A year and a half later...
So, it's been a while. Pandemic + depression = lack of motivation.
I guess it's time to start posting again. I was originally going to post
pictures of my builds in more-or-less chronological order. Screw
that. I'm going to post about whatever strikes my fancy. Which
makes sense, since that's pretty much how I approach doing my builds
anyway. I can start a project, get it about half built and then get
distracted by something shiny. Then the project languishes in a box for
years until I finally get the urge to finish it. Many of my projects are
still waiting.
So today we're going to show a project that I recently (mostly)
finished. I still have to do some greenstuff work to fill in gaps and
whatnot.
This is a Leman Russ tank that was a cheap Ebay purchase. It was in
pretty rough shape with some parts broken off and my original intent was to
fix it up and paint it. But once I had it in hand, I felt like it was
just a little too... stubby.
And thus the idea of lengthening the tank was born. Over the course of
several years I collected the various bits and pieces I needed from bits
sellers when they had a sale, and a few weeks ago the inspiration faerie
finally smacked me upside the head and said "Build yer tanks, ya git."
A bit of cutting and filing later, and here we have the first lengthened
track.
The body then had to be cut in half and lengthened as well. I shaved off
the lip that the turret fit onto.
I ended up 3D printing out the top plate as I still haven't mastered the art
of cutting a nice circle in plasticard. I used model train rivets from
Tichy Train Group, as my attempts to print out the tops with rivets didn't
turn out so great. What a fiddly process this was, inserting the stems
into those tiny holes. They had a distressing tendency to go flinging
off in random directions. It's a good thing I had lots, because I lost
quite a few.
The top plate in place.
I magnetized the weapon mount on the turret and 3D printed an addition for the
base.
Assembled turret. This is the turret from another Ebay tank
rescue. The tank itself will likely end up as terrain.
Two new tanks.
I also decided to work on a couple of alternate turrets. Here are the 3D
printed fronts, with more Tichy rivets.
I printed the turrets as well.
My original plan was to take a couple of turrets from the Ork Battlewagon kit
and de-orkify them by shaving them down. But now that I have a 3D
printer, it seemed to be a much easier idea to simply design and print the
turrets.
The idea is that the ork version is simply a looted turret. They cut off
things like the ladder and top bits and added extra armour.
Silk and Velvet watch as a train hauling a couple of new tanks rolls by.
I'll add a post about my 40K trains later...
I think the tanks look pretty good. They have a bit of a Russian KV-2
look to them. I still need to finish the back ends and will likely add
side sponsons.
A close-up of some of the printed details.
Here is a size comparison with the original Leman Russ.
The hatch is hinged and the gun mount is magnetized so I can add a gunner if I
want to.
Now I just have to finish off the back ends, add sponsons, do some gap-filling
and cleanup, and paint the bloody things. Check back sometime around the
year 2030. They might be done by then.
