October 31, 2007

Finished pics of the Buccaneer and Captain Shae

I finished up the Buccaneer and got around to taking some decent pics of it and Shae while I was taking my GD entries snaps so here they are











I think the Shae pics came out a bit too contrasty though

October 30, 2007

Finished photos of the Nomad and all my Pirates

Ah forgot to post the finished pics of the Jack, got distracted by MOAB and painting for GD





then of course I got inspired to do a little sister to go with him made from a Eureka street urchin and a dead pirate


and the rushed paintjob so I could get to my GD stuff




Oh and here is the jack with my completed pirates so far

October 23, 2007

Buccaneer Painted

I got around to cleaning up all the sea dogs and got them primed and in actual painting got most of the Buccaneer done, he still needs rust and a few bits done, been down with flu most of the week so slow going.






here he is on his base with the Nomad


and a group shot with Shae

October 16, 2007

Captain Shae painted

Oct 15, 2007

Here's a slightly sharper pic just under the light

Converting Captain Phineus Shae

To go with my pirate jacks I had to convert the warcaster a bit just to make him a bit more presentable. Shae is a cool looking character on the cover of No Quarter but a bit subdued in the sculpt. So I changed his stance a bit while modifying very little, basically I bent his leg a little and his foot and made him stand on a cannonball smashed into the deck (an idea I got from these resin bases someone makes). I bent up the sash to be more dramatic, after that I bent his left arm down a bit and straightened it a tad so that he'd be aiming his gun rather than just waving it around. The gun though seemed a bit small especially when it's called a hand cannon in the rules so I cut it in half and extended the middle part as well as adding a flint lock mechanism on the side cause well I think flint locks look cool. After that I messed a round at the back and cut under the coat that is wind swept back so I could jam a scabbard under there, which I push molded off of one of the other pirates. lastly I added a full bucket hilt to his sword since the basket hilt he had didn't look piratey enough.

I kind of feel I should have given him a hat, but the upcoming pirate Broadside Bart has a big hat with a feather and I've already made Shae quite similar pose wise so the lack of hat will keep them looking different.




I got around to painting him up during the week since I got my GD stuff done, I went with a colour scheme pretty close to the original cover art of him rather than the studio paint job which I think is rather bland. Of course I added stripes cause what's a pirate without stripes.

September 15, 2007

Started painting the Nomad

Some progress on the pirates, started on the Nomad last couple nights, did the panels 1st before doing the metallics on the face, though it makes the panels look dull now, think a brighter edge highlight will sort that out.





Finished Bioshock too, damn that was a good game Smile

September 7, 2007

Making a big Cutlas

I decided to have a go at making a jack cutlass out of a few resin bits, a mini tab and a bit of thick plasticard





pretty happy with the result, just need to prime these guys and start painting.

September 5, 2007

Riviting

Here's a couple more shots of the Nomad showing all the rivets that took so damn long to do




also took a group shot including the assembled Mariner, Shae and a couple of likely little sisters from Hasslefree

September 3, 2007

Warmachine Pirates with a touch of Bioshock

A mate suggested I repost my various forum WIP blogs before they disappear forever so to start off here is my Bioshock inspired Warmachine Pirates:

Got my box of all the warmachine pirate range in the post during the week and on the weekend got to work on assembling Shae's "starter set" of jacks: Mariner, Buccaneer & Nomad.

I was always a bit iffy about the design of the Buccaneer but after I got the model I was very impressed with the sculpt, the detail is great and I love all the rivets. I still think the face sucks though so I went about replacing it. I wanted something more like a dive helmet to match the mariner. I remembered I had gotten some Steamboy gashapons a while ago which I though would make nice terrain pieces. I had a look at the hatches and windows on them and made a quick push mold of some bits. I used that to make a new rivet surrounded window for the new face. I used a resin dome to make the head cut down to fit. After that I had a go at making a wire frame to protect the face, I'm sure you'll recognize where the inspiration came from. As some final details I also added a grab handle on top and a snap fastener as a wheel on his back.


After the trial run of the Buccaneer I moved on to the big conversion job the Nomad, I went to town on this thing. I started by adding some piratey detail by sculpting a Jolly Roger on the buckler shield. Then added a bed roll I had in the bits box with the help of some more green stuff to add the tie on points. For the head, the biggest part of the conversion I started by making a rough mold of the mariner head and casting a copy, then I cut it down to fit the hood of the Nomad. Then I cut back the details to give a bit more room on the face. I drew in some lines to get the face symmetrical then added eyes by cutting thin rings of aluminum tube these were superglued in place. After that I added some more filler details under the chin to complete the join with the body. Then started on the wire protectors. I did these the same as on the Buccaneer. I wound some wire around a large brush handle to make a coil, then cut 2/3 circle rings and after drilling holes for them glued them into place. After that was all in place I added a few more bits of detail like the smaller Jolly Roger, the wheel at the back of the boiler which was cast from a Steamboy bathysphere, and a barrel chained to the boiler. Then I spent several hours adding god knows how many rivets all around the panels, shoulders, knee pads and calves.