Back to basics - Hacking old lead like in the old days.

If you've ever read the little text at the top of his page, you might have guessed I'm a bit of a Jes Goodwin fan like many. Now the thing is, I started my journey into the hobby by buying chaos champions and warriors of his in 91 and although I did paint the first 2 as they were (with thick coats of enamels), I quickly tried to do my own conversions, inspired by the magnificent exemples in the books and magazines.

I don't have any of those conversions left since I repurposed all of them into later projects (sometimes several times) and I've grown into considering old lead like a thing to worship and treat with utter respect.
Now move a few years later, my friends and I had the chance to be given a litteral fistful of old champions and warriors at a con because we were "the Oldhammer guys" and would be likeley to know what to do with them...
And I realised I was still looking at them with the same eyes as 25+ years earlier...

Here's a view of them as displayed in the iconic red catalogue :

Picture from Solegends

With the sweet smell of Acetone and Dettol filling the air, my hands in gloves and face covered with a mask, I cautiously stripped the guys to make them new again. No late cast (nor recast) in white metal here, just soft old lead...

Then I just looked at each of them and worked on them one after the other. The aim being to make them fit for Rogue Trader and to make a crew with the guy I did in January.

The first that caught my eye was this heavily mutated chap with fly head, leg and arms. The leg looked way too much like that of a Genestealer to ignore the potential of a Slaanesh hybrid.
An hybrid head and a bolter immediatley made him look more fit for RT.

Now the second one was my favourite Slaanesh champion to start with. The 2 heads and tantacles are just classy so I tried to stay as true to the original as I could by just upping things to the grim darkness of the far future.

This one was fun too, it's obvisously a more feminine sculpt but the original is in a single plan. I therefore cut the crab arm and bent it forwards to give a bit more depth and bent the whip as well to make it 3 dimensionnal. A bolt pistol and bent head with gasmask  associated with a backpack make it a worthy leader I find.

Now this guy is cool too, I really like the chaos tome so wanted to keep it, a psyker would be a fun thing to have so a force halberd seemed fit for such a guy. Once again, I used an alternative head turned and bent a little to give a bit more dynamism and get rid of the "flat" pose"

Last but not least, there was this guy with crab arm and sword. very flat pose too but I realised a gun could probably turn him just enough to actually have more depth. It's the most simple conversion in terms of pieces (totally not in terms of modelling, believe me) but it's got a form of elegance I really like.

Of course I know cutting old lead is a thing that terrifies or sometimes enrages people but  I didremove all parts with care and kept them for future use.

It honestly was a very pleasant process. I had forgotten how easy it is to work with soft lead (almost as easy as with plastic) and I will have to struggle not to go on a conversion spree...
I'm waiting for a few parts to complete some of the models I need to paint before BOYL this summer so felt like going with the flow this WE. As soon as I get the parts though I'll have to rush like a maniac to comply with the "to do" list.
Wish me luck and get hacking !