A dilemma - resurrect or dismantle? my OTT deathwing master

[Sandalphon]

So after a few months living vicariously through everyone elses hobby blogs I've almost returned to having a home (and functional workspace) and am planning some projects, one of which is this guy i found while packing:

Part of me thought - "Awesome - what a beast!" another thought "this is a grotesque monstrosity!" i mean lets face it, his hands are bigger than his torso - whats that all about?

The history of this goes back probably more than 10years, before there was so many great options to choose from, so there are dreadnought greaves for shoulders, clipped deathwing feathers (from original metal terminators - what was i thinking!?) The bits list is mainly from that wonderful DA upgrade sprue from way back when.. my fear is that he looks like i just clipped the sprue, poured the pieces in a bucket, coated a terminator a glue and shook it around to see what stuck.

My question is, is he salvageable? should i just paint him up and see what happens? do i pair him back from the chaotic smattering of parts? or can you see a clever way to scale him more proportionally? There are so many talented minds in this forum i'd love to get some commentary.

thoughts and advice appreciated!!

[White Wolf]

I would resurrect him.

 

Lose the current shoulder pads and replace with normal ones and lose the sword at the front. I think that would give you a useable base.

[Naryn]

He's lovely, I wouldn't change a thing. Maybe a spacer at the waist to bring him up to the more modern scale?

[Valkia the Bloody]

I love him!

But I am in the camp of the people loving Warhammer for the comic book aesthetic and less for the realism.

 

I would keep him and give him pride of place in my army.

[Sandalphon]

He was definitely spawned from the exaggerated 40k style of excess gothic greebling.

 

Spacer to the waist is definitely something I was thinking, the sword on the belt I also agree could go, or be replaced by an actual sword/dagger in scabbard like the original DW rather than what is currently there.

 

I have no idea what is under those pauldrons but might prise them off when I can and look under the hood lol.

 

Great help so far - Thanks!

[KrautScientist]

I'm a huge subscriber to the "More is more!" school of model design myself, so I cannot help loving this guy :) I really like the shoulder pads and armour detail and actually wouldn't change too much about them, to be honest. I think the main issues with the model are the claws (simply because that sculpt hasn't really aged all that gracefully, compared to some of the more recent sculpts) and the legs (I think most of the height problems would go away if you replaced the legs with, say, Primaris Aggressor legs). But then, I'd say that preserving the model as is would also be a viable strategy -- it's still very cool in that slightly overcluttered way ;)

[Master Umbra]

Hey! Personally, I think it has some charm! Why has everything need to be standard? If the lore/catalog has teached us something over the years, is that aesthetics change over time. It makes sense that they will change over centuries of war. For example, look at Cypher's new armor-badass! Standard? Well, I think it deviates from the typical loyalist Astartes armor to some degree.

Maybe the claws can be changed to some more modern ones. The only thing that really concerns me is the bionic eye... looks like it's pointing to a very awkward angle? Other than that... pfff, keep it! Who knows if you'll like him more when you put some paint on.

[Fajita Fan]

Back when Belial could take lightning claws I used those Chaos termie claws on a Lysander body (this was so common back then the conversion was called "Belialsander") and built him up on on stairs made of cork sheet.  Now I have a very fancy lightning claw guy for a command squad...

 

Personally I would chop off the dread shins to use actual termie shoulders but keep the little Ravenwing hood ornament. Also if you're repainting Deathwing you'll find Wraithbone is amaaaazingly easy to get going, I spent so many hours trying to get Deneb Stone to layer over black primer. 

[Elzender]

I actually like how the shoulder pads look, they give a bulky look without looking over the top, and I feel they actually make him look better proportioned, as they hide the arm connection and they make it seem as they are lower than the head. I agree with the other fraters on the spacer on the waist, that will likely help giving him more presence and looking less hunched.

 

However, I do feel the lightning claws are a bit too big for my taste. Maybe some cataphractii ones would look a bit thinner, while retaining the blades-as-fingers aesthetic.

 

Regarding the dagger, I think the DW terminator kit has some small ceremonial daggers to add to their waists so I think that would be perfect; I feel a sword might be excessive specially if it will be hanging in front of the legs, it would get too much in the way.

[Sandalphon]

Some common themes coming through, seems that salvageable with a few tweaks is the way forward. I'll be sure to raid the bits box when its all unpacked!

 

I have a vague recollection of trying the old chaos lord in terminator armour cloak but that might be going extra-over (although if that has @krautscientist 's blessing it can't be a bad thing!), and I'm sure I have spare stormbolters and powerswords floating around for that more 'classic' combination...can Belial no longer take lightning claws? pfft maybe I'll just call him something else ;)

 

The only newer parts I have access to at the moment are some indomitus characters and a few spare space marine heroes heads, I love this guys rage face but agree the added bionic could be upgraded.. (can't remember where I got it from) potentially use the indomitus chaplain head?

 

With a bit of bodily readjustment, the claws and dagger removed (as well well as repainted "red rocket" :D I can see this taking shape.

 

Thanks again for the help so far, I should have access in a week or so and will be sure to put up some more options/progress when I get there.

[jaxom]

I think it just needs an appropriate base. Look at the Horus figure:

 

It's similarly top heavy with some weird hand proportions, but is balanced out by the proportions of the base.

[Sandalphon]

OK here he is in 2011 with the chaos lord cloak and sans shoulder angel, bionic eye and a few spikey bits, looking pretty mean tbh. Maybe i return to this with a bit of spacing and thanks to Jaxom for the basing suggestion too - a hero deserves a plinth to stand on, something sloping back will raise his profile which might help reduce the short legs..

Im getting hyped about all the possibilities! still a big fan of bionics so might play with some head options, keep the collar spikes, replace sword icon with scabbard etc..

will also double check on the arm options when i can, a pointed stormbolter in the right hand with a drawn back powersword in the left could totally work in the current pose.. might also be bale to return some of those clipped feathers back their original DW owners!

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I can't really see him as anything but a chaos termie. If it were my mini, I'd rebuild him with newer bits and enshrine the original in a place of honor. Cataphractii have some fantastic lightning claw hands and the shoulder pads you were trying to duplicate with the dread shins. 

[Fajita Fan]

I used little tilt shields to cover up the worky bits on the lightning claws.

[Closet Skeleton]

Terminator proportions are never going to be right. Guess you could lower the arms and extend the waist.

 

I'd ditch the double purity seals and swap the dagger for less cartoony sheathed one. I'd probably ditch the leg icon or swap the wings there for Blood Angels wing icons (from the Death Company or tactical squad kit not vehice ones).

 

If you were to start again I'd go with the Space Marine Heroes Terminator Captain and give him Cataphracti terminator arms along with some deathwing feathers and a nice big DA vehicle sprue icon for a top crest.

[Xenith]

This model is great, don't disassemble. 

 

All lightning claws are big. If youre unhappy with them on this model you'll be unhappy with them on every model.

 

Just paint this guy up then make a new version. 

 

I can't really see him as anything but a chaos termie. 

 

The Dark Angels have proven their loyalty.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Much less to do with Dark Angels and more to do with the majority of the parts being from chaos kits. 

[jaxom]

I think it’s the lightning claw style that says chaos to me; I personally think of more chaos models with the blade finger thing for their lightning claws. However, the loyalist iconography is pretty upfront.

[MithrilForge]

I'd ....cut his head off and put an Ork one there and have a mega Nob 

 

sometimes you just gotta let go of the past...

 

Mithril

[Sandalphon]

Lots of food for thought! - including a Mega Nob! (I do have a spare head somewhere..interesting)

 

Countdown is on to new abode - hopefully he didn't get crushed in the move! Or maybe that would solve the dilemma? :D

 

I didn't think there was too much chaos action happening but the claws will definitely be getting some alternative options happening, likely classic stormbolter + powersword combo which I hopefully still have kicking around the bits box. the cloak is also a maybe that will need further testing..

 

In other news my indomitus ,(and first Primaris) bits arrived so maybe I'll get distracted with new stuff for a while instead

 

A lot of the conflict I've had with him seems to be coming out.. new vs old school, amount of chaos vs loyalist, superdeformo vs proportioned, cartoony vs grimdark..at least in terms of whether I invest or move on I'll definitely be giving it another shot.

Edited September 2, 2020 by Sandalphon

[Sandalphon]

An update! First of all i managed to find him in all the moving boxes - phase 1 complete.

More importantly, when i did i decided to hunt for some bits, or other guys who might be willing to donate their arms - success!

I proceeded to remove the claws and test a few poses, this is where i got to:

There appears to be some serious scarring where i had inserted the wonky bionic eye so i'll need to work on that, but all in all i'd he's looking more appropriate as a Master of the venerable Deathwing.

SInce his librarian arm donor made such a sacrifice i thought i would share him too as thanks:

Minor alterations to the original, arm swaps, a DW sgt shoulder with feathers and a parchment/scroll, re-angled axe and stormbolter pose make him look pretty solid.

C&C appreciated, they've helped improve him so far!

[Master Umbra]

Nice! Actually that scarring looks kind of badass, if a tad big. Maybe you can go for a burn scar, or a smaller bionic. All in all, mission accomplished! I think you managed to fix him quite well.