This is a guide for converting and painting a Tyranid Prime. Essentially a stronger HQ version of the warrior unit, this is my interpretation of how one looks. So feel free to use all or part of this guide for converting one to fit your own army. Each step list the techniques used and not how they are preformed because most would require separate guides themselves.



Materials

Size 000 Brush
Size 0 Brush
Small Dry Brush
Green Stuff
Super Glue
Plastic Glue
Plastic Card
Hobby Knife
Flow Improver
Matte Medium
Slow Dry Medium
1/8" Magnets
Brush on Gloss
Basing Sand
White Glue
Static Grass

Paints

White or Bone Primer
Bleached Bone
Warlock Purple
Codex Grey
Dwarf Flesh
Red Gore
Blood Red
Chaos Black
Mordian Blue
Snakebite Leather
Scorched Brown
Golden Yellow
Leviathan Purple Wash
Ogryn Flesh Wash
Devlan Mud Wash

Conversion & Assembly

The 4 main conversions here are done with extra Tyranid bits, Green Stuff and some plastic card for the bone sword. Pins are heated up over a candle then melted into concealed areas of the plastic for ease of handling.



1) The shoulders are made with spikes from the Carnifex or Warrior kit, they are plastic glued in place on the existing shoulders then smoothed out into the body with green stuff. Next the leg is realigned by cutting the joints and then Green Stuff’ing them back into the chosen position. A needle is used to add the groves in the green stuff to give it a similar look to the original joints. This is only done to fit the base design so it is completely optional.

2) The bone sword is constructed from a scything talon by cutting the joints at the elbow and wrist and reversing both using green stuff once again. Next the scything talon is clipped off and replaced with a piece of plastic card that was carved into the desired shape. Green Stuff is used to smooth out the transition. Finally the handle from the Devourer Bio-morph is attached below the hand with a tiny bit of green stuff.



3) The whip is made from the arm of half of the Deathspitter Bio-Morph with a piece from the Stranglethorn Cannon glued on top of the hand and a spike from the Trygon kit below. Next a paper clip is bent into the desired shape, then heated up over a candle and melted into the plastic. Finally a spike from the Deathspiter is super glued to the end of the paper clip then covered in green stuff.



4) The head is made from cutting the back half of the carapace off the Warrior head and replacing it with the Carnifex scything tail using plastic glue. Use a tiny bit of green stuff if it doesn’t line up exactly right.



5) Here a 1/8” magnet is shown with the back of a corresponding 1/8” drill bit to check the size is correct. This should all be done prior to painting but originally I didn’t plan to magnetize and then changed my mind.



6) Next either by hand or with a small Dremel style tool drill the socket to the depth of 2 magnet lengths. As you can see here 2 magnets are flush with the top of the hole.



7) Ensure the magnet is polarized correctly then use the back of the drill bit to hold the magnet while you apply super glue around the edges and insert it into the socket and wait for it to dry.



8) It should look something like this when done. Here I had to go back and repaint the area around it.



9) The arm is simply cut off flat at the desired angle and then the magnet is super glued into place after checking for correct polarity.



Painting

1) The whole thing is primed white then base coated Bleached Bone. Alternatively you can just use Army Painter Skeleton Bone primer if you have it.





2) Next a wash is made from (Warlock Purple / flow improver + water / slow dry medium) (Aprox. 1/5/1) then applied to the main body, joints and muscle areas. It takes a bit of testing to get the constancy right but err on the thin side if you are just testing. It was actually too thick here for what I like but it does not really matter because extra layers will correct any mess.



3) Wash the exact same areas again with Leviathan Purple and even consider watering it down a bit for the body area to make sure it doesn’t affect the raised areas anymore.



4) Go back over the body, tail, and upper leg with Bleached Bone and keep it thinned down over the purple areas so you can faintly see the previous layer through it. I mixed the paint with matte acrylic medium here so it wouldn’t run down into the crevices.



5) Chaos Black is applied over all the areas seen here, basically the whole carapace, and any spikes, hoofs or claws.

6) Skull White is applied to the body and tail in a similar fashion as the Bleached Bone was. I ignore the legs here because all the limbs are painted slightly different.



5) I imagine limbs as a thicker worn bone, apposed to the fleshy bone look of the body. So limbs are all done like you can see here on the legs, they are washed with Orgyn Flesh then highlighted heavily with Bleached Bone then lightly with Skull White.







6) The carapace is simply done using a size 000 brush and making a series of streaks on the carapace edge. Start with Liche Purple, followed by a smaller Warlock Purple streak then finally an extremely small Codex Grey streak. The only complex part here is the shoulders where the edges are highlight with Liche Purple then even lighter with Warlock Purple and forgo Codex Grey entirely.



7) The lash whip, tongue and brain are all done with a base coat of Dwarf Flesh washed with leviathan purple, very easy.



8) The talons and sword are base coated Chaos Black with Red Gore wet blended into Blood Red. This part is difficult and time consuming but can be replaced with just simple highlights and still look good.



9) Feet are done like the carapace in a set of streaks but Red Gore followed by Blood Red.



10) The face is done identical to the body but the tongue is Dwarf Flesh with Ogryn Flesh wash and the eyes are a dot of Golden Yellow.




Base

1) The base is done with a blob of Green Stuff, some basing rocks and a piece of cut up cork.



2) The area covered in basing sand is painted with Snakebite Leather and a Devlan Mud wash.

3) Rocks are Chaos Black dry brushed in Mordian Blue followed by lighter dry brush of Codex Grey.



4) Because there is no longer any plastic base to glue onto the pins in the feat are clipped off so they can be driven into the Green Stuff and cork with a bit of superglue.



5) Scorched Brown around the edge of the base and then AFTER the miniature is dull coated static grass is applied. Doing it before can make the grass look funny with spray coat stuck to it.

6) Go back over the whip, brain, tongue with brush on gloss to give it a slimy look.



That's it, all done!