Khorne's Eternal Hunt - KrautScientist's chaotic WIP thread 2024: Baby steps...

[Montuhotep]

That first Blight is so well done that until you mentioned it, I didn't twig the cracked plate wasn't original!

[Flint13]

Oh wow, I'm not a huge Nurgle fan, but those are looking pretty awesome, K-Sci. 

 

The marines and sorc are super themey without going over the top silly.

 

Can't wait to see them painted ^_^

[Barabbas Sogalon]

Is the backpack one the first one reloading his bolter? Practical.

[Midnightmare]

Loving those action shots!! You should do them on commission for others, hint, hint

 

Great use of bits on the Nurgle dudes, I especially like the middle guy. Nice work on the chest burst guy too 

[Widowmaker]

Really nice work KrautScientist.

 

Love the subtle conversions and how well you've made them fit into the 40k universe. I actually kinda wish I hadn't seen them, because now I'm thinking about going out and buying a box or the of them!

 

Look forward to seeing more.

 

Cheers

 

Widowmaker

[KrautScientist]

Thanks for the positive feedback, guys! ;)

 

@ Midnight Runner: Mate, if you knew how easy this was, you'd be doing pictures like that yourself. Seriously, I basically taught it to myself over the last two weeks, and I am not even good at it. The great thing is that Pixlr is really helpful when it comes to "camouflaging" the botch job you've done in Photoshop/GIMP beforehand ;)

 

So, anyway, I was reasonably happy with my Blightking-conversions, but Jeff Vader pointed out that something bothered him about the medieval helmet on the second one. Now I have to admit that I think medieval elements on Chaos Space Marines should actually be embraced rather than toned down -- especially on Khornate and Nurglite models. I also love that particular helmet and definitely wanted to keep it. That said, the head of the model could also be an element that further "40k-i-fies" the model, plus I wasn't 100% happy with the WIP myself, so here's what I did:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/26/658345-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

As you can see, I attached some cables and tubes to the head for a more modern look. Those tubes also feed into a custom backpack now:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/26/658346_sm-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

It goes without saying that the backpack has an ominous tank on top:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/26/658347-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

And I added a small gorget piece to the breastplate. I like the way it works together with the helmet:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/26/658348-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

So, what do you think?

[Augustus b'Raass]

Kraut, now that you've all infected us with the Nurgle virus, you can't blame me for being inspired by your conversions here, which are awesome. I've just decided that my next dreadnought will be dedicated to Nurgle, and it'll have a tank on top, just like this ^^ bad boy .

[Daemon2027]

Continuously brilliant work Kraut.

[EdT]

Great stuff! I think adding the cables to the helm really helps 40kify him, but I can't help but think that some more technogubbins on his waist would further cement the theme. I'd be tempted either to move the holster round to be a bit more prominent, add some more grenades, or place one of the apothecary waist-units pumping something unspeakable into his bloodstream, perhaps?

 

It's really good to see the first putrid blightking conversions begin to filter out there; I'm particularly grateful for the photos as a potentially fun idea using the blightkings as a base came to me the other day (along with everyone else, I'm sure; I can see these guys becoming as ubiquitous as the Cairnwraith) and I was really keen for extra shots to get a sense of how difficult my plans would be to execute. On the basis of this, I think I'll invest in a set; I forsee lots of de-nurglifying in my future...

[KrautScientist]

Cheers, guys! :)

 

@ Augustus b'Raass: I am really looking forward to seeing that Dread, mate! But I think you'll have to spend some time on the Khornate side of your force first... ;)

 

@ Daemon2027: Much obliged! :)

 

@ EdT: These guys could really be interesting for your truescale projects, because at least one or two of the armoured bodies should be reasonably easy to transform into something decidedly less nurgly. As for your suggestions, I have added some pieces of more futuristic gear here and there: some grenades on the belt, some ammo pouches and a couple of washer screws carefully shaved off Ork boy parts. All of these little touches serve to root the models more firmly in the 40k universe -- there'll be more pictures soon!

 

I am also already hard at work on my third conversion: I liked Jeff Vader's idea of building a Blightking with a heavy weapon, although I did want to try a somewhat different approach:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/27/658794-Death%20Guard%2C%20Nurgle%2C%20Putrid%20Blightkings.JPG

This guy is still missing a ton of details, but the basic pose is there -- getting the arms and heavy bolter sorted out was actually a bit of a nightmare ;)

As always, let me know what you think! :)

[YoungWolf7]

Head looks way too small. (Which means it's likely actual scale for 28mm.)

[KrautScientist]

Yeah, you're absolutely right: I have swapped in an actual head from the Blightking kit, and it works much better now.

 

EDIT: Here's another look at the model as of five minutes ago ;)

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/27/658827-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/27/658828-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

 

As always, let me know what you think! :)

Edited October 27, 2014 by KrautScientist

[Montuhotep]

As perfect as ever.

 

Question - are you going to add a pipe running from the ring on his gorget to his chest plate? Would look brilliant if you did.

[ElDuderino]

Looking great KS!

 

One minor thing though. I'd like to see some more terminator shoulder pads on these guys, the round pads are like 70% of the 40k aesthetic imho:)

[EdT]

Love the heavy bolter guy, he's the besrt one yet I think. I also second the call for more pipes and tubes running around the place; they're nice and nurgly but also reinforce the 40K theme.

 

I actually picked up a set of Blightkings myself today and am doing a test with a fair amount of greenstuff filling exactly as you describe. So far, it's all looking quite promising. Out of interest, how did you do the arms? I can completely see how they'd be a nightmare; I've only spent a few minutes playing around with arm combinations (the Chaos Knight arms seem a good fit here) as I needed to let things cure, but thanks to the torso's bulk a pose that holds a weapon across the chest seems pretty tricky. Are we basically talking lots of cursing and reposing until it looks sort of ok (which is what I'm bracing myself for), or something more simple? I can spot a Terminator upper arm in there but the trigger arm seems to be something more WHFB...

[KrautScientist]

Thanks, guys! I really appreciate the feedback!

 

@ Paladin7221: Hmm, do you mean a pipe that attached to the front of that ring? Because that's actually a grille (I wanted it to look like some kind of rebreather or vent or what have you, although it's difficult to make out in the photos). Or should it attach to the side of the ring? In any case, I'll look into it.

 

@ ElDuderino: I actually did experiment with Terminator shoulder pads, but ended up liking the result less than the Blightking pads. I did use a Raptor shoulder pad on the champ, though.

 

@ EdT: Well, let's just say that the kit does not exactly lend itself super-well to shenanigans like making the arms hold a heavy weapon ;) The way the models are constructed makes them far more restrictive than, say, any Space Marine kit. That said, there are certain layers of complexity at work here:

 

• exchanging heads, weapon hands or armour plates is pretty simple -- some cutting may be involved, but nothing major.
• arms should be quite easy to exchange with a bit of work. The same goes for swapping in new arms (Terminator arms, for example)
• anything involving poses that require both arms to interact with one another (holding a weapon or something similar) will be a pretty involved conversion.

As for useful bitz, I've found Terminator parts less useful than I had imagined -- although the arms work pretty well under certain circumstances (see Jeff Vader's model here for a great combination of Termie/Blightking arms, for instance). I agree with your assessment that chaos knight arms are supremely useful here. And the pleasant surprise are the (shield) arms from the Blightkings themselves, because they can turn out to be more versatile than you would have expected. For instance, the left arm gripping the heavy bolter is actually a mostly unchanged shield arm from that very model.

 

Speaking of the heavy bolter guy, the whole arm ensemble consists of the following basic pieces:

 

• right arm: WFB Chaos Knights
• right hand and weapon: Space Marines Sternguard (with a couple of decorative chaos bitz, but these are not that important in this context)
• left hand and forearm: Blightkings shield arm
• left upper arm: Space Marine Terminators

Hope this helps! ;)

 

 

As for the current status of my Blightking conversions, here's a new round of pictures for you:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/28/658973-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/28/658974-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

The first model remains mostly unchanged (save for a teeny tiny screw on his right pauldron). However, he may still be my favourite of the bunch, although that doesn’t have anything to do with my conversion, but rather with the fact that the champion model is pretty much pitch perfect right out of the box. I am pretty proud of the breastplate, though... ;)


The second guy:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/28/658975-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/28/658976-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

I think I'll call him finished at this point: I added some last details (some grenades and gear) and used a bone from the WFB Crypt Ghouls to add a crossguard to his sword.

And finally, the heavy:

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/28/658977-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/28/658978-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

This guy is certainly the most WIP of the three, but I am quite happy with him, nevertheless. The pose took ages to get right (the arms and weapon were spliced together using parts from no less than four separate kits, as described above), but it was worth it. The next step will be to add more details and make sure the backpack and weapon end up looking suitably nurgly.

All in all, these guys are excellent, and quite a lot of fun to work with. That said, they demand more work and more planning ahead if you want to make the most of them than, say, a Space Marine kit. As for my own models, so far I’ve managed to come up with three characters that I am thoroughly pleased with. I am not sure whether these will be used as counts as Terminators in a small Death Guard detachment, as villains for INQ28, a Killteam or if I am just going to build an paint them for the heck of it, but when has that ever stopped me from kitbashing and converting, right?

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/10/28/658980-Blightkings%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Death%20Guard%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

 

As always, let me know what you think! :)

[Barabbas Sogalon]

The one with the heavy bolter is a winner!

 

Makes me think of the Plague Marine artwork I believe was in the 3.5 codex.

[KrautScientist]

Haha, you're referring to this, right? That makes me so happy, because it became my inspiration, halfway through the conversion process

 

 

EDIT: Pretty substantial update on the last page ;)

Edited October 28, 2014 by KrautScientist

[Barabbas Sogalon]

Yeah that's the one. I've always loved that piece.

[RolandTHTG]

Those look excellent. 

I think my favorite part of the conversion might actually be the bone cross-guard. I though "Man, that's a cool sword" Scrolled down, and then discovered that you had converted it. It looks like part of the original model.  

[Lexington]

Absolutely brilliant, KS. Went out and got a Blight Kings kit the other day mostly because you showed how versatile they are.

[Pirog]

This thread has given me so much inspiration!
Prepare yourself to see some of your ideas stolen for my Night Lords.

Keep up the good work!

[KrautScientist]

Thanks for the kind words, guys! Positive feedback like that really keeps me going!

[Agraorth]

Gosh, godlike conversion work as usual... Those blightking are fantastic  but the mix with the chosen and the sense of detail on the backpack modification let me voiceless. Thanks again for your great work and the inspiration that gave me^^

[Darth Mustard]

It´s a good thing that I´m traveling otherwise I would have already bought a box of these bad boyz :D

Great work as usual

I really like the first one and the heavy.

The second one is a little off for me. Might be the photo though but the fact that the backpack is less prominent than the other two minis keeps the WF aspect.

I would add more vents and tubes still .

but once again  it might be just the picture. 

The heavy really rocks. 

I´m keeping my eyes pilled to see more!