so here's the latest on my Explorator, simply known as Liwet (ok. it's cause i've not given her a first name yet :P )
i've hit a bit of a block with this one. i know she's pro-Xenos (to an extent) and has spent time in the company of Tau (who built her a bionic hand + gave her the tabard as a gift for fighting alongside them) and is very "shoot first, soot some more, shoot a bit and then ask questions" attitude :)
onto technical specs; Water Caste body, Sevorina's Right Arm, Kal's Laspistol (cause i can't get ahold of Gruss' pistol :( ) and a plastic skull from the old skeleton warriors box set, used as an armature for scultping the face.
I'm working on a bionic left hand at the moment. just need to research, see if the Tau actually make bionics (if not it'll be imperial :) )
The idea is that the Mechanicus wouldn't really see much difference between men and women, so she's got a few subtle hints to her sex.
I added the mechadentrite / dataconnection as a ponytail to try and hint at femininity but not sure if it's worked :(
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/files/adept6.jpg)
Accompanying her is an arco-flatulent, Servitor 64.
Standard Damien with Krieger's power claw and extra syringes about. Theory being that while Liwet is more all round with the Quest For Knowledge, she's not been able to get the Machine Spirit to operate 2 weapons effectively :P
He was part painted when i got him, so touched up the paintwork here and there and added data-link tattoos.
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/files/servitor64.jpg)
Finally, a Gun Servitor, #287
another painted Damien, however he was stock assembly.
So his torso went onto Slick's Legs, i closed his mouth and added lips (how many arco's / servitors don't have lips in this game :D ) and a plasmablaster from the new Sentinal Kit.
single-arm-theory applies again, and i'm currently building a set of leg-supports to help him steady himself for firing that thing!
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/files/servitor.jpg)
still lots of GSing to do yet, let alone try to write stats / background (any volunteers? ::) )
excellent stuff, especially the techadept, but IIRC a plasmablaster is the plasmagun version of a stormbolter.
I really like the gun servitor, but then I've always had a soft spot for plasma weapons for some reason, I always thought they looked cool.
The Magos looks excellent but the perspectives from the camera on the feet are making my eyes hurt but that's just me. One thing I would say is that, if that's the heel of her right foot sticking out the back, the angle of the robe seems very shallow, it puts her knee very low down.
Quote from: greenstuff_gav on August 18, 2009, 03:25:00 PMan arco-flatulent
Mmm, gassy! ;D
Nice stuff here - that's a really characterful warband. If you still want Gruss' pistol, PM me an address to send it too and I'll cut you one off my Techpriest. It was only a place holder anyway, and it'll motivate me to finish the graviton gun he was going to have... :P
For further bits trading, the Arcadian Smuggler's Ring (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/arcadiansmugglers/) is your friend.
With regards to the tech adept - what you've made here is a truly inspired conversion. The level of detail in the sculpting displays a skill which makes you live up to your screenname.
However, I did notice one small detail which I think is a bit out of place, and that's the back of her ankle. Unless she's got very low knees or very tall feet, I don't think that her leg would bend in this way. It's pretty easy to fix, however, just by 'carrying on the fold' up her robe leading up to around knee height. (If I'm making any sense at all.) (http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/2872/adept62.jpg)
But all in all, I really love the model. The fact that she resembles one of the most iconic images of the admech in the inq1 rulebook is just icing on the cake. ^_^
I'm not entirely sold on the idea of one-armed arcoflagellant/servitors, as they do look rather lopsided with their massive weapons balanced on one side of them. I reckon the one with the claw would have a hard time staying upright.
I really like it, however, practicaly everything i was going to say about her has already been said!
Well, apart from the part ive noticed about her feet showing femininity (Sp? I dont have my Dan Brown books with me to spellcheck, jeez he uses that word SO many times...[/offtopic].)
the way that feet are positioned (Close together, small steps, small flex in the foot while lifting up) suggest femmmmmmininimity to me.... or do i just sound odd?
Love the bionics, mechadentrite / dataconnection ponytail is fantastic! whats that plastic part on her back?
the other points i agree with, including offering up a gruss pistol for a kal pistol :o
made the arm(hand)ature to the bionic hand and reworked the sleeve to accommodate it.
also added the fingerless glove over Kal's hand.
bulked out the top of the foot a bit more, but i think i'm gonna go play with a camera and a towel to get this one right :( any higher and i'm gonna have to be resculpting the watercaste's robes :lol:
Sumaki, you gain 1 (one) internet Cookie for noticing the smaller step ;D
and the backpack is off've a lascannon. i think it came off the Valkyrie. could have been a cadian heavy support team (the barrel went onto my Valk for a Vendetta conversion :D)
Simeon, i sent you a PM 8)
so. small update:
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/files/adept7.jpg)
I always loved the artwork you based this model on. I even made my own (very bad) version when I started out with Inquisitor many years ago. I may have to revisit the model after seeing this.
I do like the alterations you made to the concept. The subtle hints at femininity work. A nice change from the usual wargamer approach to female models too.
I wholeheartedly agree with Catferret. It's nice to see a female model that's not aggressively female. Nice and 40K too, I'm looking forward to the painting
Tullio
Nice work Gav - a great reinterpretation of the rulebook picture. The ponytail dataconnection is a very nice touch.
With the plasmagun armed servitor, I hink he'd look cool if you added a few cables to the stump of his left shoulder - perhaps power cables for recharging the gun? Otherwise it looks like his arme has been removed fro no reason.
Awesome sculpting, but I can't tell from the photos which foot is which. I am guessing that the front foot is the left foot, but the picture of the model taken from directly in front makes it look as if the front foot is the right foot.
I am also baffled by your decision to hide a Tau Watercaste body inside the model.
I like the servitors (kudos on giving them cheeks and lips,) but I agree with the others that their one armed-ness seems pointless. More arms = more weapons. More weapons = better!
Quote from: kierkegaard on August 20, 2009, 05:38:30 PM
More arms = more weapons. More weapons = better!
more weapons = more "training" (programming) of the Machine Spirit to use them efficently?
the idea with the tau symbols is she's spent alot of time with the Tau and it was gifted to her as a mark of respect (plus meant she didn't stand out as much on the tau world!)
after a joint Tau / Guard operation (they were fighting then joined forces against common foe) against a Tyranid Swarm, she was the only member of the imperial forces to survive and was taken back to base by the tau who nursed her to health.
Any normal puritan'd be horrified, but as she's Pro-Xenos (to a certain extent) she took it as an opportunity for Knowledge and still wears the tabard, even battle damaged that it is :)
or thats the theory. plus having the pale green / gold lettering will help break up the inevitable red she'll have plastered everywhere :)
I didn't mean 'what is up with the Tau symbols?' (I didn't actually notice them :-[.) I meant why did you use the Watercaste model as an armature when you could have used any old bit of junk? (you have sculpted so much detail that the Tau model inside it has become irrelevant.)
i just love her... actually i think i'm gonna take her as inspiration for my own "yet to do" ADMECH adept (the only one missing in the ad mech warband so far....
well, i pulled hte foot off and sculpted a new one and put it back on *sigh* i'm happier with it now but quickly losing my attention span :lol:
gotta rebuild the tabard around that lifted leg now :)
thanks to Simeon Blackstar, she's also got a proper pistol now :D bit o tidying up around the sleeve to do :)
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/files/adept8.jpg)
and some more work to the gun-servitor :)
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/files/gunservitor.jpg)
Kierkegaard: i find it alot easier to sculpt over something the right shape.. helps alot with proportions, hence using the tau (and those lovely symbols!) than starting from scratch. if she were a real sculpt i'd need to mess about with an armature and so on which is half the battle :)
plus technically she'll be castable as is (with a few tweaks ;D )
oh, and a little warmup (http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/files/valk.jpg) for my brush :-[
Quote from: greenstuff_gav on August 25, 2009, 11:21:50 AMplus technically she'll be castable as is (with a few tweaks ;D )
Woop woop!
There should be more of this good news around, especially when it's of sculpts like this.
Sorry, to be a contrary git, but I preferred the laspistol...
It fits with the elegance of the model, or perhaps just continued to long stretched out lines of it, where the big clunky shoota doesn't.
It contrasts nicely, undeniably, but I much preferred the laspistol.
The stubber(?) also turns up loads on AdMech characters, while Kal's laspistol (naturally enough) rarely turns up anywhere, so it still looks new and shiny.
The new angles do give a better view of the bionic hand though, which looks good.
Looks great Gav - the repositioned foot looks a lot better and I especially like all the cables you've added to the servitor.
Quote from: TheNephew on August 25, 2009, 02:09:42 PM
but I much preferred the laspistol.
so do i, but Gruss' stubber fits the illustration better :-[ inquisitor rulebook, just after the 2 page spread of an archoflagellant, a lil story between an Inquisitor and a Magos :)
while i'm actually happy enough with her to get her cast, the blatant breach of IP with the illustration she's based off and the use of the Tau does mean i don't think i'd get way with it :'(
i'd cut the lifted arm off (and make the sleeve solid), remove the dangling cables (back of head and the lower one around the mid section), fill some gaps and i rekon she'd cast nicely *sigh*
so, before i finish off, anyone got any burning issues with the adept?
Castable you say, interesting... This is a great model Gav, a really distinctive look 8).
go for cast! please... i would purchase one... for sure.... still need a head for my ad mech group and she is just perfect... and as long as you do this "under the hand" and not in a shop there is no point in gw getting itchy...
as to the pistol: i too liked the laspistol better...
there are only a couple of things that would need to be tweaked, really - the Tau detail on the back would need to be covered up, the stubber would need to go and the top of the head would perhaps need to be obscured. Other than that I can't see any GW imagery visible, and nobody in their right mind is going to kick up a fuss because there was originally a GW model under several layers of greed stuff.
It's up to you whether you think "in their right mind" applies to GW or not.
holy dooley! hadn't realised she'd been at the casters so long <_<
lookit what i got!
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/files/adept_resin.jpg)
(please excuse the fuzziness; been a long week :( )
and a scale pic (i'm hoping to get her finished for the GT)
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/files/adept_resin_scale.jpg)
i don't have 10 and will not be selling 'em for £12 at the GT ::)
That's great Gav, I love your interpretation of that artwork! I'd love to see it up close at the GT, not to mention that my version of that picture is going to be there too :P