Hello again! Last time, I had just wrapped up the build on the first two assassins I made from the Crimson Court models. The last model in the trio I’ve hacked up is called Prince Duvall. I wasn’t really sure how I wanted to edit this model when I got them in my hands. I really enjoyed the pose, and that open left hand was great. So great, in fact, that I clipped it right off to use on another project. I’ve made a few Vindicare additions to the YOD narrative and loved the idea of a pistol-slinging sort of specialist. What would that be like? More guns? More targeting bionics? How did a ballistic element(like pistols or small arms) fit into the Cenobite aesthetic? Pistol Assassin just sounded cool. While I continued work on the other two models, I had fallen into some additional Adeptus Mechanicus bits stock. Going through that, I came across the pistol arm (Macrostubber) of a Tech-Priest Dominus, and the creative gears were turning. Also in this newly acquired bits stockpile were some extra little mechanical loader arms from some Kataphron Breachers that reminded me of the droid arm blasters on the back of Migs Mayfield, an ex-sharpshooter mercenary character in the recent Mandalorian series. That inspired a lot of this build, and here’s how I went about it.
I started by creating a shim point for the Magos’ gun arm to attach to the forearm stump of the Prince model from some plastic sheeting. This was done by cutting a circular shape and then adding a rectangle beneath the struts of the mechanical forearm. The right hand and gun (Archeo-Revolver) are from the Serberys Raiders kit. All this stuff is stitched together pretty quick and rough with plastic glues. Next, I picked a head from the new Archo-Flagellant kit and carefully snipped the wire couplings attached to the back of the head as close and cleanly as I could so it would fit properly. I originally had hoped to build this off a copper wire I could remove in a sub-assembly for easier painting, but at some point, I succumbed to impatience and glued that thing in with some thick super glue. Sometimes I have to remind myself to choose my battles and move forward. This would prove to be a better option in maintaining the original pose. After this was in, I stacked more thick copper wires and guitar string around the main neck pin. I tried to bend and position these pieces like the muscles of the character’s neck. With these details pinned in, I snipped off the horned details on the backs of his shoulder pads at the edge of the gilded top section. These horns were close enough to the same diameter of the little ammo loader arms (Kataphron) that I could sell them as the pivot points of a mechanically driven las pistol arm. These pieces fit easily with a bit of testing by halving the last knuckle of the arm and attaching it at the cut edge of the shoulder pad. I used the business ends of some Escher Laspistols for the gun bodies and filled the missing detail with some more plastic card. In hindsight, these details may have been better on some removable pins for easier handling and painting, but I was going with the flow, I suppose.
Like the last two models, I wanted to add some power source elements to the armor they were sporting. I cut all the tassels and tubes from a Sicarian Ruststalker backpack and flipped it upside down. The inverted Adeptus Mechanicus emblem is a common element in all of the Dark Mechanicus and YOD models I’ve made in the past. I would stand by the tradition, plus the top barrel of the backpack fit better like a mechanical fanny pack. The stack of Ad Mech bits had some resin guns in holsters that resembled Archeo-Revolvers; I’m not sure what kit these were from. I shaved off the Ad-Mech emblems, and then I carefully snipped off the gun handles, trying to preserve at least the buckle portion at the lip of the holster. Then, again very carefully, drilled out the portion in the bit where the pistols would be. The idea here is to fashion these as empty holsters for our gunfighters drawn weaponry. After these are where I like them, I try to create a place on the model where the resin holsters can connect securely. It sometimes helps me mark the model with a little white paint to show me what material needs to be removed. When it’s dried a bit, I’ll slice off the painted area and repeat. When these pieces fit snuggly and are positioned correctly, I glue them together with thick super glue. I was extra lazy and forgot to drill out half of the barrels on the weapons here, so I carefully took care of those and started mixing in some Magic Sculpt and Green Stuff to smooth out the transitions.
Nothing too crazy sculpting-wise here. I beefed out the neck to look like the wiring was coming to and from sections of the neck flesh. This was pretty simple, stuffing the mix in and smoothing it into the form of the head or neck. I also filled the area connecting to the collar of the armor. I also smoothed out the back of one of the lasgun bodies, the missing details on the holsters, and the connections of the power pack on the back of the armor. I spent a little more time here, creating sculpted wire connections at the top and right sides. I was rather sad to destroy the beautiful crushed statue head this dude was standing on. It was also a bit of a tragedy to turn it into another overdone rock for a GW model to stand on, but this is rock-crete debris from a grenade explosion…on a spaceship. Anyway, I fill the jagged nipper marks on the trimmed down “rock” with the remaining putty mixture and use a knife to shape it into angular shapes in a jagged broken rock fashion. Now it was on to the bases.
I’ve created a few models detailing the YOD Deathcult so far, and the narrative around these models involves an altercation on a derelict, warp tainted ship. I wanted the bases to resemble the industrial floor details similar to the popular Necromunda zone bases, but at a strange, sort of disoriented angle. I wanted it to appear as if the characters were traversing the warped interior of a long daemon-possessed ship, littered with body parts old and new. Pictured above is an example of what I’m talking about. The key here was getting the existing details of a normal Necromunda base to lay at an angle skewed slightly from the surface beneath the model.
Pretty simple job. I started with a normal 32mm base and a Necromunda 32mm base. I remove the ring riser from the Necromunda base with some larger nips and cut out a few select areas to add a few recesses and pipe details. Here, I try to make sure the circular shapes that can sit at an angle and still be within the 32mm ring.
I started by attaching the ground texture ring with a small chunk of plumber’s putty. This stuff is cured rock hard in less than 20 minutes, so I have to work fast here. When I’ve got the floor skewed at an angle I like, I add a few different gages of plastic tube to the removed section of flooring, attaching them with a bit of thicker plastic cement. When that’s set, I mix small portions of the plumbers putty and fill the gaps between the floor and the base, keeping the addition somewhat flush with the floor and the solid base edge. I make sure to clean out the grooved sections and the details beneath the added pipe. After I’m happy with the fill, I smooth it down a bit with some sanding pads. Now it was on to attaching the models to their bases and adding the mess they have created.
At the onset of this project, I was trying to lean into the Cenobite vibes that inspired the whole YOD Deathcult idea. I always loved the visage of stoic characters in a dark room strewn with gore, and this was my chance. To help create the scenes, I would imagine that they were entering an area one of them had just disrupted with a grenade or just an overwhelming amount of sheer destruction: rubble, shards of a mechanical interface, and body parts. I used the classic ghastly torso and guts from what I believe is an old zombie kit, as well as a pox-walker hand and some corners of mechanical terrain pieces. I used quite a few pieces of plastic sheeting I’ve pressed between some flat pliers to give it a varied thickness making sure to flatten the edges of each cut piece. If I cut it into the correct shapes, I can use it for a flayed flesh effect. Attaching it with plastic glue, I scatter a few of these pieces around the base and under some of the model’s feet. I also add a few chunks of plastic from old model kits to act as debris. After I have all the main gross details where I need them, I use a product from Squadron Products called Green Putty. This stuff goes on well for me with a knife for some chunky detail that can be moved around slightly but cures pretty fast and hard. I think its primary use is for gap filling in scale modeling, kind of like liquid green stuff. I can move this stuff around to fill some gaps and add some chunky gore texture around the debris and flesh. After it dry (20-ish minutes), I can tease it a bit with a pin to rough and flay the layers more. Now I needed to fix the models to the base before final textures and priming. First, I mark the foot placement where the models need to be on the bases with a fine tip red Sharpie marker. I’ll then use some heavy body white acrylic paint on a toothpick to mark the pinholes I have already drilled into the feet. I then pressed the feet carefully onto their marked places on the base. If I placed the paint correctly, the pinhole mark would be applied to the base. I’ll then drill holes through the white marks on the bases allowing the pins on the feet to pass through, acting as a placeholder for the model to be taken on and off the base. This helps me a lot with the final texture phases with fine sand and PVA glue. After the PVA sets up, I can push the pins back up out of the model, maintaining the textures around their feet and masking any gaps in their connections.
At this point, I felt ready to prime these monsters. A few coats of black and grey Stynylrez primer showed me all the details together for the first time. From here, I’ll find every little mold line and imperfection and go from there with any edits or repairs.
That’s where I’ll leave you. Until next time, when I go through the painting process with a simple black recipe and some cool blood effects to tie all the details together. Thanks for following along. You can find me and all my spots on Instagram @witchhammerstudio. Follow me for more, and I’ll see you in the Grimdark.
How to Build and Paint Grimdark: YOD Deathcult Assassins 01
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