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IG Codex ... Argghhh ... <looks at large pile of cadian boxes> ... <considers doing some IG> ... <Ponders which force> ...

Cadians ? ... done to death, who wants to be the same as everyone else ...
Vostroyans ? ... Character ... Cossacks ... Hmm possible ... but too archaic for me .. and METAL ... metal is the bane of conversions.
Catachan ? ... oh please ... Rambo ... big arms ... BIG ARMS ... nah ...
Death Korps ? ... got a good few packs of them, with snapped off gun barrels, resin weak and snaps ... expensive ... like the look though.

Uhhh oh ... just ruled out all the plastics ... hmm not good

Praetorians ... Character ... Metal ... hmm no longer sold on the GW site .. ebay .. possible rarity appeals
Mordians ... Praetorians with caps ... prefer Praetorians
Valhallans ... Russians, Look ok ... great coats ... hmm maybe
Tallarn ... Arabic never moved me ...

Steel Legion ... hmmm WWII German Paratroopers ... that might work, Metal ... Hmm based on Armageddon, would work well with my Salamanders ... Nice artwork too, stylish, and the cool laying down and firing Heavy weapons ... Ok this is working for me. But I want plastics ... and compatability with the Cadian sprues ... oh damn ... time to do some work.

So began an Easter weekend of fun converting, with the intention of making a Cadian soldier into a Steel Legion soldier ...

I have got about 85% of the way there so far, just gloves, boots and lightning emblem on shoulder left to green stuff.

Take a look, tell me what you think, anything wrong ?








I used this for inspiration ...

Why not just use the current steel legion models?

You are chopping off their head anyways?

Fan-friggin-tastic.

Are you going to do a whole army? That's going to be a LOT of headless metal models...

Current models lack, medics, banners, flame throwers, mortars, etc etc etc ... the range is limited to around 13 figures total.

By being able to use Cadian plastics I can now fill those gaps easily.

As for heads, I will sculpt my own in Green stuff, anything I sculpt myself I will cast in resin.

Blue Orphen wrote:Fan-friggin-tastic.

Are you going to do a whole army? That's going to be a LOT of headless metal models...

i believe he is modellign some stuff to see where he can go with them and then casting stuff ocne he has the look right hence the plastic in the title or am i grbabing the wrong end of the Stikk

You right on the money ... I wanted to check viability first, before heading into production.

That looks like a lot of worthwhile work, best of luck and I look forward to seeing it when it's done.

Here is a list of the changes so far: -

Chest: Chest piece was from Vehicle sprue, and was chosen as it did not have any armour on. Channels cut for straps, straps made from plasticard, Ammo Pouches made from plasticard,rebreather made from plasticard with the grooved section being cut from one of the cadian trooper heads, Eagle shaped clasps added finally.

Head : Taken from a Steel Legion trooper (one of the few without a massive mould line), Added gas masking tubing using the "power cabling" from Dragonforge ( http://www.dragonforge.com ). At some point I need to sculpt the head from scratch so I can mould and cast my own copies without legal issues.

Arms : Cadian Rifle arms, Shoulders shaved down and some small creases added, more work needed to make proper folds, also need to add the lighting strike insignia on the left shoulder.

Hands: Detached from the Cadian rifle arms, rotated slightly, the hand that was part of the gun was carefuly cut off without damaging it, and attached to the arm and therefore allowed the use of a different weapon.

Weapon : Because the Steel Legion are an Armoured Fist unit and as such spend a lot of time in vehicles, they generally use Las-Carbines instead of las-rifles. The normal metal models have carbines (with folding stocks), and I used the Las-Carbine with folding stock from the Tank sprue to represent this. I had to change the way the hands worked to make this happen.

Legs : Cadian legs, trimmed down at the top, Three layers of green stuff to build up the bottom of the coat, final layer applied carefully and smoothly, Coat pleats added last.

Feet : Need to trim the boots back, and then sculpt on the changes to a full knee high boot, also add a small skull in the center at the top as per the 4th edition IG codex image of a steel legion trooper.

Canteen : At the moment I am using a Forgeworld Elysian canteen, however it doesn't fit with the style on the metal models, something else to make from plasticard or Greenstuff.

Knife/Bayonet : Currently a Forgeworld Deathkorps knife, I am happy with this and find it matches the metal steel legion nicely, I have a significant amount of these from my Deathkorps, so might stick with it.

Blanket : Currently taken from a metal Steel Legion trooper, however its going to be sculpted in green stuff so it can be reproduced.


The future ...

Do more converted parts to enable me to use the new Cadian command sprues, and all the old Cadian stuff, and the add-on forgeworld cadian parts.

See if I can make transparent resin goggles ... now that would be cool.

BrotherArgos wrote:Head : Taken from a Steel Legion trooper (one of the few without a massive mould line), Added gas masking tubing using the "power cabling" from Dragonforge ( http://www.dragonforge.com ). At some point I need to sculpt the head from scratch so I can mould and cast my own copies without legal issues.

Check out West Wind, they have seperate WWII gasmask heads.

Part of the challenge is improving my Greenstuff sculpting skills, and therefore of course the rights to reproduce my own resin copies.

looks pretty cool man
be a nice army in the end i suspect

And for power cabling, buy (or steal from friends) guitar strings.

I love the Steel Legion, but I also love the Vossies and the Mordians.

Aaah I just got love for all the IG.

I am hoping it will be a nice army in the end, with some character and variation not normally found in the Steel Legion.

Way easier is what i did to this model i used the plastic sniper bitz from the new command sprue and slightly modified a metal model...

Indeed, but this way I have the ability to choose the pose and variations in pose that sticking purely with the metal miniatures doesn't give me

True good point. Did you notice that there are 5 rebreathers(gasmasks) on the new command sprue maybe they can help...

Love to see how you will sculpt your own heads...

Oh these heads will not be too hard, lets face it, its a helmet, with a gas mask and some goggles ... not like sculpting a face.

Ok was a good night tonight, got one of the gloves done, put the lighting flash emblem on the shoulder, and made a folding carbine stock out of wire that looks the same as the one on the tank kit carbine. Pics tomorrow.

I love your models, I think you did a fantastic job on the coversion, right down to the suspenders! Do you realy think you can sculpt proxy heads and cast them in resin? If this dosn't work out it might be adviseable to use PigIron heads and maybe embelish them with a bit of greenstuff. I am looking forward to seeing more of these!

I love your models, I think you did a fantastic job on the coversion, right down to the suspenders! Do you realy think you can sculpt proxy heads and cast them in resin? If this dosn't work out it might be adviseable to use PigIron heads and maybe embelish them with a bit of greenstuff. I am looking forward to seeing more of these!

Very nice. I love the coat.

gak, that is freaking awesome. Can't wait to see more.

Would you be willing to do a more in-depth tutorial for this? I love my steel legion, but really want more conversion options.

While looking at the new IG codex, I came to this rough army list .. please bear in mind I am aiming towards an Veteran Armoured Strikeforce.

The following is 1500 pts.

Company Command Squad with Medi Pack & MeltaGun in a Chimera, with Heavy Bolter x 2

Veteran Squad with Meltagun x 2, in a Chimera, with Heavy Bolter x 2
Veteran Squad with Meltagun x 2, in a Chimera, with Heavy Bolter x 2
Veteran Squad In Valkyrie, with Meltagun x 3

3 x Leman Russ, 2 Normal, 1 Punisher
Hydra
Basilisk, Enclosed
Armoured Sentinel with Missile x 3
Valkyrie

Depending on the complexity of the final model I might well do a tutorial.

Just like a CD, you can make as many copies of a copyrighted item you like for personal use. You just cant sell them. If you want some propper steel legion heads amongst your own then you are allowed to cast from the original metal.

Liking the look, much less time consuming using a base model such as the cadians, and they're pretty cheap per squad compared to FW alternatives. You can clearly sculpt very well so these should look fantastic.

Are you painting them the grey/sand of the Steel Legion from Armageddon?

I hope to paint them so yes .. although I will try and follow the slightly darker colours in the inspiration image in my original post.

im very confuzeled but looks kl !"£$^&*

Good stuff. Any ideas on basing yet?

Ash wastes? Urban hive style?

I love how in that art the troopers look damned terrified, rightly so I suppose!

Its looking to be Ash Wastes as the basing style, however I am never sure what people do for Ash waste style.

Some Picture Updates ...

Firstly here is an extended version the Folding stock normally found on a Las-Carbine. I hope to model a few of the arms to accept this version.







It took around an hour to make the stock, but I think now I know the "how to" I could do it in about 30 minutes, or possibly cast it in resin?

It feels strange to be doing this much modelling. I haven't put this much time into doing this for years, but I am enjoying it immensely. I have to achieve things before the real world calls me back or worse, I burn out, therefore I am pressing ahead hard.

This mornings update focuses on the aquila clasps on the chest, the shoulder emblem and the glove.

The aqulia clasps are less than 1.5mm they were scraped with a scalpel to reduce the hard edges, then cuts were made to create the fantail of the eagle and to hint at the location of the heads





Next up is the first glove done, when the greenstuff has hardened I need to fatten up the fingers a little to make a more glove like feel.



Lastly the emblem is done, and I need to practice it a lot so I can do it on other arms.





More photo's later, with a comparison shot showing a Cadian, my Steel Legion trooper, and a Metal Steel legion trooper side by side.