Blog Suds Hand Sculpting Blog

Hey everyone Welcome to a short dedicated blog to my first major hand sculpting project! I have started to cover this in my current painting blog but I wanted it's own dedicated blog for easier finding.

As many of you know, I started the hobby about 2 years ago, and I've enjoyed every moment of this adventure. One of the greatest joys i have with the hobby is building, and in particular kitbashing. I love just looking at bits and just seeing how they could go together, having an idea and going onto the Gamesworkshop site and pulling up sprue photos to see what kits have what. Something about making my own creations and just bringing them to life is just something special, I really want to get better with 3D design as an ultimate hobby goal to that end. Another thing I have been wanting to do is get more into hand sculpting and milliput/greenstuff work, it blows me away what people can do with putty. I've started doing more with greenstuff recently, most notably with my Lumineth & Hathorians. I have done a lot of fur work, but nothing that required wire and building heavier sections.

With exploring more into the sculpting side of the hobby I've begun to tackle something I have wanted to do for awhile, sculpting a Sauropod unit for my Seraphon. Now, as most of you know I'm already building a Thunder Lizard ( Can check it out here: https://www.lustria-online.com/threads/thunder-lizard-model-project-by-suds.24212/page-2 or my painting blog), however for this project I wanted to steer away from calling this creature a Thunder Lizard outright, I have a couple of reasons for this:

1. Thunder Lizards are huge, Some say the size of Mountains, others say larger; no one actually knows. What we do know is that they were or are among the biggest monsters in Warhammer Fantasy, so large that they are said to be akin to a natural disaster and that just by walking the wake of destruction behind them is miles long. The sheer size lorewise of a Thunder Lizard makes it, at least at my current level of sculpting experience is beyond intimidating. The size also puts a predetermined picture into peoples minds, if it isn't larger than a Stegadon than it must not be a Thunder Lizard.... ignoring that it needs to fit on the table if i plan to play one day,

2. I like to think of the term/name Thunder Lizard as an umbrella term for many different species of behemoth Sauropod like creatures. What we know of as a Traditional Thunder Lizard I like to think of as the largest species, native to Lustria, and also the rarest. I however like to think there are sub species of Thunder Lizard elsewhere, my only evidence for this is the fact that the Thunder Lizard is also found on the Dragon Isles according to official lore. With Thunder Lizards living on the Dragon Isles they must have been a smaller species, a more specialized species for the Island, otherwise they either simply would not fit or would eat everything and starve the whole eco system out. For this reason I believe officially (but really just my own homebrew obviously) there are more than just one species of Thunder Lizard, just as there are multiple species of Stegadon, Gamesworkshop simply hasn't delved deep into the lore.

3. I simply think it is fun to think up new species, the Warhammer world would be a boring and dead universe if the only creatures that existed were what was officially written in. Its our job as the fan base to fill in the middle and really bring out the life of the universe, even if it will never be official canon.

With that said, lets delve into what I've been getting into with my new Sauropod model.

First things first, the species name, I am calling it a Unirontosaurian, an original name suggested by a friend I really liked and tweaked slightly (his original name was Unirontosaurus). The name if broken down loosely means One (uni) - Moving (onto) - Lizard (saurian), which is kind of funny to me for some reason lol.

I picture Unirontosaurian to be large, larger than the big four (Troglodon, Stegadon, Carnosaur & Bastiladon). and more comparable to a Dread Saurian size; I like to think of Allosaurus and Diplodocus for the size comparisons. Not so huge that its the size of a mountain, but large enough an enemy army is going to fear an army that has one within its ranks.

More homebrew for it to come, but for the sculpting...

For the base of the model I am using the Stegadon body, for the type of creature i want to make it works pretty perfectly, a bastiladon or carnosaur body would work also but I like the scales on the Stegadon for what i have envisioned in my head. with that said, for the sculpt I started with the tail, and this is where I made my first mistake: I didn't use any wiring for it. Really my first first mistake was not setting up the wiring for the milliput in all the areas i'd need it (tail, neck, legs). I used some spare carno/trog spine bits to help shape the tail (I' also end up doing this for the neck), and for the diplodcus tail whipe feel i used a keeper of secrets tail to give that slender tail tip look.


From the tail I went to work on the neck portion, using a bastiladon head for my omivourous sauropod. Here i had learned part of my mistake and used some wire for the neck, the neck was still a pain to do however. Part of the reason for my troubles was simply not knowing that getting milliput wet like i do greenstuff was not a good idea, it kept getting weak and crumbling. so after resting the head on the cork to keep the neck break in place it eventually set. I however at the time didn't realize how much the resting of the head had altered the positioning of the neck, putting it more upright and making part of the neck awkward. Looks like she's bellowing out a call, which I'm pretty ok with to be honest. Overall the neck looked good to me (hindsight should have smoothed it out more and checked out the necks positioning better before settling) but for sure had its pain in the ass moments.

Llearning from my mistakes i put some wire into the plastic to help with sculpting the legs and better support, shown here with blue tac.

From there I began adding some bits, I started thinking about what kind of natural defenses this species would have since earth shattering size wasn't on the table. Naturally her tail whip came to mind, and her horn for offensive weapons (as well as defensive), but what about on her? I decided that having two hind spikes on her legs would be good, guard her legs and side. Ontop of that adding a few spikes to her shoulders/neck for if something tries to bite there (of course her scales might break a few teeth/claws). I also thought having the crest to defend right behind the head would be a good natural option withought being too outrageous. Next was some shiny ornaments and such since all Seraphon/Lizardmen beasts of war have it, so I added two icons on her tail (milliput rope/chain connected), a tail ring towards the end with something hanging from it, and the large stegadon jeweled crest. I am still undecided if i will add anything else in the shiny department, thought i have 1 idea for the neck i may pursue but i don't want to over do it.


Next on the list, which I've already begun working on is some sanding, filling with greenstuff and some greenstuff scale work to make the transition from the scaley top to the fleshy bottom a bit more natural. I am also considering magnetizing her feet so that she can be placed on both a 120mm oval as a stegadon but also on a 170mm oval for a custom warscroll/ruleset. I wanted to show her next to my Stegadon for size comparison


My homebrew lore has stated for awhile that my Temple Host has learned to harness large behemoths of the mortal realms, and from a time before even the Age of Myth... it is time that such creatures begin to fill the ranks of my Temple Host's Cohorts.

 

Awesome work as usual Suds. Can't wait to see it finished!

 

Great work!! I like your reasoning and agree with you.

Keep up the great work!

Grrr, Imrahil

 

Thank you! Its been a fun journey for sure, learned a lot for my next attempt...whenever that will be. I really want to sculpt my own dread saurian...

I have a cool post coming up soon! lots of stuff done but still more to do

 

I really appreciate it, man! thank you! It has been a lot of fun to sculpt

and indeed, kinda makes me want to explore other species, its sad that when it comes to GW bits its harder to make smaller species. I may get back to my bestiary blog and start to fill that up again.... get up to @Nazqua level

 

Hey everyone, hope you're all well!

Some real good progress has been made on the Unirontosaurian, and I'm excited to share what's been going on!

After a lot of sanding of both the neck and tail, I finally felt comfortable adding a very thin layer of greenstuff. Using the greenstuff to smooth over any hard to get to cracks, etc, I was also able to add some grooves as you see on the Carnosaur model; though admittedly maybe not heavy enough. I also crafted vines to wrap around the neck & tail to be able to add more icons, and "fastening' the large crest ornament onto the neck. The last major part that I used greenstuff one was around the base of the Bastiladon head and Carnosaur crest, making it a bit more seamless.

All in all this stage was about smoothing parts out, adding detail, and preparing for the howdah!



Now, the howdah isn't super exciting, as it is just the regular Stegadon howdah. i really am just excited to share it with you all because it just looks sO good to me with it on! Very natural and I'm thrilled


In the next phase I am trying to figure out her weaponry, primarily the Engine/Rejuvenation Crystal, though planning the flamethrower things also. Using chopped-up bits of a Carno saddle & heads from two knight banners, I use these arms to prop the crystal up above the howdah, and where the Priest will stand (without a chair). Part of me feels like I need a third arm? Though I'm not sure I have the bits for it. Im planning to dig through sprues and my loose bits bag tomorrow to see what I can come up with, the nice thing about the Carno throne arms are the symbols already on them. Any ideas or thoughts on this? Any and all are very much welcomed and appreciated.



All in all some really good progress, and I'm really happy with how it is turning out thus far! Still trying to decide on a scheme, have one Idea so far, but going to look through some paleoart for inspiration before deciding.

Would love everyone's thoughts, even if you're not a fan! This above all else has been about being a learning experience, I've wanted to sculpt something for awhile and I've finally done it

 

Overall its looking really good so far dude!
My one complaint would be that the tail doesn't seem to taper naturally near the end, maybe needs a smoother transition between the parts there.

 

Thank you! Really happy with it

The tail, yeah, I've been debating if I want to rip the end tail ring (terradon leg bracelet) off and do a little more sanding. Part of the reason it looks off though is due to a small ring of milliput I put there as a "gold ring" under the bracelet since it wouldn't totally fit wrapped around. However, I do suppose it looks a little off. Just can't decide If I want to take the time + sanding has been irritating my gf (asthmatic), and we don't really have a great place atm for me to sand.... need a sunny day so I can do it outside maybe.

 

If anyone is interested I posted a video of my Unirontosaurian on my IG which you can find down below

For a color scheme I am leaning towards a Green Scheme, either like the first picture or the same patterning as the bottom right in the second picture. Still deciding but i like the idea of green fading to white/grey


https://www.instagram.com/tv/CNvAFb3HaJ9/?igshid=1pc5tjkkbb6sg

 

Yeah, a green color scheme would look great! I love the stegadon howdah/crystal of chotec. Coming up with some rules for that thing is going to be interesting...

 

Some pretty big updates coming but wanted to share a sketch of something I've been working on

Not sure what I'll be using this as, but considering it as maybe a Dread Saurian or maybe another Stegadon Stand-in? I think it'd be fun to try and sculpt sometime in the future. I still want to work on the drawing/concept art itself more, but wanted to share.

Thinking of one as pictured and another concept art of it with side platforms like the front section of the GW Stegadon.

 

A lot has happened since the last post, but I wanted to share the mock up & dry fit of design attempt #5 and likely the one ill keep for my Unique engine of the gods for my kitbash/sculpt here


Now, a few things would need to be cut still snd adjusted, but I think it looks awesome. I like the idea if the side upper leg armor too using the armored gold crests.

So glad these came in today, specifically the Stampede


What do y'all think of this design? I may still add a few small things, including the sides of the platform with the pegs that fit into the Stegadon body

 

Design looks awesome to me Suds!

 

C'est magnifique!!! Incroyable, outstanding!!
Great custom EotG.

I can't wait to see it painted

Grrr, Imrahil

 

Welcome! Glad you found it!

Thank you, me too! May be a bit though, definitely don't wanna rush it. Still fiddling with a few bits but overall hoping to prime the engine once some nicer weather comes around next week. Until then Im planning to work on the Unirontosaurian itself and hopefully have it finished soon-ish.

I'm also beginning to write some homebrew for it and the engine, may post a small bit later tonight

 

Thank you! I'm really stoked about it haha. Trying to decide how to paint it now that i have it more or less figured out how I want it built

 

I really apprentice it man! It's always fun seeing visions/head canon come to life, ita not 100% how I envisioned it, but it has come out really well I'd say also.

And me either, keepin the focus

 

She's starting to feel like a real Dinosaur now!

Working on some details like horns, teeth and little bit of scale work. Also have its EoTg built into 3 sub assemblies I hope to prime next week with better weather

Decided on a Zandari Dust base for the bone/spikes with a light wash of skeleton horde, and now slowly building up nuln oil on the tips

Cheek membrane so far is Gal Vorbak Red with Meph. Red in the recesses, will do either Crimson Corruburg or Reikland Fleshshade for the wash, undecided.

Teeth I used Pallid Wych Flesh, debating what to wash with, maybe Apothecary white or Reikland for a bloody look

Overall it's really coming together and almost all the primer has now been covered

 

Nice work, it gives a lot more warmth to the model.

The beauty with her bling

Grrr, Imrahil