Hi folks, quick photo dump today – I finished my Rogue Trader build last night, and I’ve had a forced redesign on the sword following an ‘incident’ that involved a 3 foot nose dive onto a solid oak floor. The original sword was a write-off – fiddly resin bits all over the place, completely un-repairable. Amazingly, I didn’t even swear, and at least the legs stayed on…

Anyway, once I had recovered, I had a good rummage in the bits pile and knocked up with a cool samurai-esqu AdMech alternative which I quite like. I was a bit stuck on how to attach it, but ended up experimenting with a little mechanical grabber thingy that holds the sword out of the way at the back, but pivots up for the Trader to grab when needed. It’s a bit of a novel approach, but I think it looks quite cool and gives the model a good silhouette… I don’t know if the photos do it justice, but hopefully you get the idea? As an added bonus, the sword is detachable for painting & storing :-)

I also added a few other bits and bobs – a scanner, some relics, more grenades, a roll of parchment – (no doubt his Trader licence), and a purity seal. Phew! He’s all tooled up and ready for anything! Now, just a bit more GS to smooth out the joints and it’s time to get painting!

Happy Tuesday folks! It’s been a hectic bank holiday weekend, and my painting mojo has been a bit lacking since finishing Tick-Tock. Instead, I have been working off and on to put together a Rogue Trader – possibly my most ambitious miniature conversion to date! I knew that a) I wanted to use a classic Oldhammer model as the base, and b) I wanted him to be in Power Armour (as per the description of a Rogue Trader in Rogue Trader). I also wanted him to be well tooled up, and wanted to try and capture some of the freedom of expression we see in the Inq28 community. I basically wanted a little bit of everything I love about the hobby encapsulated in one model… no pressure!

It would’ve been much easier to start with a modern PA model as the base, but I’m stubborn when chasing a vision. So… the first thing to decide was a solid Oldhammer base for the conversion. Rogue Traders are famously independent and even flamboyant, so I knew that I wanted an unusual suit of armour to start with. After some musing, I decided on the LE10 Power Armoured Trooper by Bob Naismith from (I think) 1986. I absolutely love this suit, it’s gloriously bonkers and the perfect starting point for a Rogue Trader in my humble opinion… In fact, it’s so cool that I hear it was the inspiration for the newish Forgeworld Mechanicum Thallax! (Thanks Paul!)… The only problem with the sculpt is the teeny little ‘Kermit the Frog’ legs…

See what I mean? Teeny! As much as I hate the thought of chopping up a classic model, they just had to go…

So, after much soul searching I took the plunge and booked my LE10 in for surgery. A pair of Mk8 Marine legs (from the original ‘Errant’ sculpt, 1991?) were sourced & dry fitted. I had to really bulk out the thighs & knees with GS to make it look ‘right’, and my undeveloped sculpting skills were sorely tested! After much head scratching and faffing around, I arrived at this point:

Once I was happy with the proportions, I spent some time stripping the paint off the legs… (yeah… really wish I had done that first JB!), and filing the GS as smooth as possible. I also started adding bits and bobs to the model – some Imperial iconography, grenades, and a badass sword. I also found space for a cool space feather, (no doubt some valuable and exotic trophy), and a funky plume (a nod to the picture of Rogue Trader ‘Jeff Zuckerman’ in the book of the Astronomican). I also added a 32mm base. So here he is at the moment – still some way to go, but hopefully you get the idea:

Well, that’s it for now. I hope you chaps & chapesses like the direction this guy is going – the project has certainly got me excited! I’ll be working more detail onto him over the week, as well as continuing through my ‘in progress’ painting pile. Hopefully I’ll have some updates for you fairly soon ;-)