[Adept Zero] Not your father's close combat arms.

Hello, techmarines, I hope you are all well. Chicago STILL is not warm, and our gas prices are the highest in the country (YEAH! Go Chi Town!), so what better time to talk about sitting at home in front of some models? Let's get right down to it!

[The Rogue Trader] Rifleman Dreadnought Conversion

For a lot of people making the rifleman dreadnought is old news, and some of the conversions are very elaborate.  However, if you’ve never tried any conversion work or magnetizing, this one is really simple can be a great place to start.  Apologies for the paint job above.  It's not finished yet as you can see.  I'll come back an edit this post once I have a finished shot. OK, I stuck the old shot down the bottom.  Here's a new shot with something close to finished.

Firstly, why bother?  Rifleman dreadnoughts have been popular for a while.  A relentless gun platform dropping 4 48" range, S7 AP4 twin linked shots down the field.  What’s not to like.  Add the Grey Knight codex and those can become S8 so you can start glancing the armor 14 rolling your way.  The problem is, the only place to buy the guns necessary for this is Forgeworld, and they aren’t cheap.  You would be looking at $23 plus a lot of shipping for the Forgeworld option and it seems like they only have Mk IV right arms and Mk V left arms so they wouldn’t even match.

 For this conversion I used an AOBR dreadnought, $20 in the consignment case at my FLGS, and the Aegis Defense Barrier kit, $22.50.  Yup, I paid retail when you can get it cheaper.  Support your FLGS, they are always a key part of your gaming community.  I also used 4 magnets, a craft knife and a modeling bone saw as well as plastic and super glue.

 All you need to do for this is cut the studs off the side of the dreadnought and replace them with magnets.  Then, do the same on the autocannons from the Aegis kit.  Try and cut the studs as far back as you can so the arms don’t stick out too far.  Superglue magnets to the guns (make sure to check you’ve got the polarity right) and you are done.  Seriously, that is it.  Well you may want to dive through your bits box for a few purity seals or something, but really, job done.

 There are many ways to improve this if you want to spend a bit more time.  If you are assembling the dreadnought one easy alternative is to put the magnets inside as they are strong enough to work through the plastic.  Another popular option is using plasticard to make some panels covering the back end of the guns, or even make a complete dreadnought style angled shoulder.  The other common direction for this conversion, if you have a full dreadnought kit, is to clean up the TL las cannon and missile launcher and attach autocannon barrels to them.  I’m not a big fan of that route though as you end up with mismatched arms, and lose the option to ever use those parts if you want to run a different dread build.

 Lastly, as an added bonus, that Aegis defense kit has another great conversion bit in it.  The circular mount that the autocannons would have been on fits the back of a razorback.  You know, that razorback that has been stuck with the TL heavy bolters you glued on when you bought it.  Now you can go back through the bits box, find a lascannon and a couple of plasma cannons and make yourself the Las/TL Plas turret that is currently in vogue.  Of course the Aegis kit also had all the wall parts and some other nice bits that will make good scenery on your table.  Really a good value kit.

Hopefully this showed you how easy some conversions can be and will get you interested in some more advanced stuff.  At the least it helped you get a decent, but not in production unit on the table.  Something we often have to work around with GW.

Marcus

Possessed Nurgle Dreadnought Finished

**NOTE 11/27/11 - This is specifically to the guy who linked to this as of today. When a post says finished, its a finished model from my past collection, specifically my work ive done and was proud of. This and ALL the nurgle stuff here was sold loooong ago via ebay, another link you reference. It also received good feedback for a super fast delivery. In fact, alot of the nurgle stuff here says how it was sold on ebay just as I state above. This thread post simply was one to show my personal work - Red**

**NOTE 12/2/11 - This is to RiTides - I closed my account on ebay. They didn't suspend me. When an account is closed, it says, no longer a registered user. It leaves the account "up" so that feedback is still given to others. The reason for closing it was clearly because a Dakka troll, after seeing my posts on dakka advertising the auctions, got in, bought my items, filed a claim against me and got a refund by me after he waited nearly 3 weeks to pay, by then I had sold the items, on your very forum as i had been advertising my ebay auctions there anyways. Ebay is built for the buyer, not the sellers.. Nothing is sold on this blog by me or anyone else and never will be.  - Red (I've also never hid what handle I use on forums here as well. I sign it just to be clear to you specifically)**

Noticed I didnt post this little guy with the other Nurgle Dreadnoughts. Since he was the first one to be made and sold on Ebay, I figured its only right that he gets a spot next to all the other dreads.

Nurgle Dread Squadron Plus Mech Defiler

Nurgle Dread squadron that sadly like the defilers and vindies, are sold. But still, enjoy the pics as I may just have to remake them at some point for myself lol.

 

Sons of Horus Ironclad Dreadnought

I see a few touch ups are needed in the pics but other then that hes done.

Sons of Horus Ironclad Chain Fist Arm Done

Chainfist arm finished for the Sons of Horus Ironclad Dreadnought. (Please note its not the True Scale dread. That was done as a commission a long time ago) The arm is magnetized though, I dont plan to add any other arms to it for awhile.

True Scale Chaos Dreadnought