The Convertatorium of Orlando the Technicoloured

[OrlandotheTech]

One of the most fun things I find about Darklands (other than drooling over the official minis) is the inspiration they provide for me to convert and modify things and create my very own creatures, abominations and monstrosities.

And just to make it even easier those nice chaps at Mierce occasional put up batches of miss cast resin for sale, not perfect casts (although often they are as good as stuff sold by some other companies) they remove the guilt I may find in hacking up a perfectly good mini, and they keep the costs down

Since the forums have been down I've created quite a few new things which I've posted in the KS comments, but I'm going to try and dig them all out and showcase them here, and hope I inspire some of you to have a go too

[deadlydeceiver]

Looking forward to seeing the full scale of your efforts!

[OrlandotheTech]

Fishy and goaty?

New miss-cast sculpting project commencing, a simple one this time (hopefully) Gabrax Tain on a female Gooracx

Having got the basic figure together I threw out a question to the comments

What should by Gabrax warlord be holding 1. A human head 2. A skull 3. An Oghurithne head 4. a fetching handbag/pouch 5. something else ?

and got some good responses, Rick suggested the shark jaw which I went with as I has a spare , and Rob suggested something to eat which morphed into a forearm minus the fingers he's nibbled off which would have been a good alternative if I hadn't got ther jaw

Far from finished as the arms and horns need tidying up, but the pose is done





Finished of my Gabrax goatrider by tidying up the horns, re-orienting the weapon, adding some rivets to hold on the nose horn and best of all adding a skull 'pupil' to the shark jaw eye

[OrlandotheTech]

Longtooth Sharpeye on Yalia my Bluntclaw on Backcracker proxy




CountCrushmore amongst others asked about my sculpting and any online resources I used in the various posts I made about this and this is a compilation of my responses

Most of what I do is just picked up from playing with the greenstuff as I've gap filled teaching myself how to handle it and how it changes with time eg it starts sticky so press it into the rough shape and smooth the edges down firmly with a finger or clash shaper to get a nice blended edge later as it hardens it will shrink very slightly and sharp edges you've created and round up, so if you create a hair texture early on it will smooth and blur, if you leave it 10 mins you get a much sharper effect also different tools give quite different effects when used in a similar way.

Most of my stuff (and it really is pretty basic) is done with a sharp wooden toothpick but using the point, sides and body, as well as older more blunted ones, as the wood gives me a bit of grab where metal doesn't seem to work as well (although you can do more detail with it). I also use my scalpel for very fine lines as to create straight edges. water or saliva work best to keep the greenstuff from sticking to your tools (some suggest vasiline or KY jelly but you've actually got to wash those off, water evaporates by itself)

As with real sculptors working in layers is important as it's easier to have an armature or core or similar with a thin layer of putty your working on rather than a huge lump your trying to shape (at least with epoxy putty)

sites that are worth looking at (and I know about) Mr Bug Man has a few neat tutorials here http://mr-bugman.blogspot.co.uk/p/tutorials.html and there is a good forum on reaper miniatures site http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/ ... sculpting/

Press moulding is also a useful starting point to help build confidence and skill as you can get a decent copy texture or shape then attatch sections together and it's effectively just gap filling... but gaps you've created, and blending bits together is great practice

It works really well with large stuff like this with high quality detail (not so much at smaller scales), but it does let you create some great effects it's also great for adding the 'right' texture onto stuff you've sculpted yourself... I can sculpt hair my way, but I can't recreate the way some of it is done like on Ungefelec the Mantichora so I can make a press mould of that surface and use it to blend in my own work A shortcut for those of us who like to sculpt but just haven't mastered some stuff yet

The legs on Yalia are sections press moulded from my real goz-horror, although I have tweeked the skin folds on all of them and replaced the paw on the left front leg so it wasn't knucked under using the right front paw as a template



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/Hobby-Mo ... RTM2108002

[OrlandotheTech]

for those that want to know the reasons the other bits hit the miscast bag were the other arm and stone had big air bubbles that were simple enough to fill, the body had some major mould slip that was a fair bit more tricky to deal with as it was large enough to require building up with greenstuff rather than just trimming flat

edit: Magmorágg, my wild mutated oghurüc conversion

[OrlandotheTech]

Resin and safety

The chemicals used to make resin are nasty things, and often carcinogenic so if you use them take care and follow the safety instructions

Once resin has cured the chemical carcinogen issues basically go away, it's pretty much inert when it's set

However you still have to be careful as the dust you create when sanding or filing it is just so fine it gets deep into the lungs and the lungs can't get rid of it (pretty much the same as all find dust like used to occur in the mining industry, knife sharpening industry, or woodworkers).

Resin dust is also so light it tends to hang in the air rather than settle where it can be cleaned up so best to avoid creating dust (cut & shave rather than sand), work wet/damp to stop dust getting into the air, use a mask (good quality),

however I personally think that if you take minimal precautions I bet it's safer to be a resin mini hobbyist than a smoker (and maybe even safer than living in the centre of city with air pollution issues)

[OrlandotheTech]

Erainn Spooky trees
I decided to have a go at sculpting something from scratch last week



built using a PVC tubing for the arms and legs, and a hollow milliput cylinder for the body (I couldn't find thick enough tubing), then skinned with milliput and greenstuff.

I hated it right up to the last minute, but adding the 'torn bark' on the back of the joints seems to have brought the sculpt together I prefer Didier Fancagne's versions, but I'm quite pleased with mine all things considered

[OrlandotheTech]

Converters corner, beast of the soggy bog






I think Tim's conversion with all the Oácyning, Lord of the Oak-Enta bits works a bit better, but given what I had I'm happy with the result, It's also inspiring me to have a crack at a fully home made tree beast as I think I'm now happy with how I'm getting the bark texture to work

[OrlandotheTech]

What's in those miss cast bags Mierce occasionally put out



The fighting irish, my favourite bag, I was hoping for one Morannach body, but 3 is fantastic, ideal to make varients as TIm has shown (not a lot else, but then there is not a lot in the line so far)... note the Ysian that sneaked into the bag



Anti-magic rocks and their twisted bearers, not bad, a good opportunity to fix up one of the Magaggs, and buy an arm to get the whole figure, plus more bodies to try converting some alternate poses and another rock (I've bought several separately so far so getting one in here is a plus). While interesting the Gomag legs are probably going to hang around in the bits box as they're just so big



ratty, ratty rats, a couple of gozz horror bodies to play with along with ratty heads from flint fang which should work, plus many, many iron chef's (I've got to be able to fix one up)

so I think I've had my moneys worth from all three (or more in the Erainn case).. hurrah for birthdays at just the right time,

but none of it is useable without work (miscasts after all) as there is mould slip, bubbles or 'stickiness' to deal with, but if you're after stuff to mess about with cheap, they're ideal..... but remember they contents are random (although I'd be surprised if any bag doesn't contain bits of at least one big beastie)

[OrlandotheTech]

dragon ogre conversion


and this was the distraction, I needed a tail for this sharrok miscast body so I made one with miliput over a wire core which worked nicely I then skinned it with greenstuff which didn't go so well, as I couldn't get natural scale shapes looking good, so I resorted to this 'crazy paving' look. It's ok at a glance, but I'm annoyed I couldn't get it 'right'


More progress on my Shaaroc (helped a lot be realising the torso was his too, not a Krokodars)
the tail's almost finished, just a little more scale adding to do (I wish I'd been able to do it all in one as blending the GS as the joints between the patches has not been 100% successful, but even using a slow setting mix it would have gone off too fast compared to my scale making abilities) I've also added lots of spikes (toothpick cores with GS over the top), an axe (choppy, choppy) and a lower jaw (from a mystery bane beast, trimmed up and skinned with GS scales and tongue) next sculpting the top of the heat from scratch, and figuring out how to do the teeth (toothpicks will be too big... maybe wire? but that will mean lots of drilling)




Not brilliant work on the head, but not bad if I say so myself, still needs teeth but it's getting there




(the upper jaw is having a tooth-ectomy so is missing) so remember kids if you can't sculpt a part for your mini buy the proper bit from Rob, it saves on frustration

[OrlandotheTech]

croc-hulk idea

Not sure if I'm going to go with this, but since Druc's head worked so well on conjunct XIII's body I thought the reverse should be true. So introducing Croc-Hulk


(again sculpting meat hulk legs is beyond my skill at present so I bought the real thing to add to my miscast bag body)



the pose makes me want to add a trailing cloak (but that would be too action-figure-ish)

[OrlandotheTech]

Stinky Skunk Apes, these start with Sronax bodies and worked so well they became a small family group




look at that fine, classical profile

The stinky skunk ape is done



I'm very happy with how the feet came out, and with the little tongue I managed to squeeze in to the mouth. I hope to do a very soggy/swampy base with water effects puddles and some reeds if I can make them look decent

Prepare your eye bleach, the skunk ape family has increased, now with an NSFW lady too


please don't turn round, please don't turn round...

ht
aarg eye bleach time





The female skunk ape advertises her availability with a coy pose, emphasising her sizable belly and brightly coloured exposed buttocks, she also has a crest of hair on the top of her head. She carries a sturdy digging stick made of antler which makes a fearsome weapon if she is annoyed






second male skunk ape finished with high tech (for them) wooden club and elk horn chopper. As skunk apes age their feet continue to grow so you can judge which is the eldest (and thus in charge) by how big their feet are

[OrlandotheTech]

SF rat beast

SF/Steampunk ratbeast... rebuild head with press moulded upper part, repurposed lower jaw and bits box weapon
The body etc took lots and lots of filling (well they were miscasts) so I undercoated the lot to see what needed more work, and added more greenstuff when needed
and I've added a tank from the Pegasus Hobbies chemical works set to power this freak of nature (plus a few more bits box cables

I'm also fiddling about with an mechanical leg from square styrene tubing although I'm not certain it will work out

More rat beast fiddling, more tubing, a tail and some spineblades.


I like the way the tank on his back is echoing the one on Master Converter Kemp Kemp, now I just need to finish the mechanical leg, and add yet more tubes and power cables before I get distracted by something else.....



well I did get a bit distracted, but managed to sort out the SF rat beast over the weekend, with a full artificial leg installed and ready to undercoat once the last of the greenstuff is set

[OrlandotheTech]

Goatraffe

the genesis of an idea, a simple observation

Did your goat come with really long casting gates on each of the legs like mine? They make me want to get another to create.... a Goatraffe, half goat, half giraffe and all danger (as they'd say on 'when animals attack')

Well adapted to life in the endless snow of Baalors realm the Goatraffes legs and neck have grown longer to raise it's body away from the cold ground, and to allow it to see above the highest drifts. A long thick tail has also developed which can be curled beneath the body to provide more insulation when resting. As only the hardiest plants survive the ice the Goatraffe eats both the tender shoots at the tips of evergreen trees and, where it can find it, fresh meat. Comical at first glance it can swing it's head and neck like a huge club inflicting massive damage with it's paired horns, or split open the thickest hide with the knife like dew claws on it's legs spilling blood and entrails on the frozen ground. Despite their unnatural appetites some Gabrax warchiefs seek to capture these impressive beasts to ride into battle, and this suits the Goatraffes well as they are provided with the flesh they crave from those that fall in battle, and when no battle calls, from the weakest in the band.

A couple of shots for you this warm Sunday morning, first the prototype Goatraffe, the legs will be in a 'walking' pose rather than just standing but i'll need to do some research of that first


On the subject of composite monstrosities goatrafe advance



A bit more Goatraffe work done, I need to add reins and tack and do the tail but the basic look is there, and I've started work on the rider, although the weapon will probably change to a spear and the angle he's sitting at will need to change





A bit more Goatraffe work done,



I need to add reins and tack on the neck and tidy up the joint, also decide what (if any) horns I'm going to go for, I'd like to go for a 4 horn look, but without adding any more real height and do the tail and dew claws but the basic look is there... (I might go for some wood/bone armour on the lower legs, not sure whether that will look good or not I'll have to rough in one leg to see) and I've now started work on the rider with a modified head with an armoured brow plate added to echo the one on the mount, I'll play a bit more with the shoulder armour to make him look more distinct from Chagamuuth. I think I will probably change the pole arm to a spear and possible give him a sheath with a couple more on the goatraffe and the angle he's sitting at will need to change


and on a different tack

you've goat to see this.... oh I am so funny this morning, lack of sleep when getting up early to do this... now I've got to figure out making the reigns (long, thin flat bits of greenstuff, ouch) and putting them through the rings


I'll step up to entertain (?) Goatraffe, latest WIP



What's this ? The goatraffe rider is armed with 'baalor's tears', spears tipped with black ice that never melts (or perhaps obsidian if you asked a disinterested observer)
and since once he throws the spear he'd be unarmed some more spears, a big choppa (probably too big to put on his back as originally intended) and a somewhat smaller sword WIP that I'll use instead


The goatraffe has his horns


and reins


[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v348/orlando_the_technicoloured/DSC02219_zps0mpabj7k.jpg

[/img]





I think it's getting close to being finished I've got to work out some harness straps for the spears which are blutac-ed on at the moment my original idea for a 'quiver' type arrangement was dropped as impractical, the long shafts would wave about far too much as the goatraffe worked, but I think this echoes the horns in a similar position on the original goat which is cool I've also scrapped the idea of lower leg armour or dew claws (they made the legs look wrong) so I've started work on the base with a little tree/bush type thing which I'm quite pleased with

[OrlandotheTech]

War Pig-Bog

very much a work in progress as it needs a head and 4 legs, but you can see where it's going to go now



I think I have to show off my progress on War Pig-Bog today rather than waiting till next week, real actual sculpting of a whole recognisable head (still needs teeth), she's so cute




I roughed in the head in milliput first (as I have loads of it) and hated it, but carried on with a 'skin' of greenstuff as planned anyway and it just seemed to fall into place, the vision in my head actually appeared (which I've never managed on such a large scale before)

(I must learn not to crush stuff I've just sculpted when handling things though, I think both ears had to be redone about 5 times each, the trade off with being on a roll and not wanting to wait for it to set)



I'm less than happy with how the back legs are going to look, sticking out in that lizard like way (necessitated by using the Vore's shoulders) I'm beginning to think I'd be better off taking them off and sculpting some much more pig like legs close in to the body what do people think

war pig-bog is a girl pig-bog (old WIP shot)

[OrlandotheTech]

Bloodmawarama

I'm working on a couple of Bloodmaw conversions myself, first a simple closed mouth version (note the putty used will be more expensive than buying the real bits, so unless you really want to mess with the pose shop Mierce kids), my theory for this is the teeth fold in like a snakes. I still need to finish building the lower jaw and I'm going to add lips to cover the teeth/sockets




and with more miscast in the air I can reveal the full glory of Elvis (newly named) the Blood-Maw whose head is now finished



I now just need to save up for some arms


The Rose of Ker-Ys finds out just how large a Blood-Maw is (very, very big)


By the power of press moulding (seriously kids it's cheaper to buy the bits from Mierce, but if your going to do reposing press moulding is worth a try) Elvis the Blood-Maw gets an arm

and after getting his second arm wonders if a melding of living and dead flesh with unnatural sorcery tastes as good as a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich

(the victim needs work, but shows roughly what the final pose will be)

The green arms are indeed mostly moulded (although there's a fair amount of sculpting involved in tidying up too) from the originals I'm using Instant Mould (actually mine's called mini-mould but it's undoubtedly the same stuff), I've done the arms in 2 sections, upper and lower with the claws cast separately and pinned on I wrap a thick layer of instant mould around the original, chill to set it then cut the mould open along one edge then hold it open while I press very fresh greenstuff into all the detail, overlapping the edge of the mould on one side lets you fold over the other side sticking the whole thing together, pressing together from the open ends tape the whole thing together lining up the open end(s) with whatever they are meant to match up with to make things easier later If it's a simple joint leave to set, if it's complex you can remove when leathery and mate the surfaces up while it's got some give (you'll often find the mould has stretched somewhat with all the pressing so needs readjusting), but if you do so you'll need to support the cast or it can sag)

the claws really need the greenstuff forced in to cast properly (maybe next time cut off the very tip so it can squeeze out), I use a cocktail stick and then leave it in at the end to give some internal strength

[OrlandotheTech]

Ysian Brutes

Carrying on builds from the miscast bags


Kelyr, Swing Brute based on his appearance and the lizard skin used in his creation there is a clear link to Uggurd, perhaps this is a brother, perhaps merely a fellow unfortunate transformed at the same time by his creator. Whatever the case Kelyr is slightly more fortunate, as not all his emotions have been destroyed as he laughs and laughs as he swings his club and chain against whatever is in front of him, delighting in death and destruction, furthering the cause of Euyalia and Ker-Ys

after rebuilding his knee (this was a miscast after all) I've retrofitted arms from other brutes, together with a few GW ogre bits (the hands, fortunately are just the right size, although the rest of their arms would look wrong)




work in progress building an arm for this brute... real sculpting is hard but I'm making progress, I'm going to add chains to the fist, but no weapons so he just punches stuff, I may play around with a head swap too, but as I don't have the original (yet) I may leave it as is and modify the next when I get him instead

[OrlandotheTech]

Manticore and handler



More progress on my grab bag manticore, 3 faulty wings, a bit of reshaping and a design change or two and flight has been achived. I'm also thinking about front legs, the first troll set I tried were rubbish but I might be able to get these to work but I'm not happy with the wide stance they're giving so I've ordered the correct legs as back up if I can't live with it



I've also put together a custom goader to perform monster handling duties (lots of mould line removal which is why the body was consigned to the grab bag and new hands with custom chunky bracelets to hide the joins and a pokey stick to rile up the beasties






in the interests of the final result I gave up on using troll limbs for the front legs and bought the correct parts from mierce, but I think the final results with the tentacle tail, troll rear feet and modified wings looks great

[OrlandotheTech]

conjunct XI

An earlier attempt by the crafter of the infamous Conjunct XIII this creature is very similar but ultimately less successful prone to breaking off battle and attempting to return to any large body of water in the area. None the less when provoked by the Goad-Drunes of Kernow with spear, lash and blood this vivicoct can turn any battle with a combination of it's blind rage and it's enormous power. Suggested Rules: Run as per Conjunct XIII except Conjunct XI that must begin the game bound to a unit of Goad-Drunes



I was lucky enough to get a pretty good main body and right arm, the left arm is a composite of the two I got which came together well. A meat-hulk upper jaw fits well with the look I want (and fits which is just as important). A couple of ogre gut plates make good pauldrons (and hide bubble holes) I need to sculpt (or find) a lower jaw, I plan to give it sea lion style rear flippers and back end (I have a rear body piece but it's in bad shape, but I'd have gone in this direction anyway having seen Sven's recent Sea Beast). The other option I considered was a prawn style rear end using a variety of arms as swimming legs, but that would have been trickier to get to look good on land and I'm playing around with tentacles, Ive got some made but Im unsure whether unsupported greenstuff will last long term so will have to decide whtehr I want to use them or redo them with a wire core






The tentacles took a fair amount of work to get right, but I eventually managed to get a good texture on them by rolling them over a plastic comb and then letting the GS shrink back as it hardened, the rest of it's all done with fingers and toothpicks

My Conjunct XII, conversion build is progressing well with a lower jaw, tongue, teeth and tentacles added from greenstuff, toothpicks and a few bits from the bits box. Nearly ready for me to be unable to choose how to paint and base it

[deadlydeceiver]

Great stuff! Especially everything with fur and the pig-bog!

I wonder what's that big, bobbly part the Mantichora is resting on in the first pic?

Best Sven

[CountCrushmore]

Epic Stuff Orlando - you are an awesome Artist!

Some of those I´ve already seen, but to see them again and in company with your other conversions - Incredible, thank you very much for sharing!

And thank you for reposting your Suggestions and Advice (easier to find it here - not buried in the Kickstarter Comments), I will take it up - some things for my first steps are on order as I write. My noobish atempts at greenstuff work will make your masterpieces shine even more - keep up your great work!

[OrlandotheTech]

Great stuff! Especially everything with fur and the pig-bog!

I wonder what's that big, bobbly part the Mantichora is resting on in the first pic?

Best Sven

that's a shoggoth from Fenris games doing the heavy lifting

http://fenrisgames.com/shop#!/FGCM08-Me ... p/49587677

[zedmeister]

That is an impressive show of conversions and some nice skill going on. You most definitely deserve the title of Vivicoctist! Maybe we can get Rob to give you custom title!

[deadlydeceiver]

that's a shoggoth from Fenris games doing the heavy lifting

Thanks, for a moment I thought this was how the underbelly of Conjunct XIII looked.

[OrlandotheTech]

Mound Beetles, they're big, big bugs but all boys with all their big fighting jaws etc

Ewww bugs, girl bugs



I decided since I had the bits I'd make a female mound beetle, it needed some tweeks to make it different enough from the male without making it to hard to do

so I'm making the abdomen larger so it sticks out beyond the wing cases... all the more space for eggs, and ditched the huge jaws and replaced them with a slightly expanded head shield and took out the spikes on the back of the carapace



I also need to make arms as I only got one so out with the instant mould, greenstuff and wire, the far right is what comes out, and then I need to trim off the mess and hide the join lines and repair the messed up bits. Fortunately I can do the left arm by flipping the right one upsidedown and adding spikes to match,

[OrlandotheTech]

The next mini project was suggested by these two sets of miscasts




The bodies for the Jute Dreaguth seemed to look as if the Byzanti Demilegionary torsos would fit, and I had lots of both

so they needed a story

On occasion an especially powerful Jute corpse-waker calls those of his blood back to serve and gets more than he expected,

Corrupted Byzantines with Jute blood can be torn from the plains of Dis much to the displeasure of the demons who have claimed their souls but with the call of the corpse-waker they are powerless to prevent it, restricted only to inflicting agony on their hosts to express their displeasure.

Such Dreaguth are fearsome foes even stronger in battle than their uncorrupted brethren, but only while the corpse-waker that compelled them to return remains to hold them in this world, as the demon within strives alwats to return them to the torment of Dis. When the corpse-waker falls they are pulled screaming back to their eternal torment.



It wasn't quite as simple as adding body to torso as most needed scabbards made to replace bits I hadn't got, and some missing cloth near the join also needed to be replaced or disguised

the first three attempts looked good (the scabbards may look too large but they'd have to be that size to fit the gladius, although I'll probably make the others less accurate but better looking). The one with the dual weapons will be the unit champion



another three, again the dual wielder will be the unit champion, the round shields here are from the anglecyn wolfmen and one Byzantii shield for Countcrushmore



and a final pair to finish my torsos, again using a wolfman sword arm

[OrlandotheTech]

And some finished conversion work



anes-Cossus, anes-Publius and anes-Hostus (there's not enough humanity in them to really recognise their old identities, so they are referred to as 'once-Publius' etc, thanks to Rob for the correct old English word)


anes-Spurius with the beginning of paint, not sure if black is the way to go, but i'll give it a try


and my corpse waker for the unit, sorry no WIP shots of him, but I had to rebuild the spear as it was missing from a bubble, add in the fringe to the robe as that was missing and add a head that has had the chalice helm repaired), as you can see waking demon tainted Dreaguth has had an unpleasant effect on him

[CountCrushmore]

another three, again the dual wielder will be the unit champion, the round shields here are from the anglecyn wolfmen and one Byzantii shield for Countcrushmore

You´ve listened to me once, no there is no way back - you know as well as I know that you will be making Hippoxa Riders one day .

But honestly, they look great - I like the champion the best, the dual weapons look just right, the one with the Scutum is a close second, somehow it looks very fitting. Your painted example proves what I´ve thought when you´ve first shown them and I was unsure because of the bucklers, once the color is aplied they work very well together.

I would stick with the black color, it looks very good and ties very well with the Jutes theme, I guess red would be distracting and the black is very well in line with the Background you´ve written for them. (and by the way - I realy love the base, nice work!)

The Corpse Waker looks very good too, somehow in control - just like he should look, well done!

It´s very nice to see how you´ve combined those two Parts, you´ve made it look like those Torsos and Ghostlegs where meant to go together, great work!

I think you are right about the scabbards - even if they have to be of that size to take the blades, they look massive. And I don´t think Halfdemons sheat their bloodspilling instruments all that often, and Half Demon Ghosts will have forgotten how to do it anyway .

Thank you very much for sharing those pictures! Awesome as always!

[OrlandotheTech]

Photobucket has changed their T&C meaning no linking to images stored there, I'll try and get the images re-loaded elsewhere as soon as possible