Adding Dynamic Movement when Posing Miniatures

With all the versatility we're seeing in the quality of the plastic kits that are coming out for our favorite hobby, there is an opinion I'm seeing more and more..

"Who needs to convert, when the kits let us have so many different poses?"

Well, I do, dangit! And you should too! Why? Because with just a little effort, you can truly have a unique force that not only will no one else have, but you can really add a sense of dynamic movement to a fig who's standard, static poses we've all seen, all too often.

Take for instance the below examples of some basic poses of a few of my Centurions.

Kholek Suneater Conversion

"Any idea how you'd make a Kholek Suneater, Tim?"

That was a question posed to me one day while a few of us were at the local shop in town. The end result of that conversation ended up in a commission to convert said Character from the Warriors of Chaos army book.

What I determined I needed to create this was a Stegadon and a Giant Kit. What my client was able to provide me was exactly that.. a Stegadon and a Giant Kit. Literally. The Stegadon was already put together!! Ack! This posed a slight problem as I was going to be a bit limited in how I worked these two kits together since I lost out on the versatility of being able to work with the Stegadon kit before assembly.
I had originally planned on going very draconic in nature for this conversion, with alterations to the Stegadon to be made accordingly as I built it... Lengthening the tail, resculpting the feet, etc. Unfortunately the fact that I would have to butcher the Stegadon that was provided to even attempt some of those parts of the conversion, and very likely ruin the model, then making me have to replace it, wasn't a risk I wanted to take. Ah well, best laid plans, and all that. Time to change the game plan!

Deathwing, Black Templar Style

 

So here starts the beginning of a series of posts on this commission I've taken on in the past month or so. I'll be updating this commission with a post every so often as I complete more and more of the army.

The army itself consists of:
1 Terminator troop squads
1 "command" squad
2 5-man devastator squads
Belial conversion
Librarian in Terminator armor (using a Grey Knight)
1 Dreadnought (with various options for arms)

It Lives!

So today is the day where I say, "Hey Look, I'm back!!' And then make all kinds of happy promises about updating regularly, right? Well.. sort of.

I won't bore anyone with my previous health issues, just suffice it to say I'm finally back on track health-wise. Lately, as in in the past couple months, I've even been able to devote a little more time and energy towards hobby-esque things as my health progresses for the better. In addition to actually working on projects, I've decided to make this Blog more of a priority as well. The goal is to update once a week. If I do it more, then great, but for now, but let's be realistic here. Once a week is a good start.

The Ressurection Begins...

Well it's been nearly a year since I posted anything of worth.  My life has changed quite as bit since June of 2010 with a bevy of illness plaguing myself,  my son being in therapy, surgery starting off this year... it's been a ride, let me tell you.

The good news is that I'll be resurrecting my own little corner of our hobby world with a new Blog.  After everything that's happened, I'm starting fresh and hitting the ground running.  Here's hoping some of you still remember me, and will be interested in seeing what I have in the works.  I'm actually writing ahead to create a log, JUST in case something crops up.. gee with me, that can't happen, right?  Right.  And GW won't raise their prices this year.

Wait, that already happened.  You get my point.

I've set new goals for myself.  Achievable ones.  Both in this hobby I love, and even my health and life.  I'm starting fresh, and I can't wait to take you along for the ride.  Check back as I'll have the launch of the new come Monday, May 30th!

Tim

My health apologizes...

Hey everyone!

I wanted to give a quick shout to anyone still paying attention to my little corner of our hobby world. I literally have two new posts written, and just need to edit some pictures to go along with them for some basics of sculpting tutorials and discussions. My problem? I just got out of the ICU with a severe case of pneumonia in both my lungs. I've actually been fairly sick this past month or so and well, the virus won for a bit apparently.

So everyone has my apologies for the inactivity and i hope you stick around for what I've got planned in the future.

Tim

Manticore, mythical creature, or kick-ass kit?

So this past weekend, I had the pleasure of grabbing the new Manticore kit from my local shop. Now, unfortunately my wife was out of town all weekend, so that meant very, VERY little hobby work done, but i did get to dissect this awesome new kit from GW.

Suffice It to say, if you haven't figured out that I'm in love with this kit, please take note:

I'm in love with this kit.

From the fact that this uses the new and improved Chimera kit (which is no surprise), to the amazing add-on front hull piece that has a new hatch, not to mention the launching racks for either the rockets, or the death strike, this is a highly detailed kit that any guard player will love to have as a part of their armored force.

Needless to say, this will play a very fun part in the makings of my new army.

New army you say? Why yes, Tim is putting together the makings and preliminary work of a new army that hopefully will do you all proud. Everyone knows what Knight Titan is, yes? Y'all read Mechanicus? Go read it. Maybe you played Epic back in the day?

Either way, know it or not, a Knight Titan is a single-crewed walker the equivalent of a tank. Well, maybe a little more involved than that, but you get the point. Currently, my working list has 7 Knights in it. They will count as 3 Leman Russ tanks, 3 Hydras and yes, 1 Manticore! Then there will be 3 sentinels, 1 Vendetta, 2 infantry platoons and the company command.

I'll be scratch building the legs, torsos and much of the hulls, sentinel cockpits will provide the 'heads', and various parts form leman russ kits aegis defense lines and the manticore kit will give me main weapons, etc.

I'll keep everyone apprised and i swear, pictures will be coming soon!