The Painfully slow and complex build; Abaddon The despoiler

[ezekyle abaddon]

Hello gentle people of the internet!

I thought i'd log this build on here for folks to see. I've been a fan of 40k since... well, eh, forever? At least it feels like that.

Every since i got into warhammer properly (i got into it in a really really big way with Eye of Terror in 2003) i've loved chaos marines. On the tabletop i'm a life long iron warrior player who can't play iron warriors because.... well that's a different rant Chaos fans will know.

However when it came time to build my cosplay there's no second choice; it had to be the despoiler. This was confirmed in my mind when i read aaron dembski-bowden's (hence forth called ADB to stop me having a keyboard spasm) Talon of Horus. The book gave me a new reason to appreciate the second warmaster of chaos.

So it began the way these things do, by desperately seeing if anyone had build anything similar. Fortunately i stumbled across a loyalist terminator PDO that is serving is the basis for my build. It pretty much going to be custom work from there on wards.

Currently planned;

Articulated Talon of Horus (don't know how far i'll go with the bolters)
Prosthetic sculpt for the face (help keep my head to scale too)
Full Suit
Possible LED infused daemon sword ( Drach'nyen for the well informed)
Probably spikes with trophies, and of course the wolf pelt


Now.. it's going to be pretty mental to get right, far beyond anything i've ever done but i think i can do it. There is enough raw information out there for me to pull this off, especially with the complete power armour builds out there.

So pictures... here's where it becomes obvious.


This is my first Big armour build. It's revealed itself in the minor error with the terminator leg. I have a right rear section and a left front Woops.

Once i have both legs complete, the thighs and cod piece i'll be doing a pvc skeleton to help keep it all mobile and to shape. There will be platforms (because ***** those legs are huge) but until i have the full armour build and work out my own body shape and mobility in relation to it I'm not committing to anything. You'll also note i'm showing you the roughest parts of my build. I am not a clean building, nor at this stage am i overly worried. The entire front of that armour joint is going to be hugely different, as will... well, everything you see when i start the detail build.

Wish me luck folks, i hope to have a test fit of the entire lower body by next week.

-The Despoiler

 

[Ikras]

Not played myself for years now but I still love the setting and the aesthetic of everything really and I have to say that I am loving the sound of this. Working my way through the horus heresy series at the moment and it's great seeing the background of the character more and here you are making it.

I've always loved seeing the space marine builds and I'll be keeping a careful eye on this. I've always thought chaos armour looks great but there's so many little bits of detail and all the spikes. Very ambitious list of extra bits to go with it as well. I wish you all the luck with it. How do you plan to make the detail or is that under wraps at the moment?
I'll be interested to see how you go about the face. Are you planning to have it effectively as an oversized mask then?

I can't tell for sure in the images but unless you plan to completely coat the front of the leg with something I'd maybe look to make sure that the mat joins are very well filled to reduce any lines. With your mention of the front and backs of the legs being different, honestly I wouldn't have picked up on that if you hadn't mentioned it. Looking good all the same.

Really looking forward to the next update.

 

[ezekyle abaddon]

I've always loved seeing the space marine builds and I'll be keeping a careful eye on this. I've always thought chaos armour looks great but there's so many little bits of detail and all the spikes. Very ambitious list of extra bits to go with it as well. I wish you all the luck with it. How do you plan to make the detail or is that under wraps at the moment?
I'll be interested to see how you go about the face. Are you planning to have it effectively as an oversized mask then?

I can't tell for sure in the images but unless you plan to completely coat the front of the leg with something I'd maybe look to make sure that the mat joins are very well filled to reduce any lines. With your mention of the front and backs of the legs being different, honestly I wouldn't have picked up on that if you hadn't mentioned it. Looking good all the same.

I get to answer both those points at the same time; I've got major plans for the detailing. The front left left (shown) is going to be largely (or enough of it) by the daemonic face show below;

How i'm doing it will be a mixture of foam pieces, latex casting, foam carving, body filler sculpting, random pieces (such a drawing pins for small bolts) being throw in. Basically i'm going to use 15 years of model making experience to beg borrow and steal my way to the detail i want. I'm quite fortunate with abaddons design that i avoid a lot of the more cliche pieces of chaos design. This project is not strictly a full replica but instead an advancement of the design, taking from various artworks as well as adding more detailing that scale allows.

The talon of horus,when i begin that,will be a prime example of this.

-E

 

[Ikras]

Sounds like an interesting combination of methods. Looking forward to pictures of the process.

I had been wondering that, there are a few models out there and then the artwork as well. It's more fun to make the design a bit more your own I guess and take whatever sections you like the most from each setup.

Keep the progress coming. I'll be keeping an eye out for the next instalment.

 

[Ikras]

Wish me luck folks, i hope to have a test fit of the entire lower body by next week.

-The Despoiler

Any more progress on this? Guessing the original time frame didn't pan out or if it did I'm keen to see pics.

 

[DMTDeadpool]

Some tips for working with foam.....

Never use the jigsaw pieces, getting the seam to look good in the end will be an insane amount of work. It's fine in areas where you will cover it, but any display areas cut the jigsaw edges off.

Looking good, otherwise though... Got any more progress?

This is how far I got with my legs, I did the terminator body too but it was getting too big lol Are you going for human scale(your height), space marine scale (about 7-8 foot tall) or actual terminator scale (13+ foot)

I would suggest insulating foam for Drach nyen Looking forward to seeing more