Tutorial: Space Marine Holster

And they shall know no fear.

We were pretty excited about Games Workshop's first “regular” Space Marine release in years with the MKVI Space Marines for Horus Heresy. So much so that we created a tutorial for giving them a smaller, more functional looking boltgun. When building one of the Space Marines, we were dismayed by their gigantic bolt pistol holsters. Out of the box they are so large that they hardly fit on the models themselves. We decided to convert one by cutting it down, and figured it was worth writing a short tutorial on how you can do the same!

Tutorial: Converting an Umbra Pattern boltgun

From top to bottom: Primaris Auto Bolt Rifle, Umbra Pattern Bolter (MKVI HH marines), converted Umbra Bolter.

Over the years I have converted multiple more realistically-scaled boltguns, including a SMG styled one based on a Delaque flechette pistol and one from a Primaris heavy bolt pistol. I even created a tutorial showing how to convert a boltgun scaled to suit a Sister of Battle. Despite all of these conversions, I never actually made a tutorial showing how to create a boltgun variant for Space Marines. With the recent release of the Horus Heresy MKVI Space Marines, I thought it would be a great opportunity to take one of the new beakie marines and convert their Umbra pattern bolter to be smaller and ultimately more sensible.

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.

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!

Tutorial: Autopistol

A standard Sister of Battle bolt pistol (top) and a converted autopistol (bottom).

Last year I started a series of tutorials for creating smaller firearms for Warhammer 40k models, including a Sister of Battle Boltgun, a Space Marine plasma rifle, and a laspistol. This month, I wanted to create another human-scaled firearm to complement the laspistol, this time the ubiquitous autopistol! This tutorial is a little more advanced than some of the previous weapon conversion tutorials posted on this blog. Unlike previous tutorials, this one uses very few of the original weapon designs and contours to guide the initial cuts and to inform the final design.

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.

Tutorial: Converting a Space Marine Plasma gun.

A converted plasma rifle, for a true-scale Space Marine.

Recently, I made a tutorial showing how I converted a smaller bolter for a Sister of Battle model, having not been satisfied by the scale of the newer official models. This was a fun process, and I decided it might be beneficial to create more firearm tutorials, so readers could more easily venture into the world of making better-scaled weapons for Warhammer 40k. Having finished converting two Iron Snake Space Marines, it seemed natural to try to convert a Space Marine special weapon, and decided to try to convert the iconic plasma gun/rifle.

Tutorial: Converting a Sister of Battle Bolter

How to convert this bolter!

I recently converted a plastic Sister of Battle, with the main focus on creating a more reasonably scaled bolter. To help others do a similar conversion, I wanted to create a tutorial showing how I converted the bolter! While the conversion is relatively straight-foward, it is fairly extensive. Not all of the steps are absolutely necessary, however, so feel free to modify any of these steps as you see fit to create better looking bolters!