Nemesis Force Blade Scratch Build

So as I mentioned in my last post, I've been working on some Deamonhunter allies for my son's Imperial Guard force. I just heard a rumor that the "allies" part of Deamonhunters may disappear with the new codex. I'm hoping that's not the case, as I like the excuse to paint some of these figures up. They give me a good excuse to break from painting up Imperial Guard. What you see in the first picture is the latest addition to the group, namely a standard Grey Knight with Nemesis Halberd. The difference here is that the figure was received second hand and lacked the fighting end of the halberd, so I had to recreate it.












I regret that sometimes, like this time, I get wrapped up in the conversion and I don't think of taking WIP shots until it's too late. I hope with this one though, a picture and explanation may be enough. So in the close-up picture above I've broken down the parts.

I started with the blade, which is simply two pieces of plasticard glued together. You could use a thick piece of plasticard, but I didn't have that. The important thing here is that it has to be thick enough for drilling pinning holes. You need pinning holes for the spikey bit on top, and for attaching to the halberd pole. I used a stock Halberd for sizing up the blade.

Once the blade is finished, shape the edge and build up the pieces at the base of the blade. The spikey bit on top is made from a piece of sprue filed down and pinned with a nail brad. A nail brad is stronger than a paper clip, and strength is needed here. It is also thicker, so some caution is needed so you don't split out the side while you are drilling. The spikey part on the bottom is not a separate piece, but file down after building up with very thin pieces of plasticard on the halberd base. Another piece of sprue is used to make the transition from blade to hand guard. The handguard is simple a thick piece of plasticard. Not seen in the picture, underneath where the purity seal goes (purity seal fell off for the pic), is a round transition piece. In my case, I used a piece of copper wire wrapped around the pin, but a hollow rod could just as easily work. Copper wire from old phone cord is used for the power line.

Here is a side by side comparison picture. This is not the blade I used for sizing up my scratch built blade. The figure was chosen for its more similar pose. There are four different halberds, and I evidently chose the largest size when I sized mine.