How to make Thunder Warriors Tutorial - Warhammer 40k Space Marine Conversion Guide

Hello!  I’m Andy (The Brush Smith)  - I’m a Commission miniature painter, I love warhammer, wargaming & hobby #WarhammerCommunity #Warmo...

Hello! 

I’m Andy (The Brush Smith)  - I’m a Commission miniature painter, I love warhammer, wargaming & hobby #WarhammerCommunity #Warmongers 

DM me for work enquiries.

All my links below -




First off -

I'd like to thank you all so much for the support - this Diorama was a great creative release for me, and I truly learned a lot from start to finish. Which is why I wanted to post a record of the process (as best as possible) with the hope that maybe you guys could be inspired and possibly work on some of your own Thunder Warriors too! 

I shouldn't have to say this, but the following is not to boast or brag - I want this post to be inspiring and I truly hope it motivates others to push themselves and see what they can produce. I'm not a professional in any way and overall this project took 12 months to do, in my spare time. If I can do it so can you!

In fact I'd love for you guys to make your own and show me! - just tag me on Twitter or Insta! 

Before we get into the nitty-gritty here is the finished article -
thunder warrior diorama
Thunder Warrior Diorama
As you can see there are a lot of elements here with each model having it's own unique character. All the minis you see are bespoke and kit-bashed using a wide variety of parts/bits with a NMM (non metallic metal) paint scheme.

I also made the rubble diorama base from scratch using a mixture of materials - but I'm going to write up a separate tutorial about that soon so keep an eye out!

Concept and design - 

So lets start with a shout out to Laura @pegastyxas (twitter) as this project probably wouldn't have started if it wasn't for the initial inspiration. Laura made a few of her own Thunder Warriors using similar kits and it really peaked my interest to start my own. Please check out her profile if you haven't already there's so much on there and it's all amazing quality!

Now, most of you will be vaguely familiar with Thunder Warriors - if not, a quick google will tell you all you need to know, but it's important to note that apart from some old pewter 'Thunder pattern armour' minis - no official Thunder Warrior minis exist on the Games Workshop miniature range.
Thunder pattern armour
Mk I - Thunder Pattern Armour
This meant I had to do a fair amount of digging for reference images, descriptions in lore and general research to get a good idea of what they should/ could look like.

Here's some of the reference images I used to help bring the project to life - (none of the following images are my own work, I don't claim ownership in anyway and there are only used for concept purposes credits to John Blanche and Tim Remin).

Thunder Warrior John Blanche artworkThunder Warrior John Blanche artwork 

Space marine Size comparison
Size comparison - Custodes/ Thunder Warrior/ Astartes/ Human
 So the key elements for me when undertaking this project were -
  • Bulky, upper body
  • Taller than regular Astartes (space marines)
  • Lower tech, gold armour with red leather under clothes and some fur/pelt adornments
  • Open-faced helmets with plumes of hair
These were the super important aspects I wanted to make sure I hit in order to make the project seem genuine but also not too restrictive so that each mini was interesting in their own right.

Assembly -

So once I'd got a general idea of how I wanted the squad to look I started browsing Games Workshop for kits that contained the elements I really wanted, but also had enough range that I could use the kits for other projects in the future. So here's what I settled on -
Warhammer 40k plastic kits

In addition to the kits above I also purchased a box of Mk IV Astartes from the Horus Heresy range and it's also worth noting I used a number of random bits I had from the bits box as well as green stuff for fur etc.

Here's a quick general breakdown of what kits were used for what elements (I'll be going into more detail later especially for the heads) - 
  • Heads/ Helmets - Mk III helmets and assorted bare faces
  • Torso - Tartaros Terminators
  • Arms - Mix of Custodes and Astartes
  • Legs - Goliath Gang
  • Weapons - Mix, mk III bolters / blades (no chainswords or energy weapons)
With that all mapped out I moved quickly onto getting things together.

Now in hindsight I feel I could have planned this stage better and saved myself a lot of time gap filling with green stuff etc. Plus had I known how long it would take to paint these guys I would have only done sub assembly - so I strongly suggest you consider this and use Super (CA) glue as opposed to poly cement, if you want to make your own.

Legs and Torso - 

As you can see by the below, I started with the legs and worked my way upwards. Cutting the existing torso frame from the Goliath legs with clippers, leaving a relativity flat surface to attach the Terminator chest piece, just above the large belt area (lots of green stuff used here). I also left the cowl/top off of the terminator chest pieces so that I had room to build upwards when working on the heads/helmets. The chest pieces worked great and really helped add some height and bulk to the mini. Plus the lightning bolts already on the armour, were a nice touch which I felt was very thematic.
thunder warrior armour design
I ended up completely altering the far right Thunder Warrior in this pic - as I just wasn't happy with the pose or shoulders
Arms, Weapons and Shoulder pads - 

Next I began work on the arms, weapons and shoulder pads trying to come up with some dynamic poses in the process. The Goliath legs provided a solid base to build on, but they didn't have a lot of movement in them (except for the pair running legs you see below). I knew I wanted a older style bolter so I chose the mk III and luckily for me the kits I had access to had plenty of bladed weapons to choose from.

I didn't want anything too outrageous for the weapons sets, so I chose to keep it simple and not go for any energy weapons or anything too ornate or high tech, such as heavy weapons, power fists or halberds.

I also realised early on that having two Custodes shoulder pads made the minis look too top heavy, so I went for an asymmetric design of having the right shoulder the Custodes and the left a smaller less ornamental design from the Astartes kits. This kept the bulk down but also meant they all matched together by choosing the same pattern for each mini.

Here are a couple of examples -
thunder warrior armour design
thunder warrior armour design
Heads and Helmets - 

This was probably the most difficult stage of the assembly (bar the green stuff work) and to me, it was one of the most important. Without the helmets, I don't feel they come across as Thunder Warriors.

While the concept is pretty simple it was very fiddly and took a lot of patience (for me anyway). Luckily I have a miniature saw that helps a lot when cutting clean lines though plastic without warping or bending.

So the steps are as follows -
  1. Take a Mk III helmet and cut the face grill off just in front of the 'ears' (cut shallow and file backwards so you have more control of how much you take off).
  2. Take any face you like as long as its a suitable scale and cut away the face just after the ears. You'll also have to remove a portion of the forehead as well, but leave the brow area visable (remember less is more and take your time).
  3. Marry up the two cut sides and see how well they fit together. You may need to take more off than you first thought. The trick is you want the studded brim of the helmet to protrude away from the face. If you want a reference - look up open faced motor cycle helmets.
  4. Fill in any gaps with green stuff
You should end up with something like this -
thunder warrior armour design
Angry face is angry

With that done you can now add some extra details if you like, but it depends on what look you're going for. Adding a plume really makes a difference, but you can also go all the way and go for a green stuff visor if you like. The visor was very difficult for me as my green stuff skills aren't great, but thankfully after it was painted it hid a lot of the mistakes I'd made. I ended up only making one and now I wish I'd made more.


The plume is made of two pieces (you can use whatever you want). I used the hair from the Custodes set and the wrapping is from a Ork topknot. It's that simple.

Here's one of the helmets along with the reference image I used -
thunder warrior armour design
Outcast dead cover artwork
Finishing touches (assembly) - 

So with all the main bits complied all that was left to do is embellish and add in some final details. As is said before I wanted to make sure each miniature was interesting in their own right. I chose a mix of poses and gear to help add some definition, but also kept enough continuity to ensure they still worked as a squad. 

I also paid close attention to the Captain. I've always been a massive fan of John Blanche and it only made sense to make a mini that emulated the famous concept art he produced years ago. This was the first mini I made for the squad and all the elements I ended up deciding on were derived from this initial concept piece. The helmet, arms and shoulder pads were all decided upon when piecing the Captain together.

I hope I did the original artwork justice.

John blanche Thunder warrior artwork

For the remaining members of the squad I wanted to work off the basis that each member worked as a specialist at a particular skill. So kind of following the basic Kill Team rules of battlefield roles and specialisations. It was tricky as I didn't have a great deal of options, but I feel there's enough variation in there. I added lots of stuff from my bits box and used pelts and fur made from green stuff to add some extra texture (also more fur meant less armour to paint haha!)

If you'd like to learn how to recreate the fur I've used here - then please check out the Games Workshop tutorial on the Warhammer TV YouTube channel - How to make fur - WHTV

The specialists concepts I wanted were -
  • A Close combat specialist - brutal, feral, berserker
  • A Heavy support - bulky, armoured, firepower
  • A Marksman - cool, calm, collected
  • A Paladin - skilled warrior, reserved, heroic
What do you guys think? Can you tell which one is which? Let me know in the comments below!

Thunder warrior miniature

Painting -

Apologies, but I don't have many progress pictures of the painting stages, but i'll share what I can.

Now I have to say I'm certainly no expert painter and I regard my crafting and modelling skills to be much better than that of my painting, but with that said I was really happy with how the final project came out and I certainly surprised myself and the result was much better than I'd originally thought.

A bit of history for you - 

Those who know me from socials will understand that I spent a long time out of the hobby (over 15 years) and last year slowly worked my way back into it. As it turns out this was really the first proper project I'd done for a very long time. I'd never painted or even tried NMM previously, so not only was I trying something new, I was also very rusty so it's fair to say this was a learning experience all round.

My painting got better with time, and my NMM has definitely improved. For context here's a comparison - 
NMM gold armour thunder warrior
Practice makes perfect, or at least progress!
The left image is literally my first attempt at painting NMM gold and the right is several months down the line after many, many practice sessions. The image on the right isn't even the final result, but I hope the comparison shows the progress I made, and I really hope it inspires someone to keep trying.

If I were to make more Thunder Warriors in the future I think I'd like to try and paint them using true metallic instead and try and get them to a 'Eavy Metal standard... if possible.

Paints - 

Just so you know all the minis were based in black after brush priming in white (as that's all I had) and I used a basic plastic palette and cheap brushes from Amazon with only water as a medium - and blood sweat and tears too.

Here's a list of the main paints I used, but you can use whatever you like.

Games Workshop

  • Abaddon Black
  • XV- 88
  • Mephiston Red
  • Bugmans Glow
  • Rakarth Flesh
  • Skavenblight Dinge
Model/ Game Colour 
  • Japanese Uniform ww2
  • Dead White
  • Fiery Orange
  • Stonewall grey
  • Blue wash
  • Dark green
  • Goblin Green

Essentially there aren't many elements to the paint scheme. I knew I wanted to showcase the armour most of all and keep everything else super simple.

Again here's a couple of pics of the finished project - 

NMM gold armour thunder warrior

Technique (painting) - 

Now if you want a fully comprehensive NMM tutorial look no further than Darren Latham - his work is amazing and he has all the expertise you need on his website or on his YouTube channel. I'm just going to go through the basic ideas and tricks tips I learned from doing this myself. 

Hopefully it'll help in some way. Sometimes it's hard to look at someone elses work (especially if it's to an amazing standard) and figure out how they did it. I know - I've often been completely over-faced and demotivated because I felt that there was no point in trying. I like to think that my painting is good, and that it provides a nice middle ground for people who are learning. 

It certainly isn't flawless, but i'm very happy with it and you guys should be happy with your work too. Someone's always going to paint better than you - but there's a lot of people out there who DON'T paint, so by simply trying, your already better than most.

My philosophy is 'If it looks good at arms length - then I'm happy' haha!

Gold (armour) - 

So for me the basic idea for NMM is having a distinct contrast and transition between shadow and light. For this armour I went from almost full black all the way up to pure white. Depending on the look you want you don't have to go to the same extremes but I found that this works well for me.

Here are the steps broken down for you to try, in all cases keep your paints thin and use multiple layers (with the exception of the final dots of white which I kept a little thicker and only layered once) -

  1. I started with a base colour of XV-88 which I then washed with Abaddon black to get the shadows where they naturally would be. This formed the base to add on the rest of the colours.
  2. I then applied glazes of Japanese uniform to the raised areas where I wanted the highlights to end up.
  3. I then mixed Jap Uni and White together in about a 50/50 ratio and added they in small areas where the highlight would be lightest
  4. I then used this same colour to edge highlight all the armour
  5. I'd then go back in (if necessary) to blend the mid-tones together using a mix of XV-88 and Jap Uni.
  6. Finally I'd add dots of white as a final highlight in the centre of the raised areas, corners and studs. 
Optional steps/tips - 
  • You can add very thin glazes of Jap Uni across the whole armour before the final stage. This will make the tone much more yellow and lift up the shadow if you don't want it too dark.
  • You can also increase the amount of white added to the Jap Uni mix if you want a shinier look.
  • If you'd like to add battle damage - simple mix black and XV-88 together and add in scratches or dot across the areas you want to be damaged. Then simply add your highlight colour around the lower edge of the dark marks you've added. This really helps make boring flat areas more interesting and also can hide mistakes too (shhhh).
  • I've also found that as long as the highlights are clean and look OK - the dark areas can be as messy as you like, because the eye is naturally drawn to the bright points.
  • Don't be afraid to leave hard to reach areas dark, that's perfectly natural.
Here's a few pics to help -

NMM gold armour thunder warrior

Red (clothing, hair etc) - 

The red areas where super simple, here are the steps - 
  1. Base of Mephiston red
  2. Black wash
  3. layer of Mephiston red
  4. Highlight of fiery orange
It's that easy!

Optional steps/tips -
  • I used a gradient similar to the technique used for the NMM but in red on the bolter casings. I wanted the colour to be the same, but I wanted to set it apart from the cloths so that the material looked different.
  • For the hair I just dry brushed as it adds plenty of detail and saves loads of time.
  • I actually used multiple layers of red and black wash to try and add texture to the pants. Not overly necessary, but adds a little more detail.
Thunder Warrior red miniature

Steel (weapons) -

Very similar technique used here are with the NMM gold - 
  1. I used Skavenblight dinge as a base
  2. highlighted with Stonewall grey
  3. further highlight of a mix of grey and white
  4. Add in a black to the shadows (if needed)
  5. final highlight of pure white
  6. Blue wash
Optional steps/tips -
  • Add as many washes of blue as you need to get the colour you want. I added several layers as the blue makes a nice contrast to the yellow armour.
  • After the blue wash - go back in with the white and pick up the edges again as a final... final highlight if you like.
  • When painting the blades always make sure the highlights are staggered and pointing in the same direction.
NMM blue steel painting

Terminus - 

That's everything guys! Wow that was longer than I expected, but I do hope you found that helpful and insightful. If you feel I've missed anything or you want to know more - please get in touch via my socials.

I'd really love you guys to make your own Thunder Warriors at home - if you do please tag me, I want to see them!

Again thank you all for your continued support - please leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of this post and don't forget to share with your friends!

Remember to keep an eye out for my next post about the diorama base.

Much love - Andy!

 Sources -
Credits -
  • John Blanche
  • Tim Remin
  • Darran Latham
  • Duncan Rhodes 
  • Chris Peach

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9 comments

  1. Pandoras Bitz Box03/05/2020, 14:35

    This is so awesome, I had no idea how involved the builds were, I only ever saw each if them built and half or fully painted. The faceless helms are awesome. Are you going to put these into Golden Demon next year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andy Of The Aett03/05/2020, 15:39

      Thanks a lot mate! - maybe I should? I've entered them into the #Goldengrot this year which is the comp We paint minis is running. Fingers crossed!

      Delete
  2. Pandoras Bitz Box04/05/2020, 08:23

    I see no reason not to, at the very least you give them a proper display in front of all the people staring into the cabinets. Awesome Effort

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown03/12/2020, 10:59

    Fantastic job, pal! These are awsome minis.

    ReplyDelete
  4. lcrenovation04/01/2021, 07:26

    Extremely informative. I wanted to thank you for this excellent post. I surely enjoyed each little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out more new stuff you post in the future.
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    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous08/05/2021, 22:52

    Very cool. You have really inspired me. I want to make my own gang either for kill team or a smaller 40k army. Def gonna come back to this in a few years once I am looking for a new project!

    ReplyDelete
  6. L01/07/2021, 23:32

    Bravo. They look amazing. Very inspirational. Love the Thunder Warrior history and you bought them to life really well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tech Priest10/10/2021, 15:15

    Hi I'm looking for something similar, you happen to know what bits you used for your captain? Torso, ptyruges anything you can remember would be helpful!

    ReplyDelete