Hobby: Broodlord Kitbash

This is a project I actually did about 6 months ago.  I'm not a fan of the metal broodlord model, but I do like the unit.  I just don't feel like his look meshed well with normal genestealers.  His head isn't bulbous enough and those little t-rex gimp talons don't look like they could scythe anything.

I wanted something that looked like a normal genestealer that evolved a couple steps past the rest of the brood.  I also like my conversions to represent the difference in stats and wargear.  Broodlords are faster (initiative), stronger, have more attacks, and better armor so I wanted to represent all of those things in the new model.  I also like to keep costs to a minimum when possible, so I wanted to do all these things with extra bits from the kits I've already purchased.

I started with scything talons.  Big, strong, mantis-like ones not little gimpy ones like on the metal kit.  I ended up using the smallest scything talons from the mawloc kit.  I also took some of the tiny talons that line the mawloc belly and attached them to the sides of the head like mandibles.

Next, he needed more armor to represent his improved armor save, so I used two shoulder plates from the termagant kit, and three shoulder plates from the tyranid warrior kit (two spiked and one smooth).

Now he was looking very spiky and aggressive, but the model was very front-heavy and off balance.  I decided to give him a tail to help with balance, represent more attacks and possibly implant attack.  The tail is the ammo feed tube from a stranglethorn cannon arm.  I cut the curly tail off the normal genestealer and cut the feed tube where the thicknesses were about the same.  The rounded end that attaches to the stranglethorn cannon became the end of the tail and I glued on two more spiky bits.

I'm pretty pleased with the final result.  It looks like a genestealer in the brood with the rest, but different enough that it stands out as a sergeant.  The paint job is old, so I need to update that with more black and purple like my current genestealers.

You may also notice at the bottom there is a metal washer glued to the bottom of the base.  I actually glue metal washers on the bases of every single model in my army.  This accomplishes a few things.  I originally did it because hormagaunts and gargoyles tip over so easy being light plastic.  The washer gives the base enough weight that they never tip or fall, and I can even balance them on hills and terrain better.  I then got the idea to magnetize my display board so now all the models stay in place, even if I shake or tip the display board.  Finally, I glued a magnet to a stick and that's what I hold my models with while I'm painting them to keep my fingers off.

Hope you like it and maybe inspires some new ideas in y'all.