I have been working on my Mechanicum Army for over 2 years now and am probably in the neighborhood of 10k worth of points I got tired of using stock Magos models to lead the army. I have done many small conversion, like weapon swaps, this would be the first full scale one. The project and idea for this model came from several sources, I took inspiration from The Eye of Horus Podcasts episode on demystifying the Mechanicum. Tim's famous "The Martian Model" starting giving me some ideas, but I knew I wanted BIGGER. I toyed with the various abeyance out there. Even bought the FW one only to sell it later. Final inspiration came from the Emperor of Mankind novel where they construct a Magos using a Domitar chassis. The Cawl model had also appeared at the same time and I want to mash that looked into it also.
First thing was getting the chest cavity of the Domitar cored out. This was done with a dremel, and actually went really quickly, after that I shaved down the Magos parts and tested the fit.
The fit was really good and would be improved later with green stuff tubing.
When I set the unit next to the Cawl lower half though it was obvious that the proportions were not right. So I decided to add the Domitar legs back in with Cawl lets being supplemental.
Next came the arm weapons. I struggled with this part and actually made a box from plasticard, it looked pretty cheesy. So it was of to the bits box for inspiration. Thats when I found the Land Raider Sponson Weapon Sensor module, it had the perfect look and the lenses lined up with the barrels I had chosen, one delta barrel and a lighting barrel.
It worked perfect and had the overall aesthetic I was going for.
Next, I integrated more bits from the Cawl model, I really wanted the power array to be on one of the shoulder pads as it just screams coggy goodness.
Then came the first real snag. The weapon arm I had built was simply to small for such a massive model, the haft thickness was to thin and I had to start over. I knew I wanted to model a paragon blade in. I had some Custodes sword bits, the swords look kinda foolish one the Custodes in my opinion but were the perfect scale for this monster sized magos.
Initially I had the belter portion of the sword included but this made it look like a bit from the Custodes kit, so I removed it and used green stuff to join it to the Iron Circle Hammer power unit.
What really improves this arm for me isn't the power weapon though, it is the two mechedendrites I added in snaking around the weapon.
The last thing I did was construct and Gravitron Imploder from the Kataphron 40k kit. It is magnetized and can be replaced by a servo arm. I also attached a servo arm to the chest of the Magos from the Dune Stalker Kit. Then all that was left was a paint job.
Converting this model was one of the most rewarding things I have done in the hobby, he made it to the table and kicked ASS two days after completion. I am rebasing him, the one above was a rush job to get him on the table for a tournament. I just received my "Cyber Hound" from Maxi Mini that will be used as his Cyber Familiar, and his Cyber Occularis was a post I did a couple weeks ago.
I really would like to encourage people to give this a try. Build slow, don't wait until you have all the parts, just start and let the model evolve as you build. The green stuff tube roller is a MUST have for conversion work.
He still doesn't have a name, but my opponents and allies just called him, "The Boss". That works for now. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial. Please comment and post pics of your custom builds.
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