Empty Cadian helmets

[uberschveinen]

I'm building a force of Inquisitorial Stormtrooper acolytes to work with my Grey Knight army, and had a particularly strong visual theme I wanted to work with. Mostly, black Carapace with white skull-like facemasks.

 

To do this, I intended to take Cadian heads and Necron heads, and get to work with a saw and a drill. I recently remembered, though, that the Cadians come with spare, empty helmets, and if these are designed to fit, it'd save me a hell of a lot of intricate work on models that are already going to be hellishly overconverted. Do the Cadian helmets actually fit a standard head? The Necron heads are smaller by a fraction than Space Marine heads, I know that much, and if they're too big it'd look less like an integrated facemask and more like a Necron in a helmet.

 

Thanks for any answers you can provide.

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

They sadly do not fit Space Marine or Guard heads. I've tried to do this many times. You could, however, try filing down the head, as no one will be looking at it once the helmet is on.

[uberschveinen]

Oh, is the helmet too small? That's actually just fine, since the Necron heads are small anyway and I was worried they'd be dwarfed by the helmets. As long as it's not too big, it'll look great. Compared to all the other stuff I plan to do to these guys, a little filing is hardly any work. Thanks.

 

While we're here, I also needed to source some models to act as a sort of 'minder' to a Psyker. I'm making a few units of Psyker henchmen, and wanted to make it as one Alpha psyker and a bunch of mind-shielded minder-types. I was after clerical-looking models who don't look military, but more bureaucratic. Thing is, they're very hard to find. Even the IG officer retinue attachments are a bit too military for the purpose. If I can't find any, I'll probably just get some of the DKoK command models from Forgeworld.

[Durus]

Not sure it's what you are looking for but these look "clerical but not military" to me: fantasy scribe and merchant, inquisitorial henchemen, necromunda redemptionist, mortheim possessed (though they were some armor) and sisterhood of sigmar.

There was also a fat inquisitorial scribe I can't find anymore (might have been part of coteaz' retinue) and an arabian merchant from fantasy.

 

You could probably use the bretonnian men at arms or archers to convert something as well. Gui le Gros might be interesting too.

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

You can always make the fat friar from the Men-at-Arms box. He's a beautiful model, and an excellent good luck charm. And there's even a keg on his back.

[Durus]

Wanted to post it yesterday, but couldn't remember where I saw it then. This guy here has made some stormtrooper conversions with necron heads. Might be interesting to look at as well.

[uberschveinen]

I was doing something similar, but cutting off the bottom jaw of the Necron head to make it look like a tech-ish skull faceplate. I considered just running the Necron heads like that with GS necks, but they're distinctly small and look odd next to standard human units.

 

Plus, helmet and faceplate together gives them more of a heavily-armoured feel, which I'm pushing for. I'm using Cadian bodies and Tau legs with Scout arms and boots, and most of a Tau shoulderpad on the firing side. It makes them look much heavier than standard Carapace, which I like.

[Terminatorinhell]

That will be pretty awesome, do post lotsa pics.

[ShinyRhino]

The main obstacle in using the empty Cadian helmets for anything is that they're not actually "empty." The inside of the helmet is actually flat and filled. In order to put one on a Guard head, you'd have to chop the top of his head off at about eyebrow level, and then glue the helmet on.

If you've got a Dremel, a hobby vise, and a steady hand you could lock the helmet into the vise, and use a cutting bit to slowly hollow out the helmet. One slip, and you've got nothing but a busted helmet for a base decoration.

[uberschveinen]

Really? Damn.

 

Well, I'm already cutting up the Necron heads, so it doesn't matter as much to cut some more. And it's easier to remove from the outside than the inside.

 

All I know is that after all the work (and money) that's going into these guys, they'd better be the most badass-looking private army on the tabletop. And I'll either have to learn to paint again so I don't ruin them, or find someone local who takes commission.

 

On another note, are there any more trenchcoats to get in plastic beyond the one in the Command set? I had an idea to run the Death Cult Assassins as trenchcoat, Cadian torso, and Scout arms with the Necron facehelmet. They still look heavy, but compared to the Carapace Acolytes, lighter enough to call Sv 5+. The knock-up I did with parts I had looks damned stylish, but if there's only one set of Trenchcoat legs in plastic it's going to look very odd. Is there more in the way of... asscapes, I suppose, available in the Fantasy range? If not, I'll take a look at other companies.

[Durus]

Other than the already mentioned plastic men-at-arms the high elf archers or the empire archers could work as robed/trenchcoated legs/bodies too.

 

There also is a set of trenchcoat wearing soldiers from wargamesfactory. Had a look at them, sadly they are nowhere near GW's quality. The helmeted heads look nice on cadians though if you cut the neck off.

 

I think you can also still get the warzone trenchers from somewhere... can't remember where at the moment though.

 

And here are some pretty nice conversions with metal foil.

 

The only other trenchcoat legs by GW for the IG range, I can think of are from the baneblade commander.

 

+edit+

I just found the Defenders of France by warlord games box. Though from what I understand they tend to be a bit smaller than GW's minis. Less "heroic".

On that note you also might something useful if you look at the http://www.perry-miniatures.com/ range.

[uberschveinen]

That thick tinfoil doesn't look half-bad. I'll get the Elf legs, since they'd be easier to boot-ify, but grab some extra Cadian legs and give them a go to see if I get the results I want.

 

Apart from the Alpha psykers, who I'll probably just have to get creative with, I'm pretty much done. Except for the part where I actually do all the work.

[Shadey]

My suggestion would be to convert one necron head with your chosen helmet, get it as perfect as you can, then use Instant Mold to make a two piece mold and then cast as many as you need.

 

If your gs-fu is up to it, you may even be able to use some to change the shape more to your liking before you cast, as an example make the chin stronger or wider, fill in the teeth details or whatever you fancy. You only have to get it right once.

 

I do suggest anyone check out Instant Mold. Never used it myself but I intend to remedy that, looks absoloutly brilliant for casting your own crap.