Space Marine open right hand.

[Malakithe]

So I'm looking through my co-vet kit and I notice the Melta gun is just the gun with no hand on the grip.

 

So my question is: where/what kit has open and freed up right hands? I've seen lots of open palm left hands but nothing for the right hand. So how would I use this Melta guys?

[Stercus]

Only ones I can think of are the dark vengeance librarian, and the space marine bike rider.

[Iron-Daemon Forge]

Devastator kit also has a open right hand

 

http://www.bitzbox.co.uk/product_info.php/space-marine-devastator-squad-hand-p-4890

[Stercus]

Nice. Is that the new kit?

[Malakithe]

When I say open hand I mean not modeled into a gun. The vet kit has a Melta gun with no hand but there is no free hand to attach to the gun. The rest come attached to the bolters

[Lucien Eilam]

You mean like this?

 

All the old kits were like that. You have to cut the grip off the gun. The hands that fit it aren't open, they're modelled holding a grip that will fit any bolter or special weapon, like this.

 

Most kits have switched to the hand being modelled on the gun. The Command Squad is the old style, and most Forge World power armour, not sure what else is left. If you can't find an appropriate arm, you'll need to cut a hand off a bolter.

[Master Avoghai]

It is a move from GW in their last kits (sternguard vanguard and la test tactical squad).

 

I kinda regret this new design because it obliges uou to make every marines right handed.

 

I used to get bikes with one bikers right handed and the other one left handed, using assault squad's hands.

Now the problem is not only you habe to cut the hand from the meltas but you also have to find a left arm...

[Malakithe]

Yep that's the exact Melta gun.

 

I got some phobos bolters from FW and they don't have hands. But yes all the power armor has the right hands available for them.

 

So crap I'll have to do some small precision chopping somehow or find the arms from a bits site.

[Malakithe]

Next obvious question is...how do I cut the hand off without destroying it?

[shabbadoo]

Just take any regular arms holding bolters/bolt pistols, chop the guns off (being careful to preserve the bits you want to preseve- THE HANDS), and replace them with the Phobos bolters.  It's not rocket science.

[Malakithe]

I know what to do but it's the execution of it. Not sure what tools will be best to do it

[shabbadoo]

You could use clippers to cut away the larger portions of the guns, being careful to not damage the hands/arms, and then finish up with a sharp hobby knife.  Or, just use a sharp hobby knife if you don't have the right clippers/feel very confident about knowing how to use them in such a way as not to damage the parts that you wnt to keep intact.  Once the arms/hands are free of their guns, using a sharp hobby knife, cut away the grip from the meltagun or whatever other weapon you want, and glue it in place.This is not exactly super secret knowledge or anything.  Worrying or second guessing yourself too much serves no purpose. Use some common sense, and just do it.

[Lucien Eilam]

It will almost certainly be a destructive process: you're going to lose the original boltgun, but they're easy to come by.

 

Use clippers vertically about 0.5mm in front of the trigger finger to cut the front of the gun off - the trigger area can be slightly fragile, so err on the side of caution. Then clip horizontally along the top of the hand - this cut is easy because the indentation between the gun and hand will guide the clippers.

 

In both cases, you want the flat side of your clippers towards the hand, so the boltgun is the bit that gets squeezed by the cut.

 

Clean it up with file, taking care to remove any excess boltgun you left at the front.

 

Cut the grip off the meltagun with a sharp hobby knife and file both sides flat, then glue the meltagun to the hand with poly cement.

 

Might be a bit intimidating if you've never done this before, but after the first 1-2 you'll be doing this kind of thing without thinking. Space Marines are really forgiving miniatures for conversion.

[Malakithe]

Alrighty thanks guys. Time to get some chopping going. This will save me money too and time from not buying separate arms

[Leonaides]

Or find a marien player who's been playing for a while and cadge a spare part? I've got 15-20 sets of arms unused from various boxes from the last 20 years... Even metal 2nd edition ones.

[CaptainStabby]

Bolters actually come off of the new arms really easily without destroying them at all. Just use a sharp modeling knife.

[Malakithe]

I have a pretty good knife. I was thinking about the dremel but that might be overkill

[Malakithe]

Did one so far. Wasn't too bad. Only a tiny barely noticeable gap.

[Tygwyn]

Practice your snipping skills on some old sprue junctions (e.g. Where the circular reservoirs are) so you know how your clippers perform. A dremel is massive overkill!

[Malakithe]

Ya no dremel lol but I've done some so far and the results are pretty good. Slow but good

[Paulochromis]

I always find I have excess plasma pistol wielding arms which make good donors.

I pose a few of my marines just holding guns "casually", not "aiming" them. i use biker arms for this (normally use 1 arm per biker so plenty spare).

I prefer special weapon guns with no hands on them, means I can "magna-clip" them to my bikes (using real magnets) to allow interchangeability.

It meant I didn't have to damage my plasma bikers to shift to grav.