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.
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