To explore strange new worlds... Or: Expanding my Rogue Trader's warband

[Kaled]

It's really not the best photo, but I've started sculpting her top - the buttons are from a press-mould I did of the ones on Covenant's coat.

[Kaled]

I don't have any new photos to show - the things I've done since the last update are all preparation of parts or minor changes not worth showing yet.

I have decided to add another model to the group - I've always wanted a mechanical grinning Cheshire cat and a while ago I got hold of the one from Tales of War's Alice (thanks again Gav!).  The idea is that he'll become the mechanical grinning ship's cat.  I plan to drill out one of his eyes and have it hanging loose on wires, and maybe gouge a hole or two in his body to reveal cables etc underneath.

I was also thinking if I add any more members to the warband some good additions might be a Sister Famulous and a Missionary (I've been reading Blood of Martyrs), so if anyone has model suggestions for a woman in formal dress and a priest then let me know.

Work has been really busy recently, so progress has been slower than hoped - however I hope to find time this weekend to sit down and start work on the Explorator's body.

- Dave

[Kaled]

Yesterday I made a bit of progress on the Explorator.  I spent quite a bit of time building his bionic leg - his foot was the base of an IG mortar, his lower leg was part of an autocannon (I think) and his upper leg is part of a Tau battlesuit.  I then added a plasticard kneecap and some cabling.

After that, I bulked out his body and will probably start sculpting his leg next.  The idea is that will be pretty similar to the sort of thing I did on the legs of my Demiurg.

I also started work on his bionic arm.  The idea is it's five slender mechadendrites that coil together to form an arm and hand.  Next I plan to make a hand out of BFG antennas and then somehow attach that to the end of the arm.  Chance are I'll sculpt the connection between hand and arm rather than try to bend the wires into position.

[Heroka Vendile]

Looks promising. Is that green stuff or milliput you're using to bulk out the body?

[Stormgrad]

I love that leg and i'm really looking forward to seeing the progress on this model, I'm keen to see how the warband progress's

[precinctomega]

Oh! I was expecting the Explorator to be the female, with the furs and tech-priest head on that female body.

Slightly disappointed, but mollified by the expectation of two new minis.

I've started getting my band together for the IGT, now, so I may have to start a new thread myself, tomorrow...

R.

[Kaled]

Morning all,

I'm going to work on these two some more this afternoon, but first I thought I'd post an update.

I've been working on the Explorator's leg - he's going to be wearing a three-quarter length coat, probably  edged with a cog-tooth pattern, so that will cover up some of the messy areas around his groin.

I've also done a bit of work on the Captain - I've started sculpting her holster, and have been working on her arms.  I decided not to use the ones from the original model so am going to adapt ones from Damien Bloodhound instead as they're already fairly slender and I'll file them down a little.  Hopefully you should get to see pictures of those soon.

I've also been working on weapons and the Explorator's arm.  I've built the Captain's neural whip, sword and hellpistol.  My first attempt at the hellpistol used Von Castellan's as a base and I think it looks really good (in case anyone was wondering, the cables attach in front of the handle).  Unfortunately it's too big for this model, so I had a second go using Jaxon's pistol as the base - this one turned out pretty well too, so I'm not too disappointed.  (The cables attach through the handle.)  The neural whip turned out well I think, but I'm not so happy with the sword so I may revisit that.

The Explorator's arm is not completed, but I think it's working well so far - I've got the cables into about the right position so I just need to join them up with some greenstuff.

[precinctomega]

Interesting approach on the bionic arm.  I look forward to seeing how they turn out.

R.

[axiom]

Nice looking set of weapons. The bionic arm looks really interesting, although one aesthetic problem you may face is the slenderness of it against the bulk of the rest of the Explorator.

[Kaled]

The arm isn't so slender - in fact it's deliberately over-sized, partly for the reason you mention, and partly because I wanted it to be obvious it's not really an arm, but a collection of mechadendrites acting as an arm.

The Explorator is bulky - I'm actually finding it difficult to fill out the Crime Lord's cloak.  I keep getting the proportions wrong, his body has to be a lot wider than normal in order to fit the cloak and not leave a massive gap at either side of his body, as well as between his back and the cloak.  It's getting there, butis going pretty slowly.

[Heroka Vendile]

in the Inquisitor Sketchbook theres a drawing of a noble woman with a massive cloak that's held up by servo skulls

[Kaled]

That's not a bad idea. The cloak is obviously sculpted to hang over his arms and shoulders, but if I'm still having issues I could probably resculpt it a little to be held up by a couple of servo-skulls.

[Necris]

I must say I like your version of the Von Castellan's pistol it looks like a really meaty weapon perfect for a threatening character I may have to steal that design

[kierkegaard]

I must say I like your version of the Von Castellan's pistol it looks like a really meaty weapon perfect for a threatening character I may have to steal that design

I've already stolen it!

[Kaled]

I'm glad people like the pistol - I was really happy with it, especially as I have a few of Von Castellan's pistol sitting unused in my bits box.  And now that I look at it again, by simply removing the barrel and making a couple of other small changes it could be made into a very cool stubber.