Somehow I completely forgot about the blog system here. For three years. Clearly I am a very clever boy.

Anyway, a LONG while ago I started work on trying to make a 3D printable Rhino based on the Mk. 1. However, this ground to a halt as A: I realized there are quite a few Mk. 1 Rhino STLs, both more detailed renditions and faithful reproductions of the original kit (including one that is so accurate it can be used as a source of spare parts for actual Mk. 1 plastic kits!), B: it wasn't quite going the way I wanted it to and I'd need to redo the entire model from scratch to get it looking better, and C: I got distracted by other, shinier projects because ADHD.

However, my lovely wife recently got me a second-hand Surface Studio 2 laptop (I don't deserve her) and to my delight it's powerful enough to run Blender without breaking a sweat, and combined with the touchscreen and the stylus I bought for it, I can now do 3D stuff even when I can't use my desktop, which is awesome! As such I've been putting it through its paces and decided to restart the Rhino project, albeit with a slightly different end goal.

The design is very much an alternative/legally distinct (but hopefully still on-brand for 40K) Rhino rather than an up-detailed clone of official designs; plenty of modellers have done a far better job of that than I ever could! Not only will this put me under less pressure to get it "right" but also provide me the chance to put my own spin on the ol' shoebox. Plus it can be justified as a rare pattern from an obscure forge world.

I'm still doing the basic shaping at the moment, but there's two main features I've been building it around. The first is the top hatch, which will be circular, as the mount for the hatch will double as the turret ring for the Predator version of the model (and also a circular turret hatch seems cool). The second is that it will have a ridiculous degree of attention to detail; not only a full (optional) interior for each variant, but I've also gone to the lengths of giving it fully detailed running gear, complete with torsion bar suspension and room for it to traverse (even if the actual model's suspension will be fixed) and will also be adding transmission and assuming all goes well detailed engines behind optional access panels. Of course chances are none of this detail will ever be visible when the model is complete, but hey!

Anyway, pics!

The tracks wrap around the entire hull sides, and there will be optional track guards for a more traditional look.

Assuming I did the measurements right it SHOULD be compatible with Deimos Predator turrets. I don't actually have a Deimos Predator though, so...

And the suspension and running gear! I still need to model the drive sprocket and return rollers (and the transmission, drive motors and foursome of engines) and do some slight tidying up, but I'm quite happy with this so far. I might move the idler to the rear of the tank though, as the Imperial Armour cross-section of the Rhino has the drive wheel at the front and putting the motor/transmission at the back would throw off the shape of the thing IMO.

Still a hell of a lot of work to do, but I'm honestly very happy with how it's coming together.