Hello! And Welcome to my workshop! Enjoy your stay! Here you will find painting logs, building, and hints and tips on building, and painting. Also the odd bit of some thing different!

First of all, I'll start off with my Marines as I've worked on them a fair bit. I was stuffed for a Chapter. And I wanted one with a good Back story. I found a pair of colours which matched really well. Black and Yellow. And then I found the Scythes of the Emperor!

At my local GW store they where hosting a painting competition for Fine Cast models. I wanted to make a chapter master. Thrasisus is this known name by fluff. I decided to convert him from Castellan Crowe.

So here we go:

The Model and parts I have at my disposal.



A test fit with the Scythe, and inscriptions filled with filler and super glue.



Icon's removed.



Close up, plenty of bubbles!



First base coat of brown. Then heavy wash of Badab, Black, and Devlan. This gives me the perfect shadows for the yellow.



Yellow Area's are base coated with Orche.



Golden Yellow is mixed with the Orche to give a slightly darker mix. This is added over the base leaving the shadowed area's.



Golden Yellow is applied to the surfaces where the true colour would show. This was done thinly and in many layers.



Another View




Highlights! White added to the Yellow. This is the best part. You can now see the yellow "popping". Black is primed as well as the cape.



The cape is done the same technique as the yellow. Find the base coat, add the "main" colour to it, and apply in layers until the main colour is reached.



Top view. Notice the lighting?



More Highlights are added to the yellow.



Symbols are free handed on the shoulder pad. Dirt and dusting is applied to the cape.



Side view.



The new base. Any one spot the dead Ripper?




That's all for now! Any C&C please comment! More to follow later. Photobucket uploading is taking a good while with a burnt out Router!

Did you really not prime that first?

Your completely right. And its bonkers that I didn't. For the life of me, I can not remember why I didn't...

Maybe just wanted to make progress right away.

I love seeing people doing custom chapters. Kudos to you.

The one thing I look negatively at is the size of the Scythe. What is it from? It looks just far too big and unwieldy. Look at the reach from where he swings. It would be comparatively 15ish feet away from the user*. This would be pretty useless in battle considering I assume this guy is a melee focused miniature. The blade width is a bit much too. Even the biggest blades in the game (like the Dreadknight sword) don't seem so disproportionate to the user. I did some searching to try to give you some good proportioning examples.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=warhammer+scythe&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1680&bih=834&tbm=isch&tbnid=Li899o2oww5cfM:&imgrefurl=http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2487-.html&docid=kYWCrHbMukPepM&w=800&h=581&ei=ZGt-ToOkMs_RiAKFzYW8Aw&zoom=1 See this scratch built one. The size is very proportionate. Mind you the gun-scythe idea is something I find ridiculous but aside from that it is a good example.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440207a&prodId=prod1090236 Typhus is a good GW example of scaling for a scythe with a Terminator.

Setting wise the blade is gigantic and I imagine would need Tactical Dreadnought Armor's theoretical higher strength to use. Castellan Crowe is in Power Armor so he seems less bulky. Take what I say with a grain of salt however as I do not do a lot of counts as stuff.


Just some thoughts but I really like the idea and want to see more.

The Scythes are far from a custom chapter, they fill that wonderful niche of being rarely mentioned but kind of important in their own way. They and the Lamenters were almost wiped out defending a world from Tyranids (and failing). I think there was a whole epic/40K campaign with the two of them in the WD at some point.

They're currently on a penitent crusade aren't they, that will probably result in their destruction. If you fancy a change of pace, could even add a few other repentant marines in there, perhaps a 'sterngaurd' squad of Deathwatch Black shields looking for a cause following their tour...

It's nice to see good looking space marines, even better when you get the references for long forgotten chapters.

Really? One of the many 'never heard of them' chapters i guess.
/takes away custom chapter kudos

In fact, Shas'O Tael has had a great deal of history with the chapter. Not only did he make this website—The Scythes of the Emperor—with a colleague, but he also spent a while truescaling up a beautiful squad. Amazing the things we have stuffed away here on this site...! -D&G

I for one, strongly approve of this topic.

I've run the Scythes of the Emperor website since the late nineties, through various incarnations. The fuller history is on the website. I painted them in my own way, but only recently began using the official scheme.

A year ago I met up with Andrew Taylor (a well known Scythes collector) and we both realised our Chapter backgrounds online had muddied the *actual* GW history a fair bit. So using his GWHQ connections, my crayons and a large amount of reading we created the unofficial, but entirely accurate history of the Scythes. It was our penance crusade if you will. (cough, that pun was bad)

You can find that and more on my Scythes website. I host a lot of Andrew's work because of our common interest.

Currently I am working on scouts with a retro theme, so all these new Forgeworld goodies are landing just at the right time!

Look forward to further progress on your model

- Tael.

Can I assume that the OP and Tael will both be running around as Emperor's Scythes on the Space Marine game?

Very nice work! I like the conversion and the painting turned out excellent. I must also agree with strategem, the scythe looks comically large when compared to the scale of the model. Any way you can cut it down? How did you make it in the first place?

I've moved this back the lower concourse so the OP can continue to post. - TheAmbit

Thank you for all of the replies.

The Scythe is rather large and I will admit that. The Scythe itself is made from the following;

Thunder Hammer
Standard Bearer Banner pole
Commander back pack (Eagle)
Hunter Killer Missile Section
Plasti Card

How much do you fella's believe I should crop it down by? 2-3mm?

The annoying thing is, if I do crop it, ill be doing it to a finished miniature.

Depending on how easy it is, I'd crop it pretty heftily - so the blade is the same sort of size as the sword Crowe originally had.
It might be even just the width that is the problem rather than the length, perhaps with the eagle head being the thing determining the maximum thickness of the blade?

Alternatively convert him to being an Ancient rather than a chapter master, and have the oversized scythe being more ceremonial and part of a banner rather than a weapon. It's almost in the right sort of pose for it as well. Or if you like the body a lot, there's a couple of Power armoured Grey Knights who have poses that seem closer to a combat pose for a scythe - would have thought with all the weapon options available it wouldn't be too hard to get the corresponding set of arms for cheap

Like Tael - I am also liking this thread, but then I have a biased "Scythe's are great" point of view to everything.
(I am Andrew with the models on the website that Tael mentioned in case anyone is wondering.)

I like the look of the model and the overall feel of your Thrasius is good - I think Crowe makes a good model to come from, as he looks very stoic.
Like others have said said, I agree the scythe blade is touch over the top in size though. I think you want the blade about 20mm long and 5mm wide at most, the current one looks like it is a lot more than that, which makes him seem rather top-heavy and cumbersome.

I would also be tempted to shorten the upper shaft too, so that the blade sits a little lower down towards his head. This will also help to make him look more deadly and combat ready and will also reduce that unwiedly look.

I appreciate it might be a pain to change this as you have already put hard work into the blade, but I have learned from my own past experience its best to get rid of something that is not working, no matter how much time and effort it took, than to perservere with it as the end result is always better and worth the little bit of pain.

As an aside, this thread makes me want to get on and make my own Thrasius model (I have had the concept and bits ready on hold for some time... but I have some other things I need to finish first).

PS. I couldn't help but notice - Tael says he is painting Scythes in the 'official' colours?!
Perhaps I should paint some in his scheme to ensure proper balance is maintained.

I too agree that the width of the blade should be similar to the eagle head. A real life scythe is not very thick and I think that's one of the reasons why it looks so menacing. Oh and shortening the staff is a good idea as well. It just helps to keep things balanced.

FalcesImperatoris:
Man, you have a lot to learn about the Scythes. It would be cool to what you guys (you, Tael & Cipher) can come up with for this awesome Chapter.

Maybe try making the scythe about the size of the Nightbringers. Maybe this will help.

I'll chime in on the blade issue, just to concur (yes! used it for a fifth time in my life)

Mostly just great to see someone modelling the Scythes in their own manner. When you are done, can I add this to a file I am keeping on Scythes models about the internet? I'm going to release a gallery post on the website soon, with all appropriate credits.

Also, I'm going to add on Falces humble part, he just scored a Silver Demon at the UKGD last weekend for his very smartly converted/scratchbuilt Scythes Attack Quad

And yes, don't feint or think the world is ending, I'm just tempted to paint the official scheme as Cipher and Falces do great work with the limited amount of yellow in the official scheme.

- Tael.

Thank you every one for their posts and thoughts. Its all nice as I never get any real comments on my work. Ever!

I will not be able to post any more pictures as the rest of the album is on my PC back in England. Im currently across the pond in America till late October.

Ill go with what you are all suggesting and I shall decrease the height, and size down the blade. Ill remove it from the model prior to some work.

Once I've finished posting the work on Thrasius, ill do some of other models. I know its against the fluff, but I have a single God Hammer pattern Land Raider in the force.

@Tael Your more than welcome to add my pictures to your website.

~Ciph

Well you make some great stuff, so I'm sure there will be plenty for us to comment on!

As for the Landraider, you can justify it fluffwise by claiming it is a recovered vehicle that the Scythes recovered or perhaps it was commandeered from a Renegade Marine faction or a Chaos Warband. With enough thought, you can make most ideas work.

As Wolfs16 has said, you can clearly use the concept that its a recovered vehicle. If they are truly in a penitent crusade, then I'm sure they would do what they must to ensure their return to the Imperium.

Though, depending on how deep you get into your fluff, you'll need to make sure that the Techpriests/Techmarines are able to sway the machine spirit into the service of the Emperor and of course convince the Adeptus and the Inquisiton that this vehicle was acquired during their penance and shall be promptly turned over to the proper magistrates the moment they return for evaluation on level of corruption and possible study by the Adepts of Mars.

BUT that's just getting involved with the background fluff. It's an acquired piece and it'll be used accordingly. Would be cool though if you had signs of the Chaos iconography being removed along its chassis, showcasing their desire to remove the false icons.

And of course, outstanding work on your commander. Can't wait to see the final result.

Wolfs16 and Ar'ka, your both correct. The plan was for a scouting party to discover the Land Raider in a manifactorium[sp?] whilst looking for supplies. Still in its primer coat! So its a 'one of the only' in the chapter, and held as a respected relic.

When I do get round to doing so, ill also explain how I do yellow on to black. I saw a thread floating about with some one struggling. With vehicles I'm a little 'cheap' with my yellow technique, but it still looks great in my opinion.

That would be very useful, as yellow on black is notoriously difficult unless/until someone shows you a successful method. ~ E.

Ah, Scythes of the Emperors... The first of my favorite chapter as I discovered GW by Advanced Space Crusade. A Nice color scheme and a tragic history : a perfect match ! ^^
I like the way you've painted the yellow, but the red of the cape is really good too.
My only regret is that the scythe is too big for my taste, but I hope to see the finished mini soon.