Skitarii and CultMech WIP - First Dragoon nearly finished

[JeffTibbetts]

Alright, I've finally found a little time to start working on this force. First order of business for me was stripping and taking apart a bunch of second-hand models. I had three Dragoons and I knew I wanted to mess with their poses, so I bit the bullet and started playing around with them. I had a heck of a time taking them apart and ended up using a lot more brute force destructive methods than I would have liked.

I wanted to show you all the two sets of legs I've converted so far. I'm leaving one stock (I have 3 total so far). Let me know what you think.

One of them uses both of the extended legs, and the other both compressed legs. I cut at the pistons to swap out the forward and rear feet types and that worked surprisingly well. In the process of tearing down I also realized there's room for a slight amount of play in the hip joint, so I used that to give each of them a bit of a twist and slight bend to breathe a little life into their static poses. I think the effect will be impressive once they're painted. I'm not done yet, of course, so please hit me with any suggestions. Still haven't messed with the legs on the gimps, but the tubes look like the perfect size for paperclips so I'll probably just rebuild the hoses to accommodate the new positions. Anyway, have a look.

From here you can see the hip twists.

The lunging fellow will have his taser lance down, ready for the strike. The other one that's alert, upright and long-striding will either be aiming a serpentia or maybe pulling one out of the scabbard. I haven't decided that yet.

I know the lunging one will have a heck of a time regaining his footing before falling over, so allow me to head that off at the pass. First, I haven't decided 100% if I should cut and rebuild one of the fixed joints. It's an awful lot of work and I'm not sure it's worth it. I really want to get this army on the field sooner rather than later. Having reworked the legs of my Knight I know exactly how much time this will take and there are diminishing returns. Second, Hammer of Wrath! Maybe he's going for maximum impact and hoping the force of collision pushes him back up a little so he can get his legs under his center of gravity. Third, these legs actually LOOK crazy agile in design. What with the rules for their extra speed, I'd venture that maybe they can really whip those spindly legs around and he's in no danger of losing his footing at all. Frankly, to me the sense of reckless abandon and speed it imparts might be worth keeping. What do y'all think?

As for the more conservative pose on the tall one, I think the long stride will stand out enough from the standard ones we're used to seeing that it works. To me he appears to be surveying the battlefield in support of his footslogging compatriots. Plus, that extra-long stance again helps me imagine how fast these suckers can be. It's easy to imagine him chewing through the distance to the enemy with a gait like that.

In both cases I'm pleased with how sturdy they seem to be, even having cut such small joins. I used Tamiya Extra Thin which is a very 'hot' plastic cement that creates very strong bonds. The inside hip joint on 3 of the 4 legs also includes a plastic-card spacer as well, as I had to destroy that bit when I removed the legs.

Thoughts? Comments? Anyone else tried a repose? I scoured the web and didn't see a single example of such, but I bet you folks might have seen one or two.

[Space Truckin]

These look fantastic!  Great job!

 

Just my .02 In regards to your lunging model I totally understand where you are going with this.  I think it make more sense seeing the tazer lance in position ready for the strike.  

 

Looking forward to seeing more!

[JeffTibbetts]

Thanks!

 

Yeah, the lance is coming soon but I actually have to cut that arm a bit as will, since it's hitting the guard rail thing in the stock configuration.

[Son of Carnelian]

The only thing that stands out to me as odd on the lunging model isn't the pose itself, but the static-looking cape on its driver. With a speed and angle like that, his cape seems jarringly out of place. However, remodelling it will take oodles of time and green stuff, so perhaps just use clever coloration to draw the eye away from the cape. 

 

Otherwise, I think they both look excellent. Can't wait to see the scheme you use!

[Mechanicus Tech-Support]

I too have looked at the lunging pose for the dragoon, I found with mine, it looked a little better after adding some cork board underneath the remaining foot on the ground making it seem it was leaping off some ledge or rock outcropping. I thought otherwise it kinda just looked like it was falling over (in my opinion). But it does increase the height on an already tall model...

 

Looks good though, cant wait to see them with the lances

[JeffTibbetts]

Yeah, I was thinking about that in the shower this morning (as you do) and trying to come up with an easy button. He's glued down like freaking crazy. I could only get one rider off, and it wasn't that one. I think that will hamper my efforts. HOWEVER, I distinctly remember the fluff mentioning the Vanguard cloaks are lead-lined to reduce the effects of radiation, so it's never going to flow like silk, if you get my meaning. That may or may not be a copout... You decide.  

[WarriorFish]

Maybe he didn't put enough softener in? :P One side is weighted down by a rifle, and he could be in the "upward" part of the lunge or maybe it's just windy? I don't think anyone will really notice especially when it's painted :) Either way, more dynamic poses for walkers is something there should be more of :D

[Ovidius Incertus]

Really love the pose.  I see where you're coming from with the "it's gonna fall" idea, but honestly, it looks very much like an ostrich or Jurassic Park dino running at full tilt.  I think it looks really good, even if there's no "tail" to balance it out like on a real animal.

 

Do agree about the cloak, but your reasoning works, especially if the idea of GSing a new coat is not enough return on your investment.

[Tyriks]

I like it, I think how the taser is angled will either fix the "tipping" aesthetic (if he's in attack position it will make it clear this is intentional) or make it worse if he looks casual. I have thought more about repositioning the Lance than the legs (I'll probably feel differently about the legs when I have more than one) because having it upright just seems wrong to me.

[JeffTibbetts]

Bowing to a little pressure I reworked that leg on the lunger, and added their arms as well. Have a look at the more-or-less final poses of these two.

And then a couple shots of the riders.

I think the poses of the riders helps to sell the concepts for the two models. You'll notice the one standing tall is relatively at-ease. I used the arm from the Dominus for his serpentia after all. I was going to bash it together with a regular arm, but I liked the way it was working. It happened to be sighted perfectly with the head (which I could not remove. I tried) and I like the lack of tension. If you look closely you can see the empty holster behind the arm, with one little leather strap sticking up. This took me forever to get right but it's a nice detail.

After that I started messing with my Datasmith and knocked up this quick kitbash.

The fist looks goofy as heck right now. I used an ancient marine one so it would at least look a bit different than modern ones, but I think I'll play around to make it look more, er, AdMechy? I was able to use the dataspike from a Ruststalker Alpha as well, so it's WYSIWYG. He even has a holstered pistol to duplicate the second, not-listed-on-the-profile pistol of the original Datasmith.

The white metal dude is short, but frankly these aren't space marines and they will have a much more natural variation in height. So I'm calling it fine. Hopefully the chest unit and backpack make it clear this is a Datasmith and not an Enginseer. :P

[WarriorFish]

I like the poses, looks like he's just about to make his point ;)

[Mechanicus Tech-Support]

Really love the pose. I see where you're coming from with the "it's gonna fall" idea, but honestly, it looks very much like an ostrich or Jurassic Park dino running at full tilt. I think it looks really good, even if there's no "tail" to balance it out like on a real animal.

Ever since you mentioned jurassic park dino it's all I can see now >_< makes me want to do a mecha-raptor dragoon..alas my GS skills leave alot to be desired haha

I really like the pose seeing it with the lance now.

[JeffTibbetts]

Cheers, guys. It was a bit of extra work but I really do think pulling that knee forward helps sell it. And I like how he's looking right where the tip of the lance will make impact as well. It does what I wanted in the sense that it looks like that sucker can really move. The rules make them some of the fastest units in the game, bar none, but the default pose just doesn't really feel like that. 

[Tyriks]

Yeah the default pose reminds me of the old blurry Bigfoot pose. It's moving, but not at all impressive. Your lunger is much better!

[Battybattybats]

I've been following this on my phone where i can't sign in to comment and was meaning to get back to comment.

Superb stuff Jeff!
(as always)
Very good work on the posing especially, which is going to make it very hard for me to decide what to do with my next two Dragoons as i'm not sure i'm yet up to the skill needed for major re-posing of the legs and keeping them sturdy enough. But i plan to field 5 or 6 eventually so maybe i'll risk it on the last one or two if i don't on the next two. I'm looking forward to seeing how these go especially when you get some paint on and some basing done.

[JeffTibbetts]

Thanks, Bats! Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. Reposing the legs is a real pain. I now have the thigh cables back on there but that was a task as well. A big part of the challenge was the fact these were second-hand models and I couldn't get them apart completely. If you start from the sprue I think it'll be much easier. If I get some more I think I'll be able to tackle it a lot more carefully. Hopefully you can pick up some tips from me but I haven't been documenting this build with the same attention I usually do, since I'm just making it up as I go. 

[JeffTibbetts]

Okay, despite saying I was going to keep the third one stock, I couldn't help myself and did some reposing. I wanted one that was sort of stalking the battlefield. Here's a look at where I am with it so far (I maybe sort of dropped it after taking this, but I should be able to get to this easily once I let some glue cure up). Don't mind the big blob of blue-tack there.

I thought this pose seemed too far forward, but after testing it myself it's quite natural. And these guys would be pretty heavy towards the rear with that engine. The rubble is from the 25th-Anniversary model. I had to come to terms with the fact that I'm probably never going to paint that since it was a terrible cast. I'll part the model itself out, but this rubble bit was darn-near perfect. I added a bit of height with an actual rock that came from the base of one of the Kataphron Destroyers I bought, and I'll do some work to blend in the rest. I think I'll add a few spent shells here as well and paint the marine bits as my Eagle Eyes to offer a little glimpse into a narrative where the Skitarii are returning to an old battlefield to recover some hinted-at tech or something. Should be a fun base. At any rate, I like the stalking pose pretty well. I think the lance will be partially at-rest, as though he's surveying the battlefield and trying to be sneaky (as sneaky as a giant twig-legged biped wrapped in an incense cloud can be, I guess).

[Ovidius Incertus]

Looks like a plausible pose to me.  Maintains the bird/raptor like vibe.

 

Did you have to modify any of the pistons or what cuts did you make in the legs?

 

And are you going for Ryza, or is that just the color it was painted when you got it?

[JeffTibbetts]

It was painted orange when I got it, yeah. And yes, on pretty much all the legs I cut at the top of the pistons so I could swap the feet around and/or shorten them. It was a very easy cut. I did put a pin in the larger piston on a couple of them for a little added strength. I was prepared to lengthen a couple but as it turned out I never needed to. The legs were basically all swapped around to get the poses I was after. It would have been much harder with just one kit, as most of the variety came from just moving one foot to another leg or shortening them down. The hardest thing was cutting the thigh of the left leg on two and swapping them. It's still weak on both. You can see it because one is orange and the other isn't, so two Dragoons have a split thigh. Once I fill the gaps they should toughen up a bit.

[WarriorFish]

I think it's looking really nice, as if he's coming down looking for his prey. It'd be great if you could add some bits on what you did, even if it's just a little :tu:

[JeffTibbetts]

Yeah, Fish, I'll put something together when I have a bit more time on my hands. Work has been very busy and that's usually where I write my posts.

[WarriorFish]

No problem of course, it'll be good to see and I'm in no rush as my AdMech plans are going to be delayed :)

[JeffTibbetts]

I don't normally do this, but... If you're thinking about doing a leg repose on the Dragoon / Ironstrider, maybe think about NOT doing it. It's just really a pain. My last one has fallen apart now 3 times. I'm determined to make it work, but it's really getting tough. He's going to end up with so many pins (in a plastic model, I know) that I'm very concerned about his long-term longevity. Part of my problem is not starting from the sprue, but these legs are very thin and delicate no matter what. I will do a write up with my best advice sooner or later if you're really set on trying it out, but this is more than I think most folks want to take on. Which is probably why I've never seen a converted Dragoon on the internet. Surely they're out there, but I haven't found them. 

[JeffTibbetts]

Okay, over the last couple of days I've finally been able to paint a quick test Vanguard to see how my paint recipes would hold up. Here are the pics, and then I'll break it down in a wall of text below...

It ended up very, very close to my original concept that I mocked up in Photoshop so I'm pleased as punch. The recipes were fairly easy compared to what I normally do, and I was deliberately trying to paint faster than my usual process. I really want to get them on the table, so I think this is a good mix.

I was shooting for three metals here: The dirty brass that will dominate most of the metallic areas, a shiny-penny copper for decorative trim and armor plates, and a dulled silver metal that I'm going to use very sparingly, mostly on flex tubes. I think the variation between the brass and copper finishes helps them stand out without clashing. I'm hoping for a steampunk vibe, with a nice warm palette overall.

The gray pressure suit and smooth tubes are really designed to visually get out of the way and not alter the palette much at all, and the warm brown of the leather and wood offers a spot of contrast. I do have just a couple spots with glowing lenses, painted very simply with blue glaze over white. The gun coils have Nihalakh Oxide in the cracks, then hit with a coat of blue glaze as well. This effect will be more prominent on some other models, but I'm happy with the way it looks in the copper.

The dusty blue was the biggest experiment. I didn't want it to be bright, and I knew I was going to shade it with warm grays as well. It used the most complex recipe of the whole mini but I think it turned out well. I was going for a much more 'painterly' approach on the cloth bits, with visible brush stokes and all. I think the effect is really nice and it was a lot of fun to paint compared to my space marines. I need to add the forge world decal (I haven't gotten them finished yet), base it, and give it a sealing coat.

What do you think? I'm probably not going to really change any of these paint recipes, but I might tweak things a bit as I go. I want to try out the scheme on some other models to see how it might work. Sicarians will be predominantly blue and gray whilst dragoons will have lots of brass, for instance. I think the warm yellows and reds work quite nicely with that blue.

Thoughts?

[Battybattybats]

Looking good Jeff! I'm liking that very much.
The painterly look on the robes helps sell it as a cloth texture too which i like.
Personally i'd have gone with a different colour for the shoulder camera/light (whichever it is) but the blue still works.