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I'm looking at starting an Imperial Guard army and wanted to look into some replacement tanks as I'm not a big fan of the Leman Russ chassis. Am I correct in thinking that it's 1/35 that's the best scale to be looking at?

Any advice appreciated.

It depends on the size of the original tank I think. 1:35 or 1:48 are the two nearest scales.

The other alternative is to pick a chassis you do like and go for it

(for example)

A quick shot from my cell phone camera so you can check. The tank is a Tamiya 1/35 Carro Armato M13/40.

M.

I can second the either 1:35 or 1:48 scales, but, sadly, it depends on the specific company.

If I could make a suggestion though: don't do it.

I second Flinty's call for you to pick a chassis you DO like from the GW range and work from there. If you like the chimera, use that. If you like the predator chassis, rock a predator.

But if you just buy a toy WWII tank, you'll be that guy who just bought a toy WWII tank for $9.95 at the Hobby Depot discount bin. And nobody wants to be THAT guy.

Edit: All that being said, I totally advocate using historical model kits to rip off parts from. For example, I'm using a Tamiya 1:35 STuG kit to rip off the tracks and steel road wheels from to give my russes a better, more realistic look. Just don't be the guy who buys a $15 tank kit and throws it down on the table...

Thanks for the advice guys.

My idea was sparked by a post in the P&M blogs and I want to do something based on the idea of a ragtag band of Imperial Guard travelling across a planet picking up other guard units on the way. For that reason I want the vehicles to all look different and to kitbash quite extensively to try to give the feel of an incoherent, rather than a coherent fighting force. This is much about getting great looking models as it is about avoiding the Russ, which I just feel is a bit ugly.

I've looked at Forgeworld and they have plenty of alternate turrets but I wanted to see what else might be available. I'm want to do a lot of battle damage and heavy weathering on the tanks and the guardsmen and have been looking at the various packs of equipment addons. This is a force which isn't getting resupplied and hasn't been for a while.

At present I've ordered a Cadian battleforce and so have no vehicles. It's all very much in my head but it's something I want to try. There's a lot of fluff in my head and it's all at the planning stage at the moment but I'm looking for options, not to save money.

I have a 1:48 Sherman that I bought intending to make a Leman Russ proxy and never got around to actually building it...

It builds up a little narrower than the Leman Russ, but the other dimensions are pretty much perfect.

DeathGod wrote:I can second the either 1:35 or 1:48 scales, but, sadly, it depends on the specific company.

If I could make a suggestion though: don't do it.

I second Flinty's call for you to pick a chassis you DO like from the GW range and work from there. If you like the chimera, use that. If you like the predator chassis, rock a predator.

But if you just buy a toy WWII tank, you'll be that guy who just bought a toy WWII tank for $9.95 at the Hobby Depot discount bin. And nobody wants to be THAT guy.

Edit: All that being said, I totally advocate using historical model kits to rip off parts from. For example, I'm using a Tamiya 1:35 STuG kit to rip off the tracks and steel road wheels from to give my russes a better, more realistic look. Just don't be the guy who buys a $15 tank kit and throws it down on the table...

You pretty much sound as if you just don't want people to pay cheaper than you for models.

On topic, you ca use a "bane russ" chassis there are numerous ways of making one, one of them being papercraft and the other a kitbash of baneblade and leman russ, you can get the later pretty cheap if you buy it in bits.

I really love these tanks by armorcast: http://armorcast.com/store/index.php?cPath=120_64&osCsid=d45967a30ef47f1cf14447a6644a8d29 I saw them in person at GenCon last year and I thought they were well done and could scale up with 40K well.

Seems the best thing to do is get an idea of the size of the models in 1:35 and 1:48 before making a decision.

Thanks a lot for the information so far, anyone else who's done this and wants to chip in with some suitable models or ideas I'm all ears (eyes?).

No specific advice on which kits to use, I'm afraid, but I do have a little general advice.

Whatever kit you use, convert the heck out of it. Put a MUCH bigger gun on it, 40K tank guns are ludicrously large-bore. 40K is pretty much 'go big or go home,' so don't be afraid to overdo it.

You might also want to use something inside the model to give it some heft. Scale model tanks are notoriously light compared to 40K tanks. You'd be amazed how much more respect a weighted tank conversion gets over a light one.

You mite want to look at 21st Toys ( sorry I don't have a link for them ) I use them in my IG army the Panzer D ( WW2) is what I use as a replacement for my Russ..I will upload a picture later..

This is one of mine.

Pig Iron Productions Ironside tank with a scratchbuilt punisher turret. Same width as a LR, about 2" longer.
Cost less, too.

I have two of them. One is a plain LR/Vanquisher, the other is my punisher and demolisher (swappable main gun).

I've been waffling on the WWII tank kits for a while now. The local Hobby Lobby usually has some on clearance, but even then they're still about $20. A little bit more and I can get a "real" one from Ebay without having to worry about converting. Then I think converting will be part of the fun. I'll probably pick up one just to give it a go soon enough. Even if it's a complete failure, I should be able to get a pile of bits outta it.

Go for it. Stug's, T72's, Sturmtigers, Shermans, Tigers, etc can all be converted ito very '40k' tanks. Hey, see if you can get hold of a MkIV Cromwell, such as this:
http://www.emodels.co.uk/plastic-kits/tamiya-british-cromwell-mkiv-32528-p-10147.html
I recommend 1/48 base vehicles but as mentioned above, upsize the accessories. The main gun on that Cromwell will look like an Autocannon or Heavy stubber.

Thanks for the pics and the info. I think I'll pick up a few LRBT and Chimera from Wayland and a couple of Tamiya 1:48 kits that I like the look of. The Sturmtiger looks like a lovely model.

I'm looking to load equipment onto the models as well. Would anyone be able to comment as to whether sets like this one http://www.modelhobbies.co.uk/shop/tamiya-modern-infantry-equipment-35266-p-6533.html look good on the kits we're talking about? If not, any other recommendations?

I think 1:35 infantry kit would look a little big. You should get quite a bit of random imperial gubbinz at the right scale out of the Battleforce and GW tank kits.

Thanks Flinty. I'll look at the Forgeworld stuff as there's a lot there and I guess that must be in scale. I was just trying to avoid the expense .

I can understand that! I picked up some 1:35 infantry a while back and while some of the smaller pouches might be usable, the water bottles are bigger than the heads of many of my models

For the record, 1:36 infantry kits ARE DEFINITELY too large. 1:35 vehicle kits, on the other hand, are my preferance. But then, I tend to scale models bigger, rather than smaller, for both fair game play (i.e. not trying to get added benefit through modeling) and for the visual effect.