(or This won't hurt a bit...)
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| Just a simple head swap, right? |
This was one of those projects that started on the spur of the moment to
JUST LOOK at how a conversion might be done, and ended up taking more time out of my night than I had planned!
What started as a simple head swap between a plastic Contemptor dreadnaught and the Custodes Allarus terminators turned into a wild spree of cutting, fitting and gluing! The initial plan of the head swap was easy enough - just cut the Space Marine head out of the contemptor and put in the Custodes one, right? Okay, so maybe the easy part was just trimming off the current Contemptor head, which once you slid a hobby knife under the helmet lip and cut the back panel, was pretty smooth sailing. Once the
helmet and backplane assembly popped free, it was just a matter of trimming the neck stub off of the Allarus Custodian head - but a word of caution here - I chose to leave just a little of the neck on there so that the head would sit level. Otherwise you will find yourself needing to trim the chin cabling from the helmet. I though that might not give the look I wanted, and I'm glad I left it on. (even if it made the head sit a bit higher in the canopy.)
Once the head was blue-tacked in to check the fit, I knew I wanted to "Custodes-up" the body of the Contemptor, but I also knew that I didn't like the "shoulder wings" look of the customization in the new 40k Custodes codex.
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| Does Red Bull give your Dreadnaught wings? |
So, I set to cutting up the Vexillas in both the original Custodes set and the Allarus Custodes kit. The good news is that you get a Vexilla in each kit, even though you won't use more than one or two in your whole army - so Imperial Wings for
ALL MY FRIENDS!
Okay all humor aside. The real question became where to attach them. I tried the shoulders and didn't like the look. I also didn't like how the streamers in the GW conversion looked stuck on - so I opted to cut them from the wings and use them elsewhere. I tried various ways to affix the wings to the torso of the Contemptor and they all just did not look good. What I settled on was adding the wings from the Custodian Guard Vexilla to the hip joints of the dreadnaught, and then cut the upper half of the Allarus Vexilla to add it to the top of the dreadnaught's hull. The streamers and the lower half of the Allarus Vexilla were added to the weapon arms in an attempt to give some additional "jewelry" to the Ancient Custodian's dreadnaught suit.
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| Some dangly bits added to the Power fist |
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| Vexilla bits under the Assault Cannon |
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| Even the Multi Melta got a few bits out of the deal |
Overall I'm happy how it turned out. Just need to drill out some gun barrels, install the pins and magnets for the two weapons arms and put the basing material down. (now which chapter of heretics will get featured on this Contemptor's base?? And then it is off to painting! Let me know what you think of this conversion in the comments below! Too much dangly bits? Not enough wings? Should have made the Vexilla into a codpiece for the dreadnaught? Let me know!
What started as a simple head swap between a plastic Contemptor dreadnaught and the Custodes Allarus terminators turned into a wild spree of cutting, fitting and gluing! The initial plan of the head swap was easy enough - just cut the Space Marine head out of the contemptor and put in the Custodes one, right? Okay, so maybe the easy part was just trimming off the current Contemptor head, which once you slid a hobby knife under the helmet lip and cut the back panel, was pretty smooth sailing. Once the
Okay all humor aside. The real question became where to attach them. I tried the shoulders and didn't like the look. I also didn't like how the streamers in the GW conversion looked stuck on - so I opted to cut them from the wings and use them elsewhere. I tried various ways to affix the wings to the torso of the Contemptor and they all just did not look good. What I settled on was adding the wings from the Custodian Guard Vexilla to the hip joints of the dreadnaught, and then cut the upper half of the Allarus Vexilla to add it to the top of the dreadnaught's hull. The streamers and the lower half of the Allarus Vexilla were added to the weapon arms in an attempt to give some additional "jewelry" to the Ancient Custodian's dreadnaught suit.
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