MARCH 2008 - Magnus the Red, Iacton's canonical Ronin model

We kick off the Display Case with our first piece - Iacton's version of the Thousand Sons' primarch Magnus the Red. This model was produced by Ronin Miniatures on a strictly limited production run, and many gamers consider their sculpts (which are inspired by the official HH artwork) to be the Holy Grail of PH gaming!

Here are some words from Iacton himself -

I consider it quite an honour to be the first entrant to the display case. There is some serious talent here and also some amazing emerging talent too. I sincerely hope that this showcase section will encourage everyone to try their very best. Especially if you have taken the time to sculpt or convert your figures, or built a plastic kit in just the way you want. There is a fine pool of ideas and creativity where we can all bounce our ideas and critiques off each other. In the short time I have been here, I have picked up some great ideas and gained extra confidence in conversion work.

This Ronin sculpt was a HUGE challenge, he is absolutely massive - a standard marine comes up to just above his knee! I don't think that he is quite correct scale wise, unless Magnus was supposed to be about 35 foot tall!

I started painting this guy in June '07 and almost gave up on him too many times to count. I wouldn't be able to enter him for any Games Days since he is officially a GW IP infringement. But he is definitely 'canon' in his overall look. He is the first of the primarchs that I have painted and I have a box full of the others already released, including both of the Emperor sculpts. I intend to finish the few figures on my desk first and then pick the next one - I think the Emperors are top of the list!

If only I could photograph bright red and show the depth. There are actually about 5 shades in it, but unless you make the red darker it is near impossible. It is similar with the white of his cloak; i must have repainted it 3 or 4 times to get the bluey white to work without being chalky.

I mentioned in my blog about the skin - the premise there was that he was essentially a ginger. So he would have very pale skin with red tones, also I then wanted to give the impression that there was no fat on him and that the structure of his muscles and tendons are almost bursting through the skin, hence they are "stripy" - think along the lines of a bodybuilder in competition form, but without the fake tan!

The base was from "Foundations of War", an eBay seller. The first time I saw it I thought it would be ideal for him, especially because the 40mm base supplied with him was far too small. I removed the fallen column from his original base and glued it to the new base to give him the point to stand upon. I had intended to have a crushed Space Wolf under his boot, but I couldn't make him stand upright, and looked like he was about to fall over backwards.

Of all the parts, the technique I used on his armour has worked out the best, and I fully intend on using it again, in slightly different tones for the custodes and primarchs that I have yet to paint. See my blog for a full guide.

Right, I've blabbed on for far to long now. Let me know what you think.
If anyone wants help or advice I am genuinely more than happy to help, and similarly if you have advice for me (other than to stop being so flipping wordy!!

- Iacton

I like his tiny loincloth
No, really, a VERY good model, hope he wins some swords for you in Games-Day

Paint job is solid, but the base is very empty and bland - something you might want to address if you plan to enter a competition.

I think you could probably get away with entering him in the Open Category or something at Golden Demon... after all, YOU didn't commit the IP infringement so I'm not sure they could hold it against you. It might not win, but it would certainly be an impressive sight towaering over the other 28mm minis...

EDIT: Ooops, I clicked Refresh while modding this thread and some posts have gone - please repost your comments guys!

This post has been edited by ShroudFilm on Mar 3 2008, 11:42 AM

First, I really like this new section of the board already. Excellent idea, Shroud! Thumbs up.

On this mini: Great sculpt and paintjob. This would be a great GD-entry mate.

yeah enter it in games day!

I'm hoping that by September I'll have something a little more "legal" and maybe a little more worthy. Thanks for the encouragement though guys.

a freind of mine that plays TS just got this model and added wings so its now his daemon prince

I think it looks amazing, you should definitively enter Golden daemon with it.

i love the quality of the painting. looks well smooth... anyone got a pikky if the deathguard primarch?

Thanks mate, PM in your box

awesome paint job however the model is too thin . i know its a ronin model but its way too skiny to be magnus of all the primarchs.

Most scholarly, least combatative and most mutated of the Primarchs... how is this too thin? He didn't become a dumpy little daemon until after the Heresy.

sadly the rules state that miniatures producted by other companies aren't allowed its only citadel and scratch sculpted (thought the first part of the rule has been over looked countless times in the past i susppect that given how hot gw are on ip at the moment it probably wouldn't be waved this year)

back to the mini, whilst ive never liked this sculpt the paint job is top notch particularly the work on the brass(bronze whatever you want to call it) armour

EDIT: Kharn, perhaps he has really tiny loins.....