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Well, my IG originally started as Tanith, then changed to Tanith with friends from other regiments (including the Genswick Rifles, Phantine Skyborn, and Pardus Armored), then changed just to the Pardus Armored. I'm sick to death of the Gaunt's Ghosts books, now, though. So, I'm abandoning any and all of those concepts. With the new Codex comes new ideas for a new army and that's what this blog is here to document.

Through my own list-crafting as well as discussions with Sourclams and Shep and closely following the batreps using the new IG Codex of folks like Shep, Warmaster, and Wildeyedjester, I've got a list that I'm pretty happy with and so it's time for me to start building the models to go with this new army. One of the things that seem really powerful, although rather understated in discussions about the new IG, is the 5 firepoints on a Chimera. This lets an entire CCS w/ 4 Meltas unload on an unwitting victim without having to disembark. It's mobility, defense against leadership tests, and an armored shell all rolled into one. Consequently, Mech IG are looking really powerful. This will be the backbone of my army. Now, some of you may have seen my Hellhound conversions I made while all the rumors about the codex were swirling around. I was pretty disappointed to see how the Hellhound had gotten nerfed in the new rules. And while the Devil Dog and Banewolf may see some play, I'm not convinced of their merits yet. Consequently, I've taken two of the three of my Hellhound conversions and converted them back to Chimeras. I really don't like the standard Chimera turret, so I'm using the much sleeker and modern-looking SM Predator turret on it. I've converted the multilaser step-by-step from the Oz Treadhead tutorial (since removed when Oz's website became just like the UK and US sites.) You can see my re-converted Chimeras here:



Unless I hear some really good things about the Devil Dog and Banewolf soon, my other Hellhound conversion will also be following this route. I've also got another 3 Chimeras incoming from a trade with LunaHound and a 4th Chimera chassis incoming from ebay. Each of these will be getting their own SM Predator turret as well. The models I've got converted are currently armed with a hull heavy bolter, but I'm thinking about changing those out for SM Dreadnought heavy flamers - it'd be nice to keep with the modernized look.

Another big factor in my list is Executioners - two of them. I may be pairing them with naked LRBTs - we'll see how playtesting of that goes. I don't have any Executioner turrets. Frankly, I think the FW Executioner turret is awful - like someone put a big robotic wang on a Leman Russ turret. The Ryza pattern looks a little better, but that's mainly because the Ryza pattern turrets just look better all around. A while back, some Aussie scratchbuilt his view of what a new style Russ should look like and he gave it an Executioner turret. I don't really like his version of the Russ, but I love his version of the Executioner turret. I really wish he'd post how he did it. You can see his Executioner here - remember this is not mine:



Now, in addition to my beefs about how the Executioner turret looks, I think the current Demolisher plasma sponsons look really dated. The Demolisher turret's not bad, and is certainly useful, so I want to keep a couple Demolisher turrets handy. And since I don't see myself ever running 2 Demolishers and an Executioner or 2 Executioners and a Demolisher, I feel pretty safe in using the same chassis for my Demolishers and Executioners and just changing up the turrets when necessary. With this in mind, I set to work on re-conditioning a Demolisher I got in a trade. It had the Demolisher cannon, but no extra turret armor. So, I built up some turret armor out of plasticard. I also replaced the metal plasma cannon sponsons with SM Devastator Plasma Cannons. And even though I plan on replacing it with a heavy bolter (from the new IG HWS), I had originally replaced the old lascannon with a lascannon from the IG HWS. You can see the results below:



Along with some of the other power units in the new Codex like the Executioner, Vendetta, and Valkyrie, probably one of the most discussed and so far, most game-changing, units for the guard has been the Psyker Battle Squad. I plan on running at least 2 PBS in Chimera in my army. But how to model them? I don't like most of GW's psyker models - they mainly look like bald guys with sunglasses and a migraine. The new Primaris Psyker is cool, but I can't have two units just of that model. So, I started to think about psykers in GW fluff. In Abnett's books, you have psykers that have had their eyes and mouths sewn shut with augmetic implants to control their abilities. Most often, psykers are under heavy guard. In the new Codex, they get a 5+ save, so I figure they get standard IG flak armor. I thought about making them a sort of black-uniformed psychic commando squad, wearing berets and such. But then I went back to that thought of them being under guard, being treated as barely human. I dug up some pics I'd run across recently in the Astronomicon Magazine webzine of conversions of some of the IG Doctrine variants - one being Subs - these are homo sapiens that have pretty much devolved to being just barely human. I really liked the look of their conversions. They have the IG arms and shoulerpads that I like, but use heavily modified Plague Monk heads with wires and tubes coming out. These are the pics of the subs from the Astronomicon Mag:



The only problem is that these guys are armed with lasguns. In the new codex, the Psychic Choir are armed with laspistol and CCW. I haven't seen a batrep yet that shows the Psychic Choir actually surviving any HtH, so I don't think mine deserve laspistols and CCWs - any laspistols and CCWs mine have will be represented as being psychic powers. Again, going back to the idea of these guys being under guard, though, I've decided to have mine locked up in handcuffs. (I may also spring for a couple of the Empire Flagellant heads in stocks). I think probably the best way to do this will be using the IG heavy weapon arms. I've done a mockup below to see how it might work. I plan on GS'ing the handcuffs, but gluing a metal ring to them as well. Ultimately, I plan on getting a length of fine chain to run between each of the models - a little psyker chain-gang if you will.



Psychic Choirs need Overseers. These guys are there to pop some heads if the unit suffers from a Perils of the Warp test. I wanted the Overseers to have a cold, detached look to them - like they're ready to gun down the entire unit if need be. As such, I'm using a standard Cadian head, but a la Xanthos and others have given him a Kroot shoulder pad visor. Then, rather than just giving him a standard laspistol, I got to thinking he'd be cool with a submachine gun. Back a little bit, there was a WD article with a homemade Arbites squad and they'd been modeled with some MP5-esque lasguns. I thought these conversions were super-cool, and I figured that it would be appropriate for an Overseer to be carrying something good for indiscriminately spraying down a crowd with lasfire. I also gave him a sling for it. In the other hand is a handle which doesn't look like much now, but will have the end of the fine chain attached to it so that he can lead the unit of psykers.





Right now my two biggest modeling dilemmas are:

1) How do I convert an Executioner turret like the one shown above?

2) And, how do I convert me up some Hydras? I've really been wracking my brain on this one and have come up with a wide variety of ideas. Unfortunately, for the best-looking result, I think it's going to come down me scratchbuilding something. For the easiest result, it'll be buying a bunch of ACs from IG HWS and attaching them to Sentinel bodies and then mounting those on the back of a Basilisk chassis.

Anyway, any thoughts, comments, advice, or suggestions are well-taken!

Thanks!
DBM

hey DBM, you've got some good ideas floating around there. I'm not sure what you could do for the executioner. Possibly take a hellhammer and cut it down to a base shape and then GS the front portion of the barrell or scratchbuild one out of plasticard. You could using floral wiring for the plasma venting on the main body of the barrell.

As far as the Hydra goes, I think your idea of using the sentinel cockpit is a good idea, check out page 51, there's a pic of it, with a bit of a bulked out upper turret that's enclosed which the AC's are attached to.

Picked up the first two of my three Valkyries on Saturday night, cracked 'em open and was very pleased to see what I saw. It looks like converting Vendettas is going to be a pretty trivial effort. I'm already thinking about how it shouldn't be a problem to magnetize the pieces to be able mix and match Valks and Vendettas.

I've seen some discussion of using the existing Lascannon on the right side, convert a second lascannon for the left side and then do underwing mounts for the other two TL lascannons. That or doing a single TL lascannon on the right and then the underwing lascannons. I'm actually thinking of doing TL lascannons in both the right and left nacelles and then doing chin TL lascannons to replace the sensor array there. I think the wingmount lascannons could look cool, but I like the idea of a face-full of lascannons surrounding the cockpit more.

@VermGho5t - I checked out the picture you pointed out, hoping that there was a hidden Hydra conversion I'd somehow missed - I was a little disappointed that it was just a drawing of the Hydra, but I was pleased to note that it wasn't just a pic copied from the FW designs, but while similar had some noticeable differences from FW's models. It makes me a little less self-conscious about doing something farther from FW's design.

Well, after many months and having a WoW relapse, I'm returning to my IG army. While I’ve still got a few Cadians left, they’ll mostly be used for members of the Psyker Battle Squad. I’ve got some new ideas on how I’ll be doing it (different from what I’d posted above) that I’ll post at a later date. The bulk of the army, though, will be made up of Catachans with West Wind U.S. Steel Helmets, British Beret Heads, and a smattering of the good plastic Catachan heads. I’d really like to get a few more Valkyries for this army, but money’s pretty tight right now (aigh, childcare costs!) so we’ll see how viable that actually is. I’ve got 3 already along with a bunch of Chimeras, Leman Russes, and Basilisks (which will be seeing conversion to Medusas and/or Manticores – hopefully in some type of modular set up to let me use them as a variety of heavy choices).

While the general look of the army will be Apocalypse Now, I will be drawing from other material for some of the separate units. In particular, while I don’t expect to actually play with it (and frankly, I’m not sure I can make it a legal unit), I plan on making a Veteran Squad with Sgt. Harker. Ever since I first saw Harker’s rules, all I could think about was Jesse Ventura’s “Blaine” from Predator, with his mini-gun “Old Painless”. Which, really, if you’re going to model up Blaine to be your Harker, seems to me you really need to model up the rest of the unit from Predator. So here’s what I’m looking at:

- Blaine (Harker) – Necromunda Orlock Heavy w/ Heavy Bolter. The Heavy Bolter will be converted to have the gatling barrels from an OOP metal SM Terminator Assault Cannon. He’ll be given a GS mustache and slouch hat.

- Mac – Metal Catachan Heavy Flamer model (the one without glasses) converted to carry a Heavy Bolter instead of the Heavy Flamer. His backpack will be removed and replaced with a Necromunda Heavy Bolter backpack. He’ll get a GS field cap.

- Dutch – Classic Catachan Captain. I haven’t decided what arm I’ll be replacing it with, but I’ll be cutting off his powerfist. His right arm will be a plastic Catachan arm holding an OOP Necromunda autogun (the one that looks like an M-16) converted to have an auxiliary grenade launcher. This will count as a shotgun.

- Billy – Standard plastic Catachan with a vest torso. Should be a pretty simple conversion. He’ll also get a GS boonie cap with the sides snapped up. He’ll be armed with a second M-16-style OOP Necromunda autogun converted to have his underbarrel shotgun. This will also count as a shotgun.

- Poncho – I haven’t decided on the base model for Poncho yet as he wasn’t as bulky as the other guys. I’m tempted to use a metal Cadian body, but we’ll see where it goes. He’ll be given a GS field cap and will be armed with a Cadian rotary grenade launcher.

- Dillon – I’m thinking of using a metal Catachan Lt who’s currently armed with a plasma pistol and power weapon. His weapons will be replaced with two of the MP-5-esque submachineguns shown on my PBS handler pictured above. These will count as a shotgun. I’ll modify the face a little, giving a GS mustache and topping him off with a GS field cap.

- Hawkins – Similar to Poncho, he’s not nearly as bulky as the other guys in the unit, so I’m not sure what to use as the base for his model. Problem is, I need to use a head with glasses for him. While there’s the dumb Terminator-esque plastic Catachan head with sunglasses and one of the Catachan heavy flamer models have glasses, I think they both look too bulky. Anyway, he’ll be armed with one of the submachineguns, will have a radio pack, and will have a GS field cap.

The remaining 3 guys in the squad will be filled out with generic ablative Catachan Vet mooks. Looking at the unit, I guess it would actually be legal, even if it’s not the most optimally equipped.

And Wonkobaggins’ excellent Catachan Special Forces thread (http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/249824.page) has got me inspired to make my Company Commander look like Colonel Kilgore from Apocalypse Now, although I’m looking at executing him differently – starting off with a metal Catachan ML loader as a base, then adding a GS hat and giving him twin laspistols.

I’ll get pictures up as I start converting.

First up in the conversion queue for my Predator Team Vet Squad - Poncho.

As I messed around looking for base models to use for these conversions, I came to the realization that some of the old metal Catachans had really well sculpted faces (well, some of them don't, too - but many are really great!) And one of my favorites that I came across was the metal Catachan firing a missile launcher - because you usually see the model with the ML in front of his face, you don't usually get to see it, but it's a pretty cool sculpt - a little bit of a long face, kind of a knifeblade of a nose, and a squint of aiming concentration. All this was perfect, IMO, to capture Poncho, the grenade launcher carrier, from Predator.

I started contemplating using Catachan arms with the plastic Cadian GL arm set, but as I test fit the Cadian arms after cutting off the model's metal left arm just to see what the GL would look like on him, I decided I really liked the look of the shoulder pads and long sleeves on him. I mean, even in the movie, not all the guys ran around in just their flak vests - Poncho, along with Hawkins, and I'm pretty sure Mac, kept their uniform shirts on through the entire thing (well, until they got killed really). So, I decided to run with it.





While I love converting, I'm pretty well a novice when it comes to GS. I recognize that the hat's pretty rough. I'm hoping that a little filing and sanding along with a little more GS may improve the look a little. I had actually mocked up the hat first with blu-tac and it turned out really nicely. Sadly, GS is substantially stickier and harder to work with and the final result using that wasn't as good - thus I plan to try to work on it more after it has solidified.

The feel I'm really trying to convey with this model is Poncho's line from the movie, "You got time to duck?"


I also got to fooling around with the Necromunda autoguns that a couple members of the unit with be carrying - namely Dutch and Billy. Dutch's will ultimately have an underbarrel GL and Billy's will with have a GL or if I can convert it convincingly, an underbarrel shotgun as he has in the movie. You can see that I've taken the Necro autogun and removed the short clip, replacing it with a SM boltgun banana clip.



With this, I've been pondering how to do the underbarrel GL. I mean, I've seen a lot of tutorials for auxiliary GLs on lasguns using bolter handgrips and barrels, but frankly, I wanted something bigger - something with a barrel that compared in size to the Cadian drum-fed GL. So, I chopped the barrel off of one to lay out underneath for comparison. I could shave it down some, but I think it would still be too big. I'm beginning to look back at those tutorials using bolters again. If anyone else has any other ideas on this, I'd love to hear them.

personally i think you could use that grenade barrel as the under barrel launcher



this is the m203 launcher, if you notice it is quite a bit bigger then the barrel that its attached to.
i figure you could remove that lower rail and do just a little bit of shaving and it would look fine.
also im looking forward to seeing the cast in full colour. keep it up!

That auto-gun with underslung launcher is boss!

Cool stuff got to get my hands on a few of those autoguns. How about using the quadgun from the Aegis defense set for your Hydras?

Llamahead wrote:Cool stuff got to get my hands on a few of those autoguns. How about using the quadgun from the Aegis defense set for your Hydras?

While I've generally decided against Hydras in my army for right now, I plan on building my Manticores in such a way that I can easily replace the missile launcher turret with Aegis defense guns to turn them into Hydras. And while I still have a batch of Chimeras and Leman Russes, I've recently made a couple trades to get a few more Valkyries, putting me up to a total of five. I'm trying to get one more two round out the army to six.

In the meantime, I've been doing a bunch more converting on my Predator Team Vet Squad. In my last post, I showed a Necromunda autogun with the barrel of a Cadian GL below it for size comparison purposes. Ennkay, I followed your advice and shaved down the GL and mounted it under the autogun. With that in place, I took an old skool Catachan captain with powerfist, removed the powerfist arm, and ground down the power cable leading to the backpack. The results are below. I'm not incredibly thrilled with how the left hand "holds" the GL, but at this point, I'm too lazy to go back and GS something better. (Sorry for the lighting on all of these pics today, btw)



I also went to Game Kastle in San Jose yesterday and after chatting with a guy there, was able to buy the assault cannon bit that I needed to build Blaine's "Old Painless". With a little cutting of the Necromunda Heavy Bolter and the Assault Cannon, some pinning, and a GS hat and mustache, I have Blaine. Right now, he's not glued so that I can paint the Heavy Bolter separately, but the original Necromunda pins hold him together well.





I also got to playing with the other Necromunda autogun and a Necromunda shotgun. A little clipping and I'd put together Billy's M-16 with underbarrel shotgun to my satisfaction. Unfortunately, due to the fact that I used mostly stripped parts for Billy (which are nearly impossible to completely strip black), the model is pretty dark for these pics and you can't make out much of the detail. I tried to get a better pic of the autogun/shotgun as well, but that was a fail, too.



Here's a shot of the group so far.



I've also started working on Hawkins' head. He'll have Catachan legs, a Cadian torso and arms, and the bare Cadian head with glasses and field cap. I need to convert up his submachinegun, but he should go together pretty easily. Mac and Dillon will be up after that. I've got a pretty good idea of how to do Mac, but I need to get another Necromunda heavy bolter or a SM Scout heavy bolter for him. I haven't given Dillon a whole lot of thought, but his character's pretty bland anyway, so I'm not too concerned about really making him spectacular.

I would recommend filing in the grip on the autogun, filing off the bulge on gl tube, and then adding a grip onto the gl barrel.

other than that they are looking good. lets see some tanks!!

Excellent work! I love the old catachan metals (i've painted up a few melta vet squads plus a straken CCS squad myself), I think the plastics have hurt what are some fantastic models.

Great conversions with a lot of character.

rryannn wrote:I would recommend filing in the grip on the autogun, filing off the bulge on gl tube, and then adding a grip onto the gl barrel.

Good thoughts. I've been pondering how to make that GL look less like a hunk of 3-inch PVC crazyglued to the bottom of his rifle.

rryannn wrote:other than that they are looking good. lets see some tanks!!

No tanks for this army yet. I'm going sort of anti-treadhead with this army. I need to count up my Cadian bodies, though, to see if I've got enough for a separate mechanized army. The Catachans will be primarily air cav with a little heavy support in the form of some Manticores or Medusas.

Polonius wrote:Excellent work! I love the old catachan metals (i've painted up a few melta vet squads plus a straken CCS squad myself), I think the plastics have hurt what are some fantastic models.

Great conversions with a lot of character.

Thanks! If there was an easy way to convert the old metal lasgun Catachans with the new lasguns, they'd be terrific. Unfortunately, there really isn't a way to do that. I think the Catachan Heavy Weapon Squads and new Catachan Command Squad are progress toward a vastly improved Catachan line, but the plastic infantry squads are so ubiquitous it's hard to get away from them.

Being a Predator fan (well the first movie anyway) - I'm loving the concept and think you are doing a great job. Can't wait to see them finished!

Did a little more work today, reworking Dutch's underbarrel grenade launcher and assembling Hawkins.

Instead of taking the existing GL piece I was using and shaving it down, I instead decided to cut the handgrip from a boltgun and then trim a short length of brass tubing to fit against the handgrip. I think this looks a little better than the original one did, looking more like a GL and less like a an arquebus or something.



I'd started Hawkins yesterday by GSing his glasses and picking out and test fitting his legs, torso, and arms. Rather than spend the time building a new SMG, I just "borrowed" the one I had built for my PBS overseer since he's not going to be using it in the immediate future. I wanted to wait for the glasses GS to dry so that I wouldn't mess them up when I GSed the field cap (somehow his field cap was a lot more difficult to do than Poncho's, not sure why).

These all look fantastic, i also like the idea of a small grip on the grenade launcher. I do, however, have one question: Will there be the predator made as the antagonist of this group?

Awesome conversions. You've really nailed the M-16. Awesome.

Thanks for the compliments, folks! I was actually kinda worried yesterday that I might have to abandon the M-16-style autogun and go for something else if I couldn't get the GL to look right.

Ennkay wrote:Will there be the predator made as the antagonist of this group?

I don't have any plans to make a Predator at this time. I think if I did I think I'd use a Necromunda Malcadon Spyrer. Though, that said, it's very tempting to make one out of a Tyranid Lictor somehow.

I'm pretty annoyed right now - I spent a bunch of time working up a model for Dillon and the more I look at the completed product, the less I like it. I think I'm going to scrap what I've got and go back to the drawing board. It really doesn't look like Dillon at all - more like a generic Catachan plastic with a badly sculpted chest and an Empire cannoneer mustache. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do for a head, but I think I'm going to take my other Catachan captain as the base model - he's ripped enough for it. I'll probably use the arms I've got right now, but I'll need to replace the Captain's head with something else. Not sure what, though - any recommendations?





Not much resemblance, I realize...

I also started on Mac by sculpting his hat onto a Catachan heavy flamer body. I'm kind of at a standstill with him, though, as I need to get the SM Scout or Necromunda heavy bolter that he'll carry. Even still, I'm not very happy with him either. Mac's always shown in the movie with his uniform shirt on and this model (which would work well for carrying a heavy bolter) is just rockin' a tank top. Hm. Maybe I can try sculpting a shirt on him...I'm not that confident in my GS skills, though.



I think it's time to head to the Swap Shop and Bartertown for some more bitz and pieces.

While my initial thought for reworking Dillon was to use the Catachan Captain body as a base model due to the ripped muscles and the flak vest, because 1) of the cutting involved to get rid of the power fist arm and the more difficult cutting to get that head out, and 2) because I wasn't thrilled with the idea of having more than one model in my Predator Team with the same base model, I went with a Catachan Lt that I had on hand for the base model. He's still pretty ripped, although he doesn't have the flak vest - ah well, it's not perfect. I mean, it's not like the submachineguns I have these guys carrying look like the MP-5's they used in the movie. That said, I'm satisfied with the result. I think it'll look better once I get some paint on him - I couldn't seem to get the mustache quite right and I'm hoping that painting it will fix it some.



Here's the other thing. The only special and heavy weapons that I plan on having in this army are heavy flamers and melta guns - no plans for GLs or Heavy Bolters - and no real plans to use Harker. Mainly, the models that I've done for Blaine, Poncho, and Mac will be for show. However, I was so happy with how Poncho turned out that I decided to use the same base model and make his twin carrying a melta gun. Similarly for Blaine, while I didn't have another Orlock Heavy Bolter lying around, I figured I could use a Catachan Heavy Flamer model and give him Blaine's mustache and hat. I'll probably do something similar for Mac, too. Here are Blaine and Poncho's alternates that I actually plan on using in my armylist (yeah, I know, I still need to drill out the melta barrel). I have to say, I'm getting pretty comfortable sculpting the field caps now and have a method that I use every time with them - I may write up a tutorial on it as well as the submachineguns in the future.



And while I was on a melta gunner kick, I decided to convert up a few more - I need 12 total for the 1500 point version of the army. And rather than just use the boring plastic Catachans, I've got a bunch of metal heavy weapon Catachans lying around not doing anything, so I figured I'd turn them into interesting melta gunners. The female Catachan's another that I've had for a while and pondered over - it's a nice model, but with no plans to use GLs in my list, I wasn't sure what to do with her. Hey - cut off the end of her GL, slap a melta on her and call her good! The melta gunner in the back left was a mortar operator. I cut and ground away his lasgun and replaced it with the melta and replaced the hand holding the mortar firing mechanism with the hand holding the laspistol. His face sculpt is butt-ugly, so I decided he'd be a perfect candidate for an experiment with a GS boonie cap. I'm not completely happy with the boonie cap, but I need to wait until it dries before I trim it. The front melta gunner was originally a ML loader. I ground down the points on all the missiles he's carrying to try to make them look more like melta cannisters - as he's got some serious reloads, I refer to him as 'Ammo Joe'. Then, as with the female GL Catachan, I cut off his lasgun from the trigger guard forward and attached a melta. I'm pretty happy with the result. I've got one more like him and think I may do a similar melta gunner with the other one as well.

I've actually been working quite a bit on this army lately, but as no one's been commenting, I figured I'd wait to get some more interesting stuff before posting again.

I've earlier said that wonkobaggins Catachan Special Forces blog (here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/249824.page) has been really inspirational in my own Catachan force, and consequently, I'm going to add that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Wonko really captured Colonel Kilgore in his conversion of him. I don't have the Catachan Command Squad set which has some of the cool pieces Wonko used for his Kilgore, plus I wanted to strike a different feel for my own version of Colonel Kilgore. I wanted to play on his old west cavalry feel. So I traded for a Necromunda Scum to use as a base model and converted some gunslinger-style laspistols, gs'ed a cavalry hat on him and voila - there's my Kilgore.



Now, Kilgore's going to be heading up one command squad. But I'm running two - so what group of five makes up a fairly obvious companion to Colonel Kilgore for my second command squad? Captain Willard and the crew of his PT boat. I realize that these conversions aren't very loyal to the actual actors playing the roles (when using 28mm heroic figures in general, it's pretty hard to depict the lanky frames of most of the troops in country during the Vietnam War), but they're supposed to evoke a resemblance. Up front is Willard with his .45, binoculars, and (though it's difficult to make out in the pic) his ever-present cigarette. To his left with the meltas are Chef with the boonie cap and Lance in the helmet, and to his right is Chief with the beret and melta and Clean with the beret and heavy flamer.



I'm just about to the point where I'm going to black prime these guys and then start painting. We'll see if I get sidetracked with more conversions. I've got the squad from Hamburger Hill that I'm planning to use as my second Vet Squad (although they'll be considerably more generic than the team from Predator was).

Nice conversion work, sir. Glad to see another member of the Predator-turretted chimera brigade they look so much better than the normal chimera turret.

I was particularly interested to see the long-barrelled multi-lasers. I hope they weren't too much trouble to do though because the standard Chimera ML fits onto the predator turret pretty handily

Dude, I love the conversions - Blaine in particular rocks. It's nice to have someone else working on a similar project at the same time - free inspiration.

@Flinty - The multi-lasers are pretty easy to do, actually - 3 pieces of plastic rod and the end of the lascannon barrel that comes with the predator anyway. That supported by a chunk of sprue underneath (which is hard to see in the pics there). GW Canada's website used to have a tutorial on how to do it. Sadly, it's not there anymore...

@wonkobaggins - Thanks! I just hope I can do the conversions justice with a decent paintjob!

Really good so far, and I'm sure you can just make a predator in your spare time as long as you post it later.

Lovely start -truly! The hats are a great addition.

I would finish something now to get the schemes in check and not to end up with too much unpainted stuff in the converting frenzy (happens so often )

Tim the Biovore wrote:Really good so far, and I'm sure you can just make a predator in your spare time as long as you post it later.

Actually, in the trade I made for the Necromunda Scum that became Kilgore, I was able to pick up a Necromunda Malcador - once I paint up "Dutch's" Squad, I'll have to paint him up, too - it'd be interesting to develop an =I=munda one-off scenario around it.

migsula wrote:I would finish something now to get the schemes in check and not to end up with too much unpainted stuff in the converting frenzy (happens so often )

An excellent recommendation. It's actually been a couple years since I've painted a model (done loads and loads of conversions...I just...kinda...fear painting), so I've been procrastinating on starting the process. But start I did! I primed black the two command squads and the completed vet squad and then sprayed a foundation coat of Tamiya Olive Drab 2. I've never worked with Tamiya paints before, but wow - that gave a nice smooth finish. That said, I think I oversprayed a couple places on a couple models, losing some detail. For the most part, nothing major. But in giving them a coat of paint, I've realized that while the West Wind Production steel helmet heads aren't too out of scale for the Catachans, the West Wind heads do really lack in detail compared to Games Workshop Games.

I was thinking about this as I was looking at the new IG heads offered as a bitz pack. There's a lot of folks complaining about them, but frankly, if you look at a lot of the heads done by other companies, there's a lot worse out there. There's a reason that GW is the number one miniature-making company out there. They may not do the highest quality work, but they have a huge range of models and for the most part the quality is pretty consistent. I'm not GW fanboi, but I have to admit that the produce some solid miniature product. (As I get thinking about it, in a lot of ways, GW is like the Microsoft of miniature companies, while folks like Rackham are the Apple - Hasslefree is Linux.)

I don't have any plans to make a Predator at this time. I think if I did I think I'd use a Necromunda Malcadon Spyrer. Though, that said, it's very tempting to make one out of a Tyranid Lictor somehow.

First off I have to say, this is awesome work DBM! Secondly, I have to say Damn, damn, damn, lol! I had the same idea of doing up the catachans as the characters from Predator! Although in my special squad, I'm not sicking too closely to the exact characters in the film. This is because when I thought about the catachans I could see the influences from films in the figures and the type of army they are. So that's; Predator: for the Arnie/Terminator head, one head that has a drooping lip obviously based on Stallone's, and then the whole jungle fighting theme based Rambo and a load of other Vietnam films and other types of commandos-that's probably obvious to all. Another damn! because I had no idea this Gunnery Sergeant Harker was released either! I just popped by a games workshop store adn got talking to the manager, told him about my now not-so-unique-after all-idea lol, and he showed me the new white dwarf mag that was not released at the time, and Harker's pic. I couldn't believe it!

So, I had to do my own 40K version of the predator team, but with some other characters thrown in who just have to be in there, one of which has to be one based on Rambo himself. Mullet, bandanna, big knife, big gun and maybe, just maybe if I can find and convert one from the warhammer range or just make it myself; a hi-tech bow and arrow with a grenade attached to the arrow (either in the style of the pointy cone shaped one Rambo had or the rounded one Arnie had in Predator). You know this model has to be made!
I'm new to the forum, so a hello to all too! As I've put on me profile, I have never had the room for an army or to play a full game at home, so this would be a special squad, probably just for show. So this Rambo character would act like in the game as he does in the film by being able to break away from the squad, disappear and set booby traps, claymores (are there equivalents in 40K? There must be!), un-exploded bombs (could be a special scenario in that!) and and acts like a character model.

I'm trying to think of other movies with memorable commando types in them. One that springs to mind (apart from Kilgore) is Clint Eastwood's Gunnery Sergeant in Heartbreak Ridge. Maybe there could be one guy who has a guitar on his back, modelled on that character Mario Van Peebles played in the film! How about the Swede too! Swede, Swede, Swede!

Before I deviate further, about your converison for a predator: For my team (working title: the catachan predators) I thought about which minis would represent the dredd-head him self. The Lictor would be good for the Predators face, but what about the hi-tech gear he has? Maybe the Necromunda Spyrer's for their hi-tech gear? Well for my adversary, I immediately thought of the Eldar Striking Scorpions, maybe the Exarch model. Just look at them: They have the sloping back helmets and a form of dreadlocks on them, and they have those mandiblasters (if I remember reading that correctly ages ago!) plus some very advanced weaponry. With a bit of conversion work you could either use it's body and use a lictors face (not sure if that would fit!) or, as I had thought of doing; getting some eldar bits to create the shoulder mounted plasma cannon (could be a shuriken catapult, but something that blasts would be more in keeping with the Pred' theme) and of course, I remember some Eldar's have lance type weapons (thinking about the weapons the Pred' had in Predator 2 now...). Maybe the striking scorpion could be crossed with large humanoid mini, using the helmet, sculpting on the netting the Pred' wore. Perhaps, since the eldar are a race that can ally with the Imperial Guard (well they could when I bought the 2nd ed' of 40K!) and in the 2nd Pred film and AVP film, the Pred's honored/fought alongside the humans, the Pred could be part of the team?! Although, I think having them as the enemy of this particular vet squad would be better.

Gotta say again, your Predator Team looks great! I'll have to get my work on here. Oh, and I'm gonna use the face camo from they had in Predator, so I'll have the same camo for each character (had to pause the dvd to sketch a note for each face lol). I didn't like how GW painted the camo on their catachans, it looked too blobby, or like patches, so I hope my effort looks better. One other gripe I had about their painting, is how the shading is too stark between the muscles, especially where the deltoid meets the shoulder and back-something they have not faulted on with the Harker mini; by contrast his skin is painted a lot better, even though is is a character model, it's more natural looking. What you don't want is for the muscles to look like separate pieces of armour, like a muscle suit! Think definition, not dissection lol.
Anyway, I can't wait to see what else you do and I'll have my WIPs up soon so others can comment


One last bit! Plastic tubing! I noted you used brass tubing for the GL barrel at one point and I don't know if you're aware of this, but a better alternative, especially when glueing to a plastic gun/mini to use plastic tubing. I found this stuff and it's made in the US by Evergreen Scale Models. You get a pack of 7 tubes of styrene tubes in assorted sizes, from a couple of millimetres thin rods to about a 5mm tube. What's great is, firstly it will stick with normal plastic glues/polystyrene cement and plastic weld, and secondly, the larger tubes in the pack are proper hollow tubes, so there's no need to drill out barrel holes. And the smaller tubes are handy for wires and cables, rivets, studs etc.

Thanks for the kind words, John! I am planning on using the Catachan "Stallone" head eventually for a mullet-wearing Sly Marbo model eventually - although as he's really not an integral part of the army, he's pretty far on the back burner right now.

I like the idea of the Striking Scorpion Predator - although, I think to make it more of a challenge for the Guardsmen, you'd need to make him an Exarch. I think I mentioned it earlier, but I've got a Malcadon Spyrer to use as a Predator. Take a look at this model at CoolMiniOrNot for an example of what someone's done with the model: http://www.coolminiornot.com/index/whatm/GW/id/134285 (not mine, of course!)

While I do have some plastic tubing, part of the reason I've been using brass is I picked some up for super-cheap awhile back and so had been looking for a use for it.

I look forward to seeing your models and getting your own take on things. As for me, I've gotten distracted with Blood Bowl right now and I'm trying to get all the paints I need to start painting all my models up.

Just a quick update - I haven't forgotten about these guys. In fact, I've been doing what I can with them lately, although I'm waiting to get parts to complete the vehicles. But I've been enjoying working on the Vet Squads lately. No new pics, but I've completed modeling a second Vet Squad to go along with Harker's Vet Squad and the two CCSs and put my base coat of olive drab on it.

I also got one of my LRBT's modeled up to the point where I could prime it and put a base coat on it....and that's where I'm bumming now. I've generally had a good experience with Tamiya sprays. The OD's been great for the Vet Squads and the matte sealer was terrific on the Blood Bowl teams I painted up. I've decided to go with a green/gray camo scheme for infantry as well as vehicles, using Tamiya's OD2 for the base green and German Grey for the base grey. The gray sprayed on nice and smooth - I was really happy with how it went on. I left it to sit and dry....egads! I brought it in about 15 minutes ago after letting it dry for about 4 hours and found to my horror that there were some patches on the chassis that looked rough, the paint on the turret was bubbled in some places and looked cracked in others. If it was a renegade tank, this would be a serendipitous effect and would look really cool. Instead, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it now. Maybe with a little work I can make it look like it's really weathered, but that's not necessarily how and where I wanted it...

Great work. Love the Predator inspired models.

Thanks! I'm hoping that next week I'll be able to put some more paint on the infantry.

While I'd posted up that I have two Valks for trade in the Swapshop, after the fiasco with the LRBT's basecoat, I'm beginning to have second thoughts. I'd been thinking about an army with 2 Valks, 2 Vends, 4 LRBTs, and a Hellhound, but with the paintjob on the first LRBT going pear-shaped, I'm thinking of going back to my earlier idea of 2 Valks, 4 Vends, and 3 Manticores. And after putting the basecoat on my second Vet Squad, I'm actually feeling motivated to put together a few more squads. I'm liking the Olive Drab look and thinking about how to give more character to my Valks/Vends.