Tutorial: Converting a Death Korp Lasrifle

A Death Korp veteran with their trusty lasrifle.

After converting a better-scaled autorifle earlier this year, I decided to continue the series of true-scale 40k firearms with the humble lasrifle. While I have been meaning to convert a smaller lasrifle for some time, the recent release of the Death Korp of Krieg models for Kill Team gave me the perfect excuse. The official design of the new plastic Death Korp rifles are remarkably cumbersome.

Conversion Corner: Genestealer Cultist

"Man will always fail."

After creating a tutorial for converting a smaller autogun for the ubiquitous Genestealer Cultist models earlier this month, I wanted to finish the conversion work on the cultist model themselves, in time of the #junestealer community initiative. My goal was to keep the model as close to the original as possible, making sure it was easily recognizable. With the smaller rifle, the model’s heroic scaling became even more obvious, particularly with their gigantic feet. I decided to trim the feet down to minimize this, using green stuff and scribing in details to make them look more natural. I also replaced the model’s holstered pistol with a smaller one, and gave them an additional rucksack. Finally, to make the model really look beaten down and combat hardened, I carved in some scars on his head and sculpted some bandages. While these changes are small, I think they make for a better, more powerful looking model! Let me know what you think!

Tutorial: Autogun

A Genestealer Cultist neophyte with an autorifle that looks a little like an FN SCAR.

I have slowly been creating tutorials showing how to convert better-scaled 40k weapons. Ever since the release of the Genestealer Cultist models, I have always wanted to modify their autoguns to be smaller and less of a focal point on the models. To celebrate Tyranids and Genestealer Cultist this month, Modern Synthesist started an initiative to convert any model in either of their model ranges, tagging them with #junestealer. This was the push I needed to finally get out the neophyte hybrid kit and convert one of their autoguns! Below are the steps I used to reduce the size of their autoguns; feel free to try it yourself!

Conversion Corner: Nurgle Naval Officer

"I draw my strength through you"

It has been a few months since the last installment of Conversion Corner, when I converted another True Scale Space Marine using a Primaris model. Earlier this month, I created a tutorial for converting a smaller scale las pistol, and wanted to finish converting the model for Conversion Corner! I always really liked the naval officer model from Kill Team: Rogue Trader, aside from their gigantic las pistol and shotgun, and decided modifying those aspects would be a good opportunity to show how Games Workshop models can be strengthened by simply giving them appropriately scaled firearms. The model was converted to fit alongside Anvils of Konor’s Nurgle Militia, so I added a few subtle Nurgle elements to the final model.

Tutorial: Converting a laspistol

A converted naval officer with a better scaled laspistol.

Over the last few months, I have made a few tutorials, showing how to convert smaller, better-scaled firearms, including a Sister of Battle Boltgun, and a Space Marine plasma rifle. This month, I wanted to create a weapon scaled for human-sized individuals, and decided to convert a laspistol.

Painting a Jungle themed Imperial Guard

By endurance we conquer.

Two years back, I went through a lengthy process of converting more realistic Imperial Guard from Elysian Drop Troops and making molds for them. I was really fortunate to have the talented Polysmith create some female heads to go with the models, due to a relative lack of good options from Games Workshop at the time. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to properly paint one of these completed Imperial Guard models. With the increased hobby time I have had due to the current pandemic, I decided to rectify this!

Gelida: Revisiting some old conversions

Into the frozen wastes!

Recently, a group of talented hobbyists gathered to play the first in a series of events set on the frigid death world Gelida. Created by Cody Taylor (magos_buer on Instagram), Gelida is a long forgotten Imperial world that plunged into an ice age sometime around the time of the Great Crusade. Some of its bravest inhabitants venture into the snow-swept wastes in robotic suits, searching for supplies to keep the planet’s few Hive-cities functioning. In the last few months, our Instagram feeds have been filled with all manner of awesome snow-covered mechs and warriors in heavy duty harsh-weather gear for the Gelida events (#gelida40k). Some of the creations from Rougefalcon5 really caught our eye, particularly a few models created from the Imperial Guard Scion kit. They reminded us of some models we converted years back (here, here, and here), soon after the blog started, just as we were venturing into the world of Inq28. Looking through our model cases, we found them as we left them unpainted and unfinished. In honor of Gelida, we decided to modify the models to fit within the setting and send them out to some of the people involved in the games!

Between the Bolter and Me: 2018, a year in review

War has changed.

With 2018 over, Between the Bolter and Me has turned 6 years old! Like past years, 2018 has proven to be a very different year from those past. We were not able to attend any collaborative Inq28 events, but we sent models to a few (Lesotho 2-12, Mare Solum, and the Thorn Moon Crusade), and started working on a few more (Mordheim 2019, Rise of Phaeton). We did a lot of other random things, including starting to stream our podcasts and hobby sessions on Twitch and YouTube! In this post, we wanted to review all of the hobby projects that we worked on during 2018!

Imperial Guard: Painting a close quarters specialist

These Skies are Dead.

For over a year now, I have been converting and making molds for some Imperial Guard models with a focus on realism and scale, rather than ostentatious “grimdark” elements. While Eric quickly assembled and painted a few for Iron Sleet’s Thorn Moon Crusade, they were more of a proof of concept rather than my final vision of the models. After a lot of consideration, I decided to paint my first of the Imperial Guard models as soldiers who excel in urban warzones. Although it was a slow process, I completed the first model and wanted to talk about the painting process!

Imperial Guard: Painting an infiltration expert

Only in death does duty end.

Recently, I converted a reconnaissance soldier out of one of the newly released Van Saar models. The Van Saar armored bodygloves seemed ideal for converting a oberative that engages in all manner of espionage and infiltration missions. I am happy to say that I was able to find the time to paint the model recently, and wanted to talk a little about it!

Thorn Moons Crusade: Spireguard of the Thorn Moons

On a midnight run.

As the month comes to a close, the Thorn Moons event is almost here! With the T-26 tank finished, all that was left was to paint some of the Imperial Guard that we converted as Spireguard. To fit alongside the tank, I chose a similar color scheme with drab greens and browns. Below are some pictures of the completed kill team and the background we wrote describing how they fit into the setting.

Mare Solum: Painting a mercenary

Dead industrial atmosphere.

I only just finished converting my jetpack-wearing mercenary for Mare Solum, a less than a week before the event is taking place. This only left me with a few days paint the model, a schedule much faster than I normally like when painting a model. Despite this, I took challenge and even found time to test out a few new techniques!

Mare Solum: Building a mercenary

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

Over the last few years, the Inq28 movement has steadily been increasing in popularity, as evidenced by more and more collaborative events, such as the Pilgrym and Tor Megiddo. Relatively few have taken place in the USA, however, aside from the Curse of the Alabaster. Vince Fiore, of the Dark_Tech_ fame is looking to change that with his world-building collaborative project Mare Solum. The setting has a great deep-sea diver/nautical theme that I thought would be fun to explore. Having just spent a lot of time converting and creating molds for some Imperial Guard, I decided this would be a great opportunity to see what diverse things I could create with them, trying to make them visually distinct from the stock models, but also fitting with the Mare Solum theme.

Thorn Moons Crusade: Painted T-26

The Rhani of Yhanzi march next to the T-26.

A while back I posted my efforts at repurposing a 1:35 scale Russian T-26 for use by the human elements during the Thorn Moon Crusade. After some deliberation, I decided to try painting it using some scale model techniques, primarily involving various oil paints and some enamels. For one reason or another, there seems to be somewhat of a gulf between scale model (tanks, airplanes, trains, etc.) painting and miniature wargame painting. Possibly this is because GW’s line of paints are all acrylic ones, and are the easiest to find if you are already involved in the wargaming hobby. While it was quite a learning experience, I am glad to report the tank is complete, and wanted to talk a little about the painting process.

Imperial Guard: Building an infiltration expert

“I'm just a man who's good at what he does. Killing.”

With the recent release of the plastic Van Saar for Necromunda, the hobby community finally has plastic models that are wearing body gloves (armored in this case), something ubiquitous in the background (and was popularized, and maybe coined, by Dan Abnett) but curiously absent in model form. Having spent much of this year converting and casting Imperial Guard, I thought these new models would make an excellent foundation for converting a recon specialist for them (taking suitable cues from Metal Gear Solid, of course!). What started out as a relatively simple project rapidly escalated as I attempted more and more sculpting, both to distance the model from the Van Saar and to make the model fit its role as a master scout.

MasterClub 1/35 metal tank tracks: Impressions

"Wherever you are, death will find you, even in the looming tower."

Earlier this year I built and modified a Russian T-26 tank for use in the upcoming Thorn Moons Crusade. One of the most challenging and time consuming aspects of the entire build was assembling the plastic tracks for the tank, since they were assembled link by link and fixed with tiny plastic bolts. I entertained the notion of building another tank for the Thorn Moons project, but wanted to find an alternative to the plastic tracks, one that still looked good but was easier to assemble. After a little research, I discovered that there are aftermarket metal tracks available, and decided it would be fun to see what they are like. There are two major companies that produce these tracks, Friulmodel and MasterClub. I decided to get a set of T-26 tracks from MasterClub because they use resin pins to hold the metal tracks together, rather than cut-to-fit wire (Friulmodel). Read on if you wish to learn about my struggles with building these tracks.

Thorn Moons Crusade: the Polysmith helps us create the first Spireguard

Our presence remakes the past.

Having made some molds, built some mock-ups, and written some background, we are thrilled to finally show everyone some completed Spireguard from the 73rd Thorn Moon! Even more exciting, however, we get to announce that the esteemed Polysmith (one of the nicest and most talented hobbyists you will ever find!) has collaborated with us to make them into a reality! An accomplished 3d designer and sculptor, he designed and printed a range of stunning female heads to help build our Thorn Moon defenders. After being disappointed with the scale of the new Necromunda Escher models, we needed to find a new source for supplying us with a large number of suitable heads for the models. The Polysmith quickly came to mind, due to his skill with 3d design and his imaginative conversions that take GW models and turn them into something completely unrecognizable (his work on Instagram speaks for itself). He graciously agreed to help us and created a series of remarkable sculpts. Below are pictures of the initial renders and some of the final models built with them!

Thorn Moons Crusade: The XXVIII Expeditionary fleet arrives at the Crataegus Fragmentum

The Shape of He to Come.

Over the past few months, we have been working on creating some Imperial Army/Guard to defend the Thorn Moons from a warpath of ravaging Space Wolves. Recently we started the process of creating some silicon molds to help expedite the process of building an army. For this post, we thought we would do something a little different and, rather than talk about our progress with the models, we would show the first of what we hope to be a few posts dealing with their background!

Thorn Moons Crusade: Making a mold for the Defenders of the 73rd Moon

It's understood, we'll do or die.

A few weeks ago, we showed our progress on our remnants of the Imperial Army defending the Thorn Moons. Since then, I have disassembled all of the models and built a few more weapons and sculpted some arms, preparing to create a silicone mold. I am pleased to say that I made the first mold for the guard, and it was quite successful! I wanted to show you a few pictures of the resulting mold and the resin casts it produces.

Thorn Moons Crusade: Defenders of the 73rd Moon

For a thousand years I spurned the flesh change
But I had lived as half a being
Until the celestial tides wrought our metagenesis.

Late last year, shortly after Iron Sleet announced their second Invitational, we began work on some Imperial Guard to defend the Thorn Moons, the remnants of the Imperial Army that originally explored the Crataegus Fragmentum during the Great Crusade. For the Guard, we wanted to create soldiers that were a little more grounded in reality than most of Games Workshop’s human warriors, eschewing bulky breastplates, rubberized mining suits, and heavily starched robes. To do this, I started to greatly modify Forge World Elysian Drop Troops. In the last few months, I have not had too much time to work on them, but am pleased to say I am now going to set my full attention on them again! I wanted to use this post to show my recent progress on them.