Converted Tyranid Tyrannofex - #Gunbeast4

In case you're not familiar with my past work on Tyranids, it could be said that I've got a THING for big, beefy Tyranids, and for Tyranid gunbeasts. So it should come as no surprise that my most recent Tyranid project consisted of marrying those two interest into a BIG BEEFY GUNBEAST!

As this is the fourth gunbeast I've made after my Exocrine, Dactylis, and upscaled Dactylis, I decided to organize my posts about the project under #Gunbeast4. 

When Life Hands You Lemons

It all started with me learning the hard way that, if a deal on the internet for a model kit seems too good to be true, IT LIKELY IS. 

I got what I thought were two Tervigon kits for a STEAL of a price...only to find out it was the seller who'd stolen from me when what I received in the mail were two shitty, chinacast recast of a Games Workshop Tervigon kit.

Sculpting Brains & Eyes: Tyranid enhanced senses (Project Gunbeast)

Next up on was tackling the creature's head. This Tyrannofex is going to be carting around some huge armour plates on its forearms to protect from incoming fire. One of the most important things it is protecting is its targeting array, which I wanted to make look like the organic, Tyranid equivalent of a satellite dish. The head is heavily armoured, but when those armour plates "bloom" open, they reveal all manner of eyes, scent pits, and even hyper sensitive brain matter.

Basically, a horror show of senses meant to detect any and all targets, across a number of wavelengths and spectra.

And I did it all in one go! And you can watch the results below:

Sculpting Tyranid Weapons - Armour plates on a biocannon (Project Gunbeast)

I've got another video of me working on Project Gunbeast for you (two in one week! Must be on vacation!), still working on the creature's biocannons. This time I'm adding the armour plates to the top, largest cannon, and I try to sculpt them all in one go.

Once again, this creature is meant to represent a Tyrannofex, borrowing heavily from my own Tyranid Exocrine and Dactylis designs.

Sculpting Tyranid Weapons: Bio-Cannons on a Tyrannofex (Project Gunbeast)

Here's some progress on a Tyranid project I've been working on in the background. Years ago I found a KILLER deal on two Tyrannofexes on eBay. It was cheap enough to seem too good to be true, and when they arrived, it turned out it WAS too good to be true.

Alas. Chinacast.

I was so frustrated at how I'd been duped that I burried the models in the bottom of my Tyranid bin and forgot about them. 

Until this year, when I stumbled across them, and resolved to get my revenge on the chinacaster by turning one of them into a badass Tyranid gunbeast. I'm referring to this as Project Gunbeast. On paper, this bad boy is going to rep a Tyrannofex, but you'll find that my design borrows heavily from my previous Tyranid Exocrine and Dactylis designs--particularly the idea of it being a mobile Tyranid gun emplacement that carries its own fortifications around with it!

Anyway, in this livestream I do some detailing on the Gunbeast's back-mounted biocannons.