Shocktrooper Blitzer Conversion By Chris Gilders The first Kovnik purchased from Privateer Press was put together in the "normal" way, with the left and right arms both coming across the body. This lead to a very compact figure and all parts needed to be fully painted before any of it could be glued together. The finished model was a seriously good addition to the Khothena army as a Shocktrooper Blitzer (and not forgetting the Khador army for Warmachine). Being such a great model, it was inevitable that a second figure would join the ranks of the heavy army units. Rather than make the second model in the same pose as the first, it was decided that some conversion work would be carried out on the arms to "open up" the model and give it a more dynamic pose. The Right Arm The most important work was on the right arm holding the Axe Cannon. The wrist joint was carefully cut from the elbow using a very sharp knife. A hole was drilled through the wrist section to allow a pin to be inserted all the way through. Holes were drilled in the elbow and hand components to line up with the wrist pin. Figure 1. Finally, the elbow cylinder was padded out using green stuff and modelled to replicate the rest of the elbow mechanism. The Left Arm The left shield arm was also cut at the elbow and the position of the arm moved out a few millimeters to balance out the "open" pose. Figure 2. Trying The Pose Out At this stage, the exact position of the Axe Cannon to the rest of the model must be determined. By simply holding the arm components toegether against the torso section, the best angle can be selected. The arm components were then glued together and checked against the torso as they dried. The shoulder joints were also drilled and pins added for extra rigidity. Figure 3. The completed right arm went together so well that there was no more filling required around any of the joins, not that it would have been a large job... Figure 4. The Finished Pose Once the arms were finished, the completed pose was put together without glue to check the pose worked okay. The picture below shows a bit of blu-tak holding the shield in place. The painting of the model will be much easier if each component is painted individually. Figure 5. Just need to paint the components and glue them all together.