So I recently recieved a message asking me about weapon options on a tank and what best to model it with. My answer was...all of them. As the kit prices climb so should our use of getting the most out of our kits. Here are a few tips and tricks for getting the most bang for your buck....er...Dhirham!
Space Marine
- Always buy the Razorback kit, never just the Rhino. You get a slew of extras that you can trade or use and you pay almost nothing extra for it. If you take the Rhino hatches and glue the center "teeth" together on a flat surface and dry you can easily pop this of an on with the Razorback turret hatch. Always use magnets for you assaultcannon/heavy bolters (more later)
- PRedators should be treated just like the Razorback/Rhino option above. It will add about another half hour to your modeling but being able to snap on sponsons and turrets to configure your vehicles as needed is well worth the extra time it takes.
- Whirlwing is the same as Rhino and Predator. Build the missle rack and glue to hull plate, then take Rhino Doors and Glue together and snap in place when needed. I leave my rhino inside the tank with the whirlwind barrel in place for safe storage.
- Techmarine - Always buy the Thunderfire Cannon. for about 30 Dhirham more you get a techmarine with Servo Harness AND an awsome big gun. This gun is a great 100 point option in the codex and if you chose just to use the marine you have great bit for trade or a cool conversion to use!
- Always buy the kit with the most options in it. Death Company, Wolf Guard, Sanguine Guard, and Crusader Upgrade kits are all great values even if you are not using these specific armies. I would always buy a Death Company kit for any army I play as the bits are worth their weight in gold!
Imperial Guard
- Mech is the bread and butter of every IG army. The key to having a successful IG army if to keep it flexible. If you dont have to glue it....DON'T! Magnets, Magnets, Magnets! This is the IG players mantra. I have magnetized sponsons, heavy stubbers, and even little gas cans. One of the best kits is the new LeMan Russ Battle Tank Kit. It offers most of all the configs you want so here is what I did to make my tanks as flexible as possible:
Mount the Battle Cannon barrell to the turret as normal (this is for Battle Tank Variants) take a sharp blade and cut the barrell after the first Rib, but make sure it is a clean cut as you will need the piece for later. Take the same sharp blade and lightly "bore out" the rib barrel.
Take the weapon option you want (Punisher Cannon here)an lightly shave the end. What you want is a bit of a taper to it to allow it to slip into the turreted barrel piece. The original Piece you cut from the barrell should also be "shaved" this same way but the piece will be very thin and the taper should just be about 1 or 2 mm. Once completed this should be your results...
OR
Easy to do and now you have 2 tanks for the price of 1. Another key trick is the sponsons. #1 Find a way to build the sponson seerate from the tank and put a fat magnet on it, and the tank to allow you to pop it on and off....but if the sponson is already on then...
Using this picture above (yes i know the tank has been painted to many times!) cut the Heavy Bolter Barrel off right where it meets the cylindrical sponson piece at the edge of the grey. The cuts always need to be using a sharp blade and never snips of the piece will be trash after. Use a pin drill and bore out HB part and Sponson part. If you have a magnet then put 1 recessed into each piece (make sure you watch the polarity) and walla snaps on an off. If you dont have magnets add either a "dowle" cut from a piece of sprue or rod (dont use a pin size as you need a bit of girth) to the sponson to allow it to slot into the HB barrel or any other sponson weapon you chose by simply boreing holes in them.
- With a Valkyrie I made the twin link lascannons using the Twin Lascannon sponson from left over Razor Backs I wasnt using (see always buy the razorback!) but you can make them by simply glueing to lascannons together and making a sprue brace to mount on.
AAfter making the TLLC I glued a magnet to the underside of the TLLC and the Rocket Pods
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after which I glued a magnets to the slot on the wing the rocket pods mount to, but I made sure to notch it to fit the magnets first.
No I can field all the configs with the Valk or Vendettas. I also built the door mounted HB's and left them sitting behind the doors if I ever want to use them.
So as you can see with a little extra effort and so rare earth magnets you can take 1 kit an get many options out of it!
