Stormtalon Jetfighter And Valkyrie/Vendetta Size Comparison

I've started to get some colour onto the jetfighter with roughly the same kind of pattern/distribution as the Valkyire/Vendetta, so here's a quick update to show how it looks in comparison (all rather sketchy at the moment). I'm going to be focusing on getting both these and the other heavy armour in the Cult finished soonish for a planned narrative campaign during July-August. 

Daddy's toys in the foreground, kids' toys in the background!  

Stormtalon Jetfighter Conversion Completed

I managed to salvage enough time this week to bring a salvaged kind of look to the finished stormtalon jet fighter conversion. I wanted it to have a patched-together look, something that serendipitously happens to match my haphazard and lazy modelling skills. Luckily, my painting style can be relied upon to mask a multitude of modelling sins, so I'm confident I can make it look rather good in the coming week.

Stormtalon Jetfighter Conversion First Stages

A few weeks ago I got my hands on a stormtalon as part of some elaborate exchange deal with my brother (a regular hobby occurance). Not actually needing a stormtalon I immediately started to think how I could convert it into a proxy for one of the Forge World jet fighters and slot it rather neatly into my Genestealer Cult. Here it is in the first stages. I took about a week or so to move things around and try out different configurations until I ended up with what you can see below, which is about 70% completed. I went with a WWII kind of vibe and I'm really pleased with how it's coming together - certainly it's much cheaper than the FW offering! Updates to follow during the week as I finalise the wings, streamline the bodywork and get it up to the base coat stage. 

Taurox: Tranks Or Wheels? And Is It Basically A Space Tractor No Matter What You Do?

So which of these do you prefer? Or is the model beyond redemption?

Zinge Industries wheels

Blood and Skulls Industry wheels

The GW original

I have to say that although I'm quite taken by the wheeled conversions I still like the original. The one thing that is making me seriously consider doing a conversion - and I like the middle picture despite its tractorishness - is that I like the idea of using the tracks with other spare parts to make a couple of Space Marine Rapier guns, like this one:

Seeing as these FW models are £29 there is a significant saving to be made here, even with paying the extra for the wheels. Decisions, decisions...

Building A Nurgle Heldrake: The Helfly Part One

Big spider plus bits equals Nurgle Heldrake: the Helfly. 

This is a conversion job that's been done before by a few people, but my take is distinctive because it's supposed to be a direct substitute for the standard heldrake. I've modelled the legs in a forward attack pose rather than drooping down limply because I want to retain the notion that this thing plummets from the heavens to being wanton destruction. It's not simply dawdling along! Engines to be added once the bits arrive. And as a little teaser, the bits for the wings are in the last photo.

The baleflamer ready for action

Soon to be wings

Nurgle CSM Mutilators WIP #3

I've not spent too much time on these as I've been busy finishing kitbashing my mob of 35 cultists (more on them during the coming week). I have finished the conversion job on all three of these chaps now though, and got the basic base coats on all the new bits. So here they together for the first time. I think these will come out really well, although the stylised paint scheme will take quite a few sessions to come together. To preserve my patience for the job ahead I'm going to spend the week with the far more straightforward cultists. 

Nurgle CSM Mutilators WIP #2

It's taken me ages to decide what to do with two of my mutilator conversions. I've wavered between fitting them with more futuristic weapons and alternatively keeping their trollish clubs (which would've fitted reasonably well, if not perfectly). In the end, as these pictures attest, I've made substantial changes. The first mutilator below is now in the midst of forming a great daemonic sword (taken from the daemon prince set); the second has morphed two power mauls (taken from the Carnifex kit). Tomorrow I'll post a WIP of all three. Thanks to Ben for the comment that nudged me to finally take the plunge and make these changes.

Plague Marine Conversions, Part The Second

For stage two of these guys I decided that third party backpacks just weren't going to cut it, so I delved into by double-Dark Vengeance box and fished out the backpacks from the chosen (which I'll replace with standard chaos ones from GW via mail order). Here are a couple in shiny-white primer, and a few more wearing a base-shade of Daler Rowney Antelope Brown ink, which has proved to be an amazing base-shader (with a littler medium and a drop of water added.

The first test model alongside my version of Typhus from Scibor

The base-shaded 'command group'

Some in white primer toting various weapons 

A bit of base shading done on the Scibor snail

Probably the best example of my base shading approach on a mildly kitbashed Helbrute

Avatars Of War Corruptors Of Apocalypse - Out Of The Box

Ah, new month, new toys. Today I'm doing one of my quick out-of-the-box reviews of the Avatars Of War Corrupters of Apocalypse. As always this is simply a series of photos of the basic parts that come with a set of miniatures - the kind of thing I would find useful if I was thinking of buying something, particularly if I was thinking of easy conversions. And that happens to be exactly what I'll be doing with this lot over the next week or so, as I turn them into my version of Plague Marines. Overall I'd say this was a pretty good quality set. It's the first time I've seen 'warcast' up close and it seems to be reasonable: not the best resin, certainly not the worst. There are a few slightly dodgy areas of casting, although nothing like finecast miscasts. The detail is generally crisp and pleasing and these are suitably characterful models. For a Warriors Of Chaos WFB army these would be absolutely brilliant. I, of course, will be slightly converting them 'John Blanche' style into the 40k universe.  

Here Come The Fatties! Pestigors And Plague Zombies

So far these guys have been a blast to work on. They're the epitome of value-for-money-gaming because they'll work as pestigors (bestigors) in WFB and as plague zombies in 40k (hence the round bases, which will slot into a movement tray when they're beastmen). Plenty more pustules and rashes to add along with additional chain mail, all in greenstuff. Pictured is the command group along with a couple of example conversions that will go with ten of the original pestigors to make a unit of 21. I'll just need to grab another box of gors and roll up a big nub of greenstuff to push towards a maxed-out squad of plague zombies.

Razorgor Conversion, Plus A Quick Review Of GW Texture And Base Paints

I'm quite taken by the bulgy-eyed weirdness of the GW Razorgor model, but seeing as I have a surfeit of bits(z) I decided to see if I could bash one together. It turned out to be a rather simple marriage of boar body and manticore head, with added spiky bits. I wanted this to be a dynamic piece so I'm posing him leaping over what will be an abandoned tomb of some once-celebrated warrior... or something like that! Anyway, I'm pleased with how this has come together so far.

I've photoed Boris (as my son has named him) at this stage because it also gives me a chance to mention the Ceramite White Base paint and Stirland Mud Texture paint that I used for the first time. I must say that I'm pretty impressed with both. The base white covers over my Army Painter white primer perfectly, while the texture paint is much better than I'd hoped, being rather flexible in how much gritty coverage it provides (I realise this photo doesn't do it justice, so you'll just have to take my word for it!). Well done GW on a couple of very useful products. 

Flying Nurgle Daemon Prince (AKA Another Conversion Idea To Pinch)

Here's a great take on a flying Nurgle daemon prince posted by conversion bits supplier Zinge Industries on their facebook page. I'll be pinching this idea for my own model, although I'll do something a little different so that it matches my planned Helfly conversion.

Converting Dark Vengeance Chaos Cultists, Simple Swaps

Yesterday I de-sprued the Chaos Marine half of two Dark Vengeance boxes, push fitting them together for a sense of tidiness and so I could begin to work out how to convert them. With two sets to work from there are plenty of duplicates. To begin I'm working with the cultists because they're the most straightforward - they can be mixed and matched a bit with what's already there and can take relatively straightforward swaps with a wide range of bits. In my double-box there are eight cultist models with four duplicates each, as well as two each of the cultist leaders and heavy weapon guys. Here are my first three conversions:

1. This cultist usually has an autogun. Here I've swapped in a pistol from one of the other cultists and added a hand/corpse from the crypt ghouls. This chap now fits into the close combat squad, adding variety.

2. This cultist has a new hand weapon from the Empire flagellants. He also has a crossbow. I really like the crossbows that come with the Empire models and I've been itching to use them in 40k to give some figures that mix of archaic weaponry and apparel. Now I have the chance. As crossbows don't appear in the rulebook I can just use them as stand-ins for pistols or autoguns, although this lot with be subs for pistols. I'll think of some fluff reason why the cultists have them and how they work further down the line.   

3. Another crossbow and another swap from the autogun squad into the close combat squad. This guy also needs some greenstuff before he's truly ready. Once I've done a few more of these I'm going to start swapping heads around and moving legs.

Climbing Sprue Mountain #5 - Genestealer Cult

We've climbed sprue mountain as far as the penultimate army and it's the one that's taking up most of my time right now: the Genestealer Cult. This is a funny one, because as I gather everything together I realise quite how much groundwork remains to be done. There's plenty still to do on a basic level due to so many of the cultists and hybrids being conversions (well... kitbashes at least). This is where I'm employing all the GW Empire models - unlike Marienburg, I'm happy for this lot to have the 'epic' 28/30mm scale, and besides, when they're next to the purebred Genestealers they all look rather (and suitably) fragile! I'm going to be working on all these guys next week so will put up some better photos then, but for now, here's what I'm working on...

(L-R) A couple of proper freaky hybrids - perhaps second generation - next to one of the psykers from a seven strong battle squad

(L-R) The beginnings of a third generation hybrid; a storm trooper with what will be a hot shot lasgun; a basic hand gunner waiting for some futurist additions

The Magus - I'm going to de-clutter the base. 

Another Excellent 40k Titan Using Star Wars And Other Toys

While trawling the web I found this very smart looking model by Beowahr on Cool Mini Or Not. I have to say this has changed my mind and I now think that I will try something very similar to this, rather than a full-on scratch build. A quick image search illustrates that many people have gone down the 'scratch build a warhound' option and pretty much all of them have ended with mediocre-to-poor results. Right, back to eBay...

40K Titan Conversion (1980s Style!)

Thanks to Orlygg for pointing me in the right direction in super quick time and also to Zhu Bajiee for filling in some additional details. Here is the 1980s converted Titan I was looking for yesterday. It's by Tony Cottrell and utilises parts from a Star Wars AT ST walker and a Red Scavenger Zoid. I think the line suggesting it's 'scratch built' is rather misleading considering the heavy use of toys - it's hardly scratch built as I would understand it these days, but hey ho. Actually that point has got me thinking about my own possible effort in the future. I have this idea for a Lords of Decay (Death Guard) Titan that's something like a daemon engine, as in, it's crewed by some foul creature like the Soul Grinder. Early days of course, especially considering I'm not even planning on getting properly started with Lords of Decay until late in the year. I am, however, starting a 'Titan bitz box' to collect useful bits and bobs...

They don't make them like they used to! Tony Cottrell's 'scratch built' Traitor Titan

Star Wars 40k Titan Conversions - Help Needed!

Hey folks, does anyone out there have a picture of a Star Wars scout walker (AT ST) converted into a 40k titan? I remember seeing one a long time ago, way back in the late 80s or early 90s, and I believe it was in a White Dwarf. I've searched the web and all I could find was an interesting discussion on a Tau forum about Star Wars 'counts-as' armies and a rather nifty conversion of the AT AT walker, pictured below:

Converted AT AT

The reason I'm asking is that I took my son to an 'antique' toy store today and the guy there had loads of Star Wars walkers at very reasonable prices - £15 - just as a modelling challenge, I fancy doing a (heavily converted!) homemade titan based on the AT ST: I think it could look rather good as a warhound, perhaps with Forge World weapon arms attached...

Ah, the memories...!

Beastmen Spider Centaur Conversions #1

A trio of 'just the plastic' conversion photos today - I wanted to share these ladies with you because I'm so pleased with how they're working out. I decided to make the spider centaurs first as the clipped-off legs would be needed for the genestealer first generation hybrids. I'm most satisfied with the repositioned legs on the spider bodies, which I simply clipped off at the joints and reattached. A little greenstuff is required to smooth out the daemonette/spider transition where the mandibles/fangs have been removed. 

Manticore Conversion - Twin Tail, Bad Attitude

A further addition to the Dread Host of the Dark Lord Davey: a Manticore. This is another model this I've had my eye on since it was released by GW, particularly because it can be put together without a rider with no conversion necessary. That being said... I've decided to convert it!

When I got my hands on the scenic base from a Black Dragon as a spare with the Warpfire Dragon from Forge World I couldn't stop thinking about how I might be able to put it to use - a little bout of eBay-ing later and... voila! ... one twin-tailed Manticore with a seriously bad attitude.

Not a complex conversion this one - a little work on the feet to set it up, then a good dose of liquid and 'traditional' greenstuff to join the two tails. A few bits from the Ghorgon kit and greenstuffed spines completed the transformation.

Hopefully it won't be bucketing down with rain tomorrow and I'll be able to get the primer on this chap and get a base coat layer started.