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Here's a WIP Space Marine Rhino (Aurora Chapter) I'm doing for a diorama.

The last Rhino I assmebled was the original GW plastic kit from the early 90's and I have to say I'm really impressed with how the kit has come along, it's almost snap together in places.
This pic is an interior detail of the crew compartment. I've still to varnish any of it and I'm going to go for a high gloss on the dials and screens (I've heard the water effects stuff is good for a real shine). I'm also working on the drivers compartment with seating from the Land Speeder kit and I'll post some pics of that later. I'm thinking of going some surface mount led's to add a bit of internal lighting to the vehicle, but I'm still in the planning stages for that one. I did go with hinged openable hatches all around but the drill bit I'm using is a tiny bit too big and it's resulted in me ripping most of the original hinges. Can't decide if I'm just going to fix them in place or whether I should get another kit and have another go at it.

C&C welcome as are any thoughts on the things mentioned above. I'll add more pictures as I progress.

I like the wooden bench but i hope its laminate because the marines would probally splinter it.

Love it, maybe add ammo to the walls to make sure your troops are well-supplied.

Looks good. The wooden bench looks out of place tho. I think lockers would of looked better, or metal seats.

KingCracker wrote:The wooden bench looks out of place tho.

Yeah that's at least partially deliberate. I'm going for a combination of high tech and ancient eclesiastic. These guys worship their machines so I want them looking vaugely church like. I'm actually contemplating a few dribbly candles about the place.

Not sure if the whole look is a bit too jarring tho?


(that's after I've fixed the paint overlaps and missing areas... I hate close up photography )

Well, I like the wooden bench... although it's possibly a little bright. I'd recommend running a brown wash over it to darken it up a little. Your woodgrain effect should still show through, but it will look more like a nice ancient hardwood.

Great job on the woodgrain. As has been said, if you really want the interior to stand out you'll need to do something with the walls. GW didn't spend a lot of time on the details.

The bench is the first thing that drew my attention and I immediately thought "church pew". It's a fantastic idea but I think you should run with it completely ...

... when detailing the interior, aside from marine equipment, maybe add a mural or stained glass looking panel above the bench. The candles are a great idea but maybe install them on an iron wall sconce ... complete with painted soot stains above them.

I agree that the bench color needs to be a little darker. If you choose to do that, don't darken the front edge or the seat too much, that way it will look worn from all the years of seated power armor.

Looking forward to seeing where you take this ...
Good luck !!

Got a bit further with things, I've darkened down the benches and I'm currently hunting for bits to adorn the inside of the Rhino (some of the Warhammer scenery candles and maybe some chapter banners as well as ammo boxes).

I've also been working on the drivers cabin and driver. Got a couple of pics apologies for the poor camera phone quality.

N.B. There's still a lot of tidying up to be done

A few more pics from my Rhino. These are the driver converted from the Landspeeder kit again. It's a bit of shame you don't see more of him through the slit windows (which I've cut out) and the overhead hatch. The one sop I am having to maintaining his visibility is that I'm fitting an internal surface mount LED in the cockpit to light the driver.

I've also posted a Marine who I'm considering using outside the Rhino... not 100% happy on the quality of him tho, the wash is very blotchy and his gem aquilla on the chest plate is more of an off-white mush than a carefully shaded emblem. Also not sure if I want it to be a static Rhino with a Marine heading off to refuel it or whether I want an under assault Rhino with Marines blasting back a horde of genestealers or similar.

Still trying to get bits together for the internal detail, thinking of getting some of the Warhammer scenery candles and tryin to knock up a chapter banner to hang over the wooden benches from GS.

C&C always welcome, as are suggestion as to the direction to take the diorama.

I'll echo support for the high tech/low tech mixing. I dig the bench in the rhino.

Ever watch Firefly? One of the first things that stood out to me about the series was that the crew is flying about outer space in a fantastic space ship, but they still ate their meals at a large wooden table. Not some brushed aluminum or carbon fiber or acrylic cantilevered monstrosity, but a dark and earthy wooden table. It was fantastic juxtaposition. I say run with it, and keep it up throughout the entire force.

I like the driver conversion work as well. Looking forward to seeing more of your work, keep it up!

Sorry for the minor thread-o-mancy but the majority of my progress hasn't been all that photogenic.

I've got a couple of new bits to show at the moment.
The Tau Drone is going to be part of the scenery on the diorama base.
The chapter emblem is my first real attempt at anything freehand in about 10 years, it's not perfect by any means and I still have to weather the exterior panels which should hopefully help it blend in a bit.
The Rhino crewman is an original Rogue Trader lead mini, the close up photography isn't doing my painting any favours but I'd certainly appriciate any tips.

Sorry for the thread-o-mancy but I've been waiting on a few bits and pieces before I could continue on the diorama.

Hopefully I'll get this all finished by the end of the month...

Looks nice, I like the relaxed pose of the marine, but aren't they supposed to be a monk like chapter? It would look good if you had a praying marine, that would look good ^_^

The RT dude emphasis how low the roof is in there - if he stands up quickly, he'll either knock himself out or put a large dent in the ceiling

Looking good, though.

The Diorama is finished, again sorry for the quality of the photo's but hopefully you'll get a jist of the scene.

Looks good.

There seems to be a lot of dried mud on the sides of the rhino, but none on the tracks...

I love the glowy ooze seeping out of the Drone

Is it me or did you uh...mess up the tracks?

Qualude wrote:Is it me or did you uh...mess up the tracks?

lol, shush... yes

I had everything else fitted and was just waiting on to fit the middle wall and roof and suddenly realised that the track end only entered the body the other way around... thus followed about 20 minutes of very x-rated language. C'est la vie...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

insaniak wrote:There seems to be a lot of dried mud on the sides of the rhino, but none on the tracks...

Yeah I possibly should add a dollop of mud to the front tracks.

You could still savage it .
Maybe just drop the bottom part of the track down on the ground and add one more marine "ground Guiding" the driver forward. The could be doing a quick fix on a thrown track, maybe from a Tau drone hitting it at full speed.
Just a thought....

"You guys go find that drone. When you're done, see if you can find me something to drink & something to sweeten it with! I'm gonna stay here and smoke this cee-gar."
: )

Interesting diorama. I like.

Would like better views of the guy in the front, though.

Eric

MagickalMemories wrote:Would like better views of the guy in the front, though.

The front panel isn't actually glued in place, so you can still see the driver. I was most pleased with the skin tone and bone aquilla on the driver and was kinda gutted when I realised how little of him I was able to see through the front view slits and top hatch. There's not much detail in the front cabin, but there is an escape ladder, a proper back to the separating panel and a drivers seat.

Pretty good, my only problem is that the one marine is slacking off while the others are refueling or guarding. Act like that in the IG and you would get killed.

The Ghoma wrote:Pretty good, my only problem is that the one marine is slacking off while the others are refueling or guarding. Act like that in the IG and you would get killed.

Maybe in the Guard it would, but with that one guy slackin off, it makes it feel more like a real military operation

The Ghoma wrote:Pretty good, my only problem is that the one marine is slacking off while the others are refueling or guarding. Act like that in the IG and you would get killed.

Well you see the marine inside is a veteran sargeant while the two marines outside in the swamp are two initiates looking for blinker fluid for the rhino

Lovin' the old school Beakie inside the Rhino!

Very liking the scene. Very military like.

Looks great

I love the tea and hot chocolate in the background...Really gives a grimdark sort of feel to the whole thing

Jokes aside...good work man Looks awesome

The Marine in the back isn't slacking off.
I would have to say that asfter having a contact with a Tau drone, it'd be best if someone did man the radio and sensors.....