Update: Fimir Helmet and Tail Conversions

We're back with an update to last week's project, converting helmets and bladed tails onto Forgeworld Fimir.  Last time, the helmets were finished, but there was still work to be done on their tails.

They're finally complete, so let's take a look!

There were a ton of interesting options for creating the blade-tails, so I really let my creativity run wild.  Hooks, crescents, cleavers, spades, barbs, and daggers are all the styles of weapons I used to make them.  Each weapon was fabricated from plasticard and then accented with green to create straps, bolts, and rope to hold the blades in place.

I roughed up the edge on most of the blades by making simple "V" cuts with an xacto blade to make them look worn and notched from hard use.  It's nice to add a bit of wear and tear to weapon pieces, especially to those wielded by the disciples of chaos, too much their time is spent maiming and killing to keep their weapons shiny and new!

This is one of my favorite weapons, a truly vicious sickle big enough to cleave a man wholly in two!

These three got spade tails.  The tails and each of their blades were notched and then fitted together to form a snug fit before being finished with a dab super glue and some green stuff.  

The top left tail is a nasty set of barbs that was made out of three pieces of plasticard, one to form the main section with an arrowhead end and then two pieces that were fitted to the sides to give the weapon barbs on all four sides.

This guy's weapon tail has a spear-tip fitted on the end of his truncated tail and then simple rope bindings to hold a row of blades.

All of the fimir sacrificed part of their tail to augment it with something sharp and killy, this guy went the extra mile and grafted his blades onto his tail bones, requiring no binders at all to hold them in place.  Besides having two nasty spikes for slamming down into an enemy, his weapon also has a axe head for side-to-side sweeping cuts.

The nine fimir are finally done and will soon be in the mail to Michael for his chaos force, I'll be showing off more conversions he's requested soon; a demon possessed fimir giant and two ascended demon prince fimir!

Before I sign off for the week, I'd like to make a quick plug for Between Two Beards, a video project my brother, Andrew, and our long-time friend, Dave, put together.  The bearded duo have been doing game reviews and are starting to branch into live coverage and "let's play" content.  They're putting a lot of work into their channel and are really excited for the great projects they have planned, check them out on YouTube and stay tuned for even bigger and better content coming soon!

What's on My Desk: Fimir "Counts-As" Conversions

I'm back this week with a look at a work-in-progress commission for a returning customer Michael P.  Michael has come to rely on my modeling skills to add a special twist to his models, and this time he wanted work done for his Warriors of Chaos Fantasy army.  Nine fimir are acting as counts-as chaos warriors.  Each fimir comes armored and has a cool looking club, but Michael wanted the models armor beefed up to represent the higher save on a chaos warrior and to add weapons to their tails.

Let's take a look at the work so far...

Each fimir's helmet is unique, though some share stylisitic similarities.  These three I've dubbed: "Thor, Skullcap, and Storm Trooper."  

The entire time I've been working on this commission, I couldn't get over the fact that these Fimir look a lot of the Koopas from Super Mario World...

"Thor" is one of my favorites, his helmet reminds me a lot of the winged one from Marvel.

I think the "Storm Trooper" helmet style is very fitting for the fimir; subtle, simple, and perfectly round.

This next set has another storm trooper-esque helmet, a funky tri-horned one, and what I've come to think of as a miner's helmet with a single prow horn.  

Remove the horn and replace it with a lamp and it has a stunning similarity to this.

This guy's headgear captures a look from an old fimir helm that had a lot of design work braided about it.

Each fimir's tail has been bound, yoked, and tied with nasty barbs, blades, and spikes.  Like the helmets, each tail-weapon is unique and expresses the individual personality of the bearer.

This is another set of my favorites (though they're all really great), but I really like how (L to R) the storm trooper, miner, and magi turned out.  Magi... Yeah, the fimir's helmet on the far right looks like an esoteric spell casters headpiece to me.  

That's it for this week and what's on my desk, come back next time to see the other projects I'm work on a the Lab!

Showcase: Pathfinder Elf Pyromancer

I'm back this week to show you a quick five-hour paint done for one of my role-playing clients.  This is a Pathfinder Elf Pyromancer with requested lava basing and flamekin familiar.

The basing is a piece of the Warhammer Achaon base cut to fit on a 25mm round.  Lots of people use cork board to do a nice simple cracked earth effect, but this this little gem was on hand I was happy to use it instead.

The skin tone is the Reaper rosy skin triad with a bit of dark brown added to make rings under the eyes.  His unhealthy pallor is what every mage should have.. too much time delving into arcane lore is bad for your health!

The rock glow was a gradual blend from 1:1 German Grey and Red Gore all the way to yellow.  For a piece with a longer time allowance I would definitely like to a glow from the lava up onto the pyromancer and from the familiar onto his head, arm and shoulder.

I've always wanted to do a lava base, and I had a lot of fun doing it on this model for the first time.

That's it, another painting commission down, now it's time to get started on some sculpting commissions.  I'll have converted Fimir and a Cygor to show you next week and an original sculpted dragon base after that!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my work!