Captain Zapp Brannigan's big thread of conversions

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

G'day All,

As we all know, necessity is the mother of invention and this has certainly been the case for myself lately.

Being a big fan of veteran squads, I quickly found myself suffering from a lack of plasma and melta guns so I decided to do a bit of kit bashing this afternoon and thought I'd share the end products with you all.

This is going to be my first attempt of using the photobucket method of adding photos to a thread so please excuse this impeding fluster-cuck

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

First up are my proxy plasma guns.

I had two main versions being the older, multi stage plasma gun variant (shown here), and the PPC, Poxy Plasma Carbine.

Though considerably heavier and harder to maintain, this pattern is favoured for the reliability it offers in protecting the operator by staggering the power source levels in two separate reactions before firing, thus reducing the chances of overheating:





And a comparison to the current standard issue plasma gun:



Components used include:
1xIG GLA
1xIG Lasgun
2XIG Plasma Pistols,

Current bug bears with the weapon system:
I'm not quite happy with how unsubstantial the butt stock looks on this weapon, it looks too flimsy in my mind.

Overall:
I'm happy with it and have commenced recommissioning the older pattern plasma gun (Name TBC) into my army

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

Now for the PPC.

Wasn't quite happy with this version and only made one of them as I was down to my last plasma pistols to butcher.

The PPC is featured in light formations such as recon and airborne units and is a recent edition to the armoury.

Featuring a lighter design, this weapon system possesses a shorter range and higher rate of firepower which currently serves it's purposes in ongoing urban operations.

It's chunky design is due to one of the more unique features of this weapon system, being the ease of which operators can service this weapon out in the field. The weapon system is made up of large, easily interchangeable components and groups, allowing the operator to easily slide out a faulty component and replace it with an entirely new piece in a relatively short period of time. This feature was developed in response to many frontline troops complaining of the excess maintenance issues experienced with older plasma gun patterns:





And a comparison with a standard Lasgun:



Components used include:
1xSM Scout Sniper Rifle
1xSM Bolter
1xIG Plasma Gun

Current bug bears with the weapon system:
I just don't like it haha. It kind of feels as if it should feature in an Alien movie.

Overall:
Limitted issue.

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

Hmmm despite the photos being correctly orientated in photobucket some of them still appear upside down or sideways :S

Does anyone else have this problem??

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

Whilst we are on the topic of butchering SM Scout Sniper Rifles:



The Short Carbine was first introduced as the primary personal weapon system for downed aircrews. After numerous complaints from Valkeryie pilots and loadmasters about how inadequate the Laspistol is should they be stranded behind enemy lines, the compact Short Carbine was designed with the intention of being able to be attached underneath the pilot's chair whilst still allowing room for ejecting system.

Due to their initial popularity amongst troops as a prestigious reward for locating appreciative downed pilots, increased piquets around unmanned aircraft has had to occur due to one too many incidents where a stranded pilot has been left defenceless after 'sticky fingers' have previously raided the unattended cockpit.

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

And for all of those heretics who dare mock the humble Lasgun...







Many an outraged junior officer has had to be calmed down by the platoon sergeant after laying eyes on these unorthodox, yet highly effective, Lasgun customisations.

If it's stupid, but works- Then it's not stupid

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

The Omega Laser Cutter.

Primarily employed by Craftsmen, Search and Rescue Teams, Vehicle Recovery Squads and the Tunnelers of Engineering units, the Omega Laser Cutter has also found favour within circles of the Special Operations Group and is now fielded at the squad level as an organic breaching device. An ongoing feud continues between SOG operators and the frustrated members of the Weapons Development Agency with the latter insisting that a newer, lighter variant that is also more powerful would be impossible to create.

Components used include:
1xSM Scout Bolt Pistol
1xIG Flamer

Current bug bears with the weapon system:
It doesn't look like a weapon that has much range to it hence the profile it has been given.

Overall:
Not intended as a stand alone, primary weapon system.

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

^Including the picture would help

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

Compact Flamer.
Issued to vehicle crews operating in confined urban environments as an organic self defence weapon system to these vulnerable assets.

The compact flamer is also highly sought after by many veterans as it's smaller, light weight design is much easier to carry as a secondary weapon system without becoming obstructive to restrictive urban movements. The lack of bulky backpack promethium fuel canisters also allows operators to carry other various breaching, medical or specialist equipment.

This weapon system also affords experienced operators a single handed close combat weapon in hand to hand combat much in the same way as a pistol would.

Known downfalls of this weapon system include a limited fuel capacity before reloading is required and a shortened range compared to the conventional flamer.



A duel-pintle mounted prototype is currently being trialled in place of the current in-service issued storm bolter and heavy stubber.

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

As promised, the duel-pintle mounted Compact Flamer prototype.









Components used include:
1xSM Flamers
1xIG Chimera Tank Commander Components

Current bug bears with the weapon system:
Not sure if I should have taken off those forward sights like what I did with the hand held version. Might give it another shot using some tubing and the IG flamers.

Overall:
Many Hellhound crews are currently awaiting clearance to be issued this piece of kit.

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

And quickly:

The agents of Chaos will never get to employ this Bolter against the Imperium ever again now that it has been stripped down to a lowly pistol



Bug Bears:
Not sure if a barrel should be thrown on top.

Overall:
Quick and easy if you want to mix up what pistols your models are carrying.

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

I personally field five Veteran squads kitted out with shotguns and three flamers apiece in response to the 7500+ pt Tyrannic invasion that a good friend and long time opponent of mine has to throw at my guardsmen and so I thought:
If I were to make any more shotgun squads, how would I do it?

The first shotgun is really unimaginative and easy for those who just want to get models onto the board quickly and is just an IG Flamer that's been cut short:



This second shotgun combines an IG Flamer and Lasgun and credit to the source from where I first saw this design (I've got a couple in my army):

[Adkenpachi]

I like the laser cutter, looks like a p90 sorta thing.

Im gonna steal that gears of war style chainsaw gun idea off you too! One thing, the lasgun with bayonette is useless since the barrel sticks out further than the blade..

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

Next up is the 40mm Milcor MGL Rip off

This design already features here on IGMB and again credit to it's initial creator. I love this design and intend to convert all of my GL to this pattern.



Components:
1xIG Lasgun
1xIG GL
1xIG HB Scope

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

Chaos Compact Flamer.

Shortly after the introduction of the original Compact Flamer, Renegade Guardsmen were observed employing a similar copycat weapon system. The CCF is slightly larger and provides a larger saturation area however it is prone to rupturing and igniting the operator.

The technicians of the Weapons Development Agency take this as a great compliment that another force has attempted to copy their own design and have great pride in knowing that their own product is far superior.

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

The Drum-fed, mini Mini-Gun.

Affectionately referred to as, "The Pig".

Nicknamed "The Pig" due to the loud, impolite burping sound the weapon makes when it is engaged, this weapon system is in high demand but short supply due to the limited lifespan of the rotating barrels and the high amounts of armourer labour required to maintain this weapon. If not due for it's huge popularity as a firefight show stopper, "The Pig" would have been thrown off the production line decades ago. Many troopers favour "The Pig" over the Heavy Bolter as a suppression weapon in urban environments due to it's lighter design, higher rate of fire, quicker reloading action and for the simple ease of manoeuvring the weapon through difficult terrain to where it is most needed. Although distinctly lacking the same punch or range as the Heavy Bolter, the fact that "The Pig" can still drop a rebel guardsman or gaunt within the distance of an alleyway or large intersection quite easily makes this overmatch redundant in built up areas.





Components:
1xIG GL
1xIG Lasgun
1xMax Mini Rotator Gun (?)
-Not exactly sure what it is called but it is a crew served, tripod mounted machine gun, consisting of 2x4barrels.

Bug Bears:
This example was put together with not much finesse, I'm hoping to make another cleaner version to throw into one of my Gung-Ho Platoon Command Squads as a proxy Bolter.

Overall:
I like the idea of it however unsure of what rules it should have or whether I should just keep it as a proxy bolter.

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

Jun 2, 2014 8:39:04 GMT -5 Adkenpachi said:

I like the laser cutter, looks like a p90 sorta thing.

Im gonna steal that gears of war style chainsaw gun idea off you too! One thing, the lasgun with bayonette is useless since the barrel sticks out further than the blade..

Cheers adkenpachi,

Yeah I really liked the Chainsaw version and was able to put it together when a bits box I bought off of Ebay had the FW components in it. I'm sure a butchered chainsword from an IG or SM kit would work fine too! This weapon is currently fielded on one of my Vets in the 'Combat Engineers' Squad. Ie 10xVets with four demo charges and a hell of a lot of extra gear/cables/sledge hammers etc.

Haha and yep! Not to mention it would be a female dog to aim with but I had the piece and wanted to do something different

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

And now for my last one of the night:

The proxy Melta Gun.

I was pretty happy how this one turned out. Having kitted out two Storm Trooper squads and a Rough Rider squad with Meltas, I was quickly in short supply of these handy little buggers and still had my poor old foot sloggers to kit out! As a result I started searching through my bits box for ideas and came up with this...





It's slightly shorter than a regular Melta Gun so I'm thinking I could give them to a Valk or Chimera mounted Vet squad.

Components:
1xSM Bolter
1xMultimelta (Not sure from which model let alone army)
1xIG Flamer (The primer part)
1xSM Flamer (Fuel Canister)
1xUnkown component on the top
-The prize for whoever is able to identify will be your very own tremendous self satisfaction

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

I lied

One more for the night.

For those of you who want to make you own hot-shot lasguns then one way you can do it is by combining the below rifle with an IG Vox Caster and just simply cut off the antenna parts of the Vox. Some green stuff or additional tubing may be required to connect to two together though.

I made mine out of an IG Flamer and GL however I'm sure you could always swap the latter out with a Lasgun. I initially made mine with the intention of fielding it as a 12" range, Str 4, AP 5, Assault 1, Small Blast ignores cover prototype weapon.

-Some friends of mine are going to have a kill team round robin with the scenario set in a research facility and we are currently trying to make one prototype weapon for each of our armies that may be found in the facility to help add to the fluff. Not sure what sort of points this bad boy would cost...any thoughts??



Components:
1xIG GL
1xIG Flamer

Bug Bears:
Not sure if it would look better with a Lasgun barrel.

Overall:
It is intended as either a weapon system that can project a small blast of flame or as a hot-shot lasgun. Really simple to make.

[ogguardsman]

The chopped and flipped around flamer as a shotgun is really awesome. I do think it might look better if flamer nozzle was flipped around so the larger nozzle part was at the top. That way it would look more like a shotgun with a heat shield, if you're unfamiliar with how that looks a google image search for shotgun with heat shield will provide plenty of examples.

The lasgun with chainsaw bayonet is great. Reminds me of the old 2nd Edition chainsaw bayonets the came with the space marine box set. I'm sure it looks fine from the tabletop but in the close up picture it looks like you cut so much of the stock that it's now smaller than the barrel of the lasgun. It looks like you could fill in the space between the top of the chainblade and the bottom of the stock with greenstuff if you wanted to but it's just nitpicking. I'm glad you're adding bayonets, you can never have enough.

The pintle mounted double flamer is awesome it's going to werf flammen like a boss and the the plasma pistols + lasgun conversion is sweet.

[krieg]

Some great ideas there, showing an easy way to solve a problem and they look good. May just have to borrow some of your ideas sometime. And the little bit on top in the last picture is from the Baneblade kit, it goes on the back plate, bottom left corner, I've just built one up.




Krieg

[ColGravis]

Love the Pig, thats got Volley Gun written all over it! Might have to yoink that idea!

[superfrog]

I think the top part on the shortened melta is from one of the tank accessories either on the chimera or from the baneblade. Afaik. :-)

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

Have just put together my last Leman Russ and realised that the nozzle of the Melta Gun came from the Multi Melta from this tank though I'm sure the Chimera and Baneblade may have similar or in fact the same component.

Once I finish some more work I might start compiling volume two of Captain Zapp Brannigan's big thread of conversions

[Captain Zapp Brannigan]

Question: Who here likes the current standard multilaser that comes in the Chimera kit?

-No one? Good.

So I know that this thread has been focussing on small arms and I was intending on keeping it this way however the stock standard multilaser has been giving me some grief for some time. Now that I am ready to assemble my chimeras I thought that I'd attempt to address this issue and here is my first crack at kit bashing the chimera turret: