Conversion of plastic Baneblade
After some Tanks done for Space Marines and Imperial Guard armys, Apoc came out and the fine Baneblade plastic kit.
Always wanted this big superheavy but never had an easy grasp at Forgeworld products.
Now we got a not cheap, but affordable Baneblade.
Started with 2 baneblades and a hellhammer. Built my own stormblade since I disliked the FW model.
Had some spare time between spring 08 and the 5thED/codex SM. Was caught by the idea of a super-heavy-company.
The poll to give me some impressions where to begin was successful (thanks to our dakkaites).
Result of this:
Part one:
Stormhammer.
Every Tank needs some background and the stormhammer was known to me only by Epic Armageddon.
My research gave me a first take on this Tank. It is a really contradictory built model. Seems like no two of
the existing scratchbuilt ones are close to the old Epic model.
Here is my try on it.
Rules = taken either from epic or epic armageddon.
Sure is 4x heavy bolter (sponsons), 2x turret with twin linked cannon. Old rules had battlecannon, newer had demolisher.
May get around problems with exchangable main guns.
Base for the tank
Used the plastic kit for the chassis. Tracks and lower hull completed and painted once.
Next on my list was to position the guns and get the upper hull to support them.
Built 2x turrets from spare predator parts. Most of them hatches and doors.
Parts used to form the basic turret (gets additional design):
Built turrets positioned to get a feeling for the looks:
Built the engine section.
Changed the upper hull with a saw. Needed space for the lower main turret and a part of the hull piece was planned to be
repositioned. Had some inspiration from the old epic model, but the Baneblade is different in his front.
Parts to be used for the upper hull:
Space for free movement of turrets tested:
Front hull newly defined to be more like a stormhammer:
Used a piece of plasticard and a rhinohatch to rebuild front.
Front completed and gaps closed with plastic putty:
Cut out a predators/razorbacks turret-emplacement for 1st and 2nd guns.
Used one at the main hull and the other at the upper part of the hull.
First recut baneblades turret-emplacement:
Inserted predator-turret-emplacement and closed the hole with spare plastic from the sprues.
Strengthened the parts with additional plastic. Closed the gaps with plastic putty.
Both turret-emplacements at the hull:
Added the armor plates at both sides. Fitted unused armor plates and some rhino doors as "surface" on the hull.
Combined the gun emplacement and the main hull. Filled holes with plastic from sprues / plasticard.
Filled the gaps with plastic putty.
Main hull is ready to fix the sponsons and extra bitz.
Next step will be to build the sponsons, after them the two turrets get their form and function.
The Main guns
First to start with the turrets to see where conflicts in movement will occur.
Used a plastic pipe to add some space to the side of the turret. Sawed the pipe into 3 pieces.Took 2 of them to form the flanks
of the turrets. Filled the gaps first with spare plastic from the sprues and then with plastic putty.
Polished the surface and got a second layer of plastic putty. Polished again to achieve a smooth surface.
Tested the guns to swivell undisturbed. Got a metal pipe for the guns and a spare piece of the plastic pipe for the "gun-shield".
Glued a base as "turret-mount" under the turrets. Positioned the Guns.
The turrets will get a few "pimp-mybaneblade-parts" to look imperial.
Guns upgraded to TL-Demoliser:
To counter the additional weight of the Guns ( metal pipes) the turrets got spare metal parts inside.
I have used old GW-parts from my bitz-box,but usual any heavy piece does the trick.
The Demolisher consists of 2 metal pipes, one smaller 10 mm and a slightly bigger 11 mm (diameter).
Guns and turret from side and above:
Complete turret front view:
Turrets need their hatches and some work on teir gunshields.
Next job are the secondary guns and the sponsons. Could either do with more "towering" sponsons or go for auto-targeters.
The secondary Guns
Old epic stormhammer had his secondary Guns at the top of the "sponsons" (maybe more turret mounts than sponsons).
Decided to combine the new plastic Baneblade kit with some ideas from the Old metal model.
So this super-heavy will field 4 sponsons,but only the forward left/right sponsons come from the plastic kit.
The sponsons accompanying turret 2 will be higher,they may shoot over the first pair of sponsons.
For those second pair,I try to make them from plasticcard and spare plastic.
Made the original Baneblade sponsons,but without the gun turrets. Will add targeters as replacement for the turrets.
Started with the second sponson-pair.
First build up with plastic from the sprue to get the side of the sponsons in an angle like those original sponsons.
Got the plastic in layers to "enlarge" the space where the sides will be mounted.
Had both sides glued to.
Got all 3 sides closed.
Placed the rear sponsons as seen on the old epic model.
Had to work with this model at a lower profile than the old one.So my sponsons couldn't be exactly and i had to change from
4 turrets to 2 turrets plus 2 typical sponson mounts.
To compare the size of the sponsons:
From above:
Parts used to build those sponsons:
The baneblade turrets would be useful for the rear sponsons.
Can take only 4 secondary guns in epic/epic armageddon.But now I have a position at the front where a gun may be handy.
Maybe a exchangable turret / hatch combo will solve this.
First set of guns will be the four heavy bolters.
The forward sponsons should use autotargeters (like shadowswords do) and I had to find some.
Existing range was only for space marine vehicles and I wanted them for IG. Decided to take an"upgrade" from the
"command-tank-upgrade-sprue". Combined this with a piece of wire.:
Could have tried in plastic,but metal is tougher if used as moving part.
Made a hole in the top of the sponson and fixed the end of the wire with the weapon mount of the Heavy bolters.
Now this targeter will always follow the direction of the guns.
Completed Heavy bolter sponson with targeters at the stormhammer:
The guns for the rear sponsons needed turrets and those small baneblade-turrets seemed viable.
To move the weapons those turrets have to be mounted at the scratchbuild sponsons.
Had another look at the Tank. Seems this will be the weapon config:
Main guns are free to move and those secondary have also good fire lines.
- Front main gun is 200°
- Rear main gun is 360°
- Front heavy bolter and sponson HB are 45°
- Rear HB turrets are 360°
Main and secondary Guns placed at the Hull:
The stormhammer in the "epic armageddon" variant:
-2x TL Demolisher with 4x heavy Bolter.
Main guns in identical place as old epic mini. Secondary guns in turret and sponsons.
Looks like this if facing a stormhammer:
Completion of the Modelling:
Final stages:
Add some unneeded but nice things like tools (shovel,pick) and other parts from vehicle upgrade sprues.
The included baneblade parts provide some basic stuff (antenna, decoration,a toolbox) but it is no problem to
recrut a few pieces from imperial tanks or space marine vehicles. Especially the personal gear (IG) and a searchlight
or hatches may give the tank more individuality.
I have decided to use parts from the baneblade and leman russ. Decoration and antenna from the baneblade-kit and
hatches,tools and personal-gear from the russ. Filled the last gaps with plastic putty.
This tank has now 2 configurations:
-a epic compatible
-a homebrew datasheet
Achieved is this option by the use of pipes as main gun. I can change with those "pipe-in-pipe" guns from demolisher to
battlecannon. Just use a long inner pipe or none.
Option epic compatible:
Option datasheet ( 5x HB):
Next step will be the paintjob.
