WBRBloom's Genestealer Cult crawler

[WBRBloom]

Hello brothers! As promised, I broke off the 'finished GSC' thread, to start a new one, since I believe this one HAS to have its own dedicated space.

 

About a year (and some change) ago, my wife bought me a Creality Ender3V3KE 3d printer. That is an FDM printer (for those not familiar with 3d printers, it is a filament printer or Fused Deposition Modelling printer).

 

I've printed a few bits and bobs here and there (nothing illegal, mind you, mostly originally created stuff) such as sci-fi consoles, or industrial floors, etc. Granted, some where heavily inspired (emphasis on 'heavily') by games such as Necromunda or Kill Team, but that's about that.

Fast forward a few months, and I've started printing bigger stuff, which I won't get into details here. After finishing my CSM army, and being content that I won't be doing much with it, I decided to start on my GSC army project.

 

I always liked the underdog feeling that the GSC had: everyday men and women of industrialised planets and forge worlds, assimilated by vanguard forces and rise up to the oppressive Imperium, which will lead to their ultimate demise. Their weapons of destruction are the chains that held them down: survey vehicles, rockgrinding trucks, heavy mining equipment. Their clothes and gear worn from everyday use in the mines and incinerators. Even one of their fortifications is a tectonic fragdrill, used in creating localised earthquakes to bring down their enemies. That, along with a memory of what was called 'Mobile Base Crawler', an Enclave engine from Fallout 3, gave birth to the GSC Crawler Volcanic Drill.

 

In my mind's eye, this thing was basically a mobile laser drill that got repurposed to serve the nefarious ways of the Four Armer Emperor. This slow moving behemoth moves around in four individual tracks, using technology provided by the Omnissiah to excavate planets and bring to the surface precious minerals. Some alterations from the cult were made: salvaged twin heavy bolters, heavy mining laser emplacements and the laser drill itself, repositioned to bring its fury forwards, instead of downwards. In game terms, this would 'count as' a Shadowsword tank.

 

The whole platform would be a sprawling conglomeration of equipment, power generators and hybrids, both neophytes and aberrants, since the place needs a lot of hands (pun intended) to function. It is still a heavy work in progress, as a lot things still need to be fleshed and filled out: positions of the superstructure/driver's compartment, generators, power cells, weapons... I am still dry-fitting the majority of the stuff, and printing greebles to fill in empty spaces (I am sure I'm going to be left with a ton of extra stuff) and see what it sticks.

 

In any case, here are some pictures. I'll try and upload them in chronological order but since it takes some time to print new stuff, it might become a slow process until this things gets painted. I hope you'll enjoy it.

 

The first four pictures are the crawler itself. This is four 'simple tanks', with their tracks glued upside down (it seemed more fitting than to glue them the actual way, since this is an industrial vehicle, not an assault battle tank), and the actual platform, which are four flood tiles inspired from Necromunda (I speculate, not 100% sure).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 22 by WBRBloom

[WBRBloom]

The next set, is the beginning of the superstructure/driver's compartment. Initially I thought of making this a power generator/pit for the weapon, but felt too crumped for something like that. Along are some of the greebles I've been using, the main body of the weapon, its barrel and how I first imagined it would go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 22 by WBRBloom

[WBRBloom]

As this thread would become too pic heavy, too fast, I'll just finish up with the latest progress, which is the state of the vehicle presently. I have added some miniatures to see the scale of the whole model, and if I should make any adjustments. Some alternative setups have been tried (off-centre weapon for example), but now I'm almost 100% certain that central should be the way to go. My arm and the weapon are for scale. Some more greebles. The driver's cabin (which is halfway complete at this moment).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 22 by WBRBloom

[Firedrake Cordova]

I dunno, I think the gun could be bigger   (I think that was my inner Ork talking).

 

It's going to be an impressive beastie, isn't it? What's it going to count as?

 

If you're worried about being pic-heavy, have you considered image galleries or blog posts, and linking to them? (with a single image in-line in your posts, perhaps?)

[W.A.Rorie]

Impressive

[WBRBloom]

1 hour ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

I dunno, I think the gun could be bigger   (I think that was my inner Ork talking).

 

It's going to be an impressive beastie, isn't it? What's it going to count as?

 

If you're worried about being pic-heavy, have you considered image galleries or blog posts, and linking to them? (with a single image in-line in your posts, perhaps?)

 

 

I was planning on fielding it as a Shadowsword (opponent permitting, of course). Just to stress here, I'm not modelling for advantage, quite the opposite actually. If my calculations are correct, this monstrosity would be roughly 1,5 times the size of a Baneblade chassis.

 

In regards to the galleries and/or blog posts, I haven't thought of it. Or better, I did but I haven't had the best experience with the galleries. I'll give it a try again. :)

 

@W.A.Rorie thanks!

Edited July 22 by WBRBloom

[Firedrake Cordova]

Ah, it being a Shadowsword makes sense given the size of the frame and colossal gun.  

 

Love the Ork "Doc" quote  

[WBRBloom]

Good morning folks! I hope you are doing well :)

 

So, a little bit of process; I've been doing a lot of dry fitting, as I'm not 100% sure of how everything will go together. At first I was thinking of going for an off-centre cannon/drill, as seen in real-life crawlers/drills, but then I though that this is the 41st millennium, at some back water planet, where the genestealers have infected with. So probably going for the cannon/drill in the centre, followed by the superstructure directly behind and above it, would be the way to go.

 

A lot of time goes to printing and fitting greebles. Who would have thought that making something interesting would take so much effort!

 

The superstructure would be in two parts and removable, so the next step is to magnetize it and start painting it. I also need to procure a squad of 8, or 10 hybrids. The Shadowsword says it has a crew of 6, but this is a mobile construction platform, so 10 people ought to do the trick.

 

I found it a little bit of challenging to setup the stuff on the platform, in a way that would look realistic, but I think I've managed. I am 100% sure that before this project ends, I would change the setup at least a couple times more, but for the time being it seems to be working. As always, your feedback is much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 28 by WBRBloom

[Firedrake Cordova]

That's quite some progress.  

 

The cabin area seems to be quite close to the rear of the cannon, but I assume it's not supposed to recoil (not sure about the maintenance side of things, but perhaps I'm over-thinking now  ).

[WBRBloom]

4 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

That's quite some progress.  

 

The cabin area seems to be quite close to the rear of the cannon, but I assume it's not supposed to recoil (not sure about the maintenance side of things, but perhaps I'm over-thinking now  ).

 

You are correct! Theoretically, there shouldn't be any recoil, as this is an energy cannon and not solid projectile one. Additionally, since the whole weapon is a repurposed laser drill, I don't think that the cult gave it too much thought, and just repositioned/repurposed it for their nefarious schemes!

[Necca34]

This is insanely cool! Really well planned and executed. Reminds me of the platforms of those enormous bucket wheel excavators they use for mining huge tracts of earth. You've definitely achieved the "industrial chimera" vibe (the cobbled creature of myth, not the 40k tank, to be clear). Can't wait to see your continued progress!

[WBRBloom]

Thanks @Necca34, for your feedback, much appreciated! That's exactly what I had in mind, those enormous bucket excavators with the cables running over them and the horizontal arm that moves around and devours earth! Who knows, if this project goes well I might make something like that, later :) 

[The Pounder]

Can’t believe I haven’t seen this before!!
 

Great job so far, that gun seriously looks like it could take down a Titan!

[WBRBloom]

Thank you @The Pounder! I really hope I'll live up to the hype and expectations of people. I'm really itching to start painting parts, but the weather decided to go sour, here in the North, so I'm waiting for a sunnier day to be able to undercoat some stuff. But honestly, thank you all people! <3