Sunday 31 July 2016

We can do it anywhere - Holiday chaos conversions


I believe you've already noticed that summer was upon us and that with comes Holidays and jours of sunbathing, hiking and visits all around...
All of this is nice and good but does that mean that the vast flows of creativity that inhabit us just just because we're abroad or too close to a beach ? Of course not.
There are always opportunities with kids napping or sleeping at night, little hobby havens for those who just can't really take a break from their little toys...
Since reading cheap literature and taking naps myself is not for me, I've recently opted for a good way (for me) to use free time in holidays (I might reconsider things when I'm not single).


I've already tried painting in other places than home but I just don't enjoy it, I like to have all my stuff, my little comfort with my light and chair to enjoy painting, otherwise it just becomes a frustrating and back breaking experience with me looking for things I didn't bring...
Painting is out but sculpting is another thing totally. Sculpting just implies limited tools and a roll of putty so you can pretty easily pack enough to keep yourself busy.
Another good point is that I usually don't really like to take the time to get the Green stuff out so having nothing but putty at hand helps me getting on old projects that required more modelling than I expected or wanted to.

The following are exactly that. You can see above a full pantheon of Greater demons of chaos for Rogue Trader that I've been meaning to do for some time now. I had begun with the painted Bloodthirster on the far right but I never took the time to finish his companions.

The last of the demons I finished was this tracked Great unclean one. I've had the idea for quite a while and it was first motivated by me having a spare GUO without legs. I traded the complete one I had away to avoid being tempted to be weak but it took me quite a while to find the suitable tracks. The recent admech kits from GW proved very convenient and I even added a tech arm to enhance the fusion of flesh and technology on this guy.
You will notice the right arm is that of a keeper of secrets and this has 2 reasons, the forst being I had plenty and the second being they're bulkier than the GUO ones which made it look better for this conversion.


The 2nd to be finished was this Lord of Change that was broken and begging for some attention. I managed to get a titan head from the excellent Steve Casey (thank you so much !). I swapped one of the hands for a mechanical one (just because) which comes from a Dark Eldar Talos thing. 
The previous wings were screaming "fantasy" too loud for my taste so I got inspired by the many hours of Diablo of my youth and gave those electro tentacles to him in place of wings. I find it still gives the good silhouette while looking strange. I'm not sure how I'll paint those but one thing at a time !


The first conversion I actually finished after my bloodthirster was this guy and giving a minotaur head with gunhorn was just mandatory. The head is one from the Space raiders set sculpted by the talented Diego Serrate.
I chose the other parts and global pose thanks to the help of the FB Oldhammer community and only later did I take the time to finish the conversion with putty and all.


I really hope these models don't betray the Rogue Trader aesthetic despite the newer additions, I have to confess I really enjoy all of them.

One other projects I've been meaning to work on for some time now is the mounted renegades. I was so happy to get all parts during the collection stage !

I got most of the renegades in a single lot with plastic horses and skeletal horses from an Ebay joblot (back when I still cared to looked on ebay) and the description was explaining how the owner intended to make semi undead mounts. 
What a fantastic idea, I first wanted to do exactly that in honor for the seller (I even blogged about it but can't find the post...).
Anyway, time and lack of inspiration proved the idea wasn't as obvious at it first seemed and it's only after a while I realised I had to go another way. The full metal way...
I managed to get a few flesh hounds from the Realm of Chaos era what better thing could I find really?


Well as often, the idea was excellent but I totally underestimated the work involved. 
First of all, I had to build the hounds in a way to make them all as different as possible despite only having 3 possible front legs and 2 back legs to select from. Bending them on the sides and raising some worked quite well for that matter.
I then assigned a renegade to each of the hounds but I had to bend the legs to make them work (I wouldn't recommend doing that unless you're confident in your ability to fix things...)

I also did a very stupid mistake which I'm going to share so that others don't do it (honestly, just using your brains would be enough to avoid it). 
Once I was happy with the position of my renegades, I drilled through the leg part and the hound for future assembly and then drilled the equivalent in the body, using the leg bit to help me get the positon right. 
So far so good ? Well not really, I intended to sculpt saddles to create a nicer joint between both models but once I applied the green stuff on the back of the hound, how could I find the previous holes ? I can tell you a lot of swearing was involved and this lead to me building them completely when I first intended to have the riders seperate for painting convinience.
I then added gap filler on the base to hid the tabs (I glued the models as they were with epoxy glue and pins for maximum resilience) and then only had to add sand to make the bases look good.

Oh and because I had spare hound bodies and completely crippled palanquin riders, I thought I could add centaurs to the mix !


Some of the renegades have relatively static poses which enhances their malevolent look I find.



While others seem to be more on the move.


My favourite of them all is this last guy and I didn't manage to find the right angle but he's by far the most dynamic and characterful of the lot.


At the end of the holidays I still have a little time and bits left so I tried to make the best out of the RTB01 Marines I had with me. Since I don't really fancy my marines to look constipated, I cut all joints and tried new poses, making them gaining a little height in the process. I still have to make the joints with putty but there's not much to do here and I'm eager to paint them !


I hope you folks like this post despite it having absolutely no painted model. I think the amount of work makes it a little more bearable !
I have models getting painted right now, some you know very well and some I'm convinced you've never seen before but will love !

38 comments:

  1. Haha oh mate they are so fab! Great job!

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    1. Cheers ! I'm quite chuffed to see they ended close enough to what I had in mind !

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  2. What a bunch! I especially like the freakoid centaurs. Can't wait to see them painted up. Come on! Come on! Get on with it!

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    1. I have no idea which one to begin with, I'd like to get the renegades done soon but a greater demon might be quicker !
      Choices...

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  3. Great stuff JB, they are all brill :)

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    1. Cheers mate, I think they're gonna be cool to paint !

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  4. Wow, there are some freakin' original conversions there!

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    1. Thanks, you know quite a thing about original conversions !

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  5. That's an impressive batch coming. I particularly like the tentacule wings, great idea, very efficient

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  6. Those RT Greater Demons are quite fabulous!

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    1. Cheers, ever since I made the Bloodthirster, I knew I was bound to have all 4 at some point !

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  7. Great work. The centaurs are very weird and appropriately chaotic, but I think my favourite is the tracked Great Unclean One... it's simple but brilliant!

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    1. Cheers, it looks simple but it did require quite a lot of bit tracking and modelling. The idea (not mine in teh first place) was too good not to be applied to this demon really !

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  8. So cool JB! I think you have fit Rogue Trader perfectly with those demon conversions. Those mounted renegades are so awesome. I actually like the static poses the best. Very nice work on the marines as well!

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    1. The one with bloodletter head does look the business, he's bulky and looks tough as nails. I'm eager to start painting them !
      Cheers bud !

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  9. Excellent selection of WIPs - all imaginative, all using a great selection of bits. Most importantly, all hugely effective and characterful conversions. My personal favourite is the rotting, tracked GUO - its a surprise it's not been done before.

    Can't wait to see them with some paint on!

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    1. Cheers Jon, I have to say the tracked GuO is fun and he could probably be painted quite rapidly (Nurgle is always forgiving).

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  10. Holy carp! You really work on a lot all at once! O.O

    Loving the renegades; utterly loaded with creepy mutations! ^^

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    1. If only those were the only things... ^^'
      Cheers Becca !

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  11. Very impressive especially the GUO the mix of tech and chaos came through really well and definitely RT

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    1. Cheers, I like to mix a bot of technology with demons, I find it's just enough to make them cross the path to sci-fi really !

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  12. Wow! Where to start?

    The GUO looks suitably bad arse. I like those GS cables, did you get one of those special cable rollers to make them? I've always thought about buying one.

    The LOC is a mini I think I've had assembled for well over a decade & IMHO is the best looking one in the range. I like the cable tentacles you added to him JB, they'll look boss when you've painted him up :)

    The mounted Renegades are really great man! Something that'll definitely be a sight to behold on the tabletop.....for sure!

    Nice to see your placky SM conversion work too. I'll be interested to see how you go about filling the joints on yours.

    This was a great blog post JB, as you may well know I'm a bit of a kitbashing/conversion whore, but a very sporadic painter. So this posts right up my alley.

    Cheers bud :)

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    1. Thank you sir !
      Playing with the Greater demons was fun, I'm glad you like them. Yes I finally did buy a set of those cable rollers and I have to say they're more than worth it, I don't think I'm realy using them at full potential for now but they do help tremendously. I don't think I'll be using guitar strings much now...
      I know I do enjoy such posts especially yours but I sometimes dread to see naked lead only, I suppose the putty work dresses them enough !

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  13. Awesome JB - essence of Rogue Trader, blended seamlessly with elixir of RoC, a dash of distilled madness, purified, fortified, served over the cold ice of genius. Love 'em all!

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    1. Cheers mate, you obviously have perfect taste !

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  14. Love the cavalry especially! It,s going to be one awesome unit once painted. You have all my respect, that's a lot of work to do before even starting painting them! I'm not patient enough ;-)

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    1. I totally underestimated it, hence why I started in the first place... The painting should be pretty straightforward though so I just need to find colours for the hounds and I'm good to go !

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  15. Whoah JB, that's a lot of work!

    Love the idea on all the conversions. Your creativity seems endless. Very nicely done.

    Have to say (Even though Father Nurgle will probably cause a buboe to erupt from my buttock for saying so.) the Changer of Ways is my fav' of the bunch. The original pose was always so dynamic, but the angle of the head and then the tentacles in his back really make him a damned interesting and exciting piece.

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    1. Cheers !
      The lord of change is very interesting indeed but I think he'll be the more delicate to paint, the Nurgle one will be quite forgiving but this one... he'll need the right balance.

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  16. I really like all of the conversions but the Greater Demons in particular. The changes create a whole new look for the models that is completely refreshing and unique.

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    1. Cheers Ashley, that really was the purpose of it all, I meant o give them a fresh look fitting for RT but staying true to the original concepts !

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  17. An amazing bunch of conversions, though that one guy does look like he has a wolf stuffed up his tuchus. I think my favourite is the Cyber Great Unclean One. It's a combination you don't see so often with Nurgle but I think it'll look great when it's done.

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    1. Cheers, the centaurs are really looser concepts as they were just an opportunity to use spare bits at the end, they're fun though because of what you mention. ^^

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  18. Centaurs are top notch. All of your work is great, I pray for the patience you must have haha.

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    1. Cheers, I'm not a patient guy really, I usually aim for the best quality/time ratio I can pull which means I often take shortcuts ! ^^'

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  19. You have a great eye for detail and the skills to bring them to life. ^_^
    On some projects I'm working on I kinda plan to sculpt a half-mask and a shield. Do you think green stuff would be sufficient to work with for scales at 54mm or even 80mm?

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    1. I'm not very knowledgeable with putty but my guess would be that for bigger scales I'd want to make the structure with milliput and add details on green stuff, Milliput is far less "elastic" and doesn't creep much.
      My guess would be green stuff over the metallic fram then milliput bulk and green stuff details. The green stuff/milliput mix is also very enjoyable to work with with the advantages of both but fewer problems (it just takes ages to cure).

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