Sunday 26 July 2015

Bjorn the fell handed conversion

Bjorn the fell handed

Hey folks. Life is very busy at the moment, as a new arrival to the family arrived on Monday. Sleep is now a distant fond memory, but I have been able to do some hobby in between changing nappies and feeding. If you are interested in seeing on the moment updates please follow me on twitter at @NafNaff81.

I finished this Bjorn conversion a little while ago but have been so backlogged with stuff to post (lucky me right? :) ) I completely forgot about it. I am not a fan of the blocky dreadnought style so based my conversion on a contemptor chassis (as they are sooo awesome).

Bjorn is a heroic figure in space wolves lore and so deserved a little something special to make him stand out from my other contemptor conversions. I started with the skull head from the space wolf dreadnought plastic kit. It did not fit properly so I had to create a greenstiff stool for it to sit upon and I then used my tentacle maker to hide this with pipes and cables.

I drew on runes all over the chassis with a sharpie, and then started painting over each one with liquid greenstuff to get a raised effect. This was quite a painstaking process, and actually dragged out over a month or two as I would do a few runes and then have to stop as it drove me crazy. Each rune has at least 5 layers of the GS painted on it to make it really pop out.

Two of Bjorns decorative plaques were press moulded with silicone putty and then cut down and bent to fit onto the side Leg plates. I then used greenstuff to blend them back into the leg and sanded it all down to try and create a smooth blend. I was not overly successful with this, but it looks good enough to get away with once painted. I had to resculpt a chunk of the wolf pelt on the shoulder as it would not fit and I ended up snapping it

He is armed with his signature power claw, and the right arm has a frost cannon (using a conversion beamer). Both arms have been magnetised at the joints so I can swap out the weapons for other loadouts if needed.

The base needed something special so I cut up a model boat I found on a model website and attached a chain to the anchor for a proper centre piece. The model was then posed as if to lean on it, surveying the battlefield.

I am very happy with the overall conversion, as there was a stage where it did not look very good, but once all the parts had been assembled and posed it all came together nicely. What do you guys think?

NafNaf out!

16 comments:

  1. That is so incredibly good :)

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    1. Thanks Zab :)

      He took ages to finish but overall I am pleased once he was done

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  2. Great work NafNaf, love the nautical touches too, kinda Vikingesque. I like the fact that Bjorn should be a Contemptor, since he's met the Emperor and has been around for a while...

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    1. Cheers Siph :)

      Yes I love the viking aesthetic on the space wolves (one of the reasons I started collecting them) so I am pleased the base evokes that. I def agree that Bjorn should be in a contemptor. A warrior of that stature and age should only have the best

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  3. Awesome dread!

    Congrats again on family 'level up'

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    1. Thanks dude :)

      Babies seem to do a lot of crying, crapping, sleeping and not much else. Still lovely though :)

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  4. Wow. That's a great conversion. The runes had me interested but I'd never have guess you did them the way you said. I'd never thought of layering liquid green stuff like that. When I've done icons like that in the past I've just used normal green stuff. Let it set up a bit and then it's easy to cut to shape.

    And all around impressive conversion. Well done.

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    1. Awesome thanks Thor :)

      Yeah I was scratching my head for a little while on how to do them once I had the idea. I wanted them to be small so did not think the pure GS method would work (and doing that many would be a major hassle). I did a test on two runes on the arm and it worked very well, so I contined on, although quite a few passes are needed with the liquid stuff for it to work without getting obliterated once it is painted

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  5. Just plain awesome NafNaf, so much cool! Those runes are a great touch, even if they almost killed you :-) You did bjorn honor with this work!

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    1. Cheers Joe.

      They certainly did, but it was worth it, and I learnt a lot doing this conversion :)

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  6. Wow, that's awesome. Makes a lot more sense to make him on the Contemptor chassis anyway, if he's that old. I love how you combined some of the new style with it, though. Really great work, especially on those runes. They may have taken a long time, but they're awesome. Great use of LGS.

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    1. Thank you Jeff :)

      I am not a fan of the blocky dread chassis so all my dreads use the Contemptor as a base, although it is especially fitting considering Bjorn's pedigree. I am pleased you like the runes. I forgot to post it but I was inspired by the old school terminator rune priest with all the standout runes on him

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  7. Oh my god...how did I miss this post...it is magnificent incarnate...as if it was magnificent 10,000 years ago, and has only gotten more magnificent every day past!

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    1. Awesome thank you Greg :)

      I am really pleased you think so. Bjorn is such an iconic figure for the space wolves, so I am chuffed he looks suitably magnificent :)

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  8. Last of the company of Russ!

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