Biomechanical jumppacks for Raptors, Chaos Lords & Sorcerors

[Svartmetall]

 

Don't want your Raptors or Warp Talons to look like they have a pair of hair dryers strapped to their back? Sick of using the same old Possessed wings for jump packs? Doktor von Svartmetall has the answer!

Here's a relatively simple way to make distinctively biomechanical jump packs for anything that can equip them. You'll need a pair of Tyranid Gargoyle wings and a bog-standard Chaos backpack:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3173.jpg

First of all, trim off the vents that stick out on either side of the backpack and make sure the sides are smooth and even:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3174.jpg

Next, trim the wings so that you have just a little of the upper arm left and so that the shape of the arm leading down through the wing fairly closely matches the side of the backpack:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3175.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3176.jpg
No matter what you're working on it's always a good idea to dry-joint stuff together to test how it looks, and this is a perfect example; the closer the match between the edges of the wings and the sides of the backpack, the better surface you'll have for the glue to do its work.

Once you're happy with the fit of the wings, insert a pin into each arm thusly:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3177.jpg

And then glue them to the sides of the backpack:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3178.jpg
If the entire upper arm had been removed from the wing, it wouldn't look like something that was capable of flapping properly; leaving a short stub of upper arm allows it to look more naturally flexible.

And now it's green-stuff time. First use a small, thin sausage of GS to smooth the join of the wings to the backpack so it all looks like one seamless unit:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3179.jpg

Next, use smallish bits of GS to cover the linear detail on the front and back of each 'hand', and smooth them into the finger detail:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3180.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3181.jpg
This helps the wings look less obviously Tyranid in origin, which helps make the finished conversion look naturally Chaotic.

Finally, join the skin at the bottom of each wing to the body of the backpack for an unbroken flow of flesh:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3183.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3182.jpg


And here's the finished result (attached, for demonstration purposes, to a random Plague Marine body I had lying around):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3185.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3186.jpg
I like the flowing line that extends from the middle finger along the arm, across the backpack and then out again across the other wing...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Svartmetall/Tutorial/DSCF3187.jpg

So, a fairly straightforward conversion that allows you to have nice organic-looking wings that will attach easily to any Chaos power-armoured body. One particular advantage of this method for units of Raptors is that the Gargoyle wings come in a lot of different poses and positions (there are 10 pairs in each box, no 2 identical as far as I can tell), so you can easily have every model with an individual-looking set of wings of its own.

Hope this helps http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/images/smilies/smile3.gif

[Otho]

Great for Night Lords... Nicely laid out tutorial.

[Olis]

I see you're getting stuck right in, Svartmetall. Good tutorial. :tu:

[Svartmetall]

I see you're getting stuck right in...

Thank you; I don't :cuss around Edited August 8, 2016 by Bryan Blaire
Do not attempt to dodge the Swear Filter by replacing letters with symbols, it is a violation of the B&C rules.

[Teetengee]

Would you think greenstuffing over the small gap in the forearms would help push it further from nid origins?

[Svartmetall]

Would you think greenstuffing over the small gap in the forearms would help push it further from nid origins?

 

You certainly could do; I'm intending to paint that bit (whenever I get round to doing my own Raptors) as rusty metal cabling. Ehh...either way works :)

[unclean]

Images are behind the photobucket paywall.