MBA++Blood Angels 5th Company - into the Leviathan's maw

[Majkhel]

Hello Fraters,

I've completed my second RTS vow: a Squad of Aggressors and 3 squads of Scouts (or 1 at half-strength and 1 full-strength, depending on how you want to look).


Gotta say that Scouts were very challenging because of the amount of detail they have. All those pouches, grenades, ropes, faces, hair,... plus much smaller pieces of armor compared to standard marines. In that regard Aggressors were much easier.
It also didn't help that there were 15 of the little fellas - a number a tad too big for a single batch to paint. At least for me.

I've decided to put Aggressors into the new 11th squad, 9th being already full of Devastators, and 10th half-filled with Hellblasters. To that end they all got a yellow skull on a black field on their right knee protection armor.


Sergeant got helmet from the Centurion box and pauldron with Alatus Cadere from the BA Terminator box. As he also received the "sergeant" pauldron from the standard Aggressor set, he could not properly display Comapny badge there and so ended up with a small shield from the Upgrade sprue.

And a full squad:

(I still grumble on how fixed the Aggressors are in their poses out of the box and how limiting this is for conversion options.)

As for Scouts, the most important thing I did, was to swap most of their heads for those from the Marines and even Primaris range. This required some tinkering: enlarging and deepening of the place where the head normally would go. Quite a bit in fact. Additionally each new head had to have its neck "stump" filed quite a bit as well.

But this is definitely worth it in my opinion. I left 2 guys with their old heads for comparison. The 2 old metal scouts also got to keep their heads.

Scouts were made with 2 proper sergeants, each denoted by a single black pauldron. I thought it appropriate, that they do not follow the Codex designations as strictly as full-fledged Marines. I imagine that Scouts would switch between roles (including squad leader) as part of their training. So they would all firstly display 10th Company insignia.
As I want to use those as 2 or 3 squads depending on the need, only 2 sergeants were denoted.

CCW Squad:



1st Bolter squad:



2nd Bolter squad:

I still will need to clean up their bases and paint Chapter badges at one point, but other than that, they are ready to combat once more!
I hope you like them! Edited April 23, 2020 by Majkhel

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Well done.

[Mostwanted]

Great touch changing the heads for the scouts, makes them look so much better. I can't stand the ones that come with the plastic scout boxes.

[Majkhel]

Great touch changing the heads for the scouts, makes them look so much better. I can't stand the ones that come with the plastic scout boxes.

Thanks, I agree completely! Those stock heads have no necks and make the scouts look like apish brutes. Expression on those faces does not help either... Ughh..

[Majkhel]

In light of the CA leaks and the fact that Mephiston is about to get more expensive, I've decided to start a new project.

Picked together some bitz that might come useful.
With this Contemptor frame, posing options are limited due to the way the legs are cast. The easiest pose to achieve would be the one I've managed earlier.

Of course I don't want them to look the same, so additional twist will be required. Don't know yet what.
I really do not like the default way the force halberd is being held by the original Furioso/DC/Libby Dread kit. To that end I have a spare right hand from a Venerable Dread kit, so the force halberd would go to there. This leaves the left hand option for the Blood fist. It should be easy enough to exchange it with the multi-melta arm.
I do not have a clear picture in my mind yet, so any advise would be appreciated.

So far I came across some ideas that I like

https://youtu.be/WBRYJgmnSHc

Edited December 25, 2018 by Majkhel

[Majkhel]

Early concept drawing:


I'm currently thinking about a more static pose and emphasising the psychic nature of the dreadnought's occupant.
I picture him standing casually with one (right) leg on a step or ground elevation. The glaive will be larger than the standard Furioso one and will either be held casually blade down or like a supporting staff. The other arm outstretched unleashing/preparing a psychic power.

I ordered some 60mm scenic bases - those I expect to give me a more distilled idea on posing the legs. I will be able to see actual difference in terrain elevation.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Majkhel

[Majkhel]

Merry Christmas everyone!

I've been very busy during pre-holidays and Chrismas itself. Still I have some things to report.
Slow progress but still a progress it is.

First of all, this time I wanted to bend at least one leg in the knee. Who has the non-FW contemptor knows how this kit is cast. Still I wanted to do this so here it goes:

First cuts:


Final look:

Next came the ordered base (Ristul's Market), so I could begin working on the actual positioning. Off went the original head! The torso parts were also cut at the waist and first magnets were placed in the pelvis section.


When I began first attempts at actual positioning, I realised I needed a little more elevation at the lower step of the base. Otherwise the whole model would be leaning awckwardly to one side. Those legs are short! Still I didn't wanted to elongate both of them, so hightening of the base was required. A little piece of cork made the job. I roughened up the edges a bit so it would not look too much out of a place on the base otherwise almost completely covered in detail.

This is a first look at how I imagine positioning of the legs:


Hope you like it!

[keeblerartillery]

Love seeing this! I’ve been contemplating doing the exact same thing - glad to see it is working before I started!

[Damon Nightman]

I started a similar project almost 2 years ago now that I stopped due to lack of skill. I look forward to following this! I'm going to have to see if I can pull off those precise knee cuts you did there.

[Majkhel]

Thanks guys! Glad you like this!

@Brother Lemartes - the cut on the right leg was pretty simple - I was able to drive an almost straight line from the knee joint and only just touching the pelvis joint. I marked the line in the picture.

It woudn't be that easy with the left leg though. The cut itself was made using a simple hobby knife. I was cutting "from the inside" of the leg. The angle was pretty steep, but I simply took my time with it, checking the progress along the way. The green area was then removed and filled up (lots of glue and some plastic piece from the sprue as I'm still afraid to use GS ) .

I also have some more progress to report.
First of all, I finished the second leg, attached it and positioned them both on the base - yay! (older contemptor brother body used for reference)


Some more shots:

Right leg got elongated a bit (I hope it will be barely perceptible once the whole model is assembled). For that i used 4 slimmer pieces of the sprue, glued together and filed to create a cubic shape. This was then further filed at the ends to the appropriate lenght and curves for the joints.
The body is leaning a little forward to add some more life to it.

Next came the decision what to add to the sarcophagus, to make it properly BA and which head/helmet to use. I really like the mask-faces of the Sanguinary Guard, but I already used one with my previous Contemptor. Still the original Librarian Dreadnought sports exactly that kind of mask-face.
So here is what I came up with:

Yes, that is a top from the SG banner. The head also comes from that kit.

Cheers!
Edited December 26, 2018 by Majkhel

[Damon Nightman]

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I already glued the two leg pieces together. The cut my not be as easy now. Oh well

 

Everything is looking good. I'm definitely doing the same thing with the top of the SG banner. It looks great

Edited December 26, 2018 by Brother Lemartes

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Your customizing skills are impressive. I like the assault cannon/chainsword combination weapon, and wonder if you wrote your own Stats and Special Rules for it.

[Majkhel]

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I already glued the two leg pieces together. The cut my not be as easy now. Oh well

 

Everything is looking good. I'm definitely doing the same thing with the top of the SG banner. It looks great

I'm sure that would still be doable - I would simply make the cut from the other direction. Start from the rear of leg and remove all the plastic from between the joints. This will give you a space to reach in with the actual cut. I have a nice square file that would work really well there, but hobby knife and patience would surely do as well (definitely quicker). Then you can make the diagonal cut. Starting from the front side would be just as good. It will not be that easy at the beginning as there is more plastic to chew through so consider this and simply: Keep Calm and Take Your Time

 

About the SG icon, I need to add that I bent the wings near the chalice a little to better match the curve of the front armor. They will stick out a bit of course (as they should!), but not too much.

 

Your customizing skills are impressive. I like the assault cannon/chainsword combination weapon, and wonder if you wrote your own Stats and Special Rules for it.

No I haven't, but what springs to my mind is something like a current chainsword rule: 1 additional Attack per fighting phase using the bearer's Strenght (7 in case of the Contemptor Dreadnought). Easy, already existing in the universe and not abusive in any way - just a flavour. Similar to what it is from the modelling perspective. 

Edited December 28, 2018 by Majkhel

[Majkhel]

I got less time than I thought I would have lately and I'm a little stuck over the head again. I noticed that SG masks do not have eye lenses/eyeballs as such, and that adds a lot to their mask-iness look. So I gouged out the eyes form the head I'm about to use. I'm also thinking hard on making some sort of representation for the psychic hood, but so far those thoughts are inconclusive.
If anyone has an idea for a Contemptor psychic hood, I'm all ears!

As I hit the wall for now with the head, I moved to hands instead.
From the beginning I've been thinking a lot about the hands for the Librarian Dread as it would be holding a force halberd. For me the stock Libby Dread halberd arm is wrong in so many ways, I discarded it right from the start. Instead I wanted to give my Dread two similar arms/claws/hands one of which would be holding the halberd. So the appropriate bit would need to be able to hold a halberd and be menacing enough to represent the Furioso Fist at the same time.
The Venerable Dreadnought hand is awesome, but it is built as a left hand only. I had one such hand spare and Yesterday after much deliberations, I ripped the hand of the Venerable Dreadnought I have long had (he'll be getting the Contemptor claw instead).

Now that I had 2 left hands, I opted to make one of them "right". This right hand would be the Furioso Fist casting/preparing a spell, so It would more or less keep the original shape of the VenDread's hand with the thumb posed slightly to the inside of the palm. I removed all the fingers, bar the middle one ( ), as they have different lenghts and so needed to change places in order for the hand to look properly "right".
(black hand is the original shape of the VenDread's hand for comparison)


I also trimmed the inside of the hand a lot, to be able to move the thumb to the other side. Some filing was also made on the thumb itself to remove the excess of plastic. This is the almost final result:


The original "left" hand would be holding the Force halberd. Unfortunately the thumb is not placed correctly to lock the weapon in the hand properly, soo - off with his thumb! After much filing of the thumb and the palm, the beginnig of the to-be halberd was put in more or less proper place and thumb was reattached to lock it in place:

The halberd itself got some more lenght, stiffened with a bit of paper clip inside.
I'm thinking about removing the "power module" thing as well as the spike from the original halberd blade.

Edited January 30, 2019 by Majkhel

[Majkhel]

Right arm construction completed.
Flamer and arm itself magnetized.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Majkhel

[Majkhel]

When it goes, it goes :) Capitalizing on Yesterday's right arm success, I constructed the left arm as well. Magnet in the shoulder allows for easier transportation and pose changing if I ever need it.

Pose number 1:


Pose number 2:


I'm really glad with how he turns out So far he is not entirely stable and I'm thinking do I need to magnetize or rather glue him to the base. Still have time to ponder on this. The torso is not yet glued as I still haven't decided on how I want the psychic hood to look like.
I think next step for me (while pondering on the psychic hood) would be adding some additional blood drops, chalices, scrolls, skulls etc.

Hope you like him!

[Quixus]

Why is he pointing his halberd blade downwards?

 

Would the blood talons from the BA dread kit fit instead of the venerable fists?

Edited January 8, 2019 by Quixus

[Orblivion]

Why is he pointing his halberd blade downwards?

 

Would the blood talons from the BA dread kit fit instead of the venerable fists?

 

Based on his sketch it looks like he intends to create his own head for the halberd, so the original blade will form the bottom of the new weapon.

[Majkhel]

Why is he pointing his halberd blade downwards?

Would the blood talons from the BA dread kit fit instead of the venerable fists?

Blood talons would fit as well - I had to trim down the original combi-bolter on the Cntemptor arm and transformed it into a stump onto which the VenDread's arm would fit. Blood Talon has similar hole in it's base. The left arm was built from scratch basing on the Contemptor Melta arm (for shoulder and elbow part) and Furioso Librarian arm (for the forearm part) so there wouldn't be much problem there either.

Based on his sketch it looks like he intends to create his own head for the halberd, so the original blade will form the bottom of the new weapon.

Exactly that!

I'm trying to make something that would feel different from the Custodes guardian spear. Also a Contemptor frame is significantly taller than Castraferrum MK V and the original blade looked a bit short when mounted on a longer pole needed for the Contemptor. That's why I have decided pretty early I would move it to the other end of the weapon. For now I have built this:

I would still like the blades to be bigger, but I haven't as yet found anything more suitable (and cheap and easily accessible ;) ). Those are Necron Lychguard sword blades monted on an original Force Halberd ending.

[Quixus]

I would still like the blades to be bigger, but I haven't as yet found anything more suitable (and cheap and easily accessible ). Those are Necron Lychguard sword blades monted on an original Force Halberd ending.

How about you make press molds of the lychguard blades and use them as fittings for the actual blades of the halberd made from plasticard?

 

Or just make a head from plasticard.

[Majkhel]

I've been shuffling through various races's weapons and really haven't found the piece that would perfectly match my expectations. Those lychguard swords are the closest - they have the lines that can make for a psychic circuitry, are pretty long and easily accessible. What they lack is a sense of mass.
Achillus's halberd is also great, but that is not really an easy bit to get.

I'd like to have a blade that would scream: "now THAT'S a BLADE". Something like the feel you get, when you see this:

http://masteroftheforge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/libbydread.jpg?ac2ce0&ac2ce0
However it's more of a spear and I wanted to have a Force Halberd.

So yea, making a blade on my own seems like a very good idea! I'll see what I can come up with. Thanks! Edited January 9, 2019 by Majkhel

[Majkhel]

I've been fiddling with the halberd design and here is what came out of it:

[Ekfud]

Just keep the white stick and paint it flourescent. Light saber yeeeewwwww...

[Majkhel]

Yeaaa.... I already moved too close to this:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2010/12/15/163734_md-Blood%20Angels,%20Brofist,%20Fist%20Bump,%20Fistbump,%20Humor,%20Necrons.jpg

when I wanted to use Lychguard blades :P 

[Majkhel]

That took some time, but I finally completed the halberd. Yay!
Sorry for the quality of the pictures, but it's almost 11pm here.


And some additional shots with the whole model with some added Blood Angel bits and scrolls. I'll probably add some more later, but not much.


I went for a classic Halberd look with a little extra twist in the form of an additional blade at the other end. The point is made from a broken power sword, the green blades are from a green flat round bases from another system. I made some carvings to imitate psychic circuits. They should look better when painted.
Original Force Halberd ending thing has been drilled through to allow a lenght of a paper clip wire to stabilize it on the haft. I also made some channles to embed the blades more firmly.

Hope you like it :)