Be Vewy Vewy Qwiet... I'm Huntin 'Umies...
When I read that the space Marines were getting a "sneaky" dreadnaught I thought the idea was comical and ludicrous and I wanted one...
I also wanted to really emphasise the silliness... with a cartoonist tip-toe posture and have him shhhing the boys with him like so slightly peeved librarian.
I think I have accomplished all I set out to do.
This conversion required three main aspects.
The ork pilot.
The first thing I did was check how this model was constructed and was pleasantly surprised to find my job a lot easier than expected.
I had feared it would be like other space marine crewed vehicles like their flyer, where the legs are part of the chassis and you just do torso head and arms. But no, on this one you could build it empty (giving a good opportunity for other conversions, such as an unlimited one undergoing maintenance or whatever you fancy)
The kit is also designed to have freely opening and closing canopy, as well as movement in the guns and arms, but given the extensive modifications I had planned to the major joints I glued everything in place once happy.
The Shh
The second thing I worked on was the arms. They have a good amount of movement and positioning range for a plastic model, but still not enough to bring the arm in front of the cab, so I had to improvise a new shoulder joint. I found the bomb from the blitza-bomber to be a perfect size match, and the front made a perfectly sized half sphere to act as a ball joint in the shoulder. I made both shoulders match even though it wasn't necessary on the gun rig, and while it looks a little odd on the gun arm, I think I can hide that in the painting stage.
I did also have to cut the finger to straighten it out but I think I hid the join quite well.
The Creep
The final aspect was the tip toe posture. For this I used a couple cut down flight pegs. Not yet sure how I'll keep them paint free when painting the fucker, may have to settle for painting them black and hoping for forgiveness on that one, we'll see. I didn't need to modify the trailing foot as that is designed to be lifting, I just had to accentuate it more. On the leading/standing leg I had to cut the toes and bend them out/in to take it from a planted foot to a rising foot.
I plan to add him to my Blood Axe force and as I have barely started building models for that it may be a while before you see paint on this guy, but as I was quite pleased with the conversion I thought I'd show it off.
I also wanted to really emphasise the silliness... with a cartoonist tip-toe posture and have him shhhing the boys with him like so slightly peeved librarian.
I think I have accomplished all I set out to do.
This conversion required three main aspects.
The ork pilot.
The first thing I did was check how this model was constructed and was pleasantly surprised to find my job a lot easier than expected.
I had feared it would be like other space marine crewed vehicles like their flyer, where the legs are part of the chassis and you just do torso head and arms. But no, on this one you could build it empty (giving a good opportunity for other conversions, such as an unlimited one undergoing maintenance or whatever you fancy)
The kit is also designed to have freely opening and closing canopy, as well as movement in the guns and arms, but given the extensive modifications I had planned to the major joints I glued everything in place once happy.
The Shh
The second thing I worked on was the arms. They have a good amount of movement and positioning range for a plastic model, but still not enough to bring the arm in front of the cab, so I had to improvise a new shoulder joint. I found the bomb from the blitza-bomber to be a perfect size match, and the front made a perfectly sized half sphere to act as a ball joint in the shoulder. I made both shoulders match even though it wasn't necessary on the gun rig, and while it looks a little odd on the gun arm, I think I can hide that in the painting stage.
I did also have to cut the finger to straighten it out but I think I hid the join quite well.
The Creep
The final aspect was the tip toe posture. For this I used a couple cut down flight pegs. Not yet sure how I'll keep them paint free when painting the fucker, may have to settle for painting them black and hoping for forgiveness on that one, we'll see. I didn't need to modify the trailing foot as that is designed to be lifting, I just had to accentuate it more. On the leading/standing leg I had to cut the toes and bend them out/in to take it from a planted foot to a rising foot.
I plan to add him to my Blood Axe force and as I have barely started building models for that it may be a while before you see paint on this guy, but as I was quite pleased with the conversion I thought I'd show it off.
Brilliant, I’ve now seen as many conversions of this as I have SM ones, lol.
ReplyDeleteI've not seen many conversions of this yet, I did see someone position the arm to be doing "the snap" which will be more clear if he adds some spirit stones and paints the hand in the right colour... from the comments people were asking all sorts from flipping the bird to being merely stereotypically Italian...
DeleteThat looks awesome! Best version of the thing I've seen yet.
ReplyDeleteFor the flight pegs, you might be able to get a bit of masking tape in there. Easier would be if you can find some good masking fluid, but altho I've heard people mention it, I've never actually found any. I generally use brass rod in these situations, since it's thin enough that when painted in some dark colour, it usually blends in fairly well.
I've got a friend who has used masking fluid, he wasn't that convinced by it, but on such a small and insignificant part I may be able to borrow it and give it a go. I did consider using thin rod but went for flying peg as I knew I'd be weakening the toes by cutting and bending them so wanted to counter act that by having a good wide surface to glue to for added support.
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