Venom Conversion
The new Dark Eldar Codex came out and one of the transport choices is the Venom, a nasty little thing with lots of firepower and space for up to 5 models. There is no official model for it, so if you want one, you'll have to convert it yourself. I want one, ergo...

As previously mentioned most people convert theirs from Vypers. Vypers run about $30 each, and then you have to actually convert it. That's a lot of work and more money than I have to spend right now.

I found a couple of really interesting conversions online based on the idea of taking the front 3/4 or so of the Venom and half (one uses the front, the other uses the back) of a Raider model. While I have Raiders, that's still chopping up two expensive models for each Venom. I really liked the look, however.

I first tried to make a Venom from a bulked up Reaver, essentially turning it into a Vyper with heavily enlarged winglets and a small standing area on back. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I felt the Reaver-Vyper part worked pretty well, but I wanted to try something closer to the Raider half for the rear decking.

I got out the Apoxie Sculpt (fantastic stuff, seriously, go buy some, I'll wait.) and started playing around with it.

I made a diamond shape with one end cut off flat, then assembled the Reaver and cut out a small area from that end to fit around the Reaver's engine exhaust. I'll have to fit it with a larger engine, and I've got something in mind for that, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

I then created the "Raider Prow" by making a couple of roughly square shapes and molding them together at the rear of the diamond shape. I got the shape of the back pretty much perfect, but I didn't get the sides sloped quite right.

Instead of redoing the cowling this time, I decided to add extensions to it that hang down the sides, giving it a more solid look. I'm still debating whether or not to fill in the bottom yet. At the moment I'll leave it off.

I still needed more walls around the diamond, and I realized that I'd made the diamond area too small, so I extended the walls in a sloping fashion down to the extensions coming off the cowling. Again, the slope isn't quite right, but it looks pretty good.

There's still work to be done: Adding a bigger engine, adding weapons, attaching the pilot, probably adding a few large blades or fins as well, but I've got the basic model up so that I know the concept works. I think this is the style I'm going to stick with as I (eventually) make more of them. On future Venoms I'll be making the back end about 30-50% larger and trying to get more slope on the sides to match the new Raider look.

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