SUPREME Grand Master Azrael

[Htogrem]

Greetings BnC! After years of lurking and letting my dudes gather dust, I decided to stop being lazy (we'll see how long that lasts). Despite his age, I think Azrael holds up reasonably well to the current model range. There's just a few things that need some help. First is his size, he's a little short and needs some bulk. Second, are the hands. The hands in almost all of the old range of models drove me nuts. If you could open them up everyone would have spider hands. Third, he has a dinky head. Even way back when, he had a dinky head (in my opinion). 

BEHOLD!!!... my  WIP already in progress. Honestly, I never intended to post anything online ever. Clearly I chopped off his arms and head. Also, I cut off his legs just below his knees. To bring him to proper height I put in a 1/16 inch spacer and glued him back together. 

I'm reasonably pleased with how the re-sculpt of the robes are progressing. I work on my dudes once every five years, so my sculpting skills aren't where I'd like then to be. There's a lot more to be done. 

I started bulking out the back and I added the backpack socket from a plastic marine. I'll be using a plastic backpack instead of the old metal one.

I added armor plates to his backside to bulk out the the robes on his legs. I will be sculpting the robes over the armor. 

I bulked up the feet, and need to add the rim of the boot sole. 

I will be using the head from the old metal Dark Angels Veteran sergeant. It's just about the the same size as the plastic marine  bare head. The face is also almost identical to Azrael's. In addition to re-sculpting the hands, I will be lengthing them slightly. All said and done, he won't look much different from his original form. I want to retain as much of the look and feel of the original model as I can, while updating him slightly.

Comments appreciated, and thanks a lot! 

 

 

[The_Chaplain]

An ambitious project, and I salute you for it.  It must have been an arduous task cutting apart that old metal model (my hands are aching just thinking about it).  

 

Rather than use a "standard" plastic backpack, have you given any thought to recreating Azrael's backpack by adding studs to the skulls on a legion of the damned backpack? In essence you would be making his classic backpack, just making the scale more in line with his new proportions? 

[Htogrem]

Thank you Chaplain. It was a massive pain to cut him up. I bought a rotary tool with this project in mind, unfortunately I got the cheap one. It did not have the power to cut through the metal. If I do another project (I have other ambitious ideas) I'll buy a Dremel.

 

As for the backpack, I do plan to recreate the classic one. I was rushing to complete that post, so I didn't write everything I intended to do. I'm not allowed to buy anything new as I own way too much unfinished stuff (plus lack of cash to play with), so LotD are out. I have a couple ideas though. One is to take the skulls off the metal pack. I'm pretty sure they're too small, maybe use them as a base and them up with green stuff. Idea two, I have a box of WFB skeletons. If the skulls are the correct scale, I'll add some studs and use them. We'll see, I'm not there yet.

[Htogrem]

Update time! Please pardon the poor photography.

 

I lengthened the robes around his left foot. Using the DA standard bearer as a guide, I built up the robes on his backside. I like how GW updated the Brother Bethor model by bulking up his legs and giving him some modern bits. When I went looking for inspiration for this project, I was surprised to find they did that. I didn't think they would update that particular model. Good thing for me, it had exactly what I needed to see. Still needs work, that divot is a little too deep. 

 

Thinking about the backpack put me in the mood to work on it. I chose to go with the skulls from skeleton regiment. The cables are from something I chopped up years ago, possibly a techmarine servo arm. Need to add spikes, and fill in some cracks. I think I'm going to do some riveted iron work at the base of the skulls. 

 

His legs are getting there, but the green stuff needs a lot of clean up. I'm going to finish the lower half before I move to the torso. 

[Htogrem]

Here we go! Still working on the photography. I use a Droid, and everything looks fine there until I load them to the computer. I'll figure it out. Advice is welcome.

 

The back of the robes are pretty much done. I dread the paint job, as it will highlight all the imperfections in the green stuff. It isn't smooth in many places, blending GS to metal and GS to GS is difficult. However, to learn, one must do. 

 

Here's the direction I'm going with the holster. I converted the plastic holster a long time ago, but never ended up using it. I've always assumed the holstered side arm on space marine models and kits, was intended to be a bolt pistol. It always bothered me that bolt pistol with a magazine clearly would't fit. Aesthetically, it's a nice clean look. However, it's one of those things I choose to fix on my dudes. (I really like the Legion Assault Squad from Forge World. The holsters look like they actually hold a bolt pistol.) While the plastic pistol's magazine sticks out of the holster, Azrael's holster will encompass the entire pistol. 

 

More GS work to the backpack. The skulls were trimmed and glued on slightly different to each other, so I'll need to disguise that with GS. 

 

As a matter of interest, here is a robed scout I started years ago. Sure, DA robes usually denote veteran status and the Inner Circle. However, the image struck me and I thought it would be neat to have a squad of robed scouts. He's the only one I did, though.

[feuer_faust]

I like this project! It's off to a solid start, and beefing up older models is a good way to get that unique look on the table.