Dr. Ruminahui's assorted conversions

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Yes, I brush the part I am copying with Vaseline prior to making the mold, and coat the mold with it when casting the copy.  I suspect that some of the roughness I am getting is from that, and learning how to apply it more evenly may help with that.

 

I haven't done any research (whether internet or trial and error) as to whether oil or something like non-stick sprays for use on pans (for cooking) might work better. 

Edited February 2 by Dr_Ruminahui

[kabaakaba]

I need to copy few bits for my IG, gonna try silicon lubricant for plastic. Spray one. If it work fine I'll report!

[Brother Christopher]

Impressive collection, cool group shot and great progress overall. Seeing someone resorting to press moulds in this day and age brings nice warmth to my heart. I remember my own ambitious endeavours, particularly motivated by the rule changes and me still trying to keep up with all of that.

 

I remember that I used to use cooking oil (or olive oil, when I felt more fancy!) as a releaser. I highly recommend it. Since they're more runny than Vaseline, I expect that they're the safer bet when it comes to reducing defects/roughness. However, green stuff as a 'medium' for making moulds can have these micro defects, too. And cleaning the moulds was also super easy with some washing-up liquid. I imagine that trying to clean Vaseline is a nightmare. And I recommend cleaning the moulds since dust sticks to greasy surfaces as crazy.

 

Have you perhaps considered getting Blue Stuff (back in my days, it used to be called Instant Mold), i.e. a reusable moulding material? I remember that it worked way better for larger parts since you just had to heat it up and not bother mixing the two-component putty. And on top of that, if you failed to get the mould right the first time, you could reuse it.

Edited February 3 by Brother Christopher

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Glad you like the group shot - its a bit over 2 years old at this point, but I guess that just shows I haven't really been working on my knights until recently.  Anyway, I'm looking forward to taking a new one with these 2 new knights, when they are done.

 

I'll try olive oil if I ever do greenstuff molding again - as mentioned, what I'm doing is good enough for my purposes and I'm reluctant to switch methods mid stream.  I now have both lower arm pieces cast and assembled and am happy with the result, other than having trouble drilling the magnet hole at the top - if I do it again, I'll put a piece of tubing in the model to keep a void open for the magnets.  Anyway, that's all assembled and I'll show it off when I take my next round of photos.  And I'll take you advice to wash my molds when I'm done all my casting - the vaseline actually washes off pretty easily with liquid handsoap, though I haven't tried getting it out of a mold yet, I imagine with an old brush it shouldn't be too hard.

 

A while back, I did search for "oyumaru" (I think that's what its called), which I think is the Japanese for the molding medium you refer to - this is the first time I've heard it called "Blue Stuff or Instant Mold", but it sounds like the same thing.  Anyway, I had a hard time finding sellers at a reasonable price - perhaps because I was searching using an obscure - so didn't end up getting any.  Can't remember what I was actually wanting to use it for.  Anyway, what I've heard of it, it does sound about perfect for doing the 3D piston casts, but given that I just want to get it done (and my standards for finish and detail are pretty low, frankly) I think I'll just finish the project with the mold I've got.  Definitely something to try picking up should I do more casting, though.

[Brother Christopher]

What's not to like about a bunch of giant purple robots? They're quite epic, and be it known that I don't use this term lightly. I may have my reservations about introducing Knights as a faction to regular games of 40k and how it affected the gaming landscape but this doesn't change the fact that the models are cool. And I've noticed - largely thanks to your updates - that the models evolved over the years. And definitely in a good way. For example, I've always found the legs on the original Knights a bit lacking. Not bad, mind you, but there was room for improvement by extending the thigh section. And years later, GW did it (but it seems that only for the Chaos variety).

 

By the way, are you planning to add other knight variants? The ones that due to my ignorance and self-imposed estrangement, I'd call 'Knights of the Forge World variety' (Carastus and the bunch)?

 

Good luck with future press-moulding. Olive oil is the way to go, ha!

 

And yeah, oyumaru is exactly the thing I've meant. I've seen this in two variants: semi-transparent and semi-transparent but blue. Green Stuff World used to sell its Blue Stuff at a reasonable price. I remember buying a pack of the original Instant Mold^TM and how painful it was financially but in the long run, it saved me a lot of money and - more importantly - hassle. Sure, it's reusable and that's nice BUT it's difficult to get anything stuck to it. This means no oils, greases and other messy business. You just use some water make sure that the modelling putty doesn't stick to your fingers/tools when pressing it into the mould, wait for the putty to cure and that's that. I even think that it's so stick-proof that you could actually cast bits using superglue.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I definitely agree that the GW core knights look great, especially the chaos variants (or once chaosified) - especially from head on.  And I enjoy that they are so easy to kitbash and "gubbin-ize" to make each model unique... hence my doing so.

 

Yeah, the legs on both the chaos and imperial knights are kind of lacking - the imperial one looks like it has possibility due to the hexagonal hip connection, but really doesn't, and the chaos one just plain doesn't.  Which does make the poses for both rather static - the benefit of the chaos variant is the legs simply more interesting with their backwards bend and has a longer stride, not that they have any more motion to them.  I wish there was a way with either/both kits to change which foot is forward, like one can with the wardog/armiger kit - but there isn't.  Still, by virtue of having both kits, I make them look like they have more varied poses than they actually do. 

 

I'm not as much of a fan of the Castigator and such, and dislike how much taller they are than the core GW knights.  Plus, while I recognize that it is possible to make interesting chaos versions (like @PeteySödes's amazing model) I currently don't have any good ideas in my head how to do so myself.  So, until inspiration strikes, I don't plan to add any to my force, even recognizing that by eschewing models like the Lancer I'm making my house weaker on the table top.

 

Thanks for sales job  on the benefits of Blue Stuff/oyumaru - its definitely something I'll pick up if there's more parts casting in my future.

[Volgon]

For what it's worth, this is the pack of blue stuff (the Oyumaru brand) I picked up recently for my own projects: https://www.amazon.com/Cypress-Plastic-Oyumaru-Variety-Colors/dp/B0C3QMTLC6?th=1

 

From what I can tell, the pack in hand looks legit (as plenty of stuff on Amazon is knock off product) and it's pretty cheap. I haven't gotten around to using it yet so can't comment on that but if it doesn't work out then not much lost!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

All things must end, including this build - I'm done!  All that remains is the painting, which will have to wait until the snow melts, the ground dries, and I can spray in my backyard again... so, late April at the earliest.  Most likely, though, I'll paint them both for Call to Arms 2026.

 

Finished my greenstuff molding and there was a lot of flash to cleanup on the pistons, but they turned out pretty well.  Not sure if I would want to use this method for finely details that are the focus of attention, but it was very serviceable for making sure that a part hardly anyone will focus on doesn't stand out.

 

 

Anyway, here it is.  Unlike as previously intended, I used the plastic cable cut from the original part here, and the guitar string cable on the plastic part, as the plastic would do be less likely to crack or break and therefore would better hold the metal string.

 

 

Here's my imperial stance knight as a desecrator.

 

 

And here is my chaos stance knight as a ruinator.  I must say, I'm coming around to the unspiked shoulder pads - they kind of make him look like a meaner omnimech (of the Battletech Clans fame).

 

 

Last thing I did was build one last gatling cannon - that gives me 6 total now, including 2 GW ones... so as many as I would ever need.

 

 

Finally, here they are with all their parts packed away until priming season.

[BadgersinHills]

Great work, looking forward to seeing them with some paint.

[The Pounder]

I second that, I’m sure they’ll look great.

 

Also will it ever stop raining???

[W.A.Rorie]

So awesome, @Dr_Ruminahui

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks, @BadgersinHills, @The Pounder and @W.A.Rorie - glad you like them.

 

For some stats, the build involved about 38 2x3mm magnets (including about 20 holes drilled for said magnets) and about 13 3x4mm magnets (with one hole drilled).

 

If you are going to kitbash your own, here's my ranking of which components make a knight look most chaosy - though, as a rule of thumb, the bigger the part and how much of it you see when looking down on the model from a gaming height, the more important it is to the model's "look":

 

1.  The top cover

2.  The shoulder pads

3.  The smoke stacks

4. The legs

5.  Any additional chaos detailing you might add to the top, shoulders or guns - depends of course on size and amount. 

6.  The  weapons

6.  The leg armour

7.  Other details from the knight kits, such as the front plate, banners, etc.

 

The top cover (and to a somewhat lesser extent, the shoulder pads) are by far the most important, so for the model with the imperial version, it will require considerable other chaos details on the model to make it look properly chaosy.  That's why I recommend that for the model with the imperial top cover, that at least 2 of the other top 4 items should be from the chaos kit

 

[W.A.Rorie]

10 minutes ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

For some stats, the build involved about 38 2x3mm magnets (including about 20 holes drilled for said magnets) and about 13 3x4mm magnets (with one hole drilled).

 

If you are going to kitbash your own, here's my ranking of which components make a knight look most chaosy - though, as a rule of thumb, the bigger the part and how much of it you see when looking down on the model from a gaming height, the more important it is to the model's "look":

 

1.  The top cover

2.  The shoulder pads

3.  The smoke stacks

4. The legs

5.  Any additional chaos detailing you might add to the top, shoulders or guns - depends of course on size and amount. 

6.  The  weapons

6.  The leg armour

7.  Other details from the knight kits, such as the front plate, banners, etc.

 

The top cover (and to a somewhat lesser extent, the shoulder pads) are by far the most important, so for the model with the imperial version, it will require considerable other chaos details on the model to make it look properly chaosy.  That's why I recommend that for the model with the imperial top cover, that at least 2 of the other top 4 items should be from the chaos kit

 

 

Great input! This really helps with I what I need to think about for it for Imperial Knight Synod (Adeptus Ministorum Knight house).

[Dr_Ruminahui]

One thing I forgot to add, if you only pick up one kit (or rather, set of sprues) for random chaos bits, the best one is the chaos space marines vehicle accessory sprues - tons of great stuff on them for knights (indeed, I would argue that a lot of the stuff on those is better for knights than CSM vehicles).

Edited February 11 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Valkia the Bloody]

16 hours ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

so for the model with the imperial version, it will require considerable other chaos details on the model to make it look properly chaosy. 

Challenge accepted!

I have an Imperial Knight which I would like to convert to Night Lords.

I will only use green stuff, tons of skulls and AoS bat-swarms. 

No other Chaos vehicle sprues and financially, will hold off buying a Chaos Knight.

Let us see if I can produce something "chaosy" with it. 

However, my Night Lord army is much less spiky than many others and many of my legionaries are converted Primaris from the Indomitus box. 

The Knight might just be a recent convert. 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

@W.A.Rorie and @Valkia the Bloody, I look forward to seeing your work.

 

If my above "guidelines" appear to suggest that one needs to kitbash to effectively turn an imperial knight into a chaos one, that certainly wasn't my intent.  I mean, one of my knights is just a imperial knight with a non-standard paint job, a chaos related tilting plate, and some spikes on one shoulder, so it can definitely be done.  That said, I do believe my kitbashed knights are more effective than my stock imperial one. 

 

One thing I didn't touch on was the impact of the effect of the paint scheme, as I was focused on the build aspect - certainly, I think how you paint it will be a very big part of the overall effect reached.

 

So, there is no reason why you won't be able to get a convincing chaos knight out of your purely imperial kit, Valkia, especially if you do it in Night Lords colours.  I do think you want to be careful with things like your choice of faceplate, whether to leave off more imperial details (such as the banner), and your bat/skull placement (cover as much of the top as you can while still being able to mount the top missile launcher), and how you decorate the tilting plate.

Edited February 12 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Grotsmasha]

I've been tempted, ever since I did the commissioned Tyrant, to pick up a Chaos kit and bash it with my WIP Imperial one to make two Chaos Knights. This project just moved a little higher in my priorities, thankyou for sharing

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I look forward to seeing them, @Grotsmasha - the tyrant you did was great.

Edited February 13 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Dr_Ruminahui]

While building some more Emperor's Children, I opened up my combat patrol and reminded myself that I have a second Lord Exultant model.  Not wanting to have 2 identical (or identical except weapon and head swaps) characters in the same army, I decided to build it for my Chaos Space Marines instead. 

 

 

Pretty happy with the result.  The model is pretty stock (I cut the tassels off), just with a few parts swaps - left shoulder pad, backpack and icon from the legionaires kit, hammer made from the Chosen power axe with the head replaced by the head and shaft from an Old World chaos warrior hammer, and the head from the AoS chaos warrior kit.

 

I've been wanting another thunderhammer/plasma lord for that force, and again didn't want to double up on the GW model, so I'm happy to have this one now.

[W.A.Rorie]

He looks good @Dr_Ruminahui

[Heraclite]

The sleek look of the hammer is quite fitting for an emperor's children

[BadgersinHills]

Great work.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks,. @W.A.Rorie, @Heraclite and @BadgersinHills. 

 

And yeah, that was what I was going for Heraclite, so I'm happy I've pulled it off.  I find that most GW hammers don't fit the slanneshi aesthetic of finer, more curved and more elaborate weapons, and felt this was a pretty good compromise.  I really lucked out finding the chosen power axe gripped near the head - the fantasy hammer really doesn't have a long enough shaft on its own to make a convincing demon/thunder hammer, and splicing shafts from two weapons is kind of nightmare, in that its very difficult to get them straight.  Using the chosen shaft at least let me go into the build knowing that everything from the hand down was all lined up, which made matching the portion of the shaft attached to the hammer much more doable (though still fiddly).

 

The newer AoS chaos warriors also have a hammer that is more detailed, but its a bit smaller and not as interesting visually as the one I used.

 

Oh, and I don't think I've ever mentioned it, but BadgersinHills, I love your user name.

[The Pounder]

Great way of making the most out of “spares” as others have said, the hammer is sleek and fitting for Emperor’s Children.

[BadgersinHills]

On 2/18/2026 at 1:19 AM, Dr_Ruminahui said:

 

 

And yeah, that was what I was going for Heraclite, so I'm happy I've pulled it off.  I find that most GW hammers don't fit the slanneshi aesthetic of finer, more curved and more elaborate weapons, and felt this was a pretty good compromise.  I really lucked out finding the chosen power axe gripped near the head - the fantasy hammer really doesn't have a long enough shaft on its own to make a convincing demon/thunder hammer, and splicing shafts from two weapons is kind of nightmare, in that its very difficult to get them straight.  Using the chosen shaft at least let me go into the build knowing that everything from the hand down was all lined up, which made matching the portion of the shaft attached to the hammer much more doable (though still fiddly).

 

The newer AoS chaos warriors also have a hammer that is more detailed, but its a bit smaller and not as interesting visually as the one I used.

 

 

It's a great choice. I'm going to have to look out for those bits if I'm going to add more thunder hammers to my Emperor's Children.

 

On 2/18/2026 at 1:19 AM, Dr_Ruminahui said:

Oh, and I don't think I've ever mentioned it, but BadgersinHills, I love your user name.

 

Thanks, good doctor! I loved reading the Redwall books as a kid and the badgers were always awesome (in all senses of the word) when they showed up. As for why they're in hills, that's been lost to the warp, and I'm definitely not some kind of badger-based hivemind in a hill.