Miniature conversion

Miniature conversion refers to the practice of altering the appearance of a miniature or model so as to deviate from the standard version purchased in a boxed set.

This practice is quite common amongst hobbyists who play miniature wargames such as Games Workshop's The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, Warhammer Fantasy Battles and Warhammer 40,000, as well as many of the other games produced by other games and miniature manufacturers. In these circumstances, conversions generally consist of combining parts of different models and modelling putty (such as Milliput or Kneadatite also known as "Green Stuff") to produce a new model with a unique appearance, which is generally a centrepiece of the player's collection, representing a powerful character or monster, or similar.

One simple form of miniature conversion is known as "kitbashing", in which components of different kits are mixed to produce unique models. More complex conversions, however, often involve modifying the component parts, for instance by cutting or drilling.

There are many reasons why a hobbyist might want to convert or "model" miniature figures. Hobbyists commonly use any combination of conversion techniques to provide figures of their own unique design, figures that are unavailable, or figures that are not covered by regular miniature wargame rules. Sometimes hobbyists are forced to convert their miniatures to stay in line with the rules for their army (e.g., weapon changes or mounting miniatures on steeds).

Some people spend more time converting their miniatures than painting them or playing the actual game, and some hobbyists extensively convert every model in their army so that they can have a unique force. Some hobbyists will convert a model not for their army, but just as a way to clean out their "bits box" and to have fun. This allows the modeler to try out different (but similar) uniforms for different types of soldier, and to possibly show-case them to encourage this specific conversion. Some modelers (Online) will give instructions to converting specific types of figures.

...
Wikipedia