A while back I sculpted an Ork Def Korps Genrul and his Grot aid. I liked the look so much I decided to sculpt him a command squad and Kommissar. One thing led to another and now I have a nearly playable army of Def Korps of Kreeg. About a year ago I built a few Earthshaker cannons and about 4 months ago I decided to add 6 more. People had asked if I could do a construction blog, so here goes.

Since I had already basically figured out the engineering and construction, materiel and measurement specifics, this time the build should be easier and go much faster.

Now all of these steps could be done with an exacto, scissors, needle files and a pin-vice, but if you are planning on making more than one, I would recommend upgrading your "tool box". A Dremel is an essential tool for me. I don't think I would have even finished the first one by now without it. Plus with the addition of a "Big Ass Metal File", this build was much easier than it could have been. Still even with these I'm still looking at almost 5 months from start to paint shed.

The first step was to make the wheels. Since I already had the templates, I just used those to trace 48 of them onto the plasticard. I used a sharp scissors to cut them out and then a file to finish rounding them. A pin vice for the pilot holes, the Dremel with a conical sanding bit widened them and a round needle file finished them off. Then I used some narrow and thin strip for the spokes and the hubs. Last time I had a lot of difficulty getting the outside part of the wheels on evenly and a horrible time getting things to line up later in the build, so this time I got smart and decided to use a jig(?).

I hurried and carried my newfound smartness onto the next step before it left me, and I became dumb again. After examining my completed guns, I realized painting the inside of the wheels after they were glued together was going to be one hell of a challenge, so I decided to paint them first. At least this eliminated one headache from painting.

Once that was done I had to make the "suspension" bitz. A hole punch was used to make some of the circles and a leather punch was used to make the larger rivets.

The carriage itself was next. Sheets of plasticard and square tubing were used. Again, thank Gork I still had the templates. Same for the support parts on the back.

Here are the Big shields. Again, more templates to trace.

Big Gunz!

I added gubbinz to the front before I attached the wheel assemblies. I wanted to make sure that the platform was level after I attached the wheels. As it turns out, if I set the platform on top of 2 standard Lego bricks, it puts the platform at the perfect height. So, all I had to do was make sure the wheels were in the right spot, front to back.

Great blog! The pictures really document the whole process well. That is an extensive volume of custom plasticard parts!

thing o beauty and no mistake...

patience of a saint and the hands of a draughtsman. impeccible plasticarding. If I could do the same, I'd have heavy mortars a-plenty for my guard! LOL

Exalted for the perseverance of cutting out all the bits so far! Great level of detail going in to them, it’ll be an immense gun battery when it’s done!

Wow, amazing work, looking forward to the finished earthshaker.

Finished with the build. Finally. I went back and added some more gubbins to the first 3. Tools and such. I'm kind of happy with the way they've turned out so far. Now to just get some warmer weather so I can pray a basecoat and get these things painted up.

fantastic, detailed and neat build. Your plasticard skills are great to be able to make so many identical parts so accurately.

They'll make a magnificient and foreboding sight across the table

Yeah, that’s amazingly neat and consistent work!

Great work, the patience you must have to build not one but none is a amazing!

I’ve started

Wow! Very nice scratchbuilding! Subscribed!


Capt. Hodgeheg

Are those… Track links?…

They look like they could’ve track links, but surely no one would try such a thing?!?! good luck getting them together!

Unbelievably detailed build mate. Super impressed by the amount of effort and precision that went into that battery. Can't wait to see it painted, as well as whatever new madness the blog brings!

Yes, those are going to be track links. I’ll post more pics later. Until then, this is the assembly process for the links.

I’ll also be adding some finished pics of the Earthshakers.

With a bout with the plague, working 10+ hrs/day 6 days a week and playoff hockey (Go Wild!) progress has been a little slower than I’d like, but here’s what we’ve got so far.

By the Emperor that's some awesome work. I completely lost the plot when I was building some tank treads for a conversion so you definitely have better patience and skill!

Next time I'm sure going to use a Dremel.

Mindblowing what you can do with plasticard. Very smart use of lego blocks I can see in those tank tracks.

Here are some pics of one of the Earthshakers. I don’t have the time or room to set up a group shot, so just the one will have to do.

I also have a couple pics of me breaking them in during a big Apocalypse game a few weeks back. Playing them as an artillery company, they kicked ALOT of Super Heavy butt. In the very first round of shooting, the spotting round landed directly in the center of the Baneblade and the rest of the guns pummeled it into and Apocalyptic explosion. They also claimed an Imperial Knight and did everything but destroy the other Baneblade.

Some WIP pics. I had a rough time with the placement of the heavy stubbers within the hull. I’m still not sure I’m going to be completely happy, but it’s too late to change it up now. Yeah, the Legos just turned out to be the perfect width to use for some extra support. It’s a lot better than cutting up a bunch of tubing.

The hulls are going to be a bit wider than I had envisioned, but bigger is always better. Right?

This is absolutely incredible!

That’s nuts! I’m talking about the full on Battery of guns in the field and the plasticard tanks. Amazing!

Wow that amount of guns on a table...

After a somewhat productive day yesterday…

Now for the tracks! Shouldn’t take too long, there’s only 135 of them.

Those Earthshaker cannons are looking great! Ever since I read the Siege of Vraks books, I have wanted to make some.

Progress, I guess. Tracks are on. It took a lot longer than I had expected because I needed to file off some of the width on some and cut wider ones for other spaces to make everything fit nice.

Now to finish the rear part of the hull and add the top part before starting the turret.

Still really incredible stuff, did you say what tanks those are going to be? I know russes don’t have twin stubbers, so Malcadors?

Amazing work.

They look like Machariuses (Machariusi?)

Macharipodes I believe..

Fantastic updates, the tracks look spot on.

Thanks all! Yes they are Machariuses. Machariuserases? Macharius + 1.

I wanted a WWI look to them, so I modeled the tracks after a couple pics I found of WWI “Land Ships”. I also made some water cooled Browning machine guns to replace the Big Shootas in the sponsons.

I’m not sure if I like the width of the hulls, they look a bit wide to me. Does anyone have a Forgeworld Macharius that could post the actual width of the hull?

Some very impressive scratchbuilds here! Serious dedication.

Nice start on the Mercarii - IMO one of the best tank designs to come out of 40k.

Lovely work- incredible attention to detail and precision!

Brilliant idea to use lego block bits as spacers to stiffen the whole tread units up and ensure even spacing- I'm stealing that....

Rock on!

Seriously impressive work on the Macharius’ they look superb already

Progress!

I had toyed with the idea of redoing the hulls to make them skinnier, but I decided the amount of work wouldn’t be worth the effort. And with the back section added, it makes them look leaner.

I’ll be adding a little more height with the addition of a platform for the turret.

The top platform is finished.

Superb work, the panelling on the side looks very nice.

Great craftmanship in this thread, Nozeminer. The Macharius project in particular looks the part.

May the Fourth Be With You!

Celebrate Responsibly!

Looks great so far on the Macharius tanks! Very clean.

I was told there would be no math.... The geometry involved to get all the angles to line up- even allowing for filling and sanding- most impressive.

Thank you!

Oh, my method is measure twice cut once, cut again because it didn’t fit, file, cut some more, file again, and start all over because a messed it up. And don’t forget the swearing.

 Nozeminer wrote:
Thank you!

Oh, my method is measure twice cut once, cut again because it didn’t fit, file, cut some more, file again, and start all over because a messed it up. And don’t forget the swearing.

Sounds like a good method! . It certainly produces great results!

Wonderful stuff in here, very impressive skills!

I’ve finished the engine compartment, but I’m not sure how I’m going to finish off the bottom pipes of the exhausts. I’d like to bend them back toward the hull, but they’ll just fold in on themselves. I might just build a box for them to just disappear into.

The exhaust isn’t attached yet. They’re going to be up higher when I’m done.

Amazing plasticard work on those tanks!

If you cut two tubes at 45 degrees, would they fit together into a nice right-angle join? Might be worth trying.

Slinky’s idea would work well, or maybe roll a GS tube and bend that?

I was able to get a bunch done yesterday. I did do the plastic tubing cut at an angle for my Ork Fighta. It’s a bit too angular for what I am going for. It looks great for Orks, but the Imperium builds things a bit “cleaner”. The same goes for the GS idea. While I’m sure I could get it clean enough, getting 4 pipes the exact same width, length and angle would be more of a challenge than I’m in the mood for right now. I’m happy with the way the “box” turned out.

As the build moves along, I’m finding a few measurement issues that weren’t noticeable before, but now that I’m adding the details they are becoming an issue. Not too big, but annoying, nonetheless. The ladder, for example. It’s supposed to extend up one more rung onto the hull section, but with the way I cut it, there’s no room. Like I said, it’s not a big deal, but it bugs me anyway.

Enuff yakkin’! ‘Ere’s da pikz!

The Genrul is pleased with the progress.

The box worked well!

I got the basic shape of the turret done. Still trying to figure out how I'm going to attach the guns and if I'm going to have them able to elevate or not.

That’s really awesome! The details just keep on coming, amazing!

The box turned out perfect, for next time I wonder if heating and bending using a jig would work? It might take a couple of incremental jigs to get it right without kinking I reckon.

I think if you want to bend a tube you have to have something inside it as well to stop it collapsing, like a coil spring of the right diameter.

Yeah, I've tried heating and bending with no success. I once tried it with a smaller diameter tube and plastic rod inside, but the rod got too soft and squished under the pressure when the tube wanted to collapse. Maybe an aluminum rod might work?

Maybe trying one of the heavier guitar strings?

Please post what works for you, as I've an interest in bending my own guardrails and such-like also.

Good luck!

If you do go the brass or aluminum rout there are springs that help stop the tube from collapsing. Micromark carries them in states but these are the same thing.
https://www.hobbies.co.uk/k-s-tube-bending-springs?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaignid=19833019814&utm_campaign=&utm_term=&adid=&addisttype=xpla&matchtype=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj_bwpvmS_wIVNIBQBh1JPgU0EAQYASABEgIzXPD_BwE

Thanks for the link Snitchy. I think I’ll look into those.

Did some detail work while procrastinating on the turret.

This is awesome. Great work keep it up!

Yeah, aluminium rod should be ok, though a sharp 90 degree bend might fracture it

Im still procrastinating on making the big guns so, more detailing done. This is taking FOREVER! But it’s so satisfying.

It's all gotta get done sooner or later, and in the sooner, it looks great!

I'm thinking to scratchbuild a vehicle for the heavy mortar that came with the DUST SPG that I'm building out as a 'Snow Leopard' for my Nekomimi Winterguard (The Doom Pixies) and am getting a ton of ideas on what I'd like to do from your project- rock on!

Love the attention to detail on this scatchbuild!

Thanks for sharing

Thanks for the comments everyone. Meer_Cat, glad I could be of assistance. Be sure to post pics.

That fine detail work looks excellent. Excited to see this under a layer of primer eventually!

For bending a tube: seal off the end and fill it with sand. That's how you do hardline watercooling tubes for computers - might be worth looking up a tutorial for that to get some ideas. It's not quite mini-scale, but it's plastic and uses a small-ish diameter.

Too. Many. Greeblies! I really need to build the guns or I’m going to go a little mad adding greeblies! Fortunately, the Fam and I are going to the Mountains and then to a baseball game, which will probably be a well needed break.

That being said, I am actually pleased with how things are turning out.

Question: Does anyone know what this is supposed to be for? Besides bulking out the side out the turret, I mean.

Thanks.

It looks like some kind of rangefinder. The old Leman Russ had a similar attachment, but in that case it had some kind of hatch on the front face and I think was supposed to contain a piece of machinery used by the main gun.

AFAIK, the macharius and FW leman russ were produced for the siege of Vraks books. Canonically the atmosphere of the world was extremely hazardous - hence all the gas masks on the old renegades and the Death Korps - so the tanks have a lot of additional air filters and canisters and stuff over where vents would normally be on other tanks.

All of that is to say: Could be a filtered air intake.

Yeah shmvo, that's kind of what I was thinking on the Macharius since there does seem to be a vent, but there is also what appears to be a lens of some sort next to the vent. And as Haighus mentioned, the Leman Russ' also have this on the side of their turrets.

It always seemed to me that those existed only because when they designed the Russ turrets, it wasn't pointed out that they were way too weedy until it was too late in the production process. So, to fix it they just stuck that little box onto the sprue to bulk it out.

The reason I'm asking is because I need to add something to this large space, but I'm not sure what I want to add, If I knew the purpose of that box. it might inform how to shape that thing.

So far, I've got a combination air filter, range finder, gun part housing.

Thanks for the comments, folks! Keep 'em coming.

I have no idea based on any of the books, but I was thinking air filtration unit- given the hose that runs to the inside of the turret. Perhaps the lens could be a spectrographic analysis tool, to determine which pollutants are present?

It might be unrelated to the standard function of the gun and would almost certainly be uncanonical, but you could strap a two-shot tank killer missile box on the side- almost exactly what they did for the M2 Bradley when someone pointed out during development that it had the profile of an MBT but couldn't slug it out with them.

Oh yeah- and the level of greeblosity is of the fethin' scale, man! Outstanding attention to detail.

On the Leman Russ Incinerator model, the same structure has two lenses, that's why I also assumed it's some kind of rangefinder.
See the upper right and lower left pic here:

So, it's time for an opinion poll. What do you guys think of this "Range Finding/Gun Sight Greebly"?

Usually, I can decide almost right away about a gubbin, but I'm not 100% sold on this one.

One thing that worries me is that I don't know what I would put there if I don't use it.

I finally bit the bullet and started work on the guns. I wanted to be able to change out the Twin-Battle cannons for Twin-Vanquishers so I made four of each.

First I made the part that will hold the barrels using 1/2" or 12.7mm tube. I would have loved to have used something a little larger, but this is the largest Evergreen makes. I filed-to-fit some 7/16" or 11.1mm tube and glued them perpendicular to the first tube. Then 3/8" or 9.5mm tube is used for the main barrel lengths. I glued some strips of various widths and thicknesses around the barrels to add some more detail.

The last pic is a length comparison.

I am in favour of adding the box. I always liked them on the old Russ design.

...I feel like I have read an explanation in White Dwarf somewhere for the Russ version, but that looks a bit different and may have different functions.

The wok on the guns looks great!

I just watched a video on YouTube about the M103- the "last of America's super-heavy tanks" and it had a bulge in the turret on either side of the gun mantlet that housed the range-finder apparatus- they stuck out a bit like the ears on a hippo. It makes sense that there would be two, as the calculator would need to be able to measure the parallax between the two beams to know how far it was looking.

So, not only could you add 'the box' to your build- you could add two, and have historical precedent and technical soundness to do so!

Excellent project to follow.

Turret is getting there. I got some work done on the gun housing/shield? At first, I was just going to leave it plain, but I decided to add some edging around the sides to add a bit more visual interest which made a huge difference.

After that, I started on the backside. After a few versions of different components, they're finished.

On a side note, when you build a part that is supposed to attach to a specific space on the main part of your build, make sure it will fit in the spot! A lot of filing and fair bit of finagling later, the extra track links are on.

Wow, absolutely phenomenal work!

Driver hatch done! And more greeblies. I think I may have gone a little overboard with the greeblies as now my tank has a bit of a spaceship look to it, but I’m fine with that. It give the surface more visual interest.

Wow! These just keep getting better and better! The vanquished and battle cannon on the same turret were funny!

Tank is look awesome looking forward to seeing finished!

Looking absolutely amazing. You could also use that empty space for more crew stowage or for a Hunter Killer Missile - many of the old kits wanted you to place it on the side of the turret. I think a range finder (or leaving it as is) looks more sleek and realistic, but this is also 40k, so that concern generally goes right out the window :-)

I was able to get some work done during my limited down time over the past week and I'm almost done with the build.

I got the hatches finished (almost). When they're complete, they'll be open and have a driver and a tank commander. I just need to sculpt those up and get them inside. I'll also need to build a couple of heavy stubbers for the command hatch.

I decided to add that range finder bit to the top of the turret along with some accompanying greeblies for it. The actual box thing on the side of the turret was a pain in the ass to build. But I can live with the final results. Since the consensus was a combination vent/range finder I used varying sizes of styrene tubing for the outside of both. Inside the vent is just some .030"x.030" strips amd the lens for the range finder is a styrene rod cut to fit and filed to a round end. I'll be adding some corrugated tubing to the back that will lead into the turret.

The back needs a few tools or something to add some detail and the back of the command cupola will get a few rungs added so the crew can climb on top.

When those items on the to-do list done it'll be on to the rivets. And when I'm done with the rivets, there'll be more rivets. And then, you guessed it, more rivets.

Very impressive!

Whoa. This is amazing scratch-building!

A beauty!

Thanks.

So. Many. Rivets!!! I’m starting to rivet things in my dreams now.
For just one tank I cut up 1 and 1/3 14” long plastic rods for a grand total of about 875 rivets per tank. Aside from the hatches, which I’ll have to sculpt the crew before attaching, I think this build is finished.

Wonderful!

What an amazing project!

Kudos and thanks for sharing.

Looks amazing, can't wait to see the paint job on that. Any chance of a group shot of the whole gang in the near future?

Thanks!

Not all of the "gang" is painted yet. It might be a while before that all happens, but I could probably post a shot of them as is next weekend.

Nice work!
I envy your ability to add so many rivets to anything, five is usually my maximum before I need to take a a two day break!

such a beautifully clean build there bravo sir!

That is just amazing! Impressive stamina to do all of those rivets so neatly . Finished off an epic build really well. Intrigued to see how you get on with the crew sculpting

Well, I decided to take a little break from the tanks. I’ve been wanting to scratch build a spaceship for a while now and since I still had my styrene out, I went ahead and built one. I’m overall happy with the finished build, but if I did it again there are a few things I’d do differently. I think it was a good learning experience for me.

Great scratch build, kinda has a similar vibe to some Halo human ships.

I'm a lurker in this topic, but I'm also really impressed, almost intimidated by your skills. It's amazing to see what is possible with dedication.

Another awesome model, well done!

Love how monolithic it looks. Tbh, it looks like a scale model or concept for a big-budget sci-fi film. I could see that being in the next Dune movie.

Some of youse guys- Ezki, Camkhieri, you:

"I grew weary of minute manipulation of styrene, so to relax, I built this different incredibly complex thing out of styrene....."

Beautiful little ship!

As mentioned, could easily fit in with the Halo-type fleets, or going even further back, might almost belong to the same shipping company as owned the Nostromo or even the Marine Transport Sulaco.

Rock on!

Thanks all!

It actually wasn't that difficult to build. The hardest part was the "bridge" area and the fact that I had to make most of the greeblies as my greebly box is almost non-existent.

I took a lot of inspiration from Sublight Drive on a Youtube video I saw. I took his basic design and changed a few things to make it my own. I also watched a few Adam Savage videos and found that I was already using quite a few techniques that he uses, which I thought was pretty cool.

I'm still waiting to paint up a whole bunch of stuff, but the HobbyTown that I used to drive past on my way home from work closed a few months back. Now I have to drive almost an hour to the nearest hobby shop to get most of the supplies I need.

The Macharius' are currently in the paint shed (waiting on some varnish before they can be weathered) and I finished the cargo ship (pics to come). In the meantime, I started this. I've wanted to scratch build a battleship for some time, so. First some sketches and the skeleton of the ship.

I can already tell this is going to be awesome

The sketches are already awesome :O

Finished the landing bays. The plan is to paint them and then finish assembling the rest of the ship. Still working out the particulars for masking them while painting the rest of the ship.

Excellent scratch builds Nozeminer.

Got quite a bit of work done this weekend. Mostly details and greeblies. The jury’s still out on the yellow “orbs”, but I haven’t found anything to replace them with.

I’m finally getting around to taking some pics of a painted Macharius and my scratch built ship. Still need to do a bunch on the tank. Weathering and mudding. Pretty happy with the ship. Might paint in a few windows here and there.

We’ve got thrusters! Need to add some more greeblies and details then I’ll start moving towards the bow. Added some bulk around the middle to better accommodate the main gun on the underside and to add a better platform for the turrets on the sides.