To convert or not, that's the question
- Thread starter Bane
- Start date
clownshoe
Member
I hate converting, in the past - especially as an impatient youth.. I couldn't even be bothered to trim flash.. 
I just wanted to paint and game. As a more mature man (ahem) I am starting to enjoy the more technical side of things - scratch building etc. I had never considered casting my precious one offs to preserve though. That is very interesting. It would be great to be able to do some conversions without feeling i have wrecked my precious ones! What kind of gear is needed for this type of endevour? Could it be done in my shed for example.
I fancy myself as a dwarven smith
I just wanted to paint and game. As a more mature man (ahem) I am starting to enjoy the more technical side of things - scratch building etc. I had never considered casting my precious one offs to preserve though. That is very interesting. It would be great to be able to do some conversions without feeling i have wrecked my precious ones! What kind of gear is needed for this type of endevour? Could it be done in my shed for example. I fancy myself as a dwarven smith
Jonas
Member
I generally don't convert much on models at all, but when I do it is mostly on new and available models. When I do make changes to old lead it is mostly things I don't value too much myself.
The more rare and/or expensive the model is the harder it is for me to do anything to change it. If I have old models with integral bases I do sometimes cut it off or file it down, but othertimes I might hollow out a Citadel base and put the integral base inside, so not to damage the model. This might seem useless since I paint the model and plan to game with it and not sell it on, but it helps me to have peace in my soul.
The more rare and/or expensive the model is the harder it is for me to do anything to change it. If I have old models with integral bases I do sometimes cut it off or file it down, but othertimes I might hollow out a Citadel base and put the integral base inside, so not to damage the model. This might seem useless since I paint the model and plan to game with it and not sell it on, but it helps me to have peace in my soul.
axiom
Member
Converting is the thing I love most! I particularly enjoy thinking up new & interesting conversions and have no philosophical objection to hacking up OOP models.
That said, I am more wary of converting less common models and wouldn't want to start chopping up particularly rare figures.
That said, I am more wary of converting less common models and wouldn't want to start chopping up particularly rare figures.
Greater Harlequin
Member
I love getting a broken or damaged oop figure as I feel no guilt about having a hack and slash 
Commander Vyper
Member
It will, cheers.
. Yes I'm the heretic that cuts up old lead, and I'll do it again I telll you!
Seriously though if it's rare and I don't have multiples then I'll leave it be. If it's rare and I have plenty then so what. Better they get used and reborn into another prohect than left to gather dust. A lot of RT stuff is still very cheap so again no issue in converting those either.
I think as well that as a gamer who remembers buying RT RoC Dark future Epic etc straight from GW I don't have the same feeling towards them as prehaps another collector who was not in the position to buy then and now has to fight tooth and nail on evil bay for that must have mini. I do buy broken from time to time if cheap: Chaos stuff generally can be busted but still very useable with a bit of imagination.
Is it ok to say I like the way old lead cuts?
Anyway, I'll be posting up the Rogue Trooper thread here soon.
The Commander.
whiskey priest
Member
Heh-heh, I thought you might come over this way eventually. Like you if there are plenty of copies of the mini then it's fair game as far as i'm concerned. Can't wait to see the reaction to the Rogue Trooper project on these boards.
Commander Vyper
Member
whiskey priest":1rh3p0ih said:
50% amazement vs 50% pickforks I reckon.
I've only cut up a few Imperial Guard and a few Rogue Trooper GI's
Protist
Member
hack n' slash is my way, when I can be bothered. I'm not sentimental about stuff, just want to be creative - its only lead in the end 
Still, if it was really rare and/or I paid a lot of money for it I'd add stuff but not take anything away, but I don't buy really expensive models 'cause I don't want to! If I can't get exactly what I want for a few quid I either think up something else and make do, or I make it myself
Still, if it was really rare and/or I paid a lot of money for it I'd add stuff but not take anything away, but I don't buy really expensive models 'cause I don't want to! If I can't get exactly what I want for a few quid I either think up something else and make do, or I make it myself
Naagruz
Member
Those are the ones I convert. Pristine AAA-rated clean casts don't typically get touched, but it's open season on any poorly cast or broken minis. The one consistent exception would be Army standard bearers as many of the older ones never seemed big enough.Greater Harlequin":1vrjwdse said:I love getting a broken or damaged oop figure as I feel no guilt about having a hack and slash
I find myself doing lots of creative "repair" with older minis where the detail suffered from dings or wear.
Mutantdale
Member
If its broken, poorly cast, I want to copy an old conversion or I have a few of them its open season on cutting up lead as far as I am concerned..
I have another question to pose here though.
What about old conversions from the 80's - Is it fair game to chop up minis if you are copying a conversion from an old white dwarf??????
MD
I have another question to pose here though.
What about old conversions from the 80's - Is it fair game to chop up minis if you are copying a conversion from an old white dwarf??????
MD
Asslessman
Member
Mutantdale":3mu5qe9t said:
Funny but interesting question ! I don't really understand how it would be different to cut lead to make a new conversion from cutting lead to replicate an old job. I find replicating an old conversion is sometimes just about skill (except when you adapt it like Dave King Does on the Blanche undead assault. For me the essence of the old days is creativity so I think if you intend to cut lead to make something new then go ahead. If it's to make something which has been done, then leave it be. That said, everyone uses his lead as he wills and it's a good thing.
I'm now attracted by broken models because they force me to repare them and I have absolutely no remorse cutting in them. (and they're cheaper too).
Lostanddamned
Member
for me, if it's broken, it will be converted, if it's intact, I'll leave it unmolested
Lostanddamned
Member
theottovonbismark":14fz9s7e said:I have another approach.
I recast the original model that I want to butcher - that way I know I am serious
I agree to a degree, some parts that were made in plastic are getting VERY hard to find these days, so I have no problem in deciding to recast copies of those pieces that I need to repair models, for example the 2nd ed space marines bolters have a habit of breaking off and being lost, I intend to make a mould so I can cast up copies for the half dozen or so marines who are missing their guns and hands.....
Same for the RTB01 bolter arms, very hard to find, so the two sets I have on a sprue I'll also make a mould of, I need about 20 sets for my Space Marine Strike Force figures, their shoulders only smoothly take those old plastic arms!
But whole models, that's a no no for me, I ended up with a recast empire standard bearer in amongest a lot of empire (un)mounted figures, it looked awful, strangely though the rest were original, though the Elector Count with the bird was missing the bird... along with part of his glove and hat!
AZ88
Member
Lostanddamned":nqhohlkr said:for me, if it's broken, it will be converted, if it's intact, I'll leave it unmolested
Generally, I fall into this camp; but not always. I'm not worried about affecting the value, but I do think sometimes that there is some bloke out there who'd love to have the model just as it is, so I feel sort of guilty converting them at times. However, things like clipping tabs off don't bother me in the slightest. I'll also convert things if I'm sure it's something I'll keep in my collection forever.
If there's a chance someone will one day get it off me, then I'll tend to leave it alone so they can have an unspoilt model to call their own. Not sue why, but I think it's memories of growing up and looking longingly at the catalogue pages. The idea then of people cutting up "spares" would have had child me dead of jealousy. I tend to end up gifting multiples to friends who have gaps in their collections, or younger collectors, for precisely that reason.
I do think that there is a duty of care with very rare items, though. As there are with all items of genuine rarity.
Piers B
Member
Im a gamer, not a collector... So whatever needs doing, gets done.
They are toys to me, to be played with as I see fit. I dont see any of them as rare artifacts particuarly, but then the percieved rare stuff is of limited interest to me as Im always after 'troops' and core types in the main to build armies, so when I do get rare items they tend to be of limited use to me and often get sold off asap to fund further purchases (though I did hold on to the 'Dwarf with No Name' to go in my army).
So hack and slash is grand...
They are toys to me, to be played with as I see fit. I dont see any of them as rare artifacts particuarly, but then the percieved rare stuff is of limited interest to me as Im always after 'troops' and core types in the main to build armies, so when I do get rare items they tend to be of limited use to me and often get sold off asap to fund further purchases (though I did hold on to the 'Dwarf with No Name' to go in my army).
So hack and slash is grand...
daddyorchips
Member
like many others here, i like to try and get hold of broken old lead so that i can enjoy a guiltless conversion!
it's not that i wouldn't chop up an intact piece of lovely old lead, it's just that i generally like the old models so much that i'd rather use it intact!
i recently made my first successful green stuff addition to an old lead model. i think that this is the future for me.
there's no shame in chopping them up, they;re not really that rare, and its your hobby after all.
it's not that i wouldn't chop up an intact piece of lovely old lead, it's just that i generally like the old models so much that i'd rather use it intact!
i recently made my first successful green stuff addition to an old lead model. i think that this is the future for me.
there's no shame in chopping them up, they;re not really that rare, and its your hobby after all.