Imperial Fists Heresy Era Army

[StormDragon]

Ah the nostalgia!! ;)

 

That's a pretty sweet looking Rhino you've got there daeothar, I love what you've done with the interior. What sort of camo are you planning on giving it?

[wokkers]

thats insane! :D

 

that old box brings back so many memories. this army is going to look so sweet.

 

daeothar - did you just have that box lying around then? what other gems from the 'dark age of technology' have you got? (apart from the dread and the minis we have already seen ;) )

[NemFX]

Can you still get the old styled ones online? Or would you have to convert them from sentiels now?

[the_Dave]

holy cow!!! your rhino is just too cool? any chance of you expanding the army to like maybe 1000 pts. id love to see a full army like this.

[Daeothar]

The Rhino will get a camouflage scheme from the RT era Red Compendium, page 79, top left one. For those of you not lucky enough to own a copy, it's a pretty standardly patterned scheme with the colours Light Grey, Charcoal, Medium Brown and a Slightly Darker Brown. Also known as the Codex Scheme for Subarctic Mountainous Terrain... It'll clash well with the bright Yellow markings and flags it'll get.

 

I also have available and planned for this army: two RT Landspeeders, a Squad of Exo-Suit Terminators and a Maniple of Robots, counting as Terminators. Also a squad of 10 scouts, the first Predator (all plastic, rounded turret), another Dread (short legs; will be more of a shooty version with TLLC and a ML. The current one will eventually swap the TLLC for an AC equivalent). There's also at least 40 RTB01 Beakies, which might be used for another squad (or 2). There'll also be an old Landraider, which will have to be restored from years of abuse (a swap with a friend of mine for some Wolfy bitz :wacko: ).

 

Then I'll go out hunting for RT era metal Assault marines, to create an Assaultsquad. I might also make a squadron of Jetbikes (already available), but those might serve with the Ravenwing instead; haven't decided yet. So in the end, this army might well exceed the 1500 pts mark. And when I say eventually, I mean eventually; somewhere around 2012 is my guess... :blink:

 

I did have this box lying around indeed but I must admit I haven't bought it in store originally; I got his one at a bargain from a fleamarket (together with some complete RTB01 sprues!) so it pays off to check those markets after all... Most of my stuff comes from Ebay though, as I sold almost all my original RT stuff when moving away to go to university, where the addiction started anew :) . I've always been nostalgic for the old stuff ever since I sold my beloved black Dark Angels at the time and just collected the stuff (again) over the years. Now I have a project where I can actually put them to good use. Which is good, as some of them are showing the signs of Leadrot already!

 

And I do not know if these Rhinos are still available. They're not on the Webstores anymore but might still be bought from Call Direct, as they have access to more than is on the sites. The partnumbers are in the big US 2004/2005 Catalogue. For a complete Rhino you'll need 2 x 99399999054 and 2 x 99399999055. Thing is, these sprues now do $9,- a piece, making one Rhino cost $36,-, making it awfully attractive to buy used ones for cheap of Ebay to restore instead...

 

I remember them costing $18,- for a box of 3 Rhinos, dagdammit... :blink:

[Stuart]

Man oh man, you're lucky to have all that Rogue Trader era stuff. I don't suppose you'd be interested in selling a box of Beakies :) .

 

Keep up the good work, it's nice to hear this army will (theoretically) be a large project.

[pinkbunny]

You made the old rhino look good!

[Daeothar]

It's all Rhino these days, but I want this little beasty to look every bit as good as the rest of the army. And one of the things required is WYSIWYG. Which meant modelling all the extras a vehicle can take. These are:

A Dozer Blade; modelled on; the rake in front can and will double as one, if I take one of course, otherwise it's just a spiffy fender...

Extra Armour, which I have made removable through a set of scratchbuilt Spaced Armour. This slots in a rail on the running boards and locks in place with a set of magnets at the top. Really sturdy and I thinks it really looks the part too...

As you can see, there's very little actual proof of the Spaced Armour locking in place; just the rails on the running boards and the magnet at the top of the hull. This is locked in a plastic square and once painted will look like just another small squarish part of Rhino.

A Stormbolter, converted from two RTB01 extra bolters and some plasticard and -tubing. It also locks into place with a set of magnets, so it is completely removable. Note that the standard bolters on the hatches will be fixed though; gotta draw the line somewhere after all...

Power of the Machine spirit; not done yet. Although it won't be an item I will use on Rhinos, this thing will also be able to receive a set of different tophatches when finished, making it able to double as Rhino-, Whirlwind-, Razorback- or Damocles variant. And there's a very real chance I will go through this excersize a couple more times, as I will be making more of them if the army grows beyond 500 pts. Some of those might benefit from this upgrade, so I will model it, magnetized, probably to fit in the spot of the Stormbolter, which can then be deployed on top of it. Later though... ;)

Searchlight; same here. Not done and falls in the above category. so I will make it at some point.

Hunter Killer Missile; this I will model on. I'll have to sort through my old model aircraft bitz, to find a suitable missile. It will be put on a rail, which will (magnetically) slot onto one of the cargo boxes on the left rear trackguard. I'm thinking AT4 or something similarly chubby, to make it look 40Kish (a Sidewinder just won't do... :angry: ).

Smokelaunchers; a no-brainer, as they come with the kit and will be glued in place; don't leave your Fortress Monestary without them after all... :P

So, modelling things to still do to the Rhino? Hinges on the fake 25mm-base doors, making of two tin can metal banners for the rear arials and creating a base for the whole vehicle, high enough to match normal infantry bases.

Then it's off to undercoating and painting. The interior will be painted first, so I can glue the whole thing together. Then it will be sprayed and painted, after which the details will be glued on (handrails, Smokelaunchers etc).

There you have it. More to follow soon... :angry:

[NemFX]

If you wanna save yourself the trouble, you could just get an electrical wiring butt-cap. It looks like a space marine missile launcher with two flared ends. I use those as hunter killer missile launchers.

[HellChyld]

Daeothar, that old school rhino with your new armor looks sweet bro. I look forward to seeing more of your work on this project

[ZAChos]

Just wondering for my own personal use, when did the emperor allow all legions to wear imperial eagles? Before, or after the siege of the Emperors palace?

 

Just wondering.

 

I suppose I'd better tell you that your work is extremely inspiring as well. Gotta love the old stuff, especially after a break.

 

 

Edit.

 

Oh yeah, what did the pre-heresy fists have on their right shoulder-pads? It would of been before codex standardisation, so would they not of had tactical/devastator etc. markings?

 

/Edit

[Daeothar]

@ ZAChos: It was my understanding he allowed all loyal legions to sport the Imperial Eagle shortly after Istvaan V, as it became sort of an unofficial armybadge throughout the defence of Terra. Which I kind of doubt myself, as the Mk7 armour, which is the only armour at the time capable of actually putting the eagle on their chestplates was only in very limited use, with most Marines wearing Mk2 or Mk4 armour, with some Mk3 and Mk5 as well. the Mk6 and 7 armours were rather rare until the very siege of the Palace itself (as the production facilities were moved into the palace grounds before the actual siege).

 

For your information though; only the captain wears something akin to the Imperial Eagle but isn't; it's a gem with wings. Also, wearing of the Imperial Eagle on other parts of the armour, as a badge or belt bucke for instance, was allowed for every Marine all through the great Crusade.

 

I'm not too sure on the symbols as of yet. I'm planning on using the RT 1.5 markings, on which the current markings were largely based. As this squad is a mix between armour types and ranks, with some having studs on one pad and some personal heraldry on the other, I'm planning on having the heraldry on the right shoulders of the officers and the chapter symbol on the left shoulder. The troops all will have the chapter symbol on the right shoulderpad, with the bare pads of those without studs being a blank for me right now.

 

I might add role designations as mentioned before, but those were usually on the right pad as well, under, behind or over the chapter badge. I'll think of something when the time comes though... B)

[ZAChos]

Cheers mate, that is most good.

 

from what I've just seen of the horus heresy cards (although I've seen hardly any) most troops have either studs or the legion badge on their shoulder pads. Personal heraldry sounds funky though, and I suppose they could have a version of the captains iconography if they are his squad.

[madscuzzy]

Inspired...

 

Make me one of King of the Loins?

[Ironman]

Im am so in love with the rt era minis they are so nice and diffrent from all the 4 ed ive seen some of them look steam punkish too

 

great job in capturing the pre heresy look i would like to ask where you got your minis?

 

BTW nice dreads ^^

[ras josh]

takin me back to middleschool man!!! fell in love with 40k back around wd 190, box o beakys and about 5 of the exo armor marines....sold all my stuff for $100 when i moved after school....and been kickin myself ever since. paid $1.50 for my first exo termi and $20 for the one i bought on ebay 3 years ago from england <_< all in good fun.

btw your paint jobs are much nicer than almost anything i saw back in th eday when those minis came out!!!!

[Daeothar]

Thanks guys. :)

@ Ironman: I've bought most of this stuff from eBay, some years ago; I'm afraid my story's quite similar to ras josh's; sold my RT Beaky Dark Angels when moving to Uni and have been trying to rebuild what was lost ever since. Actually, I have more RT stuff now than I ever did back then...

Still hope to recover those black Dark angels from somewhere one day; only army I ever sold.

Do you hear me? Come back to daddy!!

:D *ahem* Yeah; progress...

I have finished the interior of the Rhino and glued it together for undercoating and camouflage painting. For those without access to the red White Dwarf Compendium, the scheme will be a sort of standard pattern, with the colours Space Wolf Grey, Snakebite Leather, Bestial Brown and a grey and black mix nearing antracite. it'll still be distinctively IF though, with banners and Legion markings.

So, on to the pics:

first the Interior. I deliberately made the paintwork inside a bit sketchy, as it will be mostly obscured and subtle details and transitions would not show up unless a lamp was stuck almost into the vehicle. So it's a bit more basic than the exterior will be, and the Marines of course... (although I did touch up the red on the missile racks; that did look a bit too off after taking the pics)

Now, with all the 'pimp your old Rhino' threads sprouting up, not the least of which Orkdung's project of enlarging an old Rhino to measure up to the new version, I just wanted to check how it really compared, so here are my findings:

Height:

Length:

And Width:

As you can see, my project Rhino is not smaller at all than a standard new plastic Rhino! The only thing odd about this setup is that I plan to base my Rhino on the black foamboard you see it displayed on. This is the same height as a 25mm standard base, which I though would make it look more in line with the based infantry models. Looks like that was a good choice... :) Of course the new Rhino does not have its tracks in place here but the difference will be marginal I think. Especially as mine will sport two banners flying from the rear of the hull, making it actually much higher ('Ack! Right in the heraldry' :( )

[Pantherrex]

Small recommendation. Forget the soda cans. Something more plyable and not as dangerous.

 

Toothpaste tubes. And they can be cut with scissors. And they are cheap.

Hell travel size ones would be about the right size for the old school flags on the Rhino ya have.....

 

BTW; PM sent... :P

 

Pantherrex

[Stuart]

The interior is really outstanding; in particular, the floor looks quite realistic. Now get going on the exterior.

[Terminator Tomatron]

i really like the "weathered" look on the interior, the scum marks n stuff rock, nice work :P

 

cant wait to see the finished result!!

[3vilX]

i hate you... i hate you with the full hatred i can bring to bear because... YOU HAVE ALL OF THOSE OLD MINI'S!!

:ph34r: :P :P

[LifeAfterDeath]

I HATE YOU TOO.... I am far behide you... I do have a few of these Rhino... but I have not started yet... (>.< I think I need to get back to my Jet Bike now...)

 

Anyway, good job on the old school Rhino... look forward to see it get done...

[Shinobi_soldier]

Top notch work. Keep the updates coming.

[Obliterator]

Excellent weathering on the interior, Daeothar. And those gems aren't half bad either ;) .

[Daeothar]

Taking a break from the Rhino, I started doing up the first marine from the squad. as the entire force needs to be ready next week Sunday and I won't be able to paint on the Saturday before at all, they need to be ready by Friday. This means I plan to do at least four or five this weekend. Now that's speedpainting! I don't want to cut a lot of corners though, so it'll be hard work and no social life at all for the coming week.

Well, not completely true, I'm stepping out in a bit to watch the arrival of Sinterklaas with my 4 year old nephew (for those not from a Dutch speaking country; Sinterklaas is where you AngloSaxons derived the idea of Santa Claus from...)

In the meantime, you guys get to decide where I go from here, as I'm kind of stuck on the choice of whether to do the metalics on this guy gunmetal/silver or gold. I'm talking about the rims on the pads and plates, the rivets etc. The cables and gun parts will be boltgun with mithril highlights and some brown/black inking/washing anyhow. I tend to lean towards gold but that might be too oppulent for a mere Marine, especially when compared to his Captain (as seen in my first post). All the metal parts have been basecoated Tin Bitz, as that's the base for both my silvers and golds.

You decide; I'll be out for a couple of hours, it's actually quite sunny today... <_<