Skaven Engine Guard Regiment

[Padre]

I have been working on a guard company for my kit-bashed Skaven 'Uber Weapon'. I already had six crew/attendants, but I wanted a regiment of gas-masked guys who can defend it in battle, without dying from the poisons it leaks. The attendants had allowed me to experiment with some designs.

The existing possibilities for Skaven gas-mask heads I found in the interweb were VERY expensive, so I recommenced my experiments with the following bits ...

The front of this first style of mask was to be cut from an ogre banner pole (of which I had several spares, having built an ogre army some time ago), and a bit chopped from a brush protector sleeve (many of which kick about with my old brushes) would be where the air tube plugs in.

The mask is here glued, with brass tacks used for the front and for a lens over the eye.

https://forum.oldhammer.org/imgur/2Cmp9BZ.jpg[img]

Here it is all stuck together with some milliput to form the bottom part of the muzzle. The wool for the tube is coated with PVA. I wish I had found more of the other tubing (which it turns out I did have!)

[img]https://forum.oldhammer.org/imgur/wxm6vWF.jpg

I messed about with real linen thread for a harness ...

... but was not convinced, so I messed about some more and actually gave some thought this time ...

Here is a head with the milliput on ...

I now realised I had some way to go. I wanted something like 25 of these!

Here are the two varieties of air tanks - original and the later 'improved' version.

Here are the four mask types.

1. Original (with the lovely thread I thought I had run out of for the feeder tube).

2. Pointy version (as I ran out of original shapes!)

3. Globe-ended, using the musician's beater end, because again I had none of the second version left!

4. Mark 4. These actually have real screws inside to counter with the non-stick plastic band.

The whole regiment, here ready for priming, from front and rear. Ranking them up is hell!

Here they are almost fully completed. Just a few bits need the anti-shine varnish, and I will put some flock on the bases.

They were truly nightmarish to rank up. I double based 16 of them (so, 8 pairs). Then I had to cut individuals off the bases to angle them very carefully behind a figure that they could just fit behind!

Here are a couple of the air tanks …

You can see the eye lenses here …

Here is the command (musician x2 – I think I got muddled up) and a standard. The standard bearer does not have a very long arm. That’s an ornamental brass had on the top!

They are Clan Skryre so I researched to correct rune!

Two close up …

These last few show how well the dip worked. Well, I think so. This is a major departure from my normal black lining technique, but I love the way it has come out …

 

[dazza36]

Great work and the unit looks really impressive.

I have one suggestion and that would be look at florist wire if you need a nice rope effect it would be a lot easier to work with that thread. Simply put a couple of pieces in an electric drill and hope the other end with something like pliers and when you switch drill on it will twist the wire into a nice looking rope

 

[Plaiecivile]

That is a lot of love and dedication for your rats! Great job Padre!

 

[twisted moon]

The existing possibilities for Skaven gas-mask heads I found in the interweb were VERY expensive

i feel that pain. with 3d printing it feels as though these sorts of components should now be plentiful and cheap.

so I recommenced my experiments with the following bits ...

it seems highly labour intensive, but the results are very effective. good job.
wfb2 ravening hordes had a separate entry for clan skryre warriors, which was sadly dropped by the time of wfb3 warhammer armies.

 

[symphonicpoet]

Dear lord, Padre, that's incredible! That's a serious amount of dedication and inspiring resourcefulness. Well done! Your whole Manratton project is both terrifying and deeply compelling.