77191 Bones Hydra -> Tiamat (by sculpting)

[jonishi]

One of the first things I did when I received my Bones kickstarter was to take the hydra, mutilate one of its heads and stick some greenstuff on there to make my hydra into Tiamat. Then I promptly banished it to my shelf of shame and occasionally thought about it for a year. Now, reading Metalchaos' excellent conversion thread, I feel motivated to work on it again and to keep it that I will try to post updates here. I will try to do a little sculpting every day so the greenstuff can cure in-between. 

 

I am using D&D dragons as references here. First up, the black head:

Some plastic surgery. The black dragon really doesn't have the strong jaw of the Hydra...

 

Two rounds of greenstuff. Still needs a bunch of teeth, frills and spines. Horns as well, of course, but I'm making those separately.

 

The blue head:

Here I will leave the spines along the back, they are similar enough. The horns and belly scales still need detailing and it needs frills along its jaw.

 

The red head:

Chopped off the horns and reduced the jaw and nostrils. His front teeth (though not the canines) were also removed later.

 

I can keep the belly scales here, which is nice or I'd have to the entire body as well. Still debating about the spines, I will see how it goes with the black head before I cut them all off. 

 

Comments and critiques very welcome. I hope yo'll enjoy it!

Edited January 8, 2015 by jonishi

[ub3r_n3rd]

Very cool! Looking forward to seeing this progress.

[Sakurafire]

This is fabulous!

[LittleBluberry]

Very neat idea!  I've been looking at Metalchaos' thread as well but the amount of pinning and trimming he's had to do is intimiating.  I might be willing to try modifying a Bones hydra some day, though.  Thanks for sharing!

[jonishi]

Very neat idea!  I've been looking at Metalchaos' thread as well but the amount of pinning and trimming he's had to do is intimiating.  I might be willing to try modifying a Bones hydra some day, though.  Thanks for sharing!

 

I also looked at that all that metal and though "nope, not for me..." But bonesium is a lot more manageable than metal and so far it's been easier going than I had expected. The trimming only took a few minutes per head at most.

[tiniest rhombus]

Cool project, your off to a great start!

[seej]

Hooray for another hydra -> Tiamat WIP! I look forward to seeing your progress.

[RouterMike]

This looks great so far. Do you have any plans to add wings to this as well?

[Baphomet69]

I wonder if using all Bones would be feasible (though you'd have to buy each full dragon, so probably work out more expensive than metal boneyard)?

[Metalchaos]

That's great you're working on this project again. I like what you did so far, I'll be following your progress.

[ShadowRaven]

Greenstuff work is coming along very nicely on the heads. I really am eager to see this come along, and shall be watching from the shadows, waiting to steal ideas

[jonishi]

Results of the second day!

 

Blue:

 

 

 

Added tabs to one side of the neck scales, then smudged them all flat and had to redo them. Other side tomorrow or whenever I can look it without despair.

 

 

 

Also enlarged his horn.

 

 

Black:

 

 

Put in some wires to support his spinal ridges. 

 

 

Added some teeth and his tongue extension came off... Will glue it back in after the teeth are done. Putting the membrane between was a struggle, any tips on how to approach this are most welcome.

 

 

Red:

 

 

Gave him a horn and supports for his frills.

 

 

 

Put on a first scaffold for the frills, too.

 

 

 

Not a lot of room for the frills, thankfully Green won't have any bits sticking out. 

 

 

Thank you all for your comments, they are very motivating!

 

This looks great so far. Do you have any plans to add wings to this as well?

 

I would like to, but shipping overseas is just too expensive and I don't fancy sculpting them form scratch. I'm still looking for the fire dragon closer to home and considering the wings off 77111: Rauthuros as well (I have him from the kickstarter) but they are on the small side and he looks very sad without them. 

 

 

I wonder if using all Bones would be feasible (though you'd have to buy each full dragon, so probably work out more expensive than metal boneyard)?

 

I did look into this, but I can't seem to find most of them in bones. Ebonwrath in bones is $19.99 vs $3.51 for just his head and neck, but the wings of the fire dragon are only $0.04 cheaper than the whole thing in bones. You'd also be saving $29 on the hydra itself, but I'd guess having a bunch of metal heads on a bones body may cause problems. Even if it were more expensive it might be worth it for all the bits left for future projects (in fact, a Frankendragon is already taking shape in my mind).

[RouterMike]

 (in fact, a Frankendragon is already taking shape in my mind).

 

...  ... 

 

I really want to see what's coming there.

[jonishi]

Update! This is actually after two sculpting sessions, but progress is very slow due to all the new things I'm learning. Mostly, I'm having a lot of adhesion problems meaning I have to do everything multiple times as it keeps ripping off. 

 

 

Black is looking less naked, though the spine membranes are still causing me no end of trouble.

 

 

 

I also made some horns for him, but they turned out a bit thick (this is the smaller of the two...) However, he still needs quite a lot of spikes on his chin, so I'll hold off on making new horns until I can see how that looks.

 

 

 

Blue has had his neck scales finished (with surprisingly few problems) and the basis for his cheek... winglet... things has been laid. 

 

 

 

 

For red, I've tried to make a subtle stretchy look on his membranes.The spikes there will have scales along them, hopefully it will look nicer when they are in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (in fact, a Frankendragon is already taking shape in my mind).

 

...   ...  

 

I really want to see what's coming there.

 

Unfortunately, I don't actually have several mutilated dragons sitting around at the moment, but who knows what sort of conversions the future may hold? 

[Humansquish]

For the membranes try wrapping tin foil around your supports and using the tin foil as a base.