Well, I finally got back to the Wolverine. I really want to get this one done so I going to try and devote most of my attention to it. I added some more hull details and started on the turret. The original design just has a simple rectangular box with another box section attached to the back, but I decided to up the ante a bit and make it more curvy reflecting the forward hull section.
And some detailing on the bottom.
Also, did some work on the Spartius. The turret on this one is a little more tricky blending that shape together in the back. One thing I don't like is the way it's offset to the side. I'm not a big fan of asymmetrical designs, it's the same way on the Horatius.
And of coarse a nice comparison render with the Romulus APC.
I finally got a few days off from work so I'm gonna devote some of the time to this project. Got inspired to fiddle with the Lupis.
The Lupis has a lot of grav coils powering it so that explains why it's one of the fastest APC's on the battlefield.
I'm not going to model the interiors of any of the vehicles, but I wanted to show this one with the doors up. As you can see, even though the Lupis is relatively small compared to other Tanks/APC's, it's still pretty spacious in the back of the main troop compartment. A standard infantry squad is made up of four legionnaires, so there's plenty of room for supplies and equipment. Also the eight doors (four per side) allows for rapid on and off loading of personnel in a hot combat zone.
Some of the details are just blocked in, but I'm nearing the end of this particular model. I think I would like to try and export this into Substance Painter once done and give it a nice paint job.
As an added bonus, I'm including an auxiliary vehicle I call the Chariot. It's named in honor of the Lost In Space land ram. Also, it seems fitting considering that TOG's society is based on an Ancient Roman theme. The Chariot is based on the Lupis chassis and is used as a grav supply vehicle. Back when I started this project, I got into a discussion about the need for such a vehicle, and so I went ahead and whipped one up. It only has defensive weaponry in the form of two anti-personnel lasers and a Vulcan 2 anti-missile gatling gun. Also, the doors are replaced by two large sliding panels.
After digging out the Chariot, I decided to call up a few more models. These are the last two that I've built so far but yet to showcase in this thread. The Aeneas and Vespasian. Both are TOG light tanks.
The Aeneas is the standard combat vehicle and counterpart to the Wolverine. Despite the Wolverine's large complement of missiles, most experts believe it is no match for the Aeneas in a head-to-head contest.
The Vespasian is primarily a Hunter-Killer tank. It is tasked with acting as a screening vehicle for advancing formations and destroying any other light tanks it may come across. It is armed with a 150mm Gauss cannon, which is unusual for a light tank, making it well suited for this role.
Although both models were considered finished, I'm including them here because I want to make some component updates and additions. For example, I'm exercising artistic license by adding a Vulcan III to the Vespasian even though it's not officially in the vehicle stats. I just think it looks cool.
I have a several more vehicles I have to get to, most importantly the CW/RL Viper light APC, and then I plan on turning my attention to some Interceptors.
Finally got started on the last model of the main ten armored vehicles....the Nah Tikal or Viper Light APC.
So far, it's mostly just blocked in at this stage and I'm concentrating on the back end and turret because those areas are pretty easy. The front end will be a real challenge, however, and I'm not yet sure how I'm going to tackle it.
As you can see, it has a lot of similarities with the Wolverine due to the fact that both where designed by Naram engineers. The Naram are a humanoid race with factions allied with both the Commonwealth and TOG.
Another fun fact, is that the Viper also shares a design trait with the enemy Lupis. Both have the same turret! In illustrations and on the miniatures, they are identical. The only time this is not the case is on the vehicle ortho drawings which show the Lupis's turret to be asymmetrical and the 25mm cannon mounted to the side.
I was originally just going to fudge it and use the same one on both models, but once I got going on the Viper, I decided I had to go the extra mile and now I'm in the process of re-working the Lupis even though it goes against my earlier practice of favoring the miniatures as my main source of reference.
After checking back on my references, I realized I got the turret on the Spartius somewhat wrong. So I spent a few hours over the weekend re-working that and some other things.
Did some minor work on one of the turret's TVLG missile launchers. For some reason the design has a door covering the missile tubes, which I believe makes little sense, since the other two launchers are open. So I'm just skipping it and leaving it as shown.
And I joined parts of the hull into one piece and hollowed it out for the troop compartment. I'm not quite sure how the door operates except maybe as a lowering ramp configuration, we'll see. I also added recesses in the hull on either side of the door which you see just above and behind the "R" symbol....I think it adds a little more pizzaz to that area.
Here's an image from the Centurion Manual. It's the only good sketch illustration of the Spartius, but unfortunately doesn't show how the door works.
If I ever manage to make decent character models of the legionnaires, I'd like to try and recreate this image (and others) in 3D. There's so many great works of art in these books which is one of things that made me a fan in the first place.
Btw, if you are wondering why the guy on the left appears to be floating in mid air, its because infantry in grav legions are equipped with personal grav belts that allow them to jump long distances in order to keep up with their vehicles. This is why they are often referred to as "bounce" infantry. Although, he seems a bit gung-ho if you ask me!
Glad to see that you are stll at it and really looking forward for the vehicles with paint job. The RenLeg group members will have their eyes popping out!
Glad to see that you are stll at it and really looking forward for the vehicles with paint job. The RenLeg group members will have their eyes popping out!
Thanks. Hopefully I can dress these guys up nicely, but my texturing skills are still pretty basic at this time. I've also been collecting a bunch of images of people's physical models to get some ideas of how I may want them to look, but it will definitely be a learning process, lol.
Depending on the model, I may try to do some procedurally and others in Substance Painter, and see which give the better results.
Posts
Well, I finally got back to the Wolverine. I really want to get this one done so I going to try and devote most of my attention to it. I added some more hull details and started on the turret. The original design just has a simple rectangular box with another box section attached to the back, but I decided to up the ante a bit and make it more curvy reflecting the forward hull section.
And some detailing on the bottom.
Also, did some work on the Spartius. The turret on this one is a little more tricky blending that shape together in the back. One thing I don't like is the way it's offset to the side. I'm not a big fan of asymmetrical designs, it's the same way on the Horatius.
And of coarse a nice comparison render with the Romulus APC.
I finally got a few days off from work so I'm gonna devote some of the time to this project. Got inspired to fiddle with the Lupis.
The Lupis has a lot of grav coils powering it so that explains why it's one of the fastest APC's on the battlefield.
I'm not going to model the interiors of any of the vehicles, but I wanted to show this one with the doors up. As you can see, even though the Lupis is relatively small compared to other Tanks/APC's, it's still pretty spacious in the back of the main troop compartment. A standard infantry squad is made up of four legionnaires, so there's plenty of room for supplies and equipment. Also the eight doors (four per side) allows for rapid on and off loading of personnel in a hot combat zone.
Some of the details are just blocked in, but I'm nearing the end of this particular model. I think I would like to try and export this into Substance Painter once done and give it a nice paint job.
As an added bonus, I'm including an auxiliary vehicle I call the Chariot. It's named in honor of the Lost In Space land ram. Also, it seems fitting considering that TOG's society is based on an Ancient Roman theme. The Chariot is based on the Lupis chassis and is used as a grav supply vehicle. Back when I started this project, I got into a discussion about the need for such a vehicle, and so I went ahead and whipped one up. It only has defensive weaponry in the form of two anti-personnel lasers and a Vulcan 2 anti-missile gatling gun. Also, the doors are replaced by two large sliding panels.
The Aeneas is the standard combat vehicle and counterpart to the Wolverine. Despite the Wolverine's large complement of missiles, most experts believe it is no match for the Aeneas in a head-to-head contest.
The Vespasian is primarily a Hunter-Killer tank. It is tasked with acting as a screening vehicle for advancing formations and destroying any other light tanks it may come across. It is armed with a 150mm Gauss cannon, which is unusual for a light tank, making it well suited for this role.
Although both models were considered finished, I'm including them here because I want to make some component updates and additions. For example, I'm exercising artistic license by adding a Vulcan III to the Vespasian even though it's not officially in the vehicle stats. I just think it looks cool.
I have a several more vehicles I have to get to, most importantly the CW/RL Viper light APC, and then I plan on turning my attention to some Interceptors.
That'll be fun!
Finally got started on the last model of the main ten armored vehicles....the Nah Tikal or Viper Light APC.
So far, it's mostly just blocked in at this stage and I'm concentrating on the back end and turret because those areas are pretty easy. The front end will be a real challenge, however, and I'm not yet sure how I'm going to tackle it.
As you can see, it has a lot of similarities with the Wolverine due to the fact that both where designed by Naram engineers. The Naram are a humanoid race with factions allied with both the Commonwealth and TOG.
Another fun fact, is that the Viper also shares a design trait with the enemy Lupis. Both have the same turret! In illustrations and on the miniatures, they are identical. The only time this is not the case is on the vehicle ortho drawings which show the Lupis's turret to be asymmetrical and the 25mm cannon mounted to the side.
I was originally just going to fudge it and use the same one on both models, but once I got going on the Viper, I decided I had to go the extra mile and now I'm in the process of re-working the Lupis even though it goes against my earlier practice of favoring the miniatures as my main source of reference.
After checking back on my references, I realized I got the turret on the Spartius somewhat wrong. So I spent a few hours over the weekend re-working that and some other things.
Did some minor work on one of the turret's TVLG missile launchers. For some reason the design has a door covering the missile tubes, which I believe makes little sense, since the other two launchers are open. So I'm just skipping it and leaving it as shown.
And I joined parts of the hull into one piece and hollowed it out for the troop compartment. I'm not quite sure how the door operates except maybe as a lowering ramp configuration, we'll see. I also added recesses in the hull on either side of the door which you see just above and behind the "R" symbol....I think it adds a little more pizzaz to that area.
Here's an image from the Centurion Manual. It's the only good sketch illustration of the Spartius, but unfortunately doesn't show how the door works.
If I ever manage to make decent character models of the legionnaires, I'd like to try and recreate this image (and others) in 3D. There's so many great works of art in these books which is one of things that made me a fan in the first place.
Btw, if you are wondering why the guy on the left appears to be floating in mid air, its because infantry in grav legions are equipped with personal grav belts that allow them to jump long distances in order to keep up with their vehicles. This is why they are often referred to as "bounce" infantry. Although, he seems a bit gung-ho if you ask me!
Thanks. Hopefully I can dress these guys up nicely, but my texturing skills are still pretty basic at this time. I've also been collecting a bunch of images of people's physical models to get some ideas of how I may want them to look, but it will definitely be a learning process, lol.
Depending on the model, I may try to do some procedurally and others in Substance Painter, and see which give the better results.