# the art of kitbashing 40k



## OMNOMNOMIVORE (May 31, 2012)

as we head into the 6th edition of 40k, prices are rising once again. finecast kits have raised raised the price of most special characters by ~$5 USD, and SM vehicles have already risen in price, with LR's hitting $75 USD and stormchicken gunships $82 USD.:angry: this will probably result in a prevalence of non-mechanized armies for most SM variants (rhinos rose in price too), but i am getting off topic.
the real problem this thread is designed to solve, however, is that of finecast models. how much they cost is problematic, especially for armies like necrons, whom may field up to 6 or more models (crypteks, lords) in a single game that are only available "officially" as finecast kits. so, here is a list of some relatively easy kitbashes you can do.

NOTE: i do not claim to be an expert on converting models for any army, even those I play, so please PM me with any additions to the thread you feel necessary.

Blood angels:

blood angels do not actually have too many finecast special characters, however metal charachters are a pain to assemble and can still be costly, so i will include kitbashes for them too.

Dante: if you buy the sanguinary guard kit, you already have all you need. the kit has power axes, artificer armour, and an infernus pistol, as well as death masks. all you really need is a normal jump pack, something most BA players will have left over from assault squads or death company they put in vehicles. the extra guards can be used as death company, or for other HQs

Astorath The Grim: see above minus death mask, regular JP, and infernus pistol. sanguinary guard kit also has the wings and fancy JP( the finecast model is a lot more epic than this kitbash though...)

The sanguinor: see above, not too much you can do for the halo though...

Mephiston: use the dark angels upgrade kit. seriously, it has the robes, sword, wings instead of a cowl, backpacks...everything but the plasma pistol, which you probably have left over from some assault marines. to boot, you get plenty of other bits and bobs, including enough pieces for 2 more marines and a terminator.

Tycho: space marine captain kit. thats it. gets you tycho and some bits, much easier to put together than the metal.

Gabe seth: once again, the dark angels conversion kit, as it has the robes. you could try mutilating some chainswords for blood reaver, but this is one of the few models i will say really should be bought in the blister.

Chaos daemons: 

Meh, if you try to convert characters for daemons, you dont have much chance of success, as they don't really have universal model bits. I guess you could try making skulltaker or the masque by mutilating bloodletters and daemonettes, but the MC's are thouroughly impossible to kitbash for IMO.

CSM:

CSM's have just as many finecasts as BA, but once again there are many metal blisters that can be bashed for.

abbadon: ergh, not an easy or cheap conversion, it's better to buy the finecast unless you have friends with spare daemonblades, lightning claws, and storm bolters, and use them to convert a termie.

Huron Blackheart: relatively easy, just convert a regular chaos space marine to have the spikes from the chaos icon (in the base CSM squad kit) across his back, give him a power axe (add spikes, of course XD), and raid that handy-dandy friend's bitzbox for the claw. this gives you 1 Huron and 9 CSMs. if you want the little...thing that comes in the finecast kit, just greenstuff a tentacle onto a head and slap it on a base.

Daemon prince: well, you cant kitbash for this model, but you can make two models from it by using a tentacle as the legs for one

Ahriman: similar conversion to Huron, just using thousand sons marines and making a staff instead of an axe, and no claws.

Fabius Bile: you could buy the chirugeon backpack set and use it on a CSM, or participate in some crafty GS shenanigans if you are skilled with it.

Kharn the Betrayer (a pretty fun guy to be around): same thing as huron, but using Khorne beserkers instead of CSMs and no claw.

Typhus:


lockeF said:


> Used normal space marine terminator body. Chaos space marine arms, buffed up with green stuff and shoulder pads of green stuff made to look like rotting flesh. I carved down a regular CSM head to fit into the terminator head place. Then used green stuff on the whole body.
> 
> The scythe was the fun part, a warriors of chaos banner pole (cheap at a bits site), a large tyranid scything talon for the top scythe and a smaller talon for another blade a little bit lower.


basically, chaos terminator+GS+spare bits (you can get the pole from normal CSMs) = typhus

Cypher, The fallen angel: the dark angels upgrade sprue can be used toboth build him and add a bit of a theme to you army by adding dark angel bits everywhere else.

Dark Eldar:

I really dont know with these guys, are there any DE players who could help me with this?

Eldar:

The Avatar Of Khaine: ergh, this guy's size is right in between a wraithlord and a regular eldar, so he is fairly difficult to convert. you could severely mangle a wraithlord, but this would cost more than the finecast anyway.

Farseer: the Farseer and Warlocks kit is probably the only finecast kit that saves you money, as the blisters for the models it gets you would usually cost ~50$ USD, a good amount of savings for GW. 

Warlocks: see above

Autarch: this guy looks a lot like a dire avengers exarch...:wink: just GS a robe (and maybe wings) on, and boom, autarch.

Eldrad: just mutilate the farseer and the warlock with a spear from the farseer and warlocks kit a bit and put the spear on the farseer. even if you irreparably mutilate the warlock, you still save money.

GK: coming soon

IG: coming soon

Necrons:

thes guys are some of the most kitbashable, as they have kits such as the Immortals/deathmarks and Lychguard/praetorians that can be assembled different ways. in fact, if you were to buy one of these kits, for example, the deathmarks/Immortals, you could buy a box of warriors and make both options using parts from both sets.
more to come! I will be adding by army in alphabetical order.


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## Eleven (Nov 6, 2008)

My crypteks are necron warrior bodies with the bladed staff from the dire avengers kit. For the rest of the body I used a variety of bits to make them look geared out with techno stuff. Some of the things that tau firewarriors have work for this.

I painted them with a gold metal base rather than silver like the rest of my crons so that they would be further distinguished.

luckily I already had 2 lords from the last codex and I would never field more than 2. Overlords come with the anni barges. But there was no way I was going to buy a finecast model 10 times so that I could field 10 destro crypteks. not to mention, how repetitive would it look?


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## Edges (Aug 26, 2010)

I've found that using parts from the Death Company kit combined with the Chalice themed shoulderpads from the Sanguinary Guard kit can make for great Sanguinary Priests


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## lockeF (Feb 18, 2011)

I would like to contribute. I made a Typhus model a while back.

Used normal space marine terminator body. Chaos space marine arms, buffed up with green stuff and shoulder pads of green stuff made to look like rotting flesh. I carved down a regular CSM head to fit into the terminator head place. Then used green stuff on the whole body.

The scythe was the fun part, a warriors of chaos banner pole (cheap at a bits site), a large tyranid scything talon for the top scythe and a smaller talon for another blade a little bit lower. 

I'll post a picture at some point.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

many folks kit bash characters or leader models, i would say that has been the trend since multipart plastic kits became favourable over metal ,one of the firt and most popular is the humble space marine captain in terminator armour, the metal/finecast one is noticeably smaller than the new plastics so often gets kit bashed up, i have also seen a trend of people buying bits to produce terminator libby since the introduction of grey knight plastics.


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## OMNOMNOMIVORE (May 31, 2012)

I have added kitbashes for more armies guys, be sure to look


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