Dr. Ruminahui's leman russ to defiler conversion (with tyranid bits)

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks, @Firedrake Cordova.

 

Long weekend here, thanks to Queen Victoria, so posting on a Tuesday this week.  This past weekend was leg day at the deflier gym:

 

 

Haven't tested whether it will stand properly without the box in support - that moment of truth will be tonight.  The back 2 leg shields are just like the other side, the front one has a slanneshi symbol - isn't quite as eye catching as the chaos star on the other side, but slanneshi symbols are hard, especially in the weird shaped space I had.

 

So, only one major structural element left, that being the left claw.  Think I can bang that out in the coming week which puts me in the home stretch - asides from building the flail, magnetizing the combi-bolter/weapon and maybe doing some work on the left sponson heavy bolter, its all detail work from there.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Looks good.  

 

Fingers crossed the plastic glue behaves when you remove the support box  

[Brother Christopher]

Wow, it's coming together extremely nicely.

 

In case the model is not stable enough, try reinforcing the 'joints' with metal rods (say, from, paper clips). I think you wouldn't have to undo the work you did - just drill in the vital places/joints and insert the rods.

 

Are you planning on adding a demonic head/face somewhere? I'm confident you can pull it off expertly, given the amazing chaos symbols on the leg shields/armour.

[WAR]

Dang @Dr_Ruminahui that is pretty sick!

[PHS]

Yeah it gets better and better

 

Any decision on the tongue? The idea about adding a small mouth sounded pretty cool

 

Cant wait to see more 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Just a quick midweek update - its stands!

 

 

Thanks for the compliments, @Firedrake Cordova, @Brother Christopher, @WAR and @PHS!  It always gets me so pumped to share my work when its so well received.

 

Brother Christopher, the legs are pinned in that they have a long piece of wire running through the hull and into each leg - you can see an example in the above picture on the upper front, where the left claw will attach.  Knowing that it was likely that someone might try to pick it up by the legs or arms, I thought it prudent to make them as secure as I could.  That said, it created its own issues - it adds some torsion to the limbs that can twist them to an angle and/or position other than what I want, and I accidentally unattached the front right leg trying to attach the front left one (as I was pushing on the wire) so ended up reattaching it and attaching the front left at the same time. The ends of the leg don't touch the inner hull and barely touch the outer hull (if at all) so they are basically held in place by the pinned wires and greenstuff - so no plastic glue Firedrake Cordova.  That said, its a good idea, and I think I will go back and apply some in those few places where the legs contact the outer hull.

 

And yes, I do have a plan for a face (or just a mouth, or just an eye/eyes) on the front hull where the rectangular hole in the hull is.  Not sure which - I will float some options with you guys, probably next weekend, to see what you think.

 

As for the back tongue, PHS, haven't reached a decision yet - I've been working on the stuff I have fixed in my mind first as I wanted to get it to the state I now have it where it stands on its own and I don't have to leave it perched on my mug.  I'm thinking I'll work up a couple of options to see which I like best, and if undecided see which you guys prefer.

Edited May 22 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Got the second arm on, but not without dislodging the first - so if its in a slightly different position, that's why.  It looks pretty much like I hoped it would - the claw arms are a little weedy and thin, but more in a way that looks unnatural than one that makes it look like it wouldn't work, so I'm fine with that.

 

 

So, that's the end of the structural elements.  Now its all detailing, other than a touch more work involving the top hatch options, the left side heavy bolter option, and the construction of the flail weapon option.

 

In terms of detailing, I see myself faced with 2 major choices for which I would love your feedback:

 

1.   What do I do for a face?  My thought was to put one on the front right where the driver's port is (its hidden in the above picture behind the claw).  The question is what to put there.  Some options are:

 

           a) put one of the flat plates with faces on them from the chaos rhino kit.  Here are the options:

 

 

And here are pictures of them in place (note, each of these will be actually mounted a bit higher, as I will be cutting off the hinges for the hatch off the russ which will allow me to cover that area with the face plate):

 

- i) the melty face:

 

 

- ii) the demon face:

 

 

b)  a bunch of eyes

c)  another mouth; or

d) my own scratch built face - suggestions as to what it might look like appreciated.

 

Personally, I'm inclined to go the easy option of the demon face plate, which has a similar visual aesthetic to the original defiler, so creates a nice visual link there.  That said, it might not be the best fit with the rest of the model.

 

2)  What to do with the spaces between the outer and inner hull?  The big decision there is whether to put on the track guards on the top - here is a rough picture of what that might look like, though it wouldn't stick off the back like that but would instead be cut down to fit the size.  As well, I would model some spikes breaking through them like I did the legs through the hull.

 

 

And here is an older picture without it - I had taken a newer one, but it looks like I didn't upload it.

 

 

Note, this is an option where I could do different things on different sides.

 

Where there are no track covers, I intend to build up some stringy flesh connecting the mechanical elements and maybe put some eyes here and there poking up over the edge of the hull.  On the front, probably some eyes clusters on one side, and spikes on the other.  On the bottom, its going to be less detailed with just some lumpy flesh and a couple of cables hanging down.

 

So, poll time:

 

1.  What should I do for a face on the front area beside the front sponson?  Options include:

            a) i) the melty face plate

               ii) the demon face plate

            b) an eye (either a single big one like this guy or a cluster like elsewhere on the model)

            c) another mouth; or

            d) a scratchbuilt face - if this is your vote, please give suggestions as to what it might be like.

 

2. Trackguard or no trackguard?  Options:

           a) trackguards.

           b) no trackguards

           c) a trackguard on one side, but not another.

 

3.  Other suggestions you might have as to what to do with the space between the outer and inner hull (so, between the track wheels), particularly for the front of the model.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I think I quite like the idea of an eye instead of a face.

[PHS]

Yeah me too , a cluster might balance well with the ones on the side of the turret 

 

or maybe a daemonic face forcing its way out with the skin stretching, something more 3d than the plates

 

I like the idea of mismatched sides with regards to the track guards

[firestorm40k]

+1 for an eye/cluster of eyes - either that, or a mouth opening to reveal horrible spike teeth 

 

Great work so far! 

[TheArtilleryman]

2 hours ago, PHS said:

or maybe a daemonic face forcing its way out with the skin stretching, something more 3d than the plates

I second this idea. Like it’s trying to break out of the front of the tank. 

[WAR]

My poll responses:

 

1-Eyes or eye cluster

 

2-Partial track guard ie random sections missing.

 

3-Pustuels, flayed skin, or cracked armor

 

I really love tis project @Dr_Ruminahui

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone,, they were very useful.  Mixed trackguards and tracks was the definite favorite and what I ended up doing - that was an excellent choice, everyone who voted for it, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  As for the front, eyes just slightly edged out some version of a melty face, so I'm working out some options that I will put in a separate post soon.

 

This one is going to be pretty picture heavy, as there are a lot of details I'm trying to show - you've been warned.

 

Finished the bulk of greenstuffing on the hull - really, the only thing that is left in that regard is the front.  After that, just have the flail and one of the side heavy bolters and the beast is done.

 

Before I did the actual detail work, I glued some paperclips to act as a scaffolding for the greenstuff on the top - I don't want it to break off and fall into the model where it couldn't be retrieved, which I was worried of happening as its connection points to the model is otherwise only as much as I can smoosh it against the two hulls.

 

 

Decided to go with trackguard on one side (with a tiny bit on the front of the other) and tracks on the other and the back on side with the guard.  Here's a picture with the tracks - wanted to make it look like the tracks were getting broken up and absorbed as the thing continued to mutate and really happy with the look,

 

 

And here's the tracks on the backside, drooping off.

 

 

And here is the side with the track guard with the spikes breaking through - also show some of the green stuffed "muscles" around the arm sockets.   It also shows how I put a ram bar on the front - I decided I didn't want a mouth up there so that fills that empty space, and helps replicate some of the look of the original defiler, which has a similar structure on the front.

 

 

Here's some eyes I added to the left side (so the side with the trackguards and without the mouth) back by the smoke stacks.

 

 

And here's the bottom - less concerned with what it looks like, but I wanted to fill the spaces between the rollers.  It also shows where I added some cabling to the middle left leg (the bottom of the photo) and hanging below the hull on the front right (top of photo).  It also shows the cabling on the rear right leg, but that isn't new.

 

 

Finally, I've built some cabling/piping for the combibolter/weapon to explain how its fired without a gunner.  Its magnetized so I can swap it between the two guns (bolter v weapon) or swap it with a plain hatch.

 

 

As discussed earlier, I've also been working on tongue and front options, but will put those in another post - there are enough pics in this one already.

[phandaal]

This model reminds me big-time of the corrupted airship level from that Sega/Mega Drive game "Bio-Hazard Battle." Imagining this guy sprouting new tentacles and weapons whenever a piece of the armor is blown off. Great stuff! Looking forward to seeing this guy finished and painted up!

[sitnam]

I honestly thought the idea was kind of goofy when  I saw the title, but it's really shaping up the more work you put into it. I think all the greenstuff in the track section sold me on it.

 

If your open to suggestions, I think greenstuffing some demonic growth on the cannon would really complete the transformation. I don't think it needs it though, the rest of the work really does represent what you wanted

[MithrilForge]

Awesome Work Indeed ! , 

 

M

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks @phandaal, @sitnam & @MithrilForge!

 

Sitnam, what did you have in mind to do around the cannon?  I don't really picture anything there myself (there aren't any natural egress points like hatches and such) so I'm not sure what I would do to it if I were to do something. 

 

As it turns out, I made up my mind (mostly) as to the front and the tongue and didn't need to post all the pictures of the funky options I tried as part of the decision process (I can still share those if you guys want).  Hopefully you guys like what I came up with.  So, asides from whatever Sitnam may convince me to do with the cannon and if you guys convince me to go with the alternate tongue, the build is done. 

 

So, here's what I ended up doing on the front end.  This picture also shows the flail option I built (the whisk of doom).

 

 

Basically, I decided against the eye cluster as most of the time (except when I was fielding it with the reaper autocannon) I would already have a cluster on the other side on the front gun mount (as seen here) and I wanted to avoid that symmetry.  I still thought an eye there was a good idea, though, so I made an eye stalk with the eye being held by an arm, as I thought it would be creepy. 

 

A bunch of you also wanted a 3d melty face, which I thought was also a good idea but wasn't sure if I could really pull it off.  So I had a go at it and made the arm come out of its mouth.  Not totally happy with my work, but its probably fine with the arm sticking out in front of it and kind of obscuring it.

 

Here's a picture of the flail from the side - incidentally, the claws on the end are some of the oldest bits in my bit box, and come from my earliest conversions - they are knives from the plastic goliath models from the 1st edition necromunda box. shaved to put the main cutting edges on what was the back of the knife.

 

 

Here is the tongue that I've mostly settled on - building it out of a plastic twist tie allowed me to make it forked, something I don't think I could have pulled off effectively  if the tongue had been made of greenstuff.  There is some greenstufffing on the back to flatten out the ridge made by the metal wire inside the tie.  I'm not gluing it on until after its painted, so its position isn't finalized yet.

 

 

Here's the other option - if I were to use it, I would greenstuff the transition between the head and the cable to make it more natural.  Went with the above largely because the tie is a lot easier to position and deal with than the guitar string.  The head of the tongue is from the new demon prince kit - and the blue tac is obviously temporary.

 

 

I suppose there is also the option to go no tongue at all - anyway, let me know what you think.

 

Other than that, the final bits of the conversion were pretty minor.  I built a second eye cluster (actually, the 3rd, to replace the 2nd which went missing) as I need two if I put the reaper autocannon on it as I need one for each side sponson - don't think it warrants its own picture unless you guys want one.

 

The final change was carving the ejection port out of a heavy bolter and then flipping it onto the other side so both sponson heavy bolters (if I use that option) eject away from the hull.  Kind a real nitpicking thing, really.  Probably doesn't warrant its own photo, but you are getting one regardless.

 

 

One final picture of the defiler with all of its magnetising bits.

 

 

All that is left now (other than any last minute changes arising from you guys' suggestions) is the painting - I'll be making it my first vow for Call to Arms.

[PHS]

Wow, that first pic is the stuff of nightmares! I can imagine that flail whipping around uncontrollably 

 

I like the 3d face, it works well and the eye on a stalk adds to the horror 

 

The twist tie tongue is cool, maybe needs some light texturing to suggest tastebuds?

 

Cant wait to see it painted

 

 

[Brother Christopher]

I'm sorry to have missed your previous update when it was time to offer advice; I would've liked to chime in.

 

Your project is most impressive. I concur with PHS, the tie tongue is cool and it wouldn't hurt to add a layer of textured green stuff. However, I don't think it's essential - the wire that supports the shape adds some details already and there's the matter painting the model later: you can feign a texture by an appropriate paintjob.

 

But really, you are doing an excellent job with mixing organic and mechanical bits in this warp-fuelled nightmare of a vehicle.

 

I think that what I would've done is add some asymmetry and make a plasticard 'casing' for one of the claws - both on the claw itself, as well along the arm. The claws, after all, are one of the strongest and most eye-catching parts of the original model.

[Gnasher]

There's only one word that enters my mind with this & that's "Top" :-

 

Top - Modelling skills

Top - Inovation, great use of parts

Top - Imagination, who'd have thought?

Top - Vision

Top - Creepiness

 

So all around I'd just say TOP!!

 

 

[Ace Debonair]

I've only just discovered this topic, and this defiler is absolutely wild in the best (and most Chaos-y) ways.

 

Turning a Big Nid and an Imperial Tank into a Daemon engine sounds quite impossible until you see it done, and suddenly it all looks like it was supposed to go together like that. 

 

Absolutely brilliant, can't wait to see how this absolute monster comes together when painted. 

 

 

[TheArtilleryman]

Unreal work here. It’s really coming together. Can’t wait to see it finished
 

 

[PHS]

I think you are right Brother Christopher , painting will make a big difference to the twist tie.. glossy drool maybe 

[Grotsmasha]

This looks like a potential Master of the Forge contender in the Call to Arms to me

[Norman Paperman]

WOW. That flail is *chef's kiss*

 

I'd actually vote for no tongue at this point, or something small and simple. This model is already so impressive, so incredible, there's already so much going on that you might not need that extra design element. The mouth itself is SO cool, genuinely one of my favourite parts on this (gross, simple, perfectly chaos) adding another element that pulls the eye away might not be worth the effort. I'd suggest that your best bet is to let the mouth stand on its own and not fuss too much about a tongue design, especially since you're uncertain about it. 

 

I do like the tentacle with the demon head on it though, perhaps an element for the left side?