so, i've been quiet about my IGT13 crew (http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13.php) in the build up and have been pretty quiet around these parts as i wanted her to be a surprise :)
I've always been a fan of one specific miniature in Rackham's AT-43 Therian force; the character Tiamat (http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/01.jpg) and Charax and myself have often lamented her horrific price-tag.
while selling a load of stuff via Triple Helix, i decided to take advantage of their 20% discount and grab myself a pair of Talos, with Tiamat in mind.
I was lucky enough their second-hand-ebay-trade also provided a lone Sevora, missing her arms :D
i knew i'd need 2 Talos bodies to begin the conversion, but my first obstacle would be how to attach them to each other.
as is normal for most conversions, holding / bluetacing stuff together helps to get some ideas:
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/tiamat.jpg)
I loved the middle configuration, it screaming She -The ultimate Weapon but the gaps between the shell & the bodies was far too big to fill easily :(
i started bulking out where the gaps were; a mixture of GS flesh-parts and broken guitar strings (in a few different sizes) to give a "mutated-clone-flesh-experiment" look :)
I also attached a magnet where Tiamat was to hang; the theory being i could make a 28mm version and swap between them according to what scale i was playing!
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/tiamat2.jpg)
You can also see the large anti-grav-thrusters used for movement, inspired by the Animatrix (the bit where they're talking about the machines building machines) and also to fill gaps for the Talos' arms.
I didn't like the vent-look and had to rework them several times to get a style i liked!
I started attaching the arms at this point; mixing up the talos' arm sections (should have 1/2 smooth, 1/2 spiked each section)and having to use ball-joints to imply greater movement and to also double up the sections as the single arm / hand combo was far too short!
The sevorina has her arm stumps removed so i could sculpt her some new amrs, and she had a head swap for a spare Eolith Anastasia (http://www.coolminiornot.com/99807?browseid=4828141) i've been wanting to use for a while!
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/tiamat3.jpg)
It's worth noting i originally had her floating much lower; i had planned on trailing the cables out behind her but didn't like hte look or the balance issues!
i did decide to add focus-vents to the antigrav units rather than slated vents.
so, i rebuilt her support wires using a thick plastic rod covered in greenstuff, and then chopped guitar wires to surround it.
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/tiamat4.jpg)
This steps' Main Issue was her hands; i didn't know if i wanted to clench her fists or adopt a more ethereal open hand approach to show more she's not consciously driving the machine, it's reacting to her movements.
so, i finally finished tiamat; using guitar-strings as fingers (with GS over the top so she has ridged fingers); i didn't put as many wires on the underside as i wanted, but was running out of room to put them all!
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/tiamat5.jpg)
and so we lead to painting!
I started with a black undercoat, then while it was wet, gave it quick zenith-blasts of silver.
After that i did all the basing; sand with a well-watered-down Scorched Brown (thicker'n an ink, thinner than paint) drybrushed bone. I did this first as it's not very precise :)
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/tiamat6.jpg)
then whole thing (except the silver!) was done in Skrag Brown, then Rotting Flesh mixed in for the fleshy parts, Bleached Bone mixed in for the bone sections (mainly spine sections) and Mechanicus Red on the armour plates.
then reds don't show too well, but i layered up to Blood Red and a final highlight of bleached Bone & a touch of yellow for the edges.
The greens were started at a 50/50 Dark Angels / Snot green and worked up through snot to a 50/50 with Sunburst Yellow.
Even when the paintwork was finished, there was still something missing...
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/tiamat7.jpg)
Taking inspiration from my own Behemoth Rig (http://www.buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/gallery/inq/mechanicus_behemoth.jpg) i added the free-hand cog design all over half of the miniature; the break in symmetry helping draw the eye to it :)
I also started painting Tiamat herself, being undecided between silver, white or bone (brown in the picture) and so painted her in quarters to try and get a feel for the colours on the miniature itself.
It was in a conversation with a friend, whisper (http://s24.photobucket.com/user/_whisper_/library/?page=1) who suggested something of fthe wall like green or blue.
Taking it a bit further, i tried silver with a touch of purple and a purple ink.. and loved the result!
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/tiamat8.jpg)
i debated going for white, marble skin but in the end went with normal flesh tones; there's nothing to say that it's real flesh tho...
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/tiamat9.jpg)
and as a bonus image, here's the 28mm version; Hasslefree's Hazel (http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=witch-hazel~hfa041&category=miniatures~modern-adventurers), painted in bone with white skin just to see what it'd look like!
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/tiamat28.jpg)
I think she did well; Mr. Blanche seemed impressed and she scored half a point behind Kaled (?) in the P&M round :)
Thanks for reading and thanks to you guys who voted for her on the day!
and as a bonus post, i had a honkin' gurt doomsday driller as my scenario-piece.
I knew i wanted to portray Tiamat as a hard-line mechanicus; forcing everyone to upgrade to bionics.
so i thought the most impressive method was to have a weapon, something massive and imposing to grab peoples' attention :)
As i was working for Helix at the time, i ordered myself two of Spartan Games' Vorkuta Driller (http://shop.spartangames.co.uk/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DWRC12) hoping to cut the bases off and attach them together.
When it arrived, however, it wasn't an option; there's no detailing on the underside at all and the basing material covers alot of the driller :(
I wasn't phased in the slightest, and grabbed aplastic tube, some greenstuff, a saw and some guitar wire:
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/driller.jpg)
the work was slow; i realised it was too long to simply glue wire to and so added greenstuff plates to break up the detail a bit. they aren't as straight or as uniform as i'd have liked, but on the whole i thought i'd get away with it :)
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/driller02.jpg)
While i worked, i looked for a support system. Planning to use something like the Thunderfire-cannon (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1600062a) platform, i realised it was too small for my needs.
It was while buying some OOP RAckham stuff from a certain chinese-knock-off company, i spotted the perfect model...
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt13/driller03.jpg)
The Necron Tomb-Stalker was perfect (once butchered a fair bit!); big legs and a platform to attach the drills' launching bracket.
I've not got any pictures of it "finished" as it's simply black with a zenith coat of silver :P
still, i'll be posting about the scenario in a separate article, prolly for DM if i ever get the site built!
Fantastic model Gav, really nice work! Your greenstuff work has made everything fit together perfectly. The model looked great in the flesh, but I think is even more impressive having now I've seen the WIP shots.
I'm loving the very H.R. Gieger look of the whole model. Kudos ;D
What a wonderful conversion. I think it's better than the mini in your source pic. Everything on it is superbly matched and balanced.
Meant to compliment you on this when you first posted it, great work gav.
Literally the only thing I'd change if it were mine would be to mount the hand on the inner of the two guns rather than the outer one.