40K: Anatomy of a Kit-Bash

This one blew me away - posted by OneDayBeRelevant on Reddit

Hello Folks! NoName1 here again to talk about one of my favorite aspects of 40K: the Kit Bash!

Now, I love the models in 40k. It's one of the things that keeps me coming back over and over again - but once you've bought/traded for/inherited a handful of models, you're left with a big pile 'o bits without any purpose. In my case, I have often wound up with a pile of *ancient* models that I could never field, but nonetheless were very cool visually.

Why kit-bash? In part, because it's fun. It takes more time and planning than a cookie-cutter kit, it gives you a totally unique model/unit, and it's very satisfying. And, sometimes there's an awesome unit in the rules, but no official model.

 With all this hubbub about Orks (who love a good kit bash more than anyone!) it seemed like a good time to showcase these.
 Now, a caveat to begin, I'm an enthusiastic builder/painter, but hardly pro level. I'll show off my stuff here, but I won't for a moment pretend it's Golden Demon material.

The first kit-bash I ever did was for my second army (and first respectable "real" army), Tyranids:

 This is my custom Doom of Malan'Tai (and I know he's not legal in the latest Codex, shame...) one of my absolute favorite units and - dun dun duuuuuuun!! - one with no model.
 This little beauty has the head of a 2nd edition Zoanthrope (with the shoulder-plate of a plastic Warrior kit over his face to make it look more menacing), the torso of a 2nd edition Warrior (I liked the hollow chest), the lower body/tail of a 2nd edition Lictor and spines from a more-modern pewter Zoanthrope kit, old Hive Tyrant and Lictor.
 I never did finish the painting/basing, I wound up selling the army some time ago, but to get him to proper Zoanthrope height, I based him on a pile of scorched Eldar Guardians. I really like the way this guy turned out, and when it came time to sell my 'Nids, I just couldn't part with this one...

 My next big kit-bash was a basic one, just sticking a Farseer/Warlock on a Jetbike. Here I used an old pewter Warlock and a plain ol' Guardian Jetbike. I did my first free-hand paint job to mark him up as using the Mantle of the Laughing God (I use him most often as a Farseer with the Mantle).
 This one I gave a very basic basing job, and a passable paint job. The same goes for my Jetbike Warlock/Shining Spears:

 And now, my latest project, my pride and joy, a true custom Farseer on a Jetbike.
 For this one, I had a solid idea in mind and actually sought out the individual pieces for the first time, rather than relying on spare parts.

 I've been getting somewhat tired of my Eldar. I love the army, but I wanted a change from the models. Rather than going all-out with another army, I decided to start kit-bashing some Exodite-themed reinforcements for my current army. This Farseer I wanted to be a bridge between the ultra-sleek Craftworlders and the wild-looking Exodites:

 He's riding a Dark Eldar Reaver Jetbike (for the aggressive forward pose/engine) with the rider cut off at the torso and the latest plastic clamshell Farseer set on top. I trimmed off the uppermost blade vane to allow the cloak to flow behind him, switched out the underslung gun for a typical Eldar twin-linked shuriken catapult.  Finally, I added the headpiece from a Trygon/Mawloc kit to make him look like a survivor of Iyanden's fight against Hive Fleet Kraken.

All the source-lighting is freehand and pretty rough - I still don't have an airbrush...

I've since added some freehand runes on the cloak, but I don't have pictures of that yet (this picture is also before the freehand Raven Guard symbol on the Marine's shoulder)

 Then of course I added on the Raven Guard Assault Marine who seems to be having a bad day. The Psychic lightning there is just plain ol' wire, glued first to the fingers and then to various parts on the marine.
 The head is from the Wood Elves Wild Riders kit (took a while to get my hands on one of those!) with the hair/neck from a Dark Eldar Scourge. The flaming sword/speartip is from an Empire Wizards kit.
 In terms of WYSIWYG, the Spear can be a Singing Spear (of course), but can also be treated as the Firesabre or, my favorite, the Shard of Anaris.

 Again, I planned this one out - but it all came together better than I'd ever hoped, and the more paint I get on there, the better he starts looking.

 Next up: Eldar Exodite Wraithknight, built out of a Wood Elf Treeman!

 I hope y'all like my Farseer, tell us about your favorite kit-bash!