Obliterator Kit Bash



Here are some pics of my latest sculpting and painting effort, a group of CSM Obliterators that I kit bashed from a few different places. I really don’t like the GW Obliterators, they just aren’t an exciting sculpt to me.  So I figured I’d try and do one better and make my own.

You may notice there are 4 models in this squad; I’m sorta banking on the rumor that the squad size is increasing in the upcoming codex.  Or maybe I’ll just make two more for a second full squad!

I’m a novice sculptor and painter.  I’ve only been doing this table top gaming thing since mid-2010.  Up until then, I hadn’t picked up modeling glue or a paintbrush in nigh 20 years!  I would describe my style as more comic-book-like than realist or clean.

I know the broad-stroke ideas for a couple similar conversions have been posted elsewhere before, though I can’t remember where I saw them so I can’t give credit.  I apologize for that.  This squad is my take on Oblits and I thank those who may have posted similar ideas for the inspiration they provided.

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This one is primarily made from a Flames of War Panzer, a Robogear melta-looking gun, an AOBR Termie body cut at the waist, and a Khorny head and chest plate.  I also used my Tentacle Maker SAW-050 prototype to create the life support and power hoses that connect the tank chassis to the torso and gun.  It’s the last one of the group I made and I wanted to do a cleaner model, more machine than biology.

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Originally, I had written this off as kind of a throw away model.  I didn’t like what I had done; it was mostly just the saw and guns green-stuffed onto an AOBR Termie… it just seemed “meh.”  Then I woke up one morning with the “MORE BITS!” idea jumping out of my subconscious.  I then added the shoulder emblem, the antlers sticking up out of the back, the spikes and horns, and the pistons on the back of the legs.  Those hydraulic pistons are from a Star Wars AT-RT kit, the head is from the CSM Possessed kit, and the right shoulder skull emblem and antlers on the back are cut from some spare Chaos Icons.

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With this guy I tried to take the idea that Oblits can modify their body at will (i.e. create weapons) to the farthest extent possible.  That’s why the left eye of the helmet is melded into the sighting scope, the chest plate and backpack are separated by a whole lot of super-deformed body, and the duel plasma pistol hands are up under the front of the leg platform, far from where the shoulders of the chest plate are.  I really wanted this guy to look grotesque, big, and scary.

This thing is mostly green stuff, 2/3 of a Robogear walking chassis, and some spare CSM bits I had.  I really like how the Chaos shoulder pads look as knee armor.



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This last one is the first one I made.  This is my fledgling attempt at the scary guy above.  When I created this one, I didn’t have the AOBR set, I mostly just had the leftovers from a Chaos Terminator Lord.  That is to say I didn’t have much.  This guy is a mash up of some Termie Lord and standard CSM bits along with a pair of inverted Robogear legs… and Eldar War Walker feet!  I lopped the front edge off those and added them to get cloven hoof look.  I also couldn’t make the arm carrying the Rhino flamer fit satisfactorily into the normal place, a.k.a at the shoulder, so I just green stuffed it to his back.  Which I think came out better: more of that gross-body-modification-at-will idea seeping in.



As for painting them, they are mostly a black OSH primer (which is a surprisingly good product for $3.99 US) with a base of Codex Grey and then a darker grey I mixed by hand for the camo bits.  I kept the colors I used for the bulk of the armor the same across all the models because I wanted them to look like a single unit.  But, I didn’t want them all to look uniform so I changed up the camo pattern from model to model.  They are Chaos Obliterators after all, and they will do whatever they want!

Once the paint looked clean I roughed it up with some Badab Black, Devlan Mud, and Gryphon Sepia washes.  Then I used a jagged sponge and either watered down silver or rust to show some age and wear.  There is also a little bit of rust and base color dry-brushing, too.

The bases aren’t spectacular; they’re just coarse black sand and some diorama “dry grass” stuck on using Undercoat Black.  Simple but effective.

El Studio

Regarding photography, which I’m not very good at, I found this site (bmpt1.com) that suggested I use a higher F-stop for more detailed pictures.  Apparently, that opens up the depth of field and makes the focal plane a little thicker.  Before this info I found the end of the guns would be blurry if the face was in focus and if the gun was in focus the face would be blurry.

Raising the F-stop also causes the aperture to open for longer so you will need less light on the subject.  I found that an F-stop of about 10 worked best.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find that out until the last couple of pictures, so most of them are taken at 18 and look a little funky.  I’ll experiment with this technique more on my next project post and let you all know.

I had a whole bunch of fun making these guys.  I also have an Eldar army but I’m less enthused about them because there are far less options for creative conversion.  Chaos Space Marines are just plain fun to build and paint.  There are sooooooo many ways to make these guys look impressive!

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