Tutorial - Converting Mk VI legs to Mk IV Legs

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Here's an easy way to convert the Mk VI Corvus, or "Beaky", legs to Mk IV Maximus that requires some basic modeling and sculpting tools.

 

You will need:

 

Sharp hobby blade

Files, sanding sticks, or sandpaper

Greenstuff

Sculpting tools

 

 

For reference, the only MK IV legs I have from Forge World, besides the jetbikers who aren't a good example, is this Destroyer body. Next to it is the Mk VI legs I am using from the Assault Marine box.

 

http://i.imgur.com/iuNNZr4.jpg

 

I like the MK IV knee pads on the Destroyer figures better than normal Mk IV legs because it looks the pads can actually move.

 

 

The first thing to do is to scribe a line across the front of the greave that is level with the lower side on the back of the leg: just above the red line in the pic is where you want to do it.

http://i.imgur.com/HER7d6D.jpg

 

Once you have that line as your guide, press the blade into the groove to deepen it a little, but don't get carried away. Next, shave down the portion of the greave above that line, but don't take it all the way down to the leg - leave a little material there. Clean up the area with some files, smoothing out the upper area and the new "top" of the greave. If the line you cut across it is a little crooked, now is the time to fix it with your files.

 

You could also use the Mk VII legs with the round knee pads, but it require a little more work in this step, cutting and filing it down to the approximate shape of the Mk IV knee pad.

 

Once you're happy with the shaved down portion of the knee pad, mix up some greenstuff and get your sculpting tools out. Take a small amount of greenstuff and push it onto the upper area of the old greave, spreading it around with your fingers to the approximate size you'll need. If you're having trouble with the greenstuff staying in place, you can put a dot of super glue on the plastic and push the greenstuff onto it. Make sure the greenstuff isn't too thick, as you don't want the knee pad to stick out further than the rest of the armor. Now, for the sculpting part:

 

http://i.imgur.com/bknKTIX.jpg
 

For beginners, it's much easier to use a sharp hobby blade to shape the knee pad than trying to get those sharp edges with a sculpting tool. Remove the excess greenstuff you cut away and clean up the edges with your sculpting tool. When done, you should have something like this:

 

http://i.imgur.com/DQjEFlq.jpg

 

Voila! Easy Mk IV legs!

 

I would strongly suggest doing one knee pad at a time and letting the greenstuff cure completely before moving on to the next one, because a stray finger in the wrong place can ruin all the work you just did on the first knee pad. If you plan on converting several legs like this, you should prep them all in advance by cutting away the upper greave area and then do one pad on each leg set, let the greenstuff cure, and then knock out the others.

 

If you want to add rivets as in the Destroyer image, you can take a small pointed object, like a toothpick, dip it some PVA (white) glue and add a little drop of glue where you want the rivets to go. Let it dry, and if you want it larger, you can add more drops on top of it until it's the size you want.

 

[Dosjetka]

Thanks for doing this, Kage

Well explained and very tempting

[Badaab]

If you want a more robust rivet, follow the above instructions, but use small glass beads.
I went to a crafts store (Michael's, I believe) and went into the scrapbooking section, to obtain a bottle of glass microbeads.  They're perfectly round, uniformly sized, and one bottle will last you a lifetime.

[Forté]

What you can do too if you want a smooth finish and a hard edge to the GS is to run a file over it once it is cured.

 

And thanks for the tutorial too. Giving me ideas.

[reckoning]

Awesome tutorial!

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

What you can do too if you want a smooth finish and a hard edge to the GS is to run a file over it once it is cured.

 

And thanks for the tutorial too. Giving me ideas.

 

I use fingernail files to smooth my cured greenstuff - the kind with the flexible foam between the two sides, like this:

 

http://i.imgur.com/Rgl7IPh.jpg?2

 

Awesome tutorial!

 

Thanks! I might have another up soon about making cloaks.

[AGPO]

Thanks for this. With a few acumulated Mk 4 torsos and heads from the Death Company and Black Templars and a couple of 2ed backpacks you've just saved me a packet on Forge World.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Happy to help! If you try out the conversion, I'd love to see some of your results.