Warhammer 40k: woodcarving my own army

[Shackled Slayer]

Thinking about torturing myself by woodcarving a warhammer 40k army, because I'm too broke to buy green onions for my ramen, let alone a $50 hive tyrant, $20 termagants, $30 zoanthropes, a $50 codex, etc., even if im putting out good vibes and totally going to get that job i had an awesome interview for today.

SO, I need the height for a hive tyrant, termagants, tyranid warrior, zoanthrope, hive gaurds, and trygons, if anybody would be so kind as to post those. I think gants are between 2.8 cm or 3 cm, and i think i saw somewhere zoanthropes were 10 cm.

Also, being an Aliens fan tyranids is the way im thinking of going, but maybe chaos marines WOOD be better for carving? :D

[Eldan]

Thinking about torturing myself by woodcarving a warhammer 40k army, because I'm too broke to buy green onions for my ramen, let alone a $50 hive tyrant, $20 termagants, $30 zoanthropes, a $50 codex, etc., even if im putting out good vibes and totally going to get that job i had an awesome interview for today.

SO, I need the height for a hive tyrant, termagants, tyranid warrior, zoanthrope, hive gaurds, and trygons, if anybody would be so kind as to post those. I think gants are between 2.8 cm or 3 cm, and i think i saw somewhere zoanthropes were 10 cm.

Also, being an Aliens fan tyranids is the way im thinking of going, but maybe chaos marines WOOD be better for carving? :D

Give me until tonight. I have all those models, I can post you pictures with a measuring tape.

Edit: though my hive tyrant is non-standard, he doens't have legs.

[mariusz]

Wow, I just imagine satisfaction after done this well. It will be great.

[Brookshw]

Wow, that's one ambitious project. I'll be curious to see how they come out. You might be right about Chaos Marines being easier, or any army that has units that are largely flat planes.

Anyway, discounting the bases:
Termigant: 15/16 Inch
Zoanthrope: 3 1/4 Inch
Hive Tyrant: 3 1/4 Inch, 5 1/2 Inch w/ wings

Sorry, you'll need to convert to cm. Just let me know if there are any other heights you're looking for.

[Shackled Slayer]

Edit: though my hive tyrant is non-standard, he doens't have legs.
Did the space marines deploy land mines? :biggrin:


Wow, that's one ambitious project. I'll be curious to see how they come out. You might be right about Chaos Marines being easier, or any army that has units that are largely flat planes.

Anyway, discounting the bases:
Termigant: 15/16 Inch
Zoanthrope: 3 1/4 Inch
Hive Tyrant: 3 1/4 Inch, 5 1/2 Inch w/ wings

Sorry, you'll need to convert to cm. Just let me know if there are any other heights you're looking for.
Inches is great actually, im using a metal ruler to measure stuff out. I just didnt want to have to convert MM to CM even though it's literally just moving the decimal point one spot to the left.

The major pain with trying to carve the tyranids is going to be the rib and teeth details, especially without a good router tool. I'm borrowing one from a friend, but the piece that secures the bit housing to the motor is worn out. I might just end up painting on those details.
I'm planning to start by doing the very most basic silhouette before trying for details, the models will have an old video-game-y polygonal mapping type look before i start adding details.
Chaos space marines would be simpler because they lack all the ribs, teeth, claws, and organic lines. But if im going to work this hard to carve out an army of my own, I may as well do the army i actually want instead of the easier ones.

If you could also post the measurements for trigons and hive gaurds that would be awesome.
Thanks for the heights you've already posted!

Also also, if anybody knows the height of an eldar wraithknight, please include that too! My friend runs eldar and leant me her books so i could get familiar with the lore, id like to make her a present as a thank you.

[Brookshw]

The major pain with trying to carve the tyranids is going to be the rib and teeth details, especially without a good router tool.

You're a defter hand at a dremel than I am!
Trygon: 5 inches even
Hive Guard: 1 15/16 inch

[Shackled Slayer]

You're a defter hand at a dremel than I am!
Trygon: 5 inches even
Hive Guard: 1 15/16 inch

Not really lol. Im not even that experienced at woodcarving. I just have some tools and books i inherited from my grandfather after he passed a year or so ago.

What i AM is determined to get into this hobby with as little expense as possible!

Also thank you allot, this should be a good starting point. The trygon is one of the ones i really like the look of.

On an unrelated note im thinking of statting out tyranids for starfinder/pathfinder as epic level enemies, belaying some of the lore so they don't nuke my setting if the party fails. I was thinking of making gants CR 5 pack fighters.

[Hunter Noventa]

Oof, the only thing more ambitious would be to handcarve an Imperial Gua...I mean 'Astra Militarum' army. Nids have a lot of troops after all, their whole deal is numbers. If anything, Necrons would probably be the easiest, numbers wise.

I'm curious to hear/see how it works out though!

[Brookshw]

On an unrelated note im thinking of statting out tyranids for starfinder/pathfinder as epic level enemies, belaying some of the lore so they don't nuke my setting if the party fails. I was thinking of making gants CR 5 pack fighters.

Seems way too high for chaff but I haven't paid any attention in a few years. Also check out Kythons, they're pretty close to Nids already, restat for epic, some refluff, and jobs a good 'un.

[Shackled Slayer]

Unfortunately the site wont let me post an attachment yet. I need to post more or something in order to use that feature.

But ten minutes in and my first zoanthrope is coming along, im already working a decent silhouette out of the woodblock.

[Brookshw]

Unfortunately the site wont let me post an attachment yet. I need to post more or something in order to use that feature.


You need to put it up on something for image hosting I believe, then link the URL.

[Shackled Slayer]

You need to put it up on something for image hosting I believe, then link the URL.

That makes some sense.

Progress: https://postimg.cc/image/do88eteqp/df1d43be/
Having watched a helpful woodcarving basics video and learned the V cut, i've picked up some speed. Unfortunately my friends dremel tool is screwed up again and cant maintain high speed dremmel-ing, it ends up petering out and sitting listly as the internal mechanisms struggle to catch. The problem is that the rubbery plastic connector between the engine driver peg thingy, and the dremel bit, is worn, stretched and loose. I tried super gluing it at one point which worked, bu some must have spilled, because now the housing is sealed tighter than a drum.

All of that is only slightly relevant. My first model, the zoanthrope who i am dubbing Zoe (zoh-ee) is certainly striking the appropriate outline. She is measured to be at the correct height, but it may end up being slightly off just because I am handcrafting her.

My plan is to create broad outlines of the major tyranid features, and usig paint to get the fine details. I have no real way of doing, for example, the brain details in such a way that will size up to citadel models, so i plan instead to go for an almost comic book-esque style with semi-flat fine details framed by the broader details.

While looking for a replacement for my tool which i am now going to (likely erronously) refer to as a gouging curve knife, i found this AWESOME green color shift paint that i want to use as my primary army color, going for an irridescent scarab look. But then painting is still a ways away.
https://postimg.cc/image/op3djyp0x/3b0d2cb0/