Blackadder's Chaos Warhounds; Two WIPs

[Blackadder]

What a splendid idea; so you're advocating FW sell the basic Chaos Warhound without armour, carapace as well as not packaging it with weapons and then offer these necessary items at greatly inflated prices as well. You have an assured future in GamesWorkshop marketing, send your resume there, Ha!

Forgive me I just couldn't resist........

Harder Than it Looks:

I've viewed with appetite others work with green stuff but have rarely had a necessity for working with it myself

Until today!

What I am attempting to do is convert a Mars Turbo Laser into a Chaos facsimile by distressing, gouging and generally effing up what heretofore was a pretty good casting by FW standards of the weapon that is not offered for Chaos Warhounds.

Well working with GreenStuff is harder than it looks not because the sculpting is actually hard but the stuff is extremely sticky. I made the mistake of letting it sit on my desk top and it adhered itself almost instantly! Now I have a stain on my writing desk.

It sticks with great avidity to my sculpting tools, my Xacto blades everything in fact except where I want to apply it where it perversely refuses to adhere.

Anyway after fighting with the stuff for what seems hours I managed to get it where I wanted in a reasonable fashion

[url]http://i.imgur.com/zEJXGQ1.jpg[/url]


and let it sit for a while.

After what I thought was a judicious length of time I figure it was set enough to work the other side of the housing but no the stuff apparently needs a lot of curing time as although seemingly stable to the touch it is still quite malleable.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/TgPAMyt.jpg[/url]


So a tip of my hat to GreenStuff sculptors, You earn my applause.

[Blackadder]

Magnets, Magnets, Magnets:

This thing is gonna be held together with magnets any place I can justify putting them (No innuendos please....)

It started with the waist to hip block where I have two 18 MM dia. by 3 MM thick Neodymium Magnets held in place with GreenStuff.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/vRLoPOF.jpg[/url]


The neck joint has two 12 MM dia by 3 MM to hold the head on.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/lu2P1hX.jpg[/url]


The weapons will be interchangeable being 2 Plasma Cannons, a Megabolter and a Turbo Laser.

Naturally the carapace and head armour will be held on with magnets also the greaves, waist and thigh armour and the interior center bulkhead. That's about all for now until I get to the final assembly.

[Blackadder]

Vallejo Black Metal:

I had intended to use powdered Graphite (the stuff ya used to lubricate the axles of yer PineWood Derby racers) for my interior work but the Vallejo Model Air Black Metal 71.073 seems to do the job excellently.

The first image in flash was too intense

[url]http://i.imgur.com/509Trup.jpg[/url]


So macro shots in natural light seems the way to go.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/sHI3OwY.jpg[/url]


Right now after my initial coat of black spray paint I highlighted the larger flat areas with Vallejo Model Air AV German Grey 71.052 followed by Vallejo Model Air AV Lt Grey Green 71.044 with my airbrush.

Just for brevity let's assume that all the paint mentioned below and from now on unless otherwise stipulated will be:

Vallejo Model Air AV paints, I'll just give the colour and the stock number.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/MEzwe5z.jpg[/url]


This morning I dry-brushed 'Steel' 71.065 onto the still black areas and Black Metal onto the Lt Grey/Green 71.044 panels.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/yY9oJku.jpg[/url]


So far that's the only painting done to these pieces and I think the effect is passable.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/2aVwUp1.jpg[/url]


It's a shame to obfuscate the wealth of detail of this Chaos interior with gobs of paint as is seen on most of the images I've pulled up on 'google images' so I will be dry-brushing all the colours I apply to the interior just to highlight the detail.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/leb7AVd.jpg[/url]


I got a bit sloppy on the vent screen above; the brush was a tad too wet. Damn!

[url]http://i.imgur.com/X4W5ZOb.jpg[/url]


The two servitors came out fine; How ever do they mould these intricate details!??????

[Blackadder]

The Interminable Interior:

I worked for two hours today dry-brushing various colours into the pieces. I had to learn how to apply rust as a highlight.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/ZYmzLMj.jpg[/url]




[url]http://i.imgur.com/jUhPYnm.jpg[/url]




[url]http://i.imgur.com/Xfo881C.jpg[/url]


These ceiling pieces came out better than expected even in the camera shots AV Model Air Rust 71.069 did a good job in this area.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/d147k3f.jpg[/url]


The rust in this area is a big disappointment and has to be redone.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/MDjPXca.jpg[/url]


The servators still need bone white highlighting.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/NUB52yl.jpg[/url]


This guy is my favorite, I have to leave the center bulkhead removable so he can be seen. This still needs AV Game Color Bone White 72.034 highlighting over Citadel Base Rakarth Flesh.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/iwpmas8.jpg[/url]


Perhaps tomorrow I'll be able to introduce a bit of colour to this drab interior.

[dwez]

From what I've read the secret to good Green Stuffing is lubrication. I think the recommended solutions is along the lines of Nivea Moisturiser, [URL="http://5-th-dimension.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/tyranid-ribcage-tutorial.html"]this guide in particular may be of interest[/URL] for your Warhounds and your Nids. Personally I've still yet to enter the world of Green Stuff, relying on Milliput or air drying clay for my sculpting which can be smoothed with humble water.

[Blackadder]

From what I've read the secret to good Green Stuffing is lubrication. I think the recommended solutions is along the lines of Nivea Moisturiser, [URL="http://5-th-dimension.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/tyranid-ribcage-tutorial.html"]this guide in particular may be of interest[/URL] for your Warhounds and your Nids. Personally I've still yet to enter the world of Green Stuff, relying on Milliput or air drying clay for my sculpting which can be smoothed with humble water.

Thanks for the great tutorial it will come in handy when I sculpt my Warlord-sized Norn Queen...

As for grease type lubricants I've since learned quite a bit from the input on various forums that water can help keeping the GS from sticking to the tools but still allow it to adhere to the model itself; something the grease will not allow it to do.

Now 'Nivea' is water soluble so it might not prevent adhesion the way grease does, I'll have to experiment with that. Ms. BA must have some of that gunk around in her arsenal of age-forestalling beauty products; Ha!

Thanks for the input.

[Blackadder]

Blackadder"s Subtifuge:

Sorry but it's just impossible to take a decent image of these interiors without a bit of photoshopping. The images without flash are too dark and out of focus and with a flash are too washed out so I employed my editor to give what I believe is the most colour true and accurate real life image I can manage.

directly below is the cockpit and while the ganglia and appendages are a tad washed out the overall image is a true as I can make them to real light and colour value.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/JkVxGeU.jpg[/url]


This next image of the Tech Priest is the best of dozens of trial images which unfortunately does not display the the wealth of detail in this area. I acknowledge that the gold trim above the figure still needs quite a bit of work...........

[url]http://i.imgur.com/cx0V8du.jpg[/url]


Finally the poor dude on the back bulkhead has seen better days but at least the colour and darkness value is as true as my poor editor can produce.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/UV7SEQR.jpg[/url]


Let me state for the record my son and I are at odds about the conduits attached to the appendages of the the crew of the vehicle.

He maintains that the connections are wire and I believe they represent ganglia so therefore his Warhound will be red and blue wires and my connections will be bone white as I believe look more like organic nerve ganglia.

I also opted to dry brush the web-like connective tissue Rakarth Flesh with bone white highlights whereas he has not addressed the problem as yet.

[Blackadder]

In Demigod We Rust:

The basic coat of rust is applied of which this is a fair sampling I'm using Vallejo AV Model Air Rust 71.080 50/50 paint to alcohol which seems a bit light for rust colour but once the black wash is on it will darken. While eventually the entire model will be getting a dusting of dry rust pigments I feel certain cancerous areas need this extra painting of corrosion in the deeper wounds.

Once all the painted rusting is in place I will try highlighting the subcutaneous ganglia etc, with Rakarth Flesh and Bone White.


[url]http://i.imgur.com/aGSSHIB.jpg[/url]


Vallejo also makes a metallic rust but I don't like the sparkly look. Rust shouldn't sparkle.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/HaG5CFI.jpg[/url]

[Blackadder]

Supricating Pustules:

Well google let me down; there is no such word as 'supricating' according to google so I guess I've spawned a neologism.

Supricate: to ooze a noxious amniotic fluid from an ulcer or cyst; Gagggg!

The abscesses are coming along nicely and I should be ready to begin assembly tomorrow. Virtually all the painting is done and I can apply the washes when the model is in one piece.

Here's a barrage of images that should be self-explanatory; I beg your pardon for the poor quality:

[url]http://i.imgur.com/oZxzs2H.jpg[/url]


I'm looking into purchasing a light box for photographing....

[url]http://i.imgur.com/dQ9s7hb.jpg[/url]


Same picture different light source not much better but it's the sores we're interested in.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/BIljbSV.jpg[/url]


I'm rather pleases how the living tissue turned out it's even more repulsive than my Tyranids. Ha!

[url]http://i.imgur.com/BahV1nK.jpg[/url]


Once the washes are applied the wounds will take on a wetter appearance I'm hoping.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/JmO5OsJ.jpg[/url]


The ganglia is Citadel 'Rakarth Flesh' highlighted with AV 'Bone White' all dry brushed on.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/b4xFCBy.jpg[/url]

[Blackadder]

No One Move, I Dropped My Contact Lens:

I had to try this because the most obvious image that came to my mind was Peter Jackson's 'Eye of Sauron' for the waist shield orb.

Well all the colours are there but I think it needs to be a gif to make it come alive. I do have to shrink the highlight a bit.










It still needs a little more drybrushing.

And Eyewash............