High Elf Dragon Conversion, part 1

In preparation for Brawler Bash V, I have been trying to work on a new centerpiece for my army.  I've seen several fire breathing dragon conversions around the net, so I've decided to try and build one for myself.  Here's one of the examples that I was following (Heresy-Online) and here's another one (Zimbio).  I think I linked the fire tutorial from Warhammer.org that also had a fire breathing dragon in it in my last post.

Anyway, this is what I have so far:

My process was a bit different than the three other examples.  The only supplies that you'll need are a 6" nail (twenty five cents at Lowe's) and some green stuff.  You'll also need some largish magnets if you are considering magnetizing the wings like Ron Saikowski did; I can certainly see the advantage of being able to lay it on its side to transport.

The first step is to get the nail inside the rock.  When the high elf rock is in two pieces, there is a grove down the middle of the inside that fits the head of the nail perfectly.  I wedged the head inside of the grove and filled the whole inside of the rock with green stuff. The only drawback is that this angles the dragon off to the left.  I think it looks fine that way though.

The hardest part of the operation thus far has been the dragon's hind legs.  They are constructed so that they will wedge into the rock.  It takes a bit of cutting to remove the rock pieces from the legs.  I couldn't get them perfect, but they are turned so that the misshapened bits are on the inside, so you can't see it.  You also have to green stuff the foot hole on the rock, but that's pretty easy.

Once the dragon is assembled, it's time to attach him to the other end of the nail.  He has a hole inside his mouth for the tongue, and I was hoping it would be sufficiently deep to hold him in place.  It's not. I did some burrowing with a drill and my hobby knife in order to create a big enough hole.  Two applications of super glue seems to have him pretty solidly affixed.

The only real problem that I have had is the model's lack of stability.  I initially had hoped he would be light enough not to pull the base over.  He wasn't.  When I took it off the vice after gluing him, it fell straight over.  I took two sizable pieces of granite out of our driveway and put on the end of the base.  This seems to have fixed the problem.  However, I feel like I need something to stand on those two rocks.  I just have no idea what to put there.  Maybe a tree?  If you have ideas, post them; I could use the help.

At this point, I need to paint the dragon, magnetize and paint the wings, and greenstuff and paint the fire.  I'm hoping I can get that finished by next weekend because I still have twenty spearmen to paint.  The tournament is on April 21 (in Raleigh if anyone is in the area -- here's a link), so I need to get moving.