BCK's New Project - Enter the Shadowsword

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I was never terribly impressed by any of the Baneblade models of the three that have been available: the Armorcast kit, or the original two all resin variants from Forgeworld, though I do lament its passing for other gamers with no conversion kit available from FW for the atrocious plastic kit. Prior to the plastic kit coming out, the Baneblade, Shadowsword, and Stormsword were prohibitively expensive for me and I read some nightmarish reviews of assembling those resin monsters.

 

Then came the plastic kit, and the announcement that FW would be making conversion kits! Hooray! So I ran out and bought me a plastic Shadowsword... only to find out that FW was never going to sell just the conversion parts, but the entire plastic kit with it, once again with a prohibitive price tag. So, here we are. I plan on doing this monster up like "a real model" as my WWII tank-building brother would say, trying to correct a lot of the issues with the plastic kit, super detail it, and paint and weather it like the pros do on their real world tanks, and that table top gamers are just getting exposed to.

 

(A great example of this is the Model Masterclass books from Forgeworld, which is by and large recycled techniques you can get either free from military modeling sites and blogs, or from the many good military model magazines out there, but with a ridiculous cover price and a Forgeworld logo.)

 

As of now, here's what I'm planning:

 

* Completely rebuilding the cradle and barrel of the laser

* Widening the track guards and using some tank tracks from a real tank kit, as well as the sprocket and drive wheels

* Getting rid of a lot of the bland or badly done detail, primarily on the top of the superstructure

* Adding things like tools or toolboxes and bins or wire baskets for stowage

* Scratch building a new exhaust system to look closer to the FW version and detailing the existing vents on the rear deck

 

 

First up, here's some pics of my first steps with the new cradle:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/nMCrjvZ.jpg  http://i.imgur.com/ST0cah3.jpg

 

I actually made this last year on a lathe, but getting laid off from my job and trying to find a new put the model building on hold for a while. It doesn't look like much yet, but here's a comparison pic of the Forgeworld cradle:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/jnKrFHI.jpg

 

Now, as much as I like the looks of the Shadowsword, when I starting working on this piece, the big recoil compensator piston-thingies didn't make much sense to me. I mean, it's a giant laser and they don't have any recoil, so I'm changing the design slightly to look more like reinforcing struts for this titanic weapon assembly.

 

Here's a shot of the cradle with the rivets attached to the front plate and the struts in place, side-by-side with the plastic version:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/Aes9fcG.jpg

 

And finally, shots of it lightly blue tacked in place to see how it looks mounted on the superstructure:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/qQsjjU8.jpg?1  http://i.imgur.com/STViYq2.jpg?1

 

 

Don't worry, there's going to be a more details added to it before I'm done with the cradle. It is a little bigger than the plastic version, and the barrel is a fair bit bigger - I'm going to be using .5 inch plastic tubing for it.

 

C&C welcome as always. Thanks for looking,

 

-BCK

[Montuhotep]

Now this, this I'm going to be very interested in. Mostly because I too have a 'Sword kit for about the same reasons and it's looking accusingly at me from a shelf. I was thinking of doing the same but haven't got a damn clue where to begin, so if you don't mind, this thread is going to have some serious looting done to it!

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Loot away! If I can help other people make some of GW's mediocre-to-poor quality kits look awesome, so much the better.

I also bring a small update, showing some testing of the new drive parts for the tracks. First up, a comparison of the GW track vs the one I'll be using:

http://i.imgur.com/kNtHwYg.jpg

It's only a little bit wider than the GW track, but due to where the road wheels will have to sit on it, the whole sub-assembly is being widened to accommodate it.

Here's the drive sprocket and return roller still being worked on:

http://i.imgur.com/scHH8VU.jpg

I don't know yet if the ends will be visible and if I'll have to add rivets and such, so I'm holding off on further detail work for now.

And here they are blue tacked in place to get a feel for the look of it:

http://i.imgur.com/wJsOT20.jpg

The return roller on the front isn't touching the first road wheel, it just looks like it from the angle and is actually spaced about the same amount as the other road wheels are from each other. I might have to extend the armor on the front and rear to cover the new additions, but I'm also planning on adding proper fenders like the FW version, and that might be enough by itself.

[Montuhotep]

Where did you get the wheels and track from or are they self builds?

[Studio Silvernale]

I will be following this project as I love armor.

[Artemid]

This looks excellent. Followed!

[Subtle Discord]

This project intrigues me. You may continue.

[Jay Taint]

All this looks very, very promising and inspiring!  Make sure you keep going, it's going to be awesome!

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Wow, this got more attention than I thought it would while I was at work.

Where did you get the wheels and track from or are they self builds?

No, I didn't build them. I wish I could scratch build stuff that looked that good, lol. They come from a 1/35 scale WWII German tank called the Maus (mouse). Last year when I mentioned to my older brother what I was wanting to do with this kit, I asked if he knew where I might get some tracks that could fit it, because there are a LOT of third party companies out there that make detail kits for military models, and he just gave me the Maus kit.

If I remember correctly, I think he got it in a big lot of models from a swap meet or something, and had no plans to ever build it. The tracks were just what I was looking, and as I was checking out all the other parts on the sprues, I thought the sprocket and return roller would look great. They're certainly big enough to look like they fit on the massive Shadowsword, and imho, look far more believable than the tiny ones that came with the GW kit. There's a ton of track in the kit as well. I think with the amount of track that comes for only one side of the Maus, I can probably do one full side and maybe 1/3 or 1/2 of the other on the Shadowsword.

I will be following this project as I love armor.

Me too! When I was growing up, I used to spend my allowance on WWII tank and airplane kits, and then I got hooked on table top gaming and drifted away from the real world models for a while, but I still liked to use the techniques I learned with the other stuff. I'm glad to see that all of that stuff from the real model world is shifting over into the gaming side, but I really felt ripped off by GW when I opened up this Shadowsword kit for the first time and that's why I'm doing this.

This looks excellent. Followed!

Thanks!

This project intrigues me. You may continue.

By your leave, milord.

All this looks very, very promising and inspiring! Make sure you keep going, it's going to be awesome!

I really, really want to finish this now that I'm going on it. I go to a lot of the model shows and contests in the central Texas area, but I've never really finished anything to my satisfaction for an entry, and the one category that always has some of the worst showings at these events are in the Sci-Fi category. Not to say that they are all bad as I have seen some great stuff in the category, but I'd really like to build this monster of a Sci-Fi tank and have it be on par with all of the German Tigers and Panzers and the American Sherman tanks that can always be found at these shows.

I also got a PM from Grey88 asking

Where do you get your beads that you use for rivets & what sizes are they? Thanks.

Grey.

The answer is that they are not beads, but plastic rivets that can be bought from several different companies. I picked these up from my local model shop, not gaming shop, and they are .06" in diameter and made by the Tichy Train Group company. It was 2 or 3 bucks for a package of 96 rivets in this size.

I guess this is as good a time as any to start sharing some techniques with you guys, so here's a brief tutorial on using the rivets.

They come on these little sprue tabs that look like this:

http://i.imgur.com/RTzDNXo.jpg

As you can see, I've already used 9 of the 12 on here as well as as a whole other sprue of 12 for the rivets around the front plate on my scratch built cradle for the Shadowsword (I had already clipped off the one for this demo before I took the pic). You'll want to drill holes for the little mounting pegs as close as you can to their diameter so that it's a snug fit, and then cut off one of the rivets with about half of the mounting peg. Now, to keep these little things from flying across the room, you can do a few things to secure them: keeping the sprue flat on the table, put a blob of blue tack or a fingertip over the end of the rivet and then very carefully cut through the mounting peg with a sharp blade on your hobby knife. The sharp blade is important! If you have to hack at it or twist the blade or use too much pressure, you can deform the mounting peg to the point that it won't fit in the hold you drilled and then you're down a rivet.

You should be about here at this point:

http://i.imgur.com/oR7NUgb.jpg

I just snipped off a little piece of excess plastic from one of the Shadowsword sprue trees for this little demonstration.

Now, after you cut the rivet off, how do you handle these tiny little buggers? With tweezers, right? WRONG! That's just another way to send them flying across the room, never to be seen again. Here's what I use:

http://i.imgur.com/Ss72OIF.jpg

This is simply a small length of plastic rod with blue tack on the end. Once I cut off the rivet, I will put a small drop of super glue in a container - I use old, broken figure bases that I've flipped over as disposable glue trays - and then I carefully push the head of the rivet into the blue tack and dip the end of the mounting peg in the glue. You don't want a big blob of super glue - just enough to lightly coat the bottom half of the peg or so.

It's also important that the super glue you're using is thin, and not one of the really thick gap filler or super fast setting types, because if it's too thick, the rivet might just stick in the glue, and if it sets too fast, you might not get it positioned in time.

http://i.imgur.com/l6NKIrq.jpg

Next, carefully slide the mounting peg into the drilled hole and try not to bump the end of the peg onto the surface of the plastic around the drilled hole. Why? If you have too much glue on the peg or if you bump the end of the peg around your drilled hole, it can make the super glue ooze out from underneath the rivet head once it's seated, and that looks sloppy. Rivet aren't welded on after all, and that excess super glue can make it look like a weld seam or just sloppy work. Taking a extra few seconds to make sure it's lined up before seating the rivet is worth it in the end.

Thanks for the comments and support, brothers, and I hope this was both informative and helpful. :)

Thanks,

-BCK

[Subtle Discord]

Must... get... many... of those... rivets! I'll admit my searching has only been casual so far, but I can't seem to find that style of rivets (half round, a good range of sizes, on a 'post', and made from what looks to be styrene plastic) at a reasonable price. My last build used over 600 rivets, they have to be reasonably cheap. I have an excellent cost effective method for flat-top rivets, but I'm still searching for my go-to half round technique/product. Looks like I'll need to do some more searching.

 

You also bring up a great point about military models for conversion parts and scratch building, and local hobby shops. Not only are model kits great places to find bits and hard-to-build components, your local hobby shop (if you're lucky enough to have one) will usually have a bin of assorted cast of sprews from all manner of scale model kit. It's a lottery, but sometimes you can find really useful parts for a low cost.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Try http://grandtline.com/ and http://www.tichytraingroup.com/ for the rivets. The .06 ones I used are currently 3 dollars for 96 from Tichy, but the smaller ones are 200 for 3 dollars. Not bad.

[S.k.i.t.t.l.e]

I know I've come across brass pins with half dome heads like that from an online model store, but I can't for the life of me find it...... :/ I know they were very cheap for lots of them too. Darn it.

[Subtle Discord]

Thanks Kage, after doing a bit of converting these might just fit the bill. If I can get a range around 0.75mm (about 0.03") I'll be very happy. I recently got some Rivet Decal Sheets from Micro Mark. They look they they will work great for some things, but they are more low profile than half round rivets. Nothing wrong with that, but not always what I want.

 

In my case, being made of styrene is almost essential, but thanks for the suggestion. It's why I'm trying to avoid beads and pinheads; Since I build in styrene I would prefer something I can use my super thin styrene glue on. Less chance for making a mess (read: faster too) and a better bond. Thin glue is a life saver.

[Studio Silvernale]

I always used sewing straight pins for rivets =O

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I know I've come across brass pins with half dome heads like that from an online model store, but I can't for the life of me find it...... :/ I know they were very cheap for lots of them too. Darn it.

I've never seen brass rivets like that, so I wouldn't know where to direct you for those, sorry.

Thanks Kage, after doing a bit of converting these might just fit the bill. If I can get a range around 0.75mm (about 0.03") I'll be very happy. I recently got some Rivet Decal Sheets from Micro Mark. They look they they will work great for some things, but they are more low profile than half round rivets. Nothing wrong with that, but not always what I want.

In my case, being made of styrene is almost essential, but thanks for the suggestion. It's why I'm trying to avoid beads and pinheads; Since I build in styrene I would prefer something I can use my super thin styrene glue on. Less chance for making a mess (read: faster too) and a better bond. Thin glue is a life saver.

Tichy has .07 and .08, 96 rivets for US $3. https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/ho_nbw--rivets/Default.aspx

I agree completely on the thin glue. I buy the thin medium set variety so I have time to make any adjustments before it really starts to hard set.

I always used sewing straight pins for rivets =O

I tried that some years ago, and didn't care for it, but if it works for you, stick with it.

I'm working on getting the tracks set up on this beast, and it's being more of a hassle than I initially thought it would be. I almost might have to move the return roller on the front, but I'll try to have some progress up later tonight or tomorrow.

-BCK

[Dosjetka]

Being both a treadhead at heart and someone who's always amazed by other people's efforts to make 40k kits more "realistic" (quote marks because there is always, in my mind, a certain degree of improbability in the 40k 'verse), I'll be following this with great interest. You're doing a great job so far and I look forward to seeing more :)

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Being both a treadhead at heart and someone who's always amazed by other people's efforts to make 40k kits more "realistic" (quote marks because there is always, in my mind, a certain degree of improbability in the 40k 'verse), I'll be following this with great interest. You're doing a great job so far and I look forward to seeing more

Thanks for the kind words, and I agree with you completely on the improbability thing. Let's be honest: the parts that I'm scavenging for this are from a tank that Hitler wanted to build that was going to weigh just shy of 200 tons and it was completely impractical (no bridge could support it, nor could they build an engine powerful enough to push it over 8 mph), and it's like a skateboard in comparison to these Super Heavy monsters from 40k. Even if we accept that there is some extremely powerful futuristic power plant inside the thing, it's so big that it could never be used in a city, and doubtful that any roads, and especially bridges, could deal with its weight. And you'd be crazy to take it off of a road, because if the ground was soft at all, or God-Emperor forbid, muddy, it would sink.

However, I think it's an awesome looking vehicle and I want to make it look better. :)

[Punk possum]

I've only just seen this, and I like it a lot. Did you know there is an extant Maus in a museum in Russia? Its one of the examples of the nuttiness allied to high technology the third Reich was capable of... Kind of like the empire of mankind come to think of it.

Any how great work so far, do you plan on lensing the barrel? Its just something that has always seemed strange to me las cannons that seem to have no way of focusing a laser beam, but have got muzzle brakes.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I've only just seen this, and I like it a lot. Did you know there is an extant Maus in a museum in Russia? Its one of the examples of the nuttiness allied to high technology the third Reich was capable of... Kind of like the empire of mankind come to think of it.

Any how great work so far, do you plan on lensing the barrel? Its just something that has always seemed strange to me las cannons that seem to have no way of focusing a laser beam, but have got muzzle brakes.

 

 

Yeah, the surviving Maus is made from the two only semi-completed versions: the body of one and the turret from the other. After my brother gave me the kit last year, I did some research on it. :)

 

Luckily for the rest of Europe, Hitler was a complete idiot when it came to running a war and refused to listen to the advice of his generals and the engineers he ordered to build his war machines. IIRC, the original Maus was going to mount the same 88 mm gun that the Tiger II mounted, which was more than powerful enough to kill ANYTHING the Allies or Russia could throw at it, but Hitler felt such a "tiny" gun on the huge tank turret wasn't "manly" enough, so he ordered them to increase it to a 128 mm gun. World War II really changed the whole Bigger Is Better mentality not only for tanks, but for ships as well, seeing the demise of the battleship as a practical weapon. Russia's easily mass-manufactured T-34 might not have been able to stand toe to toe with Germany's over-engineered and expensive tanks, but then Stalin knew better than to ever fight with even numbers.

 

As for the Shadowsword, yes, I do plan on lensing the weapon, but I'm not actually sure what I will do with the end of the barrel. I like the look of the FW version, but that may prove difficult to replicate. I know what you mean about the goofy muzzle brakes on a lot of the energy weapons, and the recoil compensators I mentioned earlier, but I think the end of the FW Shadowsword weapon looks more like channels to vent heat from firing the super laser and less like a muzzle brake to counter recoil.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Updated pics!

The progress so far:


http://i.imgur.com/BHKAEFS.jpg

I've assembled multi-part tracks like this before, but the Maus has two individual pieces to make one link, where the others tend to be just one part per link, so it's proving to be frustrating getting the individual links to properly wrap around the sprocket.

A close up of the sprocket, where I've temporarily attached the old sprocket/return roller form the SS kit to maintain uniformity.


http://i.imgur.com/em5tN4E.jpg

And with the outer armor piece removed for a better look at it:


http://i.imgur.com/x29P241.jpg  http://i.imgur.com/sEhSAS5.jpg

I'm planning on doing the same with the return roller up front.

Finally, to show just how much wider the track sub-assembly is going to be, here's the armor plate that normally goes on top (which was warped pretty much beyond use).

http://i.imgur.com/2isGx0k.jpg

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Today, I decided to mock up the main body of the tank to see how I liked it and decide if I wanted to make any other major changes before going any further with the tracks, since they would be one of the last things to go on the finished model.

Here's a few shots from the side and front:

http://i.imgur.com/VVtWfFp.jpg

Here you can see the work on the tracks, progressing slowly.

http://i.imgur.com/TBHx5XR.jpg

As it turned out, I found a lot of things I didn't like. Something about how the glacis (the front armor of the main body) looked didn't seem right, and after comparing the model in my hand with some of the FW pics I have saved on my computer, I figured it out.

http://i.imgur.com/JHtj5iC.jpg http://i.imgur.com/qvXLBR7.jpg

On the FW version, the glacis comes all the way up to the level of the track guard/side armor (or very close to it), but the plastic GW version does not. It's one of those things that I never noticed in all the pictures I've seen of the plastic tank, but was very obvious once I actually started to tape this thing together. That big gap looks odd and in the event that I was going to keep the front armor from the plastic kit, I had planned on making a lot of changes to it, so now I'm considering just scratch building everything from the above the Aquila to the superstructure. More on that and a bigger idea for this whole thing in a minute.

Next was the rear deck and the back of the tank:

http://i.imgur.com/laNYTZu.jpg

The detail is pitiful, especially considering what you have to pay for one of these things and I've never like that huge, gaudy, Mechanicus shrine on the back of it. I'm well versed in the 40k fluff and know what zealots the AdMech and their followers are, but I think it's ugly and extraneous. I was wanting to remake the back plate entirely, but if my other idea works out, I won't have to bother with all of the exhaust pipes and such. Why?

Some months back I watched a tank restoration show where the sole surviving German Elefant tank was restored. I'd seen pictures and models of it for years, but something really clicked in the back of my mind while watching the show. Here's how it looks after the restoration:

http://i.imgur.com/uTYbYQ7.jpg

I couldn't find a shot of the engine deck on the real thing, so here's a pic of a 1/35 scale model of one:

http://i.imgur.com/RA6j5Qf.jpg

I think the Shadowsword might look cool with the superstructure pushed to the back of the chassis and the engine moved forward, plus it would also allow for a longer barrel, which would be awesome.

To try it out, here's a quick and dirty chop job I did on some artwork in Photoshop:

http://i.imgur.com/fddhZty.jpg

And who would make such a strange variant of the Shadowsword? I'm thinking these guys.

http://i.imgur.com/jmwsgXM.jpg

Thanks for looking,

-BCK

[Gorthag]

I feel like I'm getting to watch a mad scientist at work... I love your redesign with inspiration from the Elefant!

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I'm afflicted with an illness for converting stuff, but I've never been called a mad scientist before. I like it! Looking at this monstrous thing sitting on top of my computer tower, I think I am going to take the plunge and go for the Elefant idea. If it doesn't work out for some reason, I was going to make the rear engine deck lower anyhow.