Labeth's scratch built VC [Update 19/6 -08 View of the tools used]

June 16 2008

Introduction by Visquaz
So I finally got my friend Labeth to start his own warhammer fantasy army and just to make it interesting he wants to scratch build it all (well almost all, I'll try to make him buy some stuff like skeletons). Keep in mind that he has never build warhammer models at all so it's a fair chance he is going to go crazy trying to scratch build an entire army but hey, I'll help him along and it will be fun to see how it turns out.

He choose VC mostly based on the notion that he wanted a big lord on a big dragon...and still have a playable army.
/Visquaz

Labeth:
Here are some crude first work sculpts (that hideous greenish Cernit clay was something Visquaz had lying around, most from now on will be made from Super Sculpey).

First out is a corpse cart with necromancer (based mostly on the art in the book, not the actual model)



And then two Dire wolves (they will probably get fur and they still needs a lot of work)



Visquaz's first ever scratch built: A Fell bat



Edit: trying another photo hosting site...

Welcome to the Stronghd, Labeth. It sounds like an ambitious plan to sculpt an entire army.
Unfortunately, the link to your pictures don't seem to work.

BigD

Wow! Cool start, be sure to keep us up to date with the models as you work on them. Interested in seeing what a totally scratch built army will look like.

So far those models look fantastic. keep it coming!

Made some improvements on the corpse cart with the necromancer

June 17 2008

Almost finished with the Dire wolf, just some teeth and claws left to do in green stuff.


Probably gonna remove the skulls from the corps cart, it will probably look better that way. Or at least make them look more like skulls with bigger cavities.

June 19 2008

Feel like i have more control now over the clay now, guess ill be decent at this in a few models more =)
Decided i wanned to do a Black Knight on a Skeletal steed. Steed is only misses some armor for its head i think... but the rider is just a early test.

Hope you like it and can see that I'm improving my modeling skills somewhat =)

It'll certainly be very interesting to see what it all looks like when it's all sculpted and painted. Your sculpting has definitely improved from the first pictures. Scratch build this army and the next one you build will probably be a 100 times better. Maybe you'll work for GW one day? That would be funny Good luck with the army building

June 19 2008

I spent some time doing the Black knight to go with the horse, still got the left hand to do and something for him to steer the horse with and perhaps make some improvements to the shield and lance

this is the result:


Any ideas what to do with the lance head?

Great GEEZ, that is crazy, Great Work!

Labeth, is what you are doing Cost effective?

Indeed how much are you paying for putty - and is it cheaper by the amount you're using?

The clay is (super sculpey) about 80-100sek (thats about 8-10euro) for 454g that will last me the entire army i think. I also use a role of 0.8mm iron tread thats about 20kr or 2euro and thats about it. Then you need some tools like a soldering iron cant do without! and then a razor knife... some cork to build the models on for so its easy to hold and some tweezers and a sculpting tool.. some super glue can be good...
So material wise (excluding tools, of course) for the army i think ill end up under 20euro if i build everything myself don't know what it would cost otherwise but i think it would be more...

Made a photo of the stuff i use...


Hope that answers your questions!

I'm liking your army, great job.  I have found that sculpty is hard to use as the details collapse during bakes.  I really amazed that you have been able to squeeze out so much detail.

I have not experienced anything collapsing (yet). but I use a extensive iron skeleton in every model(there is just about a maximum of 1 mm clay outside the iron skeleton in the black knight), i can think you could have problems with collapsing: if you try to put a high weight on a small part since it gets a bit more soft (almost a bit like a harder gel until it colds down and gets hard). Small details look exactly the same before and after they are baked i would say.

As long as you make a good skeleton in your preparation you will have a much bigger chance of success both in nice looking model and its easy to work with.
Getting the skeleton right and stabilized is the key to the model then you just have to add layer by layer of clay and don't be afraid to bake the model several times it easier if you don't destroy the part you just made when making the next part. if you add 1mm it takes about 4 min of baking to get it hard. as you can see on the lance its not a big deal if you manage to forget the model while baking it (think it was in 30-40min)... it turns brown but the i cant see any other difference in the material properties.

You have a good start on armor (noting this on the black knight), which is looking pretty good. Are you doing any sort of musculature on the rest of your minis? It might help to build up the bodies in layers.