Finished - Nurgle Rhino

The first of the Cult Rhinos are done. My buddy, Greg at Cranky Old Gamer, sculpted the spine on the top hatch for me. I like my vehicles clean and simple. Some people go a little crazy with the green stuff when they do Nurgle conversions so much so that on trade boards anything described as "Nurgle" should be assumed to be irredeemably covered in crappy green stuff with holes poked in it at the very least. I could have don more sculpting of corroded metal, bent armor plates and tentacles but vehicles take long enough to paint and again I like them clean and simple. 

I started paint the Death Guard Marines and Typhus back when I was a lot less experienced (2011/2012) and their colors reflect that. I think that I wanted to do was a corroded, corrupted and plague-ridden version of the Death Guard pre-Heresy colors but painting white is hard enough and painting corroded white seemed impossible. It is still out of my reach even now to do it as well as it exists in my head. The colors that I settled for are closer to the older pictures of Death Guard rather than the more modern presentation. 

Painting

Picking green as a base color is a bit of a cheat for me as green is very forgiving color to paint. I used silver metals as a call back to the Death Guard's affinity for bare and unadorned metals. After all, their original colors were primer white and bare steel. I used my simple rust (which is just the old Dark Flesh watered down) to be rust and the third color in my pallet. I also used the new Technical paint Nurgle's Rot to add puss to select places. This being a vehicle, I did not go too crazy with the purulent effects. 

Modeling

I used the Forge World doors and like them a lot. They are getting kind of dated compared to some of the other FW stuff but aside from sculpting my own, they are the best I can do. It also fits in the with theme or will when the other Cult Rhinos are finished. 

I threw together a driver for this vehicle out of a metal Death Guard marine. I used a Chaos Knight shield arm to make the gun arm. I didn't like the look of the wrist and hand, so I replaced it with a Grey Knight hand. It ended up being kind of an awkward pose as if he is leaning his elbow on the cupola but I kind of like the lazy-looking end result. I gave him a Plasma Pistol because I needed something to do with his right hand. 

I wanted to magnetize the Combi-weapon as I am not likely going to make another turret for this vehicle. The other hatch is magnetized as well so I could make another hatch fir either another Combi-weapon or Havoc Launcher later. 

Summary

I like the sculpting that Greg did on the hatch, how unique the mini is and how well it fits in with the other Death Guard minis I have. Greg did a great job and his detail really gives the mini life without being overdone. I don't know that there is another Nurgle Rhino out that that looks like this. Most don't look alike at all but This Rhino has a great style. I like it when things match, and this Rhino next to the other Death Guard Marines really look like a unit. 

As well done as the mini turned out, I feel like I could have taken it to the next level with just a little more work. It is hard for me to stop working on things and I have a habit to over do conversions when I start but I feel that a bent plate or two or maybe a tentacle would have worked out really well. I think that the Rhino may have turned out on a little to far on the plain side but only barely. 

Value

The End.

A rhino retails for about $37 and the doors are $18 after conversion rates and minus shipping. The extra bits, conversion work and magnets are valued at $42 ($17 for the top hatch conversion, $10 for the marine driver, $4 for the lights, $2 for the magnets and placement, $9 for the other bits like the icon on the back and the two Nurgle symbols). The paint job is about a 7/10 for me and is valued at $40 given the extra paint, techniques and time it took. That puts this Rhino at almost $140 for replacement costs which seems high but also about right. It was a big hairy deal to complete this mini and if I had to replace it then $140 would just about cover the time and effort. I am not even going to list a trade value for this mini as, unless my house burns down, I am never giving it up.