This project was one of the biggest I’ve done, certainly in recent years. After posting pics of my previous Nemesis Dreadknight conversions I was approached to do something similar for a Sisters of Battle force. To accompany them were also two squads of Centurions, again modified for a Sisters of Battle aesthetic.
Because this is a project with two distinct parts I’ve separated it into two posts. This is the second, you can find the first, covering the Vengeance Engines here.
These Centurion conversions, dubbed Confession Suits (find out more about his Order of the Abyss here) were to to be based off of my previously converted Centurions that I did just out of the desire to fix what I feel is a poorly designed model.
First off I must say that the previous Centurions I made were not my best quality workmanship. I wanted to put together a tutorial that even a fairly inexperienced converter could use to improve their Centurions by for the most part just fixing the lower legs. It wasn’t a perfect fix but definitely a step in the right direction. I knew this project needed something better quality. I’d been eyeing up the parts on the Kastelan Robots from the Ad Mec range and figured they would be a near perfect fit for this project. Obviously the cost to do this just buying the raw kits would have been extreme but I managed to snag 6 pairs of legs from a few bits providers.
The began by narrowing the torsos but cutting the sides off, leaving just enough space to fit the hurricane bolters without the external housing. I had planned to resculpt the chest piece, but after removing the existing iconography I didn’t really see how I was going the improve on what what already there. There was already little room for the tall fleur-de-lys icon so I opted to eventually add that to the legs which had more space. The helms were sculpted to try and match existing power armour design for the Sisters of Battle, with a couple of bare heads from Statuesque Miniatures Heroic scale range.
For the arms, I removed all the extra detail I didn’t need, particularly the reinforced servo bits, as they provide a fair bit of bulk. I absolutely loath the way the weapons are mounted on the arms of the regular Centurions so opted for something I’ve seen others do quite nicely and have one power fits and one weapon arm. I also hugely dislike the Centurion desgin power fists (power mittens?) but luckily found a suitable replacement part amongst the Dreadknight bits. It took quite a bit of trimming and cutting but the Dreadknight fists are a really nice fit on Centurions. For the weapon arms I had to cut back the forearm almost to the elbow. The Grav Cannon and Grav Amps were also trimmed down significantly, with a cannister type bit added on the back for looks.
The legs turned out so well that I plan on updating my Centurion tutorial with these as an alternative method. Again, there was a lot of stripping down and whittling of plastic, and while they don’t fit together perfectly, they do look great once you finally get them to slot together. The feet (also from the Kastelan) needed a lot of filling in with greenstuff to have them fit the lower legs the way I wanted. I also re-made the front of the foot, in greenstuff to give it a smoother shape.
I made a couple of variations of shoulder pads to replace the big heavy ones from the kit but ultimately they all just looked so much better without that I ended up binning them.
Very pleased that these turned out the way they did. I’m reconsidering the notion of adding Centurions to my own Space Marine force again now.
I didn’t take any work in progress pics (I know I really should have). I am trying to improve my photography and add better 360 degree videos of finished work though. The lens of my DSLR is unfortunately faulty, so for now I’m making do with a less than optimal lens, that means the focus on these pics is slightly out in places.
You can see the full 360 degree view of all the models (Vengeance Engines and Confession Suits) in the project in the video below or on youtube.