Kharn The Betrayer Conversion

[Johnerism]

Hello all. I am new to the forum, however, not new to the the world of Warhammer 40K.

Ive been playing and painting since i was in high school. I am a college student now, in Los Angeles.

I started playing Eldar and then started playing Necrons until 5th Ed came out. I have not played since then because of school and a busy schedule.

I just recently got back in and have decided to play a CC devoted Chaos Army with Khârn at the helm. The only problem was the GW Khârn model sucks.

So I took it upon myself to make it better. I searched and searched on the web and found a lack of conversions, which is good and bad. Good because it makes room to be original and bad because you're on your own.

I decided to loosly base my conversion on the one found HERE

If you are the owner of this and you read my post; thanks for a really good base and ideas. I liked the idea of the running pose and the model used for the torso (Chaos Champion of Khorne)

I wanted a more aggressive use of Gorechild, a bigger Gorechild, 40K shoulders on both sides, a backpack, and more details to be green stuffed in.

I use bits from the Chaos Champion of Khorne, Khorne Berzerkers, and Khorne bits from Forge World. The yellow putty holds the pieces in place till i'm ready to pin and glue them. So far only the plasma pistol and the hand with Gorechild are pinned.

So far this is my progress...

Please leave comments and suggestions. All comments are good (except for ones that say i suck and can't model). If you want different angles or more pictures that arn't in my album (HERE) you can PM me. Ill be updating with my progress and when i finish the conversion I will put up Super HD pics :D

[David the Despoiler]

This is really cool! I've made my own conversion out of spare bits and what-not, but it's nowhere near as cool as yours! I'm really looking forward to seeing this complete. I agree at the lack of Khârn conversions. He should be an aggresive beast with a two-headed axe! Unlike the GW model.

[Innus Bade 9]

Awesome conversion so far. I think this head would work better for you. You can find it at www.bitzbox.co.uk the title is Forgeworld Khorne Berseker Head C.http://www.bitzbox.co.uk/images/forgeworld_khorne_berserker_head_3_large.jpg

[Dezartfox]

Awesome, glad my Khârn inspires people! <_<

 

And yeah that's the head I used!

 

If you want any tips let me know!

[Johnerism]

Man, Dezartfox, when I saw him for the first time he blew my mind ;) . Thee was so much of Khârn in it, it was disgusting.

I actually did buy a couple of the Forge World heads but when i got them i noticed they were a fair bit smaller in scale to the plastic Berzerker heads.

I love the detail and the look of the aggressive edges but they are a smaller scale to the normal Berzerker heads.

When I put it on with the shoulder pads and the backpack it reminded me of the big guy in Beetlejuice with the huge body and a tiny head. So instead of being scared of dismemberment, I just laughed.

Innus Blade 9, i'm thinking of GS some things on the normal head to make it similar to the Forge World head, just at a larger scale. So i totally know what you mean about the head but the scale kinda killed me on it.

Thanks for the comments guys, if anyone has any ideas that they think would look cool just let me know and i'll see how it works.

[Johnerism]

-UPDATE-

I sculpted skulls on the knee pads. on the left leg, that will be supporting Khârn on the base, is a human type skull. The right leg, the leg that will be in the running pose, has a more elongated skull with a more pronounced brow to convey an Orkish feel.

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

[Jellitin]

I like the look of the newer helmet, and he looks really dynamic. Also, the kneepads look good, and that pistol looks really frickin' cool.

[Firefighter X]

Several guys on this forums have done a Khârn conversion using the fantasy champ and they all look great.

 

Tim [ the master ] over at Vanus temple was the first. Scoobyshag has done one, & so have I.

 

Having completed my conversion using this mini I can tell you it is VERY possible to get a great running/action pose from this model, but it will NOT be one that mimics the above pic. The main reason for this is that the axe hand is the right hand on the mini and the left hand in the pic. It would take alot more cutting and converting that what either Scoobs, myself, or Tim [ the master !] have done to pull it off like the pic.

 

That aside, there are a few other subtle differences you'll want to consider. The main one being where to cut the fantasy champ legs. If you look at the 1st and 2nd pic you'll notice that Scooby took the legs off with a bit of the original kneepad still showing. This is fine, I opted to take them off above the kneepads [ so I could position the Berzerker running legs a bit more.. really looks like he's sprinting at his prey ]. You will have to do a significant amount of greenstuff work on the thighs and don't do like I did and forget to sculpt the flexi parts on the back of the knee! I need to go back and do that now... grrr

 

Next would be whether or not to use the stock Gorechild axehead [ as Scoobs did ] and that is a perfectly acceptable choice. Here is where my fluff nazi-ism kicked in. Gorechild was wielded by Angron at one time. Angron was HUGE and the description of Gorechild states " Gorechild is Khârn's huge and ancient chain-axe, an artifact from the Great Crusade when Space Marines reaved across the galaxy. Gorechild's jagged whirring teeth were torn from the jaws of mica-dragons on Luther Mcintyre, it's haft is forged from adamantium and it's head is a full three spans across. It is a deadly weapon capable of splitting an armored Space Marine from head to crotch with one blow and is doubly dangerous in the hands of Khârn ". So for me the stock chainaxe head wasn't big enough.. I used the chainaxe choppa bit from the Orc Warboss. That thing is MASSIVE & looks much more fitting.

 

Minor cutting and filing will be needed for the right arm, to get a shoulder pad to fit.

 

I suggest using the original pack. 1 It'll help make the mini look a bit more 40K than fantasy and 2. It's just awesome.

 

Plasma pistol is personal choice. I used the pewter one off of one of the Khorne Champs. Scooby and I used the exact same fiddly bit at the end of the plasma pistol chain. I made mine just a bit shorter however.

 

I'd suggest adding a few grenade and skull gubbinz around the waist to beef it up and 40k it up a bit more.

 

The last choice is which head to use. Tim used a FW Zerk head, as did Scoobs. I opted for something totally different. [ see below ] Here's mine.. pic is crap and it's not done.. i just blocked in colors for now to show what I'm doing with it. I just need to add the pack, and get off my lazy butt and finish him.

 

http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af107/Firefighter_X/Berzerkers/PICT0053.jpg

 

Don't forget the fantasy champion comes with a KILLER scenic base [ a mound of skulls ]! Just glue it to a 40mm base and you're cooking.

 

Lastly and most importantly PIN EVERYTHING TOGETHER!. In the above pic of my mini there are 8 pins holding him together. A conversion like this garners ALOT of player attention and I wanted to know it was strong and secure when all those people are going to be handling it.

 

 

You can find Scoobs conversion here http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...p;#entry2419306

 

Great conversion so far & I hope this helps,

 

FFX

 

BFTBGSFTST

KMB

[Johnerism]

Ok, the conversion is finally done, save tiny alterations once green stuff is dry. You will see there are is some improvements.

Thanks to Firefighter X for the tips and links, they helped quite a bit.

After finishing the conversion I was unhappy with Gorchild. I opted to build my own from scratch, as you can see. This looks a lot better and more fluffy. I bulked up the upper legs with green stuff as well.

Everything is pinned and glued excluding the head and backpack, which will be painted separate. This is to give me access to those wickedly detailed shoulders from Forge World. He will be based on the 40mm base seen in the pictures as well as on top of the skulls that came with the champ (as if the model needs more hight). I threw in one of my bother's terminators for a size comparison.

The spike on the backside of Gorechild will be filed down to a straight point. Frag and krak grenades will be added to Kharns hip. But thats it!

Let me know what you think, I can always change something if it looks bad. Im still not 100% on my green stuff modification on the vox thing and might go with another head.

Many more pictures and angles in my ALBUM

[manofmanynames]

Very nice, that is one menacing axe.

[Jellitin]

That is one big-axe axe! Excuse the pun, please.

He does look really good, I have to say. One thing, though: you may want to have him holding his axe tilted a little more back. That way, he'll look a little more running-y.

[Innus Bade 9]

Totally agree about the head. The FW is great but the scale was a bigger impact. Who knew they where so small? The new axe screams Gorechild. Dont change it man. The project is coming along quite well.

[Firefighter X]

Looks ACE man.. props on a smooth conversion.. My ONLY critique would be to add a fiddly chain and skull bit to the bottom of the chain that's coming off the Plasma Pistol hand.

 

 

Also, how about a mini tut on how to make that lovely piece of handheld death [ the axe ] I'd love to give one to my Aspiring CHamp in Terminator Armor.

 

 

FFX

[Johnerism]

Well I’ve primed, base coated, and started painting the model. I will post pictures when I get something substantive.

For all that want it; the axe was fairly easy. You will need one of the flat doors from the top hatch of a rhino, plasticard (I use a plastic sign from office depot, costs like $2 for 1’X1’), many plastic chainsword/chainaxe teeth, 1mm pinning wire or equiv., green stuff, files, xacto knife. I use a dremel tool, it makes cutting snd shaping large amounts of material much easier.

I drew out the design I wanted on a piece of paper so I didn’t go in blind. Knowing what the outline of the axe would be, I drew the rough outline on the rhino door with black paint. I tried first with pencil but it wiped off. I cut the design out of the door with the dremel and had a flat piece of plastic in the shape of the axe. On the point where the spike comes off the back of the axe I drilled a hole and placed the pinning wire at a suitable length for the spike (this was for those rare dice rolls of 1 where Khârn impales a Zerker). Next, I traced the outline of the axe on the plastecard. The plasticard will be the trim on the face of the axe. Cut out the plasticard in the shape of the trim. File down the inside edge to the thickness of trim you need. Glue the trim on the face of the axe. Wait for the glue to dry completely, them file down the outside edges where the trim is, leaving a flush edge with the main axe piece. I took two metal skulls from the GW skull pack and sanded the back half of the skulls off and glued them on the face of the axe. Green stuff the spike on the pinning wire, not much to it. Now, all my Berzerkers have chainaxes (they look so much cooler when they all have chainaxes) so I have a dozen or so chainswords in my bits box. I carefully cut them down the trim and glue them on the edge of the axe. The curve at the bottom is dome with the teeth from the curved chainaxe. I gap filled with green stuff and glued the axe head on the shaft and presto...Gorechild.

REMEMBER

When doing all the cutting, cut slightly bigger so you have room to file things down to fit exactly. No matter how well you trace or cut, things never line up exactly.

I hope this helps, and if you need anything clarified, don’t hesitate to ask.

[Johnerism]

Ive finished most of the red armor. I will be starting on the gold trim soon but I want some feedback on what route to go on. NMM or metallic gold. I am torn between the two. Ive never done NMM so it would be a challenge and I feel it looks good (i.e. Boltman's stuff). I would really, really appreciate suggestions on which of the two would look good on this model.

The model will be played with but I want it to be a focal point for the army and function as a good display. So I want high quality. For me, any time on this model is worth it so I don't mind spending hours to get the effect right.

If you're just scanning the thread a one word answer is good enough for me, but if you want to leave an explaination it is much appreciated.

Thanks :lol:

[Johnerism]

Sorry i've been gone for so long. I was out of town on some business and was unable to post.

But, I have finally finished painting Khârn's body and all that is left is to paint and attach his head and backpack.

Tell me what you think.

[Son of Sanguin]

Awsum conversion my friend. Can't wait to see it stuck in with a gang of beserkers, its gonna look scary as anything

[Johnerism]

Its completed! It was a fun build and paint job.

Im considering getting Khârn's head and replacing it but for now im satisfied.

More pictures in my ALBUM

Check it out...

[Brother Saturnus]

hes beautiful :cuss lol. In all seriousness this is breathtaking work!! it was a real pleasure to read through your WIP.