POLEMOS Urban Combat Vehilce (scratch build)

[Klaus not Santa]

Wow guys, LOTS of positive feedback!
Thanks

Now that the basic scene is done I started to position the first actors.
The ambushing Orks


The story is that the POLEMOS and its accompanying squad just broke resistance and captured this section of the road. While consolidating gains behind a former Ork barricade some sneaky Orks attack out of the ruins...

Most likely the dio will be called "Ghosts in the Rubble"....or so

The two main Ork characters are these two guys, throwing Molotov's - lots of potential for light effect painting


I sculpted the flames with Pro Create Putty (http://www.kraftmark.biz/kraft.procreate.html)
What do you think?


Good enough or room for improvement?


So here's the attacking gang in position.



And then I started to position the surprised IG squad.


One guy will be dead on the ground behind the vehicle. 2 troopers at the barricade, one kneeling on the side, turning around surprised, 2 troopers firing back from the cover of the POLEMOS, and centrally the captain at the Infantry Phone with a wounded soldier at his feet....



What do you think?
Will this work?

BTW, some asked what molds I use for the building.


These are the Hirst Arts molds ( http://www.hirstarts.com/ ). As far as I remember the ones I use most are these two:
Should be "Basic Block - Mold #40" and "Gothic Dungeon Builder #45", but I also have" Gothic Additional Accessories - Mold #44", "Gothic Dungeon Accessories - Mold #41" and "Gothic Panel Accessories - Mold #43".
They serve me very well. As plaster I prefer "Stewalin"

I hope you like today's update and I look forward to your C&C - especially on the Molotov effects.
Cheers
Klaus

 

[Bouq]

Thanks a lot for sharing this Klaus.
your WIPs are really helpful for rookies.

 

[Quaralane]

Coming together very nicely.
Creative, too

 

[Klaus not Santa]

10 Jan - Ghosts in the rubble

Now that the POLEMOS is pretty much completed (needs all rivets and maybe some cables) I decided to name the posts after the scene rather than after the vehicle.
So going forward they will be labeled "Ghosts in the rubble".

I considered some of the feedback in the forums and decided to rework the flames for the Molotov's.
I'm very glad I did


This looks more realistic and it was actually rather easy too.


While the ProSculpt cured I cleaned up the Captain and the wounded soldier.

He's now kind of protecting the downed guy.

While looking at the available arms I realized that I have tons of standard firing arms...
maybe I should start using them, or consider trading them in for some of the more "exotic" arms


This is the "surprised" trooper - turning to the new sound of gunfire.


And the dead trooper.


For the heads I decided to use the helmet design I used for the "Orkalypse Now" troops. I used the heads from Mad Robots ( http://madrobotminiatures.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=9_10 ) and sculpted the helmets with ProSculpt.


The scene is coming along nicely

I think it gives a bit of the dramatic feel I'd like to show.

Then the weapons received a once-over, got sights and flashlights.


And this is the scene as of today


I hope you like today's update and I look forward to your C&C.
Cheers
Klaus

 

[Quaralane]

Those guard troops look kind of pinned down.
Need more orks to show why, I think.

 

[arohk]

this diorama is sweet lots of activity going on just like a real surprise attack, Great job bud.

 

[tigrazor]

Just my thing... Wunderbar.

 

[Klaus not Santa]

THANKS GUYS!
Thank you for your feedback.

On Friday the scene was pretty much complete, so mainly a lot of "cosmetics" to do

First I added some cables (for the two smoke launchers and the rear ramp) as well as rivets to the POLEMOS.



The first cinematic effect is for the automatic grenade launcher.


Since it is a low velocity weapon I had to create a different muzzle effect that with the auto-cannons.
You can actually still see the projectile and a bit of a flash.


Then all the sights and flashlights received their lenses as well as the troopers got some personal equipment and knee pads.


Spent cartridges on the deck of the POLEMOS.


Cable for the infantry phone.


And cinematic effects for the spent cartridges. The top one is for the auto-cannon with the longer cartridges and lower rate of fire, the lower piece is for the machine gun.


Also I finally drilled open the barrels of the Ork weapons.


Once the glue for the ejected cartridges had cured properly I mounted them to the weapons.


I think this looks rather nice


Well, the desk looked pretty messy, but this was it

DONE!

The final shots before priming (today or tomorrow).




Closer shot of the Imperial squad,


and the Ork attackers.


I hope you like it


I look forward to your C&C.

Cheers

Klaus

 

[Quaralane]

Excellent details here.
Well thought out

 

[Klaus not Santa]

Thank you!!

Today's update covers the POLEMOS painting.
I was out sick last week with a bronchitis - pretty annoying, lots of coughing - but at least I had some time (when the medication was actually working and I stopped coughing for a few hours) to work on the POLEMOS.

I had already everything prepared and primed on my desk.


So I started to paint and weather the street, ruins and rubble.


As I had mentioned it will be rather dark and grimy.


Here you can see that I dry-brushed some areas with white - these are the areas that will be illuminated by the muzzle flashes and Molotov's.


And then it was time for the POLEMOS itself.
So far I had no vehicle in my arsenal with an urban camo pattern. Instead of re-inventing the wheel I decided to simply convert the standard Dencarian "Tiger Flash" pattern into grey tones.


I think it looks rather convincing

Next I added details like the view ports and ejected cartridges,


as well as all the lights and lenses.


They look like brothers, don't they?


More details.


And then it was time for some serious weathering...
Say goodbye to the new paint job...


...and hello to the real look


Quite a difference, eh?



But with all the details and lenses painted it looks really good.


Then I painted the cinematic effects.
First the low velocity grenade launcher,

then the AC,

and finally the rear MG.


But the real fun was adding the illumination effects!
Enjoy






I am very pleased with the results.
What do you think?
I look forward to your C&C.
Cheers
Klaus

 

[peza]

wow dude,i wish i had a ten`th of ya skill,i would like to say ya paintin/sprayin skill is amazin!!!
top marks once again.....cheers peza

 

[Bouq]

a really awesome building Klaus.
Many thanks for this pedagogic WIP. I don'tlike it, I love it !

 

[Klaus not Santa]

;D
Thanks

Hi all,
Malevengion at my blog asked:
How did I weather the POLEMOS?
Well, first I gave it a very thorough wash with a brown wash (similar to Devlan Mud or the new Agrax Earthshade). Once this was dried I gave it another wash with black (similar to Badab Black or the xxx oil - the replacement for Badab). Once this was also dried I gave it another go with the black, but this time accentuated on the darker area, picking out recesses or things like hinges on the hatches.
Then I applied a very dark brown-grey mix with the sponge around the most used/damaged areas.
Followed by Boltgun Metal with a brush on larger damages or exposed corners.
Finally I used a pencil along most corners - this give them a nice metallic shine.
I think that's all

So I started with the attacking Orks.
Since I want them to be like "Ghosts in the rubble" they needed special urban camo too and I decided to give them simply a grey-scaled version of their Flecktarn pattern.


All the base colors applied


Even with these simple colors they already fit nicely into the diorama.


Then they got a nice and thorough wash with black and brown.


While the wash dried, I made some more images of the POLEMOS and the base on a neutral background.




I also want to make sure the (living) Orks eyes are glowing in the dark.


The finished Orks and light effects on the board.


You may notice the light effects of the Molotov's are darker, more orange, less flashy than the effects of the muzzle flashes.


And finally last night I started on the Imperial troopers.
They use the same urban camo pattern as the special forces in "The Ork with the Golden Missile" - http://fischers-design-shop.blogspot.de/2013/04/the-ork-with-golden-missile-13.html


Well, that's all I got for this week.
I hope you enjoyed today's update and I look forward to your C&C.
Cheers
Klaus

 

[The Nylon Gag]

Very very cool my friend

Gag

 

[Quaralane]

Excellent work on this.

 

[peza]

wow dude i`m blown away by ya paintin skill again!!!cheers peza

 

[Klaus not Santa]

Thank you guys!
I really appreaciate the feedback.
And here's your treat for today

I made good progress over the last few days and since I had a day off today, I was able to finish the dio!


After applying the base colors I looked into a symbol for the shoulder patches. I'm not really sure why, but I wanted to do something with an eye - like the Egyptian Ra or the all-seeing eye on top of the pyramid. After a lot of doodling around I came up with this abstraction.


I really like it, so I decided to draw it onto all the shoulder pads and on both sides.


Here are all the Imperial troopers with their base colors.



Then they got some washes.
First a wash of Devlan Mud or Agrax Earthshade,
then a wash of Badab Black or Nuln Oil,
then a wash of Seraphim Sepia for the skin areas,
and another go of black for the shades.


Once the washes dried I applied the highlights.
Here are the first four troopers


And all of them!


DONE!



I'm quite happy how they look in their new home.



Later today I will post some more high quality images in the lightbox.
I hope you like how this little scene turned out.
I look forward to your C&C
Cheers
Klaus

 

[Klaus not Santa]

As promised here are some HQ images done in the lightbox with a bit of cleanup.
I hope you like them
(remember if you click the image you get to a scalable version in the gallery)










Cheers
Klaus

 

[tigrazor]

Wunderbar! You really got a hand for details, do you?

 

[Quaralane]

Excellent work on this.
Turned out really well