Space Hulk Diorama

And then Warren asked me to call him. This should have been my first warning that something was going on.

And then Warren actually showed up for the call. On time. My second warning.

And he had Lance with him. Warning number 3. When Sam casually dropped in to the call, I knew for sure that I would be spending a lot of time I do not have making stuff I probably couldn’t keep…

Well, actually, he had me at ‘Space Hulk Diorama’.

So, long story short: I am making a Diorama to celebrate the brand new Space Hulk: tactics video game (just because we all love terminators). There were a few limitations, though:

• It had to be awesome
• I was giving it away as a prize (making the need of awesomeness even bigger)
• I had to share my process online (which is fun, but takes up quite some time)
• It had to be finished by the end of November. Which gives me little over a month.

Oh boy…

So, let’s kick things off. First up: SHOPPING SPREE!

To close this first post off, let’s tease you guys with the little brief of what I had in mind, that I sent to Warren:

The basis of the build will be different platforms from the Sector Mechanicus range. I’ll be arranging them in steps, building up to a high point. For walls, I will use the supports from the same set. On the topmost platform, a Stormwolf is docked/jammed in between 2 walls. The front hatch is open, with Wolf Guard terminators charging out onto the platforms, immediately opening fire on the lurking Genestealers. The scene will be focused on the Space marines, with the hordes of genestealers being represented by single models, crawling over walls, attacking a marine or getting hit by heavy fire.

So, let’s see where this goes, right?

To start things off, I knew I needed a sound center piece to build everything around. I wouldn’t dare making a plinth (not with Lloyd watching), so I started with some of the gorgeous industrial terrain kits GW make.

First up, I needed walls. I like the columns from these sets for this. Mainly, because they are not completely closed. That means I can make walls that you can see through, which is ideal for a diorama like this.

The only thing is: they are too high to make it look like a confined space, so I cut out some bits.

And this is where things went wrong the first time. I was having fun, cutting and gluing stuff, completely forgetting I was supposed to be taking pictures. So yeah, all I can show you is a finished shot of the basis for the diorama.

Something special I did here, was this: I cut up an extra floor plate, so I could have parts of it raised. I want to have a definite downwards motion in the diorama, which begins with the main platform. And apart from that, it just looks cool, I think.

So, the idea of this was to have a squad of Wolf Guard crashlanding their ship into a space hulk, with them jumping out and starting to blast and slash around. That means, the first thing I need is a ship.

I got me a Storm Wolf (which, incidently, is literally made for this sort of missions). Then, I had to cut up those nice pillars I had constructed in the last step, to crash the ship through it. A bit of putty and some glue to secure everything in place and bob’s your uncle.

With the Stormwolf firmly in place, I needed to expand the platforms. Because 1 just wouldn’t be enough to fit everything on. And besides, it just doesn’t give that sense of winding and twisting corridors that a space hulk is.

Now there are 2 very important things to keep in mind when building a diorama like this.

The first one is that you try to get as many different level in there as possible. The more levels, the more organic it will look. And the more interesting

The other important thing is that you have to give some kind of overall direction to the project. If it’s just a couple of platforms bolted together, people won’t know where to look first. And that is a pitty. You have to guide their eyes through the end result.

If you look at the pictures of the 2 bits put together, you will see that I have put a definite downwards line in the diorama, starting with the stormwolf and going down to the lowest platform (which is still to come).

This makes it easier to see the diorama as a whole at first glance. It also emphasizes the feeling of terminators spilling out of the ship, crashing down on the hapless genestealers. (I might be rooting for the wrong guys here.)

Quick update. Small changes in the project.

I added a tank to the front of the structure. I pinned it in place (because there is little to no material touching at that point). This tank has 2 reasons. First up, it is a basis for an extra platform at the lowest level. Second (and probably even more important): it serves as a counterweight for the Stormwolf sticking out of the top part of the diorama.

After a frantic day of building yesterday, I am happy to say that the basic set-up of the battlefield/Space Hulk is done. It’s taken longer than expected and I am way behind on schedule, but we will see if we can make up for that in the coming days.

And to finish this stage off, I made a little video for you all.

Next up: Terminators!

Let me excuse myself before I start. The names of the characters will be horrible. I’m afraid I have way too little inspiration at the time for coming up with cool, manly names for the space wolves.

What I do have though is inspiration to glue some models together. Let’s start slowly.

First up is the sarge. Nothing too fancy for this first model. Just choosing the right arms and the right head. I didn’t think this guy needs all that much extra anyway. He is a great, fluffy looking model out of the box, with that huge wolf pelt draped around his shoulders.

The arms and the torso were pinned, as always. Mainly because it allows for a far greater posability, but I also used it to make the models a bit bulkier. I added a few millimeters to the height of the model in this way and the different posing of the arms makes them look that little more buff.

I then filled the joins with green stuff. Finishing step was the addition of a nozzle flare for the storm bolter. A simple matter af putting some brass rods in the barrel and then sculpting the flare around those.

And presto, my first terminator was done.

A lot of work done, I just haven’t had enough time to post some progress here.

The second terminator was the heavy weapon specialist. I thought about giving him an assault gun (because it is such an epic weapon), but in the end decided to go for the heavy flamer. Mainly because it is so much fun to sculpt flames.

As with the sarge, I started by pinning and glueing the model. Not much special to do with the pose, the fun stuff would all be in the flames.

Next, I added 2 brass rods to the nozzle of the flamer. I bored 2 holes in a gene stealer and skewered him onto the rods, making sure that they were not completely parallel, but diverging a bit. Once the flames get sculpted on, this will give the feeling of the fire dispersing as it travels away from the nozzles.

I then put some green stuff on the ends of the brass rods and let it cure overnight. This is mainly so the green stuff that you sculpt your flames with has something to hold onto. If you sculpt directly onto your brass rod, your green stuff will start twisting and turning around the brass.

And then for the fun part: sculpting flames on the thing. All in all a rather simple, but very effective looking model.

See that cool piece of artwork I have used as the main picture for this project? Well, it wasn’t chosen by accident. I loved this pose so much, that I thought I’d rebuild it in 3D.

First, I glued the terminator. Some pinning and repositioning was needed to get the pose just right. Next, I drilled 4 holes into the body of the gene stealer. some trimming on the belly of the beastie and presto, I could easily slide the genestealer over the claws.

And that is about the moment where I got lost into my cutting and gluing, forgetting to take WIP pictures. Not that is too much special. Just cutting and straightening the arms and hands of the gene stealer, mainly. And pinning and positioning the head just right. And presto, the third terminator was done.