I stripped the model, cleaned it up and rebuilt it from the ground up.
Now I'm ready for paint.
But let's take a look at how I got here.
We went through a number of heads. From a terminator head (which didn't look right), to other types of heads from Fantasy all the way back to taking the original head and cleaning it up. That meant removing the vents and horn and resculpting the armour plates. Not an easy task.
After that, we resculpted the shoulderpads to add some new iconography to the model. A nice touch in the end.
Perhaps the biggest problem of all was the pair of ammo feeds that connected the guns attached to his wrists to his backpack.
This might have worked had the angle not been so sharp and I didn't have to leave room for the wings to mount to the backpack as well. It turns out I couldn't bend the greenstuff into the correct position without breaking it at the joints.
Then I thought I could cut each individual section of the ammo feed out and rebuild the whole feed in the position I wanted. Another wash since I ended up with too much space between each segment of the feed.
The answer was to build them and sculpt them in place. Not what I wanted to do originally, but I had no choice in the end. If you know of another method, please don't say anything... I need to feel like I solved this one all on my own.
I rolled out a length of greenstuff, flattened it to the correct size/shape and pressed it into position. Getting it into position was tough because the element floats and has no surface that it's up against for support. I had to let my greenstuff cure for about 15 to 20 minutes and then fit it into place.
Very carefully I etched in the joints between each segment of the ammo feed while it was hanging there. After each joint, I'd have to reposition the whole piece ever so slightly to get it back where it needed to be.
And the end result. Not too bad if I say so myself. They'll do the job just fine with all the other elements in position in the end. A little paint and they'll look the part perfectly.
And now for some pics of the model as he stands now. I know he is missing one blade from his right hand. I lost it at some point. I have no clue where it's at. I have to build a new one to replace it now since I wasn't paying close enough attention to what I was doing.
Now all that's left is to paint this guy. I'll be using the original model as a guide, but trying for a darker, grittier look to him. Kind of like the Librarian I completed recently. The strong overhead light, high contrast, etc. We'll see how he comes out.
Follow my Project: Chaos Lord Restoration
Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
How to sculpt shoulderpad icons
Stripping paint from models
