February's challenge:
A single, fully painted, Iron Hands Space Marine tactical squad member.
The only thing that must be on the model is some kind of bionics.
And that's it. There are no more rules to the challenge. We are both free to interpret the challenge however we see fit. The only thing we have to do this month is include some kind of bionics on the model.
My plans for this month:
That means I'm getting bionics from somewhere. I decided on ordering some from Puppets War. They have some killer looking mechanical implants and weapons I'm planning on fitting onto my model in some way or another. They have a few options in their set so I'm not sure exactly what pose/weapon loadout I'm going to go with just yet.
I think I'm going to load up my guy with as much "bionic" as I can and get rid of the human side. That's the only aspect I'm sure of right now. I'm going to add a few extra tubes and hoses as well to really seal the deal.
I've seen some Iron Hands art and I want to try and mimic some of the armour aspects I saw in there. My guy might be a regular troop, but I'm going to see just how unique I can make him. If you look at the art I have a pic of, I'm going to mimic his cut-away left shoulderpad if I can. I want to expose the bionics as much as possible.
Since he's sporting black armour, I'm planning on putting him on a light colored, barren wasteland type base with some human bones. I think the barren base with some scattered human bones will make a nice contrast to the dark, mechanical marine I'm planning on building. I thought about covering the base completely with skulls and such, but I think it might look better with just one skull and a bone or two scattered about.
Sort of a nod to his humanity that's gone now and replaced with bionics.
John's plans for this month:
After reading up on them, I started to think of what I could add to a regular plastic marine model to add some tech and make the model uniquely Iron Hands along with being a cool looking model. The main conversion stuff will be robotics, a gear shoulder pad detail and of course the hand chapter symbol detail also.
I decided to go through my bits looking for a helmeted head with a bionic eye and maybe a small antennae, also something to use as a robotic leg or arm, perhaps Necron limbs. Here' s what I came up with:
I'm not sure if I will use this particular marine torso or legs, but it shows how the Necron bits look in comparison. I will not use both legs, but will have to see which side I like the robotic leg on the model. The rest will be mostly basic marine bits, unless I dig up something interesting that fits or have a problem in assembly or some on the fly inspiration.
I mocked up my bits to see what the model would look like. I kind of like the arm, and like the gear on the shoulder pad, as it will save me some tricky greenstuff work, but the leg is way to wimpy looking. I think if they made a robotic leg the size of a real one, they would have just put it into the normal space marine armor, and you wouldn't even notice.
So I will have to come up with something more substantial and suitably "better" or improved over the normal marine size robotic limb.Back to the drawing board.
So there you have it
A quick look at where John and I stand on this month. It's interesting to see the different approaches and yet how similar our takes on the same model are. In two weeks, we'll have some pics and discussion of the final models!
