Balrog/Bloodthirster Conversion

[Learn2Eel]

Hey guys, I was wanting to get some opinions on a possible Bloodthirster conversion I'll be doing in the near-future - there's no real time limit, so plenty of time to discuss it!
Now, I'll be honest; I really don't like GW's stock Bloodthirster model. It is iconic and still cool, but it definitely looks out-dated and it is a bit too small for my tastes. I've considered a lot of options, notably the Khorne Daemon Prince from Forge World which I would have used my spare Daemon Prince wings on (or a set of Dragon wings). However, I think I would mostly use that model as Skarbrand rather than a Bloodthirster, to be honest - that and I have yet to buy from Forge World and want to wait a bit before I do.

So I've run through quite a few ideas - the first was the Forge World Bloodthirster model, but I quickly scratched that off as it is both way too big and far too expensive for what I want (that and if I want one of the four Exalted Greater Daemons, I would take the Lord of Change in a heart-beat). Another was converting up a Daemon Prince, but I still get the feeling it is a bit too small to fit my image of a Greater Daemon.

Eventually, I arrived at the humble (cough) Balrog; a conversion I have noticed is quite common for Bloodthirsters. Now, I'm not going out to spend $150 on a single model; given that the Bloodthirster and Balrog are $96 each, I'm already investing a lot no matter which way I go. However, I am in luck given that I have a lot of left over bits from Daemon Princes and the like. My ideas were (the point of this post is to ask whether this sounds feasible);

1) Keep the Balrog arms, but replace the sword with the Daemon Prince kits' axe. To model the axe, given that I have two spare, I would cut the 'axe' part of one off, chop the back-half of another off and stick them together to have a two-sided axe, much like Bloodthirsters' are depicted with. To replace the sword, cut out from the top and bottom of the hand, and pin the axe appropriately in its place (cutting off the bottom part of the axe perhaps and sticking it on the bottom of the hand, or using the bottom of one of the spare Daemon Prince swords).
2) Model the Balrog's whip on the opposite hand. I don't think this would be too difficult; it would be similar to modelling the axe, just that I would have to green stuff the hand to make it look like it is actually holding it.
3) Alternatively, and perhaps an easier option than either of the above, is to model the axe on the left arm and not go through the trouble of moving the right-armed whip to the left arm? Would probably make more sense.
4) Change the pose of the Balrog so that its axe arm is maybe held up a bit higher than its whip arm, and maybe have a more 'cinematic' moving pose. I could even have it sort of leaning back with the axe modelled so that the actual axe is behind the Balrog, giving the impression that it is swinging it around. Just an idea.
5) Stick the Daemon Prince shoulder-pads to the shoulders of the Balrog, as well as model a 'belt' with the attached loin cloth covered in chains from the Daemon Prince kit. Would this be feasible?
6) Stick the Daemon Prince arm-guards either on to its wrists or its fore-arms, whichever looks better. There is also what looks like a 'neck brace' in the kit that I could use. Thoughts?
7) I can use the horns on the multiple spare Daemon Prince heads I have to give the Balrog two extra horns curving upwards.
8) Should I keep the "back-flames" on the Balrog or get rid of them?
9) Another idea I just had was to use both of the Daemon Prince axes and put one in each of the Balrog's hands, with obvious green stuff and what not to make them look clean. This would mean I could effectively use the model as Skarbrand (just tatter the wings up a little) and instead use that Khorne Daemon Prince with dragon wings idea (his one axe looks awesome anyway) as the regular Bloodthirster?

So, what do you guys think? I'm sure this has been done to death before, but my resources are perhaps more limited than others willing to do the conversion. Would it be feasible? With some good work and effort, would it look appropriate as a Bloodthirster? Cheers for any and all input!

[Deadlift]

Could be cool and very well thought out, but if I were to base an alternative model to make a bloodthirster then I would be looking at Scyla Anfingrimm from the Warriors of Chaos range. He to me has more muscle mass than the Balrog model.

[Learn2Eel]

Hmm that would be a neat idea, I think it would be a lot more difficult though; mostly modelling the wings, maybe getting rid of the fur, changing the head around, changing his arms to fit weapons, etc. Would definitely be a more challenging and rewarding conversion!

[isotope99]

I added spare dragon wings to the larger FW khorne daemon prince and that worked pretty well. I did the blarog conversion myself and it works fine but the head is pretty obviously a balrog so you end up with a balrog in armour. I later did a version 2 to overcome this but needed loads of conversion and still didn't quite come out right.

[boestera]

Depending upon how well your modding skills are, I think one could make a really awesome looking Bloodthirster model from the [URL="http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440111a&prodId=prod1870 062a"]Warriors of Chaos Slaughterbrute[/URL]. Remove the staff from the back and you have a nice chaos star scar as well as plenty of room back there to mount some wings to. From the other part of the kit you could replace the extra set of arms with spikes or even just fill the holes with greenstuff on the chest. Also you could add a small tail that comes from the kit as well, and just use some of your daemon prince bits to armor him up a bit and replace the upheld hand with an axe wielding one. Get some small do-it-yourself hobby jewelry chain necklaces wrap some chains on him and make the armor pieces feel a little more grounded. With that I think you have the basis for a really nice intimidating Bloodthirster that has perhaps just landed from flight and ready to kill some Ultramarines.

[Jenn]

A really popular bloodthirster model in my area is the Greater war demon from ultraforge seen [URL="http://www.ultraforgeminiatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/UFMDL061.jpg"]here.[/URL]

Personally I have always been keen on the Balrog model. I'm more of the KISS mentality when it comes to conversions (possibly because my greenstuff skills leave much to be desired) but with that in mind if I were doing this project I would probably end up converting the sword over to the Daemon prince axe and leaving the whip and most of the other details where they are... Hell, who am I kidding, if I were in your position i would just leave the balrog as the standard model and call it good.

[KrewL RaiN]

I agree that the old Bloodthirster model is too outdated. Those rumoured plastic Greater Daemon kits may still be on the horizon too.

I would avoid using the Daemon Prince shoulder pads on your Balrog conversion, just because those scream DP. You dont have to switch the whip hand, as there is nothing saying that Bloodthirsters all wield their weapons the same way. I noticed a lot of Bloodthirsters have a long flowing mane in which they weave in their favored skull trophy's. It's easier to do then you think. A lot of thin GS snakes layered into each other makes a simple and effective mane. Oh, those leg guards in the DP kit make awesome wrist guards too!

Doing a Google image search "balrog bloodthirster conversion" pops up some interesting conversions. The 4 armed one and that one with the huge horns jump out... 4 armed Bloodthirster just screams death haha!

I went the Daemon Prince kit route, due to it being affordable. He still gets mistaken for a Daemon Price, which annoys me to no end since I converted it to look as Bloodthirster as possible. I sculpted the whip over a wire. I need to resculpt that hand holding it sometime lol... I can do better now. I sculpted him a large mane with skulls weaved into it. I used a jewelry chain for a chained gaunlet you see on GD's of Khorne, and at the end of the chain is a ward against spells (Old Dex). I used some spare Bloodletter horns to give him a menacing horn crowned head. Lastly, I sculpted fur down his lower legs and the hooves too. Yeah hes a bit tiny for something so menacing, hence me twiddling my thumbs for those new GD kits hehe. He has been a fine stand in though, and has shed gallons of blood in the name of Khorne. One of my idols of the hobby, ze Hydra, also said its a solid stand in and has used it as an example <3

[bailey03]

A model I thought would make a neat bloodthirster conversion is the blood daemon from Wonderlands Project. It's got a cool, dynamic pose and with the addition of some wings could work quite well. They made it as part of an indiegogo campaign and I don't see it in their online store yet... but I'm guessing it will be available in the next month or so. They said it should sell for ~25 euro, so the price is pretty reasonable too. Just something to think about.

[Learn2Eel]

Thanks for all the suggestions and feedback guys When I get my monies up (hopefully soon) I'll make a decision then; all these ideas are really cool! Funnily enough, someone even mentioned that I should buy the An'graath model, even though he would cost the same as two converted Bloodthirsters lol.