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

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.

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

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.