Fix bayonets! 3D-printing Valour Korps... Pt. IV

Last week I sold my Feudal Guard army to make some space for a new project and, to be honest, also to generate some hobby budget... 

This new project comes in the shape of the Valour Korps. When this fantastic range from The Makers Cult was first released, I already did some test models, which can be seen in previous posts labelled 'Valour Korps'. These early models were painted in reasonably historically correct colours, but for this new incarnation I wanted something a bit more striking...

Bright red coat and shiny black armour...

Even though the models are very detailed and pretty awesome to begin with, I decided I wanted a little more. With the Feudal Guard I missed the opportunity to add some personal flavour to the models, with the Valour Korps I wanted to change that... My little Korpsmen will be going to war lugging around a full set of custom gear.

I started out by digitally kitbashing a simple backpack, this quickly escalated to a whole range of more than 20 different backpacks (and counting), similar in style, but with small variations in their configuration...

A few of the backpacks I put together...

All backpacks have a respirator-shaped hole in them...

The first few loaded Korpsmen...

I used mostly TMC bits to bash these backpacks together. This saves me the trouble of sculpting anything other than simple geometric objects (which I still can't) and it ensures the style of the backpacks closely matches that of the models themselves. The backpacks fit snugly over the respirators on the back of the models, making it very easy indeed to add more detail...

After the backpacks I digitally equipped several bodies with even more extra gear. All bodies were equipped with a canteen and I added several large and small pouches and the odd shovel (not too many of those, as most backpacks already include one). All these extra bits ensure a lot of different configurations and interesting detail to paint. 

After that, I enhanced all the regular lasguns to include a strap or belt and bayonet. The bayonets were already part of the Infantry Builder from TMC (I only thickened and lengthened it a bit, to make it stronger), but the belts were all designed from scratch. I then merged the arms, lasguns, belts and bayonets together so I can print complete sets, which has the added benefit of saving me the hassle of having to sort out the matching pairs of arms when assembling the models...

All geared up and ready to go...

The first few squads... 

I wanted these squads to look like they are 'at ease', so no running, shooting or agressively waving their weapons around... All these Korpsmen are idling, reloading, fixing bayonets or just standing around... 

More updates coming soon, and this time I might even mean it! Next up are more custom bits of equipment, bases and some heavy weapons...