The Gorilla: Daemon Prince/ Greater Daemon Conversion WIP!

As many of you already know, I like to make big monsters. The latest conversion project on my desk is no exception. I call this guy the Gorilla (mostly due to the pose and anatomy) and he is a conversion of the Helbrute and Mauler Fiend kits with some extras thrown in with a whole lot of pinning and Green Stuff. Let's take a look at the model so far:


One of the things I love about working with plastic is the ability to balance models and base them more dynamic movement. When I was looking at possible models and parts for my Daemon Princes/ Greater Daemons, I started looking at the Helbrutes I had and how sad they were (I will never field them in the current state of the game) and the pose is a missed opportunity.

 Ideas started flowing and before you knew it, I came up with a plan. Basically, the first idea was to add the maulerfiend arms because I thought they would fit ... then I realized it would make the Helbrute look too much like a gorilla. Then I thought about it and made a couple of cuts (the helbrute arms) and used some putty to test some poses. I really liked the idea of catching the "gorilla" in mid stride with its legs flying behind it and one of it's arms forward. I really liked it, so I decided to dig out the mouth parts from the Ghorgon kit I have in the bits box and whammo, bull/ gorilla/ daemon face!

The legs were a little tricky as they were short and straight. To fix this, I cut them at the knee and filled the legs (which are hollow) with green stuff. I then inserted a bent rod into each leg and then added the other half of the leg. Once the green stuff solidified a little, I worked the flesh around the joints in. This made the legs longer and also allowed me to pose them behind the model so they look like they are bent in mid stride as he moves in an ape-like run.

The feet still need to be filled with green stuff. One of them was attached to a piece of plastic rock-like basing, which I removed with the bone-saw.

The arms were joined with a large pin that actually ends inside of both arms and runs through the Helbrute. I made sure I had the placement of the arms just right and then glued everything into place. I then went in and added the first layer of Green Stuff, which will likely be added onto in order to get the right flesh texture I want. The same goes for the knee area Green Stuff work.

From above, you can get a better sense of the motion. You can also see that the reason I kept the foot that was mounted on the plastic rock is that it has a couple of bent toes, which adds to the sense of motion. I originally was going to use two of the flat feet (I have multiple Helbrutes), but then figured I would put in the extra work to make this happen.

From below, you can see how I used parts from the Mauler Fiend kit to disguise the way I lengthened the legs. I also used these bits because I like the idea of extra leg armor and spiked knee armor on a monster that lives for close quarters combat!

Overall, the Helbrute model itself really is great for conversion work with all the fleshy hoses, the hollow body and the detailed design. I think this will really start to come together once I add a set of wings (Flying Monkey Monster!) and base it. The idea is to anchor the entire model through the knuckles, which will be the only part touching the ground.

One last thing I would like to point out, is that in the first few photos, you can see I am using a custom base, which is perfect for this project. The base is a fine detailed Ravaged Temple base from Ironheart Artisans. I have ordered tons of bases from them recently because I was so impressed with them in person. For more info on the bases available from Ironheart Artisans, check out their Web site here.

Anyway, that is it for now. Hopefully, I can get you more photos of the beast soon and maybe even get some paint on this model. As always, let me know what you think.