Oldhammerizing a Newhammer Ogryn

[symphonicpoet]

A while back I bought several ogryn. You've already seen this one:



I also found two more that looked like this:

Well, that doesn't really match what I was aiming for. Didn't realize what they were from the rather small photo on e-bay. So the first effort was to strip it . . .

After which I began hacking it apart and gluing it back together in different ways. You can see I cut up the ripper gun, since it's so very different from the current one. I also hacked his left arm off with a saw, the better to reposition it and sculpt up a new shoulder . . .

(Can't have two miniatures with that same fist pump. Maybe can't have any.) Here's some more photos of the kneadtite surgery . . .

At some later point I also removed half his teeth. The fangy Ogryn just didn't fit with the older Olley slightly dopey aesthetic. Next I decided the undershirt was a non-starter and began converting it into a vest. (I also added lips and one slightly more round protruding tooth.) . . .

And I started building up an older, more delicate ripper gun on the butt of the newer one. (If you can call a gun an inch and a half long gun the size of a telephone pole delicate.) As I started getting more adventurous I added a padded oldhammer style flak jacket . . .

And buttons and pockets to the vest and more gun . . .

We've got a little further to go yet, but I'm starting to enjoy this green stuff.

 

[Orjetax]

Great project, keep it up!

 

[Protist]

Coming along nicely, keep the updates coming!

What are you using to sculpt with... tools that is, I know its Kneadite

I ask since some areas might benefit from a touch more smoothing. This will come with practice of course but having a good tool for it helped my attempts at scultpting a great deal.

 

[Niibl]

And I thought there was no way to "save" those ugly brutes...
A very good idea and well executed.

Protist is right though. Some areas are a little bit rough.
If the area is large enough you could try to carefully scrape the surface with a scalpel or modelling knife (rounded blade).
I also would recommend to remove the mag from the gun for now. That way cou can file/ sand the surfaces of gun and mag a littel bit so that it gets smoother surfaces and sharper edges. That makes them look more technical.
btw, for such parts it is better to add a small amount of apoxy sculpt or other "hard" putty to the kneadite.
This will somewhat remove the rubbery behaviour of the material which is better for cutting (filing, sanding, drilling etc.)
Enjoy your sculpting.

 

[symphonicpoet]

I have a set of starter sculpting tools that I use sometimes, but I find I prefer my hobby knife much of the time. The set is mostly a black vinylish plastic: just a little soft, but fairly tough. All are double ended giving me a large bulbous end, a small cylindrical end, a narrow scooper, a round spatula, a sharp metal stylus, and the assorted surfaces of my hobby knife: a smooth cylindrical aluminum handle and whatever blade I might have in it. I'm also known to improvise tools at need. Smoothing may well be something I'll get better at with time. I'm still something of a newb to the green stuff. But my bigger complaint is that I'm still finding it difficult to make crisp edges, which is why I'm known to cut and file after. I'm liking the material better, but I'm still not completely sold on it. It clearly has its uses, but maybe there are other materials that are better for other things. (Milliput, perhaps. Have yet to try that.) . . . and it seems Niibl has just said some of what I was thinking.

Niibl,

I typically shape large surfaces initially with hobby knives, including rounded ones. I also often whittle them a little after. Maybe it's just a matter of developing technique, but I'm making the attempt. Do you suggest I do one or the other exclusively?

 

[symphonicpoet]

Also, I've made some progress on the ripper gun that uses at least a little of what Niibl suggests, though without removing the magazine or introducing other materials (as I have only sculpy, which seems nigh on useless) But I've filed and scraped, and I'm slowly adding more details that will hopefully make it feel more technical. Thus far I've an extended gripping area to the bottom of the barrel, a small vent to the rear (Maybe it's a recoil damper? Who knows. Obviously not enough of a gun guy. This requires study.) . . . and some buttons to the side. Smart gun tech for your Ogryn troopers. Even the original Olley sculpts have a little of that. More will come. Sights, a flash suppressor, maybe a belt coming out the bottom of the magazine and feeding into the gun (which seems a little silly, but it's on the original and it looks good enough. Maybe gun guy technical stuff can take a back seat to reverent mimicry.)

 

[Protist]

Looks pretty good to me.

I never had much luck carving/sanding/filing kneadatite myself, could never get the knack of it perhaps, or it doesn't suit my style

I would also suggest trying out mixes with Milliput, which cures rock hard and much more quickly. Try a few different proportions (mix a batch of each then combine into a Kneadatite heavy mix, a 50/50 mix, and a Milliput heavy mix). Then mess about with those mixes looking at how they cure, how well they take hard corners/points, how easy/difficult they are to push/pull/smooth etc. Though I still use pure Kneadatite a fair amount of the time, I find the mixes more useful and they have more rigidity when cured making them easier to sand/carve/file etc. Changed my attitude to sculpting/converting from a frustrated "AARRRGGGHHH" to a satisfied "Ooh!"

 

[symphonicpoet]

I will duly buy some milliput . . . when I can drag myself out of the basement. Probably too late for this particular model, but it sounds like a good idea for the next one.

 

[symphonicpoet]

More progress . . .

At this point I think all that's left is adding paint.
(And buying some milliput for next time.)

 

[Protist]

You could try Super Sculpy too. Some people swear by it and never touch that green chewing gum! I'd still try out some Milliput though, it may work for you. Even if it doesn't it's also great for building up textured bases or stiffening up an armature prior to 'proper' sculpting, and stuff like that.

The ogryn looks pretty cool, get 'im painted and keep us posted

 

[symphonicpoet]

I bought some sculpey a while back and found it nigh on useless and was going to abandon it as a failed experiment until my friend told me I'd bought the wrong stuff and that it comes in different grades. What I bought was very soft and wouldn't hold a shape well at all before you baked it. I will have to try a stiffer grade of the polymer "clay" and see how it works out. The fact that you can't include plastic parts until after baking has always seemed a bit of a drawback, but if it sculpts well I'm game to try almost anything. Still need to learn my way around this business a little better, but give me time. And the base coat is applied and drying, so paint should follow in due course.

 

[Mr Papafakis]

He looks ace Mr Symphonic!

A vast improvement on the original, looking forward to seeing him painted.

Well done

 

[Niibl]

Re: AW: Oldhammerizing a Newhammer Ogryn

Try and error are part of the game. But I think that the Ogryn is quite a success and I am looking forward to see it painted.

 

[symphonicpoet]

The Ogryn (whom I have named George) is done!

Course there's nothing like a closeup to show you what you done wrong. These things always look better in person in part because it's just harder to see them in person. C'est la vie.

More pics in the showroom.

Hope he turned out as well as folks hoped. He's not perfect. The left shoulder really is too big. There's some painting problems. Some of the GS work isn't quite what it will be next time. But I think it came out better than the two Slann, which didn't come out too badly themselves. On to new conversions!

 

[weismonsters]

Great conversion, well done. I am impresed at the ay the gun turned out.

 

[symphonicpoet]

I think maybe I've learned a new trick or two. The next will doubtless be better still, but yeah, I'm pretty happy with it. That's only my second sculpted gun, and the first I did more or less from the ground up. I'll get this mess figured out yet. And then . . . all them oldhammer miniatures I want but can't afford/find on e-bay? Oh boy! Super lawyer super buddy? I may need your help soonish.

Maybe there's a better way.

Thank you very much. George likes his gun and I do too.