WIP: Genestealer Beast part II

The Genestealer Cult Beast hybrid is almost ready to paint. This is one of the craziest conversions I've ever done, and I think it turned out great. The model is based on a Tyranid Carnifex, with its torso turned upside down. The plan was to create a Carnifex hybrid that looks more like a Genestealer creature than a normal Tyranid. What I really like about the Genestealers are their back plate. They have a ribcage looking bone armour on their back, while other Tyranids have flat plates. The "ribcage" looks a lot creepier, so I decided to use what originally was the Carnifex' ribcage as the models back armour. I used the torso of a Bloodthirster as the models front torso to make the model look like a humanoid hybrid, and not a pure Tyranid creature. The head was also based on the one from a Carnifex. I cut away its face, and sculpted a new one, a more human looking one than the original. 

The hardest part about creating this model, was choosing arms. I tried a lot of different types and numbers. I considered using original Carnifex arms, mechanical ones, ogre/ogryn arms to go with the human-looking theme or no arms at all. But I ended up with spider like bug arms. They are Plague Drone limbs, with Genestealer rending claws as hands. I got the idea from the Dark Mechanicus at the Ex Profundis blog and the Nurgle Trolls from the Convertorum.

When I turned the Carnifex torso upside down, I noticed how much the hole, where the lower body was supposed to bee, looks like some sort of chair or throne. Therefore I decided to give the best a rider. For this i used a mostly straight out of the box Genestealer hybrid. I did however add a few extra details, like the psychic collar from the Culexux Assassin, and his fingers that turns into cables and runs into his mutant steeds back. 

I'm planning to enter this model into a this years The Fang painting competition in Oslo.  The competition is just a month away, so you can expect more updates on the model soon!

I usually think WIP pictures look better in black and white. A lot of different colours can be distracting. But I thought it could be interesting to have one in colour anyway, so you can get a better idea of what parts I used and where I used green-stuff.

Thank for looking!