25/02/2018

Not the limo you are expecting...

Something unexpected today. Or at least I hope so! Do you remember I told you last week I had a spare head from a Hybrid? Well, let's unveil the secret of my crazy idea (for it's totally nuts!)

I should have mentioned. I also have a spare complete Sentinel
But you wouldn't expect me to do yet another walker, specially considering that I built one just some weeks ago. Would you?
I had several different ideas, but not a clear path to tread. Oh, I forgot, my first plan was building a troop transport, just like the one I made for the Mutants. But oh, I had already done that. I wanted a new challenge. Hence the Sentinel stuff. As the Genestealer Cult is based on miners, I thought I could build a drilling beast, somehow combining the Sentinel cockpit with the Hades Breaching Drill from Forgeworld:

What a monster we could get from here
But honestly, the price did convince me to refuse this option. Gasp!
My second take was some kind of truck or industrial caterpillar, a dump truck for the mine. But putting the bits together I really didn't come to any fruitful result. What I got instead was another different idea. If there are some Hybrids with portable mining lasers, why wouldn't they have larger lasers on vehicles? With that new approach in mind I begun to give basic shape to this:

Sentinel cockpit, Humvee rear part and Tiger gun. Oh, and cardboard. Lots of cardboard

A little bit crude, but it will improve
The main problem was that, when I was assembling it all, it reminded me more of a tank than an idustrial vehicle. Well, a hunched, ugly tank, but nonetheless a Warhammer 40,000 tank. I added more bits to try to break that profile, emphasising that it was carrying a mining laser cutter, not a battle cannon.

When in doubt, add wires. Wiring solves anything
It could still be a Mechanicus tank, but let's not go that way
Brick shape and hard edges. It screams Imperial manufacture
I took every bit imaginable from any possible kit
I painted it yellow, so there would be no doubt about its nature (well, unless you try to convince me it's an Imperial Fists or a Lamenters tank):

Now it's beginning to really take shape. At least in my mind

As it is supposed to be a laser drill and to take the heavy part in mining, opening new tunnels and stuff, it of course had to look really torn and dirty, so I did extensive weathering:

I said extensive indeed
The front reads Fodinae Conlegium, i.e., Mining Guild in Gothic
I pity the fool who has to purge and clean those engines
Yeah, I'll laser drill your as*, you mot*******er!
So this is as far as I got with a lot of random pieces and some cardboard. Not exactly the first idea that came to mind, but something not really far from it in fact. It has been enormously fun to build, not really knowing what the result would look like in the end. Now on a retrospective I think I could have gone another way with the laser drill itself, adding a large coil, or maybe something like an articulated arm, more crane-looking. But hey, it is done, so it stays this way.

Gaming wise I simply have no idea of what it is going to count as. Not that I care, it's a ridiculously tiny vehicle with a ridiculously big laser cannon, so it fits perfectly in Warhammer 40,000, that's the only thing that matters :D

Well, after this break I think I can go back to painting more Hybrids. I have them all already glued, so it should be easier than the previous batch. Coming back soon with them!

39 comments:

  1. Just looking over a list of Imperial vehicles, count is as a Devil Dog? Chimera/Hellhound variant with a melta cannon, sounds about right. Probably a bit too big for a Rapier, but that's a ridiculously tiny (unmanned) vehicle with a ridiculously overpowered laser cannon. It's even kind-of open-topped, and while it is for Space Marines, a) who cares b) the armoured cockpit obviously makes the operator count as wearing power armour, so there's no need to change the stats.

    https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Rapier_Armoured_Carrier

    Looks sweet, though. Some way to move the laser so you could get the vehicle through smaller tunnels might make it more useful at its designed role, but presumably it makes sufficiently large tunnels that it doesn't need to worry.

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    1. Thank you! I honestly haven't given it a detailed thought yet, though your ideas make sense! The Rapier looks quite appealing given what I got here, hmmm... Thank you!

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  2. Great work! The paint job helps sell it as an industrial vehicle.

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    1. Thanks! I think so, the yellow scheme and some black stripe help to transmit the idea. However I suspect it can be more dreadful than some military equipment! :D

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  3. Just fantastic! Really love finished one effect :)

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    1. Thank you! The weathering was the key to make it look believable, I think :)

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  4. That looks brilliant adding the wire does certainly change it from a military looking vehicle to a civilian mining type one.

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    1. I've found that using thread as wire randomly (and generously) adds quite more depth than anticipated. I certainly need to do it more!

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  5. Amazing piece there! Well done!!!

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    1. Thank you! At tthe beginning I was quite like 'what the hell am I doing with this...?' :D

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  6. Suber, you aced it man! It looks bloody amazing! You made the right choice with the underslung cabling to make it look like a welding lance too, a stroke of genius.

    Overall the machine is brilliant. Well done mate :)

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    1. Thank you! Wiring, wiring is the solution to everything! :D The other option was attaching a corkscrew to the vehicle, but then how could I ever open a bottle of wine again?

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  7. Mate you knocked it out of the park!!

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    1. Thank you! At the beginning I only got a thin intuition of what was I doing, it took some steps to get some confidence about it :D

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  8. Oh YES, SUBER, so much yes!! Reminds me of the drilling rigs in the original Total Recall, awesome result.

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    1. Haha, thse in fact were my first inspiration and attempt. If I ever get to ebay a cheap FW Hades Drill I may give it a try...

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  9. Oh wow, that looks superb! Such a clever build.

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    1. Thank you! The 'never get rid of anything' rule finally paid off :D

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    1. Thanks! The muse of scrap vehicles is elusive, sometimes she stays, sometimes she dumps you!

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  11. That's an awesome little utility vehicle. I agree that the yellow pain job and the extensive wear and tear clearly out it into the "civilian" category.

    I use the sentinel cockpits for trucks all the time. It's a great little widget for all kinds of things.

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    1. Thanks! The Sentinel cockpit is a beauty, and absolutely useful, your vehicles are always an inspiration, for sure!
      Now I think I have an use for those spare Sentinel legs...

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  12. Incredible work! It reminds me of a drilling rig for boreholes, with the drill stowed in a horizontal position (rather than upright to drill into the ground). Of course what I'm trying to say is that it is 100% an engineering or mining vehicle - it couldn't be anything else!

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    1. Thank you! I tried to tie it to the engineering looking as much as I could, but I think that it could easily look like an Imperial Guard thing with small modifications and another colour scheme. I hope the mining laser makes sense in this context!

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    1. Thank you! I guess now it's up to you to come up with a proper scenario for it :D

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  14. Awesome job dude - lovely to see a properly beaten up piece of industrial goodness :-)

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    1. Thank you! I thought these people needed something like this. A limo would have been a classic, but I would have some issues in justifying their use by the infected miners. This little monster made much more sense -or at least I hope so!

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  15. I love your rig! I'm a big fan of 'civilian' Imperial vehicles and it's always a pleasure to see another one.

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    1. Thanks!I truly believe that's the part that gives some depth to scenarios, making them more believable with actual (well, you know...) stuff you may find in a city, in a mine or wherever. The 'there is only war' is not disputed with having some variety on your board :D

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  16. That's a bloody brilliant build man !
    It's just perfect !

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    1. Thank you! I'm a humble man of laws, so having your engineer approval is quite a thing! :D

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  17. ufff!!
    ME ENCANTA!!
    esta perfecto tio!!:D

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    1. ¡Muchas gracias! Ha sido divertidรญsimo de ir montando pieza a pieza :D

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  18. Stupendous piece of work Suber ... both creative conception as well as execution! :)

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    1. Thank you!But you can see it was all tremendously easy. One man's trash is another man's treasure :D

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  19. Brilliant, that looks so good!
    When you let your creative vibes flow you always seem to come up with the most wonderful unique creations, it never gets boring.

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    1. Thank you very much! I really enjoy letting myself go with this kind of stupid ideas. They don't always come to something fruitful, but I find the process terribly fun :D

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