Mars-Pattern Storm Talon Conversion - Fin [Redscorps]

Hola,

Finished my take on the Storm Talon this morning, the wings showed yesterday but I didn't get a chance to get to it. They are two Storm Raven tails with the fuselage section removed and have been mounted in the same position as was intended for the wings.

If I had the tools I would probably be chamfering the leading edges but I don't and I am happy enough with this to let it slide without feeling guilty, I still think it's a vast improvement on what we were issued with anyway.

I am calling it a Mars-Pattern as the design is quite different as is the configuraton of the weaponary. This would be more of a 'flyer' than the helicopter that GW intended it to be, climbing and diving, strafing ground targets and being a general menace. The main engines/wings will still go up and down but only for take-off and landing so the position of the Assault Cannons is perfect. 'Hover Strike' will be coming from the thrusters on the underbelly. Game wise though I am still going to use the WD issue rules.

I got a bit lazy on the tutorial side of things this time as I was distracted by other stuff this week (Tartatros Terminators showed up, 25 of the sexy beasts!) but if you have any specific questions about the project drop me a line in the comments and I will answer there.

Hope you have enjoyed my take on the model and until next time,

'Crises Precipitate Change'

Cheers,
Redscorps

P.s. Painted pics up on my Red Scorpions blog ASAP. 

WIP Storm Talon Conversion [REDSCORPS]

Good afternoon everyone,

I'm going to write a bit more about it once the new wings arrive (2x StormRaven Tails), for now though note the shaved and extended tail (I wanted to use the original but it didn't get removed well), the lack of a bulky and unattractive front end through the use of a StormRaven Typhoon Missile Launcher mounted on the chin in place of the AC's turret, (cut narrower with a plasticard housing), The StormRaven Assault Cannons mounted on the engines (spaced out with the HB ammo clip from this kit, shaved down and glued on).

I used the previously tail mounted landing gear in the rear, made a plasticard housing as though it extends from the fuselage. Widened the front landing gears stance by mounting them on the previous weapon mount positions.

What do you think?

Inspiration from Books

People really love the frequently cheesy (cough, Draigo wing, cough) but always fun army that the Grey Knights are.  Well fun unless you are playing against them and have an issue with the Psychobroke grenades that are pretty much standard issue for inquisitors (they come in a gift box also including Rad grenades).  I too play Grey Knights, I just ended up getting into them before the codex rumors hit and thanks to the Black Library.

There is a used book store near where I work that had (until I bought most of them) a great selection of cheap Black Library stuff.  Grey Knights was one of the first I read, with its descriptions of them as regular marines that have taken an extra dose of bad ass and awesome.  And they were cheap on ebay as their codex stunk up the room.  This made them a must have so I started collecting and painting.  Oh yeah and painting them grey, not metallic spray primer.  The fact that then new codex rumors surfaced just made me even happier particularly when it was released and made them into tiny gods.

[REDDDDDSCORPSSSSS!!!!!!] The Storm Talon, uhh, really?

I had secretly hoped that the BoW guys were just terrible at drawing the new Space Marine Flyer, I was close, but as demonstrated by the cheeky preview photo below from BoK earlier today it seems that the culprits were in fact the designers in charge of the latest creation.

The proportions are a mess and the weapon systems on the front are really poorly positioned and make the model look cluttered. I think even the Stormravens weird little servitor turret was a better look than this weapon arrangement.

Once again they have ignored all basic aerodynamic principals and mounted the tail rudder in the dead air behind the fuselage, one of my main gripes with the Stormraven actually and the reason I cut and mounted my tail section higher and further back.

Someone needs a kick in the butt, it's not likely to happen and would actually really be pointless at this stage in the game but it's a bit of a shocker that this design made it off the drawing board. I doubt we can rely on Forge World to bail us out this time (Stormraven -> Storm Eagle) but I already have a few ideas of how to fix it ...AND... I actually think it's great that we have a new addition to the Vanilla SM Codex line-up, even if it's mediocre I think it will have it's uses if only in friendly matches.

So with that in mind, I have just ordered the bits from eBay I think I need to convert the model into something that looks at least a bit better and it won't take a whole lot of extra money to get the job done.

My plan is to extend the wing area and maybe change the orientation of the engines a little, I am going to use the assault cannons from the Stormravens turret that I have left over from the piece you can see above and mount them underneath the new wing sections next to the engines. I'm going to cut the tail section apart, extend it as long again and mount the vertical stabiliser in the airstream and not behind the fuselage.

I will document and photograph the process and with the parts ordered now, I'm hoping they will be here in time for the release weekend and I can get to it right away.

So, never fear, MWC is here! We've got your back on this one and hopefully you will be inspired to attempt your own conversion on the model once you see what I'm up to. Plus going off my other stuff you know I'll be after a 'factory finish' so it's not going to be out of the SM style.

Stay tuned.

Redscorps

[Rudeboy Redscorps] Red Scorpions Praetorian, a Space Marines Predator variant.

Hey hey,

I thought I would showcase a conversion I did a little while back for the MWC conversions comp. As staff we couldn't really enter, Ron and I might have had some sort of a battle for a staff favourite but we never really got around to it so I thought I would just do a quick showcase here and give a short explanation of what went into it.

The idea came to me because I have been building a few WWII 1/35th scale models plus playing a TONNE of World of Tanks lately and I love the silhouette of things like the T-34, Panther and the Tiger, iconic shapes for armoured fighting vehicles of WWII. I wanted to recreate the predatory look that they had, forward turrets, sloped armour (T-34/Panther) and long barreled main guns with a big beefy engine in the back.

I was rummaging around in my bits box and found a few Land Raider engines which if mounted inline it actually almost fit into the rear hatch of the Rhino chassis perfectly, I only had to cut down the sides a little and it mounted flush. I then went and cut down a Predator hatch so the air vent section sat in front of the engine area (am imagining this to be the air intakes/filter), it's displayed in this pic as hatches but I changed my mind and flipped it. With all that space taken up I then moved the turret ring (cut from another Predator hatch) forward, cutting out the right shape from the drivers hatches, recessing and gluing it in place ready for greenstuffing around the edges:

I probably need to say at this point that I don't measure, plan or sketch anything, I just mock it up then start cutting so I can't give you exacts on how much you have to take off or anything, one side lost a bit more than the other but that's easy for you to figure out with a test fit. You're better of not cutting enough than cutting to much.

So with the engine and turret positions sorted, the next bit I wanted to work on was getting the rear mounted exhausts (similar style to a Panther or Tiger tank) sorted, I cut them from the sides of the Rhino chassis (cutting in from the outside-in along the edge and shaving them flat underneath) and fitted them onto the back hatch. They actually needed to have a plasticard spacer mounted underneath them as they didn't sit flush, you will see the white plasticard under the exhausts in this pic coming up. Loved this bit, at this point I was really excited about the shape!

I also got to work on the gun barrel. I went down to my LHS with the Autocannon barrel measurements (I lied, so I measured once!) and found an appropriately sized alloy tube. I then went about getting another two thicknesses of alloy tubing to sleeve over the top of the barrel to give it some visual interest and realism. I test fitted all of these parts in the store and was pretty happy with how it went together, the OD's and ID's matched up perfectly.

While I was there I also looked at some turned 1/35th alloy barrels but I wasn't happy with using something that was $45 for this conversion and the DIY approach suited the conversion contest anyway. The new barrel was seated using an appropriately sized drill bit to bore out the hole from the old Autocannon barrel (6mm in my case), inserted and glued in place:

I will follow that pic up with some other stuff I did, I made the perforated hatch to the engine bay from the remaining piece of Predator hatch, I cut the guts out and turned it into a frame backed up with some hobby gauge mesh from my LHS. I also GS'd the drivers hatches flush around the turret ring and the top was almost done at this stage save for detailing.

Next on the drawing board was the front end. I wanted something that looked like AV13+, something that had a bit more slope/bulk and a drivers hatch. I was always intending to build this kit without sponsons or side hatches and the crew needed some way to get in. I cut the existing front plate up and combined it with some custom plasticard bits. I then made a plasticard lower glacis plate to meet the new slope and more forward armour. I made a custom drivers hatch and cut down the normal two window plate into a single window and shaved the back down so the angle looked right for the front plate.

After this stage I filled the sides with GS and sanded it all flat, here is a pic of the front though:

Onto the sides, a lack of hatches/sponsons and exhausts meant I could just add a flat plate over all of the holes I had cut, then add my detail onto the top of that, nice and simple but I had to match the sides up to eachother a few times to make sure the dimensions were the same.

Side note: If I did this conversion over I would probably add a few stepped down plates to mix it up a bit underneath the stowage but I am still happy with what I have done here and only really thought about that once the model was completed and primed.

I added all the stowage (tracks, fuel tanks, back packs, storage containers etc..) and recovery cables plus a few spare details from 1/35th kits to give it a bit more visual interest than a standard kit would allow, not really required but you can always benefit from doing that little bit extra. The recovery cables were made using the ends from the Space Marine kit but with bicycle brake cable wire and brass etch tie downs to give it some more realism. The track hangers were made from bits of brass etch with paper clip pins through the tracks:

I could have probably gone further with the baskets for the jerry cans, making some brass ones, but I wanted to keep the conversion as simple as possible so if people were to attempt it they would be able to use what they had in their Predator Kit, plus plasticard and some alloy tubing.

You can see the sanded down front with some more detail added in this pic also:

So that was pretty much it for the conversion! Add your chapters logos, salt to taste and you're ready to paint! One thing I forgot to photograph before paint was the addition of handles, I added handles to the cupola, front hatch and tool box, you can see them below.

Here are a couple of WIP pics of the paint work so far, I have painted the engine first as I wanted to see how it looked through the mesh and have just started the block in the yellow prior to the rest of the normal paint work and my usual dirty/damaged/dusty look that most of you know. I went pretty bold on the highlighting and detail of the engine so it shows up a little better through the black mesh, normally I would have spent a bit more time making it subtle but in this case it would detract from the look.

To see more of my work and check in later in the week/early next week for the finished product, head over to my Red Scorpions blog and hit follow: REDSCORPS' HOBBYWORKS

WIP paint pics:

Thanks very much for reading if you made it this far. Get brave and start cutting some stuff up, if you have any questions about this or there is something I have not covered please feel free to get in touch with me via the comments section on either of my two blogs.

Regards
Redscorps

P.s. Total conversion time would have been under 6 hours including the build, not a huge job.

[Redscorps] Hi, My names Kharn. I'm new here, can you show me around?

A nice and easy conversion for all of you World Eaters players out there. I love Kharn the Betrayer but the model is really old now and not overly imposing. I've always thought the SM Jump Chaplain was a great basis for this model with the cool pose and ancient looking armour but my previous attempt to make a custom Kharn with the metal one was rather unsuccessful (I also managed to chop an almond sized chunk right off the end of my index finger while trying to cut it, BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!).

I've not worked with the Finecast range before and had read a lot of bad publicity, but I have to say that working with the material is great. The level of detail is superb plus the fact that there were only a few minor mold lines and only one small bubble meant I was pretty stoked!

It's really easy to cut which afforded me the ability to remove the shoulder pad, head and scrolls from the purity seals without much of a headache. It's actually so soft I was able to really easily re-sculpt the leg sections once I removed the purity seals and add the detail of the armour joints back on.

So the parts I used for this conversion:

GW/Finecast Space Marine Jump Chaplain Body
Forge World World Eaters Head and Shoulder Pad (From the WE Upgrade set)
WHFB Chaos Marauders Arm (The one with the dagger)
Possessed Chaos Space Marine Backpack
Forge World Chainaxe Head and Handle (I cut the pole out as it was too thin, I used the handle joined to the head of the chainaxe, joined to the Crozius handle as the thicknesses matched better)
Some bitz from my girlfriend's son's CSM bits box (Couple skulls, some chain, a tooth thing)
Forge World World Eaters Brass-etch Icons
Some barbed wire from Armypainter I think

The conversion is nearly done, a little cleaning up to do here and there but it's finished enough to show you what I managed to achieve in about 2hrs with the above parts. I think it's a much more impressive model to represent the mad-dog Kharn with and I can't wait to hit him up with some blood effects.

Click to enlarge:

What do you think? For the base I am intending to add a small pile of skulls from Secret Weapon Miniatures and probably a cheeky Red Scorpion Helmet.

Thanks for checking in,
Redscorps


Ps My Kharn's tougher than the normal Kharn! Power armour gauntlet to hold your Plasma Pistol OOP Kharn? Yeah, not on my watch sunshine..

[Redscorps] Converting a Las/Plas Razorback.

Hiya! I'm Jack, Redscorps to most and I'm here today to share with you a quick guide to converting my take on the trusty old Las/Plas Razorback.

A quick intro about me, I've been running my Red Scorpions blog since November last year and as a hobbyist into WH40K for about a year now though I've actually been playing the game on and off for about 16 years. I hadn't actually been interested in painting or modelling until this year after coming back from the most recent 5 year long break. I think I'd actually only painted about 10 models in the whole 16 year period!

Long story short, I was a full time athlete but due to an injury sidelining me (I dislocated my neck at the C2 vertebrae) in January last year I picked the hobby back up to get me through the associated boredom of the recovery process. It's definitely become more than a recovery aid though as I'm really into the hobby again and loving it. My health is also finally back to normal again now but it's been a long and very trying 18 months.


So on to the conversion, I'm going to start out with something pretty simple here but something most of us marine players will find ourselves converting or thinking about converting for their army as no 'off the shelf' solution is available.

The components you require to make the Razorback I have posted above are as follows:
2x Plasmaguns of the space marine variety
1x Vindicator shell crane housing
1x Storm bolter gun mount from the space marine vehicle upgrade sprue
1x Coms bit from the Aegis Defence Line gun sprue (Or other bit of sensory equipment)
1x Razorback upgrade sprue.




So the conversion itself is very simple, what you want to do first is cut the shoulder mounts from the Plasaguns as well as the trigger assemblies. Then glue these level, ether side of the Storm Bolter mount. Next you can glue the Vindicator Shell Crane cover on to the top of the twin Plasmaguns and they should slot right into the back of the cover. At this point I drill through the base of the SB mount with a 2mm drill bit and insert 2x1mm Neo magnets so I can join it onto the top of the magnetised hatch for the Las/Plas model or take it off and run it as another varient or Rhino.

The sensor arrangement is also very easy, all you have to do is cut the barrel from one of the Lascannons where the recoil section is and clean up the frame that the gun barrel was sitting on, then simply cut the back and sides of the coms piece so it sits on the mount level and the top cover can sit flush. The other thing I was thinking of now that I have a much more expensive bits box was to fit some targeting equipment but as I did this conversion very early on in the piece (And targeting eqiupment wouldn't actually improve the aim of the gunner that always seems to miss with the Lascannon anyway!).

It's probably not the best example of a conversions tutorial but it might give you an idea of how to do it if you were new to the game or wanted another perhaps more aesthetically pleasing alternative to jamming a pair of Plasmaguns in next to a Lascannon.

Let us know if you find this useful and I hope you enjoyed my first article on the Miniature Wargame Conversions Blog. The next article from me will actually deal with SEO optimisation for your Blog and the one after that is one I am really looking forward to.

Happy hobbying,
Redscorps