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Well, I have been wanting to get drop troops for my IG army for a while. I just never wanted to pony up the money for overpriced resin models. Needless to say, I built this 20 man vet squad with lots of Forgeworld bits, but not the main body. The reason I opted not to use the main bodies from Forgeworld is because the models tend to break easily when they are small in size.

I can't count the times I've tried to work with a small lasgun or part to have it just fall apart in my hand. Also, its a huge pain to clean parts of that size and properly remove the releasing agent from the models.

So, with these problems figured out I just went to my bits box and searched for anything that might get me a good result. Well, to my surprise the parts I found worked out great and at 1/3 the price.

Keep in mind that I already had a bunch of Catachans laying around from an older army, and a bunch of Tau Fire Warriors. I don't think it would make sense to build these guys unless you can get the Catachan legs and the Fire Warriors on the cheap. Some of you may already have this stuff laying around.

You'll find a good history of how I built these guys in the pictures. I tried to be as clear as I could with the pics, so just post something if you have questions. The guys took me about 10 hours to make a squad of 20, plus the extra sniper guy for the pictures.

The most important part of the project is not using clippers to cut the parts, but instead using a saw like the one pictured. Its the only true way to cut things nice and straight. Also, you'll need 2 types of glue. Normal model glue for the plastic parts, and crazy glue for the resin parts. Also make sure to file all the connecting pieces so they stick better.

One last thing. I did have to buy some forgeworld parts to make this project work. I got the Elysian Heads (2x pack of 12), Elysian Jump Packs (2x pack of 12), Elysian Gun Pack (2 packs, great stuff), and Elysian Extras (3 packs that I also can use on normal IG guys)

I did 2 squads of 10 vets with 2 metas and 1 plasma per squad. I also added a power fist and plasma pistol for the Master Sgts.

Let me know your thoughts guys. Thanks

Some other pics of the squad.

More pics

Some more pictures.

And More Pics

I like. Alot. Paint a squad and post it, please.

Ooops nm. lol

Now just erase all the silly names off the bases....looks good!

Someone's a fan of Gaunts Ghosts i think Very cool conversions mate and great paint work! Are you going to use the D99 Rules or Standard rules for em?

Mate! Those are awesome-keep the names-never seen such dedication to 'Background' detail on so many figs. Kudos to you on the paint job as well!

Good work. Would love to see a heap of them together too!

Awesome.
Are they stormtroopers? Cause they look like they have carapace armor.

Very nice! It's good to see a little more mileage off the Tau firewarrior bodies; they are really very nicely posed for things that actually aim when shooting (as opposed to Marines and Sisters who fire from the hip.)

Excellent work!

Excellent! I love how well the use of fire warrior bodies and limbs turned out. They still look fairly imperial even without skulls and eagles decorating their armor (although I think that they could stand to have a few more of those). There are only two things I don't like though: How they have no shoulder pads on their left shoulders (since they are right handed that's the side that's most likely to be exposed) and how stubby the sniper rifle is. Other than that I think that these models are an amazing conversion idea. The execution was great too!
Where's the thumbs up Orkmoticon???? oh well this will do:

Looks good. I would agree that they need a shoulder pad on the left shoulder to match the right.

I'd also suggest trying to stick as much as possible with Tau hands, rather than mixing and matching Tau and Imperial ... that way everyone winds up with the same number of fingers. (The Tau hands could be written off as a mutation particular to their homeworld or somesuch)

Stelek wrote:I like. Alot. Paint a squad and post it, please.

Ooops nm. lol

Now just erase all the silly names off the bases....looks good!

100% agree. Great work!

insaniak wrote:

I'd also suggest trying to stick as much as possible with Tau hands, rather than mixing and matching Tau and Imperial ... that way everyone winds up with the same number of fingers. (The Tau hands could be written off as a mutation particular to their homeworld or somesuch)

I completely forgot about how the tau have only 8 fingers...but Unless you already know that or look really close, you don't notice. Hopefully the inquisition doesn't learn about this regiment of mutants

I totally agree with everyone on the fingers, but I looked at them as being mittens. I figured since these guys drop in from high altitude, its probably really cold on the way down. Most of my guys just landed and are taking cover by anything they can find (ie the walls and rocks) so they still have their gloves on. Some of the guys have already taken them off so their hands are normal looking with just finger glove that they are all wearing under their mittens. That's just my version so I did not have to green stuff 1 mm fingers on all these guys. As for the shoulder pad, I totally see what you guys are saying. I again just did not want to green stuff shoulder pads. I used the right shoulder pad as more of a unit badge then a protective device. Its such a small shoulder pad that I don't think anyone would actually use it to stop bullets. Great points guys, and thanks for the info. Please keep it coming, its very motivational for future projects. Thanks

By the looks of your avatar, it seems that you also have some catachans...I would like to seem some pictures of those too. As an imperial guard player, I find other people's Imperial Guard armies especially interesting and inspirational. I only wish I had a way of taking pictures that don't turn out grainy or blurry so that I could post some pics of my own!

Catachans you want, Catachans you got.

One of my coolest tanks I own. I'm actually starting a conversion of the new plastic Baneblade and making it into a Stormblade. I'll keep you guys posted with pics.

Really a nice-looking army you got there. Love the colour choices.

diablobats wrote: I'm actually starting a conversion of the new plastic Baneblade and making it into a Stormblade.

Care to elaborate on how you're going to go about that? I've had the same idea, but I have no idea where to start.

al-Majid Agandhjin bin Ahfal al-Rashid

These look fantastic!!!!!!

I second the call for a converting tutorial/blog for the Stormblade!

Nice lookin' Elysians, too.

I started on the Storm Blade conversion last night, so I should have some pics later today. Its a bit time consuming at first but once you get to cutting the plastic card its easy going. I just finished the gun mount and will have pics up soon. Keep an eye out for them tonight. Below is a list of items you will need.

Plastic Card (about 3 sheets should do it)
Plastic Tubing (you'll find this in the same area as the card)
Thin Wire (the same stuff thats in your phone wire) you'll see what that is for in the pictures.
Tank Sprouce (the one that comes with the Bane Blade is fine, and also Lemon Russ parts are good)
StormBlad Pictures (make sure you print out several pictures of the stome blade to look at while your working. Very important)


Pics coming in a few hours.

Well, here it goes. I started on this last night, and I'm almost finished with the basic look of the tank. If you notice I used the original under body from the Baneblade to glue the plastic card to. By doing this, your sure to make the whole thing fit right. I also used Imperial Armour I to check out sizes for the piece. You don't want to make it to big or to small for the Baneblades original parts. More pics to come, I'll keep you posted. Any questions, please feel free to ask.

So this is what I have so far. Its almost 2:30 am and its time for bed. I still have some work on the main gun and the main gun's housing unit. The body as you can see is almost finished except for adding the stubber and arms to the crew member. Total time spent on this so far is about 8 hours. I almost forgot. I changed my mind on how I wanted to do the main gun's plasm field. In my first pics I was showing rapping wire around the round tubes. When I did finished it the thing looked terrible. So scratch the wire part, and go with small strips of plastic card like the pics show. The end result was way better.

Looking good. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Capt K

there are alotta sargents in your Elysians, what ever happened to the Privates? Good deals at the recruiter stations?

Personally, I would think that elysians would have Navy rankings, seeing as how close they work with the imperial navy, but I suppose you wouldn't wanna call your boys Seamen and Petty...

Those Elysian's are amazing. Dont like the names on the bases but to each there own.

JT

Nice thread!

Hi guys, I'm moving the Bane Blade conversion tread to a new one Called " The New Plastic Bane Blade Conversion To Storm Blade" Check out the latest pics on the new tread. Thanks for all the comments on the Elysians.