Make Your Own Death Korps Models

These three figures were built using new unreleased heads from West Wind, in our last post we previewed these new head sets and Mike showed some models that he is working on using them, you can see the review here.

I decided to make some Death Korps style guardsmen, with just a head swap. I did the same thing with West Wind heads for my Ardwick 23rd troopers, and really like the way it came out.

Picklehaube head

Painted dark green grey and used the kit pack from a Warzone figure.

Adrian head

I chose blue like the WWI French uniform with a heavy wash.

Kepi

I have to say I was a bit stumped with this next unique head sculpt, and decided to do an American Civil War style mini and this head seemed a bit small to me, so I used an old Ratling which I decapitated and swapped the kepi head on. I decided to paint him green like the Civil War sharpshooters I also made the scope brass.

Here they are side by side

These new heads are ripe for Imperial Guard conversions, so keep any eye on our blog for the next give away which will be some of these unreleased head packs from West Wind.

John

Exclusive Preview New West Wind Gas Mask Head Packs

As you may know I am using West Wind's British helmet with gas mask for my Ardwick 23rdImperial Guard troops, and I am very happy with them.

Wendy at West Wind Productions was kind enough to send us a few of their new gas mask head packs to preview, these are not on the website yet as they are not yet released, and will be available shortly.

These are part of West Wind's Secrets of the Third Reich line of miniatures, there is some interesting figures in the line including some that would make some great female Commissars and cultists. The packs we received are also part of the SHS or Separate Head System of heads which are perfect for converting 28mm minis. Each pack pack comes with 20 heads and is very reasonably priced at 3.50 pounds, which is about $5.00.

They also have other SHS sets for historical minis, I like the Brit para beret heads for guardsmen.

We received SHS-SOTR16 Picklehaube Helmet + Gas Mask Heads,

SHS-SOTR17 French Adrian Helmet + Gas Mask Heads,

and SHS-SOTR18 American Civil War Kepi + Gas Mask Heads.

As you can see this is some interesting stuff for headswapping. I think they would make great conversion pieces for a Death Korps army.

Mike has built some IG veteran flamers with the new heads for his Bishkek 2nd Desert Army.

"I used all three heads in these veteran squads, fully well realizing they are very different. But who cares? These guys have been in battle for a long time and are allowed by the commander to use the equipment they like best. As long as they get the job done!

I did sculpt some synthetic protective harnasses that give them protection from the intense heat.

The model on the left has his flamer in a contraption that let's him carry it around on his back. The body, which has a more bulky armour is actually from one of the gunners of the Valkyrie kit. Of the German head I snipped off the spike, that was going too far for my Bishkek 2ndDesert Amry

The bases are not final, I am going to use 3 resin bases that you can see when all of them are painted. For now this is easier to hold them when I am painting."

Mike

I will also be using them on some new models and posting them here soon.

In a couple of weeks we will be doing our 4th Give Away with these heads and we will be sending these off to some lucky readers for free and before the rest of the world gets a chance to buy them.

John

And the winner is:

Allright, it's time to announce the winner of the 3rd Santa Cruz Give Away. We are happy to give away an awesome set of Dragon Forge bases. Using Random.org, we generated commenter number 9 which is

Aleksi Lehtio said...

Those Bases are sooo awesome. I like how the 40mm base is a little more elevated, making those terminators stand out on the battlefield.

July 9, 2009 1:25 AM

The winner will have to email mike.tess@charter.net to claim the prize.

Attn Everybody! Even if you didn't win the basing set, you can still get a free gift. If you place an online order on www.dragonforge.com and in the comments of your PayPal payment mention Santa Cruz Warhammer, you get a FREE GIFT! Jeff from Dragon Forge told us he will add a free something to each order that's coming from this Santa Cruz Warhammer Give Away. This promotion will go on until next Thursday. This is a great way to support small, creative and independent companies!

Thanks to everyone who participated. Keep following this blog, as we have made connections with many companies whose products we love and will give away more soon. Next up will be West Wind productions, whose separate Head System is great for IG and Traitor Guard Players.

Cheers!

John and Mike

We are giving away FREE Dragon Forge resin bases!

Hey, here's another Santa Cruz Warhammer Give Away, aimed at all you creative modelers who like to support the independent and creative little companies that give our hobby extra color. This time, as promised, Dragon Forge Design donated a great set of resin bases. Here are the goodies

10 25 mm urban rubble bases. In this post, John used the base with the cogs, 3rd from the left, top row.

1 40 mm urban rubble heroic base.

1 60 mm urban rubble base

I am not selling out when I say that Dragon Forge makes some truly awesome resin bases. They are very clean, creatively laid out, extremely detailed and have no flash to clean up. Although they are not the cheapest base out there, the quality delivered and the joy working with them makes up for that.

And as with all our Give Aways, we buy products incognito to check them out and model with it. Here is the 40 mm base I used for one of my Mech Rough Riders. I bought this base ages ago and sat on it until the time was right to use it.

Here are the rules to try and win this cool set:

1. become a follower

2. leave a comment. The companies that we try to promote really dig the comments, as it brings them in direct contact with the customers. Let them know what you think in these comments.

In 3 days we will use a random number generator and pick the happy commenter. We will ship it for free to the winner!

NEW!

Dragon Forge wants to give everyone a chance on a prize! If you place on order on his website and in the comments of your PayPal payment mention Santa Cruz Warhammer, you get a FREE GIFT! Jeff from Dragon Forge told us he will add a free something to each order that's coming from this Santa Cruz Warhammer Give Away. This promotion will go on for one week starting today!

OK, let's have at it!

Later added: some commenters have concerns about international shipping of products, let's say to Malaysia or Europe. Jeff at Dragon Forge added a post on his blog about these concerns. Click here for that info!

John and Mike

Commissar Conversion for the Ardwick 23rd

The boys of the Ardwick 23rd are tough as nails, but in the face of impending doom and the horrors of battle, even they may need the inspiration and unwavering resolve of a Commissar.

I used the Commissar with powerfist and decided for a heroic pointing pose rather than using the arm holding a book. The arm is a modified Cadian plastic arm that I added a pointing finger to. I greenstuffed a cuff for his glove and used spot putty to smooth everything in.

I normally do my own boring basing, but for this hero I decided to use this great resin base with gears from Dragon Forge, it is of the highest quality I have seen, very well made, it required no clean up and looks great. Dragon Forge also sells some nice bendy hoses that are much nicer to work with than guitar string and look really great. So support this small business and buy something (or at least hit the link and check it out), you will be happy you did.

In keeping with the style of My Ardwick 23rd I added a gas mask from plastic sprue and greenstuff.

So there he is, ready to inspire the troops of the 23rd.

The base that I used for this project will be part of a great GIVE AWAY at the end of this week. Jeff from Dragon Forge donated a set of 25mm, 40mm and 60mm bases to Santa Cruz Warhammer so we can give it away and inspire you readers to be even more creative then you already are. Everyone will win in this one, because besides the winner, every reader from Santa Cruz Warhammer get's a free gift from Dragon Forge if they place an online order after the post, mentioning Santa Cruz Warhammer. Keep an eye out for this one!

John

Very easy way to make great looking IG backpacks!

I don't know about you, but I am pretty tired of the same old Imperial Guard backpacks that keep coming in the box. They come in different sizes, but all in all, variation is the spice of life. Units that fight in the desert probably have different backpacks then units in urban areas or chem wastelands. So I played around with some stuff and came to this, super simple way of making a new backpack. Forgive me if this already has been done hundreds of times:

1 Here are 3 different (Chaos)Space Marine back packs:

2 Choose one. Make 3 cuts. You are done!

3 add some grenades or bottles, other stuff, this and that

4 paint it

Obviously you can use all the different generations of all Space Marine and Chaos Marine packs to make your's look slightly different.

Mike

Placing your Mech Rough Rider in a story on a 40mm base....

I wanted to make this Mech Rough Rider a version with a remote controlled vehicle. I read this post at Paul Chana's Exponent Wargames. I like how Paul on his blog tells a story with his models and I wanted to try my hand on doing that as well; as opposed to building a soldier in the heat of battle.

I'll take you through it:

I started with this Tamiya set.

I already used up the Ketten Kraftrad here, but still had the little Goliath left over.

I modified it using all kinds of different bitz; most of you will recognize some of these butchered pieces, never ever throw anything away..a good example is the front circular vent which is from an old spacemarine backpack. To curve the blanket, I heated it with a match, don't do this inside!

Adding the Imperial Eagle felt good and made it instantly 40k-like.

The base is from Dragon Forge, a little masterpiece if you ask me, but hard to fit all this onto. I used sticky tac to try out different poses.

I wanted the soldier to sit and look at a map. I strove for a regal, yet grizzled look, this guy is the commander of this group Rough Riders. The Catachan head worked great on the Cadian torso.

The legs were hard and if I was a better sculptor I could make this so much better.

The map is just plain paper.

For the previous Rough Riders I used Ork Rokkits for the lance explosive, but this time I used the rocket from the Basilisk Sprue.

Here is the job painted up.

I added a lasgun, leaning against the little tank, although the Rough Riders don't have a lasgun, it made more sense to me that this Sergeant would not leave for his mission without his trusted gun. It just can't count in a game!

On the back the toolbox. I painted it red, just to create a spot color with the map and the red on his jacket.

I made a carve in his face (his left side), trying to make it look like a scar...oh well.

Here's another side view

He is also part of the proud Bishkek 2nd, 1st regiment Mech Rough Riders.

All in all, the fun thing about this model was the building of the story and the challenge of making the legs and fitting everything on one base. I loved it, maybe you should try something like that as well!

The amazing base that I used for this project will be part of a wonderful Give Away at the end of next week. Jeff from Dragon Forge donated a set of 25mm, 40mm and 60mm bases to Santa Cruz Warhammer so we can give it away and inspire you readers to be even more creative then you already are. Everyone will win in this one, because besides the winner, every reader from Santa Cruz Warhammer get's a free gift from Dragon Forge if they place an online order after the post, mentioning Santa Cruz Warhammer. Keep an eye out for this one!

Mike

Run, Fatboy! Ogre to Ogryn conversion & Nurgle MkIb Rhino

I have always liked Ogres. Since I am 6ft 5in and near 300 pds, I guess I kind of identify with them, so I decided that I would build some for my Ardwick 23rd.

I had a bunch of extra Fantasy Ogres, and had thought of converting them to 40K Ogryn. After I saw some nice conversions on Magiler's blog here, I decided to give it a go.

In keeping with the theme of the Ardwick 23rd, I wanted a gas mask, a back pack with lots of gear and metallic shoulder pads.

The shoulder pads are Dreadnought shin guards, the ripper gun is made from two Ork guns, the knife and pack full of ammo are also Ork, the gas mask and canister is just like the "horse mask" from my Rough Rider.

I had to fill the gut plate hole and add pockets and make him wearing a shirt and make the steel toes for the boots, all using greenstuff. I also added two guard canteens.

I had a good time with this big guy, as I was finishing and went outside, I got lucky with some decent light, and got off a few shots.

I also got some pics of my nearly finished second Nurgle MkIb Rhino, you can see its stablemate here.

Still need to do some rust and a few other final details.

Hope you like 'em.

Mike and I have been talking about more great give-aways soon.

I have been sorting through boxes of minis and have unearthed some great stuff to give away as prizes.

Also some more great stuff is coming our way from some of my favorite bits companies, including some sneak preview / unreleased stuff that you will see here first, and then have a chance to win before anyone else can get it.

Thanks for stopping by,

John

Kitbashed Rough Rider Space Pony

Here comes the cavalry! The Ardwick 23rd have called for reinforcements, and the Royal Lancers have arrived.

I wanted to build Rough Riders for my guard, but the old sculpts are pretty goofy. I was thinking about bikes or Cold One lizards or even bears for my rough riders.

Mike has been working on mechanized future cavalry, so in contrast I decided to kick it old school, and build a space pony.

In keeping with the theme of my Ardwick 23rd, gas masks and lots of kit, seemed like the way to go.

I found this old print by Frank Murch online which was inspiring, some sort of anti government propaganda, and I thought it looked great.

I used an old Empire Fantasy horse which I trimmed a bit of the tail and mane. I used greenstuff to sculpt the mask and leg wraps and other details and a Cadian with West Wind head for the rider, cut up the legs and positioned them and filled with greenstuff.

The banner was a wood elf bit, saddle bags, blanket roll and the horse mask canister are from the Ravenwing sprue. I was lucky and found a baggie of 5 of the original power lances in the bits bin at a local store. The horses breathing hose is a bass guitar string, and the reins were made by heating and stretching plastic sprue.

I originally planned on using the las rifle carbine with folding stock from the Armor sprue, but the codex says lance and laspistol or hand weapon.

He was painted and based to match the other Ardwick troopers.

Well I hope you like this more traditional take on a rough rider, I had fun making it.

John

We have two WINNERS!

OK, we have two winners of the awesome Pig Iron Squads Give Away!

Just letting you all know, we use www.random.org for our absolutely random number generator and came up with these two commenters:

number 8

Creative Carnage said...

Love the sculpts, especially the heads. It would be interesting to see what could be done with them.

JUNE 24, 2009 9:43 PM

and....

number 33

Docrailgun said...

They look great! Thanks for showing them to us.

JUNE 25, 2009 5:11 AM

Congratulations on your win! You will have the duty to email us with your address at

mike.tess@charter.net

We love doing this because it really put the focus on small, independent companies that put a lot of effort into being creative and ambitious. We love all these products and have bought them way before we decide we want to give some of this stuff away! In these rough economic times, go to their stores and support them. By the way, Pig Iron does take online payments with PayPal, but instead of an automatic system, they send you an email with a PayPal bill, works just fine.

The next give away will be in a couple of weeks and will be an amazing and complete set of resin bases from DragonForge. Cheers!

John and Mike