Tactical tractor

 A tiny interlude today, some kind of palette cleanser, or even mind cleanser, I would say. A quick and easy (oh, surprise) thing just for fun.

It was an opportunity project. The Suberlings had two of these:

And of course they play with no one of them

It's a tractor from a plastic ball toy capsule vending machine (if that thing has a name, I don't know it). Of course one of them had to be confiscated. It was just perfect for my backwater world ambientation.

First thing to do was to fill the gaps with mere cardboard:

Less is more

Then I started to add random stuff from here and there, to give it a kind of sci-fi vibe:

Anything works

Just add glue and throw stuff at the tractor

I didn't really wanted to give it a hard WH40K feeling. Skulls. Gothic. More skulls. Nah. More Rogue Trader, less 40K. A bland sci-fi looking would work good enough, specially considering that the tractor has a lot of curved shapes. Making a transition towards current 40K would mean a lot of absurd work. It simply wasn't worth of it. I insist. Less is more.

So let's lick some paint on it!

The primer worked way better than expected, it was my main fear, to see paint flaking all over. But it was just perfect. I painted the driver's seat first:

Once again, simple but efficient. Not good. Efficient

How would I paint it? Well, if you've seen my previous post, you might have observed I used a lot of green!

So I was on a row! Same recipe

Of course the secondary colour had to be yellow

Then it's just a matter of details

Yup, it says Iohannes Cervus there. Yes, tm, of course

I don't know if the Iohannes Cervus is taking the pun too far, but I had to do it :D

The driver was kind of an issue. I didn't have any proper seated mini, so I had to improvise:

Bits from one of my old civilians and tons of green stuff

I wasn't able to put him with his hands on the wheel or anything, the pose didn't work. So I thought of some kind of low tech weapon. I combined a crossbow with some other bits and called it a day.

My first option was a regular cap, but the hat with earflaps was too tempting to let it go

Regular industrial blue for the jumpsuit and little thing else

The guy on his seat looks like this:

Hum. Ya dammit rodents, get outta my crop field!

Added some additional wires and stuff

The purity seal is the only 40K specific bit here, I think

The final step was the rust and weathering effect. This thing has gone through a lot, so it cannot look clean and sharp!

This tractor has been in my family for generations. And generations. And generations. And...

Yeah, got it Mechanicus certified each decade or so

Look, it even has a purity seal, the machine spirit is at ease

Most trusted piece of tech this side of the galaxy

Most sexy rear view in the Eastern Fringe

I don't have a real use for it in terms of gaming, but it makes a nice piece on the board, even if it's mere scenery.

Oh, but of course. Once you have a tractor, there are some things you have to do. Have to, I say. The following pic is absolutely necessary.

Local farmer overriding the military power of the Imperium. Pictograph taken c. 994.M41