Dominus Armored Siege Bombard

A guest blog by SoCal's greatest converter of 40K models.

Converting a better combi-melta

There have been a few tutorials on how to do a Combi-Melta.  I found one that I used to have my first two units of Sternguard equipped with and I really think these are the best Combi-Meltas out there.  It isn't a hard conversion (heck, I did it 20x), but you need a melta gun and a bolter.  All of mine were from the Black Templar conversion kits.  Patrick Burdine has agreed to let me re-produce his article, originally posted on Dakka Dakka.  I have added some better photos to show the process a bit more clearly.   Loken

Converting a Combi-Melta
by Patrick Burdine

Hey all, I decided I needed a few combimeltas for my Crimson Fists Sternguard so took a look around for some in plastic but all I could find was the one in the commander box. Well, I don't really need 10 commanders but after looking at it I figured out how GW "kitbashed" their own models to make it. It is pretty easy, it just takes a little bit of time and patience in cutting.

First up, the tools - clipper, exacto, meltagun, bolter (and plastic glue, not pictured):

I like to start with smoothing the top the top of the bolter. All that is really necessary is cut/scrape the raised part off the top of the bolter (the gun sight and the ridge) and also clip the top little bit of plastic above the barrel. The gun should look like this:

The most complex "surgery" here is with the meltagun. If you look closely at the meltagun you will see there is a panel line that runs through to about a millimeter below the nozzle that the melta comes out. Don't cut into the tank but shave off the two little hoses that go from the tank into the gun, though. You should have shaved the bottom of the gun all the way of to the bottom of that tank like so:

Once you have these done it is a simple matter to line the top of the bolter with plastic glue and seat the meltagun bit on top leaving you with something that looks like this:

Anyway, it isn't too difficult to do, but it is a bit time consuming - the end result is really great looking, though. 

Necron Vehicle Conversions

Joedrache on the Apocalypse40K forum is a big Necron collector and posted these photos of his recent Necron vehicle conversions.   Here are his comments on his vehicles:
 

Triarch Stalker

For the stalker, I tried to make it look like the picture in the book (but found out later it has 3! legs in the fluff) I think 6 are much better than 3.  I started with the cockpit of the ghost ark, adding part of the fenders and the mount for the grav motors to be the joints for the legs. Each leg had to be notched to fit on there with some strength. I added an extra bi segment for the front legs to give it a more crabby appearance, and adding two arches beside the driver, I think intimates the quantum shielding it has. For the heat ray I fused 4 synaptic guns in a chevron formation. This model is definitely one of my favorite conversions.

Ghost Ark

The Ghost Ark would be my 2nd favorite. The profile shots show how you could cut each arch to make it fit with the gun underslung. First thing I had to do was toss that lousy flying base in the trash. Is there any way that could ever support this model?  Have you seen the DE flying bases?  WTF! I digress. I wanted it to have a more organic, bug, ribcage feel than the viking longboat look it did have. The odd heads in there are from Puppetswar. I could never quite capture the progression of damaged warriors at the rear, being repaired as they come up to the front. there was no room for the flayer attachments, so I just stuck them on individually, giving them a nice transitional arch throughout the sets

Catacomb Command / Annihilation Barge 1

My Catacomb Command / Annihilation Barge serves double duty of course, though its usually the sweep attack variety. The main thing to do was get that Overlord to hang off the side for lopping off marine heads. I use a heat gun extensively in my modeling.  It cost me a $ 100 at Sears.  Its pricey, but so worth it, especially for Nids or other organics.  But in this case, I just had to slightly bend legs and ankles, and the scythe arm to get the right pose. I wanted it to be even more drastic, but had to compromise. if you bend too much they start to look boneless!

Catacomb Command / Annihilation Barge 2

Catcom2 The Headless Horseman! The tricky part here was building it upside down. There is a sweet ball underneath that will never be seen. had to cut the male part off of the crescent upright to get it to work, and you can see, my angle was not quite right, but that's okay. I just love the way this Overlord looks while he's prowling the sleepy hollows of 40k. He did have a BA helmet, but it fell off so now he's hunting grey knight paladins.

I wanted a big Necrony crystal out there. This is a quartz pendulum, and it was very hard to get the paint to stick. The uv paint i'm using is pretty chalky, and generally bad paint, but it glows. I wanted the Doom Ark to look like its got a spinning matrix that charges up for the shot. Plus it seems the normal way you're supposed to build it (which I almost never do) just obscures the cool gun barrel, so I wanted to show that off. Then I wanted a more servitor feel for the driver.

Much thanks to Joe.

Loken

Mk I Land Raider conversion - Part II - the conversion

Here is Part II of the article on Tom McBride's Mk I Land Raider conversion.

From Tom McBride:

Since doing this project I was asked a number of times to do a tutorial on how to replace the standard treads with my Liberator Pattern 1.0s (you can also use the same process with the Oppressor or Krusher Pattern 1.0s).  Well I finally got around to building another one (for the same customer no less) and I documented the whole process as best as I could.  So here we go.

First up you want to remove the ridge that runs along the top of the outer track plates of the Land Raider so that you have a flat surface going all the way across.

Also on the outer track plates there is a recessed portion on the angled front portion that needs to be raised up so that it is flush with the rest of the edge.  I did this by gluing a 0.03x0.06 inch strip of plasticard.  I them patched it and cut the grooves in it so that it matched.

Next you need to increase the radius at the front of the track section so that the larger treads can smoothly go around.  I did this by gluing two strips of 0.060x0.125 inch plasticard (or you can use one strip of 0.125x0.125) along the entire front section.  You want to do this on all four track plates.

In order for the wrap around treads to clear along the top of the tank they need to be raised up about a 0.25 inches.  In this case I glued a 0.25x0.10 inch strip of plasticard along the top of all four plates and made it flush with the outer edge of each plate.  I them patched and sanded the joint smooth.  You can then assemble the two track sections (don't forget to install the front access ramp and its opening mechanisms.  The other thing you will want to do is smooth over the sharp edges where the new plasticard meets the model to that the track has a smooth transition.

As there are some different armor layers on the outer track panels along the back I added a few extra piece of plastic to get them to match.  It's not necessary but it a nice touch to get everything to blend together.

At this point you can begin wrapping the treads all the way around the track sections.  I like to start in the very front with a couple of treads and continue along the top and bottom.  In all you will need 39 treads per side.  The Liberator Pattern 1.0 pack comes with 40 treads so you will need two packs all together (if you decide to use the Oppressor or Krusher Pattern 1.0s you will need a 3rd pack as the treads are shorter).  The section I leave to last is the angled area on the rear top of the treads section.  As the treads are a little short you will need to sand this area down until you get the two ends to meet.  Then the tracks are done!

Lastly you assemble the rest of the model.  There will be some tripping to do on the front top plate to remove the part of the tab where there is no longer a slot (if you’re also using the Forgeworld Mk2 kit prepare for a lot of swearing as nothing fits together right).  The last modification is to the top plate.  As the armored plates above the track sections are no longer needed you just need to trim off the two sides and finish the assembly.

Finally you can add new rivets and the like to finish the look.  Then it’s ready for paint!

Hope this all helps :)


Thanks to Tom for putting this article together!  You can find his store, where you can buy his custom resin parts, here.

Alec

Mk I Land Raider conversion - Part I

Tom McBride hits another home run with this conversion of a Mk II Land Raider he did for me.  We originally thought of it as a Mk IB, with the Pre-Heresy Land Raider kit from Forgeworld as the Mk I C and the original Land Raider from Rogue Trader days as the Mk I.  

But now there is a bit of Forgeworld ret-con going on with the release of their Proteus Land Raider.  They have now named the Pre-Heresy Land Raider the Mk IIB which makes no sense and they have elimintaed the words "pre-Heresy".  It is clearly the forerunner of the Mk II and calling it a Mk IIB means it was produced AFTER the Mk II. 

So I will think of Tom's as the Mk 1.5, occupying a spot between the Land Raider Proteus (Mk I) and the Mk IIB.  

Whatever the case, here it is in the colors of my Crimson Templars.

The first of these was painted by the talented Jim Wappel:

Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons Fellblade Completed!

Joel Moon from Mordian 7th got his Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons Fellblade from Tom McBride and has gotten it all painted up.  According to Tom it is a Falchion-class superheavy, and Joel named it the "Eye of Magnus". 

Fellblades are pre-heresy Baneblades that were adapted and used by each Space Marine legion.   Tom McBride has been making them, and making kits for them, for almost two years now.

Here is Joel's.  It looks great and is finally painted!

Check out Joel's blog for more info:

Ork Looted Shadowsword

Rictus from the Apocalypse40K forum  shows off his Looted Superheavy for his Orks. This time a Looted Shadowsword.

In true Orky fashion one big gun wasn't enough, and for a bit extra they added a turret as well.

And Painted

Check out Rictus's blog here.

Alec