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While putting together some new Berzerker Champions, I found myself needing to reposition some power fists. I could've easily just used some guitar wire, but I wanted it to look more like the damaged cabling you often see on newer Chaos models. After thinking on it for a bit, I had an epiphany: heat shrink. Heat shrink is used in electronics to repair damaged wire insulation or to bundle multiple insulated wires together (amongst other uses). When it reaches a certain temperature, the material shrinks, usually by a factor of around 2:1 or so, so you would normally pick a diameter that is slightly larger than the wire you're insulating, slip it over the section you need it, and then apply heat. I happened to have some in a drawer from an old job, but you can get some fairly cheaply from a hardware store or Amazon. It starts with a Green Stuff tentacle, though you can always use guitar wire, and a length of heat shrink that's just a touch wider than the tentacle. Make sure the GS is fully cured. I cut out some holes and roughed up the ends of the heat shrink with some clippers and a hobby knife. I then slipped the heat shrink over the GS tentacle and applied some heat: in my case, I simply used a lighter, and held the material a few centimetres above the flame using a pair of tweezers. Not close enough to burn the material or cause the tweezers to get too hot, but enough to make the material shrink. Obviously, you will need to exercise suitable caution with this step! Being Green Stuff and soft plastic, it is still malleable enough that it can be carefully twisted and pushed into place. If you live in a cold climate, I suggest keeping a cup of hot water nearby, so you can submerge the cable into it every now and then to keep it malleable enough. Enjoy!

Hey Brothers! Note to the moderators...The reason I've put this tutorial up here is that it is a WIP as well. It will be a running project involving all the armour marks and a number of legion specific pieces. In this first post is MKIV only with MKIII to follow soon. I've been meaning to get a tutorial on Heresy armour up here for some time now but have never found the opportunity. It would appear however that I have found the time now! The basic idea is to produce a number of tutorials which may help you to save money by converting almost any GW plastic power armour kit into a heresy armour mark! The focus is on more on the armour than the weapons but in the future I hope to share some methods I've used to turn standard plastic weaponry into heresy era stuff. I will also attempt to display how I would go about doing particular legions, eg head swaps for ultramarines and thousand sons, cloaks for DA and so on. Without further ado (and in good Star Wars tradition) let’s start off with number 4! Maximus Pattern http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/tutorial4050.jpg For the purpose of this tutorial I'm going to go mostly off the Forgeworld stereotype. The base model comes from the command squad box with the exception of the blood angels bolt pistol and the finecast backpack which is standard, just resin and not plastic. These principles can be applied to most GW plastic marine kits. One thing I want to encourage people to take note of (and I'm sure the vast majority already have) is that there are absolutely loads of different versions of power armour bits which are considered one mark or another. I can think of 5 or 6 different kinds of mark IV helmet for example, from forgeworld and games-workshop. There are even more pictures of mark IV in artwork which looks different from the generally accepted and now seemingly official forgeworld pattern. So the choice is massive for people wanting heresy era marines. Please note, this is just how I do it and I want to say that there are some fantastic armour tutorials out there! Hope you find this one useful too though Preparation What you'll need. http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/tutorial4052.jpg This is more or less what I used for the MKIV marine. Included among the usual suspects such as a sculpting tool and a hobby knife are Nail Perfection UK micro beads which I use to add to armour as bolts. Please for the love of the Emperor do not ask me how I found these... Anyway, like with any project it's a good idea to prepare the tools first so you know you've got everything you need Torso http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/tutorial4004.jpg Start with any mark VII torso and clean off aquillas and scull icons and so on until you have a smooth surface. http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/tutorial4013.jpg Then score a line from under each arm to the centre of the chest plate. http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/tutorial4014.jpg It should also lead behind the torso to the backpack join. Legs http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/tutorial4005.jpg For the legs you will need to remove the knee pads and smooth the cleared area to be the same level of the shin guard. http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/tutorial4027.jpg You should also cut away the curved part of the cod piece so that it is a flat surface. Prepared Surface Pieces http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/Zaevin/tutorial4008.jpg At this stage you should have something like this. I mostly find it's sometimes easiest to stick these three together now rather than sculpting the bits individually. ...and on to part two...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/comments/194cfjt/my_death_guard_tutorial/ I found this tutorial and is quite interesting. And I really like the conversion, simple but effective.

So I posted this in my BA thread, but it might help some folks here. This tutorial will take you through the steps to go from this To this Step 1 Paint the knee pad black Step 2: Draw A circle The next stages are a circle and triangle, to define the basic shape of the skull. It doesnt really matter what order you do these in. Step 3: Draw a Triangle. Draw an isosceles trianle, with the top point roughly in the centre of the circle. This makes the upper jaw Step 4: Temple and jaws Knock the corners off the triangle with the base colour paint to make them more rounded. Where the triangle meets the circle, add smaller circles on both sides to represent the temple bones, so pronounced on GW transfers. Step 5: Teeth Add fine, irregular vertical lines to the base of the triangle Step 6: Teeth 2 Then, use the base paint to redefine the bottom of the triangle, cutting the teeth from the main skull Step 7: Nose Using a very fine brush, water down some black paint and draw two diagonal lines, forming 2 sides of a triangle to make the nose hole. These can be messy, and then tidied up with white afterwards Step 8: Eye sockets Paint 2 blobs just above the nose. I usually angle these towards the nose, but you could do them more rounded, or more angled to look angrier. I usually mess up the right hand eye, and have to have several goes at painting it, with the model at different angles. Try a few different position and styles. then go with whatever works best for you personally! EPIC TRAINING MONTAGE:

Because Brother Dallo asked on how I do the Space and Stars Flight Bases in my WiP thread, here the Tutorial for future uses: How to do: Space and Stars Flight Bases! Step 1: Assemble your flight bases. Cut out a long strip of cardboard. Put some double sided sticky tape on it. Put the Flight Bases on it. Step 2: Prime them black. (Remember the shaking the can. Warming the can in lukewarm water before can do wonders, too!) Due to the transparent plastic, it's sometimes hard to tell if it's not fully covered yet or just glossy black primer already - it takes some getting used to, so you sometimes need to do a second layer of black. Step 3: Rip up an old sponge. (RIP. AND. TEAR.) Then dabble on some Grey Seer onto the sponge, rub of some of the paint on a piece of paper, then put it onto the bases. You decide on how much and the structure of it. Either dab it on, for the "gas clouds", or lightly brush it on in long strokes for the more "streamy" variety (third from the left). If you need inspiration or ideas, look for pictures on interstellar nebulae and what kinda structures they can form - basically any error you could make at this step could just be a strangely formed nebula. Don't worry too much about it. {"Why Greyseer, Rikueru?" - Well, it's a very light grey, which behaves REALLY well and works well with Contrast colours on top!} Step 4: Repeat the same with some White Scar, but only at the "center" of your greyseer clusters/streams - basically a Highlight. (Remember to shake it REALLY well. You sure you shaken it enough? Yes?! SHAKE IT MORE! Also make sure you have none of the nasty white "blobs" of paint sticking to your sponge!) Step 5: Now for some colour! Use -whatever- Contrast Colour you like! Does it fit your fleet? Is it your favourite colour? Is it your partner's favourite colour? Both of them? It doesn't really matter. Again, look at pictures of interstellar nebulae, any colour is possible, any colour combination is possible. Apply the Contrast colour in a thin layer ALL over the base (even the black parts). Now take either a dry brush (which has seen the best of his days pass by - not a new one!) or some pieces of paper towel, to remove some of the Contrast at the center of your clusters/streams, so you get NEARLY white parts in the middle and darker coloured edges. Now add some more Contrast of your favourite variety (or a second colour) at the edges and here and there. You can also wetblend two contrast colours or thinly layer them over each other. Be creative, play with the Contrast colours, trust your gut, go with your instincts. If it REALLY turns out to your disliking - and a night of sleep doesn't help to change your judgement - just prime it black again. There's no detail to loose on these flat bases. Step 6 a): The aforementioned steps can be done in quick succession, because it doesn't take long to dry, but NOW you should let the Contrast colours dry fully! Step 6 : Now get your White Scar again and get yourself a straight sewing needle of average size. [Handle with care!] (Pros of the Hobby who trust their painting skills and have good brushes might want to use a brush for this!? I chose this because it was easy, fast AND reliable. Also no tip of a Brush needs to suffer.) We won't be using the tip of the needle, as that would take ridiculously long and would make teeny tiny stars. (Go ahed, if you want that, tho!) Instead we use the BACK of the needle, the ear - because it has the right size and can hold some colour! With the needle, you can now put down all the stars you want. As you can see, I dabbed the needle onto the cardboard a few times, to get rid of excess paint, to make smaller stars. You can vary them in size, line them up, group them in clusters or let them stand alone in the deep dark. Go wild, stop whenever you want. When you are done, take some Abaddon Black to clean up the Flight Base stems, if any of the colours got on them, to clean up. Step 7 [Optional]: For some variety, or as markings, hidden details, easter eggs or just for fun, you can also add a few "coloured" stars. In my example I used Lothern Blue, Wazdakka Red, Auric Armour Gold and Stormhost Silver! (The last didn't work out as well as I thought) AND you're done! Congratulations! Now put on your models and enjoy as they fly through space!

I put together a tutorial on painting a power sword. The power sword I did was for my counts-as Abaddon, and I did it in pink. While pink may not be everyone's go-to power sword color , the technique remains the same regardless of color, an is easy enough to change. Anyway, I hope someone finds this useful! Power Sword Painting Tutorial