Steel Legion ... Plastic ?, Found some time to do some modelling

IG Codex, Argghhh <looks at large pile of cadian boxes> , <considers doing some IG> , <Ponders which force> ...

Cadians ? Done to death, who wants to be the same as everyone else!
Vostroyans ? Character, Cossacks, Hmm possible, but too archaic looking for me and METAL, metal is the bane of conversions.
Catachan ? oh please, Rambo, big arms, BIG ARMS, nah.
Death Korps ? got a good few packs of them, with snapped off gun barrels, resin weak and snaps, expensive, like the look though.

Uhhh oh, just ruled out all the plastics, hmm not good.

Praetorians, Character, Metal, hmm no longer sold on the GW site, ebay, possible rarity appeals
Mordians, Praetorians with caps, prefer Praetorians.
Valhallans, Russians, Look ok, great coats, hmm maybe.
Tallarn, Arabic never moved me.

Steel Legion, hmmm WWII German Paratroopers, that might work, Metal.
Hmm based on Armageddon, would work well with my Salamanders.
Nice artwork too, stylish, and the cool laying down and firing Heavy weapons.

Ok this is working for me. But I want plastics and compatability with the Cadian sprues ... oh damn, time to do some work.

So began an Easter weekend of fun converting, with the intention of making a Cadian soldier into a Steel Legion trooper!

I have got about 85% of the way there so far, just gloves, boots and lightning emblem on shoulder left to green stuff.

Take a look, tell me what you think, anything wrong ?








I used this for inspiration ...

very nice, very nice indeed.

should be able to bolster the ranks with metal ones without anyone knowing.

nice GS work too. any tips on scuplting great coats?

Realy nice work man

Are the bags on the Breast made of Plasticard?

This is a great model, please keep going with them!

Love the yoke over the back and the pouches, really nice attention to detail there. I take it the head is from one of the stock metal models?

D

Here is a list of the changes so far: -

Chest: Chest piece was from Vehicle sprue, and was chosen as it did not have any armour on. Channels cut for straps, straps made from plasticard, Ammo Pouches made from plasticard,rebreather made from plasticard with the grooved section being cut from one of the cadian trooper heads, Eagle shaped clasps added finally.

Head : Taken from a Steel Legion trooper (one of the few without a massive mould line), Added gas masking tubing using the "power cabling" from Dragonforge ( http://www.dragonforge.com ). At some point I need to sculpt the head from scratch so I can mould and cast my own copies without legal issues.

Arms : Cadian Rifle arms, Shoulders shaved down and some small creases added, more work needed to make proper folds, also need to add the lighting strike insignia on the left shoulder.

Hands: Detached from the Cadian rifle arms, rotated slightly, the hand that was part of the gun was carefuly cut off without damaging it, and attached to the arm and therefore allowed the use of a different weapon.

Weapon : Because the Steel Legion are an Armoured Fist unit and as such spend a lot of time in vehicles, they generally use Las-Carbines instead of las-rifles. The normal metal models have carbines (with folding stocks), and I used the Las-Carbine with folding stock from the Tank sprue to represent this. I had to change the way the hands worked to make this happen.

Legs : Cadian legs, trimmed down at the top, Three layers of green stuff to build up the bottom of the coat, final layer applied carefully and smoothly, Coat pleats added last.

Feet : Need to trim the boots back, and then sculpt on the changes to a full knee high boot, also add a small skull in the center at the top as per the 4th edition IG codex image of a steel legion trooper.

Canteen : At the moment I am using a Forgeworld Elysian canteen, however it doesn't fit with the style on the metal models, something else to make from plasticard or Greenstuff.

Knife/Bayonet : Currently a Forgeworld Deathkorps knife, I am happy with this and find it matches the metal steel legion nicely, I have a significant amount of these from my Deathkorps, so might stick with it.

Blanket : Currently taken from a metal Steel Legion trooper, however its going to be sculpted in green stuff so it can be reproduced.


The future ...

Do more converted parts to enable me to use the new Cadian command sprues, and all the old Cadian stuff, and the add-on forgeworld cadian parts.

See if I can make transparent resin goggles ... now that would be cool.

Very nice conversion, your guard is very close to the ref model and the details are very nice even maybe better with 3 ammo pouches on each side.
The point is it could be expensive to built a full squad!

Ok was a good night tonight, got one of the gloves done, put the lighting flash emblem on the shoulder, and made a folding carbine stock out of wire that looks the same as the one on the tank kit carbine. Pics tomorrow.

Wow man that is spot on.

Great work

But I have to ask, was this guy cheaper than a GW Steel Legion guy?

No, there was not a cost saving, and that never was the intent to be honest, I wanted from the beginning to have Steel Legion troopers that were compatible with items made by GW or Forgeworld for Cadians (basically making them future proof rather than a dead end), and posable to give me variation on the seven basic steel legion troopers.

Wat about Sculpting somme heads ?

The Model looks Reali great!!

Heads will be coming later ... my first priority is finishing this test figure and ensuring that I can do more or them.

To get to the level of variation, I am going to have to do about seven sets of legs (kneeling as well). and about 4-5 sets of arms.

Sound realy good to me
and also of lot work to get all done

Sounds like a whole bunch of work, but will be well worth it in the end. Have you thought about making the legs and other sculpted parts available for sale?

I would have an interest certainly.

D

While looking at the new IG codex, I came to this rough army list .. please bear in mind I am aiming towards an Veteran Armoured Strikeforce.

The following is 1500 pts.

Company Command Squad with Medi Pack & MeltaGun in a Chimera, with Heavy Bolter x 2

Veteran Squad with Meltagun x 2, in a Chimera, with Heavy Bolter x 2
Veteran Squad with Meltagun x 2, in a Chimera, with Heavy Bolter x 2
Veteran Squad In Valkyrie, with Meltagun x 3

3 x Leman Russ, 2 Normal, 1 Punisher
Hydra
Basilisk, Enclosed
Armoured Sentinel with Missile x 3
Valkyrie

Good stuff, Brother Argos! Nice bit of hacking and sculpting there. My only critique would be that the coat should be longer - at that length, and flared out the way it is, it makes the legionnaire look rather stumpy. Perhaps down to the top of the boots? It's looking really good, though.

The boots still need to be done, and rise to meet the smock coat just below the knees. I followed the same style as the original steel legion models, where the smock coat drops to just above the knee also (apart from the commanders who have full length coats).

Some Picture Updates ...

Firstly here is an extended version the Folding stock normally found on a Las-Carbine. I hope to model a few of the arms to accept this version.







It took around an hour to make the stock, but I think now I know the "how to" I could do it in about 30 minutes, or possibly cast it in resin?

I really like how the Las-Carbine is turning out. nicely done.

Good idea but it would be very flimsy being made of resin that thin, I hate to say it but wire is probably your best bet. You could make a die however to make it easier so you can mass produce them

It feels strange to be doing this much modelling. I haven't put this much time into doing this for years, but I am enjoying it immensely. I have to achieve things before the real world calls me back or worse, I burn out, therefore I am pressing ahead hard.

This mornings update focuses on the aquila clasps on the chest, the shoulder emblem and the glove.

The aqulia clasps are less than 1.5mm they were scraped with a scalpel to reduce the hard edges, then cuts were made to create the fantail of the eagle and to hint at the location of the heads





Next up is the first glove done, when the greenstuff has hardened I need to fatten up the fingers a little to make a more glove like feel.



Lastly the emblem is done, and I need to practice it a lot so I can do it on other arms.





More photo's later, with a comparison shot showing a Cadian, my Steel Legion trooper, and a Metal Steel legion trooper side by side.

Realy well executed
Like the most the Torso

very good work

I LOVE IT

(with some dirrty tricks this plastic Steel Legion will come to life )

What do you use for torso to make Armageddonite trench coats? since cadian tanker wears double-breast shirt instead of single breast.

Do you use any Empire plastics?

For the latest LASGUN. i think Kantrael pattern (Cadian boxset) don't do for them. Catachan ones (Standard Mars pattern?, this one was a common image of Lasguns since 2nd Edition onwards, until the release of Plastic Cadian. which uses Kantrael lasguns instead ) with some more greenstuffs will do

Also for me. Steel legion looks more WW2 Imperial Japanese Army (in Manchuria) than germans

look at their helmets! !