For all the grimdark severity of Warhammer 40k, there’s no denying that Space Marines look a bit – just a bit – like Buzz Lightyear, the overconfident space adventurer from the Toy Story movies. Nebraska based Dan Sullivan was so taken by the similarity that he decided to make a whole army of Buzz Lightyear marines, complete with fixed grins and a lurid Star Command paint scheme.
“I was 10 when the first Toy Story came out”, Sullivan says, “It quickly became my favorite movie, I have no idea how much I watched it as a kid”. He’s had the idea to make a whole Warhammer 40k army of Buzz Lightyears for years, since he saw someone else’s Buzz Lightyear Space Marine conversion, but “until I found an STL file for the heads I never pulled the trigger”.
Sullivan only just finished the army on December 15: he has more pictures on his Reddit account. If you’re interested in recreating the Star Command color scheme quickly, he has some advice. The models are based with “White Scar Games Workshop primer, covered in a light grey Army Painter Speedpaint for some shade”. The purple and green are also done using Speedpaint, “Alien Hive Purple and Shamrock Green”. The faces are done with conventional paints.
Speedpaints are translucent paints for miniatures that color, shade, and highlight in a single thick coat. They’re good for speedpainting armies, but they do make correcting errors difficult as they only function over a light basecoat. We also find Speedpaints to be a little glossy, which may or may not be a problem depending on the finish you want.
The Star Command symbol was made using custom water decals. “It’s a special glossy sheet you print on like you’re printing a photograph, hit it with a few layers of varnish, and do the usual water transfer process”, Sullivan says. He adds: “it’s rather easy to make”.
As he’s only just finished the army and the holidays are looming, Sullivan hadn’t managed to get a game in when we spoke to him. He says that reactions to the army “have been almost unanimously This is horrible and I love it” – a sentiment we are inclined to agree with.
Sullivan feels “exhilerated” now the army is finished, though he says “I definitely burned myself out a bit trying to power through the last of this”. He’s made “weird themed 40k stuff” for other Warhammer 40k factions before, including “some bushido Orks”, but this is the biggest project of the type he’s ever done. Despite the exhaustion, he says “I’m clearly going to add to it in the future”.
Custom Space Marine Chapters make a perfect canvas for crossovers with other franchises and even wider topics. Check out our interviews with the creators of Hello Kitty marines, Formula One marines, and even Vincent Van Gogh marines!
Source: Wargamer