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| Pathfinder Bres Ayvan leads his scouts through Imperial ruins. |
So my next two additions are the leader of the Kill Team, and a guy with a handy special weapon. In game terms my leader, Bres Ayvan, represents a Dire Avenger Exarch (hence his shuriken catapult), and the fusion gunner is a Storm Guardian.
Happily Bres Ayvan has an elevated level of detail compared to the very functional scout costumes. The extra gems and ribbons, as well as the increased exposed pink lining on his coat go some way to making him stand out from the other figures.
The fusion gunner started life as one of my mutilated 2nd edition shuriken catapult scouts, and had no head or gun barrel. It was fun to bring him back to life by converting his weapon with an old plastic fusion gun and adding a new head from one of Skarloc's Wood Elf archers.
The comparison pictures below with an unconverted scout show what else I ended up doing - removing and repairing the rifle butt, sculpting a new bandolier, and adding a holstered long rifle (made from a press mould from a different scout model and a plastic Eldar lasgun).
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| Converted scout compared with the original figure. |
The leader was an equally involved and very fiddly conversion, with lots of stages. The base model was a Great Harlequin who had donated his pointing hand to the Giveaway Bratt back in 2014. I added a new head (Eldar champion with a Dark Elf topknot), new arms (Harlequin pistol and proto-Dire Avenger). I then sculpted the gaiters, codpiece, collar, hair and sleeves, adapted the chest armour, as well as repairing all the damage from the cuts.
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| The leader compared against the source model - a Great Harlequin. |
It was a really prolonged conversion, and one I was still uncertain about right up to painting him. Happily, I think the painting has pulled everything together and I'm pleased with the final result.
Just one more scout to come to complete the 10-strong Kill Team. I'll be painting him up alongside something a bit bigger to give the scouts some support!
Your conversion chops are at stratospheric levels now. Id never have spotted that was the Harlequin. Inspired choice of bits.
ReplyDeleteFunny isn't it? Somehow stripping the figure of most of the overtly flamboyant elements completely changes the look. Thanks!
DeleteGreat work there, those conversions are impressive! I know it's not the focus of your post, but I dig the intensity of the 'fiery' hair on that unfinished Great Harlie.
ReplyDeleteThat paintjob is ages old! I don't even know if it's what I'd go for now, but flaming hairstyles are eye-catching I reckon!
DeleteExcellent sawbones work! That fusion-gun conversion is seamless....
ReplyDeleteHang on! Aren't you already up to ten figures in your Kill Team? Eight in the last post and two in this...
Or is this some kind of weird Eldar space-mathematics? Small wonder they can create guns that can collapse dimensions then....
Technically I've only painted 9 dedicated figures for this Kill Team. They match a 10th who was made for my Inquisimunda Eldar. It's 9 or 10 depending on the reference point :)
DeleteGlad you like the figures!
Leader and fusion gun guy are both great conversions, the first for the complexity, and the second for making it look as if it were a production figure.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I like the understated nature of the fusion gunner in a different way to the 'look at me' stance of the leader.
DeleteThat's real clever converting. The better the harder it is to tell it from regular models.
ReplyDeleteI know those by heart but still had to check parts on some.
The real you of converting Eldar is the scale and parts consistency. You can blend parts from different figures to create a coherent result, more so than RT marines or Imperial Guard.
DeleteThese are brilliant. The leader is a great conversion--fantastic work. I have way more of these metal scout models than I'll ever need for regular games so I might steal some of these ideas!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kym! Adapting your spares is a great idea.
DeleteWitchcraft! How on Earth can you make them look so perfect and seamless? Amazing; seeing the originals and the conversions is simply unbelievable. Bravo!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Suber! As evidenced by my original hackjobs, it's involved lots of practice, trial and error to get to this point :)
DeleteBrilliant conversions both the physical work and the insight to see the concept through.
ReplyDeleteIt might not surprise you to hear that I spend a lot of time looking at the old catalogues to find the right pieces!
DeleteIt is conversions like these that have gotten me to give up trying to identify figures. They don't look like conversions at all. Beautiful work.
ReplyDeleteCheers buddy! Getting a conversion to look like a production figure is the ultimate aim. Sounds like I'm getting close!
DeleteWhat Sean said. You're really at a "level above the rest" with your converting powers mate.
ReplyDeleteAnd the "counts as" factor works fine for me. I think it allows us to include all the cool stuff, but at the same time maintain the "look" we intend for our teams.
Thanks Dai! The rule of cool has to win out, right?! :)
DeletePutting the originals and conversions side-by-side really bring home the level of inspired creativity involved. Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I like to compare and contrast with the originals - partly to see what's a glaringly obvious or clumsy addition, and what works better/is less obvious. It does help improvements figure to figure.
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