OSS - Ursal Sect - Dark Mechanicus

[oldschoolsavant]

Thanks Noctem. I try.....

 

 

 

Hahahahahaha. What have I done ? :D

 

(gonna start on the details and crew tomorrow)

[Shovellovin]

Hahahahahaha. What have I done ?

 

Whatever you're doing, keep it up! Loving the look of this beast. 

[Biohazard]

As shovellovin says! Keep going man! This is awesome!!

[oldschoolsavant]

Thanks guys. It's the biggest thing I've tried since the Carniboros, and a long way to go. Got the Dark Apostle kit as inspired by Bio, to serve as a Lowesmith (lower than a Warsmith, dunno, sounds good ?) who'll need a heavy conversion and act as it's leader, the two apostles bolstered by some other Skaven crew, and working out whether it needs smaller forward-facing guns for a start.

 

You'd think it's a bit excessive to keep away from painting, huh ?

[Biohazard]

Can’t wait to see what you come up with for the Lowesmith, I like the idea of the Skaven crew as well I think it does need a couple of point defence weapons maybe a couple of mounted heavy bolters or autocannons. Or because it’s dark mech a couple of really twisted mental made up weapons that can count as whatever you like? I like the almost beetle backed look it has already and you could easily play into that as well, maybe some forgefiend cannons where I’ve (very crudely) drawn the rectangular(ish) shapes. A sensor array to act as some kind of tusked head could be cool as well.

 

Edited September 15, 2021 by Biohazard

[oldschoolsavant]

Funnily enough, I'm currently working on a solution to a problem:

 

Why would a Traitor Astartes be happy with commanding an Ordinatus, smith or not ?

 

So I've conjoured up this lovely lass:

 

 

Felt some diversification was needed, so a crooked female priest of some sort, that I'm currently calling The Crone. Along with the Dark Apostle followers, and two more Flagellent bodies that'll make a nice crew of five to posture on the deck. Still have to sort out sleeve-style arms, and a nice Stormvermin pointy finger (with ring) that'll round her off. Greenstuffing the thin trim on the back panels is going to be most troublesome tomorrow...

 

As to the machine itself, I've already pondered using the leftover circular fixtures from the Dunecrawler gun assembly (gonna convert them to fixed cannons, another time) along with a few others, but I'll have a ladder to tie in with the deck hatch, and the slung cabling that comes with the scenery, and it'll be a bit busy already. Also keen on keeping it a functional machine, more captured than demonic, and perhaps one of the large Mechanicus skulls or a banner at most.

 

I do feel the need for some sort of defense/smaller caliber weaponry, but I haven't sussed that quite yet. Might go for some stubber turrets under the corners if my imagination finds the right bits !

[Biohazard]

The Crone looks great so far. You can look at the Wrack kit as well for all sorts of weird extra arms. was thinking just a cluster of sensors rather than an actual daemonic head but the mech skull sounds cool. I like the idea of the dunecrawler weapon mounts.

 

The weapon mounts on the Genestealer cult Goliath are pretty cool. Not sure how big they are or if they would fit on your build. Just an idea.

[oldschoolsavant]

Finished the Crone and her retinue at the weekend, taken me this long to get pics:

 

 

A couple of Skree, the rightmost guy being cobbled together by scrap legs and torso with a lot of GS. The Apostle's former followers have become a walking Alexa/instruction manual for the weapon, and just a small 'Mechanicum' conversion on the other's censer.

 

Really proud of the Crone kitbash overall though, again an idea born from scrap bits lying around.

 

 

I never want to sculpt that Admech back panelling again though.

[oldschoolsavant]

And into a weekend off, so time to play:  Defence guns a-go-go ! 

 

 

The off centre look grew on me - it avoids messing with those central cables, keeps the ladder area clear, and follows the point of the Crone quite nicely. Bigger cannons became more of a weight issue than a thematic one as it's very front heavy now.

 

All that remains is engineering a good mount for that big gun - and it's proving the trickiest problem to solve. More thinking required.

[Biohazard]

If you could find some of the Galvanic servohauler cranes on eBay that could be a good place to look for a mount. I know there was one came with the monthly subscription magazine that’s made from a brown plastic. Should hopefully be able to pick one up fairly cheap.

 

EDIT: Just want to add that I love the look of the defence weapons and the offset look really works with this thing. It looks awesome

Edited October 3, 2021 by Biohazard

[oldschoolsavant]

Already have the cranes (that's where that skull comes from) but I already have them set aside for the next thing ! Might have a look for some spares though, would never have thought of the partwork magazines as a source, but good shout.

 

I want to avoid them on this as the inspiration uses them, Subtle is (iirc) using them, everyone's using them, and they're a bit unwieldy looking that high up/crowding the platform. Think they'd also cause issues with my revolver drum and up/down pivoting.

 

I've possibly found a solution using the galvanic pipe mounts, and have a scrap sprue frame gluing as I watch the NFL. I'll report back with some good news I hope.

[Biohazard]

Fair enough, I was thinking of just the frame section down next to the power plant is on the crane but I see your point about them being everywhere. I have two now on the back of my Sacristan Crawler. :D

 

I like the sound of using the galvanic pipe mounts though. Intrigued to see how this works.

[oldschoolsavant]

Well, I promised pics ages ago, but my devotion to Khorne continues. A nice deep cut on one thumb, followed by the tip of a finger on the other hand two days later. PRACTICE KNIFE SAFETY unlike this fool lol. So, after healing up and getting a slight Mechwarrior 5 addiction here we are...

 

How DO you mount a big scenery piece to another ?

 

Tried a straight pillar through the middle core/bracket idea, not sturdy enough and looked strange from exterior, not really melding with the circular bottom. You can see in the top pic of this page it looks funny just sat on top. So I needed a cradle, something sunk down, but still secured somehow. Stumbled upon some magnets leftover from the knight days, and an old metal keyfob, and an idea began:

 

 

 

See that extra notch. That's what caused all the injury lol. All because it wasn't sitting level. Fob held in place with a cocktail stick/biro pen tube combo, secured in dowels inside.

 

 

 

The all important bracket. Magnet in the core, swivels, and although not absolutely flush, it does a perfect job. Need to add a few coins as counter weight within the gun, but it's pretty level so far:

 

 

No strings attached, sitting comfortably horizontal. Going to add a thin trim on the inside of the drum to give some bulk, some cabling and gubbins on the back side for detail, but I'm 99% happy with it so far. So much so, I got it all dressed up for a shoot:

 

 

One Malcath-Pattern Plasma Battery Ordinatus Minoris. Finish off the last few details, and pray for a dry day to undercoat.

 

And now that's over with, I've started on the forgotten Knight Armiger conversions, that I'm greenstuffing to change their profile into something more armoured, and to move away from their original design. You might spot the pencilled in trim markings on the left, and the right WiP. Had to pick the most difficult curved shape to do didn't I ?

 

 

As an aside, someone on reddit also did exactly what I was planning too: https://old.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/comments/q13vzo/plasma_generator_first_try/

 

So yeah, least I know that scheme works lol. Thanks for looking, C+C welcome.

[TheTrans]

Mate, all of this is looking bloody amazing!!

[Biohazard]

Outstanding!

[Phatsquirre1]

This entire log is phenomenal, OSS. I'm particularly floored by the Malcath and Archmagos Ursal. I can't wait to see what else you come up with! 

[oldschoolsavant]

Well, shucks guys, thanks ! Glad to have you looking over it all. Couple of days off tomorrow, so trying to get the Armigers finished then.

[oldschoolsavant]

Well, it took a bit longer than I thought, mainly looking to get away from what's a pretty common conversion. Finally got the greenstuff to play nicely, looked into some new shoulderpads (made from pipe, scenery box clutch again) and some new exhausts. Don't need a pilot hatch when they're essentially heresy-old A.I......

 

 

 

 

And some detail shots:

 

 

 

Oh, and I might still add some shoulder area GS cloth, to tie in with the head hood, reminding me of an old mech show I haven't seen in a while. Something like this:

 

 

Think I've succeeded in moving away from the typical leg-swap basics ? :D Let me know !

Edited November 19, 2021 by oldschoolsoviet

[Shovellovin]

No way to say this except….I love it!  Very imaginative and really encapsulates a Dark Mech aesthetic. 

[Phatsquirre1]

I'll echo shovel above, flat out awesome progress on an already awesome army.

 

The "Shoulder Pads" for the armigers is particularly inspired, and will most definitely be stolen for my own projects. 

[oldschoolsavant]

Steal away ! As usual, the shoulders took ages to solve, despite all the lovely pipes staring me in the face. There's a lot of variety on them, with cables, valves, dials etc and really provides a nice aesthetic.

 

1st pic ones simply added the hip joints from the leftover knight leg bits, nicely caps off the end. 2nd set required a little bit of cutting/greenstuffing as you need to switch the bottom edge from front to back on one side (just about see that in pic) but not too difficult.

 

Think it's time to tidy up all the boxes of bits, no more to build, and hopefully not ruin them with oil washes. I think i've practiced enough...

[Chaeron]

Just caught up on this OSS - amazing work! 

[oldschoolsavant]

I have no idea how to post here anymore with all these changes, but I think I'm back !

 

 

Struggled for a few months there, but I think it's time to be more productive ! Just a wee teaser of some WiP to get rolling.

[Torbenos]

Very involved and excellent things in this thread. It'll make a very unique force in the end with a lot of character!

[oldschoolsavant]

Thanks Torb, was just on my way to update tonight too !

I think I like this oil wash business:

Trying to tie together this grunged-up dirty look, the orange pop, and a pale blue-gray skintone, and I think it works. The production line is well under way now I've tested the first three:

Early work on Siliath himself:

And a trio of fluff guys I'm finishing up just now. Karrion-thralls, battlefield scavengers of fleshy or mechanical spare parts, it matters not:

Choo choo ! All aboard the Dark Mech train !