Protecting the Emp - Adpetus Custodes WIP (DCA Edition)

So, as promised, this is the start of a fairly regular update to my work in progress (WIP) with my count as Adeptus Custodes army.

There were some comments in the first WIP post which some people seemed to take to another level. I personally found them hilarious, but at the same time quite helpful. I find fluff inspiring, but I am not a slave to it either, which is probably frustrating for other's, but lets me basically steal someone else's idea and allow me to flex some element of creative muscles. I rarely, actually this is probably the first time, use "cannon" chapters or scheme's, so its not surprising to me that I'll go off beat or not follow it through as hardcore as others.

Though the comments about the list were very funny, I did have to mention to Atreides "when did tournament winning list become bad?".

Anyway, back to the WIP post. I am alway's going to expose my weakness in the hobby at this stage, which is something  I am looking to work on. I'll come back again and again to this theme "the building is not the bit I am good at". But you have to get to the painting stage somehow right?



The DCA

So today its the Death Cult Assassins that are next up for their WIP time in the spot light. 

I love the unit (in both Sisters and Grey Knights) but absolutely hate the Games Workshop models. I mean honestly, two poses, that are both terrible and uninspiring.

When I started the Sisters of Battle "Femme Fatales" project I had a very strong idea in my mind for them. I love the Dark Eldar Wych models (and pretty much the rest of their range) and felt that they were both a good representation of the unit, and basically a strict upgrade of the actual models. With a bit of "de-dark eldar"done I thought I could get a quite good looking unit

The WIP

The WIP would be fairly simple. Right from the start I knew I wanted the "double swords" opposed to just two power weapons. I just pictured this swirling symphony of death and really wanted to try and capture that the best I could. Other than that, the models would need a bit of stripping down. Removal of the pointy ears, studs and spikes would be cut and smoothed out where possible to try and make them look a bit cleaner. But generally the more I worked on them, and looked at the original models and other people's conversions, I knew the proof would be in the painting ultimately.


This is where I started, its all very simple, I'll admit that straight up front.

Not very many tools for the job needed, other than that is the correct drill for the size of the pin / shaft your using, and yourself.

Next up is just the bit of donkey work, and certainly the most time consuming part. The Falchion's have been stripped down to the hilt and cleaned up, with holes drilled ready for the pinning from the tube. The tube itself has had its plastic coating cut off and cut down to size. I've adjusted each one according to the pin size as well, some were less sturdy and needed longer pins, its just trial and error essentially.


The arms were the trickiest part. Being the DE arms, they needed "de-DE'ing", removing spikes / studs and any extras, then attempting to drill a pin hole through the fist was sometimes tricky. An element of green stuff will hide it, but the perfectionist in anyone trying this might run through a more arms than I did.

This them at assembly, it was very straight forward, even the green stuff part. Though be sure to check before your glueing that the blades will sit in the right place (roughly), their hand is going to be pretty much in the middle, and thus you want some element of balance. I did have to go back and adjust the pins post glueing (to the hand) on one or two just so it looked a bit more correct.

This them finished up and ready for attachment. Obviously at this stage the green stuff is very fresh and in such a small amount quite tricky to clean up without spoiling the work, so once it was hardened I went back and cleaned up the excess or tidied up any unclean bits. Remember how much the photo is blowing this up, so it does come off worse than it actually is.

And this is them at the end (well just before I added the off-hand arms). Again I must stress I did go back and do a fair bit of cleaning up at this stage. Some of it should have been done pre-assembly, but I just sometimes miss the odd bit.

By no means a master effort, and certainly not a conversion on the level of Atreides, but again I am always going to be a person that has more application on the painting side than construction side. Again, I think they are a fair representation of the unit, comparing them to the original models they aren't actually far off, but just by merit of the Wych's being better models I think they'll look much better, not by any help by me really.

Looking forward to painting them anyway.

Next up will hopefully be the Acolytes (when the stores actually open, damn bank holidays) and the Strike Squads construction. I am away this weekend, which is going to be a pain, but I plan to take a few days off at some stage in April so I'll be able to power out a good amount of work.