This gruesome Warhammer 40k Nurgle daemon prince started its cursed existence as an immaculate MS-07B Gouf Gundam model kit. YouTuber Lizard of Doom – aka Max – gives his advice for anyone else wanting to take on a similarly blasphemous project.
Max says his inspiration was simply that he “wanted to start a series kitbashing Gunpla kits for the Chaos gods” of Warhammer 40k. When he first saw the Gouf kit he “knew it would be perfect” for his Nurgle conversion. Although it has a very clean and robotic style, “the shape of the head and shoulder pads were giving me Death Guard vibes” while the more rounded leg armor “gave me Space Marine vibes too”.
You can watch his build process here, and on the Lizard of Doom YouTube channel:
The most challenging part of the project was actually “finding the time to get it done”. “I’m not very fast at putting together Gunpla kits”, he admits, and he has a “tight schedule to make videos around my family life and full time job”. It took a total of 80 hours for him to build and paint the miniature, “about three times as long as a normal video”.
If you’re inspired to try a similar project, Max advises that you should “let the project lead you rather than you try to shape it”. Start with “a rough idea of what you’re trying to achieve”, but “don’t say no if something cool falls in your lap while researching”.
He also suggests “have as many spares in your bits box as possible”. Max hasn’t “thrown away a single part of a kit since I got back into the hobby twelve years ago and I’ve usually got a part that’s perfect with a bit of work!”
Max “discovered Warhammer as a child” in his small hometown, but came to Gundam much later. “I knew of Gundam from cultural osmosis”, he says, but only took to the kits after “I’d really burnt myself out painting a Warhammer project and wanted to paint something different”. He first painted up a couple of Gunpla kits as T’au Empire Riptide battlesuits, before moving on to “kitbashing them more thoroughly”.
Max says his next Gundam / Warhammer 40k kitbash will have a Tzeentch theme, “bringing a winged mobile suit to the 41st millennium”.
Did you know that there are indie wargames rules for using Gunpla and other scale robots for tabletop battles? Check out our articles on Mechastellar and the 30 Minute Missions wargame to learn more.