[WIP] Sons of Horus, 65th Company

[Pearson73]

Digging the Voidclade, the crawler-tanks and rational behind them are nice. The grey scheme makes them look so functional too, very fitting for the garrison and ship borne mortal troopers.

[lansalt]

Great conversions!

But *akstually* Predators aren't meant to be "MBT" in the modern sense, just IFV like the real world Bradley or BMP.

Interestingly,  back in the day GW released Predators with a rear engine setup for Epic (lots of interesting vehicle variants and details in those small minis):

https://imgur.com/sMpTDKc

 

https://imgur.com/sMpTDKc

[Hungry Nostraman Lizard]

Great conversions!

 

But *akstually* Predators aren't meant to be "MBT" in the modern sense, just IFV like the real world Bradley or BMP.

 

 

 

Really... interesting. So what would you say an MBT equivalent is...?

[lansalt]

Really... interesting. So what would you say an MBT equivalent is...?

A Leman Russ. A vehicle made from the start as a tank with a big bore multipurpose cannon. Predators are Rhino transports upgunned with an autocannon against infantry and soft-skinned vehicles.

 

Of course, this is just trying to apply M2 concepts like "MBT" or "IFV" to M30 and a PA infantry focused force like space marines, where a Land Raider is an "Assault Tank".

 

(Sorry for the pedantry...)

[Gederas]

Really... interesting. So what would you say an MBT equivalent is...?

A Leman Russ. A vehicle made from the start as a tank with a big bore multipurpose cannon. Predators are Rhino transports upgunned with an autocannon against infantry and soft-skinned vehicles.

 

Of course, this is just trying to apply M2 concepts like "MBT" or "IFV" to M30 and a PA infantry focused force like space marines, where a Land Raider is an "Assault Tank".

 

(Sorry for the pedantry...)

The Leman Russ? You mean the weaponized Tractor? :lol:

 

Seriously iirc, the fluff for it states the STC was a Tractor that was compatible with those weapons.

 

The actual dedicated MBT is the Sicaran.

[lansalt]

The Leman Russ? You mean the weaponized Tractor?

 

Seriously iirc, the fluff for it states the STC was a Tractor that was compatible with those weapons.

 

The actual dedicated MBT is the Sicaran.

IIRC, there is no source of this in official publications, is a myth perpetuated by 1d4chan.

 

Agreed on the Sicaran.

[Lucerne]

Any particular trick to their paint scheme or basing paintjob?

[Brother Pheidias]

Where do the Voidclade heads come from?

[Vykes]

Eyas mates, well, I'll see about getting a tiny little update in a bit.  One of the predators was a rescue and didn't have any gunshields, so I filed the rest away and now, well, they work a lot better and are more important to the whole aesthetic.  So I had to print them up... just letting the blasted things cure. Then I need to start planning out how exactly I want the bodies and equipment of my Scimitar command squad to look. 

 

Ah Brother Pheidias, those are the Anvil Industries 'Gothic Void' helmets.  Absolutely killer pack as far as I'm concerned *memo to self, buy more* with some of the 'armoured' limbs on 'em too.  

 

Y'know MegaVolt, that is a really good point.  I'm incline to think that the tri-las pattern likely is that, then probably recharging from a governored engine (like the Spartan) to keep performance more or less normalized.  If I remember right the Deimos was always the more advanced and 'tuned' kit, I could see it operating one or the other sets or having to sequence them out if they didn't have a cell to draw the power from like the Mars. 

 

Glad you're liking the Voidclade too, Pearson my dude.  It was the exact look I wanted to give: more the 'lowly mortals', not quite conscripts but true grunts of the Great Crusade. They've got a bit of the cloth and the banding to show their allegiance to the Warmaster, but their equipment is grungy, well worn, well used and functional kit that's only there to keep them alive as long as possible.

 

That is a wicked find Iansalt, I've never seen those epic tanks before (they had a lot of kit that had alternate looks, so that would be an awesome place to look).  Particularly like how they kept the typical Deimos rhino front end rather than the 'snout' too.  Ah Predator tanks.  I'm not sure I'd consider them an IFV (which is troop transport and then support) but somewhere between a cruiser/cavalry tank and an infantry support tank concept from WW1-Interwar period.  In essence, they always felt like a mechanized bunker to support other attacks rather than the breakthrough role of an MBT which were the Malcadore and... kinda oddly, the Raider (which, you're totally right, is an odd M2 concept as it's a functional IFV but also has the armour and armaments of a fully fledged battle tank).   In that sense, the predator is kind of a weird vehicle, relatively cheap and decently armed, mobile, but not the fastest, most stable, or best armoured.  Then, you have the Sicaran which is the bigger, faster, tougher, better tuned platform.  I'd agree with Gederas and you too, the Sicaran felt like it should be the marine 'MBT' if it could have been produced in quantity. 

 

Eyas Lucern, voidclade wise paint and basing scheme?  Oddly, the only difference in the entire basing scheme of the Voidclade troopers and the deck plating is a single paint that I layer over the heavy armor right near the end of the whole process (it's basically airbrushed layers of deep sea green, dark sea grey, sea grey, then I add a final quick spray of silver grey which is more an eggshell colour, and then wash with black and a touch of brown, sponge with some umber oil, and then paint up the stripes and do it again on some surfaces that need more grunge.  

 

I can see about doing a full little write up and tutorial next time I snag some troopers... (which means figuring out where I want to take this group).  

Edited September 18, 2020 by Vykes

[Vykes]

Well, minor little update on the Predator squadron, I got the sponsons at least done up and magnetized. Just waiting for some rendering and then brainstorming on how to make sure the shurtzen stays on (I mean, beyond the magnet attachment point. Mulling over some minor brackets along the top or bottom... now I gotta go check historical photos for how that worked.)

Edited September 18, 2020 by Vykes

[Stix]

beautifull! They look much better with stacks at the back. To be honest, I was also thinking abot that move some time ago although with sloppy version of putting just regular predator stacks :D

Have you seen turrets made by Models ans Minis? I think you may like them ;)

[Vykes]

Gonna be honest, I'd use the normal rhino stacks too but I had to disguise the door and didn't know how to do that . Maaaaaan Stix, those turrets look crazy cool. Even got the rivets lining up so I can give it a stripe down the middle without a hassle. Yep, they're definitely gonna be on the 'to get' list, especially since the ablative skirting is gonna be pretty similar.

They don't look too bad but they're a surprising amount of material. I had the mounting point set for a 10X1mm magnet like the ones on the sponsons but I'm wondering if that might not be strong enough. Could have to switch to the bigg'ns which I wanna say are like 8X4mm and pretty strong.

[Marshal Vespasian]

Its Schürzen. 1 Schürze, multiple Schürzen, female ;)

Its what you wear for cooking

 

 

There is also some cool alternate pred sculpts knocking about that borrow heavily from the sabre chassis. I might have to get me two of those turrets for my next squad. They look great.

[Chaeron]

A wonderful ‘talon’ of Predators - love the banner too, just another little detail that works so well.

[Vykes]

If I put the size to about 50% and add some bigger... bolts, am I allowed to call them Schürzenchen .  Should be wearing it when you're working with the stupid resin vats too, safety first eh?  Aye, I actually nicked the other files that are floating around just so if I wanted to remix some stuff then I'd have a nice basis for it.  gotta build up a 3D library, eh?  And yeah those turrets are sweet.  I may give making them a try just to get a little better in the modeling department and toy with how boolean modifiers can change stuff in Blender. 

 

And ya better be showing us them new tanks when ya get em done, Marshal Vespasian my dude!  

 

Eh, thanks Chaeron!  I'll admit I love me some ragged banners.  What better way to do up command vehicles than stuff like that? I'll admit I keep thinking about attaching more communication stuff, but now I gotta start making some vehicle pennants for lead/command Rhinos, and maybe for the jetbike command squad which I'm otherwise out of ideas on.  (Flag at 300+ km/h is... interesting.) 

[Marshal Vespasian]

Sure you can call em schürzchen.

 

If/when I get the prints of those pred I'll show them for sure. I need to dk a second mars pattern as well. The aim would be to have three pairs of two each so I can run pairs of them as troops choices for armoured breakthrough.

 

Since I kind of dislike how my pictures come out finished models tend to accumulate tho...

 

I am impressed what you do with 3d sculpting man. The future truly is now.

Edited September 21, 2020 by Marshal Vespasian

[Vykes]

-laughs- sounds good Marshal m'dude, sounds good. Honestly I think I'm probably gonna end up with 3 pairs of 3 predators but keep the 2 'troop choices' for the armoured breakthroughs as cheap and relatively unadorned as possible. Then have a bunch of options for the 'sponson' preds, including adding some different turrets.

Really rough and simple WIP, adding some some ablative armour as that sort of 'in between' of the Deimos and Mars pattern. Roughly based off Kontakt armour... now I've gotta decide if I want to keep the large panels or fit in the same stuff as is on the sh Edited September 22, 2020 by Vykes

[Marshal Vespasian]

Man that looks great my man! Like seriously. Are you self tought on the 3d sculpting?

Maybe I'll go up to three time three as well. Might wanna play 5k as well. Gonna keep them cheap too.

Since I magnetize them completely that would put me up to 6 usable rhino chassis which wouldnt be too bad of a thing (the three printed ones would just be autocannons plus heavy bolters)

[Pearson73]

That turret design looks great, nice mixing of the silhouettes between the familiar patterns, whilst also throwing in some realism.

[Vykes]

Ah it ain't anything, Marshal Vespasian.  I'm just lucky it's some simple geometric shapes and toying with program functions rather than having to do a full 3D sculpt like a face or some such.  I'm just an extremely amateur tinkerer who started a few weeks ago and is better at patching problems than making stuff (still learning the functions of these programs, it's not my beloved photoshop, and even in that I can 'fix' more than actually do, y'know, art). 

 

Three times three seems like one of those ideal numbers to me mostly because it gives a little room for modifying some chassis (both sponson weapons and main turret weapons to make the one-offs like Executioners and Infernus).  3 in squadrons also gives that potential for having Squadron command tanks which are always a lovely excuse to do up something fun!  while still being able to break them into elements of 2 if need be.  Frankly, I definitely get ya, and with Armoured breakthrough getting Fast vehicles I can see the sponsons being useful.  I'm honestly thinking of doing the same thing with preds as I am my Sicarans: no sponsons, but taking a pintle mount with something fun like a combi-grenade launcher so I can magnetize the weapons.  Might have to sink in a 2mm magnet point next to the cupola from now on.  

 

Eh, thanks Pearson!  We'll see if it all meshes out hopefully later today along with the Executioner plasma cannon I mixed up.  I was hoping the turret would would be at that nice halfway mark between the Mars and the Deimos, and I figured that if the Deimos already looks like a T-55, lets go further down that line of design (though I'm tempted to see about doing what Stix showed up there with the more 'flush' look to the lower turret, closer to some of the T-80's armor packages rather than the 'wedge' that the T-64/T-72's usually get shown with when upgraded.  Just, the existing one looks more like the Mars/Leopard 2-ish silhouette in that regard).

[Vykes]

Weeeeelp, got a bit of WIP for the armour set that I printed up, it's still fully curing and only made a proviso autocannon and such but it's at least a decent enough proof of concept. Bleh, normally I'd wait till it's cured then paint it up in a rush over the next couple hours but some 'life' stuff is getting in the way and I'll likely be a bit busy in the next little while. Is all fine, just figured I might as well put something up.

So, Kontakt armoured Deimos predator.

[Stix]

I absolutelly love this turret! Amazing job!  You  need (or rather we need you to have) shapeways shop or something!

[Pearson73]

That turret looks just as good in reality as it did in the design. Not a fan of the protective skirts/side armour, but that's personal taste.

[Vykes]

-laughs- all good Stix. All good. Not sure I'd ever be okay with making money off something like that buuuuuuut I might make up something like a Cults 3D or Thingiverse page so people can freely download the models, then go get 'em printed by something like Shapeways at cost (especially as they usually have seller's discounts, etc). Might look at that as it'll act as a repository for me, too.

Man, the new turrets are almost a curse: I'm very much thinking about replacing all of my blasted turrets with them now and more going forward. More over, after looking at the whole collection of predators over the years, only the current Deimos has its turret situated so far back from the centre. Now I'm kinda tempted to see about redoing the top and bringing it at least as far forward as the Mars predator or the old metal Destructor.

Eh glad to hear it Pearson my dude. Honestly the armour is there more to save me from having to spend exorbitant amounts on las cannon sponsons when I don't wanna sink the points into them, or having some ugly sponson mounts just sticking out the side The next batch of preds are gonna be smooth sided cavalry tanks that live for the autocannon (and potentially the pintle mount). Still undecided if I'm gonna be adding stowage to them, or see about making some more plating to kinda alter their profile a touch.

Meanwhile, the 'heavies' with the armour sch Edited September 27, 2020 by Vykes

[Pearson73]

I think stowage will be a good addition, adds a bit of visual interest and variation, as well as realism. Plasma turret looks good, but I think the gun is a trifle overlong .