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I always liked miniatures shooting from the shoulder, sadly there are none on the Marine sprues. So I figured I share my very simple conversion with y'all.

It looked like it could be relatively easy if I could figure out the correct arms for the task. So I began the task of clipping one set of each of the six different pairs of Marine Bolter arms three Imperial and three Chaos.

I found the perfect arms for this task; they are the bolter arms holding the gun at an upward angle. I don’t have a spare set of the uncut Chaos arms to take a pic of, but they re the easiest to distinguish. It is the set of arms with the spikes in the back if the hands.

Here’s a pic of the Imperial marine arms they are much more difficult to identify. I found it easiest to test fit them to a built chest.



Now that we've chosen the correct arms we need to cut off the hands at the wrists for repositioning. Carefully cut the hands as strait as possible at the wrist joint.



Next we need to pin the hands back on the wrists. For this I use lead floral wire because it’s easy to cut and bendable incase you need a little repositioning.

I temporarily mounted the arms to the chest using Hobbytac it’s very thick PVA glue. This will enable you to correctly position the hands while you pin and glue them in place.

I started with the right hand this being the most important hand to get correct. I glued it in position then checked it with a bolter to see if it was relatively leveled. Once I was happy with the position I added the left arm to the model, again checking the position with a bolter.







Once the glue is dry on the hands we are ready to fill in the spaces left from our repositioning. I took a small ball of green stuff and carefully filled the right wrist. I made sure the green stuff was smooth then I created that soft armor look that you see in the hip and knee joints.

For the left hand the gap was relatively small so I opted to just fill it and make it smooth. It in an obscured location I doubt anyone will notice



Now you’ve got yourself a marine who’s aiming to smite his foes!




This was a fun little project I will be utilizing more as I finish my Chaos and Imperial Space Marine armies. The only thing I’d do differently is spend a little more time positioning the right hand; he turned out great but is shooting at a slightly upward angle.

Wow! That looks not only great, but very easy! Even I can do that, so it must be really easy! This is a great tutorial, really. I might try this next time I assemble a tactical squad.

I believe I am going to do this now. Tired of anti-aircraft bolter marines trying to shoot the clouds

Very nicely done! Only addition I would make is that paper clips work well for wire too.

Cool beans. I'll be sure to try this out on my next batch of marines.

That's a Khorne Berzerker head with the uhh... "horns" chopped off yes? That gives me a glorious idea... ;P

I'm glad you guys liked this idea!

@Anticitizen, yup that's a Zerker head with the bunny ears cut off. My army is full of them!

It's a great idea. I wanted to make a small knight-based chapter of Marines or a Chaos Legion and those heads would be perfect. Now I just need to find all the ones hidden away in my bitz box *feints from the thought of it*

Consider the idea for the berserker heads officially "stolen for future use".

Could that be done with guard? (well... traitor guard)
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease post a tutorial if you manage it

I can feel some aiming blood pact taking shape already

easy, and looks awesome

It looks really good!

Very nice tutorial!

Awesome, I have a pile of those annoying two dot arms, now they've just become useful!

nice modeling idea and easy-to-do as well. thanks

Thanks for the tutorial. I've just made a bunch of loyalists with this technique. Maybe they'll shoot at you someday...

hey, I was looking for this yesterday! Such an awesome, easy tutorial.

glad someone bumped it.

Hehe sorry but ihave to say this the first guy looks like hes screaming at someone,"NO! MY GUN NOONE TOUCH!"
but other than that great tutorial i always hate how marines never seem to aim at the enemy

This is an incredibly helpful idea! It shall be tested out...

Yay! conversion's I can do!!

well done!!!!!!

Great job and thank for sharing.

I plan on stealing, ah 'leveraging' this idea going forward for sure!

I'd been wondering how to do this with Cadians. Seeing how easily you've done it with a Marine makes me thing that even I might be able to accomplish something similar. Thanks for sharing!

Used this today on 2x space marine tacticals - works brilliantly. Thank you

Marine arms can be distinguished by forearm detail, case in point, the arms suggested have 2 small hole near the elbow. The other two arm sets have 3 vents near the wrist and the third has an offset armour seam between elbow and hand. Should be easy to seperate them out of the bitz box.

got a small work space soon will hope to have a gaming room.

looks awesome - only 1 comment - that dude is gonna get some hot shell casings in the face.

nivekdaork wrote:looks awesome - only 1 comment - that dude is gonna get some hot shell casings in the face.

meh, hes got power armor on... and besides, bolters dont "Get's Hot!"

honestly it's so simple of a conversion that most of us would have never though of. Great job all around mate and I look forward to going home and trying that out.

The slight upwards point makes it look like he has had a bit of recoil is all.

Awesome job, it really helps differentiate the "trying to shoot something but i'm not gonna look" marines we see all the time.