Converting Khador Warjacks

Converting Warmachine Warjacks

By Anthony Karl Erdelji

I have been having lots of fun building and painting Warmachine warjacks, but it quickly gets redundant. This is especially true with the Khador faction. They have only one size of jack, and they are all based off the same model, the Destroyer being the only exception. Not only are all Khador jacks based on the same model, they are all just standing around in boring positions. Occasionally a jack may be (shock!) walking, but that is the best of the "action" poses available. Since I have already painted all the jacks I decided to go back, start from scratch, and make some ACTION JACKS!

For this particular model I wanted to increase the length of its stride. Since the left leg was already in front it would be easiest to cut off the leg left and move it more forward, rather than messing around with the right or both legs.

Using a jewelers saw and cut a straight line down from the waist, trying to avoid cutting through the "butt" of the warjack.

In order to express a larger degree movement, the left leg would be repositioned more forward and more compressed. Using the jewelers saw make a "V" cut at the back of the knee. End the cut at the back of the kneecap. Then make a second cut a few millimeters below the first, ending the cut at the exact same place as the first. Remove the pie-shaped wedge of pewter. All that is left is to apply a little super glue and bend the knee to close the gap.

The leg is pinned and glued to the jack's hip in its new position. Since Khador jacks are very top heavy, it is important to leave enough foot area touching the ground in order to pin the model to the base. Although this model is standing on its toes there is still enough space to add pins at angles into the center of each foot. These would stick out slightly under the feet of the model, but they could be easily hidden with epoxy putty.

In order to remount the arms the shoulder plates must be removed. The most practical way to do this is with a moto-tool, like a Dremel, armed with a steel cutter.

For those that do not have access to a Dremel, try using a combination of a file and hobby knife to cut away the lip of the shoulder plate and the ring of metal where the arm was originally mounted. The results will not be the same, but some putty will help to smooth everything out.

The should plate and mounting lip are ground away, leaving the ball joint more resembling an actual ball. The gouge marks from the steel cutter are smoothed out by scrapping a hobby knife along the surface, much like if removing a seamline.

For the next step (which I forgot to photograph), Magic Sculpt epoxy putty is applied to fill in the original mounting hole and smooth out any scraps on the ball joint. For this project Magic Sculpt works much better than Kneadnite "Green Stuff", as Magic Sculpt can be thinned with water. A small amount of putty is pushed into the mounting hole and a wet brush is used to work the putty around the entire ball joint, filling in any scrapes on the surface.

While the putty is drying, which should be at least 12 hours, the arms are prepared. Compared to the shoulders, the arms are easy. Cut away the original upper arm and smooth out the cut with a hobby knife and/or file.

Before drilling the mounting holes for the arms, the position of the jack must be finalized. Experiment with different poses until finding one that is acceptable and works with the position of the legs. I had originally planned on the "Shoulder Slam" position, but this looked too similar to another jack I was working on. Instead, this Juggernaut would be "Punch!".


Shoulder Slam	Punch!	The "Vlad"

With the position of the arms determined, it is now time to drill some very large holes into the model. I have chosen to use 1/8th brass tube for the arms. To allow room for glue, a 5/32 drill bit and cordless power drill is used to make the new mounting holes. Drilling such a large hole into pewter is difficult, so the hole is pre-drilled twice with smaller bits, slowly enlarging it until the 5/32 bit can be used. Once the holes are drilled, clean off any burrs with a hobby knife.

The length to cut the brass tube for the arms depends on the depth of the holes. I like to have about 3/4" visible before adding the sleeves. Brass tube is best cut with a tube cutter, but those armed only with a hobby knife should have no problems. Lay the tube onto a flat surface. Place your hobby knife perpendicular to the tube. Press firmly with your knife and roll the tube back and forth. After several rolls the tube should be scored enough to be easily snapped apart.

After cutting the main arm tube, use the same procedure to cut the two outer sleeves. The larger outer sleeve is 9/32" plastic tubing, roughly 1/8" long. The inner sleeve is 3/16' brass tube, cut just slightly longer than the outer sleeve.

Before gluing everything together, test-fit the arms. Depending on the position the thicker outer sleeve may need some trimming to fit over the round ball joint at the shoulder.

With so many parts making up the arm it is best to glue it together in stages. Start by super gluing the main arm tube into the lower arm. Once this is dry apply some super glue into the hole in the shoulder, spreading a small amount around the lip for the out sleeves. Then insert the arm into the shoulder hole, pressing the sleeves against the shoulder at the same time.

The last thing the arms need is some hydraulic tubing. I used two 1/2" sections of thin rubber coated electric wire found in my bits box that probably from some old radio. One end of the wire is pressed with a pair of pliers in order to slide it underneath the outer plastic sleeve. Both ends are then glued into place.

The sleeve joint connection at the waist of the jack is loose enough to allow a wide variety of positions without the need of any conversion work. However this jack would be leaning at an extreme angle, so the tops of the pistons at the front of the waist were remove using a coarse file. The torso and legs are then pinned and glued into place.

The final piece to convert is the head. To fit the position of the body, the head need to be turned to the right. This is done very easily by using a pair of clippers to make a cut behind the left side of the head where it meets the mounting plate. The clippers cause the metal to be pushed out, forcing the head to the right. It is rather a crude way to turn the head, but large plate over the head will cover the cut.

The final step is to mix up some more Magic Sculpt or Kneadnite and fill in any gaps or cuts on the model. This includes filling in the gaps around the arms and sleeves. Putty is also applied around the pins in the feet, adding greater strength to that particularly weak joint.

All done! This converted jack shows much more action than the original static jack, shown left. All the conversion work took about thee evenings.

While this article covers Khador jacks, most of this information can be applied to other Warmachine jack. In fact the work should be easier on others, as only Khador jack have the shoulder plates, which takes extra work to remove.

This article will be updated with specific information on converting over Khador jack as I get them finished.

The Marauder

The Marauder, for the most part, received the same conversion work as the other jacks. However there we are few parts that need extra attention.

The long arms of the Marauder require additional room to get into a proper action-pose. In the intended arm position the left arm would touch the ground if the model was mounted directly onto the base.

Two pieces roughly torn from a cork coaster gives the model enough height to allow the arms to be positioned. The cork is superglued to the base. The model is glued and pinned onto the cork. Cork is a very soft material, so for added strength the pins run all the way though to the bottom of the plastic base.

For the Juggernaut, a wedge of metal of removed from the back of the knee in order to reposition the leg. A similar method is used here, but to the front of the leg. Using a jewelers saw a "V" shaped wedge of metal is remove from behind the kneecap. Then a single cut is made at the back of the knee. Do not cut all the way though, only enough to allow the leg to be easily bent into the new position. The gap will later be filled with epoxy putty.

The pistons on the lower leg were also cut and bent. At the moment this means the pistons are unrealistically curved, but by filing off the top of the piston and filling in the gap at the bottom the pistons can be somewhat straightened.

The head was turned using a pair of clippers as with the previous model, however the shape of the head and the cowl restricted repositioning. A thin piece of plastic card was cut to shape and glued to the base of the head. In order to angle the head more, the left side of the card was filed down before pinning and gluing the head into place.