Shouldering the burden

I'm aware that my 'Dredd' style Arbites Enforcers project has gone quiet recently. Quiet, but not completely forgotten. Well, not by me at least. I've been working out how to go about making those tricky little shoulder pads. It's one of the stages in this project that I've been dreading the most.

I chose a new trooper to use as the test model and I've been trying various things to get a sculpt of the pad that I'm happy with. There were the odd false moves in my process, but I've ignored those here and am only showing the four pertinent stages.

Sculpt and file the basic pad shape

Add a thin second layer

Carve the second layers in half, and add a basic eagle body to one of the resulting quarters

Carve into the eagle body to give it depth and sculpt the wings and the bars

The light grey material that forms the basic pad is ProCreate, a putty that offers a less rubbery appearance and can be filed or sanded into shape after it has dried. You can read more about it, or even purchase a pack, over at Heresy Miniatures here. The green stuff is, well, er, Green Stuff. I bought mine from Games Workshop, in a little roll, but I'm told it's better to buy the stuff that comes in two separate tubes, so it doesn't harden where the colours meet inside the packet. Coincidentally, I've just noticed that Heresy also sells the tube based variety, so you can pick that up here.

The next step for me is the mass production of all these pads. It's probably going to be the most arduous part of the process, and I'm rather hoping I can find a shortcut. I've got my fingers crossed. If you're interested in seeing how I get on, then pop back here every once in a while, or try using the Google + Follow button in the top right corner.