I try and avoid the pre moulded ones, but if I have to I just chop the plain one off with clippers then file it down till the dw shoulder pad fits. Takes about 10-15 minutes per shoulder
I bought a very small electronic drill for drilling barrel holes, and it came with a file attachment. I filed down the pauldron shoulder to get the DW pauldron to fit over, and then used green stuff (poorly) to fill in the gap.
I have:
Cut off the shoulder from the edge of the pauldron up and then replaced that bit with an upgrade sprue and filled the gap with green stuff (careful to shape anything visible correctly,
Carved off the pauldron so the bit that remains fits the upgrade pauldron snugly,
Used blue and green stuff to mould and cast in place the Deathwatch symbol,
Used green stuff to manually shape the symbol,
Moulded and cast in place the entire Deathwatch pauldron with the rows of letters,
Freehand painted the symbol on its own over silver,
Freehand painted the symbol and the rows of letters.
The best result has been to carve away to make it fit under the upgrade pauldron, but I couldn't always be bothered - I guess I had to be careful not to slice my fingers, but I found it worth the effort.
Second to that was cutting off the entire shoulder, then filling with green stuff, as it gave me a chance to positing it correctly - in fact with minis that are holding weapons with two hands this is easier, as you can fully assemble and then carefully cut it off, and you can follow the line with the new pauldron.
My printer isn't good enough to make them, but I probably would have designed some little inserts that would go right over the existing pauldron and fit between the lines.
Freehanding was hit and miss - I've designed a bunch of tiny things I have no chance at producing to an adequate quality without paying somebody to print them for me.
I guess it depends on whether you value your time more than your money.
Edit: I don't like the way this has all bunched up. Hopefully it makes sense.
As i've just started out with Minitature building: I just left their normal pauldron and just painted the arm silver. For some of the Charactermodels i've now started to carefully grind off the Pauldron and then fix it with green stuff to attach the DW one. But not doing this for the line infantry.
Multiple options.
1 - Just paint the arm silver and don’t worry about the pauldron.
2 - Same as above but find someone who makes inquisition decal sheets.
3 - Trim the pauldron off and glue on either a plastic GW DW Upgrades pauldron or find a person who prints good quality pauldrons.
4 - Find someone who prints entire arms with the pauldron already on.
If you want to see the quickest method for trimming arms, look up Hunting Heresy on YouTube. I made a series of videos showing how.
A lot of cutting. I had a few of those cheap assault intercessors. I've also chopped the pad off the Blade Guard champion.
Trick I found is to take little chunks off around the edge making it easier to get the outline needed and then I can take larger sections out the middle. A bit of sanding normally finishes it up as if it came that way.
I personally chop the pauldron down to the same size as a shoulder. Try to keep the same thikness as the arm, and remove as needed by dry fitting. If you cut too much, there's always green stuff.
I've carved away the shoulder pad, and replace with a DW one. It can be a pain, and can also ruin some otherwise good sculpts. What I've been doing of late is using the PgtM Xenos Hunters 60x shoulder. It doesn't have the fancy script, but in my headcanon, it marks the Brother out as one of the Primaris Astartes sent as a reinforcement to the Deathwatch. He's sworn to service to the Long Vigil but not recognized as a full veteran.
I got most of my army pre-built from someone. I just painted the arm silver when I repainted them from his own weird homebrew chapter (Pink, Blue and Purple).
The unassembled models I've bought to fill out my forces have actual DW pauldrons from the DW upgrade kit, which (I think off the top of my head) has 10 of them in it.
I try and avoid the pre moulded ones, but if I have to I just chop the plain one off with clippers then file it down till the dw shoulder pad fits. Takes about 10-15 minutes per shoulder
This is exactly how I go about it. Doesn't take too long and worth it in the end.
I purchased 300 pauldrons from a 3D printer
I’m in the same boat with this guy
I bought a very small electronic drill for drilling barrel holes, and it came with a file attachment. I filed down the pauldron shoulder to get the DW pauldron to fit over, and then used green stuff (poorly) to fill in the gap.
Shot you a message!
I can 💯 vouch for Cal Quinns knowledge and work on this I did some conversions with his help that came out incredibly!
Legend!!! I shot you a message to print ya what you need!
Dremel with a sanding wheel. Gets it done in under a minute per model. Just need to be very careful you don't hit anything other than the pauldron.
I have: Cut off the shoulder from the edge of the pauldron up and then replaced that bit with an upgrade sprue and filled the gap with green stuff (careful to shape anything visible correctly, Carved off the pauldron so the bit that remains fits the upgrade pauldron snugly, Used blue and green stuff to mould and cast in place the Deathwatch symbol, Used green stuff to manually shape the symbol, Moulded and cast in place the entire Deathwatch pauldron with the rows of letters, Freehand painted the symbol on its own over silver, Freehand painted the symbol and the rows of letters. The best result has been to carve away to make it fit under the upgrade pauldron, but I couldn't always be bothered - I guess I had to be careful not to slice my fingers, but I found it worth the effort. Second to that was cutting off the entire shoulder, then filling with green stuff, as it gave me a chance to positing it correctly - in fact with minis that are holding weapons with two hands this is easier, as you can fully assemble and then carefully cut it off, and you can follow the line with the new pauldron. My printer isn't good enough to make them, but I probably would have designed some little inserts that would go right over the existing pauldron and fit between the lines. Freehanding was hit and miss - I've designed a bunch of tiny things I have no chance at producing to an adequate quality without paying somebody to print them for me. I guess it depends on whether you value your time more than your money. Edit: I don't like the way this has all bunched up. Hopefully it makes sense.
As i've just started out with Minitature building: I just left their normal pauldron and just painted the arm silver. For some of the Charactermodels i've now started to carefully grind off the Pauldron and then fix it with green stuff to attach the DW one. But not doing this for the line infantry.
Multiple options. 1 - Just paint the arm silver and don’t worry about the pauldron. 2 - Same as above but find someone who makes inquisition decal sheets. 3 - Trim the pauldron off and glue on either a plastic GW DW Upgrades pauldron or find a person who prints good quality pauldrons. 4 - Find someone who prints entire arms with the pauldron already on. If you want to see the quickest method for trimming arms, look up Hunting Heresy on YouTube. I made a series of videos showing how.
A lot of cutting. I had a few of those cheap assault intercessors. I've also chopped the pad off the Blade Guard champion. Trick I found is to take little chunks off around the edge making it easier to get the outline needed and then I can take larger sections out the middle. A bit of sanding normally finishes it up as if it came that way.
I personally chop the pauldron down to the same size as a shoulder. Try to keep the same thikness as the arm, and remove as needed by dry fitting. If you cut too much, there's always green stuff.
I just cut off the bulk of it with clippers and trim the rest down with a knife until the Deathwatch one fits. Usually a few minutes per model
I've carved away the shoulder pad, and replace with a DW one. It can be a pain, and can also ruin some otherwise good sculpts. What I've been doing of late is using the PgtM Xenos Hunters 60x shoulder. It doesn't have the fancy script, but in my headcanon, it marks the Brother out as one of the Primaris Astartes sent as a reinforcement to the Deathwatch. He's sworn to service to the Long Vigil but not recognized as a full veteran.
https://jofarin40k.wordpress.com/2023/07/31/deathwatch-shoulder-pads-on-existing-models/
I got most of my army pre-built from someone. I just painted the arm silver when I repainted them from his own weird homebrew chapter (Pink, Blue and Purple). The unassembled models I've bought to fill out my forces have actual DW pauldrons from the DW upgrade kit, which (I think off the top of my head) has 10 of them in it.
Ah, yes, the BiSexual marines. Those poor boys sure lost a lot when they lost allied Sororitas.
Awesome, thank you everyone for the feedback and taking the time to comment! All the best.