Queen Bee Knight -- Thank you! Please read the new post

[koran]

Loving the pose of the legs and the groin plate.  Cant wait to see more.  Anything fun head wise?

[depthcharge12]

I'm betting the Necron walker thing.

 

Whatsit called? The triarch stalker?

[JeffTibbetts]

You guys are all right on but you still haven't hit it! I'll be posting the pic later on. Thanks for playing, folks.

 

I don't have anything fun planned for the head right now. I had considered at one point having the lower tilting visor tipped up, but I don't think it would really look cool. I'm not doing lights in it, either. We'll see if anything jumps out at me when I add it.

[Frostbit3]

For rivets you can cut slivers off of any small diameter "rods." For example spear hafts, las gun barrels, what have you. Maybe even thick paper clips.

[JeffTibbetts]

Yeah I read that, but these are truly tiny. Thanks though.

[JeffTibbetts]

And here is her step-stool: An annihilation barge, sawed in half with her reaper and then stomped for good measure.

I keep adding bits to it as I go. It's a bit hard to tell, but that curve in the rear slammed into the ground and stuck there like that. The barrel that is bent here is where one of her toes is going to be.

The foot required some reposing. One toe is raised, while one is hanging down limply. This was a serious pain in the butt. You can see on the raised toe that I've removed the small plate on the top. I've since added a new one with plasticard and shaved down the opposite one.

Here you can see how the foot lays on the wreckage. Also, the plasticard is in place with some GS stuffed under it as well. I will be cramming some more stuff under that raised toe, most likely.

And from the side.

And back. I'm thinking about what I should stuff in the hollow bits on the ship. I don't think it would be full of wires, per se, but maybe I'll do something like that. I left the hacksaw edges because I figured that's probably about right, actually. I'm thinking about adding some molten metal dripping down on the sides.

And here's the pose, more or less. You can see that the other foot is slightly raised here. In truth, that was always part of the plan. There's only so much range of movement her right leg can be raised without breaking the conceit of the way the legs work. In particular, the piston that moves it away from the hip cannot go any farther than I have it, and it doesn't look like it can rotate on the inner side, either. I have seen the Hawkshrowd Knight online where someone reposed it with a much wider stride, but you can see he has this piston above where it should be and also rotated. That's cool looking, for sure, but I wanted to keep it within the bounds of the mechanics.

To condense my thought, I always knew that if that leg was going to come up, I'd have to angle the other side a bit. I've managed to get it down far enough that I can simply grade the ground on the base to make it slope slightly. This is going to be a semi-dioramic base in the same burned-village theme as my Eagle Eyes, so a bit of slope and grade is totally acceptable in my plans.

What do you all think? Look vicious enough?

[Telhdrat]

A just and well deserved fate for one of those filthy xenos barges!

 

It looks great to me as it is, but I think adding molten metal as you suggested would look better than just leaving the cut. It might be realistic now but I think the straight cut  will still look a little odd without anything done to it.

[Ace Debonair]

Oh snap!

Well, I think we can call that a confirmed kill.

[Olis]

Excellent work. I must admit I was concerned about the prospect of filthy xenos appearing in the hallowed halls of B&C, but you neatly addressed the issue by crushing it underfoot. There's no better place for foul xenos to be than beneath the boots of humanity. ;)

[Son of Barbarus]

I've been following this thread with interest. Your attention to detail and modelling skills are superb! I cannot wait to see it finished please proceed with haste!

[Jolemai]

The other day I noticed you posted on an electronics thread over in the PCA forum. Can we expect any such magicks here?

[JeffTibbetts]

The other day I noticed you posted on an electronics thread over in the PCA forum. Can we expect any such magicks here?

I've been considering it for the interior only. It's a bit too flashy for me to do the eyes and exhausts. I think I'd like to do it for the interior though if the batteries fit in the engine part.

 

Thanks for your comments, all.

[JeffTibbetts]

Thinking about metal finishes again... I don't think the brass is going to work with both the yellow and black sides. Or at least, I'm having second thoughts.

 

What about something more like the tray on this page?

Link

Heavily tarnished silver overlaid on brass with heavy patina? It would mean several layers, but I think the effect might be worth it. I'm concerned that it will end up not being clear what I was going for, though, on such small details. 

[Olis]

I would suggest, if the Knight is going to be yellow and black, that you stick to the silver end of the 'metallic spectrum'. Warmer metallics such as brass, bronze or gold are too similar to the yellow to look effective. As for some sort of weathering effect - how about oil marks and rain streaks?

[JeffTibbetts]

Yeah, Olis. Agreed. I originally wanted (and still do) to do a really tarnished brass. Almost as much blue green as metal. I was thinking the cool patina would offer contrast on the yellow side, and the brass bits would look good on the black side. I have the same issue with silver metallics in that they offer poor color coordination on the gold side. I wonder, if it's crusty and oxidized enough, if it would look okay in either brass or silver with bluegreen patina. For my actual metal chassis, I'll have, just as you suggested, lots of grimy oil buildup (like old farm machinery) and rust streaking.

It's just the trim plates that are messing with me. I don't think either brass or silver/tin will look 'right' on both sides unless they're heavily oxidized.

EDIT: She was standing on my end table last night while I watched Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and I couldn't help but think that she looked awesome. I lowe how she's coming together. I'm not bragging, because I feel like it's HER personality that's coming through at this point.

Mostly I like how her center of gravity is in the right place because of the shift in the waist. The only thing left to do with the pose is decide if I want the cannon arm forward or back (I'm thinking forward) and the final position of the head and cannon. I want them aligned, but haven't yet decided if they'll be straight out from the body or off to one or the other side. Further out to the side would be more dramatic, perhaps. Closer in across her chest would look like she's rotating to face a new threat and could look cool, but might be too much movement and could look silly. I'll have to mock it up. Straight out would be the most realistic, but risks losing some of the drama of the leg pose.

Maybe I'll post a mock up of the three poses and we can all decide.

[JeffTibbetts]

Got some more minor work done. Did the second Tibbs Pattern Heavy Stubber® and repositioned the bolt on the left hip. The right hip didn't need it, since I shifted the inner hip section it looks right again. Bonus. Added some more battle damage to the gun (especially the battle cannon, which I'm going to name Double-Tap) and glued the stubber in place.

I was looking over the head, going back to my original idea. I need your advice, gestalt.

I want to do a tilting face plate like this, I think. It will work, as you'll see with these pics. I think it looks a little odd but I do like it.

It looks a little like a conquistador to me from some angles. I do like that you can see the secondary smaller eyes (which nobody seems to be painting as eyes--what gives?) and the, IMO, awesome looking face. Plus, if I do glowing eyes it allows for some potentially cool OSL effects around the inside of the face plate. :D

Here it is with the cowl over the back of the head. You can see that's as high as the face plate can raise because of it. In fact it's kind of cool that it looks like the widow's peak bit actually seems to be designed to act as a stopper for just this purpose. I swear this is my all-time favorite GW design.

Straight from the front for maximum conquistador helmetness. I think that looks odd.

It looks much more natural from the sides.

So, I guess the issue I'm having is not that it doesn't work. It works fine. But, to me, I keep thinking the helmet does look a little funny and also, from above on a gaming table, I get the impression that visor might look like the head is craning to look up or something. I think I want it to look cooler than it does, although it's not bad, per se.

Thoughts?

[The_Chaplain]

Honestly? Go for it. I haven't seen a knight with the visor up like that; and with the energy you're outing into giving her personality, denying another cool bit seems unfair, haha. Wish space marine helmets could flip up the visor like that ala the space crusade board game commercial- I'd buy a bunch!

[JeffTibbetts]

Honestly? Go for it. I haven't seen a knight with the visor up like that; and with the energy you're outing into giving her personality, denying another cool bit seems unfair, haha. Wish space marine helmets could flip up the visor like that ala the space crusade board game commercial- I'd buy a bunch!

 

Thanks for the input, Chap. I had to Google that commercial. OMG. Hilarious. 

[Honda]

It's been awhile since I've been here, so lots of catching up to do.

 

1. Totally awesome work on the posing and placing xenos where they belong.

 

2. Your modeling skills continue to impress me. Well thought out decisions and and A+ on the execution.

 

When I looked at the crushed toaster, the broken ends of the croissant looked odd to me. When you look at plane wrecks, metal looks torn and wrinkled, there's spars and wires sticking out everywhere and it seems to me that considering all the effort you are putting into the Queen, you might consider doing just a little more with the wreck.

 

I don't know that it has to be a lot, but just a little more.

 

Note: I've been doing some research for an objective involving an aircraft nose and it just struck me that considering that aircraft are not tanks, they crinkle up and bend a fair bit.

 

Just a thought.

[JeffTibbetts]

It's been awhile since I've been here, so lots of catching up to do.

 

1. Totally awesome work on the posing and placing xenos where they belong.

 

2. Your modeling skills continue to impress me. Well thought out decisions and and A+ on the execution.

 

When I looked at the crushed toaster, the broken ends of the croissant looked odd to me. When you look at plane wrecks, metal looks torn and wrinkled, there's spars and wires sticking out everywhere and it seems to me that considering all the effort you are putting into the Queen, you might consider doing just a little more with the wreck.

 

I don't know that it has to be a lot, but just a little more.

 

Note: I've been doing some research for an objective involving an aircraft nose and it just struck me that considering that aircraft are not tanks, they crinkle up and bend a fair bit.

 

Just a thought.

 

Thanks! You make some fair points. As for the cut ends, those are supposed to look very clean, for starters. I want it to look like it was sawed in half with the Reaper. On the other hand, here's my thinking on the 'cron wreck... I may change my mind but let's explore a bit. 

 

First of all, I will be covering the wreck in a fair bit of ash and clumps of earth tossed up from the impact, plus I'll probably be adding more small 'cron bits here and there for pieces that were jostled. I do plan to cram bits and bobs of some kind into the sawed stumps, but I don't know yet what exactly. Since it wasn't torn free, but was actually sawed off, I don't think a lot of bits sticking out make sense. I planned on making some tubes and wires, but making them roughly flush with the sawn ends. 

 

As for it not being bent and wrecked, I have always imagined Necron vehicles and buildings to made made of a sort of un-metal. I can't really imagine them bending up and crumpling like that for some reason. Maybe it's because I think of it more like ceramic or something. Hard and brittle. Of course, the barrels are bent but that's more to give the impression of the weight of the foot. Seeing as how this would probably have been a fairly low speed impact, I think it makes more sense to be largely intact. The croissant tip (makes me hungry) would be sticking into softer, ashy ground so I'm cool with it being stuck in like it's pretty rigid. I do see your point about aircraft, but this thing is a hovering skimmer. 

[Disruptor_fe404]

I like the concept of the raised faceplate, but I think it might be best if you don't push it all the way up to the 'widow's peak', since that sort of makes it look like it would have terrible range of motion when attempting to look left or right.

 

Weird idea: have you considered a double-faceplate? Or maybe having only half the faceplate slide up? Probably works best on other faceplates...

[Honda]

Okey doke, I could buy that (i.e. your reasoning). Initially, what attracted my eye was the clean cut edge, which is what's being cut by the giganto-chainsaw, and how smooth it was. I was thinking that was odd, but in reading your description, maybe a case could be made that it's like a chainsaw on wood and that's explains the smoothed edge.

 

Interesting.

 

Still amazing work. :)

[JeffTibbetts]

I like the concept of the raised faceplate, but I think it might be best if you don't push it all the way up to the 'widow's peak', since that sort of makes it look like it would have terrible range of motion when attempting to look left or right.

Weird idea: have you considered a double-faceplate? Or maybe having only half the faceplate slide up? Probably works best on other faceplates...

If I don't push it that far up, it looks even weirder. Like it cuts right across the line of vision. A double faceplate, you say? Hmmmm... I wonder if the other one would work opening sideways instead? Like Predator. I think that might end up looking too much like horse blinders that way... It's something to consider, though, making just one side go up. I think with mine though it might open up the comparison to Bumblebee (the transformer) again, though. There was a scene where he only opened one side of his battle faceplate and that's what I thought of right away.

You know, I don't know if the range of motion is really a concern for me. After all, the idea is that they can lift it up or move it down at will. If they need to turn their head, it would snap back down again, yeah? One of the thoughts I had in defense of why it was up in the first place is because one can never be certain that a Necron will stay dead, so I figured she opened it up so she could see where she was stomping real quick.

I wonder if it would look super goofy without the cowl at all, or maybe if I shave it down in front. I'm not a huge fan of the latter, but I dunno.

Okey doke, I could buy that (i.e. your reasoning). Initially, what attracted my eye was the clean cut edge, which is what's being cut by the giganto-chainsaw, and how smooth it was. I was thinking that was odd, but in reading your description, maybe a case could be made that it's like a chainsaw on wood and that's explains the smoothed edge.

Interesting.

Still amazing work.

Thanks again for the kind words, sir. And yeah, if you didn't catch it I plan to add some molten metal effects to the edges to really drive the point home that she JUST did that. I think that should make it pretty clear. Chainsaw through wood sounds about right.

[Olgerth Istaarn]

I don't like the raised faceplate, tbh. The unfaceplated knight's "face" is the worst part of it IMHO. It looks like something out of an acid trip. "Cover it up".

[JeffTibbetts]

I don't like the raised faceplate, tbh. The unfaceplated knight's "face" is the worst part of it IMHO. It looks like something out of an acid trip. "Cover it up".

 

LOL. I think it's pretty cool, myself. Plus, there's something vaguely insect-like about those gribbly little bits, with a hard outer shell. ;) 

 

I know some peeps don't care for it, though.