you can put on a model before its just a 3D collage. What bothered me was the helmets and the two-handed NFS. Take for instance this GW pic of the teleporters (and I'm not going to even mention the stupid telly-tubby antennas), the basic kit that comes with pretty much every GK unit is the NFS (Nemesis Force Sword). Thats fine and dandy, but the ones that come with the power armor kit are WAY too big for the models. They look like they're trying to swing their daddy's sword, its just way too big for the model, it throws the cemetery off. Also the hand over hand pose for the two handed swords takes so much away from the model. It covers up many of the defining aspects of a Grey Knight suit of power armor. That and the pose makes them look like they're doing an exercise video.
Here we have the purifiers, of all the PAGK (power armor grey knights) the way GW painted these guys really shows off how messed up the helmets are. They basically look like the front of a boat. Some of them even remind me of Sub Zero or Scorpion from Mortal Kombat for those of you old schoolers. ON TOP OF THAT, the heads are just TOO big for me. It throws off the cemetery even more.
Now I'm sure some of you are saying, "Valegorn, you're nuts, the way they look is awesome", and to be honest you'd be right. I'll give credit where credit is due, the sculptors did a amazing job, but for me there is just something about the way they built them to pose just makes my eyes hurt. So I set off to see what I could do to make them look more heroic.
The Plan
Ok, so I wanted to only use the bits that came in the Grey Knight Power Armor set. I have a ton of Space Marine bits and many of them would help a lot (and if you want to use them go for it), but lets look at what I could do with the bits that came with the box set. The extra stuff I used aside from clippers, glue and a modeling knife were;
- green stuff
- sculpting tool (or your modeling knife will due)
- GW file
1st, SHOULDERS
If you look at many of the Space Marine artwork, the characters in the picture have relatively small head in comparison to the rest of their body. One of the many things I love about Space Marines in general is their massive shoulders guards (or whatever they're called, if there is an armor the can correct me, feel free). I think its one of the many defining characteristics of the Astartes. They visually give the model some mass, they make them look big.
The fastest way to get rid of this AWESOME visual effect is by giving the model a huge head (we'll get to the head in a bit). In the picture to the left, the artist (as well as many other artists do) accented the shoulders on the upper body to balance out the lower bulk. This completes the cemetery and gives it that "big guy" look. So how can we make this work for us with our models?
Since many of us don't posses enough skill (myself included) to sculpt our own shoulders out of greenstuff, we have to use other tricks. This one is simple.
As soon as you glue the legs to the base, the torso to the legs and you position the arms the way you want them, before you glue the shoulder guards on,
- take two small pieces of greenstuff, roll them into about the size of a BB, (like from a BB gun)
- put a small amount of glue in the shoulder guard,
- then put one of the balls of greenstuff into the top part of where the guard will meed the shoulder,
- put a bit more glue on the ball of greenstuff to help strengthen the bond between the guard and the shoulder (this is important because this will be the part of the shoulder guard that will forever be connected to your model. If there isn't a strong enough connection, then your shoulder guard will fall off easily).
- put the shoulder guard onto the model and press gently. CAUTION: (if you press too hard some greenstuff will ooze out the sides and bottom, This is bad because at this point the greenstuff is already mixed with the glue. Trying to scrape the excess off will be hard without messing up the apperance of the model)
Atthis point you are able to adjust the shoulder guard to whatever position you want. I will pull up on the shoulder guard if pressed the guard too much. Once you have it right where you want it, let it dry. You can continue working on the model, but just keep an eye on the shoulders, some readjusting my be in order if you're not careful.
Some of the mistakes that I've made doing this is putting too much greenstuff inside the shoulder guard. Not only does it ooze out the sides, but it raises the guard up too much, which totally destroys the desired look. Also I could've made it so the guard is too high on the model. If a person can tell right away what you've done to the model, then you've raised the shoulder guard too much. The goal is to add to the illusion of bigger shoulders, adding too much will make the model look like he's compensating for something.
Once done you should have a model that just looks broader. This will greatly enhance your models appearance making him look more menacing (which is a good thing for a Space Marine)
2nd, The HEAD
Unelss you are a conversion GOD, its really hard to fiddle with a head. One wrong move and the whole thing is ruined. Luckly on a Space Marine there are more edges and corners. This will help us in the end. As I've said before, the Grey Knight heads that come with the box set look aweful. Their eyes are too close, and thy have a boat bow for a face. The head sculpted for Crowe looks AMAZING, if only they could've done the same for the plastic set.
There is very little we can do to make a head smaller. This is our desired goal. A smaller head makes the rest of the model look bigger (This is good for a Space Marine).
Here is what we do;
- nip just a little bit off of the round part of the bottom of the head (the part that is glued to the torso. This lowers the head just a tad bit giving it a smaller look.
- Take your modeling knife and make little cuts from the nose to about the back jawbone/end of where the cheek would be. You are trying to create a flat surface. (kinda like the GK Terminator helms)
- Do the same thing to the other side. This will get rid of any vent holes that were there. Fear not, these are easy to recreate. But if for some reason you just can't life without those holes and you don't want to try to make any of your own, then skip this whole 'head' section.
- then take a GW file and smooth out the newly flat surfaces.
- Glue the head on where you want it and BOOM, you have a better head.
3rd, The WEAPONS
As mentioned before I think the two handed swords the plastic set comes with is just too darn big. It makes throws the entire model off. Luckily the set also comes with Falchions.
Normally you'd put two Falchions on the mo
del, but seeings how we only need one force weapon, just just the right handed one. I love the falchions because they are the same length as other power swords that come in other Space Marine box sets. They fit the model perfectly and don't throw off the cemetery we've built. So thats what I use in for my NFS on my power armor guys.
You might be wondering "what about the halberds"? Well those are ment to be long weapons, they don't throw off the look like the two handed swords do. And there are still good poses you can put them in. The hand over hand is still goofy in my opinion, but with a halberd it wont look as bad.
Also, I think the ammo clip also messes with the cemetery of the model. I think it is still possible to make the ammo clip look good, it all depends on the pose of the model. For the most part, its just looks like an extra hunk of plastic sticking out the side. So I generally glue a purity seal on the side of the bolter (to cover the slot where the ammo clip goes). This is a nice final touch.
Here are a few pictures of other models I've done using this technique. I think its been quite a success.
And here are some Terminators using the Shoulder guard technique;
Anyways, Thank you for hanging in there, I know this was a long post. I just wanted to make sure I had enough pics to illustrate what I was talking about. I hope this has helped you or at least given you some ideas.
Take care
~Valegorn
