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.

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.

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.

WiP Tyranid Swarmlord pt 2.5

I left the forked tail pics out of the pt3 update:

Here goes:

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.


















I have seen people ask on forums how to bend plastic.

I picked this up at a Michael's store I think retail was $20 (they almost always have a %40-%50 off coupon).










Turn it set it down, nice little kick stand.  And hold the carnifex tail nearby until the plastic develops a very shiny surface.  It can then be bent very easily.

• It will be hot, be smart when touching it.
• You can burn a copy of your finger prints into the nearly molten plastic, if you do let me know so we can all laugh at you.
• Have a pan of cool water nearby to dunk the part into, to set the plastic in the new shape.

Press Molding small bitz

So I won a large lot of Necromunda Orlocks on eBay awhile back.  Three of the four heavy weapons models had no weapons or backpacks.  This makes me a sad panda.  So here is a quick tutorial on how to re-create the missing way oop parts. 

You will need one original to create the copy from!

You will need a flat clean work area, I am using a piece of plastic card here

I recommend Legos to build the mold box

Next place Instant Mold in hot (not quite boiling) water until it is soft and pliable. Place the instamold in the bottom of the box and press your bitz around halfway into the IM.  Allow the IM to harden at room temperature or place in the fridge. 

First half of mold is filled.

Next heat up another portion of IM and cover the other side of the Bitz, then cool as before.

Second half of mold is filled.

Once cooled to room temp remove the mold from the box and slowly separate the IM halves.  Mix up your green stuff or ProCreate putty and pack both halves of your mold.  Re-align your mold halves and press them together slowly squishing the excess greenstuff or Procreate out, you will probably need to trim some of the excess off before it sets. I use very strong clamps and small boards of MDF when pressing the mold halves together.


I use Procreate at a 60-40 mix per the instructions for a hard curing sand able finish.

Mold half with ProCreat bitz in it

Original compared to the copy

Above is a photo of the original and re-cast bitz,  Mold making time is around 30 minutes. The ProCreate sets up in around 4 hours, I let these set up while I was at work and I cleaned the mold lines after I got back home.  ProCreate continues to harden over the next 48 hours or so, meaning mold lines are easier to clean sooner than later.

Best part of this is I can reuse the Instant Mold for the next project or lost bit.

More examples:

All of these came from eBay, missing weapons.  The weapons are press mold copies made of ProCreate and the front 3 have copied backpacks.

These vents are press molded from Green Stuff.

Buyer Reviews / Cool Mini or Not

As a retail business owner and an avid hobbyist I often find myself looking for other buyer reviews before buying from webstores. I thought I would start a series of reviews on the webstores I have purchased from and the products I have bought. I hope this is helpful to you all.

This time Cool Mini or Not http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/, I stumbled across a couple of products that CMoN carries while surfing over at Dakka Dakka.



I have been casting models in my home for years now using either Alumilte with rtv silicon molds or Molten pewter and oven baked silicon molds.  Both are great but mold supplies run $30 and up for a small figure or 2 if lucky,and if you mess up when making the mold you gotta start over.  So at home casting is very cost prohibited unless you need a very large run of models.

That is all a thing of the past with these products.  Instamold makes molds by placing the material in nearly boiling water until it becomes pliable.  Then you make you mold.  Either one sided open pour or squash molds, or 2 part molds can be made.  Once a mold is made run it under cold water or plop it in the freezer and it sets quickly.  Best of all the product is reusable, just reheat and reuse.

ProCreate is a modeling resin like the well known greenstuff.  but it can set up much harder and seems to hold a better edge for fine detail.

Check out the legs in this post as an example of bits cast with these products. http://warfrog.blogspot.com/2011/05/tyranid-tervigons-wip.html .  One set is a conversion from the carnifex kit the other 4 are custom cast by me from that conversion.

Combined you can re-create your own custom bitz very quickly as the molds can be made easily in 15 mins and the ProCreate says it sets in around 2 hours.


My Experience in ordering from Cool Mini or Not was normal. They shipped quickly and nothing went wrong

The 2 products are outstanding for a gaming modeler or converter, For me it has totaly change how I go about converting models and building armies. 

I will absolutely do business with Cool Mini or Not again and recommend them to others.

Buy these now if you ever make your own terrain, custom weapons, bits, whatever.  These two earn a huge 5 out of 5 from me