Modelling: My attempt at a properly scaled 40K Marine

[Elusive71]

Kurgan requested that I repost my "Properly scaled 40 marines" threads here on Bolter and Chainsword for your perusal.

 

I'd like to post a step-by-step, but for now it's a bit tricky: I don't have my own camera, so I need to schedule time to use my friend's at work. Then he has to take the camera home to upload the pics and e-mail them to me... But I do plan on documenting the project further which of course will be posted for you guys to check out.

 

Thankfully I only plan on using these for small scale skirmishes, so I won't need a whole army of them. My decision is influenced not only by convenience but also by the fluff, in that I want my Marines to be used primarily as small squads of shock troops for surgical missions - probably in the service of an Inquisitor or possibly a Rogue Trader.

 

Anyway...

 

11/19/03

 

It's always bugged me that fluffwise, Space Marines are supposed to tower over the average human, but the miniatures don't reflect this. When the Brother Artemis figure was released for Inquisitor, it showed just how much bigger the Marines ought to be. In the Inquisitor rulebook, Jes Goodwin mentions that at 54mm scale, a Space Marine works out to 67mm. I roughly scaled that down for 40K and this is what I came up with:

 

Size comparison between a standard GW Space Marine, my converted Marine, and a Guardsman

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9173/dsc00265vv5.jpg

 

Shown at close to actual size when viewed at 1024x768 resolution

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/3760/dsc00265bsh2.jpg

 

A breakdown of the conversion:

• The torso is a hybrid of the MkVI "Eagle Armor" chestplate and the MkVIII "Errant Armor" abdomen with a 1mm plasticard spacer added to lengthen the entire torso.
  
• The tubes have been removed from the helmet and will probably be replaced with greenstuff respirator-style "canisters" ala the Kasrkin models.
  
• The pelvis is from an Assault Marine with the legs removed just below the hip joint.
  
• The legs are a Tac marine's removed just below the hip joint with plasticard spacers added to lengthen the thigh. The feet were also removed and repostioned, adding a bit more height. The grieves will be slightly lengthened and extended down over the ankle joint with greenstuff.
  

By lengthening the entire figure, it not only adds height, it sets the Marine apart from the rather stocky proportions of the typical GW human figure, giving him more 'heroic' proportions.

[Elusive71]

01/14/04

 

Well, I modified the legs again, giving the Marine a more erect stance. In order to provide a better comparison of height, I used the legs from the new Tank Accessory sprue to piece together a fully upright Guardsman. The Marine still isn't standing as erect as the Guardman, but you get the idea.

 

Size comparison between my converted Marine and a Guardsman

http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/9531/heightcompri4.jpg

 

There's still a lot of detail and clean-up work to do on these, but here's a close-up of the modified legs which give the Marine his additional height.

 

Leg detail showing placement of plastic card spacers

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/6852/legdetailgu5.jpg

 

A suggestion was made on another board that I deepen his chest as well to add bulk. I initially added a plastic card spacer between the front and back halves of the torso, but that not only deepened the chest, it also thickened the belly - not good. So I separated the chest plate from the abdomen and put the spacer just between the chest and back torso half, while the abdomen attaches directly to the back torso half. This gives him a much more beefed up profile.

 

Comparison between my converted Marine's torso and a stock GW Marine's torso

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/1254/chestcompto4.jpg

 

Torso detail

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2351/torsodetailmb2.jpg

 

As you can see, I also chose to widen the belt by lowering the buckle and adding a strip of plastic card. I had realized that my original Marine looked a little too "wasp-waisted". The modified belt thickens the waist just enough.

 

So, what's next?

• The grieve of the right leg needs to bulked up with green stuff. It's noticably thinner than that of the left leg.
  
• Finish helmet modifications.
  
• Add segments (or links) to belt with green stuff. For those of you with the Jes Goodwin sketchbook "The Gothic and the Eldritch", take a look at the drawing of the Mk 8 Space Marine armor, to see what I'm shooting for.
  
• Clean up legs and add green stuff detailing at the joints.
  

Back to work. ^_^

[Elusive71]

Another comparison between stock GW Space Marine, my converted Space Marine and Imperial Guardsman

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6730/comparisonmy8.jpg

[iron father]

My hero!!! ^_^

[epsonmonkey]

^_^

[Lazarus valghyran]

I think, there is one thing that needs doing to that mini, apart from that, perfect.

 

The hip joints, the flexible area with the ribbed metal. They need thickening out a bit with GS.

[Orkdung]

I think thats an utterly AMAZING job!

 

Time consuming yet Amazing!!

 

Wish GW would fix this problem!

[bootle]

Might I recommend sticky-ing this amazingly useful info?

[Elusive71]

I think, there is one thing that needs doing to that mini, apart from that, perfect.

 

The hip joints, the flexible area with the ribbed metal. They need thickening out a bit with GS.

My thoughts exactly. That's one of those "details" I'll be working on next.

 

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! ^_^

[Chapter Master Hades]

if only i hadnt just restarted my army last year......i might be tempted to do these to all my guys. Oh well, maybe next time around......or maybe for my veterans.

 

Great tutorial.......they truly look imposing!

[Dasleah]

If I were Dr Strange, I would now let out so many adjectives and place names in amazement that I could quite possibly describe every event, place and item in the universe :devil: ^_^

 

Amazing. Simply amazing.

[Blitz Jaeger]

Thats very cool. I like all the WIP shots. I wouldnt want to do that to very many marines. Great job though.

[epsonmonkey]

I think the mods should put this into "+FRATERIS LIBRARIUM+

Archived Threads and Info." This is really good information for people who want to try this out, instead of it buzzing off into the deep dark end of the threads.

[Fenris]

<Deleted by the =][=>, thats awesome, i woulda thought that a gaurdsmen woulda been shorta but hey, its a nivce conversion

 

 

f

[Scipio]

That's wicked!! I feel like throwing all of my marines in the stripping jar right now!

[Yuri]

Wonderful that you completed your guide! It was a bit hard to see how the work was done in the first part, but this is just perfect! Thank you for sharing this with us.

[Deathwing70]

very complicated but looking soo good.. ^_^

 

may I ask what size plasticcard you use? 0.5mm / 1mm ?

[Chaplain Desmodus]

Oooh la la! ^_^

 

This is food for the archive, for sure. I'll leave it here in the PC&A for now to keep the discussion going.

[turelhim vampire]

thanks a lot Elusive. ^_^

 

your guide made me go out and buy a combat squad to test it on, and money is sooooo tight right now.

 

but still, i'd take that as a compliment if i were you :devil:

 

incredibly nice work mate, keep it up.

 

now, what about terminators?

[stripedog262]

I am crying. With happiness. Stuff is in scale, halleluja! Now do a rhino! :lol: Just kidding. But fantastic work. I will definately put this to use.

 

Terry

[Elusive71]

Thanks for the encouraging words, everyone! B)

 

Dasleah: "If I were Dr Strange, I would now let out so many adjectives and place names in amazement that I could quite possibly describe every event, place and item in the universe"

 

:lol:

 

Deathwing70: "may I ask what size plasticcard you use? 0.5mm / 1mm ?"

 

Good question... ;) I didn't keep track unfortunately, but I think I used 1mm for the spacers in the leg assembly. The torso spacer and the strip attached to the belt required a thinner piece.

 

*Modeling tip* Rather than try to cut just the right sized circles for the various spacers, I would cut a piece that I knew was too large, glue it in place, nip off the excess, then trim and file it down until it was flush.

 

turlhim vampire: "your guide made me go out and buy a combat squad to test it on, and money is sooooo tight right now.

now, what about terminators?"

 

Make sure you post what you come up with!

As for terminators, I've got my fingers crossed that the upcoming 4th edition termies are significantly bigger, so I don't have to convert them! ;) They're gonna be plastic though, so if we do have to convert them, it'll be a lot easier.

 

stripedog262: "Now do a rhino!"

 

Thankfully, my marines aren't so big that the Rhino needs to be scaled up. They just need to be extra careful not to hit their heads when embarking. :D

[nite_moogle]

Awesome. Simply awesome.

[Hobbes]

Wow! Thats Incredible!!!!!

 

*Modeling tip* Rather than try to cut just the right sized circles for the various spacers, I would cut a piece that I knew was too large, glue it in place, nip off the excess, then trim and file it down until it was flush.

 

That's the way to do it too-

 

*What's this... am I crying? .............Happy tears man- happy tears.*

[brother_gabriel]

:lol: my hero!! i think i will do some thing like that to all of my marines :D !!! i've just painted one of them and that was a test mini wich i will not use anyway.... B)

[Graywolf]

Hmmmm.......I've been working on a 10 marine DeathWatch kill team, make that a "To Scale" DeathWatch kill team now. That's great work and a great tutorial, thanks.

 

Graywolf