I guess I'm making Zagstruk!, The Vulcha Boyz are too good to pass up. Options

[jamsessionein]

Oi!

Taking a look at my army, I obviously need some stormboyz, and a Zagstruk to lead them. Might as well get started on a Vultcha squad, eh?

I'd link the art of Zagstruk from the new 'dex, but I've no desire to break the forum rules. Needless to say, it's pretty awesome. As I am prone to do, I started with modelling the most visible thing in the picture - the choppa. It's still a work in progress...





Handle is from one of the fantasy ogres. I hacked off the blade and started replacing it with my own. It looks like there's a rokkit booster on the side of Zagstruk's sword, but that would be so fiddly and tiny I decided a simple cylinder would do for now. I also chopped a part off one of the ork shootas that had a gauge for the side opposite the boosta. Persumably it's a fuel gauge or altimiter. Assuming it works at all, which is a fairly big assumption given orks. I have to add those spiky bits to the back of the handle still.

During the course of working on this, I found myself in a conundrum as to what I would make his jetpack look like. Since he's Zagstruk and all, he's the biggest and most important stormboy, and as such should have a suitably enormous contraption on his back to hurtle him through the air. Still, it was one of the parts that the art clearly avoided, so I got to wondering for a while.

Someone else over at The-Waaagh was working on a Zagstruk model a while back, and they were also wondering what sort of jetpack to give him. They posted this little line of dialogue:

deleted
Hah, fired off a garga-... hey, wait a minute.





A.. a grot bomb?

You know, I actually have a spare one of them. I got it busted-up... the grot pilot was damaged beyond recognition and some of the back fins were missing.

Hmmm.

It's pretty obvious what has to be done.







This is going to take a while, I think.

This post has been edited by jamsessionein: Nov 25 2007, 12:23 PM

[Gonzoangel]

Another awesome modelling project in the making........BRING IT ON DUDE!!!

[horse]

THAT IS BRILLIANT!!!!

[jamsessionein]

I actually did a bit of digging, and I think that despite my best efforts I'm going to have to do some sculpting on this one. I have a stormboy nob body for if this totally fails, but hopefully I won't have to resort to messing that thing up. I hacked the torso off the last spare nob body I had and started dremelling it all down to bare metal. Basically I just wanted to get something the approximate size and shape of an ork nob torso to sculpt over.



That's the forgeworld fighta bomma pilot on the left, the rokkit in the middle for scale, and the completely wrecked nob torso on the right. I stuck the torso on an armature. I plan on sculpting a jacket and straps on that torso similar (hopefully) to the fighta-bomma body, using it as a reference. I'd honestly be hacking apart the fighta bomma body right now were it not for the fact that he has a spent parachute part on his back that would create so many problems that it's not worth the trouble.

The plan right now it to sculpt some under details like stitches on a shirt across the front of the chest. I don't have to be too precise about how I do this right now mostly because when it's all said and done there will be straps covering the front of the chest, as well as the jacket, so you won't see much of the actual ork body underneath. The jacket's obviously going to be the hardest part, but with the FW one nearby I should have a handy reference.

[jamsessionein]

Step 1 on the torso is done. Sculpted a little bit of the 'undershirt' - the thing that will be covered by a jacket and chest cross straps. Don't have to be too precise with it, really.



I need to figure out how to sculpt the jacket hanging open like on the forgeworld pilot now.

[Uber_Kroot]

Another fantastic project - I'll be following this one with baited breath!

[horse]

Looking Great, cant wait to see more

[jamsessionein]

While Zag's body is drying, I thought I might do something with the ruined back end of the grot bomb I've been hacking up. <deleted>. I don't really have anywhere else to post this, so...







One of the back fins was missing when I got the model, so I just plasti-carded up a replacement real quick. I'm looking for an alternative to the cotton right now. Steel wool doesn't look too bad.

[Uber_Kroot]

Looks like a great Apocalypse objective to me!

[Gonzoangel]

I need to figure out how to sculpt the jacket hanging open like on the forgeworld pilot now.

Try using a piece of Blu Tac or similar that you can attach to the body, then shape to roughly how you want the jacket to hang open. Then lay your GS over the Blu Tac which is then acting as a support whilst the GS cures. Once cured you can remove the Blu Tac and hopefully you should have a jacket that's hanging open.

-Tony

[jamsessionein]

Stuff has finished drying. I've been looking at this and trying to plan out how the pose should go, and I think before I sculpt the jacket I should probably do the lower half so I can understand the flow of the model properly first. I'm going to diverge from the codex art pose a little bit - I'm probably going to pose him with both arms outstretched to the sides and the right leg extended straight down to deliver the klaw blow, with the left leg bent up.

I thought before I went to bed I'd take a shot of how it's going so far. I'm using one of the fantasy black orc heads like I've seen on another zagstrukk model. It's a damn near perfect match to the art. Have to figure out how I'm going to go about sculpting a commissar cap yet, but I've flattened the top of his head in anticipation of it.







The rokkit's obviously huge, but that's intended. Just going to be figuring this out as I go, I suppose. Legs don't seem like a bad thing to work on next so I can figure out what angle he's going to be at for the jacket, etc. The slugga's a bit modified, half because I can't leave well enough alone, and half because <deleted>

This post has been edited by straylight: Nov 23 2007, 01:21 PM

[Vargr]

That is as sweet-as, jamsessionein!

Keep up the good work, and don't be afraid of Greenstuff!

[Darkblade AUS]

looking great cant wait to see the finished result

[Badfang]

how the hell are you going to make power klaw feet????



and by the way, when you show me, im stealing it for my zagstruk....!!!!

[ogrebane]

Heres a link to a tute I did for making robes that might help
Making robes
To make them a bit stronger you can mix milliput and GS together.

Cheers great project as alway. As an after thought you should make this guy at least a head taller than the other orks.

Good luck.

[Sutters]

nice job, Love the grot bomb as a jet pack idea

as a loyalist imperial faction player, this bloke sounds nasty as....

[straylight]

I've gone through the thread and edited out the references you made to the new Ork 'dex Jamsession1. You indicated yourself that refering to it was probably against the rule, well, it is. So I've got to wonder why you did so.

For your reference, and everyone elses, the downloading and pirating of an (unreleased) codex and then referencing it is not acceptable on wau.

stu

[jamsessionein]

Stray, I've no interest in derailing this into a discussion on piracy. Do what you will.

I've not had the time I was hoping for to work on this project today. Most of it has been occupied with impossible amounts of fretting over writing my law school personal statement, which I am glad to say are now done. I think. Maybe I should edit them one more time.

Anyway, in the time I did have I figured I might get to sculpting Zagstruk a fancy commissar hat like he has in the art. It's not exactly perfect. Once it's had a chance to cure overnight, I'm going to grab a small file and sharpen off some of the edges like on the brim of the cap. It's also become painfully obvious that my placement of his bionic eye is too low compared to the rest of his face, so I'm likely to either pull that off and redo it, or simply sculpt a matching one on the other side to balance it out. Not sure yet.





After I file the hat a little bit, I'll add the strap going across and a teeny, tiny ork glyph if I can manage to make one that small without losing my mind. I have a few ideas for how I'm going to approach the feet, but I'm holding off just a little bit until I can find out if I can get the bitz I want, or if I have to scratchbuild the parts instead.

This post has been edited by jamsessionein: Nov 23 2007, 03:01 PM

[Zippy Wonderdog]

Just do an angular skull, it will suit the hat and should be relaticely easy.

[Borzag]

Question: do you actually have the full Black Orc sprue, or just that one head?

The reason I ask is because the bodies on the Blorc sprue are numbered (well, lettered). It's hard to tell the scale of the cap there, but body E has an orc/ork glyph on the shoulder decoration that looks about the right size (possibly a little over, but that might be a good thing). If you can cut that off, or cast it, you should have a suitable decoration.

Cheers!

Borzag