As I said with the Crozius Arcanum tutorial, I always try to make each and every one of my weapons individual and different from everyone elses. I understand by showing you all how I make them kind of defeats that, but that's why I'm here.
Today's tutorial is no different. I'm going to teach you my spin on the Space Marine Bolt Pistol.
As pretty much all of our army is eligible to take one of these little hell spitters, I thought it a great place to start on shooting weapon coversions.
With most of my conversions, I take inspiration from other peoples sculpts/conversions as well as art work that is floating around the internet. I couldn't help but admire the hand flamer from Forgeworld's Ashen Circle and wanted to create my own Bolt Pistol version for my Space Wolves Legion Destroyer Squad. The ability to punch someone in the face with one of these pistols seems better than slapping them with the standard version. Think of them as a pistol with a build in knuckle duster, A "Combi-Duster".
For this conversion you are going to need:
A. 2mm x 1mm styrene rectangle
B. 1mm styrene round rod
C. 5mm styrene hollow tube
D. Hobby knife
E.Tweezers
F. Pin vice with 1mm bit
G. paper clip or pins
H. Super glue
NB.
- All measurement are rough guides as I do most things 'by eye'.
- You can use plastic glue but super glue will be neater.
- Always wipe away excess glue, this will save filing and neatening up later..
Step 1.
Remove the bolt pistol from the hand/arm and flatten the top of the pistol with with a hobby knife, as shown in the image on the left. To neaten the area up gently file it down to a flat surface, by either scraping it with the blade or using a small file. The top of the pistol will need to be level before moving on.
Step 3.
Cut a 6mm length piece of the same rod and glue it to the top of the pistol. Don't worry if it hangs over the front this will be trimmed back later on.
The back of the styrene stops where the top of the weapons outer casing changes and drops down. Allow to dry fully before moving on to step 4.
Step 4.
once the super glue has fully hardened, drill through the bottom of the hand and rear of the new top plate you have added to the pistol. Add some super glue to a small, pre measured pin and insert it into the hole.
Step 5.
Using the 5mm Styrene tube, cut a 2mm length to use as the arm strap.
Lay the new "hoop" flat and cut off one side of the circle
Step 7.
Adding glue to the other end of the pin and the bottom of the arm strap fix both pieces together.
You may need to move the strap up and down the forearm until it is in the correct place and connects with the pistol.
Step 8.
Cut a small piece of the rectangular rod and insert it into the gap of the hand guard. You will notice in the image that both ends are cut at angles to fit in the gap better. There are no measurements here as I find it easier to cut it slightly bigger than the hole then trim it to fit.
Step 9.
Trim back the bottom of the hand guard following the angle of the front piece all the way to the resin/plastic of the pistol and remove the unwanted piece.
while you have your knife in your hand, you can round off all edges, slightly, with the edge of the blade, scraping the surface rather than cutting or use a small file. this will save work later on.
Step 10.
Drill two holes using the 1mm bit in your pin vice. I go through the top of the hand rather than in between the styrene and hand as this will prevent dislodging the top piece. You wont notice once step 11 is complete.
Step 11.
Bend the end the 1mm styrene rod into a flat bottomed horseshoe shape as it is in the image on the left. measure it against the holes in the pistol.
Cut the excess off both ends, add a bit of glue and insert into your pre-drilled holes. When bending this, be careful as it can easily snap. As long as you do it gently there should be no need to add heat.
Step 12.
All that remains is to add any finishing touches such as the fin seen in the image right or rivets and attach to your mini.
You can also do this with an inverted pistol, which with gives you a slightly different look. All you have to do different, is put the magazine on the side of the weapon and don't trim the top.
If you cant be bothered going through all this work just for a new pistol grip, the same effect can be made by using the hand guard from a chainsword, as seen on my combi-weapons below.
That's all for this week, thanks for taking the time to read my conversion tutorials and I hope at least one of you is able to take something away from it and inspires you to create your own version.
In my next tutorial, we will be taking a step away from converting and having a go at some weathering. Here's a little teaser of my Fire Raptor.
Remove the bolt pistol from the hand/arm and flatten the top of the pistol with with a hobby knife, as shown in the image on the left. To neaten the area up gently file it down to a flat surface, by either scraping it with the blade or using a small file. The top of the pistol will need to be level before moving on.
Step 2.
Flatten the top and bottom of the hand using the same method as step 1. Cut a piece of the 2mm x 1mm rectangular rod (roughly 7mm long) and super glue it to the top of the hand, leaving an overhang over the fingers. when cutting this, its better to have it too long than too short as you can always remove some later.
Cut a 6mm length piece of the same rod and glue it to the top of the pistol. Don't worry if it hangs over the front this will be trimmed back later on.
The back of the styrene stops where the top of the weapons outer casing changes and drops down. Allow to dry fully before moving on to step 4.
once the super glue has fully hardened, drill through the bottom of the hand and rear of the new top plate you have added to the pistol. Add some super glue to a small, pre measured pin and insert it into the hole.
Step 5.Using the 5mm Styrene tube, cut a 2mm length to use as the arm strap.
Lay the new "hoop" flat and cut off one side of the circle
Step 6.
Fix the arm strap to the forearm, without glue, so that it can still be moved if needed.
Adding glue to the other end of the pin and the bottom of the arm strap fix both pieces together.
You may need to move the strap up and down the forearm until it is in the correct place and connects with the pistol.
Cut a small piece of the rectangular rod and insert it into the gap of the hand guard. You will notice in the image that both ends are cut at angles to fit in the gap better. There are no measurements here as I find it easier to cut it slightly bigger than the hole then trim it to fit.
Step 9.
Trim back the bottom of the hand guard following the angle of the front piece all the way to the resin/plastic of the pistol and remove the unwanted piece.
while you have your knife in your hand, you can round off all edges, slightly, with the edge of the blade, scraping the surface rather than cutting or use a small file. this will save work later on.
Drill two holes using the 1mm bit in your pin vice. I go through the top of the hand rather than in between the styrene and hand as this will prevent dislodging the top piece. You wont notice once step 11 is complete.
Step 11.
Bend the end the 1mm styrene rod into a flat bottomed horseshoe shape as it is in the image on the left. measure it against the holes in the pistol.
Cut the excess off both ends, add a bit of glue and insert into your pre-drilled holes. When bending this, be careful as it can easily snap. As long as you do it gently there should be no need to add heat.
All that remains is to add any finishing touches such as the fin seen in the image right or rivets and attach to your mini.
You can also do this with an inverted pistol, which with gives you a slightly different look. All you have to do different, is put the magazine on the side of the weapon and don't trim the top.
If you cant be bothered going through all this work just for a new pistol grip, the same effect can be made by using the hand guard from a chainsword, as seen on my combi-weapons below.
That's all for this week, thanks for taking the time to read my conversion tutorials and I hope at least one of you is able to take something away from it and inspires you to create your own version.
In my next tutorial, we will be taking a step away from converting and having a go at some weathering. Here's a little teaser of my Fire Raptor.
