Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

...For he that sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother...

I've always wanted to start a blog of what I've done so far, and with a halfway decent internet connection, and a few free hours here in Kuwait, the time is ripe. The focus will be on the models. I'll probably post up some fluff as well; I came to the hobby a better writer than sculptor/painter, so hopefully I'll have up some snippets of fiction for your enjoyment soon.

I'll start with the conversions I was inspired to do here for my veterans. I got a whole bunch of plastic Cadians for cheap from ye ol' swap shoppe, and I had never attempted a conversion on a large scale prior to this. My Veterans need to look more...vetty. I had tried changing the color of their helmets before, and the effect I got was dissapointing. Then I started hacking away at some lasguns. The goal was to get carbines/SMGs. I figured that I could suitably justify this with a well-written piece of fluff in the near future.



He was the first one I did. It was especially easy to mod the lasgun without having to worry about his hands, or much about how he was holding it. The technique involved can be found here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/252497.page


Here's another conversion, Sanchez-inspired, except that this time I put a lasgun end on a grenade launcher. The concept reminded me of the Reaper gun from Perfect Dark. You just kind of spray and pray, and you have a ton of ammo with no accuracy at all. I'm still trying to figure out how the weapon system actually works, but hey, it's the Imperium after all Each squad will end up with one of these killers. The poorly-painted trooper was the test model for this...he was poorly painted when I got him, so not a huge loss if it turned out badly. It turned out so well, though, that he has been given a second life, and will be suitably stripped and given a good paint job along with the rest of the army. In case you wonder, the bipod legs are just lasgun muzzles that I saved after I cut them off the now-carbines. They ended up being the perfect size for this kind of job, and I love to recycle bits rather than toss 'em.



The only modification I made to it was to flip the lasgun end upside-down so that the barrel is on the bottom and the dot-sight or gas blowback knob in the front is on the top. It brings a more balanced look to the shorter weapon system, I think, and it looks more like a carbine. The bayonette attachment then becomes the front sight post, although in this picture it could use some clean-up.



Well, the two veteran squads have a heavy weapon and their issue rifle test patterns done, and I figured they needed a sniper in each. There were two basic conversions in the used box of guys I got, so I cleaned them up a little bit. One of them turned into this guy.



Biggest hurdle - how to clean up the cuts? Will green stuff do it? I have never touched green stuff before and I am not sure if you can just smooth some into the cracks so that it looks like one whole piece again.

More to follow! The more I post, the more I'll get motivated to get this done. And thanks to all the amazing blogs on here, especially Migsula and his work, that have inspired me to throw this up.

to smooth out some cracks, your easiest bet is to use some Miliput rather than green stuff. You can water it down a little so that it will run into cracks more easily; plus you can sand it down to make a much smoother transition (and it's cheaper)

I have to say, these modifications are looking impressive. As for the green stuff, the more you use it, the better you become. Its perfect for gap-filling and relatively simple once you get the knack for it.

I really like how those weapons look - good stuff.

Nice looking stuff. Glad to hear you did not paint that trooper - that fellow needs to water down his paint!

Great job man, I like what you did with the Grenade launcher... you have me looking at one right now thinking of a mini-gun conversion.

When I saw you linked my sight and said it was "Sanchez-Inspired" i felt honored. Thank you.

I like your sniper rifle conversion a lot better then the one I have... Lol, All I did was glue the same scope on a lasgun... I never thought of losing the top part and put in on there... And the part you left on looks like it is a cheek rest and adds to the rifle... Great job man.

Flipping the barrel like you did makes me think of a AA-12 for some reason.

Neat use of lasgun "flash hiders" for bipods.

Sanchez01 wrote:

I like your sniper rifle conversion a lot better then the one I have... Lol, All I did was glue the same scope on a lasgun... I never thought of losing the top part and put in on there... And the part you left on looks like it is a cheek rest and adds to the rifle... Great job man.

Actually, that's exactly how they came to me, with scopes just glued on top of the rifles. Not owning any Scouts, I couldn't let those scopes go to waste.

In all honesty, I don't understand why the top part is there to begin with, as it does not seem to serve any useful purpose with the weapon's functioning. So I was not sad to watch it go. I agree that it makes a good chin rest, I might shave it down a bit further to see if that does anything for it.

All the positive encouragement is really appreciated! One is never sure how people will react to a work like this when you throw yourself out there on the internet.

Now all's I need to do is summon up the courage to drive all the way across Auckland proper to get a few more paints and some washes before my holiday ends...yikes!

I *think* the bumps are supposed to be part of the sights as there's a small tube running along between them ; but who knows!

Keep up the good work

I reckon its a bit of random tech tat to make the Lasgun look like a Laser Gun and uniquely GW for copyright stuff.....The Grenade Launcher thingy with the bipod I really like. Although I do feel the muzzle on the Lasgun needs a bit of cowling myself for some reason?

The top piece is actually a weak scope according to fluff. The Lasgun equivalent of sight rails, you might say.

But who's going to complain if they get to stick a larger scope on their gun?

As long as its fully sanctioned by the regimental Cogb... Enginseer

Pfft. Feth do they know about fighting? Feth regulation. If it gets the job done better, faster, then those Cogboys can eat it