MODELLING SPACE MARINE LIBRARIAN FAMILIARS
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ULTRAMARINES PSYBER-EAGLE
It just makes sense that the
Ultramarines should
have psyber-eagles for their Familiars – eagle imagery is all over
their heraldry. For the eagle bit in this conversion, cut off the eagle
from the Classic Space
Wolf Rune Priest and file down the extra metal beneath the talons. Glue
this bird
to a Hormagaunt head from the Tyranid Hormagaunt sprue. Assemble a Hormagaunt
body as normal, but position it so it looks dead and glue it to the base
(minus the head). You might have to file down one side to get the Hormagaunt
to lie flat on the base. Drill and gouge out a bolter hole in the Tyranid's
ribcage to emphasise its demise. Next, drill a hole in the torso where
the neck should go with your pin vise. Do the same for the neck attached
to the
head. Get some 20-guage floral wire and cut it to the right length. Attach
the wire with glue so it connects the head to the Hormagaunt corpse. Once
this sets, add Green Stuff around the wire to look like the Tyranid's
upper entrails and spinal column (you'll just have to experiment until
you get the look you like). Lastly, add the scroll cases from the Space
Marine Command squad to the eagle's beak.
COMPONENT LIST
RAVEN GUARD PSYBER-RAVEN
The inspiration for this conversion came from the army display photo
that shows the
Raven Guard fighting
Tau in the new Codex: Space Marines. The raven bit came from the Nurgle
Lord Sign Post. Clip it from the signpost
and file away the metal between the talons. Cut and file down some small
brass tubing and glue it in place to create a bionic eye. Add some wire
to connect the eye to the raven's skull. Next, take a Tau Gun Drone
and distress it with your clippers and hobby knife to make it look like
the psyber-raven has brought it down. Cut up one of the pulse carbines
from the Gun Drone and glue it to the base. Glue the Gun Drone's
main disc so it's askew atop the shredded weapon. With your pin
vise, drill holes for wires in appropriate places and add them with superglue.
Bend one of those wires and glue it to the raven's beak so it looks like the
bird is tearing apart the Drone's innards.
COMPONENT LIST
DARK ANGELS CHERUB
The
Dark Angels Librarians
should take a cherub as a Familiar (cherubs are angel-like), and what
better model to base
this conversion on than
the Dark Angels Lion Helm Bearer. Clip off the Lion Helm (sacrilege,
I know) and file down a ledge where it used to be. We recommend a Dremel
rotary tool for this work – please be very careful if you use
one, as it can jump from the metal to your skin before you can blink.
Add Green
Stuff and superglue to this ledge and attach the Daemonhunter 1 Book
(after you remove the hand and Inquisition symbols from the book). When
superglue and Green Stuff combine, they create one of the strongest
bonds you'll ever see. While you wait for this to set, clip off the
wings
from the helm of the Warhammer Empire range's Kurt Helborg Body. Glue
these wings to the back of the cherub. If you like, attach a feather
from the Empire Spearmen sprue to the book to evoke the Deathwing.
COMPONENT LIST
BLOOD ANGELS CHERUB
Like the Dark Angels, it makes sense for the
Blood
Angels to have a
cherub. Clip off the book from the Daemonhunters Cherub Familiar 2 and
replace it with the
Bretonnian
Grail Knight Standard Top from the Warhammer
Classic range. You might need to add Green Stuff where the goblet and
the chains meet depending on how you clipped them. Also consider adding "drops" of
Green Stuff to the goblet's lip to represent the blood it contains (not
shown in this conversion).
Once the glue on the chains sets, glue the grail banner to a base and
add some Green Stuff to support the weight. If you're careful, you can
sculpt the Green Stuff so it hides behind the profile of the banner.
For additional Blood Angels flavour, consider adding a close-combat
look to your base with a Warhammer Skeleton or other corpse that's
being bisected by an abandoned chainsword.
COMPONENT LIST
IMPERIAL FISTS PSYBER-AQUILA
The two-headed eagle is the symbol of the Imperium – what other
Chapter is better suited to making that symbol its Familiar than the
Imperial
Fists? To make the Aquila, take the
Tomb Kings Vulture
sprue from the Warhammer range. Cut off the wings from both vultures – if
you do this right with your clippers, it will leave a "V"-like
hump on one of the vulture's backs. This hump will support both wings
angled in the right manner – glue them on now. Do the same for both
heads. For both the wings and the heads, you might have to pin them to
get them to stay. For the book, clip off the one from the Daemonhunters
Cherub Familiar 2 and file off the Inquisition symbol (feel free to use
another book bit). File down one side of a spare Space Marine fist and
add it to the cover and glue on some chain from the Chaos Land Raider
sprue. Glue the chain to the beaks of the Aquila.
COMPONENT LIST
Next: Even
More Familiars
Previous: Introduction
