Bear with me, this is my first attempt at a tutorial, so I figured I would start simple.
Edit: I've since made other guides
Markerlights made Easy
Urban Bases With Just a Broken Knife
If you're a Marine player, you've probably got about fifty bloody flamethrowers laying around and not nearly enough meltaguns. As a Blood Angels player, I found myself in dire need of some meltaguns to go on my veteran assault squads and into mounted combat squads...and I needed to get rid of the flamers in my assault squads.
This is what I came up with. Theoretically, all you need is a knife, glue and flamer, though a hobby saw is very strongly recommended.
Tools:
Glue - Required (I like plastic cement, but use whatever)
Sharp Hobby Knife - Required
Razor Saw - Highly Recommended (I used it more than the knife, but theoretically steady hands and a sharp knife will get you by)
Flat File - Optional
Pin & Drill - Very Optional (I didn't use one, but recommended if you use super glue)
Materials:
Space Marine Flamer
Guitar Wire/Green Stuff/Other Detail Bits - Very optional.
Just for reference...here's a flamer and a meltagun...believe it or not, they will come out looking pretty similar.
![Image]()
Stage 1: Disassembly
Step 1:
Using your hobby knife, carefully cut the prometheum tank out of the bottom of the flamer. I say 'out of' instead of 'off of' because we want to preserve the round bit that plugs into the gun.
Step 2:
Using your hobby saw (or if you're brave, your hobby knife), split the tank right down the mould line. I used my knife to make a little scire mark and then just sawed right through with the razor saw. This will leave you with two tank halves, one with a skull and crossbones and one blank...both should have the little round bit that used to plug into the flamer still attached.
Step 3:
Now we chop the barrels. Cut the bottom tube off at the handgrip, and the top tube just a liiiittle bit behind the heat shroud (about 1mm or so), this'll give us just a little stub of a barrel sticking out of the heat shroud, just like on the barrel of the meltagun (that's right, we;re flipping this end bit around)
Step 4:
Cut off the part of the heat shroud that connects to the bottom barrel, leaving just the main barrel shroud (you should be left with three rows of vent holes, with the bottom of the heat shroud completely flat), use your file to gently round the bottom off, being careful not to erase the bottom row of vent holes (you may want to use your pin vice to deepen these holes once you're done). While you're at it, it couldn't hurt to use the file to make sure that the end of the flamer head is level (mould lines are a bitch) and that the end of the cut off top tube is nice and flat.
Protip: Remove that igniter first and save that bad boy! It'll make for an awesome laser sight or piece of bionic headgear down the road. The master converter saves every tiny thing that looks a little interesting. You never know when you'll want it.
Step 5:
Cut off that prong-dealie on top. It just screams 'flamer' and it looks silly.
Step 6:
Using either your hobby saw or your knife, shave off that T-shaped dealie on the side of your flamer. The big raised half-cylinder with the tube attached, that thing. Get rid of it. You need a completely flat surface on this side of the gun. Keep the bit you shaved off if you want, makes a nice generic raised detail for some other project.
You should have something looking like this
![Image]()
Sorry for the shitty pictures, folks, I'm not used to snapping pics while I work. Turns out my workspace has poor lighting for photos.
Stage 2: Reassembly
Step 1:
Now that you have a nice half-tank, and a nice, smooth side of your flamer, you're going to want to mate them up. Pick a tank half and glue it onto the side of the gun, oriented horizontally with the round bit that used to plug into the bottom pointing towards the rear (see pic below). If you don't like the idea of a sideways skull and crossbones then use the blank half of the tank. Doesn't matter which half you use, really. Save the other half for your bitz box.
Step 2:
Take that trimmed down heat shroud, with the little bit of barrel sticking out and glue the flat end (what used to be the front of the flamer) to the end of the remaining top tube. If you're using superglue then you'll want to drill and pin that join to keep it strong and straight.
Step 3:
Optional: Finish it off with a short loop of guitar wire. You can drill into the cleft left by where you surgically removed the fuel tank. Stick the other end in ad the end of the handgrip, maybe use a little GS to build that area up, round it off like on a meltagun. If you want to get really fancy you can use some GS to square off the top and maybe stick that prong-dealie back on (cut off the forward facing part of it though, so it's just a bit that sticks up, like on the meltagun), though personally I love the stripped-down look you get by leaving it alone. Looks like someone just removed the top panels off the body of the weapon.
That's it. Simple as pie, and it should leave you with a slightly smaller, stripped-down looking Meltagun. I like to think of it as ideal for Drop Troopers and Jump Packers. Compact, lightweight and intimidating.
Behold!
![Image]()
Compare to what it used to be
![Image]()
![Image]()
Well, there you have it, my first tutorial... Here's hoping you guys were able to figure it out. I'm not a good teacher.
Edit: I've since made other guides
Markerlights made Easy
Urban Bases With Just a Broken Knife
If you're a Marine player, you've probably got about fifty bloody flamethrowers laying around and not nearly enough meltaguns. As a Blood Angels player, I found myself in dire need of some meltaguns to go on my veteran assault squads and into mounted combat squads...and I needed to get rid of the flamers in my assault squads.
This is what I came up with. Theoretically, all you need is a knife, glue and flamer, though a hobby saw is very strongly recommended.
Tools:
Glue - Required (I like plastic cement, but use whatever)
Sharp Hobby Knife - Required
Razor Saw - Highly Recommended (I used it more than the knife, but theoretically steady hands and a sharp knife will get you by)
Flat File - Optional
Pin & Drill - Very Optional (I didn't use one, but recommended if you use super glue)
Materials:
Space Marine Flamer
Guitar Wire/Green Stuff/Other Detail Bits - Very optional.
Just for reference...here's a flamer and a meltagun...believe it or not, they will come out looking pretty similar.
Stage 1: Disassembly
Step 1:
Using your hobby knife, carefully cut the prometheum tank out of the bottom of the flamer. I say 'out of' instead of 'off of' because we want to preserve the round bit that plugs into the gun.
Step 2:
Using your hobby saw (or if you're brave, your hobby knife), split the tank right down the mould line. I used my knife to make a little scire mark and then just sawed right through with the razor saw. This will leave you with two tank halves, one with a skull and crossbones and one blank...both should have the little round bit that used to plug into the flamer still attached.
Step 3:
Now we chop the barrels. Cut the bottom tube off at the handgrip, and the top tube just a liiiittle bit behind the heat shroud (about 1mm or so), this'll give us just a little stub of a barrel sticking out of the heat shroud, just like on the barrel of the meltagun (that's right, we;re flipping this end bit around)
Step 4:
Cut off the part of the heat shroud that connects to the bottom barrel, leaving just the main barrel shroud (you should be left with three rows of vent holes, with the bottom of the heat shroud completely flat), use your file to gently round the bottom off, being careful not to erase the bottom row of vent holes (you may want to use your pin vice to deepen these holes once you're done). While you're at it, it couldn't hurt to use the file to make sure that the end of the flamer head is level (mould lines are a bitch) and that the end of the cut off top tube is nice and flat.
Protip: Remove that igniter first and save that bad boy! It'll make for an awesome laser sight or piece of bionic headgear down the road. The master converter saves every tiny thing that looks a little interesting. You never know when you'll want it.
Step 5:
Cut off that prong-dealie on top. It just screams 'flamer' and it looks silly.
Step 6:
Using either your hobby saw or your knife, shave off that T-shaped dealie on the side of your flamer. The big raised half-cylinder with the tube attached, that thing. Get rid of it. You need a completely flat surface on this side of the gun. Keep the bit you shaved off if you want, makes a nice generic raised detail for some other project.
You should have something looking like this
Sorry for the shitty pictures, folks, I'm not used to snapping pics while I work. Turns out my workspace has poor lighting for photos.
Stage 2: Reassembly
Step 1:
Now that you have a nice half-tank, and a nice, smooth side of your flamer, you're going to want to mate them up. Pick a tank half and glue it onto the side of the gun, oriented horizontally with the round bit that used to plug into the bottom pointing towards the rear (see pic below). If you don't like the idea of a sideways skull and crossbones then use the blank half of the tank. Doesn't matter which half you use, really. Save the other half for your bitz box.
Step 2:
Take that trimmed down heat shroud, with the little bit of barrel sticking out and glue the flat end (what used to be the front of the flamer) to the end of the remaining top tube. If you're using superglue then you'll want to drill and pin that join to keep it strong and straight.
Step 3:
Optional: Finish it off with a short loop of guitar wire. You can drill into the cleft left by where you surgically removed the fuel tank. Stick the other end in ad the end of the handgrip, maybe use a little GS to build that area up, round it off like on a meltagun. If you want to get really fancy you can use some GS to square off the top and maybe stick that prong-dealie back on (cut off the forward facing part of it though, so it's just a bit that sticks up, like on the meltagun), though personally I love the stripped-down look you get by leaving it alone. Looks like someone just removed the top panels off the body of the weapon.
That's it. Simple as pie, and it should leave you with a slightly smaller, stripped-down looking Meltagun. I like to think of it as ideal for Drop Troopers and Jump Packers. Compact, lightweight and intimidating.
Behold!
Compare to what it used to be
Well, there you have it, my first tutorial... Here's hoping you guys were able to figure it out. I'm not a good teacher.
