Petris Kanabre WIP

[Brother_Brimstone]

Here he is, my first Inquisitor character that actually is an Inquisitor (fluff/rules here http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=664.0). He is in pre-greenstuff at the moment, and i'm fully aware there are some gaps around the arms and wrists where i've reposed him, and switched pieces out. I also need to link the two chainst to the skull around his groin, as i've decided against attaching the chainmail loincloth piece for fear of it looking a bit too fantasy rather than 40K. Here is the original for comparison.
http://www.andrea-miniatures.com/market/AspsProductos/Detalle.asp?IdProductoDetalle=1152
The floor iis going to be painted up like bamboo to fit his samurai background. The katana was made from scratch using plasticard and was in fact the first weapon (or anything) i've ever made from plasticard.

Still I'd like to get comments on the feel and character of the model - he stands at about 56mm. Does he look oversized? or could this largeness be accounted for by his large suit of armour combined with being relatively tall? I've been told that Slick Devlan is one of the smallest of the GW =][= characters, so is the size difference acceptable? Anyway, as usual, all comments/criticism greatly appreciated.

[MarcoSkoll]

He stands at about 56mm. Does he look oversized?

One thing that people forget to compensate for is the crouched stance of some Inquisitor models, which means they won't look as tall compared to a model that is standing straight.
Something like the Eldar Ranger, which people take as a tall model (at 58mm) isn't actually all that out of place. Straighten up Slick, and he's not all that short.

If you think that Petris is tall at 56mm, you're in for a surprise when you see Inquisitor Skoll's model. 62mm tall, and he's in a slightly crouched stance! He's meant to be a pretty tall guy (which is why I started over on sculpting his model. Attempt #1 would have been too short, and I thought I could do better anyway.)

On that note, it'll be an interesting photo if Marco should happen to end up face to face with Zophar at the Spring Conclave.

[Alyster Wick]

Really loving the model so far.  He does look a mite tall (even if Slick were standing straight) but I think he'll fit in fine. 

While I like what you've done to 40k-ify him up to this point I would suggest adding in some guitar wire and maybe a couple mechanical bits (I personally think shaving the vent off the circular part of a space marine backpack creates a great vent that can be stuck just about anywhere to make an otherwise mundane piece of old-school plate look like it has a little more going on). 

[phil-o-mat]

my first thought was:"waaaay too big!"
but then i recognized that he is just 2 heads higher then slick. i`ve seen people in real life that were taller.
(i imagine slick as 1.75-1.80 meters high)

over all, it`s a cool miniature. just add some more 40k!

bye, phil

[Brother_Brimstone]

I would suggest adding in some guitar wire and maybe a couple mechanical bits

It's funny you should suggest that, as I was wondering that myself. However, his armour is only meant to be carapace rather than anything powered, and I wondered whether adding in wires etc... Might confuse how the armour looks in relation to how it works, rules and fluff wise. As a question related to this, COULD carapace armour be powered? Would this effect its stats? Would the power or mechanisation be to help with movement, enhance strength or what? I know a large amount of this will be 'it's a large universe, anything can happen' but i mean rules wise and fluff wise, if some plate looking armour is shown to be mechanised or powered, to what end would this work?

On top of this, if anyone else has any ideas for how I can make the character look more 40K-ish, i'd really appreciate it; i'd like to add more subtle touches which make it clear it's sci-fi rather than fantasy, but without ruining the feel and theme of the model (i quite like its 'old school martial' feel as the character himself is meant to be rather old school and martial).

Thanks for the comments.

[Hadriel Caine]

very nice model. sure I recognise the head

In terms of scale he's about the same height as Eisenhorn (I have both models on my desk). He is definitely not out of scale. like the weapons you have equipped him with, looks rather swashbuckling/ heroic- sword and a pistol always look good IMO. I would agree with what has been said about wires and vents etc. Although I would personally be tempted to make him look like a sci fi character through paint-job. Have a look through the old necroumunda books/ images online and see the hazard stripes, chequers and other garish colours. Can work nicely as a contrast to plate armour.

cheers

Adam

[Inquisitor Cade]

I think the model works well.

Compairing it to the stats though, firstly he isn't wearing his hood.
I'd say that that armour is conciderably better than what enforcer barreta wears (though I tend to count that as Av 5 light carapace) and better than what the arbites and stormtroopers wear. I'd therefore count it as heavy carapace (AV 7) and would also note that it seems to cover his groin.

His armour isn't very samurai either.

I agree he could be futureified a bit, but wouldn't say he needed it. If you were going to look at powered armour then A S boost would be appropriate, but as he would lack the complex armour interfaces of the astartes, I'd say a Ws, Bs and I hit would be called for.

[Brother_Brimstone]

Compairing it to the stats though, firstly he isn't wearing his hood.

[...]

His armour isn't very samurai either.

Firstly, the model came with a head with a hood, but on reflection I decided that I prefered the head without a hood - i'm going to remove it from the equipment.

As for the fact that his armour doesn't look Samurai-esque that was done intentionally. All along, the character was done as a self-parody. I'm a westerner and have little to no cultural background in Japan or the Japanese and yet I am obsessed with Japanese culture. The simple fact is, in the background, the people from Petris' world never had any samurai, nor any real experience of them, and yet they were obsessed with the IDEA of samurai. It was a concept they loved but never understood properly - something I feel is common to almost all westerners who become enchanted with romantic notions of the samurai (although I am by no means being racist, you can have easterners who don't understand the samurai either, or westerners who do, it's just the common trend).

Petris was based on the westernised, american anime idea of the samurai, almost like a knight, but with a different skin colour and armed with a katana rather than a broadsword. I was actually surprised that it wasn't commented upon sooner that he looks very little like a samurai. I just felt that I, as someone who doesn't understand the Japanese language or traditions, and who has never even been to Japan, could never create an authentic Japanese character, and yet because I practice Judo and Aikido (and will soon begin Ninjutsu) and watch a lot of anime, I really wanted to create a character with those themes. Knowing he would never be authentic, becuase I have little authentic knowledge, I designed him superficially as an intentional parody. Because i'm a bit pretentious like that

Thanks for all the comments, criticisms and compliments.

EDIT: Just as a supplementary point, note that Petris' name cannot be expressed in Japanese - the closest you could get in romaji would be Piitorisu Kanaburu. I was going to write this on his base in Katakana - not Kanji. Japanese people would write their own names in Kanji, and Katakana is generally used for translation of foreign words into Japanese, and this was going to re-enforce the idea of him being foreign to the culture of the samurai (as is his clearly not japanese name).

[MarcoSkoll]

I imagine slick as 1.75-1.80 meters high

Nah, Slick is slightly short, and would be even if he was standing straight. I'd say he's more in the 1.65-1.70m range (about 5' 6"), but as he's crouched, he loses about another 10 cm or so.

He's short - but not necessarily quite as short as he's sometimes perceived.

[Brother_Brimstone]

Would it be reasonable to justify the presence of a few extra wires by saying that the armour has mechanisms etc.. to compensate for its own encumberance? So, because Petris is a high WS and I character he wears armour that has been specially customised to ensure that the armour protects him well without slowing him down (i would imagine the presence of internal servos, motors etc which are self powered and assist movement).

[Flinty]

COULD carapace armour be powered? Would this effect its stats? Would the power or mechanisation be to help with movement, enhance strength or what?

One version  might include a force field of some type - against general impact or perhaps a specific attack, anti-laser, close combat impacts, higher velocity attackes, i.e. projectiles etc.
A 'power suit' that increases strength - increases close combat damage.
'Shock armour', generating a small shock/stun effect in close combat.
Fitted with an integrated medical system, improves toughness.
Fitted with sensors, scanners, mecahnical/computer interfaces etc

Yep - it is a big universe, so...

[Alyster Wick]

There are a number of things you could do with powered armor, the most basic of which would just be calling it powered carapace armor (same as power armor, just with 6 armor instead of 10 and less of a strength bump).  However, since you're very enamored with the idea of samurai culture I'd say that you should find a desirable effect and have the armor mimic that effect.  Perhaps it's legendarily advanced and has electrodes in it make the armor feel more like an extension of his own body (and this is transferred to his katana as well) making him a more capable warrior.  This could confer advanced autosenses to him but say it halves armor values when testing for system shock.

Anyway, just a thought (and truth be told that doesn't really belong in this section).  Either way, I am a heavy supporter of adding little gubbins to make the armor look more futuristic.  Not that it's necessary, but I think it would definitely add to the character.

[Brother_Brimstone]

Right-o. I took on board the advice and decided to 40k the armour a bit. I cut out the centrepiece of the chainmail abdomen piece and used greenstuff to run cables connecting the leg plates to the chest plates. I don't know how clear it is in the pics, but the abdomen is now a load of cables rather than the original chainmail. I also attached wires connecting the shins to the thighs, and connected the arm to the chest (the implication being that the other connecting cable on the other arm is behind his pistol holster). I basecoated it white, the first white basecoat I've ever done, because I intend to paint him in light, bright shining colours (pristine white armour with shining silver trim, offset by a more greasy botgun metal for the cables). Anyway, enough of the rambling; on to the pictures!





As usual, comments/criticism appreciated.

[precinctomega]

Nice work.  Where does he put the stubber when he's not using it?

R.

[Kasthan]

Something has been bugging me, and I have worked out what it is. The sword does not appear to line up correctly with the grip and the pommel. Is this down to the photos?

If not I think just straightening it would improve the sword massively. 

The rest of the model looks great. I like the wires you have added, esp. on the legs.