For the past two weeks, we've talked about truescale models. We've covered some of my thoughts, a look at one of the third party products out there and today we're going to look at a few size comparisons along with my suggestions for truescaling terminators.
One of the first things I thought of when I started down the truescale road was how would it affect the other models in my army. Lots of folks think about how their models will tower over their opponents force, but forget the same thing is going to happen in their own army as well.
And we won't even consider whether on not we like or agree with this version of a truescale terminator. Let's look at him purely from a height standpoint compared to the other models.
You can see the difference in heights between the few models I lined up here. While they aren't that big of a deal, a terminator is already a bit bigger and bulkier than a regular Eldar model. Make the leap to truescale proportions and everything becomes much smaller across the board.
Here we have a pair of terminators compared to a dreadnought. I've always imagined dreadnoughts being a good bit bigger than even terminators are. Jump up to truescale and your dreadnought is not so big and mighty now.
Even the mighty Land Raider takes a hit and looks more like a Rhino when you move up in sizes. I can't even begin to imagine what you have to do to truescale a dreadnought or Land Raider so they fit in with the look of your troops. I'm not saying it wouldn't look absolutely stunning on the tabletop, it's just going to be a massive undertaking.
So what's my grand idea then?
My idea is not anywhere near as involved, but still requires a bit of work. It appears nothing is simple or easy when it comes to this kind of thing.
There are two things I like to change. First is the abdominal section and extending it slightly to increase the overall height of the model. Not much, just a bit to make him look as though he's standing upright and not hunched over.
This is done by adding a spacer between the two sections of the model. I've started greeenstuffing some armour plates to fill in the space, but I still have some work to do in that department. It needs to be bulky enough to look "correct" and I'm not there yet.
I like to think I could make it into something I could make a mold of and then cast so that I could add this non-descript abdominal spacer in there when building my terminators and make the process as smooth and painless as possible.
The second thing is relocating the arms on the side of the torso. This is an easy fix and requires a tiny bit of cutting away at the arm peg on the sides of the torso. Just enough to lower them down slightly so it looks as though his arms are coming out of his torso and his head sits on top of his shoulders instead of in front and level with them.
I cut away about the top 1/3 of the arm peg. That combined with the extending of the abdomen section seems to make enough of a difference for my tastes.
It's a minor thing, but once you find something like this that you want to fix (and it could be anything on a model) you need to fix it otherwise it will draw your attention for ever.
Here you can see my changes compared to a unaltered terminator. Not that big of a change really. Seeing the model front on like this shows that the abdominal section still needs some bulking out. That could be done by actually building it up or covering it with other items like a tabard and cloak.
Add a few items to his belt and all of a sudden you don't even notice it. You get the added height without having to make it work.
In the end, it only adds an extra 1/2 head height to him overall. He's still out of proportion I'm sure. But... it does make him look "correct" to me. When I look at him now he's not hunched over, his arms look like they're in the right place and he's standing upright.
That's the biggest thing of all with this whole idea of truescale. Making your models look "right" to you. I mean that's the whole reason for an undertaking of this size and scope anyway isn't it? You don't like the way they look as they are.
If you like the look of your models, that's all that matters. Truescaling is something that will fix certain issues and create other issues at the very same time. Ultimately you have to decide which issues bother you and which ones don't. If you can find that balance and a solution, you'll be set. As for me, I think I'm close.
Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
A few thoughts on the idea of truescale
A truescale terminator and product review
