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So I have an absolute abundance of DV tac marines and I'm sure somebody has had to of converted them to a different chapter by now. I was wondering if anybody had any insight on how to go about this, mainly getting the shoulder pad off. Do I take the whole arm or just try to dremel the pad off and replace it with a chapter of my choosing?

Thanks in advance.

You just scrape the icons off both pads and place decals over them. A dremel with a sander or grinder attachment will make this quick, but a hobby knife and a file will take care of it too.

Or if that's too hard, grind off the whole shoulder pads, then replace with standard shoulder pads. So long as you don't accidentally remove any arm/torso armour detail, you should be fine - if you remove too much of the shoulder, that will be hidden under the new shoulder pad (and a small blob of filler if needed).

Alternatively, you could use a cutting disc to 'saw' off the shoulders and pads, which is simpler, but I suspect that would greatly increase the chances of accidentally removing arm/torso armour detail too.

I converted the DV DA to Ultramarines, using a hobby knife and jewlers files to remove the DA iconography.

And I heartily recommend using a dremel for the rough work instead. Doing it all by hand is a MAJOR pain.

There's no need to remove the entire shoulderpad, though; the icons come off easily enough.

Yea have dremel will travel, so looks like I'll be using those. Now just have to find the right transfer sheets...

I started doing this a month or 2 ago. I am doing my own custom chapter, so getting off the DA icons was needed.

I am no expert, but I learned a few things. I do have a dremmel but did not use it. Just a hobby blade, infant nail files, and the mould line tool from Citadel.

First, I found that using a sharp hobby blade to get a majority of the icons off is a big help. Makes it easier to scrap or file the remaining smaller bits. I also found that the Space Marine shoulders can take an odd angle once the icon is shaved off so a little sanding or filing might be needed to get them back into shape. I am wondering how hard it will make adding transfers to them later.

Some extra "bits" help cover or replace the removed icons. For instance the DA icon hanging under a terminators legs can look "odd" when cut off, so something to hang there would look better. Now I am new to the hobby so my bits collection is very small so I am limited on what I can use to replace some pieces.

The Chapter Master is a pain to strip down, but possible. The wings on the bottom of his tabard are not fun. The icons on his back are not fun. The icons on some of the models helmets are a pain. The wings on the front of the bikes are tricky to get to without damaging the trim.

I finished that part of the process and am just about done painting them. I have not decided on a icon so they are bare right now, but ready.

I'm most worried about the shoulder pads looking all gouged and wonky after i take the icons off which is why I was debating about dremeling off the entire shoulder pad and just adding in a new one.

You could take the lazy route and paint them as 'Swords of Ultramar'.

Or paint them as Blood Angels. Winged sword very easily become winged blood drops. All the feathers on the bikes work for Blood Angels as well.

 Konkel wrote:
I'm most worried about the shoulder pads looking all gouged and wonky after i take the icons off which is why I was debating about dremeling off the entire shoulder pad and just adding in a new one.

If you sand the pad or act careful enough with it, it should be smooth. Otherwise, some Green Stuff will probably do you well for fixing the gouging if you go too far with it.