Anvil staffer Dan is frankly, a lot better at modeling than I am. Which is why (after I unstuck my fingers from the superglue tube) we got him to build THIS: 
“I took inspiration from CAT hydraulic excavation vehicles. Heavy, industrial machines that can work in the harshest places. The idea was that this is a mining vehicle, used to laser apart rock formations - built as a walker to help access steep and treacherous terrain.”
“Everything from the hips down is from our Light Mech legs STL, 3D printed on our hobby printer; a Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K, and the top half is a Sentinel by Games Workshop ™. The two fitted together easily. What wasn’t so easy was making the roll cage just how I wanted from plasticard rods.”
The weaponry is our Excavation Laser with the riveted gun shield. Glued to the side of the main body, it looks exactly like the piece of kit you’d need to take to Mars to...blow..up..Space Rocks? I don’t know much about mining. But it certainly looks the part.
“The trickiest bit of the conversion was the pilot!” Said Dan. “I used a Boiler Suit Sitting Body, a Welding Mask head and the Heavy Weapon Arms. Some Shoulder Pads rounded off the look and gave the pilot the industrial look I was after. Someone who works in dirty, dangerous places. Finally, I changed the control sticks to be on long flexible wires, and added pedals under each foot, which was pretty fiddly.”
As a nod to health and safety, there is a length of brass jewelry chain across the cockpit to stop him falling out.
The thing I love most about this model is the pose. It gives a real sense of movement to it, and tells a story- mining equipment being pressed into use as a desperate defence.
“It was tricky to get the pose right-” 
“-normally with this type of model, you’ve got two feet on the ground and a pretty even weight distribution. But with this model it’s balancing on one leg as it springs along. This meant a lot of trial and error to get the balance point right, so it wouldn’t be too fragile and keep falling over.”
Well- there you have it! A cracking looking model. If you’re inspired to have a go converting your very own mechs and walkers- do let us know. Share your pictures with #AnvilIndustry and/or send us the pictures to: media@anvilindustry.com.
Images in this Conversion Corner feature many component parts which are copyright Games Workshop Plc™.
This feature is not associated with Games Workshop in any way. Images of their components are used to provide examples of possible conversions to inspire hobbyists' own modelling projects.