Thursday, July 31, 2014

End of the Month, and Moar Xombeez

Since my last post I've been quite busy hacking minis apart, drilling holes, and putting in pins. Every last join on these minis, save those that already had tabs, has a pin in it. I've gone through many a paper clip in this endeavor, and I must say that most of the minis are looking pretty slick at this point. I'll post some closeups once I get some paint on these fellas, but for now you'll have to live with the WIP shot to the right. What's really nifty about this conversion kit is that the zombie and ghoul torsos fit right into the top of the Enforcer legs, making for some excellent kitbash opportunities. Of course the Marines, being at first single-piece leg/torso combination parts needed a bit of sawing, clipping, and filing (as well as a fair bit of gap filling) but all-in-all this project has been a blast! I'm the sort of fellow who loves hacking minis apart and putting them back together in new and strange configurations, as will be shown by this project. Plus, zombies.

The process of sawing minis apart for conversion is not easy, and would be impossible without my trusty jeweler's saw. The accuracy of cuts it produces is amazing, and once complete the resultant product requires little cleanup. Then pinning, gluing, and gap filling, and voila! A new Zombie Marine. The challenge of bringing two unrelated minis not intended to go together into a coherent whole is a great time, and to those so inclined I would suggest this kit highly. Yes, there is quite a bit of "restic" involved, but it's not as horrible to work with as I had been led to believe.

I've put quite a dent into the project, finishing Mortis (gaps, basing, and all), 25 Enforcers (with four rocket launchers taken from left over Dust "Bot Hunters") 3 snipers (whom I regret not showing the process of converting their rifles), 2 Marine officers (made from regular minis plus random oddbits I had lying around) and ten Marines.

What has started to irk me is that I still have not heard or received anything from Mantic as far as the missing Marine minis are concerned, and I really don't want to have to shoot off an angry email to get the items I paid for. I have heard that Mantic has pretty good customer service, but regrettably I have yet to see it.

Primer was applied yesterday, as well as some of the paint on the first batch of zombie Enforcers. I'll have pictures of the first completed squad up soon.

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