Converting the Inquisition

Greetings to all of you, this post is a bit of a departure from the norm for me. I don't usually do the work in progress stuff, preferring instead to showcase only the finished product. This, however, is an example of a model where the process of making it was the primary motivation for the entire project!

So who is this handsome chap? Well, he starts life as an Empire Witch-hunter and looks like this:

From the moment I saw this sculpt I knew that I wanted to make him into an Inquisitor. The coat, the hat, the baroque armour, the scowling, older face. It all screamed Inquisitor to me. Then with the descision to do some Grey Knights I knew that I would have access to a few spares to make him even better suited to the role.

First stop with any Finecast project is to inspect the casting for any slight defects in the model - big defects get replaced by GW. I've got to say, they seem to have gotten the hang of the Finecast process and this was a model designed for the medium. There were only a few little bubbles - in the brim of the hat - so there's precious little work to do there.

 

Next stage is Sprue Looting. I went through the Grey Knight sprue and harvested any little Inquisition icons I could find and also one of the Warding Staves to be a Null Rod. I wanted the Eisenhorn style staff on him anyway!

So, here was my little pile of parts with which to work. In the end I wouldn't need them all but handy to have them right there. I decided on the sword and pistol combo 'backpack' rather than the whacking great sword. This was for two reasons, one, I knew that I would have a big staff on the back and didn't want it competing with the greatsword for visual impact, two, I could see a future for that sword on other models!

Next stage was getting the hat sorted out. I liquid green stuffed the holes in the brim - leaving a little one to indicate a hat with character and damage. I then sliced off the "iron cross" decoration on the front of the hatband and replaced it with one of the Inquisition Icons from the heap. When doing this sort of work I tend to always switch out my scalpel blade for a new one. The old one gets used to apply superglue in precise areas, pour a little pool of it on a bit of tin foil or whatever and then dip the point of the blade in to transfer a little glue to the exact area it is needed.

Next, I managed - with tweezers - to sneak one of the pendant icons under the gun holster and attach it in the region of his waistband.

Now, the biggie, I needed to figure out the back mounting. First, I dry fitted the pack onto the main model to get a sense of where everything was and more crucially, how much space was available.

Now I eyeballed the fit of the staff (which I had labouriously - and needlessly in the end - cut and shut to remove the hand). I debated having it under the gun holster, rejected because it would have needed too much coat detail to be removed. Having it in place of the scrolls, rejected as it would have been too upright for the flow of the model. And having it alongside the sword. This was also rejected as there was just not enough room. Eventually I had to concede that the sword would have to go and be replaced with the staff.

I cut it at an angle so that the staff would follow the diagonal flow of the model. I could have drilled right through the pack and used a pin to secure it but in the end I just eyeballed the fit.

To disguise the lower join and to add to the flowing motion of the coat, I added a long flowing purity seal. Make sure with this kind of thing that the flow of the purity seal matches the flow of the garment it is attached to. If you are not careful then you will break the illusion of wind blowing.

And there he was, done! I could have gone further but I liked the original model so much that I wanted it to be very recognisable. The few little Inquisitional touches and the staff help to pull it into the 41st millenium rather than the fantasy Empire model it was based from.

I've not yet finished the backstory for him in my mind, that'll happen during painting, but he will be Ordo Hereticus as they are my favourites! Until next time folks.

TTFN