2020 Christmas Astra Militarum Countdown: Day 1

The first addition to Phoenix Company in this Christmas season is this lovely lad - a heavy flamethower operator.

I’ll modify the helmet to make it look like less of a Stahlhelm before I paint anything, since I want Phoenix Company to look as multinational as possible like its canon self. The gas mask itself suits me just fine, but the two are a single moulded part, and having a WW2-German-esque helmet in my legitimate resistance movement seems... off.

I know the mask breaks the feeling of a proper Phoenix Company army (if you know the UFO: After(blank) series, at least), but it breaks up the monotony of normal heads quite well.

The flamethrower is a combination of a normal Spellcrow rifle and a Spellcrow flamer - creating a multi-functional tool.

This weapon obviously wouldn’t be technically legal in something like 40k, but I have plans for my own wargame in the future. I made a lot of careful cuts to connect them properly, so they’ll look great painted. The logistics of how the gun works aren’t obvious, but I personally love how it turned out.

To make the suit more sealed, a plastic ring has been inserted into the neck area to serve as a joint.

Beefing up the neck was really important. The helmets didn’t quite work as-is, but adding some extra material underneath as a neck raised it too high. A spare Tamiya tank part was perfect, acting almost like a collar that makes the suit look sealed around the neck.

The backpack consists of an old Tau piece sliced in half, the front end of a Guardsman's flamer, and an extra tank ripped straight from the Spellcrow guns.

Perhaps I'll create a wire or cable between the backpack and the flamer once he's painted - I don't want to do things out of order. That tiny tank on the back would be a great connection point, though. I love this part of the model overall, because it’s not obvious what each part is for: the pilot light, the small fluid holders, it’s all vague enough without being too techy.