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Ok, so I need help with I project that I want to start. After considering 3d printing for it, I've decided that it will actually be cheaper to out right buy the models and materials necessary to complete it.

What is need is help finding where to begin in searching for the raw materials, and things that I'll probably need but I can't think of, now that I have models chosen. What I want to do is use several 40k models, and a couple others, to make my own custom starting army. I sort of know the basics of how to shape green stuff, and generally what I want everything to look like when it's done. My weakest area really is making a project look like a finished product, partially due to a lack of the proper materials. In any case, part 1 of my plan is take the Militarum Tempestus Starter; and turn all but the Commissar (probably) into something even remotely resembling this(I shrunk it as much as I could, didn't know it would be that big.)

Part 2 is to take this
and remodel a couple when they come out to look something like this (hope you've closed the first spoiler, ran out of patience) and make them whatever class of war mech they could be equivalent to. Which, upon further review, seems to be Armigers. I really overestimated the size of a dreadnought.

What you more than likely can't tell from that image is that the chest will be more rounded and pronounced than it appears to beand it will generally probably look a good bit more different, and it probably goes without saying that these aren't representative of the final product. Any help/and or tips will be helpful. As of this moment I can't think of anything else, but I'm sure it'll come to me later.

Also, well aware I probably shouldn't start with a full out kit bash like this, and you're right if you thought so , but I am going to practice on just plain space marines first, get the techniques down and what not.

First things first, depending on how closely you want to follow your sketches this is going to be a fairly intensive project to convert.

For your troops, I would highly recommend looking into some 3rd party companies for parts to swap in that closer fit your aesthetic and then using minimal green stuff to fill gaps or add small easily repeatable details that you could not kit-bash. The reason being is that extensive sculpting is really time consuming and can burn you out on your project if you aren't ready for it. Check out Infinity as I think it fits your aesthetic well for base models. If you are set on sculpting the new armor plates and are curious about the tools, raw materials, and techniques here are the very best tutorials I have found on the subject for beginners.
Part 1 : Tools of the Trade
Part 2 : Putty
Part 3 : Sculpting Skills
Part 4 : What to Buy

For the mech, I would use plasticard. You are going to get a much smoother armor plate and it is going to be way easier and less time consuming to sculpt. There are a million tutorials and I don't really have a favorite as I have with the sculpting tutorials. I typically use Evergreen styrene and they sell it in just about any shape, size, and thickness you can imagine. For bent smooth armor plating, I would recommend going fairly thin on the thickness (.020 - .040) of the sheet styrene. To bend it, I have had mixed success with heating the styrene as it warps heavily. I typically simply just start bending it and working it into shape as you would a wire. At the recommended thicknesses it should be pretty painless. On this conversion the head is probably going to be the hardest part to get looking like the sketch. A combination of sculpting and styrene may be the way to go. I would use Aves apoxie sculpt for the sculpting medium here because you can sand it and shape it afterwards easier than greenstuff.

I think that just about covers the basics. Good luck and I hope that was useful.

Awesome, thanks man. I want this stuff to be as close as I can make it. I looked, and those Panoceania are already pretty close to space knights. I can't actually do much looking because the site won't work as of typing this.

Also, would it be better for the mech's armor to make the front and back as two halves (such as the arms or legs), or as one solid piece that curves all the way around?

That's super ambitious as "kitbashes" go. How committed are you to the Todd-Lockwood-D&D3e aesthetic? For infantry in particular, that look is going to be nearly impossible without some pro-tier sculpting. If you're willing to do a more generic medieval-armor style, you have a lot more off-the-shelf options:

https://madrobotminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_18&products_id=372&zenid=qcfhnevrp48lt94ra53k4ld7p7

https://puppetswar.eu/models-and-bits-46/all-models/machines/prime-battlewalker-v2.html

 Drey wrote:
Would it be better for the mech's armor to make the front and back as two halves (such as the arms or legs), or as one solid piece that curves all the way around?

Definitely easier to do curves in smaller sections rather than larger. It is possible to do it all in one go, but it can be incredibly frustrating, especially with complex curves that have bends along multiple axes. Something that may help visualize where you want your seams and how to do the plates is just think about how models are typically put together and where and how they hide joints and mold lines. That will go a long way to get you on the right path.

None of this will be straightforward, but take your time and think things through and I am sure you will get some great results.

Man, I am so glad I got a notification from here for this and I didn't have to check it on a whim because I literally ran out of things to do tonight. /s

That's super ambitious as "kitbashes" go. How committed are you to the Todd-Lockwood-D&D3e aesthetic? For infantry in particular, that look is going to be nearly impossible without some pro-tier sculpting. If you're willing to do a more generic medieval-armor style, you have a lot more off-the-shelf options:

To be honest, I'm only really happy with the helmet and-uh...the..uh...kilt? kama? metal skirt? Let's go with kama. Really the only theme I had was futuristic "Black Knight" and aside from the helmet, I was planning on just rolling with the actual design process. Until I hit the nail, so to speak. Which is rather messy, but I don't have actual taught in a classroom concepting skills, and I've technically just been copy-catting techniques and processes.

In any case

Definitely easier to do curves in smaller sections rather than larger. It is possible to do it all in one go, but it can be incredibly frustrating, especially with complex curves that have bends along multiple axes. Something that may help visualize where you want your seams and how to do the plates is just think about how models are typically put together and where and how they hide joints and mold lines. That will go a long way to get you on the right path.

I figured as much. I find it humorous that the mech will actually (theoretically, of course) be the easier of the two parts.


Edit: By the Manly Manperor I just got some Blood Angel Marines for another project, and the difference in size between the six inch tall war mech and the one inch infantry just hit me. Mathematically, I already knew, but geeze man.