Tin Man progress

Plans changed slightly with the Tin Man. Originally he was supposed to have a large woodcutter's axe in his right hand... unfortunately I completely failed to make something that I liked. So for now I've given up and started painting the rest of the model. He still looks nice and dynamic, so I don't think anyone is going to notice a balance issue.

Last month Dave Taylor posted a recipe for bare metal on one of his knights (Thanks Dave, very much appreciated!). I've been trying to work out how to make something look beaten, but still shiny, so I gave it a go on a spare chimera. Once I had something I was happy with, phase one of the Tin Man started. So far so good!

Once the brass bits are finished, the next step is to pluck up the courage to try and mask large parts of him and put some scratched and battered paintwork over the top.

More Tin Man developments

So, work continues on the Tin Man, with a few adjustments and the addition of a third scourge being squashed beneath one of the dreadnought's feet *ouch*

The road pieces are hanging off the edge of the base because the eventual aim is to create some sort of scenic board for them all to go on. The cobbles will lock the Tin Man into place and make it less obvious that he is separate.

The main bit left to do (other than the base) is actually create an axe for his right hand that I'm happy with. I made the handle for one yesterday, but forgot to actually measure it first. When I put it into his hand, it was far too small and just looked... odd. I suspect I need to actually get a piece of wood as I've not got any plastic strips thick enough to do the job properly.

Tin man

A while back, in one of those nonsense conversations that happen on forums, the idea was spawned for a 40K version of the Wizard of Oz as the perfect theme for one of the Armies on Parade boards. I never did get around to doing much with it other than buying a few bits to start the project.

The first completed model was To20, the loyal hunting hound of Inquisitor Dorothea. I started building the Tin Woodsman shortly after, but needed some Dark Eldar Scourges to finish the pose before I could paint it. I picked some up recently in order to try and finish this part of the unpainted mountain.

I can't remember the name I came up with for him, I'll dig it out before the modelling gets finished. His original chapter is unknown. He has been working with the inquisition for so long that the original records have been lost and he will not talk about it.  In his right hand he will be carrying a large wood cutting axe (if I can work out how to make one). In his other hand he's crushing an attacking Scourge.

I plan on having another Scourge attacking the back mounted autocannon, but I'm not sure which of the two positions. these guys have wings, so either position will work.

Conversions and inspiration

One of the things I enjoy so much about this hobby is the sheer creativity that some people have when it comes to conversions. If you've been reading the reboot of White Dwarf, you'll have seen the Blanchistu articles that cover some of the weird and wonderful conversions that he's either done himself, or has discovered in his trawls of the internet. Some of them are great, others are just interesting.

Years ago, there was semi-rpg/miniatures combat system called Inquisitor that allowed us to play a more story-like game with an inquisitor and his retinue, unfortunately the miniatures were about twice the size of normal GW models, so it was a pain to get hold of new bits to convert them with. Over the last few years there's been a growing trend of people playing something similar, but with normal GW figures. If you do a search for Inquisimunda or =I=munda on some of the larger gaming forums you'll find a load of very talented people.

The two people that I enjoy watching work are:

Migsula and his Legion of Plastic. I've been reading Migsula's work since he started on DakkaDakka and his use of a white undercoat has been the main inspiration for my more recent attempts; though I have to say that I've not quite grasped it yet as mine seem to come out all grainy; whereas his are nice and smooth. I suspect a better undercoat would serve me well here.

Jeff and his Officio Convertorum. He seems to be churning out some really interesting conversions at the moment that are making me want to dig out my bitz box and see what is lurking in it's depths.
  

Inquisitorial assistance

The Inquisitor I showed yesterday is accompanied by his loyal follower, T020. In game he counts as a death cultist... what else could he possibly be?!

The model is from last year's Forge World show only Enforcer model. It's a really nice dog model with some weird bits and pieces embedded into the poor thing. It pretty much painted itself in the space of an hour or so with a white undercoat and a series of brown and black washes.

Inquisitor

Speaking of inquisitorial forces (or at least I was yesterday with the servitors) When the first plastic warhammer character blisters came out, Dakka held a competition to convert one of them into a 40K figure. You'll have seen similar cross-system conversions done in White Dwarf with the Blanchistu column since; though most of the ones in that column seem to be made from the nurgle lord, rather than any of the first round of models.

I attempted two for the competition, but only the inquisitor was completed as I didn't quite get the other one to work as expected. Maybe I'll go back and revisit it one day when there's nothing else to paint*

I'm happy to say that I actually won the public vote with my Inquisitor; though a lot of the other models were brilliantly converted and painted. I've not seen so many brilliant ideas in one thread before. This guy started life as the Warriors of Chaos sorcerer lord. Now he fights against evil in all it's forms.

*So that'll be never then!

Servitors

I seem to have acquired a large number of servitor models over the last couple of years... I think Arakasi and his Big Mek conversion may be to blame for that one. Both my Imperial Guard and Inquisition forces utilise servitors in one guise or another... plus the metal ones are great fun models to paint. The first two painted up very quickly indeed...