WizKids Throws its Hat (and Various Other Pieces and Parts) into the Kitbashing Ring

April 28, 2022

Ever since the release of plastic miniatures during the release of third edition Dungeons & Dragons I have loved collecting, using, painting and then kitbashing figures. If you are not familiar with kitbashing it has its foundation in model cars and airplanes long before us nerds who roll funny shaped dice decided to give it a go. Kitbashing means taking parts from one kit and adding them to another or salvaging parts from even outside a kit to make the model you imagine. A super famous kitbash you might not be aware of is the Death Star for the original Star Wars movie. It was put together with model kits used in new ways and new angles to give the Death Star its iconic look.

Greater than the sum of their kitbashed parts

I started kitbashing a couple of decades back when I started with Games Workshop’s Necromunda game. My Pit Slaves comprised some original models as well as pieces cobbled together to look the part. Some who care about miniatures love symmetry, but not me. Pit Slaves were part mechanical and part biological. It makes sense these are easy to kitbash.

Later I started getting obsessed with Heroscape. This was a great minis game and with a much lower threshold than Games Workshop games because everything came painted and ready to go. After I acquired what I refer to as a stupid amount I felt like I had extras and I wanted to see how I could hack apart and and reassemble. The more minis I made the more I was willing to experiment with buying bulk minis online from games no longer in production or I could simply get cheap. I looked at each mini and saw what pieces it had that could inspire me in some way. On rare occasions I would start with an idea in mind and either use the pieces I had or look for minis with the pieces I sought.

You can get the look you want by using glue or clay as filler where needed and sculpting should you feel it necessary. There are lots of options on YouTube for inspiration or direction from more skilled hands than mine when it comes to this endeavor.

The inspiration for this topic comes from the new release of Frameworks by our friends over at WizKids. Gone are the days of having to kitbash to get the mini to look different than your friends’ — unless you want to do so. Frameworks are model kits especially designed for Wizards of the Coast allowing you to select the mini you want and then customize its build from the pieces within the kit. Frameworks kits come unassembled and unpainted as you would expect so you will need a hobby knife and glue but this means it comes with the choice to build it exactly as you want.

This is the best part — you get the extras such as heads, arms and accessories you can then use to kitbash your own original minis or even other Framework minis. These exciting kits are not just for players or Dungeon Masters as they have minis of player characters and even iconic monsters. The Mind Flayer comes with an intellect devourer. The Beholder has magic eye rays and the Hag includes some kind of homunculus. There are even groups like Kobolds so you can build a whole squad. Go check out the WizKids store and get some of your own kits today. Explore your workshop, gain a tool proficiency in real life and call yourself proficient in kitbashing supplies.

When kitbashing I have found giving the mini a new paint job afterward allows not only for a more uniform look but also can help hide some of your mistakes. Maybe you are more skilled than I and don’t make mistakes but everything I kitbash has some kind of oops or something I would have liked to have done better. It’s is all part of the craft. I am always looking to improve.

I keep a copy of the minis I used for the best piece I made a number of years ago next to it and have shown it off to friends many times. Some of those previous bulk purchases were Mage Knight. I took the base of a werebear and added the forearms of a magestone guardian. I added the head and shoulders by carving out a section in the mini and used the same section of a blood demon. The real challenge was with the bladewing. I cut the wings off and sliced the spine spikes and tail in one piece and carved the middle of the back in a similar manner down the back of the werebear base. After all the glue was set I painted the whole mini a dark blue and gave it a dry brush of white. To be fair I probably went too heavy on the white but I am still quite happy with it all these years later. You can check out a very old discussion with Nate the Nerdarch and myself talking about this topic in the video below.

Thanks for reading (and watching!). Until next time, stay nerdy!

*Featured image — A storage facility employee rescued many Star Wars props from the garbage including the Death Star. He displayed the Death Star in his home in California until moving to Missouri and storing the Death Star at his mother’s antique shop.