Painting Necromunda Figures

Escher heavy with heavy plasma gun

I just started painting figures for Necromunda and have finished an Escher and Orlock gang. I was surprised at how easy the plastic Orlocks are to paint and convert. Here's how I painted the Orlocks (Eschers were done the same way but with brighter hair) and made my conversions:

1. Prime the figure white.
2. Paint the basecoats.
   • Paint all the weapons using Polly S Flat Aluminum.
   • Paint the pants and vest Polly S Dragon Blue.
   • Paint the boots, gloves, belts, and holsters Polly S Centaur Brown.
   • Paint the bandanas Polly S Dragon Red
   • Paint the shoulder pads, chains, and any badges black
3. Wash the figure using Liquitex Paynes Gray.
4. Paint the shirt and piece of cloth hanging between their legs white
5. Wash all of this using Liquitex Raw Sienna and drybrush over
6. Paint the face using Citadel Bronzed Flesh.
7. Wash with Citadel Chestnut Ink.
8. Highlight the face using Bronzed Flesh and some white.
9. Pick out the eyes and teeth.
10. Pick out the chains and badges in gold
11. Base the figure using sand washed with Liquitex Burnt Umber and drybrushed with a little bit of red-brown to look like ash waste.
12. Seal with Krylon Crystal Clear sealant.

I painted 10 of the 12 plastic figures, enough to give me a basic gang. The other two I will save for conversions. My gang now has a leader, a heavy, 6 gangers, and 2 juves. Within the gang are 3 simple conversions, the leader, the heavy, and one of the gangers. The whole gang took about a day to paint. Unfortunately, I sent these models off to a friend and forgot to take pictures.

To make these conversions, you will need the basic plastic figure, a Space Marine close combat sprue, and an Imperial Guard plastic lasgun.

The leader is armed with a chainsword and a bolt pistol. The chainsword conversion was made by snipping the knife off at the hand, then gluing a chainsword from the close combat sprue that had been snipped off at the blade. I found that if you try to use the whole chainsword, the hilt is too big for the Orlock's hand. When joined together and painted, you have a distinctive looking leader who looks like he's in charge.

I converted one of the gangers because I wanted a model with a shotgun and a knife. Take the arm that holds the shotgun and carefully remove the left hand. I did this with an X-acto knife and was very careful not to destroy the weapons. It is pretty easy to remove the hand and resculpt the slide of the shotgun. Once you're finished, the model will look like he's holding his shotgun in a casual position while menacing someone with his knife.

The last conversion is the heavy. Since the basic set didn't come with any heavy weapons, I had to make my own. I started with one of the arms that holds an autogun (I used the one without the bandana). I then cut the barrel off right after the clip and filed it flat. I then took the Imperial Guard lasgun, and cut off the barrel and handgrip, then filed it flat. This piece was glued onto the original autogun. My end result was a weapon that looked like a sniper rifle. To complete the weapon, I used a bolt pistol from the close combat sprue, clipped off the pistol grip and front sight, then glued it upside down to my conversion to make the scope. Once it was finished, my heavy looked like he had a pretty powerful sniper rifle.