[Dallo]

Hi folks,

As I mentioned in my introductory post, I ended up getting most of an Inquisitor model in a 40k job lot.

I thought I'd have a go at making my own unique character for Inquisitor. It's pretty unlikely that I'll ever get a game of Inquisitor as I don't know anyone who plays, but thought working on a different scale would offer a new hobby experience.



This is where I'm at currently. I have the head sitting in some nail polish remover to try to strip off the really thick layer of paint it came with.

I haven't done anything overly complicated so far. The gun hand is from the Cawdor kit and the other hand is from the Pox Walker kit.

I took some inspiration for the character from Emori from The 100. I haven't given a huge amount of thought to any backstory, but that may come with time.  I imagine my character would use her cloak to hide her mutation.

I still want to change a few details on the model, like removing the Inquisitorial icon and perhaps replace the holster with one which is big enough to hold the pistol.

Nothing is glued yet, so I'm open to suggestions.

C&C Welcome.

Dallo

[TheNephew]

The Cawdor hand looks pretty good for giving the impression of slenderness.

Have a plan for the other?

[Dallo]

Thanks for the comment TheNephew.

As mentioned above, one option for the other hand is to use the Pox Walker hand as a mutation.

Another option is to use a human hand of similar size to the Cawdor one. Imperial Guard tank commanders offer a few open handed choices. Bolt Action plastics have lots of different, interesting, empty hands. I’ll have to check the scale though as Bolt Action tends to be slimmer than normal GW plastics.

The choice really comes down to whether or not I want the character to have a mutated hand. I’m of the opinion that it gives her a bit more personality, but I’d like to hear your opinions.

I was trying to remove the paint from the head and at this point, I’m thinking it might be some kind of sculpting putty instead of paint, as I’m down to where I’d expect the hair detail to start and there’s still only white “paint”. I may have to cut it out and attempt to resculpt it with Green Stuff.

Dallo

[MarcoSkoll]

I’ll have to check the scale though as Bolt Action tends to be slimmer than normal GW plastics.

My guess is that it won't work. You can just about get away with certain GW 28mm parts on slender 54mm models on the basis that GW's "heroic" style exaggerates the size of certain details like weapons and hands (making them both easier to paint and a model's equipment more identifiable in game), but anything even a touch smaller tends not to work.

The choice really comes down to whether or not I want the character to have a mutated hand. I’m of the opinion that it gives her a bit more personality, but I’d like to hear your opinions.

That kind of thing can be potentially interesting, but it's worth taking care with adopting that strategy of designing characters; It's a good idea for things to build up into a consistent whole, so the question is about whether you can build it into part of the overall story.

If she's got the financial means to be quite so smartly dressed, a mutated hand raises the question of why she doesn't simply have it amputated and replaced with a bionic, a far more effective and less hindering way of hiding the mutation.
As far as explanations for that, I would have to suspect that she was not a loyal Imperial servant, and she actually somehow considers the mutation a mark of favour - a Chaos or genestealer (which would help with the hair problem, certainly) cultist. If you think she's loyalist, then it's much more of a struggle to justify the combination of her mutation and attire.

Not impossible, but it is something to think about.

at this point, I’m thinking it might be some kind of sculpting putty instead of paint

It seems likely. Given the model is missing other parts of its original hair, it looks like it may have been an ill-fated attempt by the previous owner to convert the model.

[Dallo]

Thanks for the reply.

With regards to the fancy clothes denoting riches, I'm not 100% on board with that. It's the 41st Millennium. I imagine they can cheaply make a cloak. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I was hoping to use some of the Laketown clothing from the Hobbit movies as a rough painting guide as I feel that it does a good job of capturing faded grandeur. The dresses were perhaps expensive once, but a lifetime of wear has worn the colours away.

I think there's a world of difference between "can afford a nice dress" and "has enough money to buy a robotic hand". Having said that, making her a genestealer cultist could potentially be an interesting conversion challenge. I'll sleep on it.

Dallo

[MarcoSkoll]

Well, there is some flexibility, but we're looking at an overall style of the dress that is reminiscent of Renaissance nobility.

As with most WH40k fashion, it's usually not possible to nail it down too closely to a specific era within the several centuries that covers, but you can pick out things like the dramatic and impractical shoulders as a sign of an individual as someone who has money to spend on looking important rather than worrying about functional working clothes.

Given it's not practical working wear, I think it will be difficult to have the character come across as less than at least self-important and having a bit of money to spare. I could see that "middle level of society" working reasonably well for a pure human character, but there's not really much middle-ground for mutants; there's those who have the resources to hide their mutation, and there's those who haven't and therefore end up without even two Throne Gelt to rub together.

It's not impossible (after all, the Imperium is vast, there are a few oddities), but they are questions to think about.

[Dallo]

Just a small update tonight.

It turns out showing an interest in this game is a bit of a slippery slope...



I got these fine gentlemen from eBay for the princely sum of £3.99. The scale is spot on and at £1 each I was pretty happy.

They'll obviously need cleaning up and bases (I have a set of the Sector Imperialis 40mm bases, which should keep things fairly simple).

However, I'm not sure what route to go with them. Current thoughts are pilgrims, Genestealer or Chaos cultists, Imperial Guard, PDF troops or good old fashioned mutants. So you know, I've narrowed it down a bit. 

The weapons will be getting replaced at any rate. The heads are pretty dire, so I'm not sure if it would be better to attempt to remove the hats and fix up the damage with greenstuff or just find some 3rd party heads. If anyone knows of any bits vendors selling appropriately scaled heads, please let me know.

Suggestions are welcome.

Dallo

[MarcoSkoll]

I got these fine gentlemen from eBay for the princely sum of £3.99. The scale is spot on and at £1 each I was pretty happy.

There are a reasonable number of cheap 54mm ranges out there - you said you'd been through my modelling thread, so you should have seen the Airfix WWII Paratroopers I converted into Cadians, but another common one that I've not personally used is the Tehnolog ranges (as much as it feels like it should have a "c" in there, it is just "Tehnolog") most commonly available from Russian sellers on eBay.

I've also got some "Army Men" zombies sitting around that I mean to potentially do something with at some point, although those were surprisingly tricky to get hold of - while it seems any number of 54mm/1:32 zombies have existed at various times, most of them were annoyingly out of production by the time I went looking. Still, it does prove the general concept that there are cheap models out there if you're prepared to do some work to spruce them up.

However, I'm not sure what route to go with them. Current thoughts are pilgrims, Genestealer or Chaos cultists, Imperial Guard, PDF troops or good old fashioned mutants. So you know, I've narrowed it down a bit.

Greenstuff Gav did some Guard/PDF out of some fairly similar models.

If you're not expecting to play though, it's harder to make suggestions - for running scenarios, my advice would be start with generic NPC infantry, as it makes them more widely useful (they can even be secretly traitors or heretics), but if you're expecting to mostly have them as display pieces, you may want to get more adventurous.

[Radu Lykan]

If you want her to be loyalist or attached to a slightly radical inquisitor then perhaps the reason the mutant hand hasn’t been replaced is that it grants her an ability. Could be a healing touch thing, maybe the more people she heals and pain/sickness she sucks out the more mutated she becomes?
Perhaps the hand gives her an empathic/telepathic touch that the inquisitor values for interrogations?
Lots of ways to go with it

[Dallo]

Thank you for the comments folks.

Radu Lykan, your suggestion was an interesting idea and is worth thinking about.

MarcoSkoll, I like your suggestion about making generic NPCs out of the men.

For now, I think I'm going to try to work with the bits I have, instead of buying new heads etc.

The main things that will need to go are the hats and the old school rifles.

Something I want to try is saw off the hats and replace them with scratch built kettle helms. I think (hope) this should be within my scratch building abilities and I think they will have a number of advantages. For one, they'll distance the sillouette from the original model, while retaining the chin strap, so I don't need to worry about removing them and butchering the faces. Secondly, it adds a bit of grimdark to the pieces, in my opinion, while tying the models together to show they're from the same organisation. Thirdly, it hides their foreheads, so I could conceivably use them as fourth generation Genestealer cultists if I feel like it.

As mentioned before, I'm unlikely to game with them, but there's no harm in being prepared, just in case.

With regards to load outs, I'm currently thinking one shotgun, one drawing a combat blade, one las/auto gun and the last guy will get a pole item of some description - perhaps an axe, icon or just a lantern on a stick.

Obviously it depends on the story and power level, but how OP is adding pistols and grenades to everyone? They're great for 40k-ing a model.

Thanks again for the comments folks.

Dallo