Sunday, November 28, 2010

Hobby: Tyrannofex Conversion

I've had tons of positive comments on my Tfex so I thought I would share how easy it was so others can make them.

Here's a couple pictures for reference.  It's still not painted yet, I'm getting into 40 genestealers so he's a ways off to being finished.

It's super easy.  I'll break it down for you now and take pictures when I get down to making my second.

#1.  Using a carnifex kit, assemble the torso and legs.

#2.  For the rupture cannon barrel, I used a plastic tube from the center of a cash regiester receipt tape.  Paper or thermal doesn't matter.  I cut out half of one end of the tube so it looked like a D.  It was not a clean cut, I used pliers.  I test fit the tube on the back of the carnifex model and kept removing plastic bits of the tube until it was a fit close enough that green stuff could smooth out the seam.  I then glued it to the torso.

#3.  Use green stuff to cover up the seam of the two parts.  I blended the top armor plate to a point going up the barrel, most easily seen here
I know, my greenstuf sculpting was rushed and sloppy.  Good paint jobs can help to draw attention away from this.

#4.  I used 4 extra Trygon head shields around the end of the barrel.

#5.  I used Trygon Prime mandibles under the barrel as supports/bio feeds.

#6.  I used extra Trygon tail bits above the barrel for more bio feeds.  I snipped off the tip and sculpted greenstuff veins onto the barrel that you can see in the above pic.

#7.  I used extra armor plates from gant kits to create a string of armor along the top of the barrel from the torso armor to the Trygon head plates at the end of the barrel.  This also helped the overall look and covered up some sloppy greenstuff lines.

That's it...  It creates an intimidating Tfex at no cost if you have access to Trygon bits (I've purchased 3 Trygon kits so far so that was easy).  Hope it helps all you Nid geeks.

5 comments:

  1. This...is...awesome....
    It looks like some giant evil plant. So different from all the Carifex conversions I've seen, yet undeniably 'Tyranidish.'
    Friggin' brilliant, instantly recognizable as a T-Fex. Really a standout conversion.

    *sigh* alright, lemme get started stealing ideas....

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  2. Agreed. The T-Fex is quite striking.

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  3. Man, I'm going to have to finish painting him next since he's getting so much attention now. Thanks for the kind words guys.

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  4. Great stuff. Gotta ask if you were inspired by the AA monsters from starship troopers though?

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  5. You got it. There's something epic and cinematic about giant beetles launching balls of bio plasma into the atmosphere. Definately one of my favorite movies of all time.

    I actually considered doing the yellow/brown/black of the bugs from that movie, but wanted something I could call my own. My degree is in SFX makeup and studying existing biology for use in believable SFX was an important foundation.

    As such, I searched the new for insect imagery and settled on a metallic green carapace like a jewelled beetle/scarab with appropriate black limbs. It ended up a little too simple for me, so I went back and alternated black and green plates to resemble a wasp. The pics of my tervigons and trygons show this much better.

    The bright pink vents on the backs and weapons were inspired by the movies Avatar, where the alien herbivore beasts had a natural earth tone, but brightly colored fans they displayed when agitated.

    I was considering painting the main body of the tfex's gun and feeder tubes neon green or blue like the big bugs in Starship troopers. I still may, just haven't sat down to finish this model yet.

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