Court photo shoot and Troggoth Progress

Does my mech look big in this? 

At the risk of completely eating up the collective good will of people who appreciate my Imperial Knight force, I wanted to show some pictures I took of my completed Knights of Corbenic for the Titan Owner's Club.

Regular visitors to my blog will have seen these knights before, but I thought it would be nice to see them all collected together now that the knight part of the project has drawn to a close.  'The knight part?' I hear you say... Well, even though I've completed the knights and their scion pilots, I still have the household auxiliaries left to finish off and have added a few pictures at the end to give you an idea of what's still to come!

I've posted each knight on its own and with its scion pilot plus a couple of extra images - enjoy!

The Fisher King

Cerastus Knight Lancer - The Fisher King

Piloted by Count Octillus Hiralden

Reef Thresher

Cerastus Knight Lancer - Reef Thresher

Piloted by Countess Caelia Hiralden

Deepdive

Questoris Knight Mageara - Deepdive

Piloted by 'Mad' Baron Pellinore

Conga Blue

Questoris Knight Preceptor - Conga Blue

 Piloted by Hastur Mordent

Barracuda Squall

Dominus Knight Valiant - Barracuda Squall 

Piloted by Sir Parcival Ahabius

Shock Manta

Questoris Knight Paladin - Shock Manta

Piloted by Veles Meridian

Quake Hydra

Acastus Knight Asterius -  Quake Hydra

Piloted by Sir Marcus 'Thunderfist' Harnen

Tide Breaker & Shellback 

Armiger Warglaive - Tidebreaker

Piloted by Ivraine Hiralden

Armiger Warglaive - Shellback

Piloted by Patrocles Hiralden

Mudskipper & Trench Runner

Armiger Helverin - Mudskipper

Piloted by Sir Jayce Arron

Armiger Helverin - Trench-Runner

Piloted by Derrin Pike

Heraldry

The heraldic symbol of the knights of Corbenic is a trident wielding octopoid above a mechanicus cog and shield.  The colours of the Court are green, white, turquoise and gold.

A gathering of Scions

Now that they're all complete, I decided it was about time to photograph my Knight Scions together outside of their cockpits with their trusty Sacristan Techpriest Nautolex

Household Auxiliaries (Work in Progress)

My Knight household is supported by a specialised force of Adeptus Mechanicus troops; the core of this force being the Skitarii Aquis.  My blog has previously featured their Skorpius transport, The Blowfish and a Scout Sentinel walker, Snapper.  Today I wanted to show the rest of the force which I've already built and base coated.

Two small squads of Skitarii, four Kastellan Robots, two Datasmiths and a single Ogryn heavy!  

Skitarii Aquis squad Minnix

Skitarii Aquis squad Brink

Kastellan Robot squadron Alpha led by Datasmith Linerris

Kastellan Robot squadron Beta led by Datasmith Vermitax

Scuba Ogryn Hammerhead

It's a motley crew, but each unit has a lot of character, just like their Household masters!  Expect more pictures once they are completed in the near future... 

Dankhold Troggoth Colossus

Since my last post, I have been working away on my Dankhold Colossus and his Troggoth King rider.  They both still need a lot of work, but I'm pleased with how they're looking so far!

This picture was taken after I'd worked out the main forms including muscle groups and skin folds

I smoothed out the skin so I'd have a nice clean surface to detail after his first firing 

This picture was taken after the first firing - The ankles, knees and toes needed some repairing after being removed from the wooden base so that I could reach the underbelly.  The breakages were anticipated as I had (foolishly?) embedded the wire frame a bit too well into the base!

In this picture you can see that I have tried out some detailing on the first hand - I was quite pleased with the pores and veins.  I also started trying out the crystal geode spines on the back

The crystals were fired in advance and only placed temporarily so I could see how they would look and helped me estimate the gap I would need for the rider

Behold the Dankhold Trogg King!  He is slightly larger than a normal Trogg Boss and I played around a little with his features to make him look a little more intelligent than a normal Dankhold Troggoth

The next stage will be to complete the second leg, add arms, feet and details such as fungal growths 

And finally!

As a thankyou to a friend, I sculpted and cast a Legio Metalica Emblem - as well as sending him a couple of unpainted copies, I also cast one with an embedded pin, painted up and attached it to a purity seal!

The heraldic symbol of Legio Metalica 'The Iron Skulls'

The full seal which is about 10" long!

And for those of you who wish to recite the canticle of the Iron Brotherhood, the binary on the seal translates as follows:

Canticle of the Iron Brotherhood:

We are wrought by the furnaces of Metalica

We are born of fire, devotion and honour

We crush the enemies of mankind

We are bastions of righteous fury

We bring death, hope and obeisance

We walk for the glory of the Omnissiah

We are the Brotherhood of Iron

Conga Blue & Imperator Build Progress

Conga Blue

In my last post, I hinted that Conga Blue was nearing completion.  Well, he's finally done and I'm really pleased with the finished result!  Conga Blue is a heavily converted Knight based on the Questoris Preceptor with Forgeworld Knight Magaera carapace and shoulder plates.

More than any other Knight in the Court of the Fisher King, Conga Blue has a very specific purpose on the oceanic world of Corbenic.  He is clearly designed for underwater mining operations, with a huge las impulsor, a giant anchor shaped pick axe, twin las cutters extending from under the carapace and a gaping grinder maw which even houses an inner rubble disintegrator.  The shoulder mounted torpedo launchers provide this already formidable engine with the power to demolish bedrock with targeted explosive force.

To provide Conga Blue with increased manoeuvrability, his main engines have been modified to power two huge propellers, allowing his streamlined carapace to cut through water like a submarine!

My intent was to create a solid looking mechanical beast that's striding through waves to reach deeper waters

The Las Impulsor was used 'out of the box' with the minor addition of some hanging mines

From this angle, you can see the propellers and rudder array which help Conga Blue move quickly through the ocean depths.  I removed the main exhausts and a large chunk of armour so that I could install them into the rear of the Knight

Once I'd finished the transparent resin water casting, I added some heavily textured paint to the water to simulate frothing water swirling around Conga Blue's legs as the water churns in his wake

Conga Blue even sports a pneumatic cutter where his crotch plate would normally be located...

As with my other Fisher King Knights, Conga Blue is heavily weathered and chipped; you can also see seaweed tangled on the Knight here and there - I think it adds to the feeling that he spends a lot of time submerged, picking up bits of detritus along the way!

It may appear simple, but this pick axe took a considerable amount of time to carve and sculpt from scratch.  I did quite a few sketches before building it as it needed to look imposing rather than comical.  I was pleased with the final heavily rusted look, along with the barnacle shells which are attached to the tip

You can't go wrong with a precision drill mounted on a mechadendrite for those hard to reach places!

Conga Blue's iconography includes two black bone tentacles on his left shoulder plate - this could represent family heraldry, or a very specific kill marking; maybe even both...

Adding tiny decals to maintenance hatches is fiddly, but I think it makes the miniature look more grounded in reality

The shoulder mounted torpedo launchers will function as a carapace weapon in game terms

Eat your heart out Pacific Rim!

Deep inside his grinding maw, you can see a rubble disintegration device at the back of Conga Blue's throat

 Imperator Progress

Just a quick update on the Imperator build this week - I've been sketching out some ideas for designs such as the legs and the Starshatter Plasma Annihilator.  I've built the main structure of the feet and am now working on the basic shin stricture.  I'm building the leg superstructure then will sculpt the main leg armour separately as this will allow me more freedom when I get the the detailing stage.

Early Starshatter Plasma Annihilator sketches - I'm trying to incorporate elements of the original Imperator Plasma Annihilator and the newer Sunfury design.  This will be one of the final elements of the build, so it's still really just at the planning stage while I work out how I want it to look

These leg sketches give an idea of how I want the legs to looks and how they will function.  It's important that I can actually pose them rather than build them in a really static pose, so I'm planning to build the core components then add the mechanical elements such as pistons once I'm happy with the final assemby

This was my first mock-up of the feet - as they're supporting the rest of the miniature, the bottom layer is 10mm MDF, which will prevent it from becoming too top-heavy and unbalanced.  The feet will be screwed into a base for the final assembly for extra support

Multiple layers of foamex were screwed and glued onto the MDF foot plates.  Next, I will be constructing the rest of the shin structure then it will be on to the thighs, pelvis and hip joints while I wait for some heavy duty filler to be delivered!

I'll post updates on the Imperator as frequently as I can, but expect them to come only when I've reached a significant milestone.  I'm always happy to hear from you guys - let me know what you think of the build so far in the comments :)