Self-Build Contest

Announcing the Contest

After seeing the Bell of Lost Soul’s post about GW’s Halloween “Streets of the Dead” activity ( http://belloflostsouls.blogspot.com/2008/11/battle-report-streets-of-dead.html ), I feel particularly inspired to build a miniature of myself for similar games.  In order to force myself to get this project done, I am going to invite all of our readers, young and old, to participate in an “Andy’s Blog Contest.”  The following are the basic rules of which I’ve thought.  “Entrants” may submit;

(a) any pictures of a single, non-vehicle model

(b) that is both humanoid* and 40k-centric**, and

(c) that represents the creators persona in some facet.

(d) Entries should be submitted before January 1st, 2009, and

(e) equipment-load out should be legal under some army list***.

( *: if you are a Tyranid Monstrous Creature, Greater Daemon, or C’Tan, please use some manner of possession to incorporate your personage into an approximately humanoid form/size.  Bikes, cavalry, jet packs, Crisis suits, and so forth are acceptable.  **: for at least this first contest I’d like to keep it in the realm of Warhammer 40,000, staying away from WFB, LOTR, etc.  Necromunda would be fine, but let’s not do BFG, except officers on board, etc.  Use your imagination, but keep it within the 28mm 40k universe.  ***: this is meant as a more loose restriction than it might initially seem, but I’d like to stay away from battlecannons or three two-handed weapons, etc.) [Andy Says: Feel free to ignore this one. I know I will. :)]

Submissions will be posted on the blog and, who knows, there might be a winner and that winner might receive something, maybe.  But above all, have fun.  Comment here and we’ll e-mail you to that unpublished address you provide.

This isn’t my entry (but he might be closely related…), so just for inspiration:

Shotgun-toting

Andy’s Early Entry

Ah yes, the “contest.”

Q: What is there to win?

A: Nothing!

Q: What makes it a contest?

A: Quiet you!

So here is my early entry. I figure, if I were a space marine, this is me. Totally. Have you ever had that day at work where you feel like you have to do everything yourself? Happens to me all the time. So I thought, what marine can do everything himself? Presto!

Yes, that is a Dreadnought heavy flamer on a powerfist. Yes, he is holding a plasma gun. And yes, he has a combat knife between his teeth. I like to be prepared. In addition to this, he’s going to have a jump pack.

Q: Why?

A: Because.

Anyway, this was mostly to see if I could pull it off. Yes, yes I can. I’ll be doing some bitz shopping to make an actual entry, and hopefully I’ll have it in before the deadline. If anyone out there has anything that looks like a hoodie, (Or a ‘hooded sweatshirt’ for those of you who may not be familiar with the colloquialism) let me know. I’ll happily purchase some bitz from you. :)

See the post below for the “rules” and don’t forget to build! We wanna see you in a game!

-Andy

Other Updates

actually have been busy with a lot lately, so forgive me for not getting pictures up sooner.  First, just a teaser photo of my friend, Aaron’s, “self-building” project, based on the Cato Sicarius model.

 

My own project and my brother’s are both coming along well, too.  Here’s a peak of a planning drawing:

Hair Sculpts

Aaron and Keenan have finished building themselves and we have even sculpted hair onto them as befits their own looks, and it looks good.

More Modeling Done

Just a sneak peak of the soon-to-be-finished self-build contest models.  More to come once they’re painted…

Andy: Built

So, unlike Ian, I didn’t get all crazy with mine. There are a few reasons for this:

1) No green stuff. Yeah. It sucks.

2) Work. Yeah. It sucks.

3) The final pieces arrived on the 27th of December. That didn’t suck so much, as I was worried I’d miss the deadline altogether.

As I write this, it’s 0130 on Dec. 30, 2008. For those of you keeping track at home, that’s 47.5 hours away from the deadline. Wow. With any luck, this will be coated when I wake up, and painted… sometime before the deadline. Here’s to hoping.

All in all though, I am happy with the model. I think once it gets some color, it’ll look a lot better.

-Andy

Andy’s Entry

Well, here we go. As I’ll be unable to work on it anymore before the first, I decided to get as much done as possible in one day. It still needs another coat of paint on the jeans and some details picked out, (especially the autogun… needs more black to make it M-16 like.)  but it’s good enough for now.

Other than the orange decoration, that’s how I dress. Very plain. The beard turned out better than I’d hoped.

If you have an entry, leave a comment and we’ll contact you by email. Or, you can link to it in your comment. You have to post it before 12:00 am US Central Time (GMT -6) Jan. 1st, 2009. We’ll do another full post with all the entries after the New Year. Cheers!

Ian’s Entry and More

There’s little else like the completion of a project, and it gives me pleasure to bring to you the following three entries to the Self-Build contest (deadline coming up, see previous entry).  They were all painted with concerted effort this evening, and in the end, even though I was somewhat disappointed with the modeling of my own self-model, I think the paint job redeems it to me.  I hope the picture quality can convey the time spent on these models!

First, my own model.

Of particular note for this model: the sculpted beard and hair, the sculpted giant pretzel (back of the base), and the sleeves are in a blue/black/gray camouflage scheme.  It’s also an important model for me because it marks the first time I’ve painted irises successfully (admittedly, though, I didn’t risk pupils).

Second, my brother Keenan’s (he’s Tau, just like his army):

Although it’s hard to see in this picture, on the right shoulder there’s a sculpted cockatiel that comes close to matching this Fire Warrior’s hair color.  The model is made up of various pieces from different ranges, including a Warhammer Empire militiaman torso, a Kroot satchel, and a decorative skull from the Assault on Black Reach set.  It’s painted in a scheme close enough that it could be used without shame in the owner’s Tau Empire army.  I’ll let you know, too, that besides the lack of a nose it does look quite like the artist himself.

Finally, I have a second submission, a model I made of my friend Tom (we don’t have to count it in the judging, for sake of fairness – maybe it’s just a good match for Andy’s outrageous character build earlier: see above).

Built primarily from Imperial Guard pieces, this model is perhaps the least directly representative of the individual it was built to render (sadly; and although I could blame it on a lack of appropriate bits I should also probably blame my unwillingness to sculpt parts from scratch).  I’d like to point out two things about this model.  First: yes, the flamethrower does have a bayonet attached.  Second, the object on the base is a turnip from Mario 2, custom-sculpted of course.  One could say Tom is a bit of a gamer.

As I mentioned before, I’m very pleased with how these three models turned out.

So, as Andy requested, let’s see some entries from our other readers!

The Contest’s End?

Happy New Year

And with the beginning of 2009 comes the end of the self-build contest.  We received five completed entries, and although many of them are visible in earlier postings I will repost them here for convenience and viewing pleasure.  In the order of receipt, we have Andy, Ian, Keenan, Tom, and Admiral Drax.

    

Drax’s highly detailed model, including converted glasses and many other personal signifiers, I find brilliant.  He’s posted several good pictures alongside an examination of the piece on his blog: http://admiraldrax.blogspot.com/2008/12/074-me-after-fashion.html.  Be sure to stop by and check it out!

We also received one rather mysterious “work-in-progress” piece that some may recognize from previous entries as the self-build of my friend Aaron.  There’s still a lot of painting work to do (“obviously,” he says) but in lieu of any further entries please enjoy this small, blurry shot.

And this brings a close to this “contest.”  I think that all the models turned out really well, and I am particularly impressed by the works of others.  It feels good to finish something, especially when surrounded by unfinished and waiting armies.

But even then…

Andy and I were discussing the idea of expanding ths contest significantly.  Now that the basic figures are done, what if we included their rides?  Here’s what we were thinking:

•Using the self-build individual model as a guide, participants should create, build and paint a companion vehicle or riding creature.

•The vehicle should have obvious tie-ins to the model and should be explainable by either faction or background (i.e., if your character is riding a chained Carnifex, you’d better be able to tell the story!).

•Contest deadline is initially set at August 1, 2009.

If you missed the opportunity to participate in this early phase of the contest, don’t let that stop you from whipping something up this time around!  We’d love to see your entries, and I foresee quite the modeling future for my own Leman Russ Exte — well, maybe I should keep that a secret for now…

P.S. Here’s another look at Drax’s sweet model: 

 

Self-Build Vehicle: Leman Russ Exterminator

So, after a long hiatus of any work done on my Imperial Guard army, I finished painting a Leman Russ Exterminator.  And not just any Exterminator, but the very one planned to be used in the Self-Build contest as my model’s vehicle equivalent.  The color scheme, thus, was designed to match my Self-Build model rather than the Volyak Rifles color scheme.

In the images above, I tried to capture the vehicle from several angles, and included a rather washed out image with flash to show the not-entirely even coating of Shadow Gray over the black undercoat.  This not-so-regular mottled/sponged pattern gives the model some depth, which I eventually acquiesced in and decided not to try to cover up with lots of even coats.  The pictures are not the best – it’s a dark, gloomy, rainy day here – but I hope you can get the idea of the model.  I also included a few of this vehicle with my Self-Build.