Mounting the Hive! Bee Knight Progress

I found some time last night to do some more work on my Bee Knight Champion of Tzeentch. The key areas of work were to do some of the infilling from the 'chop' stage of the model (the point where all the components are assembled, but no blending work has been done), and to do some of the structural work and assembly. Here's where I'm at:

Progress to date; pretty pleased with the overall balance and profile

I was having a bit of a struggle working out how to use the hive. I had originally planned it as a scenic base element, but it was too big. I then struck on the idea that perhaps our Bee Knight carts it around with him. I built a little platform from matchsticks to mount the hive on, then secured it to what will be the saddle with a rope made from twisted wire.

You can probably see that I've done some sculpting around the joins between the neck and shoulder for the mount to make a sort of feathery collar. I didn't make this too refined as its going to be partially obscured by the Bee Knight's legs and feet.

Feathery frill for the Tzeentch steed

The Bee Knight is a little less advanced than the steed at this point. I'm yet to repair the join between the torso and legs. I have however added the structural support for the next stage of the head, as well as the rather nice beak face. I like the fact that rider and steed mirror each other with their long beaks!

 

Beaky!

The smoker is now finished and I decided to add it as a bit of gear dangling down for those quieter moments when the hive needs tending to.

Smoker made from pen parts and plasticard

 

Hopefully next time the build will have been completed and the finished conversion might be ready for some paint.