Horus Heresy Tutorials: Thousand Sons Magistus Amon 16/02/17

[Biohazard]

This is going to be good, any particular reason youve used the Chaos Termi legs?

[Oceangrave]

This is going to be good, any particular reason youve used the Chaos Termi legs?

 

Probably cuz the chaos legs have MUCH better posing than the standard termi

[Biohazard]

Good point. :cuss

[Gawain Veteris]

Hello brothers!

 

Deary me this one has been an Oddyssey! My camera ran out of batteries three times so in the end I ran down to the shop to get some more :P As a result the lower shoulder pad instructions are missing, however I will do my best to describe it. Before the tutorial proper I hope you'll indulge me in a short description of the results of my research.

 

On Terminator Armour

 

The idea of 'heresy era' TDA is kind of a tautology. Even the most modern suits, the Indomitus pattern, which is the stuff you get in vanilla termy boxes was first used in the last decades of the Horus Heresy, along with MKVII plate (Betrayal pg 237, Terminator Armour). Therefore my tutorial, and indeed Cataphractii armour, is a little pointless haha That said, Cataphractii definitely looks cooler, and there is a small rules difference. Also, I personally am not a fan of the Tartaros pattern TDA... I don't know if this is controversial... Either way there is one thing which has confused me. On pg 237, Betrayal there is a reference to 'Saturnine' TDA. Is that like, the MKI pattern ones from early Space Hulk and RT? Either way MKI Termies are interesting to me and I intend to have a go at making one. I'll let you know on the result :P

 

TDA, as presented in Betrayal, is an extension of MKIII power armour, where the MKII suit was given more and more protection. Tartaros pattern represents the same principle but with MKIV plate. This explains the numerous similarities between Cataphractii and MKIII. There are one or two details I didn't include like the MKII backpack jutting out from the back, and I didn't add studds in order to save time. The combi bolter is kept the same as the pack apart from the chainsword from hell being removed too.

 

In answer to an earlier question, there are numerous reasons why Chaos TDA is more suitable as a base model. First of all, the weapons look closer to the heresy ones, and there is a heresy heavy flamer and reaper autocannon with just one or two details to remove. Secondly the legs are perfect for my tutorial, because of a point I'll make later. Suffice it to say, for Cataphractii, with this tutorial, Chaos Terminator armour is the way to go. For obvious reasons, DA and SW terminator suits would be more suitable for the respective Legions. Now without further ado, the Tutorial!

 

Warning, severely pic heavy :P

 

Cataphractii Terminator Armour

 

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1183.jpg

 

Preparation

 

For the preparation stage you'll basically need to cut all the details away from the legs and chest plate.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1137.jpg

For the legs, once details are removed you should remove the supporting braces of the back of the thighs and shins. You should also remove the frontal half of each thigh tilt plate. These are found on the left and right of the legs. They vary in shape but these act as a perfect gage for the level of the thigh plate later.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1138.jpg

The chest plate, once cleared should have the curved arch removed and the forget caved in towards the middle.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1139.jpg

The helmet should be a standard space marine one prepared in the MKII and MKIII method.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1140.jpg

The shoulder pads need to be cleared too and the curved edge (the top half if its an indomitus plate) should be cut off. This creates the top plate for the Cataphractii.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1141.jpg

 

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1149.jpg

At the end of the preparation stage you should have something like this.

 

Green Stuff

 

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1156.jpg

Firstly take a blob of green stuff for each thigh plate...

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1157.jpg

... then smooth it down to meet the top of the knee. This should make the thigh tilt plate more or less blended in with the rest of the thigh plate.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1161.jpg

With a sculpting tool press down a curve from the top of the thigh.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1162.jpg

Fill out the gap in the centre of the torso with green stuff. This will help you mount the helmet.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1164.jpg

Add a small blob of green stuff to the front of the helmet, prepared in the style of MKII or MKIII power armour helmets.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1165.jpg

Smooth this over the whole visor making a snow plow shape with the line going down between where the eyes would be.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1166.jpg

Create the eye slit by pushing the putty away with a sculpting tool.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1167.jpg

At this point you can tidy the helmet up as you see fit and mount it in the still malleable green stuff in the torso.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1168.jpg

To give the termi a little more height and to set the abdomen up for details like pipes (as explained in MKIV and other tutorials) add a blob to the top of the legs.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1169.jpg

Here I have made pipes but plating or even cloth would be just as suitable IMO.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1170.jpg

Another reason for using the chaos terminator box is that in most cases there is already a supporting structure like chainmail you can use to base the leather strips on. For this you should place a blob of GS on the supporting structure and then smooth around the belt buckle.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1171.jpg

You should cut three lines, making four evenly sized leather strips.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1172.jpg

For the raised gorget you should ideally start it before the g stuff from the face plate has set, so as to correct any mistakes more easily. Make a small sausage and lay it across the helmet.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1173.jpg

From there smooth it over to where the gorget would be and begin to make a similar snow plow shape in the middle.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1174.jpg

Create a ridge and tidy up with your sculpting tool and there you have it.

If you happen to be of the Sons of Horus persuasion (or indeed Luna Wolves) then this is the main point where Justaerin and Cataphractii suits differ, which is a joke really :P Basically all you need to do is to make the gorget rounded, like a shoulder pad, rather than snow plough shaped. Add more studs to the majority of the plates and put a plume on the head and there's your Justaerin Termi ;)

 

Part 2 in next post to come...

Edited December 4, 2012 by Gawain Veteris

[Biohazard]

Looking fantastic!

[Unknown Chronicler]

forget the Ironclad dreadnoguht I was going to buy, I'm getting myself some Chaos Termies and then converting them to be Cataphractii, you are amazing brother! To make all these tutorials for us you make me overjoy with happiness, and I will make use of your tutorials, come on by, by my blod nby the end of the week and I should have posted at least by sunday one of these perfect Marines of the Cataphractii. This I promise you!!! The Emperor and all other beings in this universe have blessed you, never can say enough now :), I will not put you to shame mate Edited December 3, 2012 by ColdWinter

[Gawain Veteris]

Cataphractii part 2

Lets get straight to it shall we! :P

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1175.jpg
Here you should make an even smaller sausage and lay it across the top of the helmet, where appropriate, and create a rough triangular shape.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1176.jpg
Tidy this shape up, pointing it in the middle.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1178.jpg
If you would believe it, make an even smaller sausage (thinner too) and lay it along the cleared torso slant, wrapping it round the gorget, then smoothing it out, and your Cataphractii torso is done, apart from some arbitrary details. The method for adding such details can be found in MKIII tutorial.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1177.jpg
At this point you should have something like this (with the use of bluetak to hold it together).

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1180.jpg
Once the front of the legs has set ad an appropriately sized blob of green stuff to each of the cleared, back leg armour plates and smooth it over.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1181.jpg
Incise lines, two each, to make three plates each, with the edges facing up or down if they are thigh or shin plates, respectively. This is the same method as MKII and MKIII.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1182.jpg
What is IMO a master stroke of the sculptor responsible for the FW cataphractii is the way this next detail makes the single shin guards appear to have knee pads. This is the main reason I used a chaos SM TDA box set. Anyway, add diamond-ish shaped blobs to the respective places and smooth them over, then form ridges on the top part, making an arrow pointing downwards...

And that's when I ran out of battery in my camera while still working. The majority of the rest is literary description...

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1183.jpg
If you can see from these final pictures I took when I ran down to the shop to get some more batteries, the shin things are done and in a sort of downward pointing arrow shape. The astute among you will also notice the tiny circles I've placed at the knee joinds where all the plates meet. This just ties things together and makes it look tidier and is easy enough to achieve with tiny blobs which you press into shaoe.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1184.jpg
To achieve these is very simple. You lay a considerable blob along the top of each bare shoulder of the arm, and smooth it over the whole thing, allowing for any pipes like on the power fist arm.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1185.jpg
After that, you basically press the shape of a cataphractii plate into the side of the blob. So the extreme edges are straight when you press a straight line oon the extreme outside edge of the shoulder.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1186.jpg
This also produces a lower layer where you can cut vertical lines into in order to make the leather strip details. Its a good idea to at first do very large ones (still evenly sized) and then to cut more lines inbetween as this makes it seem more natural.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1187.jpg
I will endeavour to producing an add-on for this one to illustrate the shoulder-under-plate method. As Biohazard correctly states below, this tutorial is fully compatible with most third-party Cataphractii style plates, including the WHFB Chaos Knight ones. :)


http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/DSCN1188.jpg
And here he is in all his bulky TDA glory with some stumpier friends :)

I have essays due early next week so I really need to get a move on with those. Accordingly I probably wont have a new tutorial for you for at least a week and a half. Nevertheless the next one on my list is Artificer plate in the 31st Millenium :) :Edit: I've decided actually that this lack of extended periods of time to work on stuff would be better used by getting on with all the littler things I wanted to get on with. So helmets and legion specific details, and weaponry to be specific :)

I hope you have found this useful and once again, thanks for the interest :)

GV Edited December 4, 2012 by Gawain Veteris

[Biohazard]

Looking at this Im thinking the WHFB Chaos Knight shoulder plates could be used as well. The work you are doing on these is really invaluable mate. Thank you.

[Jolemai]

Thanks again for the update, they really look the part ;)

 

 

 

Not wanting to add to your workload but can you foresee an easy mod to Plasma Weaponry to make Volkite weaponry and will these appear painted eventually?

[Gawain Veteris]

Thanks again for the update, they really look the part

 

Not wanting to add to your workload but can you foresee an easy mod to Plasma Weaponry to make Volkite weaponry and will these appear painted eventually?

Jolemai: Glad you like them :P As for heresy era weaponry, I've got a working method for Heresy Plasma pistols and Guns from their Plastic equivalents and heresy looking pattern bolters. These basically came from a need for them in my up and coming heresy army, but I never included volkite in my list. The volkite weaponry from what I can see is a cross between a bolter and a plasma gun. It shouldn't be hard to work out some sort of conversion for it. I'll add it to the list :P

 

This sort of also answers your question as to whether they will be painted at some point; Yes, but not for a little while. I may get started over Christmas. I'll be recording my army project in another thread including a converted Heresy Predator, Nuncio Voxes, heresy ish weaponry. I will be featuring some forgeworld stuff too particularly for heavy weapons and MKIV helmets because I have some lying around.

 

The main problem is deciding which legion! Initially I was gonna do Sons of Horus, then it was Luna Wolves, then Emperors Children, then Luna Wolves again. Now I've got my eye on Dark Angels, or maybe even Blood Angels. The problem with these otherwise interesting legions is that I've done, or am doing 40k equivalents so I think I'd get a bit bored... Maybe Imperial Fists having just read Crimson Fist. I'm reluctant to do Ultramarines because they are somewhat limited in scope other than the Veridian pattern helmet. Raven Guard don't fit my play style and Salamanders are difficult to model for because they're pretty stream lined in fluff. I'm not a fan of Iron Hands personally... Nightlords are an interesting study, but limited in combat doctrine. Space Wolves are always fun to do but I don't like their heresy colours compared with 40k ones and I'm all for fluff. Thousand sons are too specific in concept, more like Grey Knights. I'm probably gonna do a custodes unit to be allied to my main force... I just don't know! Sorry to ramble haha :S

 

GV

[Unknown Chronicler]

I would say go for Imperial Fists or even Luna Wolves. Wouldn't mind seeing some Luna Wolves running around, besides who doesn't love them?! I've always wanted to do either them or Fists, so great choice. Can't wait to see what you will show us with Heresy weaponry, your just making my day. Keep up the good work ;)

[Biohazard]

I'd say Fists mate, I think these would look great in the yellow.

[Jolemai]

Gawain, do you feel these Cataphractii could be achieved from using the Grey Knight Teminators as a base point?

[Gawain Veteris]

Jolemai: Its a good question Brother. I've taken a close look at all the terminator kits currently available by GW and they're all compatible with this tutorial with some minor tweaking. The Grey Knight armour would best serve a Thousand Sons Legion army for their Psychic hoods, or a unit of Custodian Terminators because of their equipment. The only problem I forsee is my shoulder pad method as there is a lot of detail on each shoulder plate in the GK kit.

 

In answer to your question I would say yes, using Grey Knight terminators as a base point would work with one or two small alterations. In fact some aspects make the kit better than most, considering they all have shin guards rather than knee pads on their legs. Saves time for sure.

[Jolemai]

Thanks for the reply :)

 

Funnily enough if I do a Legion it would be Thousand sons, so that is very good to know :)

[NightHunters]

Still churning out the epic brother!

 

What's next?

[Gawain Veteris]

Nighthunters: Still churning out the epic brother!

 

What's next?

 

You are indeed gracious Jolemai haha As stated above I'm pretty bogged down with uni work and other real life stuff atm, and with going home for christmas so close I imagine I'll be spending a lot of time packing. So if anything comes in the next two weeks it will be mini tutorials on weaponry and legion specific bits :woot:

Edited December 6, 2012 by Gawain Veteris

[Jolemai]

I'll be recording my army project in another thread including a converted Heresy Predator

 

Would this be converting from a "normal" Predator to a Deimos Predator, or have you chanced across and different version? Surely you're not crazy enough to do a Jetbike...?

[Gawain Veteris]

QUOTE (Gawain Veteris)

I'll be recording my army project in another thread including a converted Heresy Predator

 

Would this be converting from a "normal" Predator to a Deimos Predator, or have you chanced across and different version? Surely you're not crazy enough to do a Jetbike...?

 

The Predator would be a half and half job. A commission from a friend here in newcastle to build a predator for heresy furnished me with the predator cannon and twin heavy bolters from the kit, so I will be using a standard plastic rhino chasis and plasticard (and a ping pong ball) to turn it into a Deimos pattern. Hope this answers your question.

 

As for Jet bikes... It suffices to say you underestimate my craziness :woot:

[Dosjetka]

The Predator would be a half and half job. A commission from a friend here in newcastle to build a predator for heresy furnished me with the predator cannon and twin heavy bolters from the kit, so I will be using a standard plastic rhino chasis and plasticard (and a ping pong ball) to turn it into a Deimos pattern. Hope this answers your question.

 

As for Jet bikes... It suffices to say you underestimate my craziness ;)

:D

 

Ludovic

[Mr Yellow]

These guys are looking awesome mate. Keep it up!

[Phalanx Warder]

Ok you sir are a genius! And your work is flawless.

I have been lurking on this page since your first post, and I myself have just stepped into the world of using green stuff, now I must ask you what wizardry you are using to get your green stuff so smooth? Mine inevitably and always looks like a bag full of gravel! If you could possibly point me to a tutorial? Maybe show me the tools of your trade, I only have the basic one from GW.

 

Thank you in advance. Battle8other

[Gawain Veteris]

I must ask you what wizardry you are using to get your green stuff so smooth? Mine inevitably and always looks like a bag full of gravel! If you could possibly point me to a tutorial? Maybe show me the tools of your trade, I only have the basic one from GW.

 

Hey battle8rother: First of all, I can only hope you're not actually using a bag full of gravel :) As for how I smooth out my green stuff, the right tools help -colour/clay shapers from good art stores are reccomended- but not enough can be said for technique. There are two methods I use to smooth out GS depending on the piece;

 

On larger pieces it is possible to use my finger if you would believe it haha just lick the end of your finger and lightly run it across the GS. This method is also good for blending GS over plastic components to create a seamless bond.

 

On more delicate pieces your GW tool is still suitable. Instead of using the edge of your tool, manipulate the GS with the flat of your tool and run it across like the finger method, rather than dragging it with the edge as this inevitably maks a build up which needs to be corrected and then it just becomes messy ;)

 

Finally, with your 'gravel esque' GS I'd reccomend keeping it in the blister pack, or a tupper ware container (thats what I use) when its not in use. This will stop the parts of the resin which are already next to one another from bonding as much and therefore making your GS bitty. Also, take more time to mix it properly and keep it moist while in use. A trick I use is to keep the GS I'm not manipulating folded in my little finger. This keeps it warm and more maleable for longer :D

 

Hope this answers your question. Thanks for the interest.

 

GV

Edited December 9, 2012 by Gawain Veteris

[GrandMagnus]

Wow, these are some really amazing tutorials! Great work, I need to try this. What Im most interested in is how they look once they have been painted.

Is there any chance you can make a tutorial for more knightly helmets?

Edited December 16, 2012 by Anaziel

[Gawain Veteris]

Thanks Anaziel <_<

 

I'm currently working on my crusade era army project. Over on General PCA Questions is my page about which legion I should do. I'd be happy for some suggestions :P

 

As for knightly helmets, they're the plan for the DA Legion details so you shouldn't need to wait to long :wacko:

 

If I don't post again til then, have a very merry christmas :)

 

GV