Now that is a hilarious image I’ll never be able unsee when looking at him. Wondrous!
Thanks all for the high praise. I will endeavor to earn it in future projects. Have a few conversions ready for WIP pictures as soon as I can get back to my light box, this weekend hopefully…
In honor of all the recent seafaring Dawi-Zharr, here are my 90% WIPs of the Skullkraken! Thanks to Forgeworld’s wheel shipping mishap I still had a chassis leftover. Due to its scarcity I had pretty much written off getting the real skullcracker so it was a sensible choice to kitbash. Armed with only a bad pun for a name I’ve been slowly gluing pieces together hoping to arrive at my rough vision.
The main boiler slash kraken head was a mall vending machine toy Yoda carrying capsule and the auxiliary pressure vessel “eyes” were more tabletop clock bits capped with Battle for Skull Pass mine cart wheels and old edition Dark Eldar gun bits for levered steam control vents.
Ork Killa Kan bits provided a lot of saw blades and claws while the Maulerfiend tentacles were the only real bits purchase made specifically for this project. Those still need a bit of tweaking to get them positioned but they’re pinned for now until I go through the process of adding a countless number of rivets to the plain areas.
I spent a disproportionate amount of time fiddling with the bevel gear to chain drive for the front saw blade maw considering how difficult it will be to peer underneath but once I started I couldn’t let go of the idea. Had to mess with the wheelbase and axle height to get this thing looking more like a Skullcracker.
Some green stuffing left to do to clean up the crew, but at least the mechanical bird has a hat. I saved one of my favorite Dawi, the Hellcannon shoveler for this purpose because his helmet looks cephalopod-esque. Also, slowly tying in Kharadron bits across my army, mostly due to stealing the head and arm for my sorcerer.
Absolutely incredible kitbash! The pun is great and this creation fits the niche perfectly. Well thought out sources and use of bits. The clockwork pieces fit in beautifully. Great work on the chain drive too! I’ve too have on occasion found myself spending too much time on parts of models that are barely visible in the final piece. Very much looking forward to seeing this painted up.
Lovely creation, a really impressive build that fits well with the rest of your army! I would be terrified transporting it with all those tentacles though…
You’re absolutely correct @tjub … a problem I’ve not so gracefully pushed onto future me… I’ve been toying with making a magnet shelf/carrying system when I get around to creating my movement trays for infantry…
Scrapped together a lobster themed daemon engine palanquin for my sorcerer conversion. A lot of leftover ideas and inspiration from the recent nautical Golden Hat. Finally had a use for one of the two itty bitty steam whistles I made a long time ago.
Also had a crack at a hybrid base to meld my steampunk and lava basing together (lavapunk?). Will probably have to do this to some other units to tie my army together, especially if this palanquin ends up marching alongside an infantry unit. Guessing I’ll need to smash up a few more kitchen timers before this army is complete.
Another astounding conversion. I found myself expecting legs after reading the description, but the treads definitely work. Interesting base idea. Really need t see it painted I think to get the full gist.
Legs were definitely in consideration but overall I like the sturdiness and perceived stability of the treads for a mobile platform. Also have other legged creations coming down the pipeline that claimed some bits. But more on that later… I’m never quite sure if I consciously make those decisions or just post justify them after going down converting tangents.
I’m not completely sold on the base either. For now he’s just pinned so I can bail down the road.
Also totally snagged the cable pull actuation idea from your submersible.
I was cleaning and sorting my bits boxes recently and got distracted thinking about potential uses for some bits that have been kicking around for a while. Apparently I’m just trying to run the gambit on steampunk sea creature creations. I don’t exactly know what these will end up being used for, likely some troop filler once my infantry arrives, treating them as minor bound daemons housed within a daemonsmith’s mechanical tinker toys.
The extra K’daai bits seemed like a good starting point for jellyfish, just zapped them with a heat gun to give them some shape. These tiny builds are probably where I have the most fun. The shark creature is from Wargame Exclusive with only a few slight modifications.
That 90% estimate from the previous Skullkraken post may not have been very accurate in the sense of time. I did manage to whip through the painting on the crew amidst the meditative repetition of applying rivets. Of course I found more places that needed bits in the process. I also may or may not have started another EVEN LARGER endeavor. Hopefully I can get it to a stage worthy of posting teaser WIPs soon.
Polished the kitbash off with a Reavers/skull/kraken insignia mashup. Overall not a whole lot of change but mostly just wanted to document the final WIP stage before priming.