A (Marginally) Better Use of My Time Than Watching Television; or, Never Skimp on Luxury –

– by which I don’t mean, ‘blow all your money on overpriced crap’. I mean, if you’re going to spend time and/or money on something for no other purpose than that you enjoy it, i.e., luxury, then you should spend as much time and money as you need to actually enjoy it (assuming, of course, that you can afford to). Stuff like, you know, gas, staple foods, office supplies, etc., I get them to accomplish a specific function. Assuming that they accomplish that function, the cheaper the better.

(Of course, this ignores the fact that things are not 100% necessity XOR luxury; my favorite brand of toothpaste (e.g., not that I actually have one) might be 90/10 necessity/luxury, whereas (depending on how much stock you put in studies that say writing longhand improves cognition) fountain pen ink would be 10/90 the other way around.)

Tl;dr, e.g., if you decide to ‘save’ and buy a $20 bottle of wine even though it’s not really all that good instead of your usual treat of a $50 bottle that you know you’d like, you didn’t save $30, you wasted $20.

… Which is all a long-winded way of saying that:

• For the WH40k players, yes, I realize that conversions involving bits from five different companies (six, counting the eleven rare earth magnets of varying sizes), drilling and pinning, (minor) use of Green Stuff, and pre-assembly painting of almost all of the 23 individual pieces (not counting those magnets), per model, for a basic Troops choice is utterly ridiculous. (I also realize that grenades don’t have to be represented on the model.)
• Of course, GW charging $80 for a squad of ten (10) metal (i.e., pretty much non-customizable) Sisters of Battle is also ridiculous. (I started this when 7th edition had recently been released, so by the time I finish it there’s a good chance that with 8th edition we’ll finally have nvrmnd we’ll probably be able to have the Emperor as our Warlord before we ever see plastic Sisters.)
• Churchill himself adhered to a regimen of ‘2000 words and 200 bricks’ per day, or, to quote another great man, ‘the more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play‘. (Because, y’know, if you’re going to implicitly compare yourself to one of the greatest wartime leaders ever, why not throw in one of the greatest starship captains ever, too?)
• For everyone else, add up how much time you spend staring at the television or flipping through YouTube videos or your Facebook feed. And keep in mind that this is, like, one or two relaxing hours per week every other month at this point, at most.

So, all that out of the way, here’s Part 1 of “Converting (Mostly) Plastic Sisters of Battle in Way Too Many Ridiculously [Unnecessarily] Complicated Steps”:

The Bits:

To make the basic Battle-Sisters, I started with one (1) box of Dreamforge’s Eisenkern Valkir Heavy Troopers (as suggested here) and one (1) set of Statuesque Miniature’s Heroic-Scale Female Heads. In addition, various sprues from GW’s Space Marines Tactical Squads provided Imperial-standard weaponry, with Anvil Industry bits for accessories and scenic basing – their “City Rubble” 40mm Bases, Grenade and Explosives Pack, Wax Seals and Parchments, and Holstered Pistols. (Also Green Stuff, small bits of safety-pin for the… pinning, and rare earth magnets.) A pack of generic 28mm bases and some Sci-Fi Terrain – Bits for bases from Proxie Models provided the ‘generic’ bases for gaming use.

Everything laid out. These 23 pieces will turn into a Sister of Battle armed with power armour, bolter, bolt pistol, and frag and krak grenades. (The missing grid in the lower left is what happens when you spill plastic cement on a cutting mat.) Not shown are pins, green stuff, and the additional magnets I decided to use later.

 

Assembly:

After clipping and cleaning up all of the parts, it’s time for drilling, pinning, and (some) gluing. First up, adding the bolter.

Top: The original Valkir arm. Bottom: Space Marine bolter.

 

Hand removed… (Pictures suck because cell phone.)

 

And glued. No magnets because 1) that would be silly, and 2) the arms are paired for the weapon / posture, so swapping in, say, a flamer or meltagun would be ugly.

 

3/32″ x 1/16″ magnets in the middle of the feet for attaching the model to either Anvil bases or matching (modified) 28mm round bases.

 

Legs glued in place next to torso.

 

1/8″ x 1/16″ magnets allow for swapping of various upper bodies / heads and legs. (Not seen here, but the Valkir models have several different types of legs. Could also allow compatibility with minor modifications with Anvil leg sets.)

 

The magnetized weapons arms and torso. (More 3/32″ x 1/16″ magnets here.)

 

A 1/16″ x 1/32″ magnet for the back of the krak grenade. Yes, this is ridiculous, no I haven’t figured out how I’ll attach it to the model, but – against a suitably (similarly) constructed vehicle, I can literally stick a scale grenade to its side.

 

The core mock-up on an Anvil scenic base, demonstrating waist flexibility. The Anvil bases are entirely magnetic / ferrous, so the feet can be placed anywhere.