The Neurode Crusade

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Looks promising.

[Brother Christopher]

This time I added a thing to my Land Raider. Here it is:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050765_zpsttf8njxh.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050770_zpscujeo0it.jpg

 

In case you don't know what it is -- and I can't blame you -- it's a hovering loudspeaker-shrine of sorts. Just to make sure the brethren and enemies hear the chaplain's zealous litanies during the battle, amongst the roar of engines and guns.

 

I gotta say I'm not so happy with the result, but considering the time I put into this, it stays as it is (apart from some post-processing: gap-filling and flames on top of the rods candles). So, what do you think? Does it pass remotely as a 40K speaker?

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Looks convincing. You may need to literally LEASH the servo-skull to the Land Raider or the Chaplains arm, though- I doubt he'll let "The servo-skill's repulsors cannot keep up!" stand as an excuse to slow down, not when the enemy is in sight.

[Eberious]

I would certainly know what it was by looking at it, a good job has been done.

 

But, If you are not 100% happy with it, do you have any of the following bits. As you appear to using press molding (might be wrong) and could steal copies of the vented parts of these COD parts to make it appear a bit more grand. Topped off with a few skulls, servo skull, BT bling and the candles. The sections on the right part of this frame contain good bits for just the thing. 

 

http://www.spacemarines.co.uk/Product%20Reviews/WH40K/citiesOfDeath/IMG_1696.JPG

Edited February 1, 2017 by Eberious

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I have the two central walls/panels at the top of the sprue and I tried to copy some of the elements, with mixed results.

 

I'm also leaving these two pictures of some more (pointless) detail, this time a Maltese cross with a banner.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050772_zpsesahgjvj.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050774_zps8sushw3j.jpg

 

I'm not a fan of the DA 'angel wings' left from the robed monk on top of the banner, but I guess they can pass for 'regular' imperial wings. I'm also wondering what to with the banner. I will either file off the entire DA image, or try to remove/obscure the guy with something more appropriate, while leaving the blasted rock at the background. Still, while 3D ornaments are always cool, I suppose I'll just go with a flat surface for some free-hand attempt later on.

[Brother Christopher]

The top part is basically done (as always, there's still some GS postprocessing, but I'm saving it for later):

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050785_zps7rlf2ecr.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/939a7c8d-87a2-438f-9170-4658f30e1612_zpssujmx4bb.jpg

 

What do you think?

[Eberious]

Lots of fiddly bits. You've made them fit really well, good job. How did you get on with the speaker?

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the reply! As for the speaker, I've left it as posted in the post #605. The only reason it's missing from the last update is that I'm leaning towards repositioning it to the track section, to leave some more space in the (quite detail-heavy) main hull.

[Brother Christopher]

Yet another update on the plasticard Land Raider project.

 

With the top done, I'm moving forward. Literally. Now it's time to do something with the front of the tank. I've managed to make significant strides in the last couple of days.

 

After some problems with fitting the retracted bit, the driver's vision port is done. I also prepared the slot for the heavy bolters.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050802_zpsertmxerc.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050800_zpso4tfgsiz.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050810_zpssqyga0ec.jpg

 

The rest of my efforts were focused on the front ramp section. There's a bit of fiddly detail here and there, like the armoured hinges of the top part of the ramp, the interior of the bottom part of the ramp,  additional side armour or the little optics-thingy.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050805_zpsf8maruri.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050804_zpsovf36o29.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050815_zpsejwrvrcq.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050818_zpsw60nto8i.jpg

 

The ramp pens and closes and is hinged on small magnets. I am quite pleased with the results and happy to report that the open/close mechanism works.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050812_zpspot7drhz.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050811_zpsofcnivif.jpg

 

Overall, I had some trouble with making all these things work. Things got a bit more hard, as I decided to go for an interior of some sort. I didn't want to waste time on building the entire interior, hence there's only the front section sealed off from the (non-existent) rest by a door. The thing with interiors is that they are often underappreciated and scratch building an interior seems like an extremely unrewarding thing to do. So, I must admit, I took a shortcut. This shortcut is maybe even more visible in the rather poor and uninspiring details:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050803_zps1c4iirip.jpg

 

I'm still thinking whether to add the OOP metal marine in there. He just about fits in the nose section and I figured that he'd standing there, right before disembarkation would be a nice addition. And on top of that, I'm struggling to find a place for him in my army and have long ago decided to use him as a piece of decoration. The side and rear walls of the interior are still remain detachable panels for ease of painting.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good progress thus far. May I ask why there are screens on the front door-turned-ramp?

[Brother Christopher]

These aren't supposed to be screens (or an oven door, for that matter). My intention was to recreate the grated bit, just to add some extra 'texture' to the whole thing.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Ah. I wonder what they were for on the original Land Raider? A non-slip surface (what came first to my mind) would be sheets fitted atop the ramp, not be recessed like that.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Grating like that is usually for debris to fall through. Maybe the top hatch has a pressure washer built in to hose off the filth of traitors, witches, and xenos before they get back on? :D

 

More likley gw has no idea what an armored transport looks like and detailed the hatch based off a transport trailer though ;)

[Brother Christopher]

Truth be told, I haven't given it much thought. I just wanted to add additional texture/detail. The floor of the nose section is a flat, smooth, dull surface because I didn't feel like putting more effort into it, so I just copied the thing from GW's tank. Now I feel a bit silly. Still, I'll argue that this looks better than a flat surface (despite that it also still brings to my mind an Ikea oven).

 

The thing that I've given though, however, is the elevated bits/thresholds just before the ramp found in GW's Land Raiders. If I recall correctly, it seems to be the height of a Space Marine's foot, so I imagine disembarking may be tricky.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Yours looks good, I wouldn't change it. You're right it needs some details.

 

http://data.primeportal.net/m2_iraq/P4114672.jpg

 

For reference an actual APC hatch.

[Brother Christopher]

Cheers! I actually entertained an idea inspired by what you said, that is to put a little shower on the top ramp for the Templars to rinse the filth of xenos in some kind of blessed/holy water. And... well, it might find it's place in the final version. After all, one cannot take 40K too seriously.

 

And thanks for both the kind words and the link to an actual military vehicle: I might consult some pics when in doubt in the future. Interestingly enough, I see a certain development in my attitudes to scratch building. Initially, I were quite mad with recreating GW's original models. But for some time now, I kind of find the idea of altering their designs more and more interesting. Still, except from two instances (when I looked up actual smoke launchers and tracks of tanks), I never thought about using real-life references for inspiration. That's a shame, as most of my plasticard projects are rather advanced (like the Neurode Land Raider and Stormraven) or so unearthly (*cough* Caestus *cough*) that I won't have that many chances of thinking out of the (Warhammer) box.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

My idea was to cut one "pistol port" (fire points for pistols ONLY) into each side door of a Land Raider and Rhino/Razorback, and two pistol ports into each rear ramp of a Rhino/Razorback. An "electrostatics field emitter" keeps air inside the vehicle from mixing with air outside it (or lack thereof, in the case of planetoids without atmospheres), making pistol ports practical for Space Marine vehicles. I think pistol ports may structurally weaken a Land Raider's front ramp (Codices regularly describe the tank as a "battering ram"), but if you disagree, feel free to add such a detail- AndrewChristlieb's posted image of an M2 Bradley's rear ramp shows two circular firing ports.

[Brother Christopher]

It is a shame that Land Raiders do not have firing ports. But, as a Templar, I think firing ports won't help that much when you want to hit an enemy with a sword, so regrets are minimal. And, as I remarked previously, I really enjoyed reading through your 'house rules'. Very imaginative and well-written stuff!

 

I discovered today that actually, and regrettably, I do not have a spare set of Heavy Bolters. So, instead of wasting money and waiting Omnissiah knows how much time for shipment of replacement parts, I decided to go full-berserk and build a pair.

 

So, today I started with this (using a spare set of Storm Talon Heavy Bolters):

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050821_zpsva4cglu3.jpg

 

and after an hour of surprisingly relaxing work ended up with this:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050826_zps7ueg9x9n.jpg

 

What you can see in the picture above isn't the finished thing. I'll probably go with bare weapons, without any armour/housing, and with a set of optical targeting equipment mounted on top.

 

I imagine that this week I won't have too much time for my plastic tank, so probably there won't be too much, or any, progress.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Those came out really well! The small details you're pulling off are very impressive. No way i'd have the patience for those fiddley bits.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I'm impressed how hard working you are at assembling and detailing this vehicle. Many others- including real-world auto workers, if American car companies' loss of market share is any indication- should learn from your example.

[Brother Christopher]

The front ramp is finished, so is the majority of the nose section:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050850_zpsayafmu0l.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050852_zpslnkbx44c.jpg

 

And here's how the entire thing looks like:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050853_zpscwtguixp.jpg

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job so far.

[Brother Christopher]

It has been a while since the last update. The so-called "real life matters" were of utmost urgency. I moved flats, again, third time in 1.5 years' time; hoverer, this time for good, as I managed to buy a flat of my own.
 
With most of the stuffs arranged and managed, I decided to give 40K a try in my new surroundings. The beginnings were unfortunately not that great. It seems that the break plus the proper manual labour (finishing the flat, assembling furniture, not plastic tanks, etc.) had their toll on my skills and precision. It's taken me two days to get roughly back on track and these two days caused much frustration, as I ruined some parts and needed -- what appeared -- four time more time to finish what I wanted or needed. This was especially infuriating with the additional 'frame' of armour surrounding the hull-mounted heavy bolters and the rather unfortunate episode with the exhaust pipes: I wasted half a day's work by scrapping what I did.
 
I do not have any tubes with the right diameter for the exhausts, so I thought I could utilise some old ballpoint pens. You'd be surprised how tough the plastic they're made of is!! I had to saw the tube and it took way more time than I thought it would (any attempts at cutting the tubes with a knife ended in injuries or cracked plastic). After some cutting and filing, I finally managed to get the bits to roughly the right size, but quickly ruined the pieces by not drilling the holes in the right places.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050909_zpsdloxftl6.jpg

 

With this failure, I figured that the quickest way of making the exhaust would be... green stuff. And I have to say that this didn't end well. For some time I've been curious whether I'd be able to reproduce large 3D pieces using press-moulding. And the answer is now clear: I can't. The result of my endeavours is wasted 'stale' green stuff and time. The only upsides are that I've made sure that press-moulding has its limits and I might have some acceptable bits useful for a base of a dreadnought or something else.

With all that said, it's now time to share some proper progress. And it seems that I finished the front heavy bolters of the mighty Land Raider and most of the front in general:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050868_zpstc63i9h1.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050867_zpszspgn8ys.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050870_zpslrbbsu0a.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050871_zpsrno4nbsp.jpg

 

Below is a photo of how I wanted to position the bolters. This isn't particularly well visible, but the guns (magnetised and thus able to pivot) were simply placed in the recess. But that didn't feel right, as there was a large, asymmetrical gap through which too much of the lacklustre interior was visible.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050872_zpsfxmnyqkm.jpg

 

I adjusted the housing for the gun by adding a plasticard frame with truncated, instead of perpendicular, corners (as always, there is a mess and there are gaps, but they will be handled afterwards). I also added some kind of aiming device/scope/camera thingy as an auxiliary targeting system (the primary lens being safely mounted between the heavy bolters).

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050889_zpsbgihtj4g.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050888_zpscnlu7b4d.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Land%20Raiders/P1050891_zpsjaaq704k.jpg

 

What do you thing?

[Ciler]

I like it.

 

On a side note I find it hilarious that you seem to share with me (and presumably a number of other people here) that particular quirk that involves sculpting/painting a detail that will effectively be invisible or at best barely noticeable once the model is completed (the cross and skull at the back of the heavy bolter).

[Brother Christopher]

You're right. That's rather funny and even kind of sad, when you think about it ;) But I greatly appreciate the chance of showing what I'm doing to others, so once again: many thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. And with this particular detail, I have an excuse: it was significantly more visible without the stuff I added later on. But I figured it stays.