Lord Solar Mecharius - 40k Imperial Guard Conversion

I felt that my Guard army needed a centerpiece model. Unlike other armies which have Primarchs, or DPs, Celestine, etc. pure guard lists really lack that central model unless you go for a super heavy bane blade - but that wasn't my goal - I wanted my warlord to be the centerpiece.

While looking through the source material and lore, Solar Mecharius kept cropping up as the Guard's closest thing to a Primarch that we would ever get. GW did release a model of him from way back in 2nd edition I believe, but it was nothing more fancy than a Primaris Psyker today. Not to mention the positioning and sculpt felt quite dated.

As part of my Heirlooms of Conquest project (separate post to come soon), I realized that I could create a warlord that was modeled to look like Solar Mecharius, and give him the blade of conquest.

Step 1) Find a SMecharius model.

Finding one of these models is hard. Ebay will occasionally have some, but the costs can become quite high. I finally found one that was just the single cast body and head, no arms, no cloak, with about 3 thick paint jobs on him for under $20. I scooped it up.

Step 2) Stripping the model

There are infinite tutorials on how to do this, my favorite method is using a simply green bath for the model. I leave it in overnight usually, then do my first rough strip of the model using a stippling brush for its hard bristles. For this model, that wasn't enough, it took another overnight soak and then back at it with an x-acto blade to get the crevices and details as clean as I could.

Step 3) Figuring out Arm / cloak Conversions

So I knew that I wanted the sword to look special enough to fit the heirloom of conquest. Finding ones that I had in my bits box to also fit the torso and sculpt of the model were hard. I finally settled on a Space Wolf sword as the runes seemed fitting. I also used an old cape bit that I had to cover his back which was pretty messed up from previous builds and stripping the model.

Step 4) Painting

The original Solar model scheme was typically gold armor with white cloth. But, seeing how I didn't have either arm I wanted him to match my scheme just like I adjusted my Commissars. I finally settled on green armor with Gold accents as I had down with my other  Company Commanders in the Heirlooms of Conquest project. There was more than enough flair on his armor to make it obvious he was in charge.

But even at this stage I wasn't really happy with the model. While the arms conversions were great for me, the model did nothing to stand out as a 'centerpiece model', and even if I put him on an oversized base that wouldn't help as he would just disappear into the base. 

I went back to the fluff for some inspiration, and I really focused on the art you can find which places wings on the character (https://1d4chan.org/wiki/File:Macharius_lord.jpg)

I tried a few different GW wing options, such as from the Stormcast and Celestine, but the sizing and proportions didn't fit for me. Back to Ebay, I found some third party resin wings that looked perfect.

After painting up the wings, I added them to the model, and it was exactly the 'pop' I was looking for to make it a centerpiece. 

Step 5) Base

So I got a bit ahead of myself with that pic above, but I wanted to have a base fitting. I also wanted to have him dramatically leading his soldiers. I have an old Scibor Miniatures base that I decided to add a few more organic pieces to. 

I added a piece of mulch to create a fallen tree across the two platforms to make it more dramatic. Because of the old pewter sculpt design, the model had a base slot line between the feet, so I chiseled out the section of the wood where the model would stand to also give it some more stability. 

Step 6: Final Touches

To make the model feel more epic, I decided to add a few more secondary models to the base. First was a wounded Cadian model that I used to use for an objective marker ages ago, and the second was an old tech scribe of some sort (I'm sure someone will tell me it's actual name). I kind of liked the cinematic feel of him stepping over the wounded, and figured a character this important would have a scribe to everything.

I added a tad of OSL to the scribe's data tablet, a few more pieces of scrub and flocking, and am relatively happy with the model as it is now. I will go back and spend some time doing more edge highlighting and cleaning the transitions after a break.