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Special Forces Multi-Shell Digital Kitbashing!
🕑 Added 2024-06-20 15:00:10 +0000 UTCHello Patrons,
We're back again to show you some cool examples of what Multi-Shell manipulation can do to customise your figures, make them unique, and how mixing in other month's elements can drastically change the feel of your team!
Kudos to Staffer Adam, who graciously put together all these example minis, at least in part to use in his own BLKOUT skirmish team! (Keep an eye out on our website for his Blog post, which will be going into further detail!)
Ultra-Light SCAR-H Team
To start, we've got a female team that have had a lot of extra shells removed to create an ultra-light version of the standard Special Forces parts. Highlighted in different colours, you can see examples of the shells that have been removed, alongside one of the team.
Immediately noticeable are the plain FAST helmets. With their ear defenders/headsets and cloth / Velcro coverings removed (coloured green and purple respectively), the team looks much more lightly equipped for speed and short engagements. To further emphasise this, the knee pads (yellow), shoulder pockets, and many of the pouches on the chest rigs (blue) have been removed too. This modification removes all the extra "weight" from the mini, making them look faster and lighter!
Finally, the flip-up sights have been removed on some of the SCAR-H rifles, and a scope from the SSR variant has been added to one of the team. This adds back a little visual variety between individuals, which was lost when many of the other shells were removed. Sometimes it can be important to re-balance the level of detail like this.
SCAR SSR Night-Time Marksman Team
The marksman team uses some of the same modifications, losing the knee pads and pockets, but also removes the combat gloves (shown in blue).
Using the standard Pistol-Grip rifle arms, the optional standard SCAR stock has been removed, and the SSR variant has replaced it. Each member of the team has had the suppressor from their rifle removed, and 4 of 5 have had NODs added to the forehead attachment point.
Lastly, one of the unhelmeted heads has had a helmet added back, giving the figure a unique face with extra facial hair.
JTAC Squad Coordinators
Sometimes our multi-shells hide normal Regiments compatible joints underneath, and Adam took advantage of that to replace the left arms of both the JTAC torsos right arms (yellow) with a slung SCAR rifle (orange). For the female model, the shelled head was also removed and replaced with an alternate one with NODs, while the hand was swapped for one with a squad radio.
Both figures then had some of their small pouches removed (purple) and replaced with JTAC radios. One of the pockets was left empty for the female figure, as she's currently using the radio. Small details like this add to the realism and believability of your kitbashes, and it's that little bit extra that helps the figures tell a story on the tabletop!
Below, you can see the entire force assembled:
BLKOUT Marine Raider Team
Adam's been very keen on making a small Marine Raiders force for BLKOUT. You may have already seen some of his work-in-progress conversion work on our socials. Today he's walking us through how he used the newly released Modern Special Forces releases to create some of his figures!
Captain
A favourite of the team, the Captain has the most extensive Multi-Shell additions of any of Adam's skirmish force. The most eye-catching part is probably the helmet modification, which has used the PCR Commando helmet (coloured red) to add a fully enclosed face shield and respirator to the Special Forces FAST helmet. Also from the PCR Commando set is the holographic rear sights for the alternate rifle.
To pick out the captain from the rest of the force, High-Tech Drop Trooper legs were substituted, giving the figure more bulk, and a unique set of details. The torso and left arm are from our upcoming Loyalty Reward set for modern special forces, here opting for the flare version, and the right hand is one of the gestures from that set too! The chest rig was then given a folded Nav board and extra squad radio
The rifle (MDX 510) has been swapped in from the Undercover Operators set, but has kept the side mounted torch and vertical grip from the SCAR. A PEQ sourced from Biohazard Containment Team completes the high-tech sighting options for the weapon. The stock has also been swapped out for an alternative - a rescaled butt stock from the Light Mech's weapon builder!
All of this comes together to bring our current modern special forces kit into a near-future setting, and a hugely characterful model.
JTAC Operator
Much like the Captain, the JTAC has the same helmet and weapon conversions, but goes even further with extra radios (there's three in total, picked out in blue) alongside the regular female JTAC torso parts. The helmet is further augmented with a different head torch from NASA Astronauts, which can be better seen on the sniper team below.
Heavy Exo-Suit
The Heavy Exo-Suit features one of the new helmets from the special forces loyalty reward booster pack, and is further augmented with cylindrical cameras (magenta) that dot the visor's surface. The legs and power supply are from the Tracer Exo-Mech infantry, and the arms and weapons are our Man-Portable heavy weapons. The minigun (purple) from set #1, and the Tracer Recon arms from set #2 (orange).
Adam also crafted a custom badge for all of his Marine Raider force, which you can see here on the Exo-Suit's shoulder (magenta). If you'd like to get this patch for yourself, then read on and find out how!
Sniper Team
As with all the previous figures, Adam swapped in the commando helmet for that near-future feel, and also added the helmet mounted camera from NASA Astronauts. This little tech greebles make a fantastic helmet accessory that evoke a more high-tech aesthetic than the standard head torch.
Next, the weapon was swapped in its entirety, from the SCAR SSR, to an MRAD sniper rifle (purple), sourced like the trooper's rifles, from our Undercover Operatives. The muzzle brake (blue) however is an addition from the Desert Nomad sniper rifle - a very simple boolean cut to remove the rest of the rifle, and then attached here, to the MRAD.
The barrel of the gun then needed support, as did the elbows of the spotter using the rangefinder. For this, Adam's got the modern assault backpack from our standalone backpacks release and used them as a prop for both!
Lastly, you can just see on these last miniatures, the custom jump-pack (magenta) that Adam sculpted to go on all his BLKOUT troops. If you'd like both the custom arm patch, and the jump-pack, we're giving them away for FREE on our Discord! Swing by and download yours!
Download Here: https://discord.gg/rEzPH8CXVr
We hope you've found these digital kitbash conversions inspiring, and are encouraged to try not just combining our modular parts as-is, but delving into the liberating realm of Digital multi-shell manipulation! We'll have more Multi-Shell goodness coming soon, as we break down next month's optional shells for Daughters of the Burning Rose!
Comments
joel pitt
We will have an in-depth Blog post on our website at some point soon, but no plans for a video tutorial I'm afraid
Jacob Ritsmea
Could you guys post a how to video or instructions for how to creat that blackout team? Particularly covering the elements that you swapped in from other sets. Looks fantastic btw
