Rogue Trader RT601 - Pirates - Part 2

Hello, I am over half way through another Oldhammer project, the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates, some of these guy's are so odd I am surprised they didn't end up in the Citadel Miniatures drawer 101 and never come out to see the light of day, some of them are absolute gems but others have had me bemused, now I am no master of photography (or story telling), I take my photos with an iPhone with a LED lightbox and follow the Warhammer Community guide as it seems the most simple, my macro lens camera is rotting in the loft but I can categorically say some of these pirates have no 'Golden Angle', I usually like to photograph the front and especially the back of a miniature as many people would of never seen it but with these guys it's all over the place and I don't think you are getting the full picture of their oddities.

I've gave a bit background and my thoughts on these Pirates back in my first post: Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates - Part 1 go and have a read if you haven't seen my first batch, this post features most of the last miniatures that I consider the rank and file of the range before I move onto the more characterful sculpts like the much loved 'Sensei'. 

My latest batch of RT601 Pirates

I am continuing to use my own reference number system based on the original advert and again I will use these numbers as their identities in these posts. I have again paired them up with their closest sculpt brother or although some are made up from several pirates.

first four

second four

First up we have pirates 17 and 3.  Pirate 17 I gave a big red drinkers nose, he's a great all-rounder who I could use in any game, pirate 3 is an interesting mish mash sculpt based on pirate 17 with pirate 7's right arm and shoulder pad, he has a really cool flight pack, astronauts helmet with tubes coming out of his mouth and is weirdly bent over kissing his chainsword.

RT601 Pirates 17 and 3

RT601 Pirate 3 - front

RT601 Pirate 3 - back

RT601 Pirate 17 - front

RT601 Pirate 17 - back

Next we have pirates 14 and 7, pirate 14 is part bionic with a claw arm which is very Genestealer like (there's a Hybrid conversion in there for someone brave) and lower leg, he has the head of pirate 12, pirate 7 I cut off the original sword blade as it had gone all soft and wiry and replaced it a plastic Warhammer zombies one, a bit of Typhus Corrosion and I think it's hard to spot.

RT601 Pirates 14 and 7

RT601 Pirate 7 - front

RT601 Pirate 7 - back

RT601 Pirate 14 - front

RT601 Pirate 14 - back

RT601 Pirate 14 - side showing bionics

Next we have pirates 9 and 10, nice dynamic poses, both miniatures have that weird half Bolter, half Autogun sculpt with mounted light/scope and strange webbing/bracers that go under their groin, pirate 10 has a breathing apparatus, the pair are decent miniatures to be honest.

RT601 Pirates 9 and 10

RT601 Pirate 9 - front

RT601 Pirate 9 - back

RT601 Pirate 10 - front

RT601 Pirate 10 - back

And finally pirates 20v and 6, not the greatest sculpts, I am going to call this one 'pirate 20v' as I believe he is a uncatalogued variant, the original adverts shows him without a visor and I have seen this visorless miniature about several times and painted by community members, he does have a cool diamond design sculpted into his shoulder pads, pirate 6 has pteruges hanging from his shoulder pads and both have the same weapon a sort of carbine autogun, they have that hunched over pose of the earliest Rogue Trader era miniatures that made them a pain to paint.

RT601 Pirates 20 and 6

RT601 Pirate 6 - front

RT601 Pirate 6 - back

RT601 Pirate 20v - front

RT601 Pirate 20v - back

I managed to get hold of the original Pirate 20 featured in the advert without visor and he'll be getting a paint job soon

Thanks for dropping in, more fan sculpts and RT Pirates on the go so stay tuned, I can't wait for my mate to turn up with all his shining Stargrave miniatures and rulebook for a game and I bring some of these out, I did it with Frostgrave and chaos beastmen, you could see the disgust on his face, he thinks I am only doing it to wind him up :D

cheers

J

Rogue Trader - Ymgarl Genestealer - Fan Sculpt

Hello and welcome back, this my fourth post in a row featuring Oldhammer fan sculpts, I just love fan sculpts and fancied getting some of these beautiful miniatures finished and put down the Rogue Trader pirates for a couple of weeks. Today's post features the Ymgarl Genestealer, based on the original illustration featured on page 211 of the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader rulebook and sculpted by in 2020 by Drew Day Williams of Satyr Art Studio.

If you don't know the original Genestealer, here's the lore,

"This enigmatic monster originates from one of the moons of Ymgarl, but has spread throughout space and is threatening to become a real menace. In its native state it is blue, has two pairs of clawed arms, a long muscular tail and a tough leech-like body. Its head is a simple tube full of slobbering tendrils and sharp inward-pointing teeth. What makes the Genestealer truly unique is its deadly and extremely rapid reproductive cycle. Genestealer are of a single gender, and are incapable of reproducing amongst themselves. To reproduce they require another creature, any creature will suffice, of any gender. For all the Genestealer requires is the basic genetic material which is contained in every living cell of the mate. A Genestealer implants its own genetic material in the form of an egg capsule, which is forced into the body of the host by an extendible ovipositor normally secreted inside the head. The implantation does not kill the mate immediately, but the implanted egg quickly grows until ready to burst out as an immature Genestealer. Needless to say, this kills the parent/host. Interestingly enough, newly born creatures, although fundamentally Genestealers, will have characteristics inherited from the host parent. Thus a Genestealer/human may have a vaguely humanoid head, or only two arms instead of the usual four, and perhaps its tail will be shortened or missing. A Genestealer of four or more generations consistent of human parentage would pass for a human on cursory inspection, although a closer look would reveal a bluish skin, sharp pointed teeth and rather disturbing stare. On their home world, Genestealers exploit a large leech-like creature called a Csith which is the usual mate. Matings with a Csith always produce natural Genestealers, no matter what its parentage otherwise." 

The build was easy enough the miniature came in 3 parts so I had to glue two of the arms on, there's some room there for pose variations, when it came to painting this miniature I wanted to go for blue as described in the Genestealer lore above but couldn't decide on which one, I felt Ultramarine would just look silly and other pastel shades of blue I had would make it look like a 1980's follower of Slaanesh, I wanted the tone of the sinister Alien in the movies, in the end I decided to go with Vallejo Model Color 'Dark Sea Blue' as a base which I washed with Citadel Contrast Black, drybrushed the base colour again and highlighted a couple times with the base colour with increasing amount white mixed in.  I did the mouth in a light violet washed purple and black claws highlighted with greys/white. The miniature is quite busy, I found there's a lot going on and picking out a detail or two might spoil the feel I was going for so to finish it off I added some white spots as I had seen a image of a leech with them and then gave it a brush coat of Citadel 'ard coat varnish for a slimy effect et voila I had a Csith Genestealer.

I thought I was done but lo and behold there was a problem, this miniature has a lot of deep detail and where the 'ard coat had pooled it had turned cloudy. It seemed no one knew how to rectify this problem when the varnish was brushed on, sprayed on yes, there was a couple of suggestions on FB but I tried develop my own fix.  My final fix involved a tiny 0/5 brush and 100% acetone, I carefully attacked each cloudy pool with a brush dipped in acetone and the pool disappeared detail was restored although back to matt finish, after that I washed the miniature down thoroughly with water and lightly painted 'ard coat back on and hey presto problem fixed.

** 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.

Ymgarl Genestealer - right

Ymgarl Genestealer - left

Ymgarl Genestealer - front

If you compare the original illustration to the miniature you can see what a good job Drew did on this sculpt.

Ymgarl Genestealer illustration from the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader rulebook

This miniature is huge look how it scales up to a fan sculpt Protonid.

Which is better? There's only one way to find out: FIGHT!

Size comparison at the annual hive general meeting

I recently received a gift of a  transparent Ymgarl Genestealer from a very nice chap of the Oldhammer community, one of only 20 transparent resin casts made, I feel very honoured, thanks.

I have no idea how to photograph transparent miniatures but I experimented a little below.

++ Beware Brother ++

Right, I'm going back to smaller miniatures for a while this little journey was hard work :D

J

Confrontation 40K Space Marine - Fan Sculpt

Hello, today I bring you the third Oldhammer fan sculpt miniature I have recently painted, most of you will be well familiar with this miniature from it's Facebook exposure, blogger, etc and probably have this miniature in your backlog.

This miniature is based on the Les Edwards painting 'Confrontation 40K' which depicts a Blood Drinker's chapter Space Marine stationed on the world of Necromunda blasting an attacking mob of Scavvy gangers with his bolter, the painting appeared on the cover of White Dwarf 137 May 1991 (the one with the Confrontation combat rules in it) and in the Blood and Iron book of Les Edwards art produced by Games Workshop Books in 1989.

The miniature was sculpted in 2020 by Drew Day Williams of Satyr Art Studio (give them a follow), keep an eye on him as there are some superb retro inspired miniatures being produced, this miniatures details are spot on, the ornate shoulder pad, the gauntlet, face, earrings and bolter look exactly like they should, he's even done the Blood Drinker's icon on shoulder pad and gauntlet!! The miniature was distributed by some very nice chaps of the FB Oldhammer groups.

Painting I went for colour scheme of the Space Marine in the painting with plans to build a diorama base for him to slot into that represents the scene in the painting, my reference picture was from the Blood and Iron book and I didn't realise how washed out it looked compared to the polished version on the Les Edwards website so my miniature might be a bit more muted when compared. I also had to go for the green gold gauntlet I could swear Les used the old first Citadel Colour Gold, do you remember the one? it had a tinge of green and was green when separated, his armours battle damage was fun and easy to copy from the painting, the chapter icon was freehand as I couldn't find a Blood Drinker's transfer/decal anywhere, I am a bit out of practice, not entirely happy with it.  Lastly I had to fight temptation to 'ard coat gloss this miniature to try and get the glossy finish the Power armour has in the painting but in the end I went with a few highlights and a coat of matt varnish.  Oh and I wimped out on the Necromunda writing on the shoulder pad. :D

Now for the photos.

Confrontation 40K Space Marine

Confrontation 40K - Les Edwards

Confrontation 40K image from Blood and Iron book

Confrontation 40K Space Marine - front

Confrontation 40K Space Marine - back

Confrontation 40K Space Marine - side

Confrontation 40K Space Marine - side

Ornate shoulder pad

Freehand Blood Drinker's icon

Below are the Confrontation 40K Scavvies that have just landed at my house and will be getting prepped up soon, when I say soon probably this year. These are just a thing of beauty.

Scavvy gangers

Thanks for visiting and get following loads more cool stuff to come,

J

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