March 2nd is Old Stuff Day!

Warhammer 39,999 is attempting to start a Blogging Movement by declaring March 2nd Old Stuff Day. In the forum world, this is called thread necromancy where old threads rise from the grave. I think this is a very cool thing to do, so I jumped on the band wagon (with just an hour to spare!). For the image, I wanted to post a picture of my parents as they're pretty old, but I would be the only one that would get it.

Bad humor aside, I just took a quick look at some of the stats on my posts and I wasn't surprised that the Stormraven Conversions Part 1 and Part 2 were up at the top. I was surprised by the amount of page views though. Part 2 has more views than all of the other posts on my blog combined! I've been planning a Part 3 for some time and now that I see the stats and know how popular those posts are, I'll probably finish it off sooner rather than later. If you have a cool Stormraven conversion that you want me to use as part of that post, contact me.

Converting a Twin-Linked Assault Cannon Turret

This post was a landmark for me as it was the first tutorial I ever did for my blog. I got a really good response from the community and it made me realize how much I liked blogging. This post, coupled with my acceptance to From the Warp, really solidified my latest foray into 40K and helped to reignite my passion for the hobby. I can't express how pivotal I think From the Warp is for the entire 40K community and while I know Ron Saikowski has a thankless job and is going through a rough patch, I'm happy to hear he is exploring easier ways to update the site. 

Converting a Twin-Linked Heavy Flamer Turret

This conversion post I did in 2 parts. Maybe that's why it didn't get the attention I thought it would. I think of all the Razorback turret conversions I've done, this is my best. I haven't seen many heavy flamer turrets add hoses like I did and I think that makes all of the difference. If there is a post on here that I think people should see, it's this one. 

I'm glad that Warhammer 39,999 started Old Stuff Day and I hope to see more things like this in the future that get the 40K blogging community together.

Till next time,

–The Harrower

Converting a Heavy Flamer Turret for a Razorback Part 2

Last time, I discussed the bitz you'll need to convert a twin-linked heavy flamer turret for a Razorback as well as the tools that I use and links to where you can buy them. If you missed it, make sure you check out part 1.  Let's get on with the tutorial.

Step 1: You want to cut the tips off of the heavy bolters and the heavy flamers. There's a couple different ways you can do this. You can use a saw, plastic cutters, or an x-acto knife. I tend to use all 3 methods. Use what works best for you. I typically don't get the straightest cuts with the saw and I end up straightening everything out with the needle file. You can click on these pictures for a larger image. Make sure to cut the heavy flamers where the edge is in the below pic.

 

Step 2: Clean up the edges with a needle file so everything is nice and smooth and glue the pieces together with liquid cement. If you cut the heavy flamer like you were supposed to, there is going to be a gap on the one side. This is okay as we will fix this later, but you might have a hard time getting this to sit right. When you are using liquid cement, don't just put the glue there and stick the two parts together. You want to make circular motions and rub the parts together at the contact point so the glue starts to work. I left flash on both pieces and used that to line them up. When you are done, your heavy flamer barrels should look like the below pic.

Step 3: While the main gun barrels are drying, pop off the tips of each of the LEGO® hoses and cut them in half with an x-acto knife. You don't have to be dead center, just relatively close. The hoses are going to sit down inside the Rhino body, so it isn't a big deal if one is longer than the other. Once they are cut in half, cut off the tips were the connector pieces were. Be a bit more careful here as you'll need a  flat surface that we can glue to in our next step.

Step 4: On the bottom of the heavy flamer bit is a little round disc of plastic that you want to shave off. I just used the x-acto knife and filed it smooth. This is where our hoses are going to connect to the bottom of the heavy flamer. Take some super glue and attach the hoses here. I also put a little bit of super glue between the heavy flamer and heavy bolter piece for added strength and let it dry. While that was drying, I cut 2 small rectangles of plastic card and attached them to the side of the heavy flamer over the holes with liquid cement. Again, make sure to rub the squares against the gun so the glue starts to work. I didn't make my squares exactly the same, because one is in the middle of the guns that you won't see and once they are painted you won't be able to tell the difference. When you are done with this step, it should look like the below pic.

Step 5: At this point, you want to assemble your turret. After I did, I found there was a lot of extra tension on the hoses and the turret was difficult to move up and down. While the hoses seemed fine, I didn't want them to break off later or in the middle of a game. Turn the turret upside down and cut off the entire front piece of plastic ring. I'd also recommend widening the hole at the front of the turret with a needle file until the turret can freely move up and down with just a little resistance.

Step 6: Clean up the flash and any unsightly gaps or holes and dry fit your turret to make sure that everything fits together. Oh, and don't forget to use your pin vise and drill out your gun barrels! Pet peeve of mine is guns with no barrels. When you are done, it should look like the below pic.

Step 7: Prime all of the pieces black, paint everything up, and glue it all together and you should end up with a nice turret for your Razorback.

The Razorback above just has base colors on it right now and just a few washes and no highlighting or weathering. I need to add a lot before I call it done, but I want to get basic painting on my entire army before I finish anything. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Please leave me some feedback and ask questions so I know that you guys are getting something out of this. Also, if you do your own conversion, let me know and I'll post it here.

There is a lot that I am currently working and have planned for the blog in the coming weeks:

• I'm currently working on replacing my gaming tables and I'll have a tutorial on how you can make two 4'x6' tables for under $100
• Farseer Frank has agreed to come back from his Craftworld and report on his first tournament experience at Conflict GT
• I'm planning on converting a Space Marine Drop Pod to a Dreadnaught Drop Pod from this awesome article that was posted by There is Only War...
• I'll have some more conversion tutorials as I continue to work on my Razorbacks and move on to my Sanguinary Priests

Next time, I'll jump right into another tutorial and show you how to convert a lascannon and twin-linked plasmagun turret for a Razorback. See the pic for a sneak peek.

Till then,

–The Harrower

Converting a Heavy Flamer Turret for a Razorback Part 1

I've been seriously falling behind on the Liber Sanguinis articles. Now that the holidays are behind me and I have an impromptu month off of school, I'll be able to post more frequently over the next few weeks.

I just got a fairly large order in from TheWarStore and I wanted to start working more on my models. Since my Razorbacks are the closest to being finished and I wanted all of my options to be WYSIWYG, I figured I'd work on the twin-linked heavy flamer turret for my Death Company.

To the left is a picture of what the final conversion will look like. Let's get to it.

Below is a list of the bitz you'll need to get started as well as the tools I use and links to where you can get your own:

• Complete twin-linked heavy bolter turret
• 2 heavy flamer bitz from a Cadian Sentinel
• 1 flexible LEGO® hose
• Small piece of plastic card
• Plastic cutters (I use Games Workshop)
• Super glue (I use Zap-A-Gap)
• Saw (I have one from Micro-Mark and Games Workshop)
• Pin vise (got mine at Micro-Mark)
• Liquid Cement for Plastic Models (I use Testors)
• Needle Files (I use Games Workshop)
• X-Acto Knife

For the 40K bitz, I'd recommend my favorite bitz seller on eBay, Hoard O' Bits. This dude ships extremely fast, his prices are very reasonable, and you won't get raped on shipping charges. If you need to purchase a new twin-linked heavy bolter, I'd actually recommend going with the one from the Chaos Land Raider.

Maybe it's just my luck, but all of the ones I have from the Razorback kit don't fit properly and I always need to drill out the hole where the guns attach to the post. It's not a deal breaker, but it is something to consider. Also from what I noticed these auctions seem to end cheaper on eBay. I'd assume its because most people are using Razorback in the search string when they need to buy a turret. You may want to buy a couple extra heavy bolters by themselves if you are worried about making a mistake. They are only a few dollars from Hoard O' Bits and spares are always good to have.

For the LEGO® hoses, these have been sitting in my bitz box for years. I would head to eBay and do a search for lego hose. Be careful not to buy the technic hoses. You want the flexible ones. Looks like you can get 8 of them for like $2.50 which is more than you'll ever need. Now you could leave these out and just cover up the holes with plastic card. I honestly think this is what really makes the conversion look good and is what is lacking on all of the other conversions I've seen.

With the plastic card, you just need a really small piece for added stability (1" x 1" is plenty). I have tons of plastic card laying around that I got at Games Day from Chris Fitzpatrick years ago when he still worked at Games Workshop. You can buy a plastic For Sale sign at Lowes or Home Depot or even just use the plastic from a blister pack. Next time, I'll go through all of the steps and put the turret together. 

I almost forgot, Farseer Frank is actually at the Conflict GT in West Nyack, NY this weekend. Him and Dan are hopefully tearing it up and showing those poor fools what  DED 'ARD is all about! I didn't get to go this time because I wouldn't have had my army done in time. Hopefully I can get Farseer Frank to return from his hiatus and report on how his first tournament experience went.

Till then,

–The Harrower

EDIT: Part 2 is now posted! Check it out here.