chest piece.