WIP - Kroot Mercenary

I've seen some pretty imaginative conversions using the humble Kroot. Their role of mercenaries in the 40k universe make them an ideal candidate for such work.

In my case I needed an Acolyte for my Ordos Xenos army. I happened to have a large bag of Kroot lying around that I picked up for a dollar at the local gaming store's annual Gamer's Garage Sale. I added several bits from my guard and a spare bolter. The carapace armor on his torso, and his knee pads were sculpted using pro-create. I also used pro-create to sculpt his had wrapped around the front of the bolter. I used micro beads for the snaps on his shoulder straps and polystyrene rod for the bolter shells on his lapel.

I thought that blending the bolter with the Kroot rifle would be a little more in keeping with the theme. Once everything had been assembled as shown above I thought it needed a few more tweaks. I removed the stock scope, added a couple of Picatinny rails and a scope from polystyrene. The sling is greenstuff.

After the rifle was complete I new I had to fix that head of his. I trimmed off his quills, drilled holes into the top and replaced the quills with ones made of polystyrene rod sharpened to a point.

Pictures of the finished model coming soon!

WIP - Ork Dakkajet Conversion

I've been looking for various models to complete outside of my typical builds for upcoming model competitions. One idea I had was to convert some Hasegawa Egg Planes into Ork flyers. What follows is my current work in progress, an Ork Dakkajet converted from a Hasegawa Egg Plane.

Doesn't this kit look like it was designed with Orks in mind? These kits only run about eight dollars on Amazon!

 A lot of styrene was used to make this conversion.

 I also used lead solder wire to make the cables. This was the first time I've used it in a model for this purpose and I absolutely loved the effect. It was so easy to work with!

 Panel lines were emphasized with a razor and dental tools. The rivets were created using microbeads.

I used zip ties for the ammo belts. I saw that technique online somewhere but I can't remember where.

 The grot is from the gretchen box. I had to cut off the arms legs and waist and resculpt the shoulders and arms with green stuff.

Various bits helped to fill out the build.

I've got two more of these kits on hand to make conversions out of. My ultimate goal is to apply three of these to one base. That way as each hull point is removed during game play I can remove one model for each point.

Chaos Cultist to Ministorum Priest Conversion WIP

I bought the above pictured $10 set of Chaos Cultists with the intention of using them for some conversion work. Ultimately I wanted to make some primaris psykers and ministorum priests.

While not yet painted the below Ministorum Priest was created using the model pictured in the bottom left of the above photo. It took a great bit of chopping, green stuff, and bits, but here it is.

The robe, rope, censer, book and purity seals are all green stuff. The pole is styrene rod, the pointed bottom is cut from a disposable glue applicator the top is made from two Forgeworld Inquisition icons. The head is from Maxmini.

Gaunt's Ghosts - Flame Trooper Lubba

The first of my assembled Gaunt's Ghosts. Flame Trooper Lubba. I started with a flame trooper, and a Vervunhiver at that, because I need to create some custom lasguns. The Tanith born carry lasguns with custom nalwood stocks so not just any lasgun will do. 

With that in mind here Lubba. I got the torso, head, and legs from Victoria Miniatures. The flamer and arms are from the standard Cadians. The camo cloak is greenstuff as is the fuel hose. I used the Green Stuff Industries tentacle maker to make the fuel hose. I cut down the standard fuel tanks to only one. I wanted something a little less bulky.

Imperial Knight Titan Cockpit

I had been looking for a large model to complete for the upcoming IPMS Best of the West model contest. While I was eyeballing a Tau Riptide my gaze wandered over to the Imperial Knight Titan. Not only a beautiful large model, but it was something I could field in my Imperial Guard army should I want to.

As always I wanted to do something a little different with the model so I decided on building a cockpit. The standard model doesn't come with one so it was going to be scratch build. I used the cockpit built by John Stiening at his blog "40k Hobby Blog" as a reference. I noted that in his blog he appeared to have used the control console from a Space Marine Land Raider. I picked one up from Bullettbits55 on eBay. I then used some instantMold to make a press mold of the control console and monitors so that I could make some green stuff copies.

Additional details were added using the Green Stuff Industries tentacle maker, scratch styrene, and guitar string. Aside from the head, the pilot was sculpted out of procreate. I've done plenty of filing and detail sculpts but this was my first attempt at a sculpt of that size. The gears were from a pack I picked up at a craft store.

The cockpit was primed black and drybrushed with army painter gun metal mixed with black. A second dry brushing of pure gun metal was applied over that. I then drybrushed a coat of bronze over the consoles. The screens were all painted in blended shades of aqua and lagoon craft paints. The buttons were painted various bright colors and the entire cockpit received a gloss coat. I then applied a wash of brown, burnt sienna, and black oil paints to the 'metal' surfaces. After the oil paints had dried I applied dull coat to the cockpit and finished by applying gloss varnish to the screens.

The pilot chair received a similar treatment and the pilot's robes were painted in barn red, given a dark wash and highlighted with barn red with progressively more Army Painter red mixed in. Skin tones were completed using Army Painter Tan Flesh and a craft paint flesh color. A small amount of red was added to the flesh color around the points where the cables enter his skull.

With the cockpit completed it's on to the rest. Soon to come!

UPDATE:

Here's a couple more pictures of the cockpit now that the rest is done.

Inquisitorial Chimera with Chapter House & Forge World

Back in February of this year I set about making a one of a kind Inquisitorial Chimera using the Chapter House Studios six wheel kit with iconography and a rear door from Forge World. At that time I completed a review of the Chapter House Studios kit so I won't go into great detail about it in this post but you can check that out by clicking here.

The Chapter House kit required some modifications to fit. I was very happy with the Forge World kit. It was very detailed and I knew it would add a load of detail to my Chimera. 

I was disappointed however (this was my first Chimera) that there were no interior details in the crew compartment. So I made some.

I created a rear entrance and command module for the interior using styrene, sprue, guitar wire and green stuff. I also created some details for the side walls but I didn't get any pictures of them before they were painted.

The hull of the Chimera had to be modified itself. I filled in the driver's hatch and gun ports with apoxie sculpt and sanded them all smooth. I think the gun ports on the sides of the Chimera look stupid with the lasgun array sticking out so I wanted to cover the ports.

Using hatch pieces from multiple kits as well as some styrene rod I created the above gun port covers. I think they look a lot better than the standard lasgun array.

Adding the Chapter House Kit to the Chimera hull was a giant pain in the ass and required a lot of apoxie sculpt, putty, and a razor saw.  I also had to replace all the rivets on the front and sides of the hull using a small diameter styrene rod, but in the end it was worth it. 

I wanted the Chimera to appear to have been requisitioned from an existing Imperial Army so I searched for some obscure Imperial regiments and settled on using the Jouran 29th and an urban camo scheme. You can also see below the magnet in the turret.  All turret mounted weapons are magnetized.

 Initial weathering was completed by sponging to create a chipping effect.

 Decals were added using Microset & Microsol to get a nice painted on look.

After setting, the decals were worn down using a tooth pick.

Additional weathering was created using an oil paint wash.

I also used Secret Weapon Miniatures weathering powders.

 Purity seals were added on various parts of the Chimera to give it an added Inquisitor feel.

 Some bed rolls and other packs were added to give a lived in feel.

The name Jouran and number 29 were added using rub on transfers. I like these because they can be worn down easily with a toothpick.

 And the finished product...