Conversion Idea for the Duke?

So i'm building a DE army with Sliscus as HQ. I need some inspiration for it, as i've never worked with greenstuff before.

First idea:
I was thinking of using the archon's body, adding the serpent stand from the Dark elves Corsairs, and putting 2 venom blades on him (one is converted from D elves corsairs). I want to put some of those poison vials on him, to represent his "vast collection of toxins". Maybe then put a blast pistol in a modified holster or something.

2nd idea:
Using the dark elves corsairs torso, and normal kabalite legs, using this as my inspiration(the duke sliscus found on the near bottom of the page)
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?283233-Dark-Eldar-in-Dark-Green!/page2

I want to know where that big front collar thingy is from and where i can get one(It doesn't look like Corsairs), as he already told me the back torso part is from them. That conversion is really cool and if mine was like that, I'd be forever happy . All creds to him for the model

looks like the dark elf chests from the corsair models to me. http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440049a&prodId=prod1490007 prolly used front and back tosro from that kit would be my guess

The collar is from one of the basic Corsairs. (Just checked a complete sprue of them that I have)

So how would i fit the legs onto the torso. For the Dark eldar legs, it goes inward and the torso has the rounded point you insert into the legs. For D elves, the torso goes inward and the legs come to a rounded point outwards. Completely opposite.

Also, any ideas on the poison vials, and the banner with serpent top?

Sense this is your first green stuff experience. I must offer this one but very key tip.... keep your tool wet. The rest of your modeling needs. I have no advice. Except for if you can not find a Games Workshopish equalvalent then get a real picture from life, a wire plus green stuff it. Symbols think simplistic, not life like.

For green stuffing, try some hand balm on your tools. It should prevent the putty from sticking. the only thing you have to watch out for is keeping it to a minimum as it will not stick to your model either if you overdo it. You'll have to wash your mini once the putty is dry to get rid of the oils. Otherwise, yep. water is good.

For the Duke I use a regular old Dark Elf metal corsair (2 blades and scaly cloak)... looks good even though it's not really converted - yeah call me unimaginative

One more vote for ravengoescaw and Dogmar's suggestions about the importance of keeping your tools lubricated when working with Green Stuff. This alleviates A LOT of the frustration you would otherwise feel.

The problem you have with the torsos having different ways of fitting together would be easily solved by drilling a hole in the middle of the torso and legs with a pin vise, then inserting a straightened paperclip or some similar vertical rod (I've used extra flying stands before) to act as a pin between the two pieces. Once this pin is glued into place to hold them together, you can fill in the surrounding gap with greenstuff.

That being said, the second most importan tip when working with Greenstuff is to work in layers. Don't fill in the gap between the torso and the legs and then immediately start trying to sculpt in the detail. The force you apply to the Greenstuff on one side of the model will push it out over the edge of the waist on the other side, and you'll mess up any detail you've sculpted. Best to fill in the gap with greenstuff, but leave the model a little skinnier than you think he should be. Wait a day so that the Greenstuff can cure fully (or at least 6 hours to be safe), and then go back, applying a thin skin of more GS over the dried stuff, and sculpt the details into this layer.

If this is your first experience with Greenstuff, I've written a series of tutorials on how to get the most out of it, and they might be helpful to you:

How to Sculpt 1: Tools of the Trade
How to Sculpt 2: Pushing Putty
How to Sculpt 3: Sculpting Skills
How to Sculpt 4: What to Buy

Listen to Mr Pink, he knows his stuff. The basic tutorials he has written are awesome and have helped me a lot.

Off topic question if you don't mind me asking, Mr Pink:
How do you get your surfaces this flat and even? I've tried to sculpt some kabalite armor lately and it ended up with very very tiny lines and gaps (probably due to me resculpting the whole thing several times). I couldn't push it flat enough with my sculpting tools.

Dogmar wrote:

Listen to Mr Pink, he knows his stuff. The basic tutorials he has written are awesome and have helped me a lot.

Off topic question if you don't mind me asking, Mr Pink:
How do you get your surfaces this flat and even? I've tried to sculpt some kabalite armor lately and it ended up with very very tiny lines and gaps (probably due to me resculpting the whole thing several times). I couldn't push it flat enough with my sculpting tools.

Dogmar, how old is the greenstuff you are using? Is it the ribbon type? Or the two-part type? If it is packaged in a ribbon, have you cut out the middle section, where the two parts are touching, and thrown it away? If the greenstuff itself seems to be uneven, it could be too old or it may have not mixed properly.

Other than that, all I can think is that the tool you are using may not be that smooth...? Is it a flat tool, or a curved one? Though I use a flat, blade-like tool (similar to GW one) a lot of the time to smooth surfaces, my true favourite tool for the job is a curved, spoon-like one which I foolishly referred to as an "elevator" (as it resembles a dental tool of the same name), but is in fact called a "Beale wax carver". The rounded end on it, when properly lubricated, is simply THE BUSINESS when it comes to smoothing greenstuff.

The GS is quite old, but why should that affect the putty? I don't store it mixed after all And yes, I did cut out the middle of the ribbon - who produces these things so that they touch on purpose by the way? so stupid.

For modelling I use a 12 pc wax carving set made of stainless steel. For flat surfaces I use one that looks similar to a spoon as if you had a ball at the end, then hammered it flat and curved it up a little if that makes sense I don't know the proper name for it.

Could a reason be that I used too much blue stuff? I'll have to do some further experiments...got some heavy conversions planned for my next army.

Any storage tips for unmixed GS maybe to keep it in better condition for longer?

I swear b the two part tube. I keep each part in plastic completely wrapped, and in a drawer on my table.

So guys, what'd be actually a really easy conversion? I actually found out i don't have the time and resources to do this. I need an easy one that also represents duke well.

very simple? kabalite warrior legs with dark elf corsair torso and weapons of your choice.... try to keep the cloak or you use a complete old metal corsair (fantasy, dark elf range)... not sure how available these are. If you don't want to buy bits from "foreign" armies, see what you can kitbash using DE parts. You might not get a cloak but a fancy head and weapons along with a different paint scheme might even do the trick.

If you can get your hands on the right parts this conversion is easy. It's almost the same thing I do for my Trueborns.

Just take a pair of DE Warrior legs, venom blade, blast Pistol and a head, a Dark Elf Corsair Torso (front and back), serpent banner pole and sheathed sword and a Dwarf Thunderer bandoleer.

The hole on the Torso is a little bit bigger than the one on the legs, so they will fit perfectly on top of each other with a little bit of green stuff, to fill the hole. You won't have to sculpt anything. And the rest is just cutting and gluing.

If you can't get your hands on some of the parts you can always improvise.
Torso and coat:
Take a vanilla Archon body. The coat isn't too great, but it's a coat.
Take a coat from the Chaos Marauders. Again a different stile, but a good coat.

Banner pole:
Take a DE Warrior banner pole and ad a serpent decal or freehand.

Bandoleer:
Take some Talos / Cronos vials.
Take an Eldar Guardian Bandoleer and cut it down.

Sheathed sword:
Take any other sword sheathed or not.


Just get creative.

Very nice! So since the corsair torso is larger at its waist, it fits right over the legs and covers the greenstuff you put between them to connect them right? And I'd like to get the exact torso in the conversion pic(the one with the "serpent fin pattern") but they don't sell specific ones online, just random torsos, and i don't wanna spend 55 bucks on the full set....

But yay! i'm no longer a slave!

Maybe try ebay or trade with someone at your local store.
I managed to get three complete sets for around 10€ at ebay.

Or you could contact the bits site and ask about it. Maybe they can sell you the one you want or offer a complete set for cheap.


And yes, the legs fit a little bit inside the torso so they won't meet at the tip and leave a big gap, but will fit together nicely.
It's not the best of photos, but I think it shows what I mean.

Yes, that shows very good! nice job! How would i fit the banner on the back of his cloak?