I love Harlequins! The fluff, the minis, the paint schemes. They provide an opportunity to showcase outlandish and colourful minis in such a dreary and drab 40k universe.

There are no official inq scale harlequins. But kitbashing them is relatively easy if you can find a suitable model as a starting point. I say ‘relatively easy’ as harlies all wear masks, and sculpting masks is a hell of a lot easier than sculpting faces (which i don’t even bother attempting). And building harlequins is fun as you can attempt to pose them in dynamic and acrobatic positions, rarely seen with other 40k minis. If you have a 3d printer, there is also a range of amazing carnivale or clownlike gothic figures that could easily be converted to Harlequins [Ed: if only i had a 3d printer!]

I enjoy painting Harlequins. They are a riot of patterns and an excuse to go to town on bold colour combinations. Their distinctive checkerboard pattern can be a little intimidating to begin with, but if you lay out the pattern work on the mini first (i lay out the pattern using thin white paint), then it is fairly fast to do. I can see how painting checkers on an armylist of tiny 28mm harlequins would drive me nuts, but for only a few large minis it is not too daunting. Plus inq scale figures are twice as large, so it’s not so fiddly painting intricate patterns.

Here are the latest additions (auditions?) to the troupe.

Troupe Master. The base model is a plastic Grenadier from the tehnolog range. The collar was made using those little plastic bread clips [Ed: my newfound favourite kitbashing material. They can be shaped fairly easy].
Solitaire. The base model is shinobi from kabuki models.

For completeness, here is the rest of the troupe.

Shadowseer. The base model is a 54mm resin figure of subzero from mortal combat. It was a fluro yellow resin [Ed: so maybe it was plastic then?]. I got it cheap from Aliexpress years ago. The shuriken pistol is a 3d print that my mate did. The ribbons are etched brass offcuts.
A Harlequin. The base of this model is the Martian Banshee Trooper, an old Mutant Chronicles 54mm plastic mini. I’ve cut it up a little and added a stack of greenstuff. The plumes of hair are bits off a kitchen wash brush. The sword is from the Kal Jericho model. This model was heavily inspired from an old Australian golden demon figure entry that won someone a golden demon. When i was first collecting inquisitor minis over a decade ago, i also re-created this model. So this is the second time I have kitbashed it.
Here is the first version of this mini that i kitbashed over a decade ago (and regretfully sold off on ebay many years ago). I prefer the pose of this mini (the base model underneath is damien 1427). But my greenstuff work is not as smooth here. In fact, despite its roughness, this version is far superior. My skills seem to have regressed with time!
Harlequin with Fusion Pistol (left). The base model is an OOP 54mm jester. There is a nasty cast line on the right leg that i can’t be bothered fixing. But i love the paint job and the posing. The sword i think is from the Kal Jericho model and the head is a resin cast from Lord Borak at the Conclave forum (it’s one of his cultist heads). The other Harlequin has a Harlequin’s Kiss and Shuriken Pistol (right). This is also the second time i have re-created this mini on the right (i sold off the first version a decade ago). The base model is the eldar ranger from the official range. Under the mask is the head of the 54mm tau firewarrior.
And here is the first version i kitbashed over a decade ago. The greenstuff work on the mask is not as good here. But the paintjob is better [but to be fair, i probably spent twice as long painting it. These days i prefer to paint quickly]. This model is a direct copy of a mini i found on the internet, except my version is nowhere near as good.

I plan to make only one more Harlequin, a death jester. I’m hoping to kitbash together a combination of tehnolog figures to make it.