PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk (Unseen) / 9th Marik Militia

[Cazaril]

And now for some House Marik love…

I’d like to start by saying that this did not start as a multi-piece European Phoenix Hawk, but the standard 3-piece (figure plus two jump jet pods) version that is most often associated with the P-Hawk miniature… Second, while my opinion is that even most beginners could duplicate the reposes/bashes I do (given patience, time, tools and materials), this is not one of those times. I would consider this a moderate-advanced project and not a good choice for someone’s “first time”.

On to other things….

This was supposed to be ready back in April but a combination of a hail storm (which resulted in the ceiling next to my workbench caving in) and me transitioning from “Adult Student” to “Full-Time Employee”, delayed the project considerable. Also, you need to add to that “The painted is a klutz” ... While finishing the decals (with only the base work and sealant left), I managed to knock it off my temporary work table. Fortunately, I try to build them tough and even as chopped up as this one is all that happened was the arms became loose. This did require the removal and reattachment of the arms (along with several curse words. And trust me, those were necessary), and all the painting and touch-up work that comes with it. With most of my stuff packed away awaiting my new ceiling, I just put it away and figured I would deal with it later… Well, it is later…

Now for the mini related stuff…

On occasion, I will take a concept and build a lance around it. In this case, I choose an organized retreat (the kind that really tries to get everyone out alive). {Disclaimer: Use of the 9th Marik Militia for this project should in no way be taken as an insult towards House Marik, the Marik Militia or the 9th Marik Militia}. The idea for the repose comes directly from a picture I found for Project Hon. Because the main elements required both a head and a pistol/rifle, my options were limited to either the Phoenix Hawk or the Stinger. While I really could use a few more Stingers in my painted collection (2 Stingers vs. 10 Phoenix Hawks, this one making it 11), I felt the P-Hawk was the better choice.

Also, I think I am going to take IAmClanWolf’s idea to heart and start including images of an unmodified version of the base miniature for comparison. In this case, I had to pull a mini from all the way back in the early 90’s, as I haven’t painted an unmodified Phoenix Hawk since then.

Anyway, on to the pictures… As always, comments, suggestions and steal-able ideas welcome.













Caz

[Sartris]

That MM repose is outstanding

[Saint]

Beautiful work! Really like the action pose!

[Wrangler]

Wow. How.....its so amazing pose. Only think I didwas take a old P Hawk gun arm and mounted it on a standard one after removing the old one.
Wow what a amazing pose! Bravo!

[Fat Guy]

They're both beautiful, but you have your jump jets on upside down. The part that sticks out past the exhaust should be against the back:

[vaporlynx]

I likes em, they look good. 

[Cazaril]

They're both beautiful, but you have your jump jets on upside down. The part that sticks out past the exhaust should be against the back:

You will have to forgive that as "Artistic License" necessitates by the repose... If you look at the second picture of the second set, and the first picture of the third set, you can see where the left upper hip is positioned under the thrust port. If I had installed them the other way around, I'd would have had to install the packs almost a third of the way higher...

Caz

Edit... Granted the brown one shows them the same way, but that was before CSO when most of us had to guess which way things went. My more recent ones have them all flipped.

[jimdigris]

Those are awesome! O0

[worktroll]

Simply amazing, Caz. Simply astounding.

W.

[shadhawk]

Some nice work on them P-Hawks  8)

[Hayden.]

Too beautiful to play with.

Also, yeah, knocking a mini off the table right before completion and having to do re-work is just the pits. #P

[JadedFalcon]

Yet another compliment on the Marik Phoenix Hawk.  :D Also nice to see the Arcturan Guard Pixies again.

[Neo-Tanuki]

Fine work on that purple and the winter paint scheme. :)

[Spinosapper]

Amazing! O0

[The Wayfarer]

Well done.  And I'm game with artistic license.

Mike

[Domi1981]

This was such a nice design although I never understood why most PHX were posed like this


and my mini was posed like this:


maybe someone wanna help me with this question here.

[Cazaril]

This was such a nice design although I never understood why most PHX were posed like this

and my mini was posed like this:

maybe someone wanna help me with this question here.

My first guess would be because what you have is the European 5-piece version. The arms were not attached, and therefore the Large Laser wasn't molded into the leg. I've only heard of them, but never owned one. If I had access to a bunch of those, these conversions would have been a lot easier (as I have to usually cut off the arms,cut the laser off the leg and then repair both pieces).

[Wotan]

Definitely two different sculpts of the old PHawk. I have both of them, but the later one is much better.
That said, your mod and paintjob is exceptional as always. You impress me every time with your minis as they have so realistic poses and scenes. Absolutely another level of perception how our big stompy mechs are moving.

[abou]

1. The work on reposing is excellent.

2. Your painting -- blending and shading -- have provided much depth to the colors.

Well done all around, Caz.

[Valkerie]

Two big thumbs up!  That is one sweet repose  8)

[Cazaril]

Absolutely another level of perception how our big stompy mechs are moving.

A lot of my inspiration comes from the poses of real people, with a sprinkling of anime thrown in... Both have a more fluid movement than "Big stompy robots" suggests, but they also are more dynamic. Getting a dynamic pose out of the blah poses that the original TRO:3025 Mechs were sculpted in is the main reason I started reposing in the first place. So occasionally I end up with more of "man in suit" (Think: Ironman) than a guy piloting a complicated bit of machinery from 30 meters up, but they also end up pretty cool.

Caz

[Wotan]

I totally agree - and we have several examples from official novels of mechwarriors performing saltos or similar moves.

[Mwenski]

The pose looks so life like and conveys a real sense of motion. Fantastic job!

Can you help me understand how you get the gun separated from the leg? Which part do you remove material from / cut through with your jeweler saw?

[agen2]

Bravissimo.
 8)

[Domi1981]

@Cazaril: thank you for your explanation. This sheds new light. European Phoenix Hawk, nice! ;D

[Cazaril]

Can you help me understand how you get the gun separated from the leg? Which part do you remove material from / cut through with your jeweler saw?

I use a jeweler's saw with a 3/0 blade... Please remember, all saws "eat" material. The almost hair width of the jeweler's blade keeps this to a minimum, while the short height also allows you to maneuver the blade while cutting. Downside is that the 3/0 blades are fragile and snap easily (sometimes, too easy), which is partly why I don't move to a 4/0 blade...

As for cutting, I come at the laser from where the barrel meets the leg and try to cut the front of the shin flat. Same holds true for the knee... The front of the shin requires just some light cleaning up, but not much else, and it give you some material on the side of the knee to shape with a file...  Next, I angle the blade some, maybe between 30 - 45 degree to the lower thigh, which requires more clean up to flatten it, but leaves more of the gun behind... Note: if you look at the left leg, you will see a cone-shaped detail on the side of the leg. This exists on the right leg too, it is just kind of hidden from the front view by the gun. I would suggest matching the angle of your cut to match the slope of that detail. Yes, you will chew up a bit more of the gun, but I think it is worth it... Also, if you do not plan to move the upper shoulder (I don't think I did on either of the first two 23rd Arcturan Guards ones), then a trick I sometimes use is to undo one end of the blade from the jeweler's saw, feed the blade through the arm, and the reattach it to the saw. This allows me to cut from a slightly different angle and sometimes makes it a little easier.

I can only assume that the arm will be cut somewhere else (shoulder, elbow, somewhere) so that it can be repositioned. Otherwise this is a lot of work just to have the gun not be attached to the leg... So once the arm is off, I shape the knee, clean up the shin and the lower thigh, as well as that cone shaped piece... Typically this involve a little green stuff too... I also rebuilt the gun, adding back details, and then I file the front barrel round and drill out the tip... Also, just below the left knee there is a trapezoidal little detail. I tend to add that back with a little green stuff too.

For this last one, I also cut the gun completely away from the arm... Do do that, I cut even with the top of the forearm (much like I did the shin), but made a 90 degree turn and cut the hand off. I then filed down the fin portion of the gun on the inner forearm... Doing this let me rotate the hand, and by leaving the hand in tact, I had a place to insert the pins.

Finally, if you've never worked with thin parts before, I suggest looking into .015 and/or .020 music wire (I think the old wire antenna material was .015 music wire)... This stuff is pretty stiff and much thinner than paperclips, which means that you can drill in your pins without eating almost all the surrounding material. On my 9th Marik P-Hawk, I managed to get two pins in everything, including the hand, during reassembly (I double pin every part I can, so that the part can't rotate around the pin and break the glue that way)

I hope all this makes sense, and if you need something clarified, don't be afraid to ask.

Caz

[worktroll]

Caz,

Have you ever considered using a stanley knife for cutting, rather than sawing? I do this where it's a thinner cut - eg. slicing under the foot of a Panther, or at the joint between the upper arm & shoulderpiece on a PXH?

It requires a little finesse, and can't be used in tight areas, but it slices, rather than eating, the metal. You often need to apply strong-ish pressure, often with a rocking motion, so you need a strong blade, not one of those snap-off ones.

Just something for your consideration.

W.

[Juodas Varnas]

Caz,

Have you ever considered using a stanley knife for cutting, rather than sawing? I do this where it's a thinner cut - eg. slicing under the foot of a Panther, or at the joint between the upper arm & shoulderpiece on a PXH?

It requires a little finesse, and can't be used in tight areas, but it slices, rather than eating, the metal. You often need to apply strong-ish pressure, often with a rocking motion, so you need a strong blade, not one of those snap-off ones.

Just something for your consideration.

W.

Would it even work with metal minis? I imagine plastic being easy to cut, but metal?

[Valkerie]

Would it even work with metal minis? I imagine plastic being easy to cut, but metal?

It does work, as do Exacto knives as well (for smaller cuts).  Pewter is a pretty soft metal.  I haven't done any major reposes, but I have cut guns and arms away from the body on some minis that were molded together.  Like WT said, just rock back and forth carefully and the blade will go right through the pewter.

[Hellraiser]

Outstanding work, just Outstanding!