+ Lord Dahavauron 9:91, Prince of the Erelim +
+ That is called Captain Erasmus Tycho, first of that name +
+ Some models have a smooth development; others less so. This is an example of the latter! Having built and assembled him, I stalled on how to approach the painting. After an abortive experiment with gilding – something I'd like to return to one day – he ended up in paintstripper, which rather took the gloss off my enthusiasm; particularly when some of the greenstuff details were damaged. +
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| Pre-painting. The brows have been softened to emulate the impassive expression of the artwork. |
+ These included a gunmetal backpack and neutral cloak, which frame the figure better than the red pack and black-and-yellow striping of the original cape. I've also added a loincloth to match the classic Captain model. +
+ The figure's made up from a hotch-potch of parts. The legs, cape and halo are based on the Primaris Chaplain with sculpted detail. The torso is from one of the new Stormcast kits; the waist section based on a lump of Terminator shoulder pad that was then built up and detailed with greenstuff. The head's from the Raven Guard HH upgrade set, with breathing hoses and ear-pieces sculpted on to match the artwork and make it clear that it's an ornamental helm, rather than a head. The arms are Primaris Intercessor ones, I think. The shoulder pad icon was created from the Blood Angels upgrade sprue; I simply added an additional two blood drops to match the artwork. +
+ As you can see above, I broke the model up to prime it – in white, unusually for me. This was because NMM relies on getting a clean finish for an effective result; I didn't want to be fighting grey or black coming through the layers of yellow. +
+ The front view hopefully captures the classic image; but of course a miniature's got to work from multiple angles. +
+ The Captain from the 1991 army (called Tycho as he was later to become the inspiration for the later special character of the name – I'll avoid the Tycho reference to avoid confusion here) provided some useful ideas for parts not visible in the artwork, such as the shoulder pad here. I improvised the detail on the cloak; I didn't want it too complex or eye-catching as the gold is rather garish anyway. The cloak offered a good spot for contrast, so it's muted in tone. +
+ The loincloth – another detail from the model, rather than the artwork – bears the same diagonal red stripe on yellow field. It is just visible here. +
+ A shot from above... +
+ ...and a low-angle one to finish off the painted miniature. +
+++
6 comments:
Beautiful work. The choice to keep the bolter black helps it not get lost against the gold. There is something 'honest' about a captain with a boltgun, especially if he is not holding other weapons. I think that's because he adheres to the spacemarine archetype in a way that more flashy /combat oriented builds tend to miss.
The bolter roots a model in scifi (as opposed to being just a pure fantasy knight) while keeping that scifi grounded and brutal rather than weird science gravguns or plasmapistols. It is a workhorse weapon of ultraviolence.
I like the implications of the gunmetal backpack- it's a visual representation of mankind's technological stagnation. I imagine the suit is a relic that the techmarines keep operative by jury rigging a more mundane powersupply- the original generator was lost in 5 millenia of war. Either that or it is a consumable component that the chapter has decided to leave ungilded for practical reasons.
That is quality!!
Excellent work my man, I absolutely love this version of Tycho! :D
As always, thanks for the considered and insightful comment. I particularly agree with you point about the boltgun giving the rather fantastical styling of the armour a grounded feel. It's the weird juxtaposition of ancient and modern that made 40k visuals so striking.
It's enormously cool! I love the reinterpretation of the character, how you decided to read him and how you solved the inherent issues of 'realscaling' the model. Fantastic work!
I forgot to mention- I love the idea of Erasmus Tycho being a title or 'oath name'. Reading about the Fists/Templars and their inherited names has given me an appreciation of how this is both a characterful addition to tight knit brotherhoods (whose notions of paternity/family/continuity differ greatly to standard humanity) and a convenient narrative device to keep your miniatures active in various millennia.
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