Showing posts with label Conversions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conversions. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

FW Lynx Conversion

Follow up on a previous post where I repaired some minor issues.

After looking at how the cannon assembly works on the standard Lynx I realized that a hull brace like the FW Cobra would be a great modification.

Stock photo from FW's site, showing mount style I am hoping to build.













Here you can see where I have ground down the existing hull and added in a piece of plastic card to form the mount.
















Here the Gun has bee glued into place and is resting on the mount strut.











Here the mount has been melted with a heat gun and wrapped up around the barrel.













Here the mount ring has been completed 100% around the barrel using Pro-Create.
















Now the cannon barrel will stay secure in while transporting the model, and the barrel wont droop under its own weight.

Some final sanding and details will follow shortly.





Friday, May 9, 2014

Resin Model Repair

So I have been working on a few ForgeWorld or possibly FW knockoffs in an attempt to catch up on my backlog of unassembled models.
Eldar Lynx partially assembled












Repair needed
Here you can see the white area just lower and left of the cockpit.











There was a small break here and I did not have the piece that broke off.  I used a very thin piece of plastic card (from a yardsale sign) I glued it to the underside and trimmed it to fit the old curve of the piece.

I then dropped a few drops of superglue onto the piece, followed up with sprinkling baking soda on the glue.  The baking soda makes the glue cure almost instantly, and when it dries you can sand it.  It it much harder than GreenStuff.  Making it ideal for this fix.

Other fixes needed too.
3 different areas needed repairs here.












1 The engine cover got snapped off, I reinforced it from below with thin plasticard.
2 The engine cover and stabilizer seen far right had broken in transit.  I rebuilt the cowl using thin plasticard from underneath and using ProCreate grey putty on the visible side of the model.
3 The white half of the stabilizer mount is thick plasticard cut and sanded to fit the original missing piece.

Warpage
The barrel of the gun was significantly warped.

I glues a magnet to the mounting end and hung it from my work bench.  Then I used the heat gun to soften the resin and bend it back into shape.  Because it was hanging gravity helped keep it straight while the resin cooled.


Monday, June 4, 2012

Project Compendium Hive Tyrant Wings


Hive Tyrant wings with scything talons.

This project is now dead with the release of a plastic GW flying tyrant kit.


First is a reference photo of the large scything talon from the Trygon kit.



























Top view ready for first layer of thin sheet polystyrene to build the wing webbing.



Next a top down view, dry fit onto a hive tyrant.



Top down view comparison against a Balrog wing conversion.



Frontal comparison.
























Frontal comparison 2.





























































First layer of Green Stuff has been applied to the top of the wing, I used heavy paper to make the base of the webbing then soaked it with super glue to add strength.  The GS has been textured using wet sand-able sand paper being pressed into the GS to leave a rough even texture.

Paper membrane ready for Green Stuff


I realized that this is the largest GS project I have ever done. I have used GS often to fill gaps and reconstruct small missing details, but nothing of this scope.

On this side I still need to re-work the talon on the elbow, the inner arm webbing, and the attaching tendons to the finger bones.




More green stuff added, wings have been smoothed to remove previous texture.















Bottom side, starting to apply green stuff.

The steps between green stuff take a lot of time to dry, so I have started a second project.




Comparisons with Forgeworld warrior wings


After checking out the FW wings I have decided to match the style, the armor plates at the joints and elbow,  the armored section around the hand structure, and the way the membrane joins up to the skeletal/chitinous  structure






Project Compendium Tyranid Swarmlord

This is a compilation of the WiP posts for the Tyranid Swarmlord


I have been running two conversion projects at once, to fill the down time while waiting on green stuff to cure.

Starting Bitz;
















I am going to be using a Trygon torso and 2 Trygon head plates (not pictured), plus a set of Carnifex legs and tail, standard Carnifex head and standard Carnifex armored plate (not pictured either).


Torso modifications:











I removed the 2nd and 3rd ridges from the armored plate,  I would later go on to remove the first two back vents as well.


Torso modifications step 2:

























Here you can see the Carnifex armored plated and additional green stuff vent that has been added to the torso.  The Carnifex tail section has been lengthened so that the torso and tail/waist will fit correctly.  The tops of the Carnifex legs have been widened and Trygon head crests have been cut into armor plating for the thighs.

Leg conversion process
Thighs removed from legs
Thighs cut in half










The Carnifex thighs were removed with a jewelers saw, the cut in half with a standard hobby razor saw.  The thighs were then widened by gluing the halves to a 1/8 inch thick piece of plastic card and sculpting/sanding it down to match the original contour.  Your can see the white plastic card in a photo above this.

Trygon torso:
Beginning to blend the Carnifex armor plate into the torso and have added the first 2 green stuff vents.
 


Waist & Tail extended and armor plate added

















Torso & Tail dry fit




















The last two pairs of vents still need to be extended with GS.

Current edition Hive Tyrant tail
I need 2 of these and I don't want to pay for them as bitz on eBay.











Press Mold
I used Instant Mold to make a quick press mold.










I took a piece of brass rod and bent it to shape to be structural support of the tail.
















Beginning to pack the mold with ProCreate at a 60/40 mix.


















Two short tail sections molded up with brass rod inserts ready for use.

















Legs about %85 complete























I need to fatten up the thighs a little bit, going for that softball player look.


Making the primary horn

Still need the extended goatee and talon thingies on the sides of the mouth


































Tail section

























Built up with brass rod and first layer of green stuff.

Update 4
Head


















Moar Head


















Those wonderful mouth claw thingies
I still need to finish out the neck muscles.

















Thickened thighs
Ready to be cast in resin.


Update 5


Resin Leg casts are finished........ Wooo

Size comparisons
So it looks like Swarmy is gonna be shorter than a Trygon / Mawloc and taller than a current Tyrant.  That is an original hive tyrant up front, I now use them as either tyranid primes or tyrant guard.








Face off
The torso still needs 4 more spore vents and the small chest plate claws.













Top down























Side view















Leg comparison
Current hive tyrant, custom leg set, carnifex.










Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Tyranid Swarmlord WiP pt 5

Resin Leg casts are finished........ Wooo

Size comparisons
So it looks like Swarmy is gonna be shorter than a Trygon / Mawloc and taller than a current Tyrant.  That is an original hive tyrant up front, I now use them as either tyranid primes or tyrant guard.








Face off
The torso still needs 4 more spore vents and the small chest plate claws.













Top down























Side view















Leg comparison
Current hive tyrant, custom leg set, carnifex.