Alright... so I posted my LPC 2012 vow over at the B&C and bought myself a bribe to work on once it's finished (1 squad of 10 models and one single Squat... so 11 models before March 31st... here's hoping). And here she is:
(http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq70/Myen_Shi/lucky-before.jpg)
http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/lucky-54mm-limited-to-499.html (http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/lucky-54mm-limited-to-499.html)
My first thought about 54mm scale is wow... she's Tall! About twice the height of the 28mm models. It's a little intimidating because glaring errors (which I tend to 'redo' until they're nonexistant) will be much easier to see. Hopefully she's not out of whack of the GW Inquisitor models that I'll be getting later at some point, because I'm optimistic about being able to work on her.
I did have an interesting revelation about the sculpt... she's left handed. The pistol holster is set up for a left handed draw, and she's holding it in a left handed grip. Not a real issue... I'll just have to either declare her a lefty, or go with the ambidextrous.
Now, ambidextrous always annoys me as games seem to make such a huge deal of it. Maybe I'm one of the rare freaks that while not truly ambidextrous I'm now close enough after 6 years of wrestling, 3 years of collegic fencing, and 10 or 11 years of SCA rapier combat and SCA armored combat. I can do just about any task with either hand generally well. Some things I'm a bit better with my right hand still, but honestly I don't really notice and can fight with either hand.
Anyway, I'd like to give her some goggles on her forehead, a shortsword or knife on her right hip, a few belt pouches, possibly an auspex or grenades. I originally was considering some sort of pip-boy/omnitool type gizmo on a wrist, but I'm leaning against it. The gloves are sculpted pretty nicely and I still suck with general green stuff sculpting. I'm considering if she should get a backup pistol somewhere, but I'm not sure where I'd put it.
So for a first model... well... we'll see how it goes once I start working on it after finishing up the LPC stuff.
Quote from: Inq NicolePyykkonen on January 21, 2012, 11:35:40 PMNow, ambidextrous always annoys me as games seem to make such a huge deal of it.
The fact it's taken you many years to develop what you admit isn't complete ambidexterity should be enough reason to see why it actually is quite a big deal.
Ambidexterity, whether genuine or "close enough", is an unusual trait.
Anyway, she's almost certainly not ambidextrous. Almost every firearm is built to be used right handed (usually things like the magazine release, safety, bolt catch and/or handle), so anyone who didn't have a handedness wouldn't use one left handed (or go to the trouble of finding/buying a left handed one).
Make her a lefty. Not an issue, really. Did Marco once tell us that women are more likely to be left handed, or did my brain make that up?
That was intended as less of a "why do they bother with the rule at all?" and more of a "I am one of those people who is apparently living proof that ambidexterity can indeed be trained and acquired with work" and "I find it hard to relate mentally to people who have zero degrees of ambidexterity". I fight well with either hand (still better with my right if you want to be technical) and work perfectly fine with two weapons without any major problems whatsoever (Sword and dagger, sword and stick, great weapon leading with either hand, etc). I'll catch myself drinking with either hand, swapping silverware depending on whats going on, eating while driving, etc. I can write with either hand but the right is easier (faster really).
A -20% penalty doesn't bug me much and is relatively realistic especially since most people don't bother working their offhand at all, it's more figuring which way to declare the character given the somewhat unexpected and unique (but cool! I mean, Link was a lefty and he kicked Ganon's butt all the time...) way the model is modeled :)
It was something I was thinking about for a while, noticing the pistol holster initially as I was studying the picture until the model physically got here and debating if I should try to swap it. Once the model got here though, a closer inspection of how she was holding the weapon, and the fact it's actually pointer finger of her left hand on the trigger and the right hand providing support to the left leads me to have to decide she's left handed :) Technically she'll be my first lefty, so I'm kind of amused and pleased by the revelation.
Quote from: DapperAnarchist on January 22, 2012, 02:53:21 AMDid Marco once tell us that women are more likely to be left handed, or did my brain make that up?
I think you made it up (at least, I hope you did, as there was a 2008 study that showed men were about 25% more likely to be left handed).
Quote from: Inq NicolePyykkonen on January 22, 2012, 02:58:28 AMI am one of those people who is apparently living proof that ambidexterity can indeed be trained and acquired with work
Yes, but the fact that ambidexterity can be trained is no great revelation. However, you are one of the very few people that will ever go to that kind of effort.
And the thing is, there's not normally a reason to. If there were enough benefit from it, it would have shown through in natural selection. But it hasn't - there's an overwhelming abundance of handed people.
Why ambidexterity is the minority rather than the majority is rather well summed up in the line "Jack of all trades, master of none". If your practice all goes into developing the dexterity of only one hand, that hand will be more dexterous than if that practice is split. As it's rare that you need to be able to perform a task with either hand, better to have one good hand and one bad hand than two okay hands.
QuoteI find it hard to relate mentally to people who have zero degrees of ambidexterity
Well, I can click my fingers better left handed than right handed. And I'm a reasonable shot with either hand, but that's more down to being left-eyed (and thus getting to use my stronger eye when shooting left handed), I think.
QuoteTechnically she'll be my first lefty, so I'm kind of amused and pleased by the revelation.
I know that feeling, the spark of exploring a new (to you, at least) character element. All of those little foibles that makes them something different and exciting.
As far as left handed characters, what you've got to watch out for is when some part of your brain adds "This guy's left handed" to a concept and you find out that agreeing with yourself means lots more effort to convert him like that.
But when characters start writing themselves, even if it means you have to jump through hoops to make the model, it really is a great moment.
I always makes things more realistic to have at least some left-handed characters when a larger number is involved.
Anyways, I look forwards to a painted version of the model.
Alright... wow... ancient thread necromancy, but as it's a project log and my own thread, woot ;)
So I'm finally done with that commission job after lots of RL drama delayed things (family first, especially as a dad). So now I get to start modelling and painting simply because I want to. I'm still a little freaked out by the scale of the model, she just seems so tall. 2 and 3/8 inches (approximately 60.32500 millimeters assuming conversions are right) and it seems like she's just.. wrong sized. Granted she got 1 or 2 / 8ths of an inch (4 to 6 mm assuming the calculator is right) in height from how her boots have a clunky sole then a slight heel too.
In any event, she looks cool and I'm going to run with it.
So I'm starting with cleaning the model, and going through plastic bits for conversions. Originally I was thinking goggles though now I'm thinking goggles on the forehead and psychic "white" eyes. One or two belt doodads... it'll be fun.
Sorry about the long wait, but now the project will begin :)
Looking forward to seeing it. She's quite tall (about a head taller than Eisenhorn, though the boots account for some of it), but I imagine you'll make it work. (Perhaps she's related to the Carthaens?) If you were feeling really ambitious, there are a few places you could cut her apart, file her down slightly and cover the join, which would bring her down a few millimetres but might not be worth the trouble at the end of the day.
Oh, and RE: the handedness thing: task-based ambidexterity is really no more difficult to learn than, say, a second language, so it's not entirely unreasonable that more than the expected 1% or so of characters should be amidextrous, at least as relates to the range of activities they'd be expected to perform in your average game of Inquisitor. And as Marco (almost) suggested, many otherwise right-handed shooters prefer to shoot left-handed due to being left-eyed (as many if not most firearms are of ambidextrous design). All that said, calling her a lefty's probably a damn sight simpler. :P
(Christ, I hate typing on a phone...)
I was thinking she seemed really tall... I'll probably just go with it and try not to worry about it too much. Story wise I was actually going to have Sirkka be acquired by INP (the 40k personality and her Inquisitor) from a random black ship, possibly with a "Lucky 13s" tattoo on her arm or something, but with no major memory of where she was born or any origin. She is a psyker with more of a divination/foretelling aspect (perhaps using some of the lightning reflexes rules to show flashes of foretelling allowing her to adjust her actions) and is an acolyte in the Inquisitor's service.
honestly, since I'm also putting her on a scenic base (since I'm mostly moving into Inquisitor scale models because I want to assemble and make the models rather than any thought I'd really get to play the game) it probably will work out in the wash since the other models that I'll use that are actual GW models will be able to be "raised" by choice basing decisions to even out. I'll work out stats and personalities for them because I'm that much of a completionist ironically. So she'll have to be described as tall, but she's not so excessively tall then that the model is unusable. That just puts her at like 5'10" or 6' then with big shoes adding another couple of inches. Perhaps she's used to having to be around Space Marines and trying to have someone who can talk to them without feeling quite as short ;)
So I've been playing with my 28mm bits box and some glue (little bit of green stuff) the last day or two and here's what I've come up with. I'm actually rather proud of the result and think it looks pretty decent.
(http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq70/Myen_Shi/sirkka-pre1.jpg)
(http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq70/Myen_Shi/sirkka-pre2.jpg)
I think she looks a bit more 40k now, I feel better with the GW bits added to the model. Not too heavily armed (Sword and stub gun/pistol probably with manripper ammo), add a refractor/conversion field as her "belt buckle" thing and she's relatively protected while fitting the model and the role (Inquisitor's Acolyte). Gizmos and gear (because I like it) and should come together, mostly.
Now it's just nerves of painting more of a "look at it" model.
She looks very good, it all looks like a natural fit but what is the thing on her forehead?
I think she looks very good, only comment would be the way her face is cast looks just a little too happy for my tastes. This is the grim future godamnit! But that shouldnt be too difficult to fix with a good paintjob or what not. I look forward to seeing her done :)
EDIT: realising I should have put the effort into a grin future pun, alas I failed
I blame my shoddy cameraship on the forehead bit... it's a pair of goggles from a Space Marine Sniper Scout squad. So night-vision goggles ;) I need to get my hands on more of them, I actually pried those ones off of a primered model so colorwise they're a little harder to see on that shot. It looks better on the model that I'm looking at.
I've been mentally thinking of her smile as more of a "I have you now, bwahahaha" sort of smirk. The "I know something you don't know... I am not left handed! like my kroot sniper on the second floor about to blow off your head!"
Her weaponry I'm actually calling a Stubber with man-stopper rounds, and a shortsword. This seemed reasonable, fairly useful and utilitarian without being over the top. I added a pair of grenades that I doubt she'll have to use, mostly because they looked cool. Armorwise she has flak on her abdomen (via corset) and hands, carapace on her feet, then either a refractor field or conversion field to give her a decent amount of protection without her being a walking tank. All in all I'm relatively happy with her load-out and how the model is looking.
Kit wise I cannot recommend enough smoke grenades, none lethal, but great for tactical obscuring clouds of fog....
One game at a conclave meet I went too had my character trying to commando roll and throw a smoke grenade, it going off in his hand as he fell over, before the opposing players character (about 3/4) came to investigate, couldn't see in it and verybody fell over each other in pile ..... fun!
small changes and additions are often all that's needed to result in a very effective 40k-ification of non-GW models. Good job.
She really is well-equipped for her tasks, without taking too much heavy stuff with her, I really like that. If you give her smoke grenades, IR-visors would be very, very nice, allowing her to see without being seen.
And the painting is done! 54mm was actually Really fun to paint... I might have gotten myself into trouble with this ;) I tried to keep to the same/similar color palette as my Inquisition models at 28mm (40k scale) and I think ti worked out pretty well actually all things considered. Ironic that 40k bits work at two scales, and in some cases even better at 54mm rather than 28mm.
(photobucket REALLY hates me... ugh.. I'm gonna keep playing with these photo's and try to get them rotated correctly)
(http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq70/Myen_Shi/sirkka-post1.jpg)
(http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq70/Myen_Shi/sirkka-post2.jpg)
Now it'll be ironing out all the background and rules for her... the hard part for me being new to the system. That'll be it's own thread though as it's not painting nor modeling.
She looks very good, the colours fit the model very well.