Khorne's Eternal Hunt - KrautScientist's chaotic WIP thread 2024: Baby steps...

[KrautScientist]

Thanks for the well considered feedback, everyone! Particularly to Mol! Some excellent food for thought!

 

I definitely get what you're saying about the disparity between the rounded, 50s-styled robot underneath and the baroque, ostentatious "chaotic" armour I have placed on top. However, I have to admit that I am not sure myself whether I should actually attempt to get rid of the visual features of the Kastelan altogether, or leave some of them clearly visible (in juxtaposition with the more ostentatious 40k design), in order to show how the machine has been something else before it became a warmachine of chaos. I am still finding my feet in that particular discussion, to be honest.

 

The different shoulder pads were indeed an attempt to go for a slightly gladiatorial look and feel (with the big DP pad recalling Astartes shoulder pads, while the smaller pauldron was supposed to look slightly more gladiatorial). It may not be easy to tell from that particular angle, but the big shoulder pad doesn't actually obscure all that much of the right arm: Only the shoulder is covered up, while the arm itself stays mostly visible.

 

That's a very interesting suggestion regarding some hip armour -- I am actually torn about whether I want the model to look more bulked out or keep the slightly skeletal structure, pointing towards its robotic roots. I could also add some hydraulic support struts between the pelvis area and the torso, which would add a bit of bulk, yet also keep the slightly skeletal look, I suppose?

 

You are totally right about the angle of the head, though -- I adjusted that right away! ;)

 

And that's an excellent point about the Iron Warrior's bionic leg: Maybe it was actually fashioned to recall a daemonic limb (maybe even *the* daemonic limb it was meant to replace?!).

 

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback! Keep it coming! :)

[ChaptermasterDemon7]

One word for the Kastleans':   Terminators.

[KrautScientist]

Cheers, man! :)

 

Changes to the Kastelan conversion are happening in increments now, rather than in huge leaps, which I think is an indication for the model approaching completion. That said, there are some smaller changes I would like to share with you. For instance, I think the new armour plates on the upper leg are an improvement over the stock ones:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/5/26/716731-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Kastelan%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Kitbash%2C%20Robot.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/5/26/716732-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Kastelan%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Kitbash%2C%20Robot.JPG

 

And a question for all of you: Does the left arm look better in that pose (as though the model were pointing at an opponent or getting ready to unleash a torrent of flame from the integrated weapon), or do you prefer the previous pose?

 

As always, let me know what you think! :)

[Teetengee]

Would a pose similar to the first pose but closer to the body be possible for the arm?

[KrautScientist]

Hmm, it would be possible, but it would actually look pretty bad, because it would underline how short the arm actually is... ;)

[Augustus b'Raass]

I prefer the first pose.

 

I also have a nitpick: the haft of the hammer looks a little too big. Or is it the head. In any case, I think it would look more believable if either would be smaller - so the haft, because why would you want to make that awesome head amaller?!?! ;)

[HardCoil]

I like the castelean, it has a crazy ABC warrior vibe to it :D

[Bryan Blaire]

Rather than pointing, can you open the fingers so the hand is splayed like he actually is unleashing the torrent o' flame?

[KrautScientist]

Hey everyone, I've been pretty busy with various RL issues, so I didn't get that much done on the hobby side of things. That said, I wanted to share my cleaned up conversion on the Kastelan. I think this is pretty much what the finished model will look like, give or take a bit or two ;)

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/6/5/719274-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Kastelan%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Kitbash%2C%20Robot.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/6/5/719277-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Kastelan%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Kitbash%2C%20Robot.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/6/5/719275-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Kastelan%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Kitbash%2C%20Robot.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/6/5/719276-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Kastelan%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Kitbash%2C%20Robot.JPG

 

As you can see, I used some GS to fill in the various recesses on the head. I also used GS to extend the middle section a bit, in order to make the model slightly less tubby. The arms have also been ever so slightly extended (when compared to the stock Kaselan arms), mostly by attaching the hands in a slightly different positions. And finally, I've made a simple press mold of the Bloodthirster's hoofprint and tried to duplicate the Khornate rune on the Kastelan's left sole:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/6/5/719278-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Kastelan%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Kitbash%2C%20Robot.JPG

 

This detail will still require a bit of cleanup, but I think it works, all things considered.

 

As always, let me know what you think! :)

[Teetengee]

I like him, although you may want to try another mold of the hoof if that one doesn't get better during cleanup.
Where is the forehead khorne icon from?

[Augustus b'Raass]

I love him. Are you fielding him as a DP?

[KrautScientist]

Cheers, guys! :)

 

@ Teetengee: The forehead icon came from a small chain that comes with the Skullcrusher kit: I just snipped off the chain pieces and ended up with the icon.

 

@ Auggie: The model is a fair bit taller than a regular Dreadnought and should be almost on par with a Contemptor (albeit less bulky). Which is why I think it would work as bot a Dradnought/Helbrute (Alpha Brute, anyone?) or a Contemptor, if push comes to shove. Here's a scale comparison picture with a lowly Marine:

 

[Augustus b'Raass]

Yup, that would work great as a helbrute/dreadnought. Contemptor, maybe, but helbrute, most assuredly. Looks epic mate. 

[K0rtmer]

Assuming there is flamer built into the (left) power fist (yes?), that model could also easily go as a Chaos Ironclad Destroyer of Cities, with the hammer counts-as Assault Drill. 

 

Anyway, a great model that has matured a lot over the last couple of pages. I suppose the left arm looks a tiny little bit too short because of the particular angle you chose for the picture. You have any ideas for the base in place?

[Augustus b'Raass]

Hey Kraut, how's it going with the ETL vow, buddy! You owe us a Knight and two characters! ;)

[KrautScientist]

Hey Kraut, how's it going with the ETL vow, buddy! You owe us a Knight and two characters!

 

Hmm, if nothing else, I have at least managed to finish one of those characters, you know ;)

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/5/2/710403-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Lord%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Greimolt%20Sturm%2C%20Iron%20Warriors.jpg

 

 

Hey everyone, sorry for the long radio silence. Just when I thought I had an awesome plan for this year's ETL, work related shenanigans left me with precious little time for painting my vowed models -- and also happened to kill much of my hobby drive, at least when it comes to painting. So with under a week left to complete my vow, I thought I'd repeat the comeback I pulled off during the last Call of Chaos and undercoated my Knight yesterday evening in an attempt to get back into the race.

 

So far, so good, right?

 

Turns out I may have screwed myself over big time with the model, though: I undercoated everyhting but the armour plates with Chaos Black and the new Leadbelcher spraypaint. It ended up looking like this...

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/25/731280-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/25/731281-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/25/731271-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

...which seems serviceable enough at first glance. Here's the kicker, though: Due to an unforeseen (and inexplicable) undercoating mishap, the whole model ended up with a very gritty, almost sandpapery texture (you can just about make out the effect in some of the pictures). The only part of the model that escaped this problem was Baron Harrowthorne himself (undercoated five minutes prior, using exactly the same spray can):

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/25/731272-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

My first impression was that I had managed to ruin a 100+ Euros model, and one I have spent many hours converting, at that. But I won't give up that easily -- I remain committed to trying to rescue the model.

 

The colour and texture aren't all that bad: The silver has a pretty nice gunmetal look going on now, and while it may not have been planned, I think I can work with it. The real problem is that whatever happened during undercoating has messed up the way the undercoat reacts to other paints: I have added a liberal black wash to the entire model, but the basic trick of using a dark wash to add shadows doesn't work nearly as well over this freaky undercoat.

 

Anyway, here's the model as it looked earlier today: The whole model has been washed black and I have started to pick out the bronze and red parts on the Knight's "skeleton":

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/25/731275-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

A closer look at the head reveals the effect I described above:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/25/731274-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

At least the undercoat will take different paints well enough, although the silver doesn't look as good as I would like:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/25/731276-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

And, like I said, it takes *a lot* of wash to suitably darken the undercoat: Compare the main body with the chaotic heat outlets (yet unwashed) in this picture:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/25/731278-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

At first I was really in panic, but the model has at least started to come together a bit since I've blocked out the first details in red and bronze:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/25/731279-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

Right now, I remain cautiously optimistic that the model can yet be salvaged -- especially since the armour plates won't have the same problem, so the gritty texture may not be all that noticeable once the Knight is completely assembled. But I won't make any promises at this point: I am doing my best to finish my vow, but this has turned into quite the monkey wrench...

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/25/731277-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/25/731273-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

I'll keep you posted! ;)

 

There's one more thing I can show you -- and something far less frustrating, fortunately:

 

I have actually started on my very first conversion using a model from the Age of Sigmar starter box (the freebie Liberator from WD doesn't count), and while the resulting model probably won't be used for INQ28, I thought you lot might still be interested:

 

I actually chose the Khorgorath for my first venture into the box, which is strange because it's possibly the model from the kit I like least. Anyway, I wanted to make some changes to the stock model, and here's my slightly touched-up version:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/24/731049-Age%20Of%20Sigmar%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Goretide%2C%20Khorgorath%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

 

I definitely wanted to get rid of those "bone snakes" emerging from the creature's forearm and shoulder, so I cut off one of them and converted the other so it looked like the model's other shoulder. My main alteration to the model was the head, although it doesn't really photograph all that well, unfortunately:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/24/731050-Age%20Of%20Sigmar%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Goretide%2C%20Khorgorath%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

 

The model's original head was carefully cut apart, and the lower jaw was glued to the Khorgorath's neck (as intended). I then added a partially hollowed out ogre helmet on top, in order to give the model a slightly less abstract head (I also think the mask is a pretty good fit for some kind of Khornate arena beast). The skull and horns-combo in the shape of Khorne's rune was then added to the helmet as some kind of ornament:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/24/731051-Age%20Of%20Sigmar%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Goretide%2C%20Khorgorath%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/24/731052-Age%20Of%20Sigmar%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Goretide%2C%20Khorgorath%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

 

As always, let me know what you think! :)

[Augustus b'Raass]

Dude, that's a kicker. My mate's had the same problem with the Leadbelcher spray. The trick (although too late for your Knight now) is before using Citadel basecoat sprays, to put them in warm water for about ten minutes. That'll solve the weird texture issue.

 

All in all, I actually think I like the texture on it. Although I bet the extra effort is frustrating, it kinda suits a millenia old warmachine to be a little beat-up, right?

 

Hope you make the ETL, buddy! Also - did you finish the other lord or is that also in the pipeline? :tu:

 

Good to see you back in the game!

[Scribe]

I've also shared that experience, your saying to put the can's in warm water augustus? Its an issue with the propellant being too cold?

[Daemon2027]

Sorry to hear about the spray issues, it happened to me with Halfords grey before, during the cold winter months. It doesn't look bad in the pics, hopefully you can make the effect work as you paint. I also quite like the naked knight, should keep it that way, looks like a bigger hunchback version of the terminator.

[Augustus b'Raass]

I have no idea about the physics of the process, but it seriously does work. I got the tip from my local GW manager. He, I, and all the other local nerds tried it and we all report perfect results.

Edited July 25, 2015 by Augustus b'Raass

[K0rtmer]

Bummer, mate. I'm sorry to hear about your problem with the spray paint. But, to be honest, and without having seen the model IRL, I imagine the texture you managed to pull off might set you up very well for a heavily weathered, grimy paint job. I'm looking forward to what you'll make of it and I think your Knight looks awesome already!

[Midnightmare]

Sad times with the Knight mate, but if anybody can do a good rescue job it is you.

 

Love the Iron Warrior, you have a talent for them boys you know. Great kit bash and paint job, but c'maaaaaaaaaaaaaan we expect no less :D

[abraxus]

I've had that grainy undercoat happen to me before as well on some dragon princes. My solution was to get a cheap, synthetic brush and testors paint remover. I very gently "painted" the models with the paint remover and it smoothed out the base coat. I'd post pics, but I sold the models for around 150 (so it must have worked decently enough!). I would recommend testing this on a smaller bit first.

[KrautScientist]

Thanks a lot for the "condolences" and sound advice, everyone! What's really frustrating about this mishap is how a model that was undercoated literally at the exact same time didn't suffer any of the problems. Oh well...

 

Stripping the model is basically out of the question for me at this point, because I know myself well enough to know that I probably won't be touching a (possible imperfectly) stripped version of that Knight for ages. Besides, many of the products mentioned by fellow hobbyists here and on Dakka aren't as readily available in Germany, so I would need to experiment -- definitely not a good idea ;)

 

I feel that my best chance is to try and make the effect work to my advantage -- it does work pretty well in some places, making the metallic parts look like the heavily worn chassis of a machine that has been in service for a long time. The stupid thing is that it looks kinda goofy in other places, especially on the ams:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/26/731542-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

But when all is said and done, I think I may still be able to salvage this model, especially since so much of it will end up all covered up in armour plates, after all. I've been working on picking out the detail in red and bronze over the weekend, and I have also applied a very light brown wash I made, in an attempt to add some depth to the metal. It doesn't show up all that well in the photos, but it works fairly well. So here's the model as it stands right now:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/26/731540-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/26/731541-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/26/731543-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/26/731544-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/26/731545-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

 

I don't know guys, maybe I am merely deluding myself, but it feels like the model is maybe starting to come together after all...? As always, let me know what you think! :)

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/7/26/731546-Chaos%20Knight%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Daemon%20Knight%2C%20Harrowthorne%2C%20Imperial%20Knight.JPG

[Warsmith Uveron]

Its Looking Great. 

 

Great Progress!