Hunter light warjack Converted for Competition winner

One of the prizes I gave out as part of the celebration for my blog turning 5 years old was a commission. Alex was the winner and asked that I convert a Cygnar Hunter light warjack to look less hunched over and squatting. He also asked for the axe to be changed as he wasn't fond of the shape of the head of it. 

The hardest step was to cut the legs apart. Once I had the conversion was underway and proceeded quickly.

I use a pipe cutter to cut plastic tube to length, this keeps the cut perfectly straight.

I also cut two small sections of a wider plastic pipe for detailing later.

First test fit of the legs, they looked too long at this point and I wasn't happy with how the pose looked. It looked too much like a lanky version of the original pose so I figured Alex wouldn't be happy with it.

I drilled into all the various parts for the project. I like models I assemble to stay assembled, so I pin everything I possibly can to make it as strong as I can.

I was able to use one pin to go all the way from the knee joint through to the leg then the foot and into the base.

I shortened the leg a little and measured it to make sure that both legs would be the same length. I also cut lengths of brass rod to attach behind the main bulk of the legs.

I added the small sections of wider pipe to the tops of the lower legs, this was just to add detail and isn't structural at all.

The brass rod then got attached behind the legs. I repeated the process with the second leg and pinned that leg to the hip joint.

I wanted to get the model into a pose that was not squatting but also dynamic enough without making it look unbelievable. To get the legs to fit onto the base I elevated the left leg onto some cork which represents rocks and posed the right leg backwards to make it look as though the warjack is striding up the rocks or perhaps taking aim.

The guidance Alex gave me about the axe was to make it more like a woodsman's axe I found this image and used it as a reference for reshaping the axe.

I cut it down and filed the cut edges to make them smoother and less obviously cut.

I added a scope to the gun to make the warjack look more like a marksman.

I did a test pose of the arms using bluetac to hold them in place, I do this to see how the finished model will look before committing to gluing. I don't attach the head at this point though as I like to use the head as a final posing option, a small tilt to one side can often change the feel of a model so I like to wait until the end to choose how to attach the head.

I wasn't happy with how the axe looked raised up like this, it looked too much like it was happily strolling around, I wanted the pose to look a little more like it was stalking its target.

Lowering the axe and tilting it inward achieved the look I was going for, it also helped to keep the models centre of gravity lower so it would have less balance issues on the table.

The pin in the left leg really helps anchor the model to the base, its running from the underside of the base through the cork,into the foot then the lower and upper leg of the model.

I covered it over with greenstuff to fully secure it.

Now I had the pose sorted I pinned the arms and head to the body to firmly attach them.

I then added an extra detail that seemed fitting, the severed head of a previous kill...

Here it is next to one of my painted stock pose Hunters, there is quite the difference in height. 

The squatting pose issue is completely solved, you can see here looking at my stock hunter what Alex was mentioning. 

I actually sent this out to him a while ago and he received it about a month ago, but I wanted him to have the model for a while before I posted about it here on my blog.

He was happy with the conversion and the name that I gave it while I worked on it.

So thats "The Huntsman" conversion complete and I am very happy with how it went.

What do you think of this conversion? Have you reposed a Hunter before? If you have let me know how you got on with it! I would love to see your work.