Email Part #1: Hobby

From Andreas Dranidis:

Hello mate, I posted at your site but I have a request now. Could you please show a conversion of a Tervigon and a how-to use him in battles?
Thank you very much. I am planning on buying 2-3 carnifex kits and make them tervigons because I think they will be better than T-Fexs, what do u think?

Andreas:

My pleasure mate.  I'll see what I can do.  I'm not really hardcore with my conversions and my tactics are still evolving, but I'll share what I can.

Lets start with the Tervigon conversion.  Mine's not fancy, but I did do it with a couple things in mind:

1. It needs to fit the Tyranid look and feel.  This means not a lot of sculpting or buying other random toys to bash them together.  The Nid sprues are so amazing with all the extra bitz that I'm hoping I can scavenge some pieces to help maintain the right feel.

2.  The theme of my army is bugs.  The paint scheme is a combination of a jewelled beetle and a wasp.  However it ends up, I want it to fit the army feel.

Like I said, I tend to keep my conversions simple (for now) so here's what I ended up with:

The result:  Well, I'm happy with the bug like appearance.  It kinda looks like a beetle with crab claws and spidery legs.  I put the scything talons down like they are in the codex, used like legs.  It's not so much a conversion as a kit bash.  I used a full carnifex kit with a trygon headplate and some extra antenna.  They give more of a buggy feel and give them impression of broadcasting the synapse web.  I liked it enough to build my second the same way.  I orignally based them on foam core ovals, but have since ordered proper GW ovals.  Here's the second in a slightly more dynamic pose:

And the two together:

So it was quick easy, and effective.  I believe I reached my goal of keeping the Nid look, the feel of my army, and easily identifiable and different from my other units.  I know they're lacking the signature breeding pouches or egg sacs, but that for a later day.  Once I get more of the army painted, I'll go back and sculpt more on.  I'm thinking a long dragging egg sack like a termite queen.