Modelling: Reposition Plastic Space Marines

[Barpharanges]

Here is how I reposition Space Marine limbs. For this series of pictures, I'll use Space Marine legs;

 

First, I chop 'em up. I use the "X-acto knife against hard surface" technique, but you can use jeweler saws, razor saws, wire cutters, bolt cutters, whatever floats your boat, just watch your fingers!! After chopping, I scape/carve off the ribbed detail in the joints. When done, it looks something like this;

 

Next, I use a pin vise to drill a hole clear through each piece, like this;

 

Then, I string the pieces along a piece of telephone wire (which I found on the road!) in order;

 

Finally, I bend the wire and get poseable legs;

[Barpharanges]

And here is what it looks like with feet attached;

 

And behind;

 

This is just a basic "Standing around" pose, but the wire "skeleton" makes it easy to pose the legs to whatever you wish.

 

Easy, huh?

[The Angelus Sanctus]

Hmm darn, now im all out of stray space marine legs.. although that is great Barph... well done.. Heh the fun part is just fixing everything up with GS which is something i dare not to do :huh:

 

Im assuming the wire is something you can get at your nearest (and decent) DIY hardware store? or would you want to go to a Hobby shop??

[Yuri]

Nice Barph! I've seen the same technique here at Codex Unforgiven. If you need just a little bit more info check the site out. Oh and btw, a jewelers saw is a MUST for this kind of work.

[Chaplain Desmodus]

That's how I reposition my marines as well, but the wire idea was a good one - I have so far used 1 mm brass wire and it is not soft enough for this purpose.

 

When you have found a pose that you like, seal the exposed joints with a tiny amount of superglue. By making the structure sturdier, you make the GS work a lot easier.

[Grandturk]

Great tutorial - I think you gave a lot of people a lot of ideas. My only comment on it would be to cut the legs so that the knee pads are removed completely, or if you must leave them attached, leave them attached to the lower leg armor, as that would probably look more realistic than they look statically attached to the thigh.

[Barpharanges]

Thanks guys!

Yes, I should add "now sculpt in the ribbed detail in all gaps with Blue/Greenstuff with an X-acto blade", but I haven't done that myself yet, with this set of legs, so no pictures yet. I like to have a few minis on the go, awaiting Blue/Greenstuff. For some reason, No matter how small a batch of 'Stuff I mix up, it always seems to be too much! My sculpting skills are average, so I can only work on one joint at a time. Any more and I run the risk of mashing the detail of any previous work with my butter fingers. Oh, don't worry too much about your own sculpting skills. Just try your best, then paint the are black. Works for me!

 

Kneepads; usually I just cut the darn things off and sculpt them back on, but Grandturk is right, Kneepads on the lower legs may be easier for you re-sculpters.

 

I disagree with Yuri. You don't need a Jewelers saw for this. A plain old X-acto blade works fine. Games Workshop's styrene plastic is very soft (too soft- watch your fingers!) and cuts easily. If you want to use a saw, go for it. Just don't go out and buy one for this technique. Buy a pinvise instead!

 

My source for wire is a Bell Canada telephone junction box accross the street. The servicemen for this particular unit are very sloppy and leave excess telephone wire on the ground all the time, usually in convenient 10cm lengths. I give the box a visit whenever I'm running low on wire.

On the subject of found objects, the fuse wire I use for power cables on Space Marines was found, unravelled, on a hill in a park, under a thin layer of ice. It took me almost half an hour to spool it back up by wraping it around my hand. Following this wire was quite the adventure! How it got there is still a mystery. Maybe it's made from Plutonium or something, dropped by Aliens? Who knows....?

[esinhorn]

I work for the phone co we use coated 22 and 24 guage wire.Soft metal ,we used to use copper but now we use a hybrid.

[Freakiq]

Sorry... ^_^

[iron father]

Thank you Freakiq, very helpful. :tu:

[Hydra]

I don't see why ressurecting older threads is so bad :tu:

 

It actually helps newer members to the site.

[Legion Prime]

Sanctus, you just look out in the road like Barpharanges said *LOL* But seriously, This is an awesome tutorial. You're absolutely right Hydra, who knows how long it would've been before I came across the old one on my own. I'm always looking for little tricks that my friend who grew up in england playing this hasn't discovered yet. He's got at least one of EVERY army there is. He's been playing for over two decades so it's nice if every once in a great while I can find something he didn't know about or something he never thought of before. I don't think I've seen him do this so I'll have to pick up a jewlers saw and whip this out next time we get together for modeling and then just look at him funny when he asks me :cuss I'm doing *LOL* Thanks guys, you're the best!

[NurgleThing]

Thats very nifty, ill have to give that a go.

[lhg033]

thank you for the tutorial - am feeling inspired to try it out on one of my terminators - if i get round to it i'll post some picks in the WIP forum.

[GeneralStukov]

I gotta say this is a nice idea, I used this to make my models Truescale, the only gripe I have is the drills I use are so touchy that I cant make a good starting hole...

[Dominar_Mortis]

the only gripe I have is the drills I use are so touchy that I cant make a good starting hole...

no probs!

just take your sharpest scapel blade and poke it exactly where you want it, give it a little twirl, creating a little concave divot, a blast from your spice weasle

-=BAM=-

and you are set to start drilling ;)

 

 

DM :tu:

[white_charisma]

This is really not that hard. I was hesitant the first time I was going to attempt this, but it is not that hard. If you have a pair of the assault marine running legs with the left foot on the ball of the foot, cut the foot out, and smooth. If you have a spare pair of legs you dont need, just cut out the left foot. Smooth the top of the foot so that its curved, glue or pin the foot to the leg, then jam some green stuff in there.

Thats what I did for this guy...

and he doesn't look half bad.

here you can see the green stuff needs to be smoothed...

[cathar the great]

And the Threadomancy continues... Why isn't anybody getting macareled these days?

 

But maybe this could be a chance to add this to the Librarium? *winksatrandomlexicani*