This was my second Lord Commander Culln conversion, commissioned after I made the first one. I followed the same guidelines as before only really altering the cloak. I took this cloak from a Hector Rex Forgeworld mini (with a lot of whittling of the inside to make it fit). Even though it doesn’t match the original artwork as closely I think I prefer this particular model.

Even though I had no plans to collect a Red Scorpions force, I love the cover artwork from Imperial Armour 9 and decided to try and create a conversion worthy of it.

Some of the proportions will be different as with all conversions like this the intrinsic proportions between art and model are different. I used a Grey Knight NFW (metal) as a base for the sword, the plastic ones not being available at the time though they would probably be a better choice as the blade is thinner and sharper looking. The stormbolter arm was taken directly from the FW Culln model with no real need for modification. The rest of the details were sculpted except for the eagle iconography on his hip plates which came from the Grey Knight brass sheet (Forgeworld).I opted to convert a plastic head rather than use the resin Culln head as I thought it might be a touch on the small side.

I started with the basic armature made from Terminator plastics ready to be sculpted over. The feet were completely replaced with scratchbuilt Green Stuff pieces and the plastic legs cut up extensively to pose them correctly. In addition the lower legs have had plasticard spacers added to increase the overall standing height (I used the same approach on previous artscale terminators so).

The torso has two pieces of plasticard fitted to either side and then filled with Green Stuff. Finally to bulk the torso I sculpted a new chestplate over the existing one. Making the legs uses pretty much the same approach as converting a power armoured marine, but with more layers on top. One of the hardest things about converting something like this is matching the left and right.

To make the arch/hood I used two strips of curved plasticard and greenstuff and mounted them on a piece of plasticard. I then made a mold (Blu-Stuff) and made a Green Stuff cast of the original. This allows me too make more in future very easily should I decide to make more scaled up Terminators.

I left off the knee pads and hip plates because it’ll be simpler to make them separately and attach them later. You can either remove hip plates from plastic terminators or you could sculpt or cast (mold the plastic ones) them in Green Stuff. 

Size comparison work in progress pic.

As you can see the stormbolter arm is not fixed (magnetized) to allow easier painting and ingame repositioning. I’m rather pleased with how the cloak has turned out and am looking forward to attempting it again on some upcoming conversions. I basically rolled out a thin sheet of GS onto some spare plastic that it comes stored in and shaped it into approximately the right shape. Before it had completely cured I attached it to the model and later modelled more shape onto it rather than just have it flat.

I decided not to go overboard with purity seals and stuck with the regular plastic ones. All in all I’m very pleased with the final piece and it does show that Artscale Terminators can be done very nicely. I also love the fact I was able to pull off the commanding stationary pose, as I wasn’t sure it was going to work out.

Here we have a Red Scorpions character in terminator armour (a counts as Lysander I believe). The client had commissioned four Red Scorpions Captains each equipped differently. This is the first, equipped with terminator armour, thunder hammer and storm shield. The pics are pretty self explanatory. The thunder hammer arm is magnetized at the shoulder joint, allowing rotation and removal for easy transporting/packing. The shield is a conversion of Lysander’s with the Imperial Fist iconography removed.

The head and the loin cloth on this model came from the Assault on Black Reach Captain, a great mini I just have to keep hacking up. The bit on the base is a dead Tyranid Ripper from the Chaplain Cassius model and the head of the thunder hammer came from an Iron Hands model. Although the hammer head is smaller than a regular plastic one, I find it looks a nicer scale and will be unique amongst other thunder hammer wielding terminators. The legs and shoulder pads for the model came from the Forgeworld Commander Culln miniature.

The client had requested a lot of battle damage on this model. My approach to battle damage is to paint up the model first and add the battle damage as the last details (click here to see the model before damage was applied). When applying damage either physically or with paint you have to be carefully to find the right amount, too little will be unnoticeable, too much may ruin all your hard work.

Work in Progress pics