Another distraction - 54mm Necron Warrior

[Ynek]

Greetings once again, Conclavers.

Inspired by a recent thread in the rules section where rules for a couple of necron units were discussed, I decided that I was going to try to recreate at least one necron archetype in Inquisitor (54mm) scale.

My first port of call was to consult the all-knowing oracle, (google) and see if anyone else had done anything similar in the past, basically looking for pointers / ideas to steal.

In my search, I stumbled across this page, which had some pictures of 54mm necron warriors which had been, for a time, sold on eBay.
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/unique-necron-54mm-inquisitor-gw-132864780


Some of the Conclave elders / sages will probably recognise the models, as they were displayed briefly on one of the older versions of the Conclave. I can't for the life of me remember who sculpted them, but a handful of their finished, painted models were, for a time, displayed on the Conclave.

Anyway, although the above model had a certain charm, I decided that I wanted something a little closer to the necron's current appearance. Additionally, finding any of these models up for sale anywhere online would be like trying to look for a functioning brain cell in an ork waaagh. Therefore, it looked as if I was going to have to work from scratch. With eagerness, I reached for my green stuff, plastic rods, and plasticard.

Three days, five hours, sixteen minutes, eight seconds and two finger-cuts later, this is the stage that my necron warrior has reached:






Including it's base, this necron warrior stands at 60mm exactly. This means that he is just a shade taller than Slick Devlan, and just a little shorter than the Death Cult Assassin.

The hole in the centre of his forehead is a by-product of the way I sculpted it, not the results of leaving him within range of a Space Marine bolter. (Basically, it's sculpted around a plastic sphere / bead mounted on the end of a paperclip. The hole is simply the bead-hole, which I haven't actually plugged yet.)

He's not quite finished yet. Still some neatening up and tidying to do, and the gauss flayer isn't quite attached to the arms yet, (it'll get attached properly after I've painted him,) but I thought I might as well hop on here and show him to you all to get some feedback on my progress this far...

[Van Helser]

That's some very nice plasticard work. I'm always amazed at the level of ability certain 'Clavers have with plastic rod and sheets. I can't do anything with the stuff!

Paint scheme? Hopefully something more interesting than boltgun metal I hope?

Ruaridh

[Brother_Brimstone]

Not that it's much good to you now, when I made my necron npcs I used the russian Skeleton models as my basis.

Still, your self-scult looks incredible; much closer to the artwork than mine, and will be all the better knowing you made it yourself from scratch! Stellar work - look forward to seeing it painted!

[Dolnikan]

It looks very good, the work of of a trule breathtaking quality. I really wish that I could do something even coming within seeing distance of this.

[Draco Ferox]

*mouth opens and closes in s uitably awestruck manner*

[kierkegaard]

That is pretty spectacular. I agree 100% with what Van Helser said.

[Draco Ferox]

Maybe it's just me, but in the previous (not 5th) edition of the necron codex, it shows sseveral experimental colour schemes for necrons. I was particuarlaly taken by the one where the armour panels were painted in ice blue, and the rest of the model in black. It made the necron look like it was made out of ceramics as well as metal, as the blue was smooth and uniform.

While I'm not suggesting that particular colour scheme, I think that ceramic-armoured necrons look much better than metal ones, and it helps them stand out from the usual silver/green/gold on most necron armies.

On a single model, if you could paint way better than me, maybe blending a couple of colours on the armour, or painting it so that the light coming off the gauss flayer and the eyes lights the area around it (see the back of the 4th edition tyranid codex for the lictor stalking a guardsman). It would be difficult to do, but so worth it.

[Zakkeg]

I'm rather fond of the boltgun metal necrons, to be honest. There's a certain soullessness to them that I find appealing. And it's dead easy, which is always a plus; when the 3E codex first came out I managed to paint an entire army of them in a night. (To date, the only fully painted army I've ever managed.) They looked quite good, too. Shame the ink line has been discontinued.

Lovely work in any case. I'm sure it'll be brilliant however you decide to paint it. The only thing that looks a bit off to me is the head, though I can't quite pin down why. Have you had a look at it side-by-side with the 28mm version?

[Lazarus Caladine]

Very nice. Will you be making the gauss flayer barrel similarly detailed to the 'new' gauss weapons, or simply paint it like the classic (and IMO better looking) glowy green rod?

[Ynek]

Heh. Thank you all for your enthusiastic and kind words.

Due to the labours involved in getting ready for Christmas, I haven't actually done any more work on the necron to show off, aside from a little tidying up here and there (and plugging the hole in his face).

Paint scheme? Hopefully something more interesting than boltgun metal I hope?

The paint scheme that I have in mind is an 'arctic white*' ceramic necron colour scheme, with a few chainmail/mithril silver details here and there, such as chest decal and the axe-blade on the underside of the flayer. The actual flayer itself will be painted with an icy blue colour scheme. This is basically the colour scheme of my epic 40k and WH40k necron armies, so I thought I should continue with the theme.

Essentially, necrons look like skeletons, so I thought they'd look good in white.

Very nice. Will you be making the gauss flayer barrel similarly detailed to the 'new' gauss weapons, or simply paint it like the classic (and IMO better looking) glowy green rod?

Honestly, I haven't decided just yet. If I had really wanted to make a 'glowy green rod' effect, I would probably have spent some time and effort mounting green LEDs inside it, in the same way that I did for Victoria Murae's plasma blade weapon. However, since mounting LEDs in a model usually requires it to be sculpted in a special way (an electric circuit is your armature) it's a bit late for me to attempt to insert one.

I'm actually tempted to just paint the 'rod' like any other gun-barrel, maybe even in silver, since painting it with 'glowy' effects wouldn't look entirely convincing, and I'm not entirely thrilled by the 'new look' necron gun rods.

Not that it's much good to you now, when I made my necron npcs I used the russian Skeleton models as my basis.

What can I say? I like a challenge.

The only thing that looks a bit off to me is the head, though I can't quite pin down why. Have you had a look at it side-by-side with the 28mm version?

The head is, indeed, a little different in it's dimensions compared to the 28mm equivalent, but it was never really intended to be a direct 'copy' of the 28mm model. It's more like an artistic impression of them.

For a start, mine is proportionally smaller in relation to the body. This is mainly an attempt to reduce the 'bobblehead' appearance of upscaled 28mm heroic scale models. Inquisitor is a heroic scale game, but it's not quite as exaggerated as WH40k.

The head also has a proportionally wider 'jaw' in relation to the rest of the head, when compared with the 28mm equivalent, and as a result, the 28mm model also has more prominent 'cheekbones'. This was mainly to do with practicalities whilst sculpting. The 'jaw' portion of my sculpt is held in place by a spike of plasticard glued into a slot sawn into the plastic bead. In order to make it strong enough to sculpt onto, I had to make it a little thicker than it absolutely HAD to be. I intended to shave it down a little later on, once the green stuff had set, but later decided that I liked the marginally more lantern-jawed look, and opted to keep it instead.

The 28mm head also has a series of connections between the death mask at the front, and the spherical component at the rear. The 28mm version also has a more pronounced brow, but necrons are not always depicted as having this trait in the various artworks (in fact, sometimes they can look positively gormless), which were my principal artistic inspiration.

Other differences include the feet, hands, knees, wrists, gauss flayer muzzle, gauss flayer 'gauss' chamber, gauss flayer cables, and the neck....




* "Arctic white" is a local colloqualism with Aberdeen University miniatures collectors for white which uses light pastille blue for shading. In this case, I plan to use ice blue. Other colloquial names for shades of white include dirty white (brown), boney white (cream/beige), forest white (green) and putrid white (purple).

[Zakkeg]

It's the forehead, I reckon. I'd consider making it a little higher. It's amazing what half a millimetre or so can do. Of course, if you like your Necrons gormless, far be it it from me to second-guess.

[Ynek]

Whilst working on the necron over Boxing Day evening, I made an unexpected, but pleasant discovery...

A lot of the parts that I've made for this 'cron would actually be fairly easy to cast, if I managed to chop up the model neatly enough. This would mean that I could make a whole squad of these soulless abominations with relative ease. This could lead to a few interesting Inquisitor games, featuring necron tombs in various stages of awakening... (And just thinking about that makes me want to try making an Inq-scale tomb spyder... But one hurdle at a time, here.)

From what I can tell, casting the warrior would need to be done in seven pieces. The legs and spine should be able to be cast as a single component. The body/carapace/ribcage, sans shoulders would also be a single component. Each shoulder blade/pauldron would have to be separately cast. The flayer with both hands, and the right arm could be cast as a single component, and this would leave just the head and the left arm...

The problem is finding a way to reduce the likelihood of bubbles in the mould.

Anyway, food for thought. I just thought I'd share a little bit of verbal progress with you all to let you know that I haven't completely neglected my 'cron.

[Ancelyn]

Ooo nice.

[Molotov]

It would, therefore, also be possible to make disassembled Necrons - perhaps on a Tech-Priest's table for analysis?

[Ynek]

It would, therefore, also be possible to make disassembled Necrons - perhaps on a Tech-Priest's table for analysis?

I rather like this idea... Having an Adeptus Mechanicus Tech Priest's examination table, with a partially dismantled necron on it, which during the course of the game, happens to stand up and start fighting the characters.

I'd just need to make a suitable terrain piece for a small Admech research facility.... And I think I have the ideal lump of polystyrene kicking around to do just that...