Brythoniaid conversion work

We'll saw some resin models in half, horrifically injure myself, and end up with some cool models after the jump...





So, I loved Roberto Chaudon's Aradae Mawr sculpt so much that I ordered between four and six of them in the hopes that I could field them as a unit.

However, using the same model for six guys in a unit is a bit silly looking! Since I had two of the Brythoniaid starters ordered, I took the plunge and started cutting apart some of the best models I've ever worked with...

Yep, that's Galhwch Lladd Llaw, sawn in half. Unfortunately I could only find my small razor saw, so I had to finish with the yellow hobby knife behind it. The resin snapped badly as I was cutting it, resulting in probably the most horrific injury I've ever gotten while modeling. I'll spare you the pic, but I came very close to taking off the right side of my left thumb. Good thing there was a bone there to stop the knife!

Consider that a cautionary tale: resin is brittle and can snap unexpectedly. The white contrasting part on the picture above shows you where the resin snapped: that's a good 1/2" of solid resin! Always, always, always set a model down if you're trying to cut it. Better yet, just use a razor saw and don't risk it.

So, with bleeding ending my first day's work, and a massively wrapped injury preventing me from using my thumb for the next day, it was a couple of days before I was able to pin and glue Cadfrwydr Mawr together. He gets big shoulder pads, so the joint between his shoulders and arms has been offset slightly lower than it should be to allow room for the pads to shift around.

I swapped the right arms from the bottom torso with the ones on the top half, so the Galhwch arm is part of the draconic torso, and Aradae's middle left arm is actually coming out of his shoulder. I also rotated the middle right arm to make it seem like he's balancing as he rears up.

For more contrast, I flipped the tail over, so it bends to his left, not his right. This left a sizeable gap on both sides that I'll need to greenstuff.

This left me with a pair of legs from Galhwch, and a torso from Aradae Mawr. What should I do? Glue them together! Since the waist is already pointing down, Aradae Mawr's head was originally looking down in between his legs. I pinned it in place, and then pivoted it out as high as I could without catching his horns on the weapon haft.

This left another big gap between the head and neck (visible above) that will need to be filled.

The next day, my thumb still hurt, so I had beer to go with my work. I'm trying to make up welsh names, which was the perfect way to conjure a concerned looking corgi.

With beer inside me, I mixed up a big batch of greenstuff and set to work! When I was done, Cadfrwydr still looked big and intimidating, but kind of static. I made a mental note to sculpt a huge fire breath out of his mouth when I had more time, and moved on to show some detail shots.

The two left arms, with the gaps filled. I continued the chainmail above the middle one, though I might go back and add another layer to make it appear on top of the arm. The upper arm will still be covered by a big shoulder pad, so I focused on getting the bicep sculpted into the torso.

The gaps in the tail were easy to fill, with some detailed line work to match the texture that Roberto Chaudon had already put on there. It's not nearly as good as his, but hopefully I can fix the rest of the differences with paint.

As for the other, the neck proved a bit larger and more difficult. Using an already built Aradae Mawr I had prepared earlier, I tried to match the bulges in the neck and wrinkles as best I could. The texture seems a bit different, but when in doubt, fix in the paint phase!

From the other side, the neck doesn't seem nearly as out of proportion. I guess the fact that he's looking towards his right makes the left side seem a bit more stretched. I content myself with the fact that you can't really see his neck when he's lying flat.

From the top, the scale texture needed to be feathered into the back of the head. Working around the horns and arm was a complication, but I came close enough for casual inspection. Fix with paint!

Finally, a pair of "finished" sculpting shots! The waist also took a bit of green stuff, but it was purely for gap filling and matched into the belt, so it's not worth pictures just dedicated towards it.

I forgot to shoot an angle from the right side of Cadfrwydr's body, so I've done that now.

Finally, Cadfrwydr next to a primed Aradae. Greatness! Now, to prime and start the painting. Any preferences for the colors?