Converting an Imperial Guard Griffon Heavy Mortar

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And now for the inaugural article! First, a little history – the reason I started the Forge Floor was due in part to the frustration of not finding a single tutorial on how to convert the Griffon heavy mortar on the internet. I found plenty of pictures, suggestions on chat room and forums, but nowhere could I find a good conversion guide. This is my attempt to redress this wrong.

I wanted a Griffon because, in my opinion, pound for pound, there is not a better unit in the Guard codex at this time of writing. Everything you take should be compared with a Griffon – it’s that good, and that cheap. Unfortunately, the only models for it are out of production or expensive Forge World kits. This conversion uses the Basilisk kit as its base, making it a little easier to create.
SHOPPING LIST

1. Imperial Guard Basilisk
2. Road Wheel sprue from the older vehicle kits
3. Chaos Marauder head (optional)
4. Cadian heavy weapons crewman (optional)
5. Random Imperial grubbins from your bitz box (optional)

HOW TO

1. Assemble the main chassis of the Basilisk as per normal, with one exception – do not put the t-shaped plate that the Earthshaker cannon would normally be mounted in. Just leave the back empty.
2. Using a good pair of plastic clippers, cut the Earthshaker barrel like so:
   
3. Take one of the smaller road wheels (they look like this):
   
4. Glue the wheel to the end of your clipped Earthshaker cannon: it helps it look more like an actual gun and less like you cut a different gun in half). Obviously, glue it so that the hollow end is pointing towards the enemy.
5. Now you want to clip the pegs off the gun brackets like so:
   
6. Now, this is the tricky bit. Place the gun brackets on either side of the heavy mortar as you would for the Earthshaker. I found that I had to glue them together in order for the mortar to stay pointing in a realistic way. Cut sections from your sprues ( you should have plenty, because you just bought a Basilisk) and glue them to the bottom of the gun brackets. Note that because the sprues are a trapezodial shape, not right angles, you will have to turn one of them upside down to make a smooth brace. Here is a picture, so add a thousand more words to this explaination. 
   
7. Admire your heavy mortar in all its glory!
8. Now we prepare the interior of the vehicle. I added some random stuff to the walls, a box of mortars from a toy soldiers kit I’ve had since I was 8, and, in a touch I’m particularly proud of, glued the searchlight to the wall to be painted as a radar screen.
   
9. I’m just gonna show another picture of the radar screen, because I’m stupidly proud of that. I made the pointing guy with bits from the Cadian heavy weapons team. I intend to paint him separately and glue him in later (so he is blu-tacked for now)
10. Here is a photo showing the placement of the gun inside the chassis. I made the gun slightly off-center because I think it looks better that way and it allows the poor gunner to crawl his way out. The gun is blu-tacked in right now, but I intend to drill pins through the braces on the gun through the floor, so I can remove the gun for both battle damage and easy transport.
11. Perhaps my favorite addition to the tank, meet Moses. I knew I needed another crew member, and decided to have him standing on the tracks of the stationary vehicle for a superior vantage point. I then noticed the hairy head from the Chaos Marauder sprue and decided to put it on him. I like the way the hair is blowing such that you could imagine it being tousled by the blast from the gun. I intend to put pins in his feet to make him removable for ease of transport. He has also inspired the name for the tank: Exodus.
12. Finally, the finished product. I will post painted pictures when I get around to it, but I hope this was enlightening and useful. Please comment if you found this page useful – then I don’t feel like I’m talking to myself. Cheers!
    

    "Exodus" Mobile Artillery E1317

++THOUGHT OF THE DAY: A small mind is a tidy mind. +++

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