Helbrute update

Okay, so I'm a dumb ass. I did all that work on the helbrute, building the LED circuit, installing the LEDs in the fists, boring out a comparment in a base for the battery, all the work to build up the base... and I totally neglected the fact that the circuit was going to need about 8 volts of power and the dime battery only supplies 3 volts... So... end result: The 4 LED circuit I had been intending to build has been cut back to a single LED in the left power fist.

I'm also going to modify the post of the model to have the left power fist drawn back and the right one cutting across the chest like the Brute's about to swing back against an attacker with it's burning left.
 

But here you can see the finished base and the circuit. I used green stuff to seal off the switch and the junctions in the body. This helps do a couple things.
First it cements the switch in place so that there is no wiggle room.
Second it holds the connects in place so there's no chance of them coming loose later on.

I've spent a lot of time and effort on the base of this model so I'd like to talk about it. Here you can see the dime battery and holder in the base of it. In order to accommodate the battery I attached a large resin rock formation to the base and then went in with a dremel to bore out a depression. This was a very time consumming process particularly because I had to make sure I was doing it in a sealed room, with a good vacuum to catch the shavings and resin dust. In short, I took over my fathers workshop, stuffed a towel under the door jam, hooked up a vacuum that has a hermetic seal on it and put the hose right next to where I was going to be working and then set up a fan behind me to blow the dust into the vacuum hose. Just to be safer I used gloves, a respirator, a mask sealed with petroleum jelly, and head phones. I felt a little like I was wearing a space suit or something.

 

In order to mount the HelBrute on the base I had to build up the rock face with some flater ares for it to stand on. So I used some of the rock facings I've made with extra green stuff over the last few months and attacked them to the resin rock with super glue. Then I went in with plumbers putty and filled in any spaces between  the resin rock and the green stuff rock facings. Once the putty dried I went in with green stuff and put down a layer. I then took several rocks and textured the green stuff with them. Over all I like how it turned out.

 Here you can see the switch under the arm to turn on the fist.

And here you can see the light in the fist.

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Team Helbrute update

Well first off the good news. Gotten some interest in the Helbrute thread I posted. Disease on Bolterandchainsword posted an older pic of a Helbrute he was converting to have a power scourge.

It's a nice approach. I'm hoping he'll post newer pics as he explained this was a work in progress.

Next the bad news: I killed my first attempt. See the LEDs I installed run best on 3v of power. The Dime battery I was using provided exactly 3v of power. So no need to install resistors. Well until I went to test the circuit with a 9v battery and promptly blew out all three LEDs. :( So yeah. Bummer.

Now the better news: I don't quit. I ordered a half dozen Helbrute models on Ebay and have managed to get a fair amount of work accomplished on a HelBrute with 2 power fists with red LEDs installed behind the head and in the palms of the fists to represent the flammers.

 

So here you can see the extent of my work on the model thus far. Built and wired the base, though it still needs some green stuff work to fill in gaps. Built the two power fists, and carved up the body. 

I'm going for a sort of "roaring in anger" sort of pose for it, a bit like this:

So I have to reposition the body and arms. The upper torso will be angled back and the power fists will be positioned outward relative to the body.

I'm also installing LEDs into the torso, and in the palms of the fists to get some lighting effects going on with the model.

Here you can see the left power fist with the LED illuminated. I'm also going to install similar LEDs in the torso to provide red illumination around the face.

Now... here's the really annoying part of all this: The fact that I'm incapable of doing a simple easy project. Allow me to explain. Build a Helbrute with a different weapon load. Easy. Pose it in a new way. Okay, bit more of a challange. Install LEDs to light it up. Okay, don't see that too often. Now do all of that on the same model. Okay now we're getting into a challenge. See because the HelBrute is a snap-fit model, a large amount of the detail in it is modeled to accommodate it's pose. Which means in order to change the pose I have to change a lot of details.

The feet are a prime example. I wanted to model the HelBrute with it's toes clutching on the edge of the rockface. So I have to cut off the toes that will be in a different possition, and re-attach them in their possition. But to do that I have to make sure the base will work with the model. Which means building up the base UNDER the model itself. But wait I want to light up the model. So now I have to pass wires out of the base through the model. You see how I'm just compounding the challenge? Yeah. That's where it is.

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Go team Helbrute!

So I had a crazy thought a few days ago, about building a bunch of HelBrutes but each converted for the different weapon load outs. There's considerable challenge in this approach, because I wanted to make the conversions from the actual HelBrute model. IE the one out of the Dark Vengeance starter set. Now I will absolutely admit that the HelBrute model is a really great model, as far as snapfit models go. It's got a lot of great details to it, but it's fairly static. There's just not much the model is designed to do. And by 'not much' I mean nothing. The model is designed to be what it is and nothing else.  But then again there in lies the challenge.

So I posted my idea on Bolterandchainsword.com and got a couple responses from folks who were join me on the idea. So I've been working on my HelBrute, armed with twin-power fists with flamers.

 Now myself being who I am it's not like I can JUST build a HelBrute with two power fists and call it a day. No no no. I have to push myself and add something to make it even more challenging. In this case it's electronics. In this case lights. I want to install an led in the palm of each fist and then another LED in the check so that there will be a red glow around the head.

The real challenge so far has been taking the left handed power fist and converting it to a right handed.

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Hell Brute conversion part 2

So got some work done on the converted hell brute.

I had to go a bit different with mounting the body. I actually have a length of brass rod running from under the base up through the arm into the shoulder. And then the shoulder is pinned to the body. The Torso is largely free standing in this regard. But because I cut apart the abs of the brute and have repositioned it, I have to rebuild the detail for the body.

To help in this regard I put a length of piping in the body and am using that as a base to build up the abs and back detail. I've got a couple lengths of smaller tubing I'm going to use for the hydraulics in the body.












And just because I had the original Hell brute on my desk. we get to the Brothers:

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Hell Brute conversion

I'm going to taking a little brake from the thunderhawk, for a couple reasons. Firstly because I simply don't have the time to commit to it for the next few days. Secondly because I have to wait for several shipments to come in before I do much more. Next step is exploring the electronics part of that particular project. First thing is going to be wiring up a Shadow Sword. I've got the model kit, just waiting for the electronic parts to show up.

In the mean time I'm beginning to rebuild my Chaos Forces, and with the Chaotic contents of 2 Dark Vengeance sets, a squad of Chaos Terminators and a box of Chaos Marines I'd say I'm well on my way. I have to say as far as snap fit models go thes models from the Dark Vengeance set are excellent! I quickly traded the Dark Angels for more chaos models. So now I have 12 Chosen, 40 Cultists, 2 lords, and 2 Hell brutes. The Cultists I don't have any particular plans for converting. The Chosen I'm looking at for conversion possibilities and likewise for the lord. The HellBrute however... I've already got plans for him and have begun on it.

Got it all cut up, and ready to be rebuilt.

I've going to re-possition the entire model so that the Brute is smashing it's fist into the ground and rather then being armed with a Multi-melta it'll be armed with a Twin Linked lascannon. So you can see I've busted the major components of the model up good and proper and already set to work on the arm. To further differentiate this from the run of the mill Hellbrute I'm also going to changing a lot of smaller details. Rebuilding the arm with different details, changing the head. Removing the chest tendrils and replacing them with deterioration marks.

So, I've got the fingers on the fist cut and repositioned.

I mentioned I was going to replace the head with another one. I was originally going to use a screaming zombie head, but I couldn't find one in my bitz box. Which of course means it'll turn up right after I finish the model.

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