BCK's Thread of Stuff: Maybe not eldar...

[The Traitor]

That's an awesome idea, had never seen something like that before! Covering all the chaosy bits should take some time, but I think it could be a very good base for Ghazkull... Also even though I arrive a bit late, after reading @sparrow2z comment maybe you could name it the Atuin Superheavy Recovery Tank, after the giant turtle from Diskworld that carries the elephants that carry the world (same concept as Bahamut, but I thought it would be appropriate to name something in a famous fictional setting after something from another famous fictional setting).

[Vairocanum]

WOW, Ghazghkull is looking humongous. Can't wait to see the model after you do your sculpting magic!

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Thanks guys!

 

While cutting down the left arm to a workable size to start building the power klaw I noticed something that didn't seem out of place on the Helbrute, but definitely caught my attention now that this is a very large ork. 

 

 

The left arm is way too high up for where a shoulder should be even on an ork with their very hunched torso anatomy. 

 

Here's a quick Photoshop chop job to show about where I want to move the arm to. 

 

 

I'll probably be reposing it some as well just to distance it a little more from the original helbrute pose. Since I always want to try to get the anatomy the way I want before I start getting into the heavy sculpting work, next up will be work on the lower body starting with the feet and I think I might lengthen the thighs a tad. 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Would it be easier if you relocated the Ork's head? Or is removing both arms and moving them downwards the best option?

[walter h]

No I think he is correct. The head is right for the position. Keep the head there,and move the arms.This is looking awesome.

Edited December 11, 2017 by walter h

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Moving the arm would be MUCH easier, believe me!

 

Didn't get much hobby time the last couple days but it gave me time to ponder on a material to use for making Ghaz's feet and probably his right arm. I didn't want to use a solid chunk of any kind of putty, be it GS or Milliput because that's wasteful. I considered building small hollow box form out of sheet plastic to then build on top of, but I wanted it to be more substantial than that. Then I recalled seeing someone using crumpled up aluminum foil to bulk out shapes on a much larger sculpted figure so I gave it a try. I found out that by crumpling it by hand as small as I could and then taking needle nose pliers and compacting it even more, it actually gets quite dense. So dense, in fact, that after I put a pin in the bottom of the plastic leg and tried to push it into the new foil foot, it bent the brass rod before it would go into the foil. I had to drill a hole in it!

 

So here's Ghaz with this new feet. 

 

 

They will get covered in a thin layer of superglue to make sure it holds together once the greenstuff goes on. 

[Sagentus]

Do love your conversions ... this one is looking great so far, eagerly waiting to see how it turns out :) 

[DaBoiKyknos]

Will he be getting his big metal jaw and his horns, too? :)

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I've had pics of him with his gob on before and yes, there will be horns. :)

[DaBoiKyknos]

Just saw that there was a picture with the jaw-thing, just a few posts above. Which I´m pretty sure I saw before, yikes!  

[Calyptra]

I'm pretty excited to see how this turns out, but I have a (probably stupid) question.

 

It looks like the Hellbrute is going to just be an armature for green stuff and Ork parts. If that's the case, why use the Hellbrute at all? Why not just build a Hellbrute-sized armature out of something that isn't GW plastic?

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

You're not the first one to ask that question and the answer is not an easy one for me so I'll try to give pieces of the whole jumbled mess in my head. 

 

• In the grand scheme of things I consider myself a solid "decent" with the greenstuff and sculpting a figure from scratch is very daunting for me
• My internal critic is a real bastard which also piggy backs onto point 1 by telling me I'll just screw it up every time I consider a scratch build
• My few attempts with making armatures for something failed horribly
• If I was going to do something from scratch, I would probably use polymer clay which doesn't 'cure' until you put it an oven giving you an unlimited working time and I have no experience with it. 
• The helbrute was there, approximately the right size, and would suffice as the armature itself with the proper application of a Dremel. 

There's also the difference between a conversion and a kitbash which most people use interchangeably. A kitbash is taking parts from different kits (generally multi-part plastics) and gluing them together and a lot of people call this a conversion but it's not, in my opinion.  To me, I consider the meaning of conversion literally where I take a thing and change it into something else, mostly with sculpting. I did not want to kitbash a new Ghaz by putting his head and gob on a helbrute body and call it a day, but convert the helbrute into a new Ghaz.  

 

I did something similar with some Blood Bowl black orcs I converted from ogre bulls which can be seen here, and got asked the same question then by a few people about just doing an armature instead. 

[Kizzdougs]

Looking good so far, dude!! I've always wanted to see a bigger Ghazghkull so I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes :tu:

[Calyptra]

Thanks for the response, and those Blood Bowl models are wonderful!

 

Everything you've said makes sense. "I just don't want to" is also a perfectly valid response, and I don't mean to imply that you "should" be working on models in any particular manner.

 

That said, I have some jumbled thoughts in response to your jumbled answer. (Probably even more jumbled because I don't know how to make those fancy bullet points. Also, insomnia.)

 

After a point, I think the differences between conversion, kit bash, and scratch build are semantic. You're just making stuff.

 

Polymer clays aren't very complicated (though they are probably significantly more complicated than I think). Sculpey, for example, comes in a few different grades, with the fancier/more expensive stuff (like Super Sculpey) holding more detail and firing to a harder and more rigid consistency. Like 2-part putties, you can mix different Sculpeys together. You can also use green stuff to glue polyclay to armature wire. A soft brush and rubbing alcohol or mineral spirit will smooth out your surfaces. There's a ton of tutorials out there, and some of them are even helpful.

 

If you screw it up, so what? How many green stuff projects have you screwed up getting to where you are now? Screwing up is an important part of learning. (Admittedly, maybe what you learned is that you hate polymer clays and you never want to touch the wretched stuff ever again.)

 

Like plastic, polymer clay gives way quite readily with the application of a dremel. Unlike plastic, it has a much nicer heft, which is important when you get frustrated and throw it out the window.

 

Even though I've been going on about them, I don't have strong feelings about polymer clays. I have very strong feelings about screwing up. I worry about not taking risks, not learning, not growing, because of not wanting to screw up.

 

...sorry for rambling like a lunatic in your project log because I couldn't sleep.

[The Traitor]

Aluminium foil is great as a cheap base or filler, I use it all the time and is inside a lot of my conversions. Also agree that converting is different from sculpting from scratch of kit bashing, and you can like one but not the others, however I still think you should try someday :P.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

The time has come for me to take a break from 40k for a number of reasons, not the least of which is a sharp drop in enthusiasm with modeling anything from the setting (with a total burnout on marines this year). My little gaming group is off to sample the goods from Privateer Press and see how things fare. Having been in the setting for nearly two decades I know I'll eventually come back to it but I have no idea when and I simply need a break from it. I'll still poke my head in to comment or like some posts here and there, but the Thread of Stuff will go dormant. 

 

For those who were anticipating my next conversion challenge, I apologize that it won't be happening for a while. 

 

See ya when I see ya. 

 

-BCK

[Slave to Darkness]

If ya gotta go then you gotta go. Catch ya around in the future broski.

 

*Salutes*

[Sagentus]

Sorry to hear it BCK. Wish you all the best and look forward to seeing you in the future :) 

[MikhalLeNoir]

Cya.

 

 

Hope all will be well

[Xin Ceithan]

Seeing this and your post in the PbP thread, it's a sad start into the day for me and quite a loss to the B&C in general. I do think that it is the right decision before things get too stake or you just go through the motions. This is our hobby after all, and hobby should be FUN.

Having seen your enthusiasm for the setting across the board, I have little doubt you will return to it one day. And that day, your work will be all that much more jaw dropping from the time you need to take away from it now.

 

Safe travels, brother!

[DaBoiKyknos]

Couldn´t you just finsh Ghazgkull? 

[Grotsmasha]

:cry:

[The Traitor]

You will be missed BCK, but I'll be anxiously awaiting for your return, I know it'll be glorious when it happens! A shame that you leave this Ghazkull conversion unfinished though, looked really promising...

[TheOneTrueZon]

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Couldn´t you just finsh Ghazgkull? 

 

Eventually, but my friend wanted me to do something for other game as his xmas gift.