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.

WiP Tyranid Swarmlord pt 4

Long Overdue Update


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.

Two part mold making tutorial - Resin Casting

Making the 2 part mold.

Lets make these.
























Smooth-On Oomoo 25.

This product is mixed by volume at a 1:1 ratio.  It does not have an foul odor, in my opinion.  It has a 15 minute pot life and sets up in 75 minutes.

This product does not need to be degassed or weighed, it is mixed by volume.

Making it much more user friendly.






Clay.

Bad Photos, blame the plastic wrapper that I was trying to photograph.  On the second frame the label says no sulfur, your gonna have to trust me on that.  I would recommend if possible by a natural colored clay instead of blue or whatever.  The color is a pain in the ass to clean out of skin, tools, and clothing.

You have to use sulfur free clay so that it does not mess up your mixed silicon.














Mold boxes.

This step will take longer than it most would people think it would, take your time and do it right.  Using a sulfur free clay, build up a layer of clay to around half way up the original.  Make sure to leave no gaps and not get the clay on the top half of the original.  Build your mold on a flat portable surface, I used a piece of 1/8 inch thick plastic card.  I also Use Legos for the walls of the mold box.  Where you stop with the clay will be the mold line, you want to be aware of this so that you can minimize mold lines in you detailed areas.  Leave plenty of room on all sides of the original, so that the mold halves maintains strength.

Adding vent channels.

At the bottom of the photo you can see the end of a syringe that I use as a pour gate for resin, the white plastic rods were added to make channels for air to escape when pouring the resin.

The holes in the clay will form registry keys that will help to keep the halves lined up properly.













Math Hell.
If you are still with me this far along, then I am going to assume that you can read and have a basic understanding of the MATHs.  At this point you need to figure out how much silicon to make.  So some basic calculations of volume are going to be needed, along with at least one graduated container.  So my two boxes had interior measurements of 6.5 cm 9.5cm x 1.5cm  &  6.5 cm 11.25cm x 1.5cm, giving me two volumes 92.625cc & 110cc.  Total volume needed approximately 202.3cc minus the filler(scroll down) and volume of the original to be cast.
This is America here but metric is so much better for things like this (everything really).


Two Compounds One Cup.

I use clear throw away drink cups, using the graduated container measure out 100cc of water and pour into the cup.  Mark a line with a sharpie  at the water line.  Now pour another 100cc of water in and mark the next line.  Make sure the cup is completely dry  I put tape over my lines so that the mark would not rub off.







Mix it up.
Follow the manufacturers instructions on mixing the A&B sides of the silicon.  I keep two labeled large paint stir sticks like from Lowe's and two measuring cups one for each bucket with my gear. After stirring I add the thinner of the two to the cup up to the first mark, then add the other side up to the second mark.

Stir with a third stick until the color is even, you need to stir this and pour the silicon in around 5 or so minutes you have a work time of 15 minutes total.

Left over silicon.

Left over silicon can be cut into small bits and added to a new mold pour. Keep it to small amounts added after the first part of the pour.  When the resin has coated the clay floor and original.

Keep and failed molds and left overs for this reason.








Poured Silicon.

Start pouring in the most empty corner of the mold box and allow the silicon to flow by itself throughout the mold box.  That will help to ensure complete detail capture.




In this photo you can see the air bubbles caused by mixing and pouring rising up and popping leave them alone and let the silicon do its thing.  Gently shaking, tapping, or even vibrating the mold will make this go faster.


(You can buy a professional vibrator for this, please post pics of it delivered to your door step if you do.)
The manufacturer says 75 minutes to cure, I recommend pouring the first half and between 2-4 hours.  Let it really set up and cure well before the next steps.

Remove the walls.

Remove the walls of the mold.













Remove the clay

Remove the clay, notice how the blue stains the plastic card.  Buy a natural unstained shade if possible.


Make sure to get all the little flecks and pieces.  Try not to remove the master from the mold silicon.



Prep for 2nd pour

You must apply a rubber to rubber mold release agent to all of the silicon, be extra careful not to get any on the master being copied.  Use a old paint brush for this.

Ready to pour the other side.

Rebuild the mold box, mix & pour your silicon.

2-4 hours later.

Gently pry the 2 halves apart.  You will have to clean out the pour channels and venting sprue gates.  Use a very sharp knife and possibly a good quality sprue cutter.

Give the mold at least 8 more hours to fully cure before you start pouring resin in it, yeah the manufacturer says its ready but do your self a favor and wait.

Green Stuff Basics

So I have been getting some questions on forums about how to sculpt with GreenStuff  (henceforth GS).  So here goes my amateur tips and techniques.

GREENSTUFF

Buy this size, and keep a dish of water handy when working

First don't buy the strips, buy the big tubes for around $13 for 100grams from the warstore.  The same weight of GS from GW would be $50.00 in strips and the strips do not store well.









Basic Tools

Tools most GW hobbyists are familiar with.

No matter what sculpting tools you use or make keep water handy to keep your fingertips and tools wet, to keep the GS from sticking to you as much.  I know some sculptors make their own tool ends for specific effects or their own preferences.  I am not that far along yet or more correctly I have not found the need create a tool tip.



Clay Shapers

Clay shapers size Zero 

If you want good looking sculpts, buy good tools like these.  GS rarely sticks to these and they are great for smoothing our fingerprints and blending/feathering GS edges.














Digital Scale

I bet most of you did not see that one coming.  Get a jewelers scale from eBay that can handle around 500g to 1000g.  You can weigh out the blue and yellow portions individually to be sure you are close to equal.  I have found that I am rarely able to use more than 1.5g in a single session before it starts to set up and get more difficult to use.  Remember that is about .750g of each color.  Some sculptors like to vary the amounts of each color or even add different putties like milliput or Brown Stuff.  this lets you make sure your ratios are right.  Like painting and trying to match a blended color, a scale can make it easier to match a special ratio keep a note book handy for these sort of things.









Now Get Sculpting
Here are some techniques and tricks I have picked up:

• Use an armature or skeleton to build up you sculpture on, GS is flexible and will not support much weight without bending.  Use brass wire or plastic card, remember that if you are going to cast the model later in metal that you will want to use metal supports because of the heat and pressure many mold making processes generate (most resin techniques avoid this problem)
• Sometimes you may be sculpting two parts that will join up to each other but need to remain apart, like a ball and socket joint. In the case of a ball & socket joint once the socket is formed and cured a good tip is to lightly apply petroleum jelly (vasaline) to the inside of the socket and the press a wad of GS into it to take the ball shape.  Petroleum Jelly will not stop GS from curing but it will keep the two pieces from sticking together.  Once cured clean up the goo with regular dish soap.
• Press Mold, read this post to get a better insight on press molding.
• Work in thin layers, build the model slowly.
• On this torso I extended the backbone in around 3 sessions.  The first was to build a plastic card skeleton joining the ball back to the waist and then covering it with GS.  Once cured I blended the vertical strips of GS onto the torso.  Next after that had cured I packed a small amount of GS at the bottom of each U shaped valley and using a Clay Shaper made the cross members by working the excess up the groove until I reached the top of the torso.  It took days to complete and probably could not have been in one session.

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.

Tyranid Flying Rippers

I like the concept of flying ripper swarms, thought I would buy some I was looking at these.

These are Forgeworld's version and for the low low price $33.50 (for nine total winged bugs) I can order them from the UK, wait while they ship and then fix the bad quality sculpts that Forgeworld is known for.    I say no thank you to that.

I decided to make my own and cast them out of resin.

I am starting off with Warhammer Quest bats got them from eBay, Using the painted one and a broken one then reselling the rest of the lot.  I will have less than $2.00 in the bats.  (WINNING)
Also using 2 different jumping sculpts of ripper bodies, any Tyranid player will have tons of these. Lets call them free with purchase of other plastic crack.

Using a Hobby saw and clippers I cut the bats in half and then carved the body away, leaving 2 sets of wings.

Some glue and GreenStuff later, I now have 2 different winged rippers ready to be molded and cast.

$2.00 is so much better than $33.00

Halloween = Extortion

So my boy has been taught the fine art of Trick-or-Treat, this Halloween was first holiday he has been old enough to participate in and understand.  Fortunately he grasps the finer concepts like asking for candy in exchange for protection from tricks being inflicted upon the home he is visiting.  He will make an excellent negotiator or mobster.

The little dragon visited his grandparents, and a surprise visit to Neverness to solicit candy and chase the great and furry Isis.
















On the horizon, the swarlord legs are finished (I think, I hope), the tail section is in the final stages of completion, and the head is in the home stretch.