Wave Serpent Turret Conversion

So we are doing a build up for Ard Boys at our FLGS again this year and this year I will be working (or reworking) on my Eldar. Well almost any incarnation of an Eldar list I can come up with at this point is going to need at least one or two Wave Serpents. I do not really like the stock turret. I like the Forgeworld one, but since there is a good chance I will need several serpents for any larger list I did not want to go about paying $15-$20 to buy the turrets. So, I figured my only option was to make them.

This is a really easy conversion once I figured out what I was going to do and how I needed to cut the materials. All the plastic pieces are from the kit so I did not need to bastardize any of my bits or other kits to do what I needed. The one are you may need to look at for your self if you do this is the Shuriken Cannon upgrade piece. I do not play on using them on my serpents so I was not worried about cutting them. If I change my mind later I will have another article to write about converting Cannon upgrades.

My thoughts behind this conversion is that I wanted to see if I could get something closer to the Forldworld version. So I wanted to get the weapons together on the same side of the turret. Once I laid that out I knew I wanted something on the opposite side to balance it out visually. The final thing was the antenna that was sticking up from the center of the turret. It made it look a bit Tau'ish for me. I also wanted to avoid having to buy a bunch of materials that I did not already have.

Above you can see the pieces I used laid out in the order that I used them in. I started with a piece of brass rod (bottom) that I would use to replace the center bar that comes with the kit. On the right I start with on of the weapon covers that comes with the kit. I attach this to the end of the brass rod. Next I place one of the weapons on and follow it on with a small piece of brass tubing. The tubing will help keep the guns evenly spaced. The next thing is the large center spacer. I have placed an even bigger piece of tubing on the center spacer so the finished piece will not move back and forth inside the turret.

The next part is the tricky part, and I think you may be able to skip it if you can not find a suitable piece to use here. The picture above shows the Shuriken Cannon upgrade. I cut the sensor off the left side of that assembly and drill a hole in it so it can slide onto the brass rod. After that part I place the left weapon cover. Finally I glue the assembly into the turret and then glue a gem from the kit onto the top of the turret. Below is a picture of the assembly from behind.

A few important things to consider. First off, be sure to glue the weapons on straight and parallel to each other. Second when drilling through the sensor part from the cannon upgrade be sure to keep the hole straight and level. Otherwise it will look a bit wonky.

Here is what it looks like together. There is a chance that I come back later and add some plastic-card to the weapon guards but I am still unsure.

Hope you like it.