Varied poses from IG push-fits

[Kierdale]

With the contents of the Cadian infantry squad box containing enough for two sergeants and special weapons for two squads I figured that one of those boxes and two of the snap-fits would get me two full infantry squads for less cost than two infantry boxes. The only downside being that the push-fit IG poses are somewhat bland.
Hence this tutorial.

Tools
Modelling knife with a new blade
Pin vice
Metal rod (paper clips suffice)
Clippers

Steps
i) First cut away that horrible ring on their chests as, after a test-fitting I could see that it is still visible a little after the arms/lasgun is in place. Cut away the ring and in the process cut the shape of the armour back in. Left guy: done, right guy: untouched on the sprue.

ii) Next...off with his head! I cut into the neck at an angle on both sides, careful not to damage the helmet or the shoulder straps of his armour-vest. I also cut into the back of the neck, not too worried about the cloth part there as once I'm done I know I'll need to fill/fix both the back and front with GS. Working from one cut to the next until the head came off.

iii) Cleaned up both the cut areas: body and base of the head. I cut away some of the neck on one side so that I could position the head looking to one side (without the shoulder-strap getting in the way). Then drilled and pinned the body.

v) Placed the head over the pin, working out how I wanted it to fit, what angle I wanted his head at, and pushed the pin against the base of the head a bit hard to score it. Then with the scoring as a guide, drilled into the head (I pushed the drill this way and that a bit to the sides in order to widen the hole and give myself a bit of play with the final fit). Fitted it into place to check, then glued it. Looking better already, I think.

v) Second and third from the left are the basic push-fits (not glued up as I intend to try and convert all ten I have), first and fourth have had their heads adjusted (not yet GS-filled the necks. I'll do them all at the same time). Put them all straight-on for comparison purposes. 1st and 2nd are the same miniature, 3rd and 4th are another pair.

vi) And here they are with the modified ones turned to face you. Looks better.

vii) One last thing I noticed when putting together a 3rd guardsman was the weird block of plastic on the inside of the lasgun's stock. An effect of the mould, I guess. It could be painted up and excused as a sling...but there's no sign of a sling at the other end of the weapon (nor anywhere else between!) so I went back and sliced these out to keep the slim stock. Left rifle: straight off the sprue, notice the block between his arm and the stock. Right rifle: block removed.

viii) Some GS may be required to fill in the cloth of the guard's fatigues around their neck. With the end of your modelling knife (or a suitable sculpting tool) you can push folds into the cloth. Legs can be repositioned slightly with cutting. As shown on one of the following miniatures if you cut too much or mess up, things can always be covered with a GS bandage.

These IG also had GS rucksacks added.

ix) Further conversions can be done if you have the time and patience:

A spare grenade-throwing arm from the infantry squad box added to the leftmost guardsman here. The right arm was cut away from his rifle (carefully, sculpting a stock from the plastic of the arm as it was cut away) and the pistol grip of a boltgun glued in place. The left wrist was pinned for strength and to adjust the angle it was being held at.

The second and third guardsmen had their legs cut off and swapped (note GS filling).

The fourth had his left hand carefully cut away from the bottom of his rifle and a knife put in it so he is holding it against the top of his lasgun.

The fifth was a more extensive conversion, cutting the left leg at the knee, the right leg at both the knee and hip (and cutting away a fair bit of the front of his right hip). The pieces were then pinned and GS filled to give a kneeling pose.

When put in alongside the other half of each squad (from the infantry squad kit) I don't think the former push-fits stand out.

[spafe]

Fantastic stuff there, good way to cut costs of building up an inf force. Going to have to get myself some of these sets and have a crack at the greenstuffing. Will prob jsut do the filling for now, dont think i'll be able to rescuplt kneeling legs lol

[Sviar]

Great tutorial Kierdale, I like it a lot.

[Kierdale]

Thank you, gents!

 

Once I have time to get back into modelling I want to get some more push-fits and see if I can convert the lasguns to long-las/sniper rifles. I'm thinking of cutting away the thin pipe atop the lasgun and replacing it with a larger scope bridging the weapon's top furniture, adding pipe to thicken and lengthen the barrel, and add a folding bipod just rear of where the bayonet lug currently is.

I may experiment with a waist-rotation too.

That's the plan anyway.

[Kierdale]

Here is a Special Weapon Squad consisting of three spotter-sharpshooter teams. All but the aiming shooter were made from pushfits combined with bitz from Chimeras and heavy weapon teams.

Spotters, starting with squad leader.

And the shooters.

The next pushfit-conversions I'd like to try is an SWS demo-team...

[elmo]

I just treated myself to 2 boxes of these as cheap filler models, now after seeing your tutorial I will have a play with converting them. :)

[Kierdale]

I just treated myself to 2 boxes of these as cheap filler models, now after seeing your tutorial I will have a play with converting them. :)

With the wealth of bitz I know you have, they should turn out nicely.

Post some here in this thread, if you like.

[elmo]

Will do when I get round to it... Trying to find time for some armour first.

[blood_angels_ftw]

Where did you get the push-fit models? Do they come as a pack?

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I don't think I've seen this before, and despite the necro, there's some great converting tips in here, Kier. Good stuff.

 

Where did you get the push-fit models? Do they come as a pack?

 

Here in the States, they come 5 to a box. I picked up a box of them a while back mainly for conversion fodder and the best result I had from anything to do with these push-fits is the legs donated from one of them to my Vostroyan medicae:

 

http://i.imgur.com/36rnSZQ.png

[Kierdale]

Thanks.

 

And yes, as BCK said, they come as a cheap pack of five. My local GW actually withdrew them from the shop shelves last year and moved them to order-only.

Well worth picking up if you want to save money and don't mind a bit of converting.