Classic Tyranid Vehicle Sculpts - Harridan WIP 25/06/05

[Cait Sidhe]

So among the projects I'll eventually get around to painting is a Tyranid 2nd Edition force I've built up over the years. I've always wanted a couple of the old Armorcast resin "vehicles" they did at the time, particularly the Malefactor, but given they're pretty rare and go for £100+ I've never gotten one. The original is below for those not familiar with them:



Having bought a 3D printer last year and running it pretty much ever since, I got the idea to see if I could make my own homemade version. After playing around for 20 minutes or so I managed to come up with this sorry thing...



...but I realised I could probably knock something up with a proper reference... so after getting the proportions right...



I've worked on it over the last week and while it's it's not an exact copy I feel it's pretty recognisable as a Malefactor so pretty happy with it. Pics with one of the arms hidden so it can actually be seen:



and the full thing...



Haven't gotten to printing it yet as my printer is set up for smaller miniatures and is having some... issues.

[fred]

Looking good - I have a number of epic sized Malefactors - will be interested to see how big a 40k sized one is!

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Looks good to me, although the Epic metal ones (and all of that style of "snail crawler" biotanks) had distinct ridges visible on at ground level where you've got a smooth look going.  I always assumed the sculptor was trying to either show the ripples in the "foot" of the snail "drive system" as it moved or the things were actually walking around on countless smaller pseudopods instead of one big one.  The armored carapace went all the way back on the metals too with no exposed fleshy bits at the back, just that glimpse at the sides below the Tyranid version of track guard armor.  The Armorcast sculpt changed that though, and yours looks faithful to that.

So, now that you've got the basic body shape drafted, when do we get to see the Haruspex, Exocrine, and long-lost Dactylis designs? 

If it isn't obvious I loved the Epic Tyranid sculpts, particular the incredibly varied ones from the Epic 40K era of the game system.  Wish the folks over at Vanguard miniatures would give them the same treatment their definitely-not-Imperials, Orcs, Chaos and Eldar have gotten.

[Cait Sidhe]

Looks good to me, although the Epic metal ones (and all of that style of "snail crawler" biotanks) had distinct ridges visible on at ground level where you've got a smooth look going.  I always assumed the sculptor was trying to either show the ripples in the "foot" of the snail "drive system" as it moved or the things were actually walking around on countless smaller pseudopods instead of one big one.  The armored carapace went all the way back on the metals too with no exposed fleshy bits at the back, just that glimpse at the sides below the Tyranid version of track guard armor.  The Armorcast sculpt changed that though, and yours looks faithful to that.

Well... now that I look at my reference again it seems the tail end is armoured, it's just the person painted it the same colour as the foot and I didn't pay attention to the textures...



Oh well, it's not entirely identical anyway and I kinda like the slug foot look.

...and yes bolstered by this success I fully intend to cut it's face off and have a go at an Exocrine, Haruspex and even maybe a Dactylis. They all have slightly different back ends but since I'm not going for exact match I'll just change the spikes for like fins on the dactylis etc.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

If you do decide to do more (something 3D printing ought to make easier, right?  just modify the original file?) there's a pretty good photo reference to the Epic ones here:

http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Epic_Tyranid_-_Collectors_Guide

[fred]

If you want photos of the Epic ones, let me know, I have some of the GW ones in my collection, definitely Malefactor and Haruspex.

As to other sources of epic scaled ones, have a look at Winter’s Bioforge over in France, very nice resin versions of Dactylis and Exocrine. A little larger than the originals, but very much epic sized.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

As to other sources of epic scaled ones, have a look at Winter’s Bioforge over in France, very nice resin versions of Dactylis and Exocrine. A little larger than the originals, but very much epic sized.

Fantastic BFG bioships too, but are they still actively selling?  Hasn't been an update there in about four years, and I never heard back when I tried to get in touch about three years back.

[fred]

I don’t know - last email I have is from the end of 2018

[Cait Sidhe]

Well took a bit longer but I whacked the front (head?) off the malefactor and made an Exocrine. Pretty happy with it in the end... onto the Haruspex I guess.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Looks good to me.  Fond memories of getting into company level tank battles against IG Russ tanks and Marine Land Raiders with those things back when Epic was hot.

[Cait Sidhe]

...and the round out the original Armourcast vehicles the Haruspex. Didn't take quite as long as the others but it is the only one with a face and it shows... Couldn't get it quite right. Also not sure about the textures on the claws and acid jets but I saved a version without.




...and a complete shot with both arms.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Looks good.  And once again I'm struck by the fact that the current GW Haruspex sculpt is kind of ridiculous looking.



"These things would be a lot harder to kill if they'd stop everting their vital organs like that."  - Deathwatch Sergeant Maximus Pragmaticus

Not that it's alone in that.



"I suppose growing a half-dozen extra brains is helpful for channeling psychic energy, but maybe next time you should evolve a bigger skull too so they can all fit inside it?"  - Deathwatch Sergeant Maximus Pragmaticus



"Look, I don't like to harp on about this but having holes in your skull that open directly onto your soft, squishy brain is really just making things too easy for us."  - Deathwatch Sergeant Maximus Pragmaticus

You going to tackle the Dactylis, aka the Baseball Pitcher From Hell?

[Cait Sidhe]

"These things would be a lot harder to kill if they'd stop everting their vital organs like that."  - Deathwatch Sergeant Maximus Pragmaticus

  To be fair, the old Zoanthrope had exposed fleshy brain bits.

You going to tackle the Dactylis, aka the Baseball Pitcher From Hell?

I will do, probably going to be a bit more work though. The original imho is the most crudely designed/sculpted out of the tanks. Like the bit where it supposedly pulls the projectiles from is just a blob with circles drawn on so it's going to take more work to make it look decent... probably base the growths on spore mines or something.

[Cait Sidhe]

Well, finally finished the Dactylis and it was a slog. The 40k scale Dactylis wasn't made by Armorcast and instead by Forgeworld (not the current one) who also had licences to produce resin 40k vehicles. The sculpt is really quite crude, all the extra detail they added over the Epic one is awful. In the end I kinda mixed elements of both the 40k and Epic Dactylis and just made up the arms based on the previous 'nids I did.



I originally put tendrils on the spore mine, as below, but they were a pain to pose on the arms so just turned them into the original ball ammunition but with frag spore mine details.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Ah, there's my favorite of the Epic bio-vehicle designs.  Your version looks good to me, certainly better than the lackluster old-FW one.