Wraithlord - Part I

I did a thing.

To add to the pile of in-progress projects, I was rather inspired to slightly modify a Wraithlord that was standing about in boxes of spares. I hope the original owner (you know who you are) will not mind. The original pose always looked a little to statuesque for my liking, and was at odds with what are supposed to be graceful war machines. I have a small jewellery saw from working on Contemptor dreadnoughts, and I figured this shouldn't be too difficult.

I wasn't sure what pose to do: one leg crouched, or both legs bent. The former goes with a swordsman look, the latter a hunter in waiting. I figured this was not the sort of thing to be pouncing on prey, so went with the swordsman look - and it also was easier to only carve away at one of the knees.

Taking the model apart as best I could first, I cut through select areas to make it easier: the shoulders (and shoulder guards), the legs at the hips, the ankles (part cut, part rip & tear), and the shoulder weapon. The hands separated at the wrists easily enough, but the feet needed to be carved off the prior base. The head and loincloth also just popped off - most of the model was stuck with superglue I suspect, making some of this much easier. The model's right knee took the most effort and some very careful cuts with the saw, but I managed to salvage the knee itself which would later cover up pinning to bend the leg.

Stripping the model was fairly simple. I tried kitchen degreaser first, and that worked mildly ok - but probably needed several days. I didn't have such patience and decided to give isopropyl alcohol a go (aka rubbing alcohol) and that worked a treat - used outside for good ventilation, gloves on, and a very old brush.

And there the pieces remained for quite a long time. I was stuck on how to base it, which is critical if I wanted to have one leg bent and the other straight. I simply wasn't sure how I was going to setup the slope this would require, and I wasn't keen on buying materials that I wouldn't use much of. Then it occurred to me: Rylanor turned out alright and I still had some of the shattered dominion base left. I could use pieces of that, some putty, later texture paints and perhaps grass and flower tufts to build it up.

Difficulties in pinning have made some of the joints less than ideal, and in future I should definitely use some handy-hands and rubber clips to hold pieces in place to get an idea of the angle to drill. Pinning works best when the pin (paperclips in this case) are straight. The knee required some bending, and the arms, but the hips were a bit of a nightmare and I could have done a lot better. Also, better where possible to glue one end of the pin, then cover it in some putty before gluing the attaching part. This will push the putty more securely between the join and give a superior connection overall.

The forearms had something attached (not any weapons), but I felt they stuck out too much and were distracting and so removed them and filed things back. I'm not entirely sure if I'll fill in the gaps or leave them there for visual interest. I'll probably putty over it eventually. The loincloth no longer fit with the lowered stance, and I didn't want my lack of sculpting skills to try make a different one, so I simply shortened it with a dremel until it fit. The groin guard was also ever so slightly mismatched with the changed leg position and so has very small section removed either side. All of this adds extra silhouette volume to the lower areas; without this it might seem far to visually top-heavy.

The head isn't glued in place yet, and I'm thinking to add some hair dangling from the back perhaps - really not sure if that would add or detract from things. The shoulder weapon isn't glued in place yet either, but I think that will be the final pose - and I might want to pin that rather than relying on glue.

Once I've added some texture paints to the base (or sand, or whatever) and primed everything then I'll need to figure out which Craftworld. Probably Ulthwe. I'll also try really hard to lean on the airbrush a lot and not get carried away with details - while I could easily go overboard with painting, I do want to try move through models a bit quicker in future. I also have no plans to rush the rest once the model is assembled, so it might take a long while to reach part 2. Just depends on motivation and inspiration.

-- silly painter.