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Post by: dantay_xv
I noticed that you put the Khorne symbol on to the shield plate.
Although the Baront is now tied to the World Eaters and the 4th in particular. Wouldn't someone like Harrowthorne keep his own heraldry on the knight also?
Even if its just so that he acn show his status as a knight. Even if he gave himself to Khorne totally, I can't imagine that he would give up his identity
Just my thoughts. Otherwise this knight is rocking!!
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Post by: KrautScientist
As always, thanks for the feedback, guys! 
@ Grag: Cheers, mate! I agree that I have to be careful lest the model start disappearing under the flood of extra bitz  But the main body is really mostly finished by now, with most of the extra detail left limited to the arms, so I think I won't overclutter the model.
As for the arrow on the shoulder pad: The "official" Imperial Knight decals have a gap for the arrown, and I will probably try something similar with the decal, cutting away a sliver of the lower middle section. I hope I can make it work!
@ YourIntestines: Hmm, I am actually rather content with the choice of adding that World Eaters decal to the shoulder pad rather than another piece of raised detail. That said, after painting the model and adding the detail, I might add something on top: a chain of dangling skulls or something similar. The back banner is going to stay a single piece, but even then, it will only be an optional bit that I can tack on whenever I feel like it.
Oh, and while adding the warshrine braziers to the top of the exhausts would certainly look cool, that is something that I cannot do because it would prevent the carapace armour from being removable. I did use those braziers, though, as you'll see in a minute.
@ Legio Ultra: See my reply to YourIntestines regarding the decal/detail on the shoulder pad.
@ dantay_xv: It's actually rather helpful that you keep challenging my background and modelling choices like that, because it actually forces me to think this through Cheers for that!
In this particular case, adding the World Eaters symbol to the tilting plate was a very conscious decision. My train of thought went more or less like this:
- after Harrowthorne returned to his homeworld and brought the killers of his family and the ursurpers of his title to justice, there was really nothing left to him. He would have been content to die there and then, but Lorimar offered him something different: a chance to see Terra burn. It's only because of that that Harrowthorne carried on living.
- his house had been obliterated by its enemies due to his seeming treason, so nothing was left of it. In fact, his house had stood for firm loyalty to ther Imperium and to Terra, and all of that turned out to be an empty cause for several reasons, so he chose to abandon it.
- instead, he adopted the heraldry of his new battle brothers, the legion that had liberated his homeworld and also assisted him in his quest for revenge later (also the legion whose uprising against the Imperium had doomed Harrowthorne's house, ironically enough).
So yeah, I hope that makes this particular choice more understandable.
Not that much work left to be done on the Knight: I am currently working on the left hand weapon and waiting for a bit or two for that, so here's a couple of pictures of the mostly completed model. You might spot another small addition or two if you look closely Please ignore the alligator clip on the right arm -- it's just being used to hold the arm in position for now:
As always, let me know what you think! 
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Post by: YourIntestines
The braziers are cool. Somewhat unrealistic, but cool nevertheless.
I really like the spikes on the end of the chainsword.
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Post by: ghosty
Has he locked himself into his cockpit then(Judging from the padlocked rear hatch) or is it possessed?
I prefer the first idea personally
What I thoroughly enjoy about this guy, is that he looks definitely chaos, but he's not a gribbly demon machine from hell.
It's really cool.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, guys!
@ YourIntestines: I don't actually see those braziers as braziers so much, but rather as extra exhausts that are there to vent some heat/warp energy/whatever when the Knight goes into overdrive mode -- hence the angle (plus I also had to pay attention that they didn't obstruct the carapace).
@ ghosty: Hmm, the top hatch is actually freely accessible: I actually interpreted that thing on the back as the machine's reactor, so the padlocked hatch is maybe used to keep some kind of daemonic power source in? In any case, I don't think that area was intended as a way for the pilot to get in or out...
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Post by: YourIntestines
See if you can convince someone to let you use them as template weapons that can hit fliers
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Post by: OnlyWar
what about giving the knight some ursus claws? if i recall correctly, they were common among world eater aligned titans.
additionaly, have you considered using a dremel to give the knight some battle damage.
finally, i imagine that the baron would display his hate proudly, thus, perhaps carving litanies of rage and hate into the knights carapace. just a thought, you could use a dremel or buy an acid etching kit online.
your work is in all honesty the best i have seen on dakkadakka or anywhere else for that matter, keep up the good work.
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Post by: Nashbashem
Now that makes me want to make my own corrupt Titan. Good work
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Post by: gianlucafiorentini123
Too cool, keep up the great work.
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Post by: Cap'n Facebeard
Wow, fantastic Knight so far, look forward to seeing more!
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Post by: Talassar
Awsome simply awsome
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Post by: Reaper Man 2020
Just popped in to check out your knight conversion and I must say really good work so far! I like the thought you have put into his back story and the cockpit and pilot really add to the model. The kit bashing and brass etched bits also give it a great chaos overall look and mood. I really can't wait to see you throw some paint on it!
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Post by: Llamahead
Good additions to the chainsword are you planning a snarling daemon head for the cannon like the old cannon of Khorne? Got a fondness for Khornate Daemon Engines and it's quite iconic the Skull Cannon
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Post by: hk1x1
This thing just gets better and better, I love all the extra details you've added .
Have you had any thoughts on how your going to be painting this monster yet?
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
@ YourIntestines: Haha, yeah, that would be awesome -- however, I think letting me use a Knight as part of a chaos army would already be quite a bit of indulgence on my opponent's behalf, so asking for AA weapons on top might be pushing it a bit
@ OnlyWar: Cheers, man! Funny thing, I only built an Ursus Claw system for one of my Dreads earlier (you can see it further up in this thread). As for the Knight weapons: The first set of weapons will definitely be standard, i.e. chainsword and cannon. However, I am not totally ruling out alternate arms at some point, so seeing an ursus claw might eventually be a possibility... No dremeling or carving, though: The risk of ruining a 100 Euros model is simply too great
@ Llamahead: I will probably use the daemon maw that normally makes up the muzzle for the Defiler's main cannon on the Knight's right arm: Biohazard is awesome enough to send me one of these, and I think it looks awesome on the conversions using it I've seen so far.
@ hk1x1: Huh, painting this big boy will be quite a challenge. Fortunately, GW were great enough to construct the model in a way that the "skeleton" and armour plates can be kept separate for painting, so I am considering spraying the skeleton silver and all the armour red, then turning to regular old brushwork for the detailing. Let's see how this works out...
@ Nashbashem, gianlucafiorentini123, Cap'n Facebeard, Talassar & Reaper Man 2000: Cheers, guys! I really appreciate it
So, the changes to the model start happening in increments, which is always a surefire way of telling the model approaches completion. Let's take a look:
As you can see, the gun arm is now in place. I have not yet glued on the actual gun barrel, and it's really easy to pop it on and off -- maybe I should just keep the weapons exhangeable -- at least the barrels?
What I really like about the model right now is that, while it’s still clearly identifiable as a Knight Titan, the various chaotic details and added armour have managed to alter the model’s silhouette quite a bit. Let’s have a look at a couple of different angles:
Here's a picture with a better mockup of the banner, this time with an icon of chaos added on top:
However, like I said earlier, I don't think this will become a permanent part of the model.
All those small additions notwithstanding, I am very aware that there’s a danger of overcluttering the model which would make it lose visual coherency. Therefore, I will try to restrain myself and only add a couple of bitz to the weapon arms in order to tie them together with the rest of the model. At this point, these are the additions I am planning:
- the cannon will get the aforementioned daemon face as a muzzle
- maybe a couple of chains dangling from the Knight's weapons
- Daniel Grundy pointed out over on my blog that the piece of carapace directly above the head seems curiously empty and clean, so I will add some chaotic decoration there in order to get rid of the "white space"
- I'll take another look at the shin armour and decide whether it needs more work
In any case, I am confident that the next version of the model I'll post here will be the finished conversion.
Now if you'll indulge me, I'd like to ramble a bit, in closing: One thing I realised is how this model – and the last two years in the hobby, really – have changed my outlook on conversion projects, especially when it comes to big models:
When I got back into the hobby in 2010, I was mostly used to working with regular, infantry sized models. A Terminator seemed huge to me back then, and I remember that converting and painting my first Dreadnought seemed like an enormous undertaking. Then came a Defiler, a Basilisk, a Heldrake, the Wargrinder, and, lastly, the Knight, and without even noticing it, I grew more and more comfortable working with bigger models.
Now when I recently picked up a Black Reach Dreadnought in an ebay auction, I realised that it took me about fifteen minutes of messing around with a couple of bitz to produce something that would have taken me ages to complete a couple of years ago:
Now this guy is very, very WIP at the moment, and none of this has been glued together yet. In fact, I am not even sure whether the completed Dread will end up looking like this or completely different. I am just showing it to you to illustrate my point: That things that used to feel like the absolute pinnacle of my hobby achievements can now be accomplished in a short break between working on bigger things — a pretty cool feeling, actually
So, I would be very interested in hearing any feedback on my Chaos Knight you might have! Let me know what you think
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Post by: Hyrule Hero
Like every one else here, Great work man!
What really stands out to me on this model is how well you positioned him. While it's a relativly static stance the model has a lot of movement to it which really tips the scales with conversions. Great balance and it gives him an intimidating and alive, yet still mechinal feel
Keep up the great work. Can't wait to see it painted
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Post by: Sammoth
I love the knight it's missing something at the end of the barrel. IMO
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Post by: KrautScientist
@ Hyrule Hero: Cheers, man! Glad you like it! @ Sammoth: I wholeheartedly agree! Like I said in the post, I'll add the daemon face from the Defiler's main cannon as the weapon muzzle on the cannon. One more thing: I already found a solution for getting rid of the "white space" immediately above the head: Take a look:   I just used some leftover pieces from the warshrine kit, which had the added benefit of reusing a visual element that already appears on the Knight's shoulder pads.
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Post by: Moltar
That works really well to fill the empty space. That knight just gets better and better, KS!
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Post by: Llamahead
One thing I feel it needs from the background is some vestigial remains of Baron Harrowthorne's heraldry before he was betrayed by the Imperium (I can't imagine the character looking at it any other way)
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Post by: Anvildude
I think that chains could go a long, long way here. A model with this much verticality, yet still so balanced horizontally, could benefit a ton from dangles and swoops- chain, maybe rotten drapery, that sort of thing. And I don't think it would over-clutter the model either, since it would either be hanging off of the actual piece, or close enough that it doesn't alter the silhouette too much.
I'd suggest getting some jewelry or hobby chain (of various weights- change it up a little) and any bits of undead banner you can get your hands on, and see what you could do here.
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Post by: Knightley
Awesome conversion so far, the only thing I'm not totally sold on is the face, I still see an imperial face with horns and a Khorn symbol. How big is the face? are there any other options, such as a juggernaught face, recessed into the body a bit more although that might be over used nowadays.
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Post by: YourIntestines
I feel like the knight would look even better if you added something to break up the flatness of the bottom of the rim of the shoulder pads.
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Post by: Desubot
Hang Chains with hooks from under the shoulder pads. and a few hanging smurfs 
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Post by: Yggdrasil
Awesome work, completely sold on the latest additions (head, etc...) !
I agree with the fact that you should try to magnetize (or render swappable) the weapons, I'm not sure which one packs the more punch...
Keep it up ! 
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Post by: tinfoil
Nice! I love the addition of the Warshrine bit. Very creative adaptation. Very KrautScientist.
How do you plan to paint the daemon face on the torso? As armor, or as a living daemonic entity?
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Post by: OnlyWar
Are you ever going to make a apothecary for the Eternal Hunt? I would love to see your take on a Fabius Bile type character. a mix between a blood angels sanguinary priest and a space wolf iron priest, retrieving the geneseed and skulls of the fallen. not for the Hunt the grace of the emperors peace, their skulls are preserved, carried to new battlefields so that even in death, the warriors of the Eternal Hunt may partake in the bloodshed. just an idea, feel free to take it, or create an even better one.
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Post by: Sammoth
 KrautScientist wrote:@ Hyrule Hero: Cheers, man! Glad you like it!
@ Sammoth: I wholeheartedly agree! Like I said in the post, I'll add the daemon face from the Defiler's main cannon as the weapon muzzle on the cannon.
One more thing: I already found a solution for getting rid of the "white space" immediately above the head:
Take a look:
I just used some leftover pieces from the warshrine kit, which had the added benefit of reusing a visual element that already appears on the Knight's shoulder pads.
Sweet. I love it so far. I do love what you did with the shoulder pads. Maybe a chain wrapped around the barrel. With the daemon head. As Others said magazine for options.
On another note what kit are the knee pads from ? I have seen them before but, have no idea what kit.
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Post by: YourIntestines
 Sammoth wrote:
On another note what kit are the knee pads from ? I have seen them before but, have no idea what kit.
Ogre gut plates.
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Post by: Sammoth
Thank you so much. They are very close to World Eater Teeth.
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Post by: combat engineer
Awesome Knight! He needs a chainaxe in place of the original CCW.
Mat
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Post by: Squigsquasher
That Knight looks badass, I can't wait to see it painted.
The dread, though...I've never liked the AOBR Dreadnought. It's very static and has a huge amount of detail missing. I like where you're going, but I don't know if that mold can be "saved".
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Post by: YFNPsycho
I have to say, the Knight does look badass as, well, something I wouldn't be able to post on Dakka, and rather wouldn't say anyways.
My only gripe is there needs to be more along the barrel of the cannon. Even a Daemon Head on the very end leaves a very large smooth surface along the cannon, which just isn't done for Chaos.
One option would be to use GS to indicate Daemonic corruption.
A second option would be SPIKES SPIKES SPIKES.
Khornates should always go with the second option.
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Post by: Yggdrasil
 Squigsquasher wrote:That Knight looks badass, I can't wait to see it painted.
The dread, though...I've never liked the AOBR Dreadnought. It's very static and has a huge amount of detail missing. I like where you're going, but I don't know if that mold can be "saved".
Sorry for the self-promotion (I usually don't like that), but I'm quite proud of what I achieved with my AoBR Dread...
So I'm pretty positive that KrautScientist here, with his far superior skills, will turn it into an awesome model !!!
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Post by: Legio Ultra
Very nice progress!!... The Knight looks great as always and you've got me anxious for the next update!!
That being said, I'll agree with YFNPsycho
YFNPsycho said
A second option would be SPIKES SPIKES SPIKES.
Khornates should always go with the second option
Spike on the barrell would be great, and I think you could add some on the chainsword as well...
Anyway, can't wait to see what you'll come up with!!
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks a lot for the constructive and positive feedback, people!
As for the various suggestions:
- I will definitely keep the chainsword/cannon combo I have right now. That said, I will of course look at the option of adding some additional detailing to the cannon's barrel.
- Like I said earlier, there will probably be some dangling chains, both on the arms as well as on other parts of the model, possibly. Figuring out how much of these to use and where to add them will be one of the next steps.
- I actually rather like the facemask I have, because it really transports that whole "Fallen Knight" feeling I am going for. I also think it's not all that Imperial in the first place. If one absolutely wanted to replace the head, though (and again, I don't want to), Juggernaut heads are far too small, while heads from a Forgefiend/Maulerfiend or Heldrake would work really well, from a scale perspective.
Oh, and since it has been brought up: An apothecary for the 4th assault company does indeed appear in my backstory: Huntmaster Dumah, Chooser of the Slain and Keeper of the Seed. His role is twofold in that he both harvests the gene seed of those legionaries beyond hope, but he also scans the battlefield for possible worthy recruits for the company. I do have a couple of ideas for a conversion to represent him, with most of them based on the Fabius Bile model. However, I think I'll wait a while with building that particular model, because maybe we'll be seeing a plastic Fabius at some point? We can always dream...
Another small update today: Having converted that big Chaos Knight modelI thought I’d work on something a tad smaller in order to relax a bit. So I went back to a couple of models I had built earlier, making an addition here and there and touching them up a bit. Today, I’d like to show you two of those models that share quite a few characteristics: Both are Chaos Lords in Terminator armour, both share quite a few common bitz and both are wielding pretty huge hammers — hence the title of this post. So, let’s take a closer look:
First up, an Iron Warriors Warsmith I converted a rather long time ago (back when Warsmiths were still a thing and Warpsmiths did not yet exist). Here’s the old version of the model:
This guy was based on the stock Chaos Lord in Terminator armour, obviously, with a couple of custom additions: My idea was to add a few touches that would make the Lord’s allegiance to the Iron Warriors obvious. Among those touches was a huge hammer, built by combining the staff that comes with the Chaos Lord kit and a hammer head from the Ogre Kingdom’s Ironbreakers: My idea was that the stone at the centre of the hammer head had been taken from some fortress razed by the Warsmith — maybe even from the Imperial Palace on Terra?
The other slightly eclectic choice was to add a Dark Eldar Talos claw to the model’s right arm: Though the sinister, augmetic look was rather nice, the hand did end up looking a bit too big…
Anyway, when I recently came across the model, I realised that both of those ideas had been pretty cool, but that I could do better, replacing those slightly eclectic elements with bitz that would keep the overall look but fit the model better. So here’s the touched up model for you:
The Talos claw was replaced with a very cool power claw from the Raptor kit. It may be ever so slightly less sinister, but the proportions seem far more plausible now! The new hammer head came from the Dragon Ogres, and while the weapon still looks like its head could have been cut from the remains of a razed fortress, I think the weapon is now far more befitting a commander of the IV legion.
All in all, the model seems like a more seamless kitbash now, and I am rather happy with that — I should probably make some time for getting this chap painted, come to think of it…
The second model isn’t quite as old: Some of you might remember my attempt to build a model wearing armour inspired by Mk 1 Tactical Dreadnought Armour earlier this year. Here’s the model that came from that attempt:
When we last saw this guy, quite a few parts of him were still provisionally tacked together with modelling putty. I also wasn’t perfectly sure about the weapon in his right hand.
Anyway, I am really happy to say that I have finally sorted out the last few rough patches on the model and can present the mostly finished conversion to you today. Take a look:
I do of course realise that the armour does not perfectly represent Mk 1 armour, but I still think the sloped shoulder pads serve as a very strong callback to that particular design. In any case, I just wanted to make this armour look like an ancient, artificer crafted piece of equipment, a true relic from the earliest days of the Great Crusade.
Beyond the shoulder pads, I tried to incorporate several elements recalling older armour marks, such as the crest of horse hair atop the armour (a callback to the older Cataphractii artwork). I also built a weapon system resembling that seen on the Talon of Horus for the left hand — basically for the heck of it, to tell you the truth, but also because I like the idea that an immensely old and valuable suit of warplate such as this would feature equally impressive integrated weapons.
Oh, and you will have realised that the DA maul has been replaced with a Space Wolves thunder hammer: My reasoning behind this is that the stylised wolf head on the weapon would work equally well as a representation of the War Hounds, the original identity of the XII legion. So the hammer is an ancient relic of the legion as well, predating its name change and descent into madness.
I also worked on the model’s back quite a bit, using a shaved down old CSM backpack in order to make the armour’s back resemble the reactor section that can be seen on FW’s Cataphractii models:
It has taken a very long time to finish this model, but I am really happy with the result: I imagine this guy to be Lord Captain Lorimar’s taciturn bodyguard, called “The Doomwall”. I actually already have quite a bit of backstory for this guy in the back of my head, but all in its good time. For now, I am more than happy with the hulking, implacable look I have managed to create on the model!
Here are both models next to each other:
Even though both are based on the same model, I think I have managed to make them look reasonably different, don’t you think?
Anyway, working on these has been rather refreshing after working on that huge Knight model
Feel free to let me know any feedback or suggestions you might have!
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Post by: KrautScientist
 Moltar wrote: I don't think it would be necessary, but have you thought of incorporating a bullet belt feed into the power claw? It might make it too clunky with the power cables already running into the power fist.
Hmm, good point! And good thing I still have an ammo feed from the old plastic heavy bolter that will perfectly fit the bill -- already added it to the power claw, expect an updated photo soon
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Post by: deadmeat85
Love the relic armour. Looks spot on silhouette wise.
Now I wonder what a loyalist one would look like, and I want one.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, man! There are several truly outstanding loyalist Mk I conversions over at the Bolter and Chainsword, plus Greyall also produced a seminal piece of artwork of an Imperial Fists Marine wearing a suit of Mk 1 warplate -- very much worth checking out!
So, like I said, I used an ammo feed from an old CSM heavy bolter on the Doomwall's left gauntlet. Here's the result:
Thanks again to Moltar for suggesting this!
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Post by: YFNPsycho
Wow...
That is just...
Wow.
I need to try that now.
Anyways, 10/10 on the Doomwall, Kraut.
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Post by: the shrouded lord
truely kraut, 'tis good to see someone who appreciates the epicness of terminators.
have you tryed using dreadnoght leg plates as shoulder guards? i did it wit my space marine captan:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/587980.page
it breaks the sillouete just enough to look different without being to over the top.
the only downside is thatit restricts ar positionig (altough i get the feeling ou would be able to easily vercome that obstacle)
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Post by: ThunderFury 2575
I actually have a AOBR dread leftover that a friend gave me, i really wasn't sure how to "Iron-warrior-ify" it, and you just helped me figure out what to do.
Time to convert! 
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks for the kind words, guys!
@ the shrouded lord: As a matter of fact, I have used Dreadnought leg plates on a Terminator, namely on the Sergeant for my kitbashed Legio Custodes Cataphractii squad:
You are right: Those bitz provide an instant (Pre-)Heresy look with very little work -- but they tend to work far better on loyalists than on traitors, I think.
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Post by: Moltar
Doomwall's ammo feed is a total win! Didn't take anything away and doesn't look crowded like I feared. What a beast!
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Post by: Squigsquasher
Loving those Terminators! Your really made the Mk 1 armour look good.
With the warsmith, I think I preferred the old hand TBH. Looked a bit more unique,
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Post by: Chief
Really awesome stuff! I really like all the conversions you have made and they are a great source for inspiration. Keep up the good work
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Post by: RSJake
Love all of it! Especially Doomwall.
I didn't see if you answered this, and I looked for it, but would he be a counts-as Abaddon? or just basic lord?
The knight looks great. Did you ever put anything on the right shoulder or did I miss it?
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Post by: Legio Ultra
Great work, good to see the knight almost finished
I also like both the Terminators very much, the changes are great both on the Iron Warrior and on the Doonwall, all the extra little details bring up the character of the model so much, and the twin-linked bolter on the LC is great!!.
The one thing that I found missing is the Chaos Knigh sholder made cowl over his head...why did you remove that btw??
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers for the feedback, guys!
@ Moltar: Glad you like it! And thanks again for forcing me to get off my ass and figure out a solution for that part of the model
@ Squigsquasher: Cheers, mate! I see your point regarding the claw, but while it was rather original, it just ended up being that one part of the model that drew attention, and not for the right reason. In the end, it just didn't work for me, and I am fairly glad I changed it, albeit at the price of originality
@ Chief: Thanks a lot!
@ RSJake: Hmm, the Doomwall is actually a bodyguard for the commander of my World Eaters -- but he could indeed be used as Abaddon, given his armament, come to think of it. Now wouldn't that be delightfully ironic? As for the Knight shoulder pad, I did add some spikes, plus a World Eaters decal will be added during the painting stage.
@ Legio Ultra: You're right about that cowl on the Doomwall -- I had to remove it because there was just no room for it, once the conversion had been tidied up. Regarding your PM, you've got mail
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Post by: KrautScientist
So yeah, after Legio Ultra pointed it out, I just had to revisit a part of the Doomwall model. As a consequence, there's another small issue that I could use your feedback on. Here goes:
Back when the model was only provisionally tacked together, I added half a chaos knight pauldron directly above the head in order to make the head look even more resessed, closer to the actual Mk I Terminator models and artwork:
However, when tidying up the conversion, it seemed like that element would have to go because there simply wasn't enough space left above the head. So the model ended up looking like this:
BUT when I messed around a bit with the model just now, I realised it might be possible to add that small cowl after all. Which would look like this:
There is one caveat to this version, however: The added element slightly changes the alignment of the shoulder pads, so that it becomes slightly more obvious that they are basically hollow if one looks at the model from straight above:
So, to make a long story short, I guess my question essentially boils down to this: Which version do you think is cooler:
This...
...or this?
Your feedback would be much appreciated!
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Post by: Anvildude
Well of course they're hollow! Most armour is, you know.
However, the cowl is, I think, a little too much. Do you have any Ork bits, because I think certain of their plainer shoulderpads would probably look a little better there than that giant chunk of thing.
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Post by: RSJake
I agree with Anvildude, a smaller cowl would look better, and maybe not quite so tight against the helmet?
I like it better without the cowl though.
As for the shoulderpads, you could use a bit of greenstuff and fill it in a bit to give the impression of it being full of wires and such.
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Post by: bigfish
i really like the first one, i think there's a better flow from the head to the hair
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Post by: Yggdrasil
I prefer the version without the added upper armour...
It not only looks better IMHO, but the "hollow" issue is something that I sometimes bothers me too when I try to convert models...
But in the end it's up to you !
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Post by: Legio Ultra
Unfortunately for me, I'm the minority here. Not to say the uncovered version is witout its merits but the cowled one feels, imho, more like an actual MKI. That being said, it's still up to your preferences, so I'll just have to trust your judgement
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Post by: tinfoil
I prefer the version without the cowl. To me the "hollow" points in the armor just make it look more like terminator armor. Can't say why, exactly. It's just a look I associate with terminators.
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Post by: deadmeat85
Yeah, the first one without the cowl looks the best to me. But if you could find a smaller piece instead then, that would work better.
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Post by: Moltar
I like the idea, but hate the hollow holes. They would eat away at my soul every time I notice them. I would go without the cowl if you cannot find an alternate that doesn't leave those hollow spaces visible. The idea is nice, but that particular bit isn't working right imo.
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Post by: Hyrule Hero
I like it with the cowl myself. gives it more of an imposing looking. You could always just fill the hollow space with GS just a bit so it looks like his shoulders fill out most the space
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Post by: Nevie
I agree with everyone saying that with the Cowl looks way better. Aesthetically there's nothing wrong with ornate Shoulder pads that are slightly hollow. You could say that it was made that way to have art without giving up function.
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Post by: Anvildude
To be honest, half the reason I prefer the cowl is because I dislike the holes in the termi armour. I kinda think the cowl should be more of a continuation of the arch right over the head, though, instead of an extra plate angled on top.
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Post by: Sammoth
I love it but, the space wolf hammer needs a change. IMO
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Post by: Obsidian Raven
I have a possible idea for Doomwall
He looks better with the cowl.
To fix the issue of his pauldrons appearing hollow from the top,why not use some well-sized plasticard Rod to add visible Struts to the interior of the pauldron, so that it seems like its deliberately raised off the shoulder as part of the armour design?
Just a thought.
I'm also wondering what bitz they are made of? if its been mentioned forgive me, i must've missed it, but i would love to know.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks for the many comments, guys! I really appreciate it!
I'll be perfectly honest to you: The longer I looked at the model, the more I realised that I wanted to keep the cowl like that. But one thing that is really important to me is to point out that, even if I decide to take another route, the feedback provided by you guys is always a huge help. So while it may seem like I am just a contrary bastard, I always try to take valid criticism and suggestions on board.
So, what does that mean for the matter at hand?
Here's my rationale behind keeping the cowl (apart from the fact that I think it looks rad, that is): Not only does it bring him closer in line with actual mk 1 armour, but it also makes the armour look more clunky and cumbersome, which is really the point here. There's also the fact that the shaved down chaos knight pauldron really fits the curvature of the Terminator armour underneath rather closely, and it is also not as big as many of you seem to think: Every ork armour plate I've seen so far is at least the same size, if not bigger, for instance.
On the other hand, I do realise that the "emptiness" of the shoulder pads becoming so painfully obvious is a problem that needs to be addressed. So, what to do?
As it turns out, the solution was twofold: After thinking about it for quite a while, I realised that I do want to keep the cowl as it looks. So the question was: How to plug those huge holes? Obsidian Raven really provided an immensely helpful point above! And when I was digging around in the old tool shed just now, I came across this thing here:
And, for some reason that probably hits at something severely wrong with my neuro-chemistry, I was immediately reminded of the support struts appearing in various pieces of Mk 1 artwork by its texture:
So I cut off some short sections from the whole, using them to plug the holes underneath the shoulder pads. My hope is that, when painted silver, they will actually suggest the support structure underneath the pauldrons. Here's how it looks now:
As you can see, the red parts do a pretty good job of filling the empty space. Plus they could reasonably pass for some hydraulic struts hidden underneath the armour.
Of course it does look a little strange now, with those bright red parts. So here's a greyscale image for you:
I have to be honest with you: I think this is a pretty good solution to the problem. But again, even if you're among those whose opinions I have seemingly disregarded, thank you very much nonetheless: Your feedback made me realise I had to address this issue, and has served to make the model better -- at least in my opinion
So yeah, as always, let me know what you think!
Oh, and since it has been brought up again: Those shoulder pads were originally leg armour from the Heldrake kit
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Post by: Hyrule Hero
Looks good. I'm glad you were able to keep the cowl!
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Post by: RSJake
Is there any way you could Chaos-ify the hammer a bit? It just seems a bit out of place.
Love the Add ons for the pauldrons!
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Post by: Moltar
Solid solution. Greyscale looks great.
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Post by: Anvildude
I think just filling in the runes (or if you could, fill them in then re-carve them as Chaos runes?) would probably go a long way towards getting it to look less out of place.
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Post by: RSJake
Good idea Anvildude!
Are there some small etched brass Khorne icons or something like that you could cover the runes up with?
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Post by: Luna Kali
You are a better painter than you give yourself credit for the models look awesome especially your dread conversion it looks wicked!
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Post by: Squigsquasher
Doomwall looks amazing. I'm thinking that for the gaps at the top, it might help if you cover them with very small plates, like the Tyranid Gaunt carapace plates.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, guys!
@ RSJake: I just haven't decided what to do with the hammer yet -- several options have already been suggested earlier, among them the option of filling in the runes or changing them. There actually is a small Khornate brass icon on the "face" of the hammerhead even now, but it's virtually invisible in the pictures. Further changes are pending, although I'd like to point out that the hammer is supposed to look like a War Hounds artifact, preceding the legion's fall to chaos (there's also a fluff reason why the Doomhammer has it, but I'll get into that at a later point).
@ Squigsquasher: Erm...I'm not sure what you mean -- I actually added something to fill those gaps: It was the whole point of today's update...
Anyway, thanks again for all the feedback!
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Post by: Obsidian Raven
Glad my idea helped!
It looks great with the supports there.
He looks fantastic, very excited waiting to see him with paint.
While i'm here i wanna say, you and Guitarasmus's blogs are the main reasons i play (or rather build) khorne CSM.
I originally was going to go with slaanesh and did 2 or 3 models, but couldnt find a look i wanted. Tzeentch never interested me, and (at that point) i really felt like khorne had no conversion potential.
You and guita's blogs showed me khorne has immense conversion potential and i've been a world eaters player ever since. i've got some conversions i'm very proud of. None of them are on your level though.
Now i just hope my work stops getting in the way and i can get back into my 40k.
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Post by: deadmeat85
I take back my suggestion. That was just.....
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Post by: Legio Ultra
Yes, the cowl stays!!!! Great solution to the problem, and the greyscale pic is truely helpful towards the understanding of what the model will look like
For the hammer issue, have you thought of completely removing the square half and adding a huge skull (there must be some big enough). I see it as a way to emphasize the antithesis between the honourable roots of your force and the maniac slaughtering habits they caught along the way (+ skulls a very usual motif for the Astartes and a Legion named the War Hounds seems like a rather feral and savage one, hence having a fair share of skulls in its iconography )
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Post by: Brother Payne
Awesome work. Solution worked out nicely
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Post by: DarkSoldier
Having gaps under the pauldrons isn't necessarily bad. Spaced armor is a real thing, designed to protect AFVs from HEAT munitions.
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Post by: Nashbashem
Now that is one badass guy in early armour. Love it
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Post by: OnlyWar
1.) I am terribly afraid of going way OTT with the blood.
first of all, there is no such thing as to much blood on a khornate model, especially if you use the new Blood for the Blood God! GW technical (by far one of GW's best technicals, and well worth getting, especially for a veteran champion of the Blood God such as yourself)
and
2.) I think it would look a little strange if the wolves were to be all bloody when the actual World Eaters in the army are not -- even moreso since the wolves will be used as "regular" Bolter CSM, if anything.
1. a bolt shell pierces into its target, then explodes, which means that blood, as well as bits of meat and bone shards are going propelled a considerable distance.
2. in pretty much all instances in the fluff, targets that suffer a direct hit from a bolter are described as "bursting like rotten fruit", with bodie-parts "vanishing in a cloud of red mist" and the like, meaning that even at long (for a khornate at least) range, the weapons wielder is likely going to splattered by at least some blood, especially when you consider that the fact that despite wielding bolters, khornates (and wolves, for that matter) will prefer to go hand to hand when possible.
on a unrelated note, have your considered converting some khornate chrono-gladiators/ chaos eversor stand-ins (either for the 4th or for Inquisitor)? If the idea of gladiators appeals to you then you probably should.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks a lot, guys! @ Obsidian Raven: That is very nice of you to say! Feel free to share a link of your conversions, if you have any of them online! @ Legio Ultra: Hmm, I think converting the hammer like that would lead to a pretty big risk of it looking like a bit of a joke weapon -- I believe the wolf head is enough goofiness for one model, to be honest @ OnlyWar: Aw, mate, you did quite a bit of digging through the back pages there, didn't you o_O Realism notwithstanding, I stand by my earlier assessment regarding the use of blood: It's extremely easy to go overboard with it and have a model look utterly childish because of it: Many Khornate armies online fall victim to this, in my opinion, and I believe blood - even if used well - has to be used sparingly to be effective. As for the traitorous Space Wolves, there's realism to consider, but there's also such a thing as internal consistency: To have the "younger", less corrupted members of the warband drenched in blood and the 10,000 year old veterans relatively clean would just instinctively look wrong, no matter whether there's a plausible explanation for it. Plus I don't believe Bolters are always fired at extremely close quarters Anyway, I believe it's obvious I have put some tought into this and made the decisions I've made for a reason Oh and there actually are quite a few gladiator models earlier in this thread, so yeah, I think I've got that angle covered So, two small things left to sort out on the Doomwall model: Fellow hobbyist Yogi remarked that the loincloth could use something to make it look like it was actually secured in place. And the second thing to do was to add the small, etched brass icons to the hammer. And with that, I believe i can call this conversion finished:       So yeah, next station: the paintstation -- at least that's what I hope! While I was working on a Terminator model anyway, I took the chance to also revisit another model in TDA: You may remember the two Red Butchers I purchased a while ago. One became a character named Raas the Butcher:  And the other one looked like this when we last saw him:  However, there was a problem with this guy: I want all of the Terminators in Captain Lorimar's retinue to be fairly unique characters. And this guy shared exactly the same face mask as Raas the Butcher above -- actually one of my main gripes with the Red Butchers to begin with. What's more, in this case the mask really seems to work against the model's overall pose, leading to a model that's neither here or there composition-wise. So I carefully started cutting (and also swapped in a new arm). Here's what the WIP looks like right now:  Both the face and arms may still be subject to change at this point, but I feel like getting rid of the original head was the right decision! Anyway, let me know what you think!
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Post by: ThunderFury 2575
Loving these new ones!!
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Post by: Obsidian Raven
I would start a Blog but i worry about it going neglected.
I have minimal time lately due to work related problems, so my 40k has gone untouched for over a month.
I dont want a blog thats going to be very neglected and not have enough to keep people's interest
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Post by: Icevault
 Awesome KS, you are doing some great work there! Khorne most certainly approves! 
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Post by: Chaos Emperor
Those Termi's look EPIC! Out of interest how hard is it to replace the head on the Red Butchers? The Doomwall looks like a Boss!
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Post by: Legio Ultra
Ah well, too bad for the hammer . The Doomwall looks great nevertheless, nice job there. And (better late than sorry question) where did that big hairy topknot come from?? Is it a horse tail?
Regarding the Butcher, I think you should do 2 thing to (butcher's ) nail his look:
1- raise the forward leg on a small object like a rock, a piece of fallen masonry or an unlucky SM 's torso
2- dig the head further in the armor and make him stare a bit down, as if he's overseeing the battlefield at his feet.
Looking forward to see what you'll come up with
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Post by: Sammoth
Great work again. You still need to get rid of the Wolf head on the Doom Hammer IMHO. Maybe remove it and put, a chaos tank upgrade on the back of the hammer.
On the other note about blood being overdone. Being a World Eater fan and my army consists of World Eaters. I couldn't agree more. Blood being overdone make models look sloppy. It's Blood not Red Maple Syrup. Now skulls you couldn't have to many of those.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, guys!
@ Chaos Emperor: Well, it did take a bit of very careful cutting, but mainly because I wanted to leave the body completely undamaged and the head salvageable. If you are careful, it should be doable in about 5-10 minutes.
@ Legio Ultra: Cheers, mate! Excellent suggestions regarding the Butcher! Will do
@ Sammoth: Like I explained earlier, using the hammer with the wolf head was a very conscious choice: It's supposed to recall the legion badge of the War Hounds, the World Eaters' older incarnation.
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Post by: Kepora
I like the wolf head, so keep it! Also, no flesh head on the terminator!
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Post by: Sammoth
KrautScientist wrote:Cheers, guys!
@ Chaos Emperor: Well, it did take a bit of very careful cutting, but mainly because I wanted to leave the body completely undamaged and the head salvageable. If you are careful, it should be doable in about 5-10 minutes.
@ Legio Ultra: Cheers, mate! Excellent suggestions regarding the Butcher! Will do
@ Sammoth: Like I explained earlier, using the hammer with the wolf head was a very conscious choice: It's supposed to recall the legion badge of the War Hounds, the World Eaters' older incarnation.
Ah sorry must of missed that post. Never thought of it that way.
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Post by: Brother Payne
The Doomwall model looks great!
Regarding the second Butcherer, his pose is definitely better than before, however imo his head is too big... I'm also a fan of Legio Ultras suggestion regarding the leg
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Post by: wonkobaggins
I do love those Red Butcher models - incredible stuff.
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Post by: Obsidian Raven
KrautScientist wrote:
Definitely not a priority project at the moment, so I can happily mess around with it whenever I feel like it
Then there's something I've been thinking about for a while: I've repeatedly been tossing around ideas for a squad of World Eaters Havocs (to represent the classic "Teeth of Khorne" and add some versatile firepower to my army). I found myself thinking about the squad members just armed with a regular bolter (and used as ablative wounds): I wanted to make them slightly more interesting, and when I sifted through my bitzbox in search of inspiration, I found myself looking at some WFB chaos warrior shields: What if I built the ablative wounds guys to resemble breacher marines, only post-heresy?
Anyway, I messed around a bit, and here's what I came up with:
Just a very early WIP, nothing's glued together yet, but for some reason, I really like this guy -- maybe this approach warrants some further exploration? In any case, I'll hold off on this until it's clear whether we are getting the rumoured new Havoc kit anytime soon or not. But it's an interesting experiment nevertheless, don't you think?
Apologies for dragging up an old post. But i want to know how you got the sheild arm to fit so nicely.
I love this conversion a lot, so decided to try and replicate it (Hope thats cool, ) but cant quite get the shield to look "right"
I'd love to know how you did the shield arm.
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Post by: Nashbashem
Red Butchers look cool but I think the second ones head is too big and exposed so it looks like it doesn't fit. Other than that awesome stuff
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Post by: Jinx Magiga
 Nashbashem wrote:Red Butchers look cool but I think the second ones head is too big and exposed so it looks like it doesn't fit. Other than that awesome stuff
the head seems to be the same size as the other helmet,the putty behind is what makes it seem to big IMO so once it's glued together it should be a nice fit
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Post by: bigfish
wonder how long it will be before were seeing space wolf dreads on here...
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Post by: Anvildude
Nah. Thunderwolf cavalry as "Bloodcrushers".
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, guys!
@ Obsidian Raven: Well, seeing how that guy is merely tacked together, I cannot even promise you that my version would work out all that well, once I tidy up the conversion work and glue everything together. That said, the trick might have been to use an arm from the Raptor kit as the left arm, since some of those are held nice and close to the body, which works pretty well for a shield arm.
@ bigfish: Haha, to tell you the truth, I simply love the new SW Dread kit with all the options it brings, and I'd also love to add a Dreadnought to my traitorous Space Wolves. So expect to see a SW Dread in this thread at some point -- though it's definitely not a priority right now
@ Anvildude: Nah, I think it would make far more sense to use the Thunderwolf Cavalry rules for actual juggernaut riders, instead of the other way around. That said, I will admit that the release of the new SW codex has me tempted to use different rules for my World Eaters for the first time in a long while... But since gaming is definitely not my prime hobby activity atm, such considerations are really not all that important right now...
In other news, I did try using a different head on the Red Butcher. This is what he looks like right now:
I am not perfectly sure whether I like it better than the previous head, although maybe it'll grow on me yet. What do you think?
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Post by: Kepora
It's sitting a little too high up/forward in comparison to the others' helmets, but it could work. But I'm a strong opponent to fleshheads on powered armor - ESPECIALLY Terminator armor.
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Post by: Warboss_Waaazag
That terminator looks awesome. I wonder if there is some way, though, to make the wolf head on his hammer to look more like a juggernaut head? Maybe drill out the eyes and put a plate over its brow? Stunning work from you in any case. Always.
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Post by: Brother Payne
I much prefer that head. Kepora's right in that it sits a tad too high but otherwise - heaps better!
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Post by: Llamahead
In my view it suits some followers of Khorne to go into battle bare headed. Better to feel the flow of the flight. Smell the Carnage. Taste the Gore. And after all Khorne doesn't care where the blood flows from so long as it flows..........
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers for the feedback, guys!
 Llamahead wrote:In my view it suits some followers of Khorne to go into battle bare headed. Better to feel the flow of the flight. Smell the Carnage. Taste the Gore. And after all Khorne doesn't care where the blood flows from so long as it flows..........
This pretty much hits the nail on the head! I am quite aware of the reservations many people have against bare heads on (Chaos) Space Marines, but for me, using heads like this has always been one of my favourite ways to add some character to a model -- ESPECIALLY if the model's wearing Terminator armour -- to each their own, I guess
@ Warboss_Waaazag: Oh, it would definitely be possible to make that wolf head look like a jugger head -- but that's not the look I am going for here: Like I explained earlier, the wolf head is supposed to represent the symbol of the War Hounds, the World Eaters' earlier incarnation, in this case.
So, just a small update today because my back is currently killing me, putting a stop to any substantial hobby activity. I do have a look at the current state of my Chaos Knight, though, in case you're interested. As you may remember, the overall conversion was basically finished last time, so only a bit of detail work remained.
So I only made some minor changes to the prior version of the model: Thanks to a bitz drop from my buddy Biohazard, I was able to use a defiler bit as a muzzle on the Knight’s main cannon — the part is just a perfect fit for that! I also added some spikes to the gun barrel in order to make it look slightly less plain. And a chain was added to the Knight’s left greave, bringing it more in line with the pauldron on the same side.
Anyway, this is what the pretty much finished Knight looks like now:
The one thing still missing at this point are some dangling chains that I want to add to the weapons and arms, and after that, I suppose I don’t have any more excuses to put off painting this guy any longer?! Speaking of which, I am already making plans for one particular area of the paintjob, at least:
Those of you who have been following my work on this model so far might remember one particular idea supplied by fellow hobbyist dantay_XV. In his own words:
The other idea I had, but again might not work would be bloody hand prints on the lower limbs and small totems or skulls at the feet of the knight like offerings or devotions. As the 4th company go to war, they walk by Harrowthorne’s Knight & touch a bloody hand to its armour in the hope of receiving Khorne’s blessing for a good hunt etc before going to battle.
Not only did this seem like a beautifully fluffy addition to the Baron’s background, but I also began asking myself whether it would be possible to incorporate the bloody handprints on the actual model. So here’s what I did: I used a GW plastic hand trophy (from the old Night Goblin kit, if memory serves) and made a simple press mold from it, using GS. The two hands were made, using more GS. And these were then coated with Tamiya Clear Red to be used as some kind of “stamp”, so to speak:
So far, my attempts at creating the “bloody handprint” effect have been limited to paper, though. Here are the first results:
As you can see, while some of the handprints do look pretty convincing, I am not yet able to make sure that this effect works 100% of the time. So I’ll need to work on the process a bit, in order to make sure it’s more or less foolproof, lest I ruin a very expensive model. But the results so far definitely merit some further exploration, don’t you think?
As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!
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Post by: gianlucafiorentini123
Normally I'm not a fan of larger models but I really like the way your knight has turned out, you've given it some real personality.
I've been thinking about adding some bloody hand prints to some of my own HH WE, but haven't really been able to find a way of doing it (was thinking of using the SM rocket launcher hand), I'll have to give you're way a try it's given you some pretty good results.
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Post by: YourIntestines
Looking at the bloody handprints, I think that controlling the amount of blood on them will make them more reliable.
If you paint blood just on the raised areas, it should work better.
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Post by: Gogsnik
Instead of a Green Stuff hand, could you not use blutac or plasticine, that way the hand will be soft and give more contact when you press it onto a surface, as well as doing as YourIntestines says and applying Clear Red to the raised parts only.
Great model though, looks fantastic.
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Post by: Anvildude
Honestly, I think this works better than if you had dozens of perfect handprints, all exactly alike. These guys are wearing armoured gauntlets, right? So they'll end up putting on half-prints, or smear it as they walk by, or it'll get scraped up as it's walking. Looks good the way it is, I think.
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Post by: Big H
Love this knight, everything seems to click for me, IMHO the right mix of loyalist and chaos parts and all without a kilo of greenstuff !!!!!
Great work !
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Post by: Brother Payne
Lovin it! I feel the inconsistencies with the hand prints could be fixed by flattening out the GS hand you've created - remember that the goblin trophy hand isn't positioned in the same way as a hand would be pressed up against the armour of the Knight's leg plate.
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Post by: Legio Ultra
Good details, please go paint it . As far as the bloodprints go I'll agree with Anvildude, it looks more realistic this way. You could even paint the blood slowly falling off the smooth surface of the leg plate.
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Post by: ThunderFury 2575
I'm just curious, is the pose final? Regardless, it's going very well!
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Post by: PDH
The bloody hand stamp is a really good idea.
The Terminators are looking good.
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Post by: Archmagos_Amadeus
Loving the detail on the Knight. You managed to hit the right baroque notes with the machine to make it look old and time honored, but maintained enough restraint that it doesn't come across as silly.
As for the blood printer, I remember The Damned Artificer had a similar idea when he did his World Eaters, I recommend you give them a look
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks for the kind words, everyone! It really keeps me going!
Regarding the bloody handprints, I should have realised it has been done before with a similar approach -- I dimly remember seeing that "hand brush" before. As for the "stamp" itself, I think I will do several things for the next (and possibly final) stamp I make:
1.) fix it to something that can be easily gripped. I think I'll probably go for a cork rather than a brush handle, though
2.) make sure - while the GS is still malleable - that the surface is slightly curved, which should make it easier to apply it to the surface of the Knight's greaves and produce a somewhat more consistent result.
That said, I definitely agree that the handprints must not be too perfect, lest they start looking unrealistic.
In any case, I think the overall plan is sound -- all that is left is to work out the last kinks
On a mostly unrelated note, you may have realised by now that I am possibly the biggest living hobby butterfly, especially when it comes to kitbashing plastic models. So, yesterday evening, I sat down and converted my own version of Cypher, apropos of nothing:
As you can see, the conversion was based on the model for Interrogator Chaplain Seraphicus from the Dark Vengeance limited edition I purchased back in 2012. It did feel kind of sacrilegious to cut apart a limited edition model like this, to be honest, but I figured it wouldn't do any good to leave the model lying around for another two years -- plus I will need those lovely smokestacks from Seraphicus's backpack when I eventually convert the 4th assault company's Apothecary, so that made the decision a bit easier
Anyway, let me know what you think!
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Post by: SJM
That Knight looks great.
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Post by: Gogsnik
Cypher looks great, far better than the old metal model.
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Post by: pfibp
Your Cypher looks really nice. Great as alyways.
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Post by: Llamahead
Cypher really looks the part uncertain loyalties and all. I still reckon the Knight could do with some of the Barons pre heresy heraldry displayed somehow.
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Post by: Yggdrasil
Your Cypher is great, it's a nice use of the DV model !
TBH, the arms are a bit stretched too wide for my taste, but I guess that's him going all guns blazing  !!
So go for it
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Post by: Chaos Emperor
Your models look amazing as usual, the knight really looks cool!
Your cypher looks awesome but with cypher being such a mysterious character, I sought of feel that his face should be covered. Maybe a head from the Deathwing Knights?
im sure whatever head you go for it'll look good though!
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Post by: Brother Payne
Looking good. Pretty much what the other guys have said - DW knight head would be good and having the arms a tad closer together too.
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Post by: deadmeat85
Also I think the Sword should be more Regal Imperial looking. Is it supposed to be the Sword of Lion El'Johnson? Well according to the Fluff anyways. But I think you hit the nail on the head with your Cypher conversion.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks for the feedback, guys! I originally used that head for my Cypher conversion because it was what I had to work with. But even though it's certainly a tad less "shadowy" than the usual Cypher representation, I have grown rather fond of it: I just like the idea that Cypher keeps advancing, laying down a hail of fire while fixing you with that terrible, intense gaze Regarding the pose, I originally considered having him in a more static pose, with the arms held down. But when it came to building the model, I just couldn't resist to space his arms as far apart as I did, making it look like he's covering a huge area with his shots -- it's just the way I imagine him in the midst of battle, and it works for me. Lastly, while the sword does look slightly more chaotic than usual, I'd like to point out that this works towards the ambivalence of the character in my opinion. I read up on Cypher before tackling this conversion (my head still hurts from that, to be honest), and it seems to me that the sword's identity is no longer quite as certain as it used to be back in the late 90s... Meanwhile, I am simply unable atm to stop kitbashing plastic models -- I may have an addiction or something... Anyway, I noticed I still had most of a Daemon Prince kit lying around, and while I think it's a fairly underwhelming model if built out of the box, I tried to come up with a version that fits the gladiatorial look and feel of the World Eaters more closely, while trying to dial back some of the cartoon villain look. Still heavily WIP, though:   As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: ghosty
Oh wow.
Cypher is brilliant, I absolutely love what you've done with him. I really like the idea of him advancing forward, laying down a hail of fire on his enemies, and the pose is spot on. Also, his backpack, is just brilliant. Is Cyphers appearance with the Eternal Hunt a possible sign of maybe some Rogue Angels incoming perhaps? I'd love to see what you could do, as your Khornate Spacewolves are fantastic.
The Daemon Prince looks great too; I think it's the head that always lets down the princes normally; the dragonogre head is a brilliant replacement. The only thing I would say, is I would love to see a 'proper' gladiatorial weapon set for him.
Like, maybe the Retiarius loadout, or perhaps a Samnite style could go for him (armoring up one arm more than the other, and a big shoulder pad). I'm sure there was a Gladiator style that fought with two blades, but for the life of me I cannot remember their name.
Love that he has a collar of Khorne though, it's such a great little detail!
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, ghosty!
I don't have any actual plans for a detachment of Fallen Angels, but the fact that I would really love to convert some of them at some point means that seeing some of them is a very real possibility -- after all, I do have some leftover DA tac marines from Dark Vengeance that would be perfect for this -- and for little else
As for the Daemon Prince, I did in fact intend his swords to read as fairly gladiatorial... The Gladiator type whose name you're trying to recall was called Dimachaerus, btw
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Post by: Sammoth
It would be cool if you mounted a Blood Letter to the Deamon Prince Back with a chain to the collar.
Great Work Once again.
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Post by: Llamahead
Looking good almost like a leader for your Spawn
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Post by: Grimtuff
Cypher's looking ace there, though i would personally add a bit more to the hood to make the top of the head and around the eyes not visible like the original model.
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Post by: 4oursword
I'm not a fan of the shape of the blades, but the rest of the DP is brilliant. Maybe it's the hilt/haft being too long for the blade, but I'm unsure. He would look brilliant with a massive trident, though.
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Post by: doowopapocalypse
Hey! I like the head and the weapon choices. I'd say the collar is a touch over-sized, and the pointing middle finger doesn't work.
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Post by: deadmeat85
Yeah, he is flipping some one the Bird.
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Post by: Moltar
DP is coming along nicely and I'm a big fan of your Cypher conversion! Keep on truckin', KS
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Post by: Rogue Wolves
I have been long time viewer of all your threads, but for some reason this is the first time i've been here. So i read through it all and love it. Very fantastic, unique, an characterfilled army. I especially love how well you convey the brutal gladiatorial style of the world eaters.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks for the kind words and constructive feedback, guys!
@ Sammoth: Haha, as if this guy would let himself be ridden by a scrawny Bloodletter just like that -- yeah right
@ Llamahead: You know what, mate: I had the same thought... Great minds, and all that
@ Grimtuff: I see what you mean: Although, as I outlined above, the longer I look at his intense stare, the more it grows on me!
@ 4oursword: Hmm, I am really happy with the blades themselves, to be honest, but maybe the hilts will need some cleaning up...
@ doowopapocalypse: I am actually considering running cables representing the Butcher's Nails below that collar, filling it out a bit -- not unlike that one piece of artwork depciting Daemon Angron
@ deadmeat85: Yeah, well, what would be more Khornate than killing someone and flipping him off at the same time?
@ Moltar: Cheers, mate!
@ Rogue Wolves: That is very nice of you to say!
So, ghosty's remark about building some Fallen Angels seems to have kicked my hobby ADD into overdrive, because yesterday evening I got this urge to actually build some of those guys. So here are the two Fallen Angels I've managed to come up with:
One thing that was important to me was that these guys' allegiance was supposed to be somewhat ambiguous. Yes, they are more ragged and more sinister than your average Dark Angel, but even if they are followers of chaos at this point, it's out of necessity rather than conviction. That's why I restrained myself when it came to adding chaotic and spiky bitz
Here they are together with their "Lord" (yeah right...):
As always, let me know what you think! smile.png
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Post by: Desubot
ooooooooooo That wingy head is awesome.
I might have to steal that for a inquisitor or something (some sort of valkery)
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Post by: Llamahead
Always been tempted by the Fallen. I play in a rather long narrative campaign at times and the Fallen would allow me to play against both Imperials and Chaos as suits my whims (Admittedly mainly by allying with them at crucial junctures given my record but hey)
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Post by: deadmeat85
Now thats what Fallen Angels should look like. Again you hit it out of the Ballpark with your kit-bashing. I'm actually quite envious of your skills and you extensive bitz box.
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Post by: Warboss_Waaazag
Looking great!
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Post by: Brother Payne
I wholeheartedly approve of this new vendetta. Those fallen are truly amazing and I totally agree w deadmeat on how the Fallen should look - like that!
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Post by: ThunderFury 2575
OH MY GOD I LOVE THOSE TWO FALLEN ANGELS! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK MY GOOD SIR!
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks a lot, guys! I am rather happy with those Fallen, to tell you the truth. This probably won't become too huge a project: a squad or Killteam at most, with maybe a Terminator to spice things up a bit Also, the limit I am setting for myself is not to go out and buy any new stuff for this, building the Fallen merely from leftover DV stuff and bitz from my bitzbox (fortunately, I've got quite a few DA leftovers in there...). We shall see...
In the meantime, I spent yesterday evening doing some more work on the Daemon Prince. Here's the current update:
The main addition is a tangle of Butcher's Nails implants on the model's back:
I am pretty happy with how that turned out!
Plus I can now show you my original plan for that huge collar: It seems slightly less loose fitting, now that all that cabling is there:
That said, I am really not sure whether it looks better with or without the collar -- I would love to hear your feedback on this! Let me know what you think!
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Post by: GuitaRasmus
What a sweet idea, and execution! I love the dragon ogre head, and you've nailed (badum tisch!) the butcher's nails.
I'm not a fan of the collar, in it's current form - either it should have been placed under the nails, or not at all - at the moment it looks sort of tacked on.
Btw, please, please, please remove the middle finger from the axe hand, and do some greenstuffing. I hate that hand.
Otherwise, great stuff - looking forward to seeing it painted.
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Post by: TurskanPerkeet
This is great. That Terminator with huge shoulder guard blew my mind - where does his head come from?
Also that 'halo' collar suits the demon guy well. Hope to see some stuff painted soon!
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Post by: Malika2
Hmm, how about adding some 'servants'/'cultists' for the Fallen Angels? So not really Chaos Cultists, but sort of human servants?
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Post by: Obsidian Raven
I love the Fallen angels, they look perfect.
As for the Deamon prince, I think he definatly looks better without the collar, and angree that the finger being held out needs to be fixed.
Other than that, he looks great. What kit are the swords from?
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Post by: Anvildude
I'll third the Finger Fixing.
On the collar- I like the idea of the collar, and having that round spiky shape framing the head, but as it stands, it doesn't lie on the nails or the neck very well.
However, I thought of something that might be really, really cool and unique.
Iron. Halo.
However, rather than the little fiddly icon that Marines use, make it a legit, 13th century circle-around-the-head halo, but with that spiky iron ring. You could even have other nails going through the rim into the head as further 'butcher's nails'. (try going out and buying a package of tiny finishing tacks from a hardware store- then you just drill and set!). It'd also fit as a Daemonic thing, especially if you then painted up the nails driven into the skull in a sort of glowing super-heated fashion (the whole ring could be glowing red or yellow hot, and give you a good lightsource for OSL).
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Post by: Chaos Emperor
The daemon prince looks amazing but I'm gonna go with GuitaRasmus, Obsidian Raven and Anvildude and say that the finge needs sorting out. while I love the idea of a daemon prince flipping people off, It does look weird.
I also think that Anvildude's idea for the Halo would look amazing as well as giving him a nice silhouette
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Post by: wonkobaggins
I love Cypher and wouldn't change a thing. He's perfect.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks a lot, guys!
Regarding the Daemon Prince, the iron halo plan seemed the most solid to me, so I very carefully halved the juggernaut collar (meaning I will be able to glue it back together, if need be ) and attached it Iron Halo-style. Take a look:
I am reasonably pleased with the result -- thoughts?
While I was at it, I also tried adding the wings from the Daemon Prince kit. I wasn’t even sure whether I wanted to add any wings to this guy, to be honest, but I at least wanted to find out how the model would look with them:
And to be perfectly honest with you, I really rather like the bulk and presence they add to the model — what do you think?
Oh, and about that middle finger...
I know I should get rid of it. I know its puerile humour of the worst order...and yet, I find myself strangely compelled to keep it that way -- what the hell is wrong with me?
I also worked on something else: A Fallen Angel in Terminator armour to accompany the earlier models. Once again, instead of going for straight out chaotic spikyness, I tried to achieve the brooding, sinister look you see in some of GW’s own artwork for Fallen Angels, with only some slightly heretical touches here and there…
Granted, the huge daemon sword is a bit of a giveaway, but again, I like the idea that this is a weapon that the Fallen picked up by necessity rather than inclination. I also have to admit that the helmet remains a bit of an experiment at this point — feel free to let me know what you think!
Here are all of my Fallen together:
I would love to hear your feedback on this! Let me know what you think!
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Post by: GuitaRasmus
KrautScientist wrote:Thanks a lot, guys!
I also worked on something else: A Fallen Angel in Terminator armour to accompany the earlier models. Once again, instead of going for straight out chaotic spikyness, I tried to achieve the brooding, sinister look you see in some of GW’s own artwork for Fallen Angels, with only some slightly heretical touches here and there…
Yessss! That. Is. Awesome.
Incredible vision and conversion - What a great idea, using the little sword on the helmet.
As for the daemon prince - much better. I still hate the finger, thought.
Just an idea - I made a slaanesh daemon prince once, using the plastic manticore wings - how about those?
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, Rasmus However, I cannot help feeling that the sword is still slightly too big... Another headlong dive into my bitzbox has managed to provide me with what may be the smallest ornamental sword in GW's catalogue:
Better? Worse?
As for the plastic Manticore wings, I have those, and they fit the Daemon Prince body fairly well. But they seem slightly wrong for reasons that I cannot quite explain: Maybe it's the immense amount of detail and texture when compared to the Daemon Prince kit? Maybe it's the length of them, making the model seem slightly unbalanced? And there's also the fact that I might want to save them for whenever I manage to assemble that old metal Bloodletter I bought ages ago -- no way I am using the original metal wings on that one
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Post by: Grimtuff
I'd probably move it up a smidge so the eyeholes can be used as an echo of the wings on the DA symbol.
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Post by: deadmeat85
Yep up, up is good.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, guys!
Here's another variant I tried just now:
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Post by: deadmeat85
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Post by: Warboss_Waaazag
I like the sword on the dude's face/helmet. Nice effect.
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Post by: GuitaRasmus
I like the original better, to be honest.
I'm sure you can get some more details on the prince, maybe a bit of greenstuff, to make the wings match better? I just think they're much much better than the standard daemon prince wings.
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Post by: Anvildude
On the Halo- Oh yeah. I was originally thinking having the thing fully circumferize (that's a word now!) the head, but honestly this gives a fantastic silhouette. And get rid of that finger! Even if you don't replace it, at least chop it off! Or you could pin it, and have it be the first wound that he loses every game.
Wings- I was just reading a Fantasy batrep featuring High Elves, and I was thinking of how awesome the Phoenix wings were. Maybe you could try and get your hands on a set of those to use? After all, flaming feathered wings would be an interesting change from the classic leathery bat-wings of the Daemon. I do agree that any wings bulk him up a lot- but do you need/want that bulk? Do you want him to be a brutish wrecking ball, or a sleek hunter?
On the Fallen Terminator- I think the original sword looks better, but if you use it, trim the tip down (just two cuts, really) so it's a little less "Ha-cha-cha-cha!".
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Post by: Grimtuff
That's exactly what I was hinting at.
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Post by: Chaos Emperor
Is it just me, or does wolverine.. um I mean Murderfang look like GW have ripped off Marax the Fallen?
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Post by: MiG
The little sword might be more 'practical' for him but my gut feeling says the larger one looks better.
Great thread btw !
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks a lot for the feedback, guys!
@ GuitaRasmus: It's not easy to explain why I think the Manticore wings don't work that well with the Daemon Prince: It has something to do with the wing span seeming very wide when compared with the model's legs: The lowest part of the wings simply seems to stretch too far away from the model's base, making it look slightly strange. It worked beautifully for your Slaaneshi Daemon Prince, but I think the main reason for that is that you used a serpentine lower body, entirely sidestepping the problem -- I hope this makes sense
As for the sword, the longer I looked at it, the less the first version worked for me: It simply seemed too clunky -- a nice idea, but not quite there. It's a matter of personal preference, of course, but I am much happier with the new version.
@ Anvildude: Cheers, mate! This guy is definitely a brutish wrecking ball, no doubt about it. Which is why I think the wings work pretty well. I could see the phoenix wings working for a Tzeentchian DP or Greater Daemion (in fact, see GuitaRasmus's thread for some awesome examples), but not for a Khornate daemon, to be honest: For me, Khornate Princes are overgrown, hulking monsters clad in bronze instead of darkly angelic figures. I felt inspired by the part in Betrayer when Angron is described to have an overmuscled, almost graceless look, even before his ascension to daemonhood -- that's what Khornate Daemon Princes should be like, I think. In fact, I took quite a few cues from Angron for this guy.
@ Chaos Emperor: You know what, mate, I had the exact same thought for a second there If the SW Dread had already been available back then, it would have been the perfect base model for my Marax conversion. At the same time, the Murderfang rules would probably be great for representing Marax on the table -- this whole SW release has me considering using my World Eaters as Space Wolves for the first time
So, let's have another update, shall we?
First up, the Daemon Prince. This guy is more or less finished at this point, and I have to admit I am really rather happy with him. I took some time filling gaps with GS and adding bitz to his hips and back, in order to build some kind of belt/tabard for him. Here's the model right now:
Then there's the Fallen Terminator: Like I said, I am pretty happy with the helmet as it is now. because it gives him the blunt, brooding, Black Knight look I was aiming for. I also added some more bling to his armour
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: Warboss_Waaazag
I like him.
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Post by: Anvildude
You know, I think I've pinpointed what bugs me the most about the Daemon Prince wings- they don't have any folds in them.
As they lay, with the membranes smooth between the pinions, that's the full extension of the wings. If they could open further, they'd be all folded up in that configuration.
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Post by: Rogue Wolves
That is one beautifully brutal daemon prince! I Think what does it for me is the head. Way better looking than the original overused daemon head that's for sure!
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Post by: Anvildude
You know another head that could look decent on a Daemon prince is the AoBR 'shouting' Ork Warboss head- with a little modification, that is.
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Post by: lliu
That's very nice.
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Post by: Butcher Joseph
This is a most impressive army, and your convertions are very inspiring. I think I am not the only one who borrowed some ideas :-D
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Post by: GuitaRasmus
Okay, one last try - how about some balrog wings? They're available separately from GW
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-DK/Balrog-Wings
.. And I've used them on my old khorne daemon prince, they look great there.
Link to a pic of him: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xwoi9etzj36ha9v/4.jpg
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Post by: Llamahead
I reckon a gun would look better for that Fallen Angel Terminator and make him more differentiated from one of the Eternal Hunt.
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Post by: cheiflibrarian
This Guy is Awesome!!! So simple yet full of purpose. Where are the legs from?
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Post by: Legio Ultra
These Fallen Angels are amazing, very well executed conversions!
Your DP is just as good, very imposing and challenging, as well as gladiatorial. I'm not all that fond of his blades but that's a matter of personal taste, he seems to be standing exactly at the opposite end of your first DP project, looking like a brutal but highly intelligent and cunning individual, as well as an extremely skilled fighter. Well done
@chieflibrarian: These legs are from the Sternguard Veterans kit
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks a lot for the feedback, guys!
@ GuitaRasmus: Mate, it's breaking my heart to see you making such an effort, but I fear I'll be keeping the wings all the same -- maybe I just don't hate them as much as you do
@ Llamahead: Hmm, I have to be honest with you: I usually find guns on Terminators really boring -- must be my thing for World Eaters
@ cheiflibrarian: Legio Ultra is absolutely right: Those are Sternguard legs.
@ Legio Ultra: Cheers, mate!
So, another kitbash today -- I hope this isn't getting old for you yet
This new model has been a long time coming: I present to you my current WIP for Brother Dumah, Keeper of the Seed and Chooser of the Slain, Apothecary to the 4th assault company:
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: Biohazard
Now this is a nice idea. I have to say though I don't think the spear or the torso work. I do like the head though and I know that's a one piece deal which is a bit of a nuisance. I just don't think the position of the head on the torso matches the dynamism of the rest of the model. Nice work on the narthecium and I love the belt. Where is the khorne rune from?
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Post by: gianlucafiorentini123
Not to sure about the about the spear either the head looks a bit too bulky IMHO, love the rest of it though the torso and loin cloth really work well together looks a bit like an old surgeons apron.
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Post by: Anvildude
Hrm. Maybe a more needle-like spear? Maybe try something with a thinner blade.
And are there any bits that you have that would be pauldrons, but with a cloth-y, robelike look to them?
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Post by: Crystal Geyser
I'm in the same boat as the others about the spear, but everything else is just sublime.
What model is the torso from? The collar of the robe is so very fluid.
Love the narthecium and the steaming backpack - very bio-punky.
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Post by: Yggdrasil
Wow, maybe one of my favourite models ever since I subscribed to this blog... He radiates power from his advancing pose, walking purposefully yet undisturbed by the environment... And the kitbashing / conversions are just sweet.
Oh, and I love Apothecaries anyway
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Post by: Legio Ultra
Very nice work there mate!!! I agree with gianlucafiorentini about the surgeon's apron feeling and i love the way you used the Ravenwing Biker sergeant's torso to achieve the look. My main gripe with the model is that since he looks like a surgeon, he should have a more precise weapon than this (for all purposes awesome) broad halberd.
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Post by: Warboss_Waaazag
Awesome chaos apothecary!
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Post by: Sageheart
Like others said, love the model, not digging the spear.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers for the feedback, guys!
@ Biohazard: I see what you mean, buddy, although I don't think the torso's that much of a problem, to be honest: I wanted to use that torso due to the rebreather head, the cowl and the robe, so there's really nothing to be done.
As for the spear, I'll admit it was a bit of an experiment: The first idea was to give Dumah a scythe (for a slightly Reaper like look), but that didn't really work all that well. I did want a weapon with a longer handle, and his epithet "Chooser of the Slain" made me think of the mythologic character that goes by the same name: Valkyries. Hence the spear.
I don't dislike it as much as some of you, but it might need some more work (or an altogether different weapon).
@ Anvildude: Hmm, I'm really not sure whether "clothy" shoulder pads are the way to go here. That said, the right shoulder pad might still be changed: I'm not perfectly happy with it, it's just the best one out of all the variants I have tried so far.
@ Crystal Geyser: Cheers, mate! As Legio Ultra correctly pointed out, it's a torso from the Dark Vengeance Ravenwing Bike Sergeant.
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Post by: Desubot
Dunno why but i feel he should be carrying a power staff.....with snakes
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Post by: BrotherOfBone
I personally think a huge, eviscerator-esq chainsword (with the elongated spear handle at the back) would look absolutely awesome, and also fit the standard apothecary kit.
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Post by: Anvildude
 Desubot wrote:Dunno why but i feel he should be carrying a power staff.....with snakes
Oooh... Now there's an idea.
A weaponized caduceus would be fantastic, especially if you could model it with the snakes writhing around it and striking out at things. Though details that small may be difficult to pull off.
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Post by: Llamahead
Weaponized Snake Staff is a cool idea but far too magical for Khorne.
Spear makes sense to me you need a long spear for the poke and see whether their dead stage for a Khornate marine.
Actually I think some kind of cosh might be an idea "Right he tried and killed me" Thwock "Let's start treatment"
"He didn't try and kill me" Bang
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, guys!
So yeah, I tried to do some tweaking on the Apothecary model. After some experimentation, it became clear to me that the only kind of shoulder pad that would match the model's left (Chosen) pauldron would be yet another Chosen pauldron, so I swapped in a new right arm. This has also changed the angle of the spear a bit. Take a look:
I think the new shoulder pad makes the model seem less lopsided than before, which is definitely an improvement! I'll add a Forgeworld World Eaters decal to the blank pauldron, which should look nice enough. I also think the new angle of the spear works quite a bit better -- and I am actually tempted to keep it, to be honest. A chaotic version of an asclepius rod, complete with intertwined snakes and all, is admittedly a sweet idea, but I fear it would end up too much like something that would appear in an Alpha Legion army. Plus the spear is clearly not intended as a surgical tool - he has his narthecium gauntlet for that - but as a weapon (and maybe a bit of a sign of office). One option would be to replace the head with a chainsword blade, creating some kind of chain glaive -- what do you think about that? Would it be an improvement? Not sure myself, because it would certainly make the weapon look less unique...
Anyway, let me know what you think!
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Post by: TheRobotLol
Personally, I think it looks fine as it is, a chain-glaive would be somewhat more Khornate, but less unique, which this model is definitely at the moment.
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Post by: BrotherOfBone
I think a chain-glaive would be awesome, and I also think it's far more innovative than a spear. I also think it would suit a Khornate apothecary far more than a spear.
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Post by: Anvildude
I don't know how much actual cutting you'd be willing to do on the weapon, but maybe making some deeper, swept-back barbs on the spear head would help. That'd thin it up a little in feel while keeping the actual outline size, plus it would look more Khornate and suggest chainblades a little- barbs help the blood flow, after all.
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Post by: Yggdrasil
Still love that spear.
Chain glaive would look great, sure, but I just love that WFB spear...
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Post by: Moltar
I know I'm late to the game (I've been doing some traveling for work), but I have to agree with what's been said. Brother Dumah totally rules. I've been working on a chaos apothecary myself and love the idea. Yours is giving me some new, and maybe too late, ideas I should incorporate into my own.
And your previous comment regarding your DP:
"Oh, and about that middle finger...
I know I should get rid of it. I know its puerile humour of the worst order...and yet, I find myself strangely compelled to keep it that way -- what the hell is wrong with me?"
Nothing's wrong with you We grew up with and now have fond memories of this:
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp46/Aldmhac/IMG_1272.jpg
It's imbedded into our skulls that evil warhammer dudes have no problem with inappropriate hand gestures.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks for the feedback guys!
@ Moltar: Hah, thanks to you, I can now at least camouflage my terrible sense of humour as some kind of nerd nostalgia -- thank you kindly, sir
As for the Apothecary's spear, I think I'll keep it like that. A chain glaive would admittedly seem even more Khornate, but there are already several of those in my army. Therefore, the spear does seem like the more unique option: a special artifact only a distinguished officer of the company would wield.
As a kind of "collateral damage" of my Apothecary conversion, I ended up with several badly cut up Dark Vengeance Chosen, parts of which had been used in the model's construction. So I just experimented with those leftovers for a bit. Take a look:
A pretty straightforward kitbash, this one. I think this guy is either Chosen or Skull Champion material.
The second one is a bit more interesting, even though there's not a drop of glue yet:
I never liked that pair of legs all that much - which is why I still had them lying around - but combined with the Chosen upper body, I somehow think I may be on to something here: A champ or sorcerer, maybe with a slightly nurglite vibe? I am very much open to suggestions at this point, so let me hear what you think!
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Post by: Sammoth
Great Work
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Post by: Moltar
I like the new dudes. Those legs on the second guy really bulk him out. That helmet is so nicely tucked in, is the torso & helmet all one bit?
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Post by: Warboss_Waaazag
I think he works well as is as a champion, but if you intend to make him a sorcerer I feel like he needs a bigger/scarier backpack than the one he's got. He definitely has all the accoutrements for nurgle what with that rhinoceros helmet and the dot trios on the cloak, but what if you filled those in with green stuff and made him undivided? Ultimately you'll do whatever you like, but maybe this is an opportunity to really challenge your skills.
Regardless, all of your kitbashes/conversions always look super awesome.
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Post by: Hyrule Hero
Props on keeping the spear with the apothecary. I think it really makes him stand out and looks pretty bad ass!
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Post by: CMDante
Lovely conversion work - especially on the walking apothecary type chap.
Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Dante
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Post by: Kjellk
Wow this is an awesome blog...
And i think the last one looks amazing and could be a sorcerer very well
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Post by: Big H
Mate , great work, I am relentlessly combing your blog for my soon to be Death Guard !!!
Beautiful !
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Post by: Chaos Emperor
those two look great! how about a skull helmet or even a skull head for the first dude though, carry on the vibe started with the skeletal look the torso has with the ribs?
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Post by: Hruotland
Glad you decided to keep the spear. The new position looks very convincing to me. Plus it's a hunter's weapon and somehow very fitting to a khornate apotecary. In my imagination I see him standing broad-legged over his fallen "khornrade", and with a mighty thrust doublehandedly driving the spear into his battlebrother's chest to administer the emperor's peac-NAY! the Last Bloodshed... or even - why not, this is Khorne's followers we talk about, why wait until his fellow falls before harvesting the cygote?
like..
The battletide was ebbing for a while. In the distance the mortars were still thundering, their rythmic bass accentuated by the staccato of rapid-fire. Like lost souls the high-pitched artillery artillery grenades screamed. The rustle of the brazen forest, the fiery rain on the scarlet fields. One of his more introverted squadmates had once written a sonnet about it in the long silent hours of the Between, while the battle barge plunged the void from one hunting ground to the next.
On this side of the battle fields there was another such a moment between. Maybe that was the reason his thoughts went this direction, Zighurt mused. The fury in his veins had ebbed now, like the battle around him. Soon it would rise again, and he would be on the hunt once more, drowning the world in a tide of crimson and fire.
In the clearing before him there was a small spring. Somehow it had evaded the flood of body liquids and intestines turning the ashen soil into black mud everywhere else. After a short lookaround Zighurd knelt down and took off the horned helmet, Carefully he laid his trusted chainsword beside him, then he formed a cup out of his gloved hands and ladled some of the water. Even the enhanced and blessed body of a khornate marine had it's needs, had to fuel up in order to burn in rage. Zhigurd took another sip -
The tip of a spear,thrown from behind, protruded from his chest. Zhigurd looked down in wonder. Then came the pain.
Slowly the now liveless carcass tilted forward, his tribute to his god spiraling into the depths of the pond, Already the water had turned to pink. From the shady glen another marine emerged, also bearing the mark of the World Eaters. His boot came down on Zighurds back, then with a decisive pull he retrieved his spear.
Hagen looked down on his prey. "The hunt never ends, Zighurd. Khorne WILL have your offering, He will not allow you to diminish it by dwindling away!" This was the way of the hunt. The predator would rise in it's terrible glory, gathering strength and cunningness, until it was on the zenith. Then inevitably would come the moment of weakness. The former king would fall, would turn prey to it's rivals, maybe end on the antlers of a not-so-easy kill or just find out there was always a mightier raptor. A good hunter would spare the glorious ones the humilation of the decline.
Hagens glovesaw screamed, as he took the legion's toll, then what belonged to his grim God. "Blood for the Blood God" the Apothecarius intoned, dipping his index into the hole he had driven into Zhigurds power armor. "Skulls for the Skull Throne!" he completed the invocation, while he drove his spear into the detached head of his former comrade. Without looking back he walked away, his macabre trophy staring into the skies from broken eyes.
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Post by: Freytag93
Once again I am just blown away by this thread. It's always inspiring to look at the conversions you've made. I hope I can channel some of that into my own work. Thanks for motivating me KrautScientist
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Post by: Doppler
Well it has taken at least a week of on and off watching to get through everything and im just blown away by it all.
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Post by: Squigsquasher
Those chosen look fantastic. Great work as always.
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Post by: the shrouded lord
hey Kraut, looking awesome.
.
seriously digging that second chosen.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks for the positive feedback, guys! I really appreciate it!
@ Hruotland: Mate, thanks so much for that excellent piece of fluff! While I have to say that I have a slightly different idea for the Apothecary's background, that was still a wonderful read and I thank you for it -- very inspiring! Feel free to supply further story vignettes -- I love stuff like that!
I have a couple of kitbashes to show you today:
First up I spent some fine tuning the Chosen conversions I posted further up in this thread.
You'll probably remember this guy:
Well, I tried a different head on the model, going for a look that was more "faceless killer". Check it out:
On the finished model, the helmet would be painted in a contrasting colour (either bronze or bone-coloured, I think). That said, I am honestly not certain which version I like better and would very much appreciate your feedback!
I also worked some more on the chap that was well on his way to becoming a Nurglite Sorcerer last time:
As you can see, I replaced his bolt pistol hand with a hand that looks like he's channelling his psionic powers. I also gave him a staff weapon -- but couldn't help turning it into a scythe with the help of some bitz.
I also converted a Champ for my traitorous Space Wolves:
The model really came together rather organically -- I just went with parts that "felt right" for the character.
And finally, in other news, you'll never guess what my first e-book purchase for my new Iphone was:
Yeah, I know: I am probably a hopeless case
That said, it's good to finally own the seminal "After Desh'ea" in English, because the German translation for all the HH stuff is just so unbearably clunky -- the slightly purple-ish prose of the HH books really doesn't lend itself all that well to translating, it seems. The other two stories are fairly nice as well, although both far inferior to ADB's work on Betrayer. Still, I can probably recommend purchasing this, if you're interested in World Eaters lore.
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: gianlucafiorentini123
The helmeted version looks a lot better IMHO, the bare head looks a bit too big compared to the rest of the model. The other two look great as well.
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Post by: oguh7
Great work Kraut, keep it up! But I'd say the helmeted head looks better then the bare one.
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Post by: Kepora
Helmeted heads ALWAYS look nicer, oguh7.
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Post by: Hruotland
Glad you liked my little contribution, Kraut! If I could give you just a little spark of inspiration, It is just a tiny fraction of what you pour out in masses over us, thank you for that! And I am looking forward to see in wich direction your own ideas about the apothecarius go.
Now the helmet/no helmet question - definitely helmet. Without it just looks like another Angry Shouting Baldie GW begifts us so richly with. But with helmet it gains character, a sinistre appearance of dominance.
Small idea about that khorne wolf(which is looking spot-on): maybe complete the crossbones on his belt with another two, so that they form the eight-star?
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Post by: oguh7
While I do like the SW character, he does seem a bit static (maybe it was ment like that ) so he kinna falls out with the rest.
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Post by: Legio Ultra
Man these guys are great! I love the aggressive feeling they give out. Great job yet again!!
Minor suggestions would be to keep the helmed head but give it a set of small or medium sized horns to finish the sinister look you went for. To the Nurgle sorcerer I would only add a bosspole with a nurgle icon or something to clearly show his allegeance to this god. As for the corrupted SW nothing to add exept maybe twist the head to make him look over the shield as if bracing for an impact (not very SW-like behaviour thoug )
Anyway I can't wit to see what you'll come up with!!
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks for the feedback, guys! @ Hruotland: Again, that fluff was awesome! I hope you don't mind me featuring it on my blog here. @ oguh7: The static pose was in fact a deliberate decision -- plus there's also the fact that the use of chaos warrior capes will severely limit the dynamism of the model in any case @ Legio Ultra: Cheers, mate! I think you'll like the changes I've made to the Chosen, the Speaking of which: While the support for the helmeted head on the Chosen model was overwhelming, I did some experiments with several different heads and ended up with a version I like even more, both because it underlines the blunt, faceless look even better, and because it does a better job of interacting with the gorget I added to the model's torso. Take a look:  The picture's a bit fuzzy (because I couldn't use my regular camera for this), but I hope you'll be able to see what I mean. Plus there's also the fact that this is hands down one of my favourite chaos heads. Anyway, let me know what you think!
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Post by: Hruotland
I hope you don't mind me featuring it on my blog here.
*bows* I feel honored!
- there is a german expression that perfectly fits my first thoughts of the new helmet: "wie aus einem Guß!" For our non-german dakkaites: meaning that something blends so perfectly together as if it was cast in one piece. This helmet and no other!
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Post by: KrautScientist
Danke, Hruotland! In fact, once the head had been attached, I had the exact same feeling -- which, I suppose, bodes well for the model So, another small update: What do you know, I finally managed to get something painted again! Granted, it's just the Dreadnought rocket launcher I converted a while ago, but that has to count for something, right? This is basically the last distance weapon missing from my collection of Dreadnought/Helbrute weapons, so finally getting it out of the way felt good Still forced to use my phone, so the pictures aren't quite up to snuff, but here you go:   The weapon itself is a fairly simple kitbash based on a loyalist rocket launcher that PDH kindly donated to my cause. Of course, Marax the Fallen can now be outfitted as a completely shooty Dread/Helbrute as well (even if it goes a bit against his character):  As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: the shrouded lord
excellent, as always Kraut.
I especially love the use of the Havoc launcher missile pods, just a very nice little detail among lots of nice little details.
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Post by: Legio Ultra
This head does indeed llok like it was made to be in there (and Yes!! Horns!!)
Nice too see you painted something as well!!
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, guys!
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Post by: Medium of Death
That Nurgle sorcerer is looking sweet.
Lots of great stuff going on as always.
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Post by: Wyzilla
Late for the thread I know, but I swear this guy looks like he's trying to eat the vox.
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Post by: KrautScientist
@ Wyzilla: Haha, you're right The model was basically an attempt at salvaging that particular FW Vraks torso after I had sawed off its head, so I had to roll with the puches on this conversion. That said, there is something eerily stalkeresque (and quite fitting) about the way the traitor frantically holds the communicator to him, don't you think? When I first posted the model, somebody suggested the soundbite "Can you hear the voices too?" And while it may have been intended as a joke, there's something rather creepy about the thought of this guy broadcasting this particular sentence, either screamed at the top of his lungs or ceaselessly whispered, on all frequencies, isn't there? Speaking of my Traitor Guard, I am currently painting one of my favourite conversions, an officer for my elite traitors/counts as scions. This is the conversion:  And this is what the model looks like right now:  As you can see, I changed the sword (because the wickedly curved, cleaver like blade seemed even more apppropriate). The model is also still missing quite a bit of detail work - I would day it's about two thirds finished at this point - and the photo didn't turn out all that well, but I think you get an idea. The model was an attempt at building something resembling PDH's absolutely stunning Traitor Guard models, and I am really happy with it so far. In other news, I managed to buy a pretty big lot of OOP and rare stuff at my FLGS last week, among it a collection of really cool old 40k publications:  From left to right: The 40k 3rd and 4th edition big rulebooks (believe it or not, I have never owned those until now), one of the hallowed Chapter Approved compendiums (containing wonderful but somewhat outdated Index Astartes articles on the creation of Space Marines, Dreadnoughts, Librarians and on various chapters and legions: Dark Angels, Emperor’s Children, Iron Warriors, White Scars & Flesh Tearers) and Codex: Witch Hunters (obviously a must for any fan of the Inquisition). All of these are in excellent condition, too! You can read more about my crazy haul over on my blog. In any case, let me know what you think!
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Post by: deadmeat85
Nice haul there. The Elite trooper looks good so far.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks a lot, deadmeat85!
So here's an update on the Traitor Officer:
The colours came out a little more chalky than they are in real life, but the pictures should still give you a pretty good idea. It's actually been a while since I've been completely happy with a paintjob, but I really like this guy right now!
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: Lord Lankington
That's awesome bro!!!
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Post by: TheRobotLol
Great work as always, looking intently to see what comes next.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks a lot, guys!
I actually managed to paint another model for my traitor elite: Judging by my usual standards, this almost constitutes a painting spree, you know?
Anyway, here he is:
This was basically my first test model for "chaos scions", back when I first bought the Tempestus Scions kit, so the kitbash is rather straightforward.
And here he is with his squad leader:
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: Hruotland
As always great job! He has the experienced and dedicated coolness of the best Necromunda Heavies. You don't need to do the Grand Tour to Extemeland to give a fig character, it's the sum of the details that counts in the end, and awesome is only awesome against a background of "normal". Something GW should remember, their minis are more often than not on the border to grotesque nowadays, and I don't talk about chaos here.
The officer? Looks like a Hannibal version of Oberst von Edderitz. He definitely has an evil eye, but I am not sure which one... double !
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers for the kind words, Hruotland!
So, another small update: I am currently painting the third model for my traitor elites, the Voxcaster guy:
It's a slightly strange model, born of the wish to salvage that Vraksian torso after I had cut off the head for a different conversion, but I have taken a bit of a shine to this guy for some reason...
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: Extreaminatus
Been following this thread for awhie now, and it's amazing (and I love it even though it's a dirty Khorne plog).
I like to think that vox operator is just shouting into the receiver like this guy:
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Post by: thenoobbomb
Looks great!
"HELLO! YEAH, YEAH, I'M ON THE BATTLEFIELD NOW. THERE'S LIKE, A LOT OF BLOOD. YEAH, YEAH, I'LL BE HOME BY 6. BYE HUN!"
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, guys!
I guess what I like about the model is the duality it has. Like, it's super fun to imagine this guy making prank calls behind the enemy lies or call his wife, like you suggested. But there's also something really creepy about the idea of this guy patching into the enemy communication and sending creepy messages like "Can you hear the voices too?" -- either screamed at the top of his lungs, or whispered in a raspy voice...
Here's the finished model, by the way:
Oh, and in case you were wondering: That thing is a mask, not his actual face. In fact, I am rather happy with the contrast between the mask and his actual skin, even though both use the same base colour:
And here he is with the rest of the squad so far:
These guys are actually pretty much fun to paint! Just what I need atm
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Post by: thenoobbomb
Whoa, those are awesome.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks a lot!
Only a small update today: At the recommendation of fellow hobbyist Talarion, I checked out Pixlr today, and not only was it a lot of fun to mess around with it, but I am also pretty happy with the results of my experimentation. Check it out:
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Post by: Llamahead
Looks fun. The Vox guy is excellent looks like he's casually holding his vox under his head "Wait a minute dear, I'll just disembowel this loyalist pig dog lackey of the false emperor and then I'll decide what to have for dinner....."
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Post by: KrautScientist
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Post by: Nevie
I love the swords that you use. And it's an awesome looking squad. Let's see more.
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Post by: Llamahead
Definitely for Vets, Plasma Vets squads kill Marines good
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Post by: Boba Fett
Great kitbashing! Love the whole blog and your personal style.
Thanks for sharing this awesome stuff
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Post by: Moltar
Traitors are looking ace, KS!
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Post by: Sammoth
Well done. I love the use of the cultists head to make traitors.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks a lot for the kind words, guys! I am really rather happy with those traitor models, if I do say so myself.
This last weekend was spent messing around with the various functions of Pixlr a little more, and today I’d like to share some of the results with you:
Once I had started playing around with my various World Eaters photos, it goes without saying that I also had to give one of my favourite models another spin as well:
"Engine of Destruction"
And why limit myself to Khorne? Giving some of my Nurglite models another layer of grime and neglect turned out to be great fun as well:
"Nurgle's Children"
Seeing how the standoff between Marax the Fallen and a downed Space Marine had worked out so well, I also touched up another photo that had been taken during a game of 40k:
"Isgarad attacks"
The original photo was pretty terrible, but with the help of some filters, it became a rather more interesting battlefield impression.
Next up, another Helbrute: Khorlen the Lost:
"Lost Soul"
I liked the result so much that I had another go at this model, focusing on its wonderfully creepy face and thereby creating a more portrait-like image:
"And I Must Scream..."
This is maybe one of my favourite pictures, because it really embodies the horror about being interred into a corrupted sarcophagus. This picture also led to further explore the portrait approach, trying to explore the essence of specific characters (or creatures):
"Instrument of Wrath"
"Scarred Hunter"
And, last but definitely not least, this rather moody shot of an Imperial monument:
"Know Fear"
In this case, the original picture was actually pretty terrible, but I simply love the touched up version!
All in all, this was really a great way to discover new aspects about some of my models and bring out a new visual narrative in some pieces. Call me crazy, but working on these pictures and coming up with titles for them really made me think about several of my projects in slightly different ways. And, if nothing else, messing around with the software was just a lot of fun
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: Leviathus
Splendid models Kraut and love the paint job!
Long live the photo filters! Nice way to spice up your miniature showcase!
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Post by: Big H
Great pics !
You've got some excellent models there mate, and a great spare part knowledge !
Robbing ideas from you mercilessly ! 
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks a lot, guys! Glad you like the pictures!
Phew, work has been absolutely crazy this week, but at least I managed to pick up my pre-ordered box of Putrid Blightkings yesterday. I will be using these as 40k Nurgle models in some capacity, as I suppose some of you are planning to do as well, so let me share some brief, initial observations:
- the level of detail in this kit has to be seen to be believed! Seriously, those guys are every bit as spectacular as they looked in WD Weekly
- the amount of bitz you get is equally impressive: Even after building five complete models, you should have lots and lots of leftovers for the rest of your Nurglite army: The amount of heads, rusty weapons and armour plates alone is staggering!
- the kit is pretty flexible, and you'll be getting quite a few very different looking models out of this one -- however, the kit is not as flexible as many "classic" multi part plastic kits (most of the (Chaos) Space Marine range comes to mind), due to the way the models are put together. This is not a problem per se, but it does mean you'll need to plan ahead in order to convert these guys...
-...speaking of which: (Chaos) Terminator parts will work great on these, from a size perspective.
This last point is pretty important, I think, because many people planning to use these models in 40k seem to be unsure as to their actual size: I've seen speculations that the Blightkings are Ogre/Ogryn-sized, and I've snapped a quick comparison shot for you:
As you can see, these guys are definitely NOT Ogryn-sized. In fact, they are slightly smaller than Terminators. In my opinion, that makes them useful as stand-ins for Chaos Terminators (probably what I am going to do), true scale Death Guard Marines or something of the sort.
Anyway, hope this will prove useful to those of you who are on the fence about whether or not the kit is worth the purchase. More information on my experiences with these models as I start putting them together (and hacking them apart ).
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Post by: Gogsnik
I thought GW had gone overboard and made these things huge but I am pleasantly surprised to see that they are smaller than they look on the GW webstore.
True Scale Death Guard sounds like a great idea though.
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Post by: Llamahead
Eh well their lovely models but ridiculous prices. I prefer Avatars of Wars take on the theme
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, guys!
@ Gogsnik: Hmm, sorry, but I'll have to disagree here: Though not Ogryn-sized, these guys are still massive, and you get five of them out of the kit, complete with an almost obscene amount of extra bitz. GW stuff certainly is expensive, but the Blightkings are one of their more reasonably priced kits, I think.
So, another small update:
Most of my time this week has been spent participating in a local independent film festival, so I didn't really get that much hobby time. I did take a much needed breather today and relaxed with some kitbashing:
First up, I made a few very early attempts at " 40k-i-fying" the Putrid Blightkings:
Nothing huge so far, just messing around with a few 40k parts and seeing what works. A more involved conversion was trying to add a breastplate to the one Blightking in the set that normally HAS to be assembled with a bare belly:
That did take quite a bit of cutting (and the model still needs some serious gap-filling).
I also worked on a kitbash for my fourth Dreadnought/Helbrute. Take a look:
The basic idea behind this guy is that he is a former Breacher Sergeant whose calling is still reflected in some elements of his ironform -- the Mk. 3-ish helmet, the shield on his left arm recalling a boarding shield and the melta, for example.
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: Ignatius-Grulgor
Ooh goody someone using the blightkings, shame about the scale was really leaning towards the nurgle oblit angle but looks like they'll need some bulking up to go down that road, still I shall definitely have to grab some.
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Post by: Legio Ultra
Nice job there man40k-ifying the blightkings, such detail deserves to expand beyond WFB. I would ike to ask though...would their breastpaltes fit on a regular terminator back?? or is it wasted time even to consider it?
Also very nice Helbrute, the helmet works wonderfully, as does this spiky chaos halo. My favourite thing about him however has to be th claw...totally vicious and scary as hell. Where did its parts come from??
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks, guys!
@ Legio Ultra: Regarding the Blightkings' compatibility with Terminator torsos...hmmm, I'll have to try that one -- hold that thought, I'll be right back
As for the Dread's claws, those are spiky bitz from the WoC Chariot's wheels.
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Post by: Dreadclaw69
Phenomenal work on the Dread, he fits your concept perfectly and that claw just oozes menace
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, mate!
And another new piece: Here's a custom Kharn model that I built fairly recently for a conversion/painting contest over at Throne of Skulls:
The theme of the contest was to take one of the Khornate characters from among the 40k and WFB universes and build a better/updated/reimagined version of them. Since this is going to be a piece for the contest, above all else, I took the liberty of truescaling Kharn a bit...
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: Sammoth
Kharn looks a bit out of proportion. The head looks a little off from the body and the Terminator legs are to big. IMHO Great work with the rest as always.
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Post by: Hruotland
I don't think so - if there is a 40k charakter fitting to that ridiculous overdrawn Musklemania proportions SMs tend to have in the newer illustratons, it is Kharne. Yes, the head is really really small, but Kharne is infamous not for his elaborate reflections about the nature of war, is he? Also the massive helmet crest conceals it a bit. The legs? Massive men have massive legs, plus armour, naa I think it's just right as it is.
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Post by: master of asgard
The only thing that strikes me as off with Kharn is his trigger finger!
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Post by: tinfoil
The proportions look fine to me. And I love the look of that giant war-crest-helmet rearing back and baying to the bloody skies.
A very striking composition, and a characterful conversion.
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Post by: Dreadclaw69
I like the update, but I can't help but feel that the left arm just isn't bulky enough
**edit**
Also the thigh plates seem to thrown off the model, disrupt the silhouette, and just look very Terminator armour-esque
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, guys! As a matter of fact, that piece of artwork posted by Dreadclaw69 has been one of the main inspirations for the model Anyway, regarding your feedback: - when it comes to the proportions, I don't think they are that bad. Keep in mind that we are used to seeing Kharn at the heroic scale (i.e. with hands, a head and weapons that are ever slightly too big), which may be one of the reasons the truescaled version might need some getting used to. I'm not saying that the proportions are 100% perfect, but I think they work, generally speaking. - I obsessed over the head for quite a while, but in the end, I didn't come up with a way of kitbashing a new head that was instantly recognisable as Kharn. And this aspect was key, because this isn't some counts as Kharn: This guy is supposed to be the genuine article. So after much deliberation, I realised that I would have to use the original head. - as for the tringer finger,...hmmm, can we just say he's exercising trigger discipline, perhaps? - the arm is one of the biggest challenges when building a TS Kharn, because it has to be big enough for the model not to look too lopsided, but it also has to be somewhat smaller than the armoured one - for obvious reasons. Let's just say I dare you to find a more fitting arm in GW's catalogue (oh, and for the record: I did try Ork boy arms...). - I agree about the hip plates, but it's really too late now to change anything about that, so I'll just have to live with it Oh, and I also have another small update: Since messing around with pictures of my models and some image editing software turned out to be so much fun, I gave it another try and tackled some more involved photomontages. First up, a picture of my Hellrazor in action:  I used both Pixlr and Photoshop to create this image, and while there may be a lot of stuff that can be improved, I am still reasonably happy with the outcome. I also found this very interesting post over at Tyler Mengel’s blog and decided I needed to try something similar. So here’s a composite picture of Khorne’s Eternal Hunt having some fun on the plains of a conquered Hive World:  Once again, both Pixlr and Photoshop were used in the creation of the image. I also found out that Pixlr is great for quickly obscuring rough areas noticeable seams between different parts of a composite picture. Granted, I still have much to learn, but I definitely like where this is going! As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: kitch102
Hell yeah, so much awesome
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Post by: ravenousork25
I am envious these models are awesome, love every bit of what you've done. love the mk 1 terminator model. giving me so many ideas for conversions, just wish I had the extra bits lol.
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Post by: Ignatius-Grulgor
Oh I can totally relate on the struggle to find a fitting arm for the un-armoured one, tried so many variations and nothing seems perfect, half tempted to just get the FW Kharn and 40k him up a bit, seems a lot for a single character though.
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Post by: Llamahead
Necromunda Goliath Arms. Great work on Kharn I can just see him bellowing "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED"
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Post by: the shrouded lord
and my "captain-holding-a-chaos-marine-by-the-throat" kharn counts as is officially classed as lame. :(
because that thing is awesome.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, guys! Glad you like my new version of Kharn! I won't lie: He did take some time to come together. As for the arm issue, I do have a few plastic Goliaths from the Necromunda starter box, but the arms didn't work at all -- the sculpt has aged horribly, if you ask me
So, another small update: Seeing Jeff Vader's wonderful Blightking-based Plague Marine made me realise I need to get my act together regarding my own Blightkings, so I took another stab at them. I also realised that the truly complicated thing about converting them is that they are so dang near perfect out of the box
For instance, I really love the champion model and struggled with a way to make it more 40k, but in the end, I had an idea. Take a look at the finished conversion:
As you can see, I added a cracked breastplate (made from a seriously shaved down CSM torso front). I like the idea that the armour burst under some hideous internal pressure...ewww. I also exchanged the old standard backpack for a cooler one from the DV Chosen (with the vents slightly changed).
I also started on another model that was heavily inspired by Jeff Vader's conversion:
I did try to put my own twist on things, though. The fully armoured Blightkings are great base models for true scale Plague Marines.
Oh, and a dangling head trophy from the Blightking kit also allowed me to plug an unsightly gap on the Nurglite sorcerer I kitbashed a while ago:
In closing, here's another scale comparison picture:
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: Sheokronath
Those look fantastic, the Sorceror in particular is fantastic. Any chance you could let me know which parts you used to make it? I see blightking legs, a dark vengeance torso, raptor shoulders and a CSM backpack. Am I missing anything?
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, mate! Regarding the sorcerer, the legs didn't come from the Blightkings, but rather from the chaos warshrine priest. The right hand is also from that kit. And there's a head trophy from the Blightking kit dangling below the model's left arm. The scythe was made from a Chaos Terminator lord's staff, a resin skull and a leg from the Chaos Daemon Blight Drones. Apart from that, well spotted
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Post by: Sammoth
Great Work as always. You're making me want to start a Nurgle army now.
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Post by: Legio Ultra
Looks like I'm late to the party again 
Anyway, and first things first, your Kharn looks simply great!! (probably not the way I would have reimagined him tough). Can't wait to see him painted!
As for the Blightkings/Plague Marines, they look very nice though I feel like the first one is better than the second (who just looks slightly too medieval for a Plague marine imho...perhaps a gas mask would suit him best??).
All in all very nice job yet again
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Post by: Sheokronath
Thanks for the response KS!
Will you be doing any more battle reports with this army? I love reading reports from blogs like these, seeing such beautiful armies perform is a dream.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers, guys! I appreciate the kind words!
@ Sheokronath: Hmm, to be honest, I haven't played a game in some time -- and that doesn't even seem like such a bad thing to me. I guess I'm more interested about the models and the fluff these days, although as my Photoshop-Fu improves, you may actually get to see my army in action, even though I don't play any games
@ Legio Ultra: You know what? Jeff Vader pointed out the exact same thing about the second Blightking! Cheers, guys! Now I have to admit that I think medieval elements on Chaos Space Marines should actually be embraced rather than toned down -- especially on Khornate and Nurglite models. I also love that particular helmet and definitely wanted to keep it. That said, I also absolutely get what you are saying about using the head as an element to further " 40k-i-fy" the model, plus I wasn't 100% happy with the WIP myself, so here's what I did:
As you can see, I attached some cables and tubes to the head for a more modern look. Those tubes also feed into a custom backpack now:
It goes without saying that the backpack has an ominous tank on top:
And I added a small gorget piece to the breastplate. I like the way it works together with the helmet:
So, what do you think?
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Post by: Legio Ultra
The changes look good, the cables add a nice feeling and the backpack is just brilliant!! Oh and the gorget piece looks great as well as if it's there to protect others from his unbearably bad breath. Now, not to be a pain in the  I still think he's missing something...something that would make him read instantly as an Astartes. How about a shoulder pad change?? (if that's not asking too much )
Oh and what about the Blightking- TDA fit?
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Post by: Hruotland
IMO there is only one feature to change. The look is good, the antique/gothic feeling fitting perfectly. To add a remembrance of "modernity" into the fig, I would suggest only to replace the rope belt with an astartes-style link belt. DA figs go the other way and cover their "mark diggedihum" power armour with monks' cowls, belt ropes and such, this "retro-gothic" armour just needs the power-armour belt.
BTW I read somewhere the designers of NASA space suits once were in London for some meeting and had a company outing to the Tower. When they saw the armourers' of olde solutions, they were baffled: "We should have seen that before we did our work- we could have spared a lot of weight, have a better performance and overall have saved a lot of brain grinding!"
So in the end the gothic armour sesigners are the true modernists of 40k universe?
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Post by: Llamahead
I believe that Gothic Armour was the high point of about 2 millennia of armour evolution, NASA's space suits would have been closer to full plate than most environmental suits. Great work with the Blight Kings as big as they are they seem better priced than I originally thought.
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Post by: Moltar
Great new nurgle stuff and that Kharn is looking quite sexy. Is that Blightkings set just incredible? I'm thoroughly pleased with GW's offerings to Papa Nurgle, but is the kit worth scooping up? I have no need for Nurgle stuff per se, but I almost can't pass it up.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers for the comments, guys!
Regarding the balance of futuristic and gothic/medieval elements, there's this part in the (old) fluff where the Death Guard Marines serve as almost demi-god like figures on their planet inside the Great Eye, while the planet itself is basically an even more horrible version of Barbarus. I like the idea that the overall culture of the world is medieval at best, and maybe the Plague Marines mimic this, moving farther away from their original Astartes gear? Anyway, I think that, by and large, medieval elements are a great fit for Nurgle.
That said, I have added some pieces of more futuristic gear here and there: some grenades on the belt, some ammo pouches and a couple of washer screws carefully shaved off Ork boy parts. All of these little touches serve to root the models more firmly in the 40k universe -- there'll be more pictures soon!
As for the question of whether or not the kit is worth it: For Nurgle players, this is obviously a no-brainer. But even if you don't own any Nurglite armies, this might just be one of the kits that you have to play around with, just for the heck of it. Some of the armoured pieces should be easy enough to de-nurglify, though, and the models are perfectly scaled for true scale Chaos Marines, so there may be something here for you, even if you have no plan whatsoever of starting a Nurgle army.
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Post by: Medium of Death
I think they look great. I definitely think that Champions of a Plague World type idea fits.
Maybe a thin strip of plasticard around the waist with one of the terminator buckles to get a bit more Astartes feel in there.
Otherwise I think they're looking spot on.
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Post by: Anvildude
Personally, I think what really moves them away from 40K is the soft boots.
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Post by: KrautScientist
@ Anvildude: True. But I am not facing the nightmare of replacing those boots, only to end up with both a ruined Blightking model and a ruined pair of Terminator armour -- sorry!
In other news, I am already hard at work on my third conversion: I liked Jeff Vader's idea of building a Blightking with a heavy weapon, although I did want to try a somewhat different approach:
This guy is still missing a ton of details, but the basic pose is there -- getting the arms and heavy bolter sorted out was actually a bit of a nightmare
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: Cave Johnson
Wow Kraut! You finally made something that i didn't like 
I don't know what it is but i am not a fan of the latest blightknight with the heavy bolter. It might be the head, maybe it is something about the pose that isn't right or the arm position. I can't put my finger on it but i normally love all of your conversions. But i am loving the others and i am scouring the interwebs for other conversions of these beauty's to get some ideas for when i pick them up for myself.
Oh and what ever happened to the Chaos Knight?! Did you ever get around to slapping some paint on that monster??!
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Post by: KrautScientist
Haha, don't worry -- I guess it had to happen sooner or later
Seriously, though: In hindsight, the head is a very awkward fit. I switched to an actual head from the Blightking kit, and it works much better. Then there's also the bulky heavy bolter backpack this guy will be getting: That will provide some additional bulk that does a nice job of making the model seem more impressive. So, long story short: Give this guy another chance when I post the next update, 'kay?
As for the knight: Yeah, that big guy is still around! I'll get around to painting it eventually, although I have to admit that the prospect still scares me. I'll just need to work up the necessary courage, is all...
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Post by: BrotherTitus
Always like checking on what youre upto here mate. Loving the blightkights, really hope they do othrr flavours of chaos god, love some khorne goodies
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Post by: KrautScientist
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Post by: Hruotland
Nice chap, his stare reminds me of that old Carpenter movie: "They live" starring Roddy Piper...
May I humbly suggest you tack a kind of sole under his boot? I am completely okay with that fig, just since nobody in the modern world wears sole-less shoes anymore... even in the most remote corners of our planet people seem to prefer shoddy plastic flip-flops over traditional shoewear...
The left foot is fully okay in my opinion, citing the archetypical portrait of a leper, with bandaged hands and feet. Just the right one doesn't look like bandages from underneath. It needs something, like a piece of plasticard with parallel lines as profiled sole, and maybe filling the deepest depressions on the upper side to achieve a bit of "stiffness" and represent a modern boot.
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Post by: KrautScientist
@ Hruotland: I admit it isn't easy to make out in the pictures, but that left foot is actually bare, hideously mutated and elephantine -- I think that's a beautiful little touch, because it really shows how far gone these guys are. So no pretty shoes for you, Mr. Heavy Bolter -- sorry
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Post by: Extreaminatus
For the most part, I'm digging on the soft legs. It makes it look like they've either bloated out of their armor, or it's so corrupted and rusted as to be useless and that their armor save is coming from not realizing their dead flesh has been wounded.
The only one I'm not really that okay on is the sorcerer, since the transition from DV Chosen bling to WFB lower body is kinda jarring.
e: Everything else looks really freaking good. I love looking into this thread.
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Post by: KrautScientist
I definitely see your point regarding the sorcerer -- but converting that pair of legs would turn into a nightmare pretty quickly, so I guess I'll have to live with it
As for the current status of my Blightking conversions, here's a new round of pictures for you:
The first model remains mostly unchanged (save for a teeny tiny screw on his right pauldron). However, he may still be my favourite of the bunch, although that doesn’t have anything to do with my conversion, but rather with the fact that the champion model is pretty much pitch perfect right out of the box. I am pretty proud of the breastplate, though...
The second guy:
I think I'll call him finished at this point: I added some last details (some grenades and gear) and used a bone from the WFB Crypt Ghouls to add a crossguard to his sword.
And finally, the heavy:
This guy is certainly the most WIP of the three, but I am quite happy with him, nevertheless. The pose took ages to get right (the arms and weapon were spliced together using parts from no less than four separate kits), but it was worth it. The next step will be to add more details and make sure the backpack and weapon end up looking suitably nurgly.
All in all, these guys are excellent, and quite a lot of fun to work with. That said, they demand more work and more planning ahead if you want to make the most of them than, say, a Space Marine kit. As for my own models, so far I’ve managed to come up with three characters that I am thoroughly pleased with. I am not sure whether these will be used as counts as Terminators in a small Death Guard detachment, as villains for INQ28, a Killteam or if I am just going to build an paint them for the heck of it, but when has that ever stopped me from kitbashing and converting, right?
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: the shrouded lord
you know, I can only imagine the reaction of loyl space marines to those thing. especially the ones most opposed to chaos, hell,most would probably run away yelling "FIRE! GET THE FIRE!"
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Post by: Sammoth
Dammit you now I have to go out and buy those kits. Great Work
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Post by: KrautScientist
Haha, cheers guys! Glad you like them!
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Post by: wolfmerc
Oh man, they look great! The bulkiness and modeling of the original models looked pretty good, but adding those bits just made them that much better. I really like how you personalized each of the models.
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Post by: Boba Fett
I really did not wanted to buy that kit, but damn...
They look great! Very cool idea to convert them into truescale marines. The one with the heavy bolter is my favorite! The head fits perfectly and gives him a lot of character! Is this a Zombie head from WH? Great models!
Don't want to be nitpicky, but how about to drill out the bolter with a larger drill? You can get a 1.5mm drill in every hardware store for 2-3€. But it's just my personal taste
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Post by: Jehan-reznor
Like always great conversion ideas, you really have a twisted mind (in a good way off course )
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Post by: KrautScientist
Cheers for the comments, guys! Working on these guys is really a lot of fun at the moment, and I really seem to have hit my stride with them. The plan so far is to turn at least four of them into true scale Plague Marines. The fifth model is actually the first one I started working on, but I am slightly unhappy with it right now -- we shall see.
@ Boba Fett: The head for the heavy bolter guy actually came from the Blightking kit. Hmm, you may have a point regarding the bolter...
Anyway, I did start working on the squad's icon bearer, though, and am pretty happy with how he's coming along:
Still missing the actual icon, as you can see. But the rest of the model is mostly there. As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: Medium of Death
I think that's the best one yet.
Adding the power cable and gauntlets to the miniature really makes it.
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Post by: Moltar
Man, these Nurgle dudes just keep getting better and better. Sorry for the delay in response time, but thanks for answering my question.
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Post by: KrautScientist
Thanks a lot, guys!
Here's what will probably be my last Blightking upate for this week.
The icon bearer is mostly finished now. Here he is, with the icon from the Blightking kit provisionally tacked on:
All in all, I really like the jagged, asymmetrical look of the icon, so I'll probably keep it. I've also added some small details to the model here and there.
And here's the entire "squad" so far:
As always, let me know what you think!
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Post by: YourIntestines
Keep the icon, but add speakers/spotlights and cables to the circles at the top.
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Post by: Moltar
I say keep the icon too. The squad looks menacing as hell!
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Post by: Young_Logan
Looking so good thanks for the ideas, planning on using those models in my army in the near future. Let's see a fifth member of the squad, they'd make a great kill team.
Young Logan
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