Narcissus...

Being a big fan of the original Alien film and the special FX of that era I have always been impressed with the design of the Narcissus shuttle. It is iconic and elegant with its' wedge shape kludged together with 70's model parts. This is a 3d print from my b9Creator from a model by aaskedall (Thingyverse) finished with acrylics and measures about 60mm long. It is not completely accurate but nice detail and relatively convincing at that scale.

Old lead, new resin...

The printed backpacks cleaned up and drilled to mount on the Rogue Trader marines...

Printing...

I am working away on a bunch of old Rogue Trader pieces- Marines and Renegades. After digging out the old lead and purchasing a few additions to the collection online I've found I am short on backpacks. The old lead packs are great but with some loose details and the expensive prices they now fetch on the second-hand market I thought I'd print my own based on the old design. Rough modeling in Maya and some work in ZBrush and the .stl files were ready to go. I've done a few variants...

Also here are an array of mines I designed to use in a terrain piece and some other bits I will be adding. More to come as I prime these and put them to use.

Oldhammering...

Oldhammer... a revolt against the plastic mass produced sprues of contemporary fantasy and science fiction wargaming? A sentimental attitude harking back to the time of blister packed white metal/lead figures of our childhood? A bit of both... but its more than that.

The old lead still has a lot to give- it's hand sculpted details may be softer than the modern digital sculpted, dynamic models but it has a certain charm with the sometimes wild designs and exaggerated shapes. A lot of the sculpts seem to rely on- from what I understand- the rtv molding and spin-casting process that limits the dynamism to a degree while trying to achieve a single piece figure cast.

Artists/sculptors seemed to imbue more of their own ideas into the pieces that hinted at a much more varied universe and made for a range of interesting, diverse characters and creatures before an amalgamated style was settled upon.

There are some great blogs showcasing these old classic pieces...
http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/
http://realmofcitadel.blogspot.com.au/

In addition here is a great interview with Rick Priestly with a lot of tidbits on the conception of 40K and the 'old days'...
http://talesfromthemaelstrom.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/rick-priestley-interview.html

And in the meantime here are a few Undead pieces of mine- old and new. A mix of 80's Citadel metal, contemporary plastic from Games Workshop and Mantic and some models from the metal Lord of the Rings range.

Vlka Fenryka... The Wolves of Fenris

Not being a fan of the plastic GW jump packs I thought I would convert a Heresy Era MarkIV Jump Pack Assault Squad into Space Wolves. With the new Black Library book coming soon I'm sure we will see some Age of Darkness Wolves from Forge World in the near future.

Death Korps of Krieg Mortar Team...

To add to the growing army of muddy trench warriors I have recently finished this two man mortar team. A lot fiddlier than the larger, heavy siege mortar but a lot quicker to paint. Finished with AK Interactive and Mig enamels and powders over Games Workshop acrylics.
Melbourne Museum currently has a quite somber exhibition from the Imperial War Museum on the Great War. Worth a look if you are in town for some first hand references...

 

Heroes for Wargames...

Hidden in the boxes from a recent move I rediscovered this book. It's a gem of references, photographs and information from the early days of Citadel published in 1988. Great shots of the sculptor's and illustrator's workspaces and you cant go past that cover painting. Now I just wish I could find my early Citadel Journals with the Kaleb Daark storyline.