That's right, for those of you who read Dan Abnett's "Gaunt's Ghosts" novels and know what that means, I'm building me a 54mm =][= scale Loxatl mercenary. These amphibian xenos beasts have always fascinated me, and I've wanted to see more images and background of them to no avail for quite some time now. About three months ago, however, I finally cracked and began working on one for games of Inquisitor. I'll have pics up by tomorrow, and the model itself is roughly...eh....I'd say 2/3 of the way done. I still need a head and to do some green stuff work, but here is the basic rundown of what I've made it out of:
body, tail, lower legs, and left foreleg- Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game Cave Drake
right foreleg- Imperial Guard Sentinel leg (augmetic, you'll see ;3)
left hand- clawed foot from Dark Elf black dragon
right hand- open right hand from Orcs and Goblins river troll
harness- Space Marine drop pod harness, necron bits, Empire steam tank bits
flechette blaster- Space Marine heavy bolter (turned sideways) with additional bits
head- (ordered from ebay and in mail :P) 5th edition Lizardmen kroxigor head
Hopefully this gives a good idea of the model thus far, though I'll post pics tomorrow detailing the construction and progress so far.
aside- as for all of you awaiting my genestealer sourcebook I've been working on...that's been delayed by another hard drive crash, and now I need to repurchase Microsoft Word for my computer to finish work on it.
Scratch that, here's pics now : D
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h29/cthulhu08/P1010014-1.jpg?t=1316739140) full model, progress so far
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h29/cthulhu08/P1010011.jpg?t=1316739123) top view, showing the greenstuff sculpted harness straps
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h29/cthulhu08/P1010008.jpg?t=1316739110) bottom view, showing the harness construction and flechette blaster
(http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h29/cthulhu08/P1010009.jpg?t=1316739110) front view, showing the harness and blaster again
Very, very, very nice - I can really see PCs running for their miserable little lives every time they visit a badly run dairy after encountering that. :D Thats right, it looks scary enough to make rotten milk scary.
However! The biological hand on the end of the bionic seems odd... perhaps if there were a biological "core" running through the bionic, as if the bones and marrow had been left, but the muscles have been replaced with metal? Also, the bolter looks too much like a bolter. Perhaps cut off the kick sight and change the barrel? Maybe something like a modern 3 or 4 prong flash hider, as thats a look thats rarely seen in 40K weapons and would make it distinctive.
Yeah, i was aware of how that looked kind of awkward, don't worry, I'm doing some greenstuff work on that to better tie it in, making the hand look like there's wires under the skin and that it's integrated into arm better.
As for the bolter...yeah...I'm having a really hard time finding parts to replace it, I couldn't find anything near the right look or side, aside from the pyscannon off of covenant's shoulder, which looks nearly identical to the flechette blaster shown on the loxatl from...wherever this picture came from
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1RcvaEDhLZ0/TTu7n9SMl2I/AAAAAAAABjg/CYhT23_bQSs/s1600/Loxatle.jpg)
but if I can't get the psycannon then I'll take your advice and try and change up the bolter's barrel and other details
Thanks so much for the comments, I really appreciate it :3
Thats from the pseudo-non-fiction book about the Sabbat Campaign that Abnett wrote - and is frankly one of the most depressing things he's written. Because he's not tied to the need to write heroic characters, he really plays up the horror of war, with transcriptions of vox-broadcasts from the defenders of worlds under Blood Pact attack and descriptions of the measures that Slaydo and Macaroth were forced to take to break Chaos occupation - continent sized bombardments, mass extermination of tainted populations, sacrifice of millions of Guardsmen just to distract Gaur from their real objective... Its very much about the pointlessness of war, and the horror of chaos.
For the launcher, perhaps keep the bolter as the base, but use tubing and GS for the barrel? Or a 28mm meltagun barrel? Though that might be too distinctive.
I happen to like the background book I think it paints the Imperial Guard in a very characterful light and when compared to say Gaunt's perspective you can see how naive the Colonel-Commissar truly is in his belief in the Imperial Guard.
I also like the fact that the Tanith have perhaps one or two mentions in the book as befits the part they play in the grand scheme of things.
I think removing the distinctive bolter ironsight would help, then maybe the muzzle of an autocannon to replace the HB one? should be enough to change the appearance. I'm liking the work so far tho.
Quote from: Heroka Vendile on September 24, 2011, 11:40:06 PM
I think removing the distinctive bolter ironsight would help, then maybe the muzzle of an autocannon to replace the HB one? should be enough to change the appearance. I'm liking the work so far tho.
I second this. Otherwise you've done a great job so far capturing the likeness.
I can't wait to see more! :)
very nice! to oppose the others, i like the look of the heavy bolter.
but something more important: isn't that a black knight on the right side at the first picture? what will happen to him?
Quote from: phil-o-mat on September 30, 2011, 03:42:51 PM
very nice! to oppose the others, i like the look of the heavy bolter.
but something more important: isn't that a black knight on the right side at the first picture? what will happen to him?
XD why yes, yes it is, along with a Ymir and a Battleaxe. And behind them is a throned genestealer patriarch
Well....damn. Now I'm stuck for a head for the model. I originally ordered the Storm of Magic black dragon's head...which proved too big. Then I went to ebay and found an oop lizardmen Kroxigor head which arrived today and is WAY too small. Anyone have any suggestions for a decent sized head for this model? Even non-GW stuff would be a huge option.
Really like the use of the sentinel leg as cybernetics. Particularly with the new kit having a lot more flexibility.
How is it in comparison with other 54mm figs (what size)
Quote from: Inquisitor Octavian Lars on October 02, 2011, 08:53:43 PM
How is it in comparison with other 54mm figs (what size)
Well if a 54mm model is approximately 6 feet tall...then this Loxatl would be close to 15-20 feet long and 5 feet tall. It's a good 6-8 inches long at the moment.