Converting all plastic Chaos Space Marine Obliterators is creative fun and not too difficult. The Chaos model ranges from Games Workshop provide lots of great bits for kit bashing. With a little Green Stuff and some plastic card we have everything we need to make cool Obliterators.
Some of the best models to start with for this project are GW plastic Chaos Space Marine (CSM) Terminators. They are already somewhat bulky and similar in aesthetics to Obliterators and you get five plastic models for $50 US instead of three resin models for $52 like the current Obliterator models. Better still, since we’re using only regular polystyrene plastic parts for our conversion work it’s much easier to work with, can be built entirely with plastic glue and is not as soft or fragile as the Finecast Obliterator models. It’s also creative fun!
First we need to build the structure of the Obliterator models around the Chaos Terminator bodies. I started by picking the weapons that I wanted to have sprouting from their limbs and then attaching them with plastic glue. If you need to build extensions or attachments to get the alter the length you can simply use bits of sprue in places where it will be covered with Green Stuff (Kneadatite). I added some large spikes similar to the ones on the current Obliterator sculpts using plastic strips available from plastic card manufacturers like Evergreen or Plastruct. Heads, arms and decorative bits came from a variety of CSM kits including the Chaos Spawn and Chaos Possessed sets.
This work-in-progress photo shows one completely assembled set of Obliterators. Green Stuff was used to hide joins, to bulk up the models and to simulate the morphing flesh and material for which Obliterators are famous. The scenic basing created from various plastic bits was used not only to enhance the look of the models, but to make them sit up a little higher and make them seem larger. Obliterators are somewhat larger than Terminators so I wanted to enhance the size and appearance of size of the models while converting them.
Here are the same models after painting. They are now ready to wreak destruction upon the battlefield! I actually did the work for these models in a GW store a few years ago and I knew I had done a successful conversion job on these when people walked up to me and made comments like, “cool Obliterators”. If other hobbyists didn’t have to ask me what they were supposed to be then I knew I had achieved the right look with these conversions.
This was actually the first set of Obliterators I did using the same methods described above. How can I tell the squads apart in a game? I deliberately built subtle differences into the two squads. One squad has two spikes on top, the other three spikes. One squad is also “skull pauldron” squad while the other is “eye pauldron” squad.
Instead of the “crazy quilt” approach to shooting weapons that are shown on the GW Obliterators I chose to instead model mine with a single weapon that they could allowably morph under the 2007 Codex Chaos Space Marines. Miniatures are like a still snapshot in time of the being or creature they represent and I wanted to have my Obliterators each morphing a single weapon more befitting their background lore and game rules description. I did, however, decide to have them bristling with spikes and other sharp appendages because I like that menacing daemonic look it gives them.
This was a fun project that allowed me to create some unique looking models. For me, Chaos Space Marines are unmatched by any other 40K army for conversion fun opportunities with Orks being a close runner-up.
Obliterators epitomize the fun of the Chaos Space Marine lore, a sorcerous melding of daemon, man and machine. They are fun to build, paint and use in games, a perfect Chaos triad of fun.
