May 31, 2011

Conversion: Cult Abomination

Aww... They're So Cute At That Age

Aaaand welcome back. I'll start this conversion post by saying I normally will do conversions to save money. If you look back you'll find numerous examples of this. Unfortunately, I can be stubborn. When an idea hits me for a model and I really want it to happen, I'll make it happen. Even if the costs to see it through are a bit steep (see Wraith Lord.) Another unfortunate circumstance for my wallet is the AdMech as a whole. While the first year of writing the fandex saved me hundreds on purchasing literally nothing in the way of models; now that it's nearing completion I'm in the mode of purchasing models for it. The thing with the fandex is, there are specific units I created within it that I had a vivid vision for, and thus want it to look exactly right. The Cult Abomination is one of those units, and getting what I wanted to create my original vision took the last bit of my spare money for the month. Worth it? Let's find out.

If you remember my review of the Bio-Terror from Paulson Games over at MWC, you'll remember this little guy. To make him a Cult Abomination he needs to be covered in power cables, given at least one eye and has to have some cables around his hands for his Special Rules in the fandex. I ended up taking his arms off and changing his pose a bit and also removed that nasty head and neck problem he was having:

Next I drilled some indentions into his chest in order to give myself a starting point for the first cables and the twin-linked Lascannon and also removed his loincloth. Those under the age of 18 should not scroll any further:

Next I ordered a poop-ton of power cables from Dragon Forge. When taking the below picture I figured I'd have enough to cover him. I was extremely wrong...I actually used more than twice this much and for those playing at home I used 4 packs of the smallest power cables and half a pack of the power cables sampler on Dragon Forge:

Next, I needed a reliable way to get sharp bends out of these things without them breaking. After some trial and error it was the below sculpting tool that did the job. Simply working the cable down in between my thumb and the tool got some good curvature. And yes, there's a joke there somewhere, I'm just not feeling very clever at the moment:

After placing the first few cables it was time to get the twin-linked Lascannon in there. I separated the two barrels as this amoeba of MC didn't seem like it would have anything structured or uniform to me:

Next, it's time to get to wrappin'!

And wrapping...

And wrapping...

And yes, more wrapping...

Look! I've put out more (w)raps in four hours than Usher!.. I told you I didn't feel clever...

More wrapping and a little eye of sorts based on a power cable (shocker):

At this point he's dubbed "Stubby" and needs some hands:

And now he's named "Tickles":

Finally, I added in a last few cables to cover up the few skin-spots left and some for detail. Now he Larry the Cable Guy, cleverly named by my buddy, Darrel:

You can do the math on this one yourself, but this was not a cheap model to make and I won't be making another one anytime soon. With expenses, time taken and frustration with gluing all of this crap together I should have had less fun with this guy, but this has been one of my favorite conversions to make in my modeling career. Hope you all enjoyed the pics and I'll be sure to post more once he's painted!

Later days.

8 comments:

  1. Cost saving tip:

    Hit up a hardware store and buy some 14 gauge wire. (not electrical wire, but just generic tying wire) $8 for a few hundred feet.

    Hit up a hobby store, or even that hardware store, for some very high gauge wire, really thin stuff.

    You can use the lower gauge wire to wrap the body and you can also wrap it with the thinner wire to create the cables.

    Saves tons of money.

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  2. Wow, that would have saved me a load... I'll try that when I make another one of these guys.

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  3. I love this. A great final effect, and I can well believe it's a favourite. I'm loving the whole series in fact. Short of a miniature line for the whole FanDex, this is the next best thing - a guide to modelling up various units.

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  4. I was thinking along the same lines as Dave - use cheap wire/guitar string to "bulk up" the model, then use the Dragon Forge cables to accent the most important areas.

    The model looks fantastic, though!

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  5. @Porky
    Thanks! I'm diggin' it as well.
    That's another reason I'm posting all of this, while the units will have pictures in the dex come the third version, a guide to how it's done doesn't hurt.

    @LeadHead
    In retrospect I should have thought of this, I'll be sure to use it in the future. Much thanks, I'm really happy with how it turned out.

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  6. I can't wait to see him painted. I'm sure he'll look pretty wicked sweet.

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  7. Yeah, I've got this guy painting it as we speak; PowerStation Lime. He's pretty good, I guess. =P

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  8. yeah, I keep meaning to pick up some guitar string to see how workable it is.

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