This time, we’re keeping the original Space Marine flamer’s muzzle. We’re doing this conversion now because it uses another leftover bit from the Sentry Gun conversion.

Anatomy of a Flame Unit

The Cadian box comes with a delightfully retro-looking flamer that has large backpack fuel tanks and a massive wand, which isn’t quite going to fit in with the rest of the Aliensy stuff we’re doing. So, we’re going for something closer to the movie weapon in look and feel, and we’ll be doing this by shortening and trimming down a standard Space Marine flamer. The Space Marine flamer already has a reasonably close form factor, that being a rifle-sized weapon with an attached fuel canister.

Required Parts

The photo below illustrates the parts needed for this conversion. When only a small portion of a part is required, the important piece is highlighted in red. (Save the leftover pieces! They’ll come in handy later.)

Configuration

The photos below show how all the parts listed above go together to assemble a flame unit.

Assembly

1. Slice the muzzle off the flamer.
2. Slice off the remaining barrel stubs on the flamer so that the muzzle will fit flush with the front handguard.
3. Slice off the “hook” on top of the flamer.
4. Slice off the entire grip assembly on the flamer, using the front of the flamer’s trigger guard as the guide.
5. Glue the flamer body to the front of the grenade launcher grip on the right arm.
6. Glue the flamer muzzle to the front of the flamer body.
7. Carefully slice the open left hand off at the wrist, and do the same for the closed fist on the Cadian flamer left arm.
8. Glue the open left hand to the wrist of the Cadian flamer left arm.
9. You may have to goosh the arms around a little bit to get a nice angle on the flame unit, and you might also need to tweak the left hand a little so the flame unit sits in it nicely. When you glue the arms into place, consult the photo below to see how the arms should be positioned.

You’re done! Repeat this one more time, and you’ll have a pair of flame units.

In the next article, we’ll make a pair of autoloading mortars.

Incidentally, the original version of this weapon used an Imperial Guard vehicle heavy stubber, but that part makes for an expensive conversion, so I went back to the drawing board to find a way to get the same sort of weapon from cheaper and more common bits.

Anatomy of a Smart Gun

The basic idea behind the smart gun is that it’s a large and somewhat cumbersome machine gun that automatically tracks targets by means of sensors and an actuated harness system, while the actual firing is done by the operator. The significant characteristics of this weapon are, therefore, its size, the auto-tracking capability, a high rate of fire, and the fact that it’s fed by a drum magazine. We are going to incorporate those themes so that while the converted smart gun does not look exactly like the one in the movie, it will still have the correct look and feel.

Required Parts

The photo below illustrates the parts needed for this conversion. When only a small portion of a part is required, the important piece is highlighted in red. (Save the leftover pieces! They’ll come in handy later.)

Configuration

The photos below show how all the parts listed above go together to assemble a smart gun.

Assembly

1. Shave off the details on the right side of the flamer, making sure the surface is as flat as possible. (The eagle, rivets, and tubing)
2. Slice the flamer up so that only the parts highlighted in red remain.
3. Glue the flamer grip section upside down to the front of the flamer.
4. Shave the back of the flamer muzzle so that it is completely flat.
5. Glue the flamer muzzle upside down to the front of the flamer.
6. Slice up the bipod so that only the parts highlighted in red remain.
7. The smartgun barrel is formed by the bipod leg–slice off the bipod foot and the leg swivel, and the barrel is the leftover section.
8. Shave the front and back of the barrel as flat as possible, then glue it to the front of the flamer muzzle.
9. Clean up the leg swivel so that there are no remaining traces of the leg that you sliced off in Step 6. Glue that to the bottom of the flamer, directly in front of the handgrip. This adds more visual weight to the back of the smart gun, and suggests a waldo attachment point.
10. Glue the bipod cradle to the right side of the flamer.
11. Glue the heavy weapon targeter to the “knob” on the bipod cradle.
12. Slice out the ribbed autocannon barrel segment. This will be the ammunition drum–make sure the front and back are nice and flat, then glue it to the lower right side of the flamer where it meets the bipod cradle. There is a peg on the bipod cradle that will serve as a convenient guide that fits between the 2 ribs on the drum.
13. When you glue the smart gun arms into place, consult the photo below as to where the left hand should be positioned.

You’re done! Repeat this one more time, and you’ll have a pair of smart guns.

Important note: One heavy weapon bipod yields two smart gun barrels and two waldo attachment points. So, if you do both smart gunners, you’ll actually be using one and a half bipods, not two whole bipods. Use both legs and the bipod cradle of the first bipod, then remove only the bipod cradle from the second bipod. This way, you’ll have two intact bipod leg assemblies to use in the upcoming autoloading mortar conversion.

In the next article, we’re going to make a couple of flame units.

Anatomy of a Sentry Gun

In order for a weapon system to convey its autonomous nature, it needs to look the part. So, the sentry gun conversion has 3 major components: the weapon itself, the transceiver module, and the sensor module. The transceiver module is essentially just a box with an antenna on it, and it suggests to the casual observer that the thing is remotely operated. The sensor module contains the imaging, targeting, and fire control systems, and further builds upon the autonomous impression given by the transceiver module. To make it look somewhat portable, there are two carrying handles on top of the sentry gun.

Required Parts

The photo below illustrates the parts needed for this conversion, nearly all of which come from the heavy weapon squad box. When only a small portion of a part is required, the important piece is highlighted in red. (Save the leftover pieces! They’ll come in handy later.)

Configuration

The photos below show how all the parts listed above go together to assemble a sentry gun.

Component 1: Weapon Body

1. Lascannon: Slice the lascannon barrel and rail off completely, so that only the lascannon body segment highlighted in red remains. Shave the left side of the lascannon segment flat (just the rivets and a couple of details on the “armor” section)
2. Heavy Bolter: Slice off everything behind the feed/ejection ports, so that only the heavy bolter segment highlighted in red remains.
3. Test fit the heavy bolter and lascannon pieces. You may need to bevel the bottom rail on the bottom rear of the heavy bolter to a 45 degree angle to ensure a flush fit. If the test fit looks good, glue them together. Fill any gaps with Squadron putty if needed.
4. Slice the muzzle brake from the autocannon’s barrel. Glue it to the heavy bolter’s barrel.
5. Carefully cut the drum off the grenade launcher arm. Do this by first removing the barrel, then by slicing off everything behind the drum. Make sure you don’t damage the grip section or the hand–you will need the arm later!
6. Shave down the top of the drum so that it is flat. Test fit the drum to the feed port on the right side of the heavy bolter segment. It should fit in snugly–if not, shave the front and rear of the drum a little more until it seats nicely into the feed port. Once the fit is just right, glue the drum into place.

Component 2: Transceiver Module

1. Cut the bottom half and the antenna off the voxcaster backpack.
2. Test fit the voxcaster bottom half to the right rear side of the weapon. You will need to shave off 2 button-like details from the lascannon segment to ensure a good fit.
3. Once satisfied with the fit, glue the voxcaster bottom half to the right side of the lascannon segment.
4. Glue the antenna to the top rear of the voxcaster half to finish off the transceiver module.

Component 3: Sensor Module

1. Glue the lascannon power pack to the left side of the lascannon segment. The power pack is large enough to cover the entire left side of the armor “cowl”, with a slight overhang to the rear.
2. Cut the binoculars into front and rear halves at the spot where they taper from the middle.
3. Glue the front binocular half to the lascannon power pack to finish off the sensor module.

Finishing Touches

1. Glue the tripod to the bottom of the sentry gun assembly.
2. Cut the carrying handle off the autocannon drum half. Do this carefully so you can ensure a nice level fit in the next step without shortening it too much.
3. Make sure the flat pieces at the front and back of the handle are level. If not, shave or file down the longer of the two flat pieces until the handle will sit level on a flat surface.
4. Glue the carrying handle to the top right side of the sentry gun, across from and lined up with the other carrying handle attached to the sensor module.
5. Glue the sentry gun to a 40mm base.

You’re done! Repeat this 2 more times, and you’ll have a full set of 3 sentry guns.

In the next article, we’ll build some smart guns.

In this series of posts, I’m going to show you how to convert a bunch of plastic figures into ersatz Colonial Marines like those in “Aliens”. We’re not going to literally make identical likenesses to the characters in Aliens, but we are going to borrow several visual themes from the movie that will make these plastic figures look and feel like Colonial Marines. These conversions started out as one-off prototypes from the Stupid Bitz Tricks series, but were refined and/or revised so that they would be as easy as possible to make with the fewest necessary purchases.

Tools

To start with, you should have the following tools to convert the figures. They’ll make your life a lot easier.

Required Sets

You want two boxed sets: the Cadian Shock Troops box, and the Cadian Heavy Weapons Squad box.

These two boxes have enough goodies to make the following items:

You will also need 3 40mm diameter bases for the sentry guns, plus 8 25mm diameter bases for the plasma gun teams and autoloading mortars. You can buy them in bags from Games Workshop or as loose bits from The Warstore.

Optional Bits

If you have 2 Space Marine flamers handy, you can upgrade 2 riflemen to flamer operators.

If you have a couple of Space Marine auspexes handy, you can use them as motion trackers issued to the 2 squad leaders.

Space Marine belt pouches, holsters, and magazine pouches are also useful to have, but are strictly optional.

These Space Marine bitz can be purchased from the Battlewagon Bits department of The Warstore. If you buy the Cadian boxes mentioned above from The Warstore as well, you get a nice 20% discount off the boxed sets.

Another thing you may find useful is a length of thin plastic rod and some sheet styrene. While you can get away with not having these extra items, they are very helpful in further reinforcing the Aliens visual theme. The sheet styrene and rods are sometimes sold under the Gale Force 9 brand in hanging baggies at the local gaming store, but are often way cheaper to buy from hobby stores that sell plastic scale models and whatnot. Look for the Evergreen or Plastruct brands.

The Plan

Over the next several installments of the Colonial Marine Conversions series, I’ll show you how to convert the Cadian plastics, one item at a time. Once all of the conversions have been completed, I will also be posting a painting guide for them with some easy-to-paint color schemes that evoke the look and feel of the Colonial Marine uniforms.

I strongly recommend reading all of the articles first, before doing any of the conversions. This way, mistakes are easier to avoid, as you won’t accidentally destroy a part that you might need in a later conversion. For example, if you cut one leg off all 3 heavy weapon bipods while performing the smart gunner conversion, you won’t be able to build the autoloading mortars, as the mortar conversions assume that you used both legs of one bipod to make the barrels for both smart guns, and that you have 2 intact bipod leg sets left over. So, check all the articles first.

The first conversion article is here, and covers the sentry guns.