So, I finally got started on my Flying Hive Tyrant. I won it in last years Christmas Tournament, and really thought I could have it finished in a year. I may yet make it... The following is my work log.
I wanted to stretch the Tyrants body a bit - the walking Tyrant looks solid, immovable and blocky, which is not the effect I'm looking for. Also, a flyer should be able to turn its head and look around. So, with a couple of pieces of metal wire, I added some space along the midsection, and sketched a long, sinuous neck.
I also moved the big nose horn to the back of the head,
pterodactyl-style, and replaced it with a smaller (more aerodynamic)
horn from an extended carapace bit.
Conventional wisdom says that the most effective loadout for a
Flyrant is 2x Twin Devourers, so to keep the beast six-limbed (counting
wings as limbs) I had to fit each twin devourer on a single arm.
The upside/downside pattern was surprisingly easy, and shows the intent
clearly.
My first attempt at large-scale greenstuff modeling. I added an
extended carapace bit at the bottom of the back to keep it from looking
naked. I'm not totally happy with the lines of the neck (it looks
like it has an adam's apple, which I doubt is a trait a Tyranid would
assimilate). I'm not sure I could improve on it at this stage
though, so I'll leave it as is and see if I can salvage it with paint...
My magnets
arrived in good order; Those things are fun to play
with! I've embedded a pair of large magnets for the wings, and a
smaller set for the lower arms. I was a bit in doubt if I needed
to superglue the magnets in place, or whether greenstuff could hold
them. It looks like the greenstuff is holding, though.
Also a bit of added work on the head crest.
The simplest way of magnetizing the arms and wings is to cut the
relevant limb down to a flat surface, superglue the magnet to the
surface, and then greenstuff around the magnet afterwards.
Having magnetized limbs is great for transporting large monsters
with awkwardly-posed wings, but the main attraction is of course that
you can field all sorts of different loadouts as the whim takes
you. In addition to the wings and the twin devourers, I've
magnetized a pair of Scything Talons (replaces the wings for a Walkrant
configuration) and a Bonesword/Lashwhip combo.
The magnets holds! This is the expected normal configuration,
as a Dakkarant.
2009-09-26 Update: Well, they didn't hold... The uper left arm
magnet fell out, leaving a nice magnet-shaped hole. I'll try with
superglue this time.
The Lord of the Rings Balrog
wings I used gives an impressive wingspan.
The "Balrog" configuration is mostly for show - It is not something
I expect to field on a regular basis. But it looks very
intimidating!
On the sound advice of the Hive Mind at Warpshadow, I beefed up the upper
part of the neck; It looks better now. On the left picture, the
neck and crest structure shows clearly.
Walking Close Combat Tyrant; Not something I expect to field, just testing that the magnet variations works.
Enough with greenstuffing and getting my fingers epoxied to each
other - let the painting begin! After filing down the rough bits of
greenstuff and epoxy, I sprayed with basecoat black.
For some strange reason (old paint? too cold? insufficient shaking?) the primer covered rather poorly, and dried to a sickly grey shade. I'll test-paint an arm tomorrow, and see if it's just the coloring or if it actually affects the real paint layer.
The greying primer holds well enough, so I'm just painting over
it. I paint the bits I want body-colored flat black, and then wash it
with red gore (1/3 paint to 2/3 water, or so). The wings are an
experiment, I want them lighter than the main body, like taut-stretched
almost translucent skin. I'll start with red gore and lighten
from there. On the right, a workbench photo with drying gore wash
- including a batch of ten old Space Hulk Genestealers, long primed and
more than ready to join the painting pipeline. I ran out of gore
mix, so the twelve stealers in the background stayed flat black...
Another magnet fell out today; I guess greenstuff doesn't bond all
that well to rare earth magnets... I'll just superglue them back in
place as they fall out, they leave a well-defined hole after all.
From the dried red gore flesh tone, I highlight with black drybrush
to give better definition to the body's ridged structure. The
carapace gets a flat black coat at the same time.
The wings receive a wash of red ink; Let's see if that turns out
right when it dries...
The spiky bits are base-colored bleached bone.
A few shots to show the bone bits. Bleached bone, flesh
wash, highlight the edges with bleached bone again.
In the background, wings: Red gore, red ink and black drybrushing.
A few fuzzy shots to show preliminary work on the base, as well as
the intended carapace highlights (not completed yet, but the intent
shows). The lash whip is something of a first; I've never
actually tried to blend a color like that (from red gore through blood
red to tentacle pink).
The "wet" parts (mouth, breathing vents, lash whip, Devourer
orifices) are all painted with 'ardcoat to get a shiny effect.
All done; Here's the final gallery. Actually, it was completed
almost a week ago, but I've been waiting for a day when I was home
while it was sunny out to do the pictures in natural light.
While it will probably see the battlefield as a Dakkarant armed with Devourers most times, I have to admit that the Balrog configuration with bonesword and lash whip looks much cooler. Here's to hoping they get better rules in the next codex!
A final group picture: The new Tyrant towers over its minions.