Raider & Venom Crew Swap

Planning on running units of 5 Kabalites in my (currently two) venoms and my unit of Wyches in my Raiders...

As such, I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions on swapping/converting the cre members over, making the venom crew into Kabalites and the raider crew into wyches. I have x2 Venoms so crewing the raider with wyches isn't much of an issue... but kitting the two venom crews out as kabalites is more of an issue.

Any suggestions are appainciated.

Swapping the gunners doesn't require any real conversions. And the Venom pilot can stay as he is, since the Kabals are hiring Reavers for that job.

Yeah, the gunners are a straight swap. The issue are the dudes (and dudettes) hanging off the side.

I had the models lying around so i tested:
The one with the gun fits fine on the left wing with the chain on the railing.
The one with the spear fits on the left wing too, but the other hand is too high.
You could either put a hole in the Venom flag, attach a horizontal handle to the Venom pole, make her hold hands with a passenger, or give her a second weapon.
Or put an chain on the Venom flag or pole for her.

Edit: She can also hang from the railing but in front of the Jet Intake

With the wyches->kabalites I swapped the torsos and heads, and give the ones hanging off the wings splinter rifles. The one hanging off her right hand just took a simple hand swap to put a splinter rifle in her left hand.

The kabalites->wyches weren't as fully realised. Mainly just swapped the heads and the weapons, gave them splinter pistols and wych weapons.

My Kabalites will be black armour with yellow highlights (a la Ichi the Killer) whilst the wyches will be yellow with black highlights (a la the Bride from Kill Bill). So that will make it more obvious.

The gunners aren't a straight swap.


the raider crew lean back with the guns and there isn't enough room on a venom to put the crew forward enough that the guys aren't on their "tippy toes".

This fact bothers me, which is why i haven't glued my kabalite gunners in yet. I plan on using a lighter to heat the plastic enough to better angle the feet for a good fit.

I just glued Kabalite heads onto the Venom gunners. Sure, you can nitpick it, but at tabletop quality and tabletop distance, ain't nobody dun' gon' notice.

Also, don't use a lighter - get a hair dryer

I found the swap fairly straightforward.  The Wyches are easy to use on the Raider, and for the Venom I used the Hellion arms with a chain and hook extended to match the similarly-equipped Raider crew member on the other side, and I gave them all Reaver helmets.

The Rayban look works well with a couple of guys waiting to unclip and jump/rappel over the side, like an assault helicopter.





Cheers.

Massaen wrote:

Also, don't use a lighter - get a hair dryer

Does a hair dryer really work as well? I've only ever used flames to heat plastic

nexs wrote:

Massaen wrote:

Also, don't use a lighter - get a hair dryer

Does a hair dryer really work as well? I've only ever used flames to heat plastic

I use steam from the spout of a kettle, myself. Less potential for the heat to get out of control.

How long does it take to get the model bendy enough over a kettle?

nexs wrote:

How long does it take to get the model bendy enough over a kettle?

Once your kettle is boiling and you have a steady stream of steam, not long at all. Depending on the thickness of the piece, of course, but 20-30 seconds is usually good. You will need something to hold the piece, tweezers?, so you don't burn your fingers, and you have to make sure you don't press to hard with them or you will leave a mark in the soft plastic. Also, if you are heating a piece made from more than one bit glued together, they don't always bend together and can come apart.

Hairdryers are OK, but you can also end up with a soft, gooey mass if you are not too careful. And anything with a flame is never a good idea.