Seeking tank kits for lootin'.

[Evil Eye]

Tanks are cool, and 40K is full of 'em. However, one can never have too many tanks, and my desire for tracked goodness outstrips GW's ability to produce them.

 

A long-standing tradition among 40K fans (especially during the good ol' days when GW was a lot more open to non-GW parts/kits being used with their games, but still observed outside of GW stores by the more frugal/creative player) has been to use models of "real" tanks as bases for conversions. I'm hankering to make some tanks for my Chaos lads and a possible Ork mini-project I'm considering (as if I'm not already swamped with projects...) but I'm torn on what kits would make for good bases.

 

Specifically, I have a few guidelines for what I want to buy.

1: Must not be too expensive (not being a cheapskate but I don't want to be spending £60 on such a "donor kit")

2: Must not be too good (it seems rather sacrilegious to take a really good, detailed, accurate tank kit just to cover it in 40K bits, whilst an inaccurate, underdetailed or otherwise "undesirable" kit would be perfect for such endeavours, as for "serious" purposes it would be pretty pointless)

3: Must not be too rare (see above)

As a TLDR to that, basically I'm looking for slightly crap kits that scale modellers aren't going to want due to fundamental flaws, rather than ruining a super-nice kit that could have been built "properly". An old Heller Somua would be perfect for such a task as most modellers aren't going to miss it, whilst doing the same thing to a Rye Field Model Tiger would be a total waste! Obviously I don't want "Early 60s Airfix" quality to the point where actually getting the kit to go together at all is a herculean effort, but you get the idea.

 

In terms of "subjects" I'm mostly after things made pre-1945, as 40K tanks tend to lean towards the interwar/early war look, however some of the weirder looking Cold War vehicles would be good too (the Rhino is heavily based on the M113 APC after all!).

 

In short: What are some slightly crap/old/cheap tank kits I can make into 40K kitbashes without feeling guilty?

[Firedrake Cordova]

I think probably the best option is to head on to your favourite discount historical model supplier, and just have a look at what's available in ~1/35 scale? (e.g. Wonderland Models)

 

From what I remember, some of the cheaper (c.£15) Tamiya kits are mid-1990's moulds, so they might fulfil your criteria? I seem to remember hearing that Italeri kits were towards the "eh" end of quality and fairly cheap, although I could be talking nonsense on that one.

 

Dunno if that's any help or not 

[Evil Eye]

No, that's absolutely helpful. Years ago I bought a £9.99 Tamiya Panzer II that turned out to be a mold from 1971(!) and it fit exactly the bill, so you're definitely onto something!

[Cleon]

You could do a lot worse than look at Warlord games Bolt Action range. They've been releasing plastics over the last few years that are fairly robust for wargaming, but nothing special. It's just over £20 for a Panzer 4, 38t etc, £24 for something more KV-1, IS-2, Char B, Panther, Churchill scale. I think there is a Tiger and Tiger 2 as well, but can't see them right now.

[Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla]

Aside from older Tamiya, I would also suggest anything Italeri or Zvezda (in my country they usually sell between 20-30 EUR).

 

I don't know what look are you going for, but if you are ready to grit your teeth  and spend ca 50EUR ((yes, I know it breaks one of your conditions)), one of the German what-if vehicles (E-series) or ARL44  from AmusingHobby could make a nice basis for conversion.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla

[Slave to Darkness]

I picked up an EMHAR MkIV Tadpole for £20 and the MkV Hermaphrodite for £25 (1:35) for Malcador proxies. The rest of the kits I have seen from them have been reasonably priced as well.

 

Good luck on your quest for metal fighting behemoths. 

[Evil Eye]

Just now, Slave to Darkness said:

I picked up an EMHAR MkIV Tadpole for £20 and the MkV Hermaphrodite for £25 (1:35) for Malcador proxies. The rest of the kits I have seen from them have been reasonably priced as well.

 

Good luck on your quest for metal fighting behemoths. 

I have seen EMHAR do quite a few affordably priced kits, notably the Whippet. Might very well snag some!

[Slave to Darkness]

5 minutes ago, Evil Eye said:

I have seen EMHAR do quite a few affordably priced kits, notably the Whippet. Might very well snag some!

Oh its totally worth it, the kits are not super detailed or complicated so if you make a whoopsie your not gonna hate yourself afterwards. Instructions are not the clearest in places (looks like black and white hand drawn images) but if you pay attention and not watch a Russian film with subtitles at the same time like I did you will be fine. 

 

If you do grab a Whippet please show a scale picture next to a Guardsman or something similar, been thinking about those myself for my Crumpiteers.

[GreenScorpion]

As already mentioned Italeri might be a good option for relatively affordable models to be converted.

The kits have lots of detail but most of the details are from parts you need to glue and not directly the chassis of the vehicle, so they should serve rather well as the base for conversions.

Some of the Warlord Games vehicles are actually produced by Italeri, so they should be relatively easy to find, the only issue with the vehicles for Bolt Action is that they might be a bit small since they are in 1/56 scale.

 

For anything around the size of a leman russ tank, meng's world war toons tanks are also a good option, since they are sturdy and you can easily convert them to be a wargaming miniature. The proportions of the toons tanks are closer to the exaggeration of 40k so it should be a good starting point.

[Evil Eye]

I actually bought a WWT Somua for splicing with a Chimera and was thoroughly impressed. Will definitely buy more!

[Slave to Darkness]

Well you have had a day to go to the local tank shop and buy stuff... C'mon show us tanks dammit!!!!! 

 

So whats at the top of your list of potential death machines for chopping up?

[Evil Eye]

3 hours ago, Slave to Darkness said:

Well you have had a day to go to the local tank shop and buy stuff... C'mon show us tanks dammit!!!!! 

 

So whats at the top of your list of potential death machines for chopping up?

In the immortal words of Hail, Caesar!: "Haw. Would that it were so simple!", money's a bit tight right now. But give me time and I'm sure I'll have flooded my backlog with plastic armoured goodness!

 

In answer to your questions:

>Emhar Whippet is definitely on the list, it's a rather nice looking tank and could work for Imperial or Ork purposes with sufficient replacement parts/conversion. IIRC it's actually reasonably small by WW1 standards, so in 1:35 it shouldn't be too big?

>Dragon IIRC makes a Karl Morser of dubious quality/detail/accuracy, which is great because the Karl Morser is awesome and having a guilt-free one I can chop up is even more awesome. Could maybe even use the chassis for a super-heavy of some form and mount the gun separately as a static artillery emplacement?

>Tamiya's Churchill is from the 70s, and if their Panzer II is anything to go by should be ideal for making something nice from.

>In terms of more general vehicles without specific kits in mind, French tanks in general are favourites of mine, and the Char B1 Bis is already a 40K vehicle and with some sponsons, weapon swaps, iconography and general changes would be an excellent Malcador or Rogal Dorn proxy. The A7V (AKA the Kraut Death Brick) is very cool but as far as I know the only kits for it are quite high-end. The Matilda (the second version, not the utterly rubbish Mk. 1 that failed miserably at Dunkirk) would be a very good base for an Imperial vehicle. The Panzer 35t seems like an interesting choice with its leafspring roadwheels and riveted body. The Stuart light tank seems like a great basis for sumfink orky, and light tanks and tankettes are things I'm always interested in. As an example of a Cold War subject I can see being fun, the M50 Ontos is essentially an ork vehicle anyway!

[Slave to Darkness]

I know what you mean about cash being tight, Im debating selling pictures of hairy hobbit feetsies Im that broke. 

 

Tbh my knowledge of French tanks is slim, but I have something in the pipeline with my excess WGA WW1 French so Im gonna need some tanks for them and your right, the Char B1 is a beaut, Im glad you mentioned that one. 

 

Have you thought about the Bren carrier? I got one for my Krieg to use as a Centaur but that would make a cute little Ork vehicle with a bit of work. If you ever do anything with a Sherman, I have the perfect crewmembers to use. 

 

It may be worth looking in charity shops, I used to work in one and they always got half built kits donated, often incomplete, and they went straight into the bin because they were unsellable. I ended up getting tons of stuff for a few quid so it may be worth having a word with staff about it if you have anything like that near where you live.

 

Also worth checking ebay, I have found a few kits there way cheaper than actual online suppliers. 

 

Any idea what scale King Tiger would be needed for the turret to look right on a Baneblade? 

[Evil Eye]

The Bren carrier is definitely on the list, I love that little thing like you wouldn't believe.  Thanks for the advice re: charity shops, there's loads of them in my town so I will check!

 

As for the King Tiger, it's a big lad so a 1:35 scale kit should suffice.

[Guest]

@Evil EyeDo you have access to 3d Printing?

[Evil Eye]

2 hours ago, Brother Captain Arkley said:

@Evil EyeDo you have access to 3d Printing?

I do indeed, though my printer (Mars 3 Pro) is a bit small for vehicles. It can do them but in several print-lots. That said I am keen to try doing some; I'm designing a totally-not-RT Rhino as we speak and there's a guy on MMF who does some very cool tanks for free (albeit unsupported).

[Guest]

Tanktastic

Tanks for the memories.

Tankisaurus

Tank You

Tanks for nothing

 

These might help @Evil Eye