WIP Rogue Trader

01 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by Alex in OldHammer, Side projects

Tags

Happy Tuesday folks! It’s been a hectic bank holiday weekend, and my painting mojo has been a bit lacking since finishing Tick-Tock. Instead, I have been working off and on to put together a Rogue Trader – possibly my most ambitious miniature conversion to date! I knew that a) I wanted to use a classic Oldhammer model as the base, and b) I wanted him to be in Power Armour (as per the description of a Rogue Trader in Rogue Trader). I also wanted him to be well tooled up, and wanted to try and capture some of the freedom of expression we see in the Inq28 community. I basically wanted a little bit of everything I love about the hobby encapsulated in one model… no pressure!

It would’ve been much easier to start with a modern PA model as the base, but I’m stubborn when chasing a vision. So… the first thing to decide was a solid Oldhammer base for the conversion. Rogue Traders are famously independent and even flamboyant, so I knew that I wanted an unusual suit of armour to start with. After some musing, I decided on the LE10 Power Armoured Trooper by Bob Naismith from (I think) 1986. I absolutely love this suit, it’s gloriously bonkers and the perfect starting point for a Rogue Trader in my humble opinion… In fact, it’s so cool that I hear it was the inspiration for the newish Forgeworld Mechanicum Thallax! (Thanks Paul!)… The only problem with the sculpt is the teeny little ‘Kermit the Frog’ legs…

See what I mean? Teeny! As much as I hate the thought of chopping up a classic model, they just had to go…

So, after much soul searching I took the plunge and booked my LE10 in for surgery. A pair of Mk8 Marine legs (from the original ‘Errant’ sculpt, 1991?) were sourced & dry fitted. I had to really bulk out the thighs & knees with GS to make it look ‘right’, and my undeveloped sculpting skills were sorely tested! After much head scratching and faffing around, I arrived at this point:

Once I was happy with the proportions, I spent some time stripping the paint off the legs… (yeah… really wish I had done that first JB!), and filing the GS as smooth as possible. I also started adding bits and bobs to the model – some Imperial iconography, grenades, and a badass sword. I also found space for a cool space feather, (no doubt some valuable and exotic trophy), and a funky plume (a nod to the picture of Rogue Trader ‘Jeff Zuckerman’ in the book of the Astronomican). I also added a 32mm base. So here he is at the moment – still some way to go, but hopefully you get the idea:

Well, that’s it for now. I hope you chaps & chapesses like the direction this guy is going – the project has certainly got me excited! I’ll be working more detail onto him over the week, as well as continuing through my ‘in progress’ painting pile. Hopefully I’ll have some updates for you fairly soon ;-)

Rogue Trader 8-Ball

24 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by Alex in OldHammer, Side projects

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Oldhammer, Rogue Trader

Happy Monday chaps & chapesses, last week & weekend was completely hectic so I didn’t really get too much hobby done, but I did manage to finish something a little bit special. Any Oldhammerers out there will certainly recognise this picture from Rogue Trader:

The chap circled has been a bit of a mystery for many decades, but thanks to the power of the Inerweb Hivemind, we now know that he is an unreleased RT ‘Adventurer type’, and that in terms of being rare, he’s up there with rocking horse poop and hens teeth… Basically, you’re unlikely to ever see an original, let alone own one. Luckily for us, the wonderful people at Foundry have some of the original molds from back in the day, and they re-cast some previously unreleased RT goodies in time for this year’s Bring Out Your Lead event. I didn’t make the event itself, but luckily, Foundry have made the set available, so, long story short, I have a few sets to play with.

I knew that I wanted to do a proper 8-Ball as an homage to the original but the only photo I could find is the RT one, and that doesn’t give much detail other than ‘massive 8-ball head and green clothes’… Not too much to go on really! On seeing the model, you realise what a lovely sculpt it is from the front, but the back is pretty plain. It has a nub that looks like it should have a backpack attached, so I decided to take a liberty and add a Flamer backpack, (minus the excess skullage), and a length of hose to connect it to the front of the suit. I also added a knife on one side, which I imagine is held on via a mag-strip (saving me the effort of sculpting a sheath), and a random cog on the other, just to break it up a little… and because cogs are cool. Paint-wise, I went with a khaki green for the suit, but used grey and red on various pads just to add some interest. The backpack got painted ‘distressed yellow’, and I painted the famous 8-ball helmet black, added the detail freehand, and then glossed it to give it a bit of depth and to allow it to reflect highlights naturally.

On reflection, it’s a bit of a Boba Fett pallet, so I’m really starting to think of this guy as a bounty hunter… I have another one to paint as well, so he can have a pal to play with – got a bonkers idea for him btw ;-)

Anyhow, here’s the finished piece. I absolutely love it – retro, classic, ridiculous, mysterious, beautiful, cool… all of my favourite things in one convoluted little sculpt. Enjoy:

Pirate crew complete

17 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by Alex in OldHammer

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Oldhammer, Rogue Trader

Happy Monday chaps & chapesses, I’m happy to report that I have finished all of the Rogue Trader Space Pirates from the 1988 summer flier – all 24 of them. They were sculpted by Mike Perry and Bob Naismith back in the day, and released in July just over 27 years ago! I’m so chuffed to have a) collected this little lot, and b) have them all painted up… there are some classic sculpts in here, and even the slightly dodgy ones are real characters… and it kinda feels like preserving this crew is a worthy thing to do.

The eclectic nature of this bunch has presented some real painting opportunities – it is nice to work without the predefined palette that you tend to get with ‘regular’ 40K troops, and I also felt it appropriate to play around with different flesh tones – I still need to refine how I do darker skin, but at least I now have a jumping off point!

In terms of usage, these guys will primarily be for Rogue Trader – a game that I am really looking forward to exploring more fully as time goes by, but they can also stand in as counts-as conscripts for my Praetorians in regular games of 40K.

Anyhow, enough jibberjabber, here are the photos – in smaller groups and then a final ‘class of 88’ group shot. Spot the photo bombing Ogryn! Enjoy :-)