The Artscale project

 So, for the last... forever... i've been fixated, like many others, on the size of the space marine miniatures. Its always been obvious that they aren't to scale with the size they are meant to be, or in proportion to your expected (and even illustrated) body type. Not meaning to body shame our Astartes friends, but there is a lot of weirdness going on with the models. The Primaris seem to be much better than their brethren yet to cross the Rubicon yet i still want to have a "to scale" force. 

The beginning

Some years ago i put together a very simple sculpt of a Space Marine body at what i believe was right. It was all sculpted at 1:56th scale (the nearest equivalent to 28mm, though i'm sure that there are some that would argue this fact) and using GW parts to bulk it out and add details. It was a bit of a lazy way to do it, but i was more interested on whether i could than whether it looked great.

Artscale Space Wolf character using GW and hand sculpted components.

I considered this test a success and eventually made the Space Wolf model you see in the image above. This got me really excited and i decided that if i was going to do a Space Wolf Artscale force i needed to have some terminators to... but, i didn't want standard Termies. It had to be the classic "Prototype" terminator designed by Jes Goodwin.

The first Space Wolf Jes Goodwin prototype terminator.

After this i decided to make a full 5 man squad of Proto-termies and even started a Njal inspired terminator librarian for the blossoming force. However, as with many things work got in the way and the project got mothballed and nothing more happened. It's still something that i would love to finish, but it'll have to be for a future version of me. 

"... but Howrith, if you're not going to be ressurecting them then why are you making this post!?"

... Let me tell you why! Though i like the models and they were a lot of fun to make i always felt like i had rushed them and that i could do a lot better. With the release of the new Primaris marines i had also, along with a lot of other hobbyists, seen a use for them as a good base for Artscale marines to be made from.

Two examples of Artscale marines. One being based on a Primaris and the other using the prototype legs i had sculpted previously.

The Primaris problem

Though the Primaris conversion is nice and looks good there's just one problem. What about the Primaris!? How do i make Artscale Primaris to go with Artscale Marines!? The only answer i can see is to start from scratch.. literally. I'm going to take a standard marine pose and sculpt it at 1:56 scale (28mm) so that the actual height is right. The new sculpt will include only the legs, torso and shoulder pads at first. I'll see if the normal marine arms work on the first test model and if not i will have no other choice other than to sculpt them. The models will use normal marine weapons that will be taken from my extensive bits box.

What's the aim?

It's all well and good to want to make the Artscale marines, but i feel like i need to have a target for the project. I jumped onto Battlescribe and put together the list below to create an aim for the project as a whole.

This list will be the target outcome once i have a base sculpt i am happy with.

The list is a bit of a mixed bag and will give me a lot of room for fun modelling and sculpting to keep me busy. The sculpted parts will be as follows:

• Basic marine: generic leg pose, torso and shoulder pads.
• Phobos Pattern Primaris: legs, torso and shoulder pads.
• Scout: single full body sculpt
• Intercessor: legs and thigh plating.

When is comes to the bikers i will sculpt the legs separately so that i can then just use the generic torso. The same with the bike, i will sculpt it from scratch so that it can be replicated in resin. The dreadnought will possibly be a one off modelling sub-project and the same with the landspeeder Storm. All of these i have so i can take reference form them and just increase the size to accommodate the Artscale models.

Artscale Rhino track section.

Artscale Rhino!?

As you can see in the above picture i had already started an Artscale Rhino. I may revisit the mothballed project for this one, though i'm not too sure whether i will do this or just start that project from scratch too. With my 3D modelling skills and printer at hand it may be prudent for me to just model and print the details and put them on a plasticard base frame. This is all pie in the sky talk though.

So, step one: find an artistic inspiration for the sculpt. Step two: make the basic marine components needed for the miniatures. Step three: create and paint up at least one test model.

I know this has been a long post, but hopefully this will be updated regularly with the progress.

Catch you in the next update.