Building a Better Heldrake: Chaos Marine Heldrake Conversion Part 1!

I'm the type of guy who seldom complains about something when it comes to models. I prefer to roll up my sleeves and get to work. Old School here and that's exactly what I did to make my own Heldrake. First, I traded the Heldrake I won in the Spikey Bits Chaos Space Marine Contest to a friend for the Terrorgheist and kept the flight stand from the drake, then I took several parts from the Forgefiend/ Maulerfiend kit (which I also won) and got to work. Let's take a look at what I have done so far:

As the name of the post suggests, I have the basic frame for the model complete and minus some green stuff work (including hoses and cables), I am done. The scary thing about this whole thing is that the Terrorgheist and the Fiend kits got together like they were meant to be combined. The head for the model comes from the Forgefiend Ectoplasm Cannon Head option.

The chest piece also comes from the Forgefiend and fits perfectly over the chest of the Terrorgheist. To fit it, you just have to remove the spike on the chest of the Terrorghiest and then fit it on. If you place it as I have placed mine, the edges of the plate will actually line up perfectly with the exposed muscle on the wing joints. Once again, it is awesome how well these kits fit together. This could easily be the new template for Heldrake conversions.



I also replaced the rear legs of the Terrorghiest with the Small Pair of Forgefiend Legs. I used the "shoulder plates" that would also cover those legs on the actual model as well to cap the legs of this conversion. The feet from the fiend model were simply glued further back along the ball joint to mimic the motion they would have in flight.

The legs and the head both have the torn flesh covering metal parts, which will tie the whole conversion together once I finish the Green Stuff work tomorrow.

Finally, I replaced the tail from about half way down with one of the Maulerfiend Lasher Tendrils. Once again, I just found the place in the tail that matched the thickness of the tendril and attached them. It will take a minimum amount of Green Stuff to blend the two together seamlessly.

Overall, I am extremely excited about this conversion and look forward to getting the Green Stuff work done so I can begin painting. I think that some Green Stuff cables and hoses running under the throat from the head, through the torso and down into the tail will really make the model perfect. I think a bio-mechanical daemon dragon will tie in quite nicely with my Word Bearer Hell Knights and should look great flying next to the Hellworm, which will be finished very soon. Thank you again to the readers who helped me win the contest so I could make crazy models like this.

As always, feedback, comments and criticisms are always welcome!