Rogue Trader - Protonid - Fan Sculpt

Hello, l am currently working through some of my favourite of Oldhammer fan sculpts and todays post features a fan commissioned tribute to the extremely hard to come by limited release prototype Tyranid, there is a lot of speculative fiction surrounding the origins of the prototype Tyranid miniature on various forums and blogs but I am not going into that here.

If you have not seen the original protonid miniature it features in the photo 'Battle for Geo-Station Erpes - Orks battle Marines' on pages 102/103 of the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader rulebook, this fan sculpt really captures the essence of the original protonid miniature and apart from the original having a gaping mouth, I think it's a superb alternative.

Painting was a bit on and off for 3 months, it's huge daunting miniature, 90mm long and 40mm high but I finally got into it, I started to go for a similar tone to the original and there was a lot of space to fill but no matter how much highlighting and shading I did on the it the miniature still felt a bit flat so then I deviated from my plan and went for an alien with a touch of horror thrown in and tried to break up the space with animal type patterns and other details like running blood, veins, etc which I think brought the miniature to life.  Due to the miniatures size I had to source a modern Games Workshop base and I raided the skulls box chucked on some sand, textured paint and job was done, after I have matt varnished this miniature I plan to gloss the eye over.

** Update **

Now I have had a lot of messages on FB and Twitter on about where one could potentially get hold of fan sculpts and I've always been unhappy tagging a person as they might get spammed, anyway I happy to announce that these miniatures are available from Ye Alchemist now do yourself a favour and go buy you will not be disappointed.

Protonid - left side

Protonid - right side

Protonid - front

Size comparison with the super tall and chunky Inquisitor with power weapon

I have included a few images of the original Tyranid so you can make your own comparisons.

Tyranid illustration page 201 Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader rulebook

Tyranid miniature page 103 Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader rulebook

Bryan Ansell's Tyranid (photo borrowed from Steve's old thecitadelcollector website)

Thanks for dropping in, more fan sculpts coming soon.

J

Space Marine Mk.14 Bullock Jet-Cycle - Fan Sculpt

Hello! it's my wife's late night yoga session here so you know what means I get a nights blogging in after painting my session, today's post features an Oldhammer fan sculpt of the quirky Space Marine Mk.14 Bullock Jet-cycle, the original miniature first appeared in White Dwarf 96 (December 1987) in the Chapter Approved article on page 51 and it was sculpted by Bob Naismith, this one was sculpted by the wonderfully talented Drew of Satyr Studio who didn't have the miniature for reference when sculpting and had to follow the art, how hard must that have been. I think these miniatures might be appearing on TrollSoup soon so give them a follow.

The original Jet-cycle was designed for plastic RTB01 Imperial Space Marine to ride and there was also a mail order release (2nd Flyer 1988) of a single cast Imperial Army rider which if you turn to page 189 in the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader rule book you will see him flying in the 'a column of penal warriors led by an astropath' diorama, I have included my Imperial Army rider 1988 paint job in some comparison photos below as all my past Space Marine biker have been stripped long ago.

The fan sculpt Jet-cycle is a 3 part kit unlike the original which was 2 part, cast in resin and has that true scale feel, the rider is a metal cast, the Jet-cycle build was simple enough with a tiny bit of filling here and there, it comes without bolters so I fitted two modified RTB01 bolters. The rider is beautiful he has all those cool features of the classic Rogue trader era Space Marines, vents, studs, etc, the miniature has 4 parts and I had to paint all these first then fit the body to the bike followed by arms and back pack, I had a few disasters during this stage which I put down to poor planning and method, I think I should of maybe added the bolters to the Jet-cycle as the last step, I have have another 2 of these and next time I will try a very different approach.  I went for the colour scheme of my Flesh Tearer's slow burner project and give the Jet-cycle and rider lots of weathering as I imagine he would both get dinked a lot by debris while whizzing about blasting stuff. 

Space Marine Mk.14 Bullock Jet-Cycle - left side

Space Marine Mk.14 Bullock Jet-Cycle - right side

Space Marine Mk.14 Bullock Jet-Cycle - front

The original TSF16 Jet-cycle.

Imperial Army rider

Jet-cycle with RTB01 Space Marine riders

Rogue Trader rule book - page 189

Below are some comparison photos and you can really see how crude the original Jet-cycle was, I don't think it reflects the superb illustration in White Dwarf 96, the later 1989 versions are just odd, I have absolutely loads of both versions in the loft but I am not sure I'll ever visit them again while I have another 2 of these superb fan sculpts still to paint. 

Took this comparison photo 2 years ago so glad to be shot of that blue carpet in the old house :D

Old vs new Jet-cycle comparison - left sides

Old vs new Jet-cycle comparison - right sides

Old vs new Jet-cycle comparison - fronts

Thanks for flying by see you soon

J