Cadian 61st - ETL IV, Female Cadian Head Tutorial

[Toxichobbit]

Hey to my fellow grunts.

ETL IV is looming on the horizon an after the poor performance last year of the forum I usually paint for, I've decided to switch it up to somewhere with a more active community. That and I'm really in the mood to paint Guardsmen.

My personal goal this year is to get five vows completed. In previous years the most I ever got was two (or maybe three, can't quite remember) and even then it was a close run thing. I have my first two vows planned out, but after that I'm not sure exactly where I'm going.

My first vow is just going to be a basic Commissar with a power fist. It's a model I've had for a while and I'd really like to get him painted, so now is the perfect opportunity. I know it's a tiny vow (only 50pts) but the idea is to get him finished in the first week and get my first completion in the bag. I find it's a nice motivator to get your first vow done quickly and know that as long as you don't fail a vow, those points are adding towards the faction.

My planned second vow is something a bit more substantial. I recently painted a Colonel for my regiment, but he has no Command Squad to accompany him. To remedy this I'm going to make his Command Squad my second ETL vow. Obviously I can't vow the Colonel himself, because he is already painted, so I'm going to paint Lord Castellan Creed in his place. Not only is Creed damn expensive for a single Guard infantry model, but he's also a model I really like (40k version of Churchill) so I'll really enjoy painting him. As I'm painting Creed, I figure I may as well do Kell at the same time for another nice expensive infantry model. The rest of the squad will just be normal Command Squad guys, with a master-vox (haven't existed since 4th ed) instead of a normal vox as it's the Regimental Command, a medic and a plasma gunner.The plasma gunner is a FW model so is a slighter build than regular Cadians, so I'll just do a head conversion to turn him into a her. That'll help the squad fit in with the rest of the regiment as they're a mix of male and female troopers.

Finally, as it's a Regimental Command Squad I'll add on all the bells and whistles in the form of an Astropath, Master of the Fleet and Master of Ordnance. The three advisors alongside Creed & Kell push the squad up to a nice 310pts, which isn't bad for 7 infantry models. I'm hoping to get this vow completed before the end of the first month.

I'm unsure what I'll do for vows 3, 4 and 5. Depending upon how the first two vows go, it could be anything from individual characters to a Baneblade. I'll see how I feel after the second vow and how much time I have left.

Here's the Commissar for the first vow.

He was an eBay rescue, so I've already done a bit of work on him, removing the original base and stripping him. There's still a bit more to do before he's ready to be undercoated, I need to use a needle to get a couple of bits of stubborn paint out of some crevices, clean the connection point for his arm (whoever had him originally didn't believe in less is more when it came to superglue) and sculpt a new base for him. Unfortunately his base will be delayed as on advice from my girlfriend (who's a sculpter) I'm switching from Milliput to Apoxie Sculpt - it gives much better results but I've had to order some and it hasn't arrived yet. It shouldn't be too much of an issue though, as I don't need his base finished to start painting him and the Apoxie should be here by next week at the latest. If it's delayed further, I can always "borrow" a base I've already sculpted from another Guardsman and paint that to get the vow completed.

Also, I know I've promised a tutorial for making female Cadians. I'm still experimenting with my technique, but I haven't forgotten and I will do it as soon as I have chance. In the meantime, I'll be converting a female head for the plasma gunner in the Regimental Command Squad using the same technique that I use for the regular Guardswomen (with the addition of sculpting on some goggles - plasma is bright!), so I can at least give a partial tutorial that covers the heads. I suspect for a lot of people that'd be enough anyway - female heads on standard Cadian bodies gives a reasonable impression of Guardswomen in an army, even if on close inspection they look too masculine .

[WarriorFish]

You're really prepared! He's a good model, I painted mine for ETL previously too :) I will be following your topic closely... ;)

[Toxichobbit]

First update and the event hasn't even started!

I had some Kneadatite left over from gap filling on the Commissar, so I decided to make a start on the head conversion for the plasma gunner. I took some photos of the process while I was working, so I may as well make a start with the tutorial.

This is for those people who want to take things a bit further than just a female head on a male body. While there's nothing wrong with just using a female head on a male body (it's a lot easier and the only person who will probably notice the non-femanine bits while she's stood in the mass of all those Guardsmen is you), I personally like to put some more effort into making my Guardswomen as authentic as possible. I go so far as to change body shape, shorten legs and shoulders, expand the chest armour a little and a few other bits, but that's beyond what I'm doing here today. I'll eventually do a full tutorial covering the entire process, for now though I'm just going to cover making a female Cadian head. My priority at the moment is to do the minimum I need to get my models ready for ETL IV and as I'm working off a FW plasma gunner body, it's already suitable for a Guardswomen (FW are a more realistic scale than GW plastic Cadians, so they're a bit slighter build which works for females). I might need to eventually shorten her a bit, but that will be a simple process compared to completely changing the body shape.

So, if all I'm doing is adding a female head, how is that any different from just buying a 3rd party head and putting it on a male body? On a basic level it isn't - it's just putting a new head on an existing body. The difference here is what I'm doing to the head before I put it on the body. There is a decent range of female heads out there that will fit on a Cadian body, but they're all missing one thing - the Cadian helmet. There are some that are close, but obviously due to copyright no company other than GW can use the actual Cadian helmet for their models. Now I like variety of gear in my armies and I like a few un-helmeted models here and there to give the army a bit more personality, but at the end of the day this is a Guard army. They'd have standard issue gear, not special helmets for the ladies. Likewise my women are all trained Cadians, just as competent as their male comrades. They aren't all going to go into battle un-helmeted just to show that they're female.

What you'll need:

Plastic Cadian helmet - I prefer the plastic GW helmets over the resin FW versions simply because the FW ones some nice interior detail that you're going to destroy, where as the GW ones are plain inside. Save the FW ones for helmets hanging from belts etc where the interior detail can be seen.

28/30mm female head - I use these and these from Hasslefree Miniatures. The other female heads I like are these from Statuesque Miniatures, but as they have some nicely sculpted hair I save them for the odd un-helmeted lady (it'd be a shame to destroy all that hair to fit her head into a helmet).

Kneadatite - aka green stuff (actually an epoxy used for plumbing).

Modelling Clippers - GW, P3, Galeforce 9 or whatever other brand you prefer.

Needle File - whatever brand you prefer.

Rotary Tool - optional, but very useful for saving time and making your job easier.

Clay Sculpting Tool/Dental Tool - a standard trowel shape will do.

Clay Shaper - optional but useful for smoothing sculpted areas.

Step 1 - preparing the parts

First clean up your Cadian helmet and female head, getting rid of any flash and mold lines. It's much easier to do this now rather than after converting and assembling. I also strongly suggest pinning the head to some wire to allow you to maneuver it more easily. The head is very small and fiddly to work with, especially when your cutting and shaping or doing sculpting work onto it. I just tend to hold the wire (the cork is there just to secure it for the photographs) but you could fit the wire into a cork, glue it onto a handle, tape it onto some pliers or whatever else your comfortable with.

If you do a dry fit of the helmet on the head you'll notice the first problem we have with fitting Cadian helmets to a new head, namely that they don't fit very well. Because of the way the helmet is molded it sits too highly on top of the head, not unlike a Burberry cap on a chav (for those of you from the UK) rather than fitting snugly like a helmet would.

Step 2 - fitting the helmet

To remedy the fitting problem, we're going to make changes to both the head and the helmet. The head itself is easy, it just needs cutting to shape. Decide how high you want the helmet to sit on the Guardswoman's head (basically how much of her forehead you want showing), then cut the rest of the top of the head off. Also cut the back of the head off, approximately just behind the ears/jaw. You should now have something like this:

You can cut the top of the head at a slight angle if you want to give the helmet a "slouched" look. This works especially well if the helmet is left unbuckled. Likewise you can have the helmet sat a bit higher on the head (more forehead showing) than I have, giving you room to sculpt a bit of loose hair coming out from under her helmet.

If dry fit the helmet again you'll see that the fit is better, but still not quite right. That's because there isn't enough room inside the helmet for the head, even after it's been cut down. I found the easiest way to sort out this problem was to carefully hollow out the inside of the helmet with a rotary tool. You don't need to do a lot, just thin the sides and front and hollow out upwards towards the top of the helmet a bit. Do a small amount then test the fit. Keep doing that until your happy. If you hollow out too much and you end up with the helmet covering her eyes or something, you can always use some Kneadatite inside the helmet to get the perfect fit.

If you don't have a rotary tool then the other option is to continue to shape the head to fit the helmet. I've never done this, but if I had to, I'd start by clipping the sharp angled corners at the back of the head (left over from where you made the original two cuts) then use a needle file to round the head off until it fits snugly inside the helmet. The inside of the helmets is quite round and small, so it might take a while to get a nice fit.

Once your done you should end up with something like this. A much better fit. There are gaps at the side, but these will be filled by the helmet padding later on. Don't glue it on yet,

You can stop there if you want. You'd have a female head inside a Cadian helmet and stuck on a Cadian body in the midst of your Guardsmen so it'll look fine. Just glue the helmet on the head and glue the head on a body. However, I prefer to add all the details of a Cadian helmet, which means the chin strap and internal padding.

Stage 3 - optional details (chin strap)

Remove the helmet from the head and set it aside. First start with the helmet strap. Take a small, thin line of Kneadatite and gently press the center of it onto her chin - this will become the helmet strap. Using your sculpting tool, gently press the strap diagonally from her chin up towards where her ears would be. Don't press too hard, you don't want the strap squashed against the sides of her face. Once you've reached the ear area you can press down harder on either side to secure the strap. Don't worry about squashing the strap at the ears or above, that part will be covered by the helmet padding so can't be seen. Let the Kneadatite cure for about 30 minutes, then go back with your sculpting tool and re-define any areas of the strap that have got squashed. Finally use the clay shaper to very gently smooth the strap if needed. It doesn't have to be perfect, it won't be very noticeable on the finished miniature, so spend as little or as long as you want neatening it up.

Before you continue you need to let the strap fully cure. Set the head aside (somewhere it won't get knocked off or attacked by pets/offspring) for about 5 hours.

I need to leave the head above to cure before I do anymore work on it, so I'll continue this tutorial tomorrow.

[elmo]

Nice work but have you considered hollowing out the helmet with a rotary tool and high speed cutter bit as an alternative method. Obviously if you do not have a rotary tool then ignore me :)

[Toxichobbit]

I already use a rotary tool with various cutting/polishing bits to hollow out parts :). During my initial experimentation for fitting a Cadian helmet to a 3rd party head I hollowed out the helmet completely as you suggest. On my second attempt I instead cut the head roughly to shape and then hollowed out the helmet a bit to ensue a sung fit. I found that the second technique, combining cutting the head and hollowing the helmet, was much quicker and easier, so that's the technique I'm using in this tutorial. Rotary tools are wonderful for conversion work, but even with a good one and a desk clamp, Cadian helmets are fiddly and annoying to hollow out, especially as you need to do it slowly to ensure you don't slip and abrade your way right through the helmet.

Update on the Commissar for ETL.

He's been cleaned up a bit more, had his arm pinned on, had a large gap filled between his arm and body and finally he's requisitioned a base from one of the regular troopers. As I type this he's already got the first coat of primer drying and I'm hoping to start work on him later today. In the meantime I'll do some more work on the female Cadian head and hopefully have another update ready for tonight.

[Toxichobbit]

First update of ETL IV. The face and hand are finished, as is the black. Metal and red areas are all undercoated ready for tomorrow. The plan is to get all the metal and red finished tomorrow, as well as a few details, then finish off the final details, base and seal with varnish on Sunday, then do the weathering on Monday to complete the vow so I can get cracking with my second vow. I figure if I can get my first two vows finished during May, then I've still got two months left and I can man up and paint a Baneblade. It'll be a tough challenge, I'll literally be painting a tank in a way I've never done before (airbrush, zenith highlights, lots of weathering using Military Modelling techniques), but eight weeks will be plenty of time to get it finished. Depending upon how long that takes, I'll either paint a few characters or another vehicle and some characters for my final two vows.

Carrying on the head tutorial.

Stage 4 - optional details (helmet padding, chin pad).

Before starting on anymore details, check to make sure that the strap has adhered to the face. If it hasn't use a tiny bit of superglue to secure it down. Take a small piece of Kneadatite and place it over the ear, Gently press it down to secure it, then repeat the process on the other side of the head. Leave it to cure for about 30 minutes, then smooth and shape the putty so that it resembles the helmet padding on a Cadian helmet. Having a plastic Cadian helmet with a head inside provides a nice reference.

Once the helmet padding is fully cured (about 4-5 hours) take a very small piece of Kneadatite and gently press it onto the chin. Secure it by smoothing the putty at the back of the chin (underneath the jaw, where it can't be seen) and pressing it firmly into place. This ensures a decent bond between the head and the chin pad while still keeping the front of the strap pronounced. Leave it for about 30 minutes to cure, then come back and make any small adjustments to shape it. Once your happy, set the head aside and let the putty fully cure for 4-5 hours.

[WarriorFish]

Speedy progress, very nice black on the coat too!

[Toxichobbit]

Time I actually got around to updating this thread.

The Commissar is finished (and has been for over a week now).

I screwed up with the dust, using turps instead of water to apply it and ended up with it clumped up like mud instead of spread out like dust. It's not the end of the world, but I'll probably go back and sort it out once my other vows are all completed.

Speaking of other vows. this is what I'm working on next.

There's a lot of work to be done on this one and not just due to the size. I assembled and undercoated this about 6 years ago and as a result it's not even close to my current standard. At the time of writing I've already been over it and filed off some mold lines that I'd missed during assembly as well as doing some gap filling. I've started adding stowage too with some parts I had spare from a Tamiya kit, but it's not going to be enough. I've picked up some tissue paper and medical gauze to make rolled tarpaulin and camo nets, but I'm still waiting on some cigarette packet foil that a friend is posting to me in order to make the canvas straps. I've also ordered some more Tamiya stowage from different time periods in order to give more variety. The idea is that when I'm done, it'll be covered in stowage. Once the remainder of the supplies arrive this week I'll finish the modelling/prep work and make a start with the airbrushing, although at this stage I'm unsure on exactly what technique I'll use.

[WarriorFish]

Sounds like you've got some great ideas for your Baneblade, you don't usually see them with many additions so it will be interesting to see what you get up to. Looking forward to seeing it done :tu:

[Vel'Cona]

Stowage is the oft-forgotten detail of armored vehicles that really brings the model together. With the size of the Baneblade chassis, you should be able to pack in some serious kit. You know, there are tutorials online to make moldable sand bags from green stuff super easy. I think that would be an awesome addition for the front/sides of your 'Blade.

[Toxichobbit]

Yeh, I briefly considered sandbags. Now that I think about it some more I think your on to something. I doubt I'll have room on the sides (plus it would require making a framework to hold them, something like they used on Shermans in WWII), but the front glacis would be a good place. I'm thinking around the demolisher cannon and maybe a few in front of the drivers view port. What do you guys think?

[WarriorFish]

I think that sounds very cool :)