Well I'm back After far too long away I'm finally here with something new. Unfortunately it has nothing to do with Fellblades, but I digress....
As the title hints at this is all about true scale vehicles, and a lot of them. The project is for a client who has a growing collection of true scale Space Marines but wanted vehicles of the same scale. As I had already been pondering about how to do such a project I jumped at the chance to give it a try (especially with someone else's money). So here we go....
First up are the Rhinos as they will be the basis for most of the army. The trick was going to be how to true scale the current kit while still making it easy to assemble. As I recently had done an Mk1 Rhino conversion kit I looked at that for inspiration and discovered the solution. Like the Mk1 kit I would use large panels on either side but these would increase the length, width, and height of the model. First up I had to cut the Rhino track sections in half:
With the exhaust pipes cut off I designed a plate with a spacer in between that increased the length about 3/4 of an inch and added 0.25 inches to the height. A scratch built wheel was also added on the spacer. Also to keep with the Mk1 theme a round door, running board, and new exhausts were added:
A spacer was also made for the inside of the Rhino:
Finally the track sections were widened 0.25 inches so that the Land Raider treads can be used:
So there's the start. Once these are finished and detailed up I will make molds of the pieces so that I can produce enough of these parts for all ten Rhino chassis.
The challenge after that is figuring out the mods for the rest of the body. As always, more to come....
Just want to make sure that people are properly excited for this thread - though it is impossible for someone to be more psyched up for this than I am!
Land Raider?!? Did you say LAND RAIDER?!? Sir, you are crazier than I, and I wish you luck on the (very) short path that leads to driving your head into a wall.
On a more serious note, the progress you've made on the Rhino is great! Will definitely be watching this, with praise in one hand and Aspirin in the other.
Odd One Out wrote:Land Raider?!? Did you say LAND RAIDER?!? Sir, you are crazier than I, and I wish you luck on the (very) short path that leads to driving your head into a wall.
On a more serious note, the progress you've made on the Rhino is great! Will definitely be watching this, with praise in one hand and Aspirin in the other.
Don't worry about Machinator - he's got the skills to pay those bills!
Seriously though - check out his other threads - all awesome, all the time!
Odd One Out wrote:Land Raider?!? Did you say LAND RAIDER?!? Sir, you are crazier than I, and I wish you luck on the (very) short path that leads to driving your head into a wall.
On a more serious note, the progress you've made on the Rhino is great! Will definitely be watching this, with praise in one hand and Aspirin in the other.
Actually I said Land RaiderS (plural)
I'm looking forward to getting started on that part of the project. It's been a while since I've scratch built a tank.
Land RaiderS...yeah, you ARE crazier than me. Let the madness continue! And I'm sure that with your skills, building a tank will be fairly easy. Snap to it!
More updates today. The conversion bits for the tracks sections are complete and ready to be cast. Once I have those done I can assemble a set and figure out how the rest of it will go together.
Here's some pics on how it looks next to a "normal" Rhino:
Well today has been another busy day. Over the past week I've completed the molds for the first set of parts and got them all cast up. Today was the start of assembly so that I could start on the second set of parts.
As you can see the masters for the track armor sections are now done along with the front armor plate. The cast resin pieces glued onto the original kit rather nicely although some tweaking was still needed. As for things like the rear and top hatch I chose to space those with plasticard instead of remaking them. I've also decided to cast up a new set of treads as I realized the Land Raider treads were much too thick. But that will be next weeks project
Joshh wrote:Looks great! Will these conversion parts be up on your Ebay store?
Thanks!
No these won't be making it into my store. The conversion is a little too complex as there is a lot of cutting up of the original kit to get all the new pieces to work. But if you feel up to the challenge send me a PM and we can discuss.
Just a short update today. I finished the molds for the front and the track section armor plates:
As mentioned before I decided to make a new set of tracks for this project as the Land Raider tracks were just too thick. I made them in a more traditional standard as I'll be able to use them on a future project, but they should still look good. I made six masters and should have their mold done today. Once that is complete and I have a few casts done I'll make up some longer sections to save me some time. That should be the last mold for this project
Then there's just a lot of cutting and assembly....
It's been a long journey up to this point but I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The molds are all made and most of the parts are cast, now comes a laborous bit of assemble.
The first Rhino is nearly complete (just need to do some cleanup work) with the new treads attached and all the bits in place. Now I just need to build up nine more like it
and to give you an idea of scale:
Hopefully next weekend I can start the Land Raiders....
Brilliant work!
I don't mean to be mean or cruel, but the front armor plates look a bit bland. Even just a searchlight or anything would be perfect! You're doing way better than I ever could hope to do.
I have done an independant mini-review here for those interested. This is on the first rhino kits not the slightly bigger ones.
1st off, is it cheaper? Well i'm not sure on this one, his kits aren't expensive $20 a shot (which i think is very reasonable). A Rhino however costs some, so for me it just so happened to be cheaper to buy from MACHINATOR as I have several Rhino kits laying around. The FORGEWORLD kit is nice and probably easier to assemble (plus you get the Rhino) however you pay through the nose (£33, I have no idea about US prices but I would guess $50?) and it doesn't really look like the mk1 Rhino so it really misses the entire point!
2nd, easy of building. I would say on the difficulty scale it was 3 out of 5 (possibly a 2 out of 5), e.g not for Novice/ Beginner but easy for a reasonably competent modeller bearing in mind the difference working with Resin. The hardest part is getting a hacksaw or Jewellers saw and cutting off the exisiting exhaust sections, once this is done it's very easy. There was very, very slight warping with the resin parts, but the good old Hot water, bend slightly, dip in cold water technique worked fine. It must be said that Forgeworld stuff is always warped and I have yet to receive a kit that wasn't warped, so I am not at all put out by this. The sections where the outer hatches and section meet the walls of the Rhino, you just need to use some more glue and really press them together. If it doesn't work, fill the gap with a bit of the Liquid Greenstuff, easy, plus I haven't seen many air bubbles on the kits, so I am very pleased with MACHINATORS quality of casting.
3rd Aesthetics, I really like the beefy feel of it. The extra width is like a modern rhino (and it is about 5mm wide than a current Rhino) but the look is like a 2nd edition Rhino. So I think 5/5.
Overall, 4/5. Goes to show what a man on his own, with limited resources can produce, compare that with the FORGEWORLD effort in a studio, by Professionals yet it looks nothing like the original.
+10 MACHINATOR. FORGEWORLD Epic Fail (looks nice, but it isn't a mk1 Rhino! The exhausts are wrong!).
First I want to thank mwnciboo for his wonderful write up. It has nothing to do with this thread but nevertheless I appreciate it I'm glad those kits worked out for you.
OK, I've been away from this thread for sometime but I've been busy in the background and have much to show you. The Rhino based vehicle are nearly done with the exception of the Vindicators, which I hope to finish up today.
Yeah, well you can use that mini-review as testimonial where ever you want it mate (plus I might have posted into the wrong thread, but then you are running so many of these concurrently ). I am very happy with way my Mk1 Rhino is going, the Landraider is going to be brilliant if your other stuff is to go by.
Well next up are the Vindicators and I have to admit, these turned out pretty good. To keep with the MkI theme I had to move the demolisher cannon to the center of the front panel, which wasn't so bad. Hovever, it also meant I had to move the opening in the dozer blade to the center as well, which was a much bigger deal. Not to mention I also had to widen the blade 1/2 an inch to match the rest of the vehicle. But with some plasticard, green stuff, and a whole bunch of sanding it worked out in the end.
Also in theme I made up three side armor panels to match the old design. Other than some clean up, the Rhino based vehicles are all complete. Now I just have a couple of Land Raiders to finish....
Capitansolstice wrote:Im assuming these are for a commission?
You are correct - and I'm happy to say that they're mine... all mine!!!
They've all turned out even better than I expected.
All hail Machinator!
. . .
I want some...
Seriously though, Mach has made these things look GOOD. No longer "lol tiny box holds HOW many marines? it can also hold a huge gun?!" it looks properly scaled now...
Capitansolstice wrote:Im assuming these are for a commission?
You are correct - and I'm happy to say that they're mine... all mine!!!
They've all turned out even better than I expected.
All hail Machinator!
You know you did a good job when you can get the customer to cackle evilly
Tonight I'll be gathering them up for a group shot then it's off to the shippers.
Dysartes wrote:Machinator - very minor point, dude, but your Predator descriptions are the wrong way around at present.
Other than that, some awesome work - I wonder if FW will do a version of the domed Predator at some point...
You sir passed the test.
Yeah someone else pointed that out too. I've just been to lazy to change it.
Given how FW is on a big pre-Heresy kick now I expect to see the old dome top Predator turret and sponsons return very soon. I think a lot of the old 1st edition stuff is going to be looked at again including the Predator, the Whirlwind, and maybe even the Sabre. There's a huge market out there for it.
The only think I didn't like about the 2nd ed Whilrwind (I'm not sure if you're counting the WD conversion article here) was keeping the turret in one piece.
Wow that's awesome, love their bulk.
If you picture some marines around it these things actually look like they could really be their transports rather than little boxes.
Machinator is a Forge World onto himself - and these tanks are exactly what I envisioned when I started the commission process on these a long time ago, with another person.
I should have just gone straight to Machinator, but I am glad that this is where we've ended up...
Still mad as a hatter...but totally worth it! Your true-scale renditions are looking excellent so far, good sir! I can only imagine the awe-inspiring work that is still to come from you!
MajorTom11 wrote:MajorTom11 demands to see a machi-raider! Right meow!
Me too, of course, but we must be patient!
Ailaros wrote:The truescale transport looks comically huge next to a non-truescale marine, but I like the looks as tanks (preds, vindi, etc.).
Tue scale land raider? Yes please.
Due to unfortunate circumstances with a different modeller, I never thought I'd see these tanks in reality, so I am VERY happy with how they turned out.
Machinator wrote:Here's a final group shot with a "regular" Rhino in the middle to give you some scale. Now these are off to Alpharius for paint.
One of these things is not like the other things... one of these things does not belong!
They really don't look that much different when you show them individually but are obviously bigger in a group shot... that's a testament to your modelling skills!
I'm looking forward to working on the machi-raider (I like the sound of that ) but will probably not be able to start on it until January or so. I still have some smaller commissions to finish up along with getting my assault speeders and some new Fellblade parts in my store.
Speaking of Fellblades, my other December project is a Falchion. What's a Falchion? Why it's the Space Marine version of the Shadowsword
Machinator wrote:Speaking of Fellblades, my other December project is a Falchion. What's a Falchion? Why it's the Space Marine version of the Shadowsword
GTFO of Here!!!! Will that be tru-scale? I am pondering on the cost of Shipping from the good old US of A?
Argh! Why are they looking so good ... ? Now i have those pictures stuck in my head calling to me. Calling to be done for my own CSM army.
Especially as most of my marines are slightly scaled up and the regular rhino are already to small for normal scaled ones.
Great and inspireing work. Keep it up.
And the picture is probably a true scaled landraider proteus.
Well it seems like it has been years since I last worked on this project but alas it has only been two....
But work has begun again and will hopefully be finished in the coming week or two. When we left off I just had a grainy picture of a one of the side panels for the track section. Well much has been done to it since then including the addition of some pretty nifty sponsons:
Alpharius wrote: For a while I was worried that my True Scale Terminators were too big (and actually, they probably are!) but that ride will work quite well for them!
I'm always bummed when I come to check out a hobby thread and the poster uses an image hosting site like Photobucket, which is commonly work blocked for many of us. All I get to see is a bunch of broken image links... I'm sure they look cool!
Work continues on the True Scale Landraiders. Today was spent piecing together the various sections that will be glued to the track modules and make the hull. Some of these are a bit rough and all need to be detailed but so far so good.
If all goes well assembly begins tomorrow!
Assault ramp:
Front section with and without assault launchers (I know, pre-heresy heresy!):
Machinator wrote: Now Alpharius, I expect to see this entire army painted up at some point
That's the plan!
An airbrush is on the tax return/work bonus wishlist for this year too, so hopefully that helps speed things up!
Don't think I won't come out of retirement to hold your ass to that! lol, great to see this one finally moving, Machinator is living up to my recommend by the looks of it!
Machinator, is your photogallery out of bandwith? You have a strange cut off frog pic in your sig that looks to be an image shack placeholder instead of something more specific to yourself.
There are legends of Alphs TS legion, but I have never seen it outside this thread. I may have to drive down to Boston and start knocking on random doors soon.
warboss wrote: Machinator, is your photogallery out of bandwith? You have a strange cut off frog pic in your sig that looks to be an image shack placeholder instead of something more specific to yourself.
All fixed, it was a link to a dead image. Gave me a change to replace it with my new logo!
An airbrush speeds things up Massively! With your scheme, just base coating with it would cut the painting time literally in half. I love my "pistol grip" style airbrush for basecoating. Getting a compressor with a 1 gallon / 3 liter tank really helped too, to get a consistent flow.
Regarding the WIPs, that land raider looks magnificent! Has this project been on the back burner the last two years but still going, or was this a reboot / new commission? The work is just excellent.
RiTides wrote: Regarding the WIPs, that land raider looks magnificent! Has this project been on the back burner the last two years but still going, or was this a reboot / new commission? The work is just excellent.
Thanks!
The back burner does even begin to describe where this project has been
But yes, for the past two years they've sat in a box as Alpharius politely reminded me every month that I still need to finish them. Finally that time has come....
RiTides wrote:An airbrush speeds things up Massively! With your scheme, just base coating with it would cut the painting time literally in half. I love my "pistol grip" style airbrush for basecoating. Getting a compressor with a 1 gallon / 3 liter tank really helped too, to get a consistent flow.
Regarding the WIPs, that land raider looks magnificent! Has this project been on the back burner the last two years but still going, or was this a reboot / new commission? The work is just excellent.
Definitely planning on upgrading to an airbrush set up this tax return season...
Machinator wrote:
RiTides wrote: Regarding the WIPs, that land raider looks magnificent! Has this project been on the back burner the last two years but still going, or was this a reboot / new commission? The work is just excellent.
Thanks!
The back burner does even begin to describe where this project has been
But yes, for the past two years they've sat in a box as Alpharius politely reminded me every month that I still need to finish them. Finally that time has come....
And you know what?
I'm OK with all that!
I'm a ridiculously slow painter/project finisher, and you've helped me recover from a VERY unfortunate 'conversion issue' that almost managed to not only permanently derail my True Scale marines but my interest in the hobby as a whole.
I wholeheartedly and 100% recommend that everyone interested in anything Machinator does move forward without reservation - he does a great job and, as far as I can tell, is a nice guy too.
Not just one, but two of these True Scale behemoths. Both are easily convertible between the standard Land Raider configuration and the Redeemer and Crusader.
Now you're probably thinking: "That's a lot of parts to lug around!" Well I thought of that too. That's why they converter into a carrying case!
And so, I can now call this project complete
That said, I expect to see some pics on here when you finish painting them Alpharius!
After far too long away I'm finally here with something new. Unfortunately it has nothing to do with Fellblades, but I digress....
I will surely follow this thread.
Let the madness continue! And I'm sure that with your skills, building a tank will be fairly easy. Snap to it! 
?!!!
I suppose I will just have to get a saw then
GTFO of Here!!!! Will that be tru-scale? I am pondering on the cost of Shipping from the good old US of A? 
