The Malekith Project is my attempt to construct a complete model of Malekith from bitz ordered direct from Games Workshop. This page is to show people what the progress on Malekith is, and to give instructions, warnings, and general hints on how to make this (hopefully) awesome mini.
No conversion project would be complete without a complete listing of the necessary bitz. The following list gives the part numbers, and prices as of April 2000. These numbers are decided by Games Workshop, and may change. Look at an image of the bitz!
| Number to Order | Bitz Description | |Bitz Number | Price per Bit (US$) |
| 1 | Chaos Warrior Chariot Base | 020107308 | 3 |
| 1 | Chaos Warrior Chariot Left Faring | 020107306 | 2 |
| 1 | Chaos Warrior Chariot Right Faring | 020107307 | 2 |
| 1 | Chaos Warrior Chariot Front Faring | 020107305 | 2 |
| 2 | Chaos Warrior Chariot Wheel | 020107310 | 1 |
| 2 | Chaos Warrior Chariot Scythe | 020107311 | 1 |
| 1 | Chaos Warrior Chariot Haft | 020107304 | 3 |
| 1 | Goblin Chariot Yoke | 020900301 | 2 |
| 1 | Dark Elf Rakarth Torso | 021200101 | 4 |
| 1 | Dark Elf Whip of Agony | 021200103 | 2 |
| 1 | Dark Elf Spearman #7 | 02101507 | 3.25 |
| 2 | Skink Cold One Body 1 | 021404201-02 | 4 |
| 2 | Cold One Head #2 | 021200813 | 1 |
| 2 | Cold One Tail #2 | 021200817 | 1 |
| 2 | Sprue: Cavalry Base | 99379999020 | 1 |
| 1 | Sprue: Chaos Warrior Shield | 99380201007 | 1.5 |
| 1 | Chaos Dwarf Hero Banner Pole | 021100801 | 1.25 |
| Total: $44 US | |||
These bitz were chosen by careful examination of the available miniature bitz, and the available images for Malekith. By following The Plan, I hope to be able to create a truly beautiful battlefield miniature.
Astute readers will have noticed that the bitz in the Bitz List are from the Chaos, Lizardmen, Dark Elf, Chaos Dwarf, and Orc and Goblin army lists. It should come as no suprpise then, that these bitz will not naturally fit together to make a nice easy model.
I would suggest that anyone attempting this conversion have the basic tools on hand. These are:
Of course, you don't absolutely need these things, but they'll sure help.
Before we get started, I should say that I have not ever built one of these before, and so The Plan, is based on how I think I'm going to do it.
First, we need to make modifications to any bit which we only want a part of. These are the Chaos Dwarf Banner and the Dark Elf Spearmen. For the banner, we really only want the poles, and so we'll just cut them off of the backpack thing that connects them. The Spearman gets a much harsher treatment, as we'll simply cut him in half, at the point where the chainmail skirt stops at his waist. Later, we'll join the legs with the Rakarth torso, and the whip to make a full figure. Be sure to remove the spear from the legs, as we won't be needing this right now. Try to keep the spear intact though.
Assembly of the miniature comes next. First, the Cold Ones will be assembled., then the chariot body and haft, but not the chariot yoke. The yoke will only be put on the chariot during final assembly. We will attach the Rakarth torso to the legs of the Spearman, and then (if the slotta base will fit in the chariot) attach Malekith to the slotta base (if the base doesn't fit, we'll glue him into the chariot solidly).
The Chaos Dwarf Banner poles will go on the chariot sides, to provide Malekith with some personal banners.
I used the Skink Cold Ones, as they don't have the saddles that the Dark Elf Cold Ones do. This makes them much better for chariot pulling steeds.
I'm going to be assembling the chariot in three main pieces. The wheels, haft, and body. The wheels are both wheels and both scythes. Surprisingly, the wheels seem to have an inside and outside face on them. Whichever you choose for the inside should be the same for both wheels. The haft segment is the haft, and the yoke. I found that these didn't fit together well, and needed a lot of filing before they even started to hold together properly. With the piece that I have for the yoke, it ends up being upsidedown when you put it with the haft. I figure this will work out alright, since you can hook it under the necks of the Cold Ones instead. The last segment is the body. This is the base, front and two sides. I found that the base had a few studs that needed to be filed flat before the sides would fit on perfectly, but overall, went together nicely.
This leaves the Cold Ones, and Malekith. When choosing the Cold One bitz for this project I made sure to order the Lizardmen, Skink Cold One Rider Cold Ones, since they don't have saddles. I can't see chariot steeds of any kind being saddled, since it would only add unnecessary weight. And, I'd much rather not file the saddles off the regular Cold Ones.
For Malekith, first I took the Spearman, and sawed him in half at the waist. I tried to save the spear, but it was far too brittle (or I'm too clumsy). We're sawing him in half, because we want to use his legs for Malekith's legs. I choose that paticular spearman, since he has a good solid stance, and doesn't have all of the pack, sacks and assorted bags of most of the other Dark Elf Warriors. The only concern of mine is the hair. It's quite long on this mini, and could pose a problem.
Malekith is assembled by joining the legs to Rakarth's Torso. I used the GW line modeling putty to fill the rather large gap, and added enough to try to extend the hair of Rakarth down to meet with the scraggly hair of the Spearman. Since the putty takes a long time to dry, and I've read that it dries faster when cold, I did the assembly, sculpted the hair a little (I'm not much of a sculpter), and then stuck him in the freezer. After a few hours, he should be handlable, but I'll put him somewhere safe for at least a day.
Nearly everything that I assembled had small gaps in one place or another, since I had some putty left, I filled in those gaps to make it a more professional job, and left the whole thing to harden.
I'll have some scans of whatever will scan tomorrow or the next day.
