Tuesday 19 March 2013

Striking Scorpion from Warhammer 40,000

This post brings the blog up to date! This is my most recently completed project, a 1/12 scale figure of an Eldar Striking Scorpion from Warhammer 40,000. Warhammer was definitely an important step on my road to where I am today, and although I don't play or collect the figures I'll always have a soft spot for the universe. The Eldar were my favourite race, and the Striking Scorpions my favourite Aspect Warriors. I nearly made a full-size Scorpion helmet whilst at uni, but decided on the Bubble Bomber instead.

I actually started this way back in 2009 at the same time as the Wesley figure - he was a great way to use up leftover magic sculpt. Once I got my job though, my time spent commuting stopped my working on it and he was stuck in the WIP box for years before I dug him out in 2012 and decided to finish him.

I went all out, took him way more than any other figure I've done. The base figure is a Spider-Man, chosen for his lithe frame and great poseability. The armour is sculpted, as always, with magic sculpt. Where he deviates is on some of the details - the mandiblasters, weapons, runes, wargear and dreadlocks were all drawn in Rhino and 3D printed by Shapeways. This allowed me to get a crispness of detail I wouldn't be able to achieve with sculpting by hand. My hat goes off to those who sculpt at 28mm, I don't know how you do it! The dreadlocks were paired up, moulded in silicone and cast in rubber, so they flex around very nicely. I bought gold links to connect the runes and wargear to his belt, and printed custom waterslide decals for his thigh armour and kneepad.

He isn't entirely accurate to the mini. I'm never usually very fussed by complete accuracy, I believe entirely in artistic licence. I'm also a fan of practicality, which became tricky when I was considering his pistol, the pouch/holster, and the cable connecting the pistol to his arm. None of that seemed to work together, so I compromised and went for aesthetic appeal.

First time I've used pigments to simulate mud, I'm definitely doing that again! Once the weather warms up a bit, I'll take him into a forest and get some shots there. I'm chuffed to bits with him, and the best bit? I get to keep him!







12 comments:

  1. That is frickin' STUNNING. I want one! :)

    Top notch work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ace! looks like my cover (artistic licence granted):

    http://skinnyelbows.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/cover-path-of-warrior.html

    Therefore, I sooooooo want it ;)

    Great work, I love it man!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your cover was one of my main references! Its a beautiful piece, I love the Eastern look yours has! I really wanted to do filigree detail on mine like yours has on his helmet, but my painting skills aren't up to scratch :) so glad you like it!

      Delete
  3. I wants it!I wish GW would license companies to do awesome figures like this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. And now for the lawsuits... bet they didn't get permission to use their intellectual property... sad really, it's really good

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sam, what kind of joints and of action figures did you use?

    ReplyDelete
  6. He was originally a 'Spider-Man Classic Heroes Spider-Man (with Streetlight Scene)'. This guy http://images.comiccollectorlive.com/covers/0e3/0e3552bb-fe93-4b6c-a433-68a46497a34d.jpg

    So all the joints were there already within the figure. It's an incredibly poseable figure, bit of a pain to sculpt around but a lot of the detail was so fine I couldn't risk disassembling it! The project I'm working on at the moment will be able to be disassembled and uses Revoltech joints. Much easier to customise!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I nearly made a full-size Scorpion helmet whilst at uni, but decided on ... helmetscorpion.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete