Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Helbug (Drake) Conversion WIP


by Novus


Short post tonight just to prove that I'm still here.

The Heldrake is great on the table (best flyer in the game, IMHO) but I'm less than enthused about how it looks.  It doesn't really fit well in a Nurgle army without some great effort.  So, if I'm going to put a bunch of effort into a conversion, I think it should be into something unique.


I've been casually keeping my eyes open for an insect model that is about the size of a Heldrake for a few weeks now.  I finally found something that will work.


It's an educational model of a Hercules Beetle that is manufactured by 4D-Vision and sells for about $30.00 US.  Granted, it's a bit bulkier than a standard Heldrake.  And, the posing needs modification, too, because it's posed as walking, which looks funny on a flying stand.

So after some major Dremel work and a good bit of greenstuff work, this is where I'm at:

The first thing I did was drop the angle of the four back legs so they look like they are hanging rather than supporting the weight of the thing.  The front legs were fine as I thing they look like they may be trying to hug a Land Raider or a Wraithknight.


Next, I mounted the wings with magnets and did some minor GS work to try and adjust the scale so it looks right in a 25mm army.  I have a lot left to do on the wings... mostly Dremel work and some GS.


I also decided to do without the giant horn on top of the head.  I could see that turning into an argument about what is targetable during the game.  Instead, I put in a Robogear jet intake that will tie into some engine/cybernetic/Nurgle parts in the back of the thorax, which is currently very empty.



After that, I "Nurgled" the wing covers and much of the face and forward parts of the body, which was a colon-load of fun and supremely messy.

As you can see, I still have a ton more work to do.  This thing is the main reason I haven't posted lately.  I'm having too much fun converting to take the time to post.

Happy bashing!



12 comments:

  1. Insane idea! Looking forward to see the rest.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Sr. Dies! Hopefully it doesn't take me as long as the Vindicator I did.

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  2. OMG, f'ing awesome, is the plastic "bendy" like an toy or more like GW plastic?

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    Replies
    1. Both. There's that brittle clear plastic like in a canopy for a Valk (tops of abdomen, thorax, and the wings), there's that super tough slightly bendy stuff like in a toddlers toy (legs and horns), and there's stuff like in a GW kit (everything else). Might be hard to make paint to stick to. I treated most of the parts with MEK before painting to rough up the surfaces. Seems to have worked.

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    2. Oh, and thanks to you, too, Butcher!

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  3. Thanks,not to stupid, but what is MEK? Looking for something to base a defiler off of.

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    Replies
    1. That's methyl Ethel keytone... nasty solvent. Melts plastic really well.

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  4. Love it, man! I look forward to seeing how this progresses! :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Krisken! I had a burst of energy a couple of nights ago so I'm farther along than I planned. I'm pretty sure it won't take too much longer for the build... not sure about the painting. I'm super slow at painting.

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    2. You and me both! I have a bunch of stuff I've built which still needs to be painted and is just waiting for inspiration/desire to hit.

      Good luck!

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  5. Replies
    1. The model is based on a Hercules Beetle that is manufactured by 4D-Vision. The wings are part of the original model kit of the beetle. I just Nurgled them up a bit after.

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