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Archaon & Friends: Conversion Project (WIP)


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Hey everyone,

In an effort to hold myself accountable, I'm starting this thread to share my progress on an Archaon conversion (and solicit some feedback!). I am totally one of those people with a bunch of conversion projects sitting at ~50-75% complete, so I'm hoping that creating this thread will inspire me to finish Archaon (modeling-wise) before too long. I also may be throwing up some other stuff (mostly Khorne) here and there. 

Archaon on horseback was my favorite model as a kid, so I was excited to take a stab at my own version of the Everchosen. Here are a few things that have guided my approach:

  • Dorghar: I'm not a big fan of the Dorghar sculpt, so decided to leave him out. I will explore a few "deconstructed" Dorghar options once I nail the Archaon model himself. More on that down the road.
  • Bits!!! Given my feelings about Dorghar, I didn't actually want to buy the full Archaon Everchosen kit. I managed to get Archaon's body via a bits site, but that was the only actual "Archaon" piece that I could find (no head, no sword, etc etc). The rest of the parts have been salvaged from my bits collection, chopped off of kits (sorry, Skulltaker...), or purchased as standalone bits for the sake of this project. I very much wanted him to be recognizable as Archaon, despite not using much of the real kit.
  • Wings: Because he doesn't have his trusty steed and he flies in his rules, I figured I'd give Archaon some wings. I am ~90% committed to this (he could always just levitate, after all). I also want the model to feel large enough for a 160mm base (though he may have some friends on it....) and feel that wings are one way to "fill him out" a bit, plus make it unique.
  • Vibe: I am a big fan of grimdark / Aos28 style. I'll plan to do a more muted color palette, though am interested in making the model fairly "cinematic" in feel. 

As of right now, I'm in somewhat of a "sketching" phase. I've done some gluing and very rough green stuff here and there, but am still deciding on final posing. You'll see a lot of blue tac remnants. Here's a basic shot with no wings:

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From here...I've been in torturous deliberation on what style wings to go with (and which pose, given that they're slightly different). I edited the photos because I took them in poor lighting .

Option 1 - Floating Celestant-Prime-esque pose: He would be connected to the ground by some long trailing cloak tatters and/or some chains.  First shot is him "stood up" to capture the correct angle of the wings. Second shot is him laying down, with some other Wings bits stuck on to play with the idea of making the wings larger. 

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Option 2 - Come at me bro: This one uses the larger manticore wings. I threw this together on a whim but find myself liking it. The wings are quite large for the model. I always dislike the look of wings that are too small...definitely wouldn't be guilty of that here. This one would likely be standing on a tallish rock or structure, and I'd probably change the angle of his left arm slightly to make it a bit more "beckoning." Has more of a "fallen angel" feel to it.

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I think Option 1 is the safer play. Option 2 seems a bit more unusual. I like 'em both for different reasons.

I'd love to hear: Which do you prefer?

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! Looking forward to continuing to share the journey with all of you.

Peace.

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Awesome, thanks for the feedback, everyone. I was leaning towards the 2nd option but was a bit hesitant given that my original vision was much more similar to the first and I'd spend a lot of time on that posing. Nothing like spontaneously breaking the model in half to mess around. Option 2 it is!

@Arael and @Sttufe - thanks for highlighting the proportions. Good eye - I wanted him to look at tall as possible, plus I like the look of "thinner" models. I added most of the extra height in the waist...seems I may have pushed it a little far. You'll also notice that he technically has two belts, one leather with buckle, plus the chain one, which may exacerbate the elongation effect. I think I may scrape off the leather belt as a starting point given it's not necessary. Then perhaps I'll tweak proportions slightly from there. Appreciate the feedback.

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  • Render changed the title to Archaon & Friends: Conversion Project (WIP)

Thanks @Kramig. The head is a combination of a lot of pieces: Base helmet - Chaos Lord on Karkadrak, Big horns - Chaos Warshrine priest, Plume - Skarr Bloodwrath (I think), Small horns in the back - can't remember exactly...Bloodletter horns maybe. From the starting Chaos Lord head, I scraped off the little studs towards the bottom, removed the big horns, and then slightly bent the interior horns so that they don't converge quite as much in the center. Then I added the other parts.

Quick progress update: I'm currently working on green stuff touchups and finalizing posing. Following the proportions discussion, I'm adding a little bit more height to the shins / ankles of the model, which I also think were contributing to the proportions looking a bit off. Will post pics in the coming days.

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I know most other posters have liked option 2, but I have to say I am in the total opposite camp and just love option 1.  I think I just love the Flayer kit soooo much that those wings just speak to me. Either choice is a good one though.  Great project keep the pics coming.

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Ok after a few days of working away, wanted to share the latest update. I've been working primarily on 1) green stuffing and 2) fixing proportions. Pics will show the progress on those items. It's been a lot of work, and I'm definitely pushing beyond "my comfort zone," but I'm pleased with how everything has come together so far.

Next to-do's for Archaon himself:

  • Head / torso / lower body are not actually attached together. Likely will wait until a later stage to finalize exact positioning, but it'll look a lot like what's in the pics below.
  • Belt / waist area. I couldn't find any bits in my collection that I liked enough to use for the front piece (what you see in pics is just placeholder), so I ordered a few pieces that will hopefully work (from Chaos Space Marines Havocs), supposedly arriving in a week. Cautiously optimistic about these. Then I'll either add the chains back, as shown in my original post, or consider sculpting a leather belt / multiple leather straps. So...in a holding pattern til I have the new bits in-hand.
  • Similarly, the loincloth definitely isn't a finished product. Might improve on what's there, might totally change it. Waiting on above piece before making that decision.
  • Sword hilt - fell off. Need to pin it.
  • Wings. I think the toughest part here will be making the join to the body look good, given that the organic wings will be connecting into armor. My current thinking is that I will have a tattered cape made of different sculpted straps, which I can use to obscure the join points (and get the added bonus of some additional movement in the model). Angles will also be important to get right for the sake of model composition, but I'm not too worried about this.

Anyway, here are a bunch of pics from different angles to show the latest progress:

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For the three-skull amulet, I managed to stab myself in the finger while making the holes. Khorne was pleased.

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And finally, just for kicks, I decided to resculpt the right knee armor (which is an additional bit that I don't have, per the original post). It's definitely not perfect, but you can barely even see it. Likely will clean it up a bit.

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Feedback welcome as always.

This week, I may take a bit of a break to wait on the incoming bits, or perhaps I'll get started on the wings / cape as those will definitely take a while. I also ordered a few pieces for the base and am beginning to try to think through what I want that to look like. Archaon will be partially elevated - either on a rock, or atop ruins / a temple type things (maybe at the top of some stairs). Not sure about much beyond that, but seeing the pieces I ordered will help.

Edited by Render
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  • 9 months later...
20 hours ago, Silas7 said:

Update when? 🤯

Ask and you shall receive!

I took a VERY long break and have less hobby time due to some personal life changes, but I've made some progress recently. I was hoping to have a little more done before my next post, but the actual Archaon model is mostly done. Figure that's worth a post 🙂

It was tough to figure out the execution of the cloak. I knew I wanted to cover the wing-armor join with it but didn't have a plan otherwise. At first I tried sculpting...and learned I absolutely suck at sculpting capes 😅 Luckily I was able to find Abaddons cloak on a bits site, which did the trick! 

Next up, I'll be building the base as I finally decided on the direction I want to go with it. I'll use primarily Skull Altar bits (modified to remove Khorne symbols) and cork wood for the ground, which will be built up pretty high. Additionally, I have made some progress on the "Dorghar" which I'll share soon - think familiars, one smallish model per head.

I'm also starting to test out some paint schemes. So far I'm leaning towards dark TMM armor (likely using Scale75 black metal as the base), but we shall see. I want to see the whole model come together prior to choosing.

Hope you enjoy! Unfinished blood warrior included for size comparison.

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Edited by Render
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  • 5 months later...

It's been a while, but I'm happy to report that I'm just about done with the model! Of course I have a few things left such as gap-filling and final adjustments, but it's 98% complete.

First off, "Doghar" - I took inspiration from the Katakros model, liking the diorama-esque feel with multiple models, and decided to try something similar with one model per Dorghar head. I started with the Tzeentch portion and ended up with a mini 2-headed LOC/Kairos type guy. For the Khorne head, I was originally planning to use a Forgeworld Hound of Xaphan but ended up creating a mini-Bloodthirster, as I had fun with the Tzeentch one. Keeping in the theme, I decided to model him slightly after Skarbrand and so gave him two axes. One is even kind of organic similar to Carnage(?). Finally, I like the Maggoth lord aesthetic for Nurgle so did a nod to that for the final "head."

Next, the base. I used a lot of cork wood (thank you, Etsy) and pieces of the Khorne Skull Altar (modified), plus some bits from the Baleful Realmgates. I added some texture paint all around as well. I wanted it to feel large and imposing, given that the normal Archaon model is massive. I figured the base could add an epic feel plus some height, given the lack of a proper Dorghar. I will add some more texture paint to the pillar/spire things prior to painting to make sure there's no trace of the scraped off Khorne symbols.

Which brings us to...the (mostly) completed model. None of the models are attached, and I may change up the footing/placement of each guy slightly. It's a little hard to photograph well, but I hope you like it! Now of course I'm terrified to paint it, plus I'm more into the modeling aspect of the hobby, so it may be a *very* long time before I eventually paint it...but we'll see.

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Edited by Render
Fixing photos!
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15 hours ago, hot_boy_ronald said:

That is the dream for me - I am just getting into bigger conversions and scratch builds. I need so much GS practice though. 

I hear ya. This is by far the biggest, most ambitious thing I've ever attempted. The vision for this bad boy forced me to expand my skills in new ways (Youtube helped a lot..) or find alternative solutions in light of constraints (ie. I wasn't able to sculpt an adequate GS cloak so had to change course). At the beginning I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull it off but figured it'd be a great challenge regardless, and it was a really rewarding process. Good luck!

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