Converting a Necrotect

Here's a look at how I converted a Necrotect out of a Tomb King miniature.

 

 

Necrotects are neat little characters, that are only 55 points (100 points with magic items). They only have a hand weapon and whip, and no other options. I have a couple of these metal tomb kings, and decided to convert them into some necrotects.

I started by removing the weapon arm and sawing the head and high collar off of the model. I also trimmed the bits of loincloth and cape that extend to the ground. The base tab was removed and I glued some styrene under his feet so they won't get covered by the sand when I base him.

 

 

I resculpted the detail on the collar, and added a plastic arm from the Tomb Guard plastic kit.

 

 

To make the index finger on his left hand, I inserted a small piece of wire into the hand, and sculpted around it. The necrotect's whip arm is from the the chariot crew, and I added a piece of armor from the Tomb Guard to match his right arm.

 

 

The whip itself was made from thin 26-gauge wire. I put four strands of it into a power drill, and twisted them into a tight rope. I left the four strands at one end to form a sort of cat-o-nine-tails tip, and wrapped another small piece of wire around their attachment point. The wrap and strands were sealed in place with some extra thin super glue. The body of the whip was bent onto shape, and inserted into a hole drilled into the whip handle.

 

 

For the necrotect's head, I used the old metal Blood Bowl heads from the Khemri team. Because this guy will lead the Skull Brigade skeletons, I added more skull iconography on him– The scarab was removed from the metal head, and replaced with a small skull sliced off of a plastic Tomb Kings banner. Another of these skulls replaced the bird skull on the model's belt, and the bracers I chose for his arms also have similar skull imagery.

 

 

Here's a look at the final model:

 

 

The head was pinned onto the collar, and the neck detail sculpted over it. The whip was not glued in place so I could turn it to whatever angle it needs to be to either fit into his skeleton regiment, or when posing him for photography.

 

 

I used one of the hooked knife accessories from the old plastic Kroot kit to equip him with a hand weapon.

 

 

Here's a side-by-side comparison with the original model. The changes really go a long way to alter the silhouette and differentiate him from the "stock" tomb king.

 

 

I painted him pretty quickly (over the course of two days), and Saheksis the Nectrotect is ready to lead his skeletal minions to glory!

 

 

'Til next time!