Model for conversion...ideas?

A while back a posted a topic on giving wings to skinks...just for looks. It was suggested by someone (can't remember who) that I used the winged ones as saurus warriors and have the un-winged ones as baby versions of the main ones. I ended up deciding to run with it.

A quick recap of the idea: I am going to use skinks and remove the frill and use green stuff to add some extra scales on the 'older' ones. For the wings I am going to drill a whole in them and then I will use wire and green stuff to make the wings. The wings will end up something like the terradon wings (The old ones). The actual wing part will end and the base of the spine, where the legs begin. There are a few other green stuff details I will add that isn't overly necessary since it involves the tail.

Now to the main thing, I need a model for the scar-vet and I was going to use the skink brave model (link at bottom of the post) but there is a very large problem. Well first off the model is metal thus making the frill insanely hard to remove. The second issue is the strap across the body and it would get in the way of the wings.

LINK: http://www.games-workshop.com/en-AU/Skink-Chief-with-Sword-Shield

 

The skink chief that comes with the stegadon kit is quite similar to that one, but he is all plastic.

 

I managed to get my hands on one of those, while yes it is a great model and I will use it...I still need to deal with that strap around the torso.