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Greetings everyone! First I want to apologize, it's taken me way too long to join this great site. There is some tremendous talent here so I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring as well.

Some time ago I during a night of insomnia I got inspired to build a series of Space Marine tanks that reflected the character of each of the original loyalist Legions from the time of the Horus Heresy. But these wouldn't be just any tanks, these would be the super-heavy Fellblades of the Adeptus Astartes! The first one up was the Blood Angels' Sactimonia Cruoris (previously known as the Sanctimonia of Cruor before someone corrected my Latin ). Below is some fluff I wrote on its background that set the tone for this project.

Even though I've already started on #2, the Imperial Fist Iron Breaker, I thought it would be good to give you some history as to how the project came about and bring you up to speed to where I am now. So without further ado, here...we...go....

The Fellblade is one of the most ancient war machines available to the forces of the Imperium. Much like its other heavily armed brethren the Fellblade bristles with potent weapons capable of laying low the most powerful of foes. However, what makes the Fellblade most dangerous is not its formidable guns or massive treads, it is that this hammer of mankind lies within the hands of the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines.

Once a common site along side the elite of the Emperor during the Great Crusades there are but a scant handful remaining amongst the original Legions. Yet in the midst of these few are the Fellblades of Renown, artifacts of a thousand wars that rise up like gods above the titans. One such as this is the Fellblade of the Blood Angels known in antiquity as the Sactimonia Cruoris, the Purity of the Blood.

As old as the Chapter itself, the Sactimonia Cruoris was used as the test bed for many of the new technologies and weapons discovered by the Blood Angels during the Great Crusade. Although not always in the same configuration, the Sactimonia Cruoris was forever at the forefront of battle and has the great distinction of being one of the few recorded vehicle to have participated in the Battle of Terra during the Horus Heresy and survived to this day. Even though its current pattern has not changed in nearly three thousand years the tomes of Master of the Forge still identifies its present form as “Experimental.”

Now a treasured relic, the Sactimonia Cruoris is only awoken from its slumber when the call to arms is so great that the entire Blood Angels Chapter is mobilized. It last took to the fields of war during the Second Battle for Armageddon. During the initial bombardment outside the Hive of Hades the Blood Angel performed a daring move deploying the Sactimonia Cruoris and a squadron of Baal class predators by rapid insertion into the heart of the ork horde. In less than a minute the sheer firepower of the Sanctimonia of Cruor and its comrades massacred the xenos within a half a kilometer of their drop zone in all directions. By the time the orks could regroup the void had been filled with the entire 3rd company and elements of the 1st. The Blood Angels had established their beach head allowing the rest of the angelic host to descent from the heavens and wage war against the invaders.










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Let's start with the main turret. I wanted the Fellblades to have a unique looked from the Baneblade so one of the first projects was redesigning the turret. The Visions of Heresy shows the old bubble top design like the old predator tank from eons ago. I decided to use that as a base but make it multi-faceted so that it blended in better with the overall sharp angled look of the tank.

First I built the basic form out of plasticard, filled in the gaps, and sanded it smooth until I had a nice base to work with.



Next up were all the plastic bits and wire that made it look more like something you'd see on a tank. Oh, and rivets...lots and lots of rivets. I got these from a company called Tichy Train Group that makes rivets, nuts, and bolts in all different sized. The ones I used here are the 0.040 and 0.050 inch diameter:





Finally I cast the whole thing up in a silicone mold so that I could make turrets for all the Fellblades to come....




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Next were the secondary turrets that were to replace the side turrets on the sponsons and the main hull. As I planned to move the heavy bolters up from the lower sponson to the turret I needed something a little taller and wider. Also the original turrets didn't match the look of my new main turret.

I built the turret from plasticard much like the larger one. It too has a removable weapon mount that rotates up and down. I also added a targetting box up top that looks space mariney but a little older and bulkier. Kind of like the predecessors of today's targetters, this thing is 10,000 years old after all



Front:


Back:





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Next up are the less than sexy fuel system and engines. The fuel drums on the Baneblade look great and give it a sense of scale but I wanted something that has a more integral look for the Fellblade, kind of like today's modern tanks and APC. As such, I came up with this angular thing of pipes, bolts, and rivets:





Then there is the engine. I was really happy how this turned out. Very space mariney and it fits well with the overall model. Also the back plate has a cutout in the center for the shrine. Like its counterparts it's all made of plasticard, strips, and tubes. It was a bit of a challenge to assemble but I think it turned out rather good.






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Finally came the assembly, which was also the most fun part of this project. Given all the new Blood Angels bitz that have been released there was a real plethora of parts to use on the Sactimonia Cruoris.

Starting with the Baneblade kit I cut out the old main turret section and added my new base plate that move the main turret more to the center. The rear engine portion was replaced with the new one along with the engines and exhaust. I also carefully cut out the shrine from the old piece and added it to the new. The rear tread covers were replaced by my new fuel tanks, which matched up nicely with the fuel ports on the Baneblade model. The Baneblade's twin-linked heavy bolters were trimmed to fit onto the new side turrets and a Baal Predator twin-link assault cannon was added to the new one mounted on the main hull. As for the sponsons I modified a Land Raider Redeemer flamestorm cannon to fit on either side. Finally the Baneblade treads were replaced with my Liberator Pattern 1.0 treads available from my eBay store.

Once all the resin pieces had been fitted I went to town gluing on all the extra plastic bitz. The teeth along the side armor skirts were replaced with the Blood Angels icons from the Drop Pods. The high mounted headlights are from the IG Valkyrie. The machine spirit and radar dish on the main turret are from the command upgrade sprue from Apocalypse. Everything else are bitz from other kits and Forgeworld. It was quite the conglomeration.









Then came the buckets of primer, paint, and washes. The end results you can see at the beginning of this thread or in the BoLS article. I'm quite happy how it all turned out. My goal was to create something that looked old but had enough design elements from the Space Marines to really distinguish it from just a Baneblade painted in Blood Angel colors. Overall I think it worked out pretty well.

So one down, six to go....


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So this brings us on to Fellblade #2. After taking a quick poll on another site the overwhelming response was that people wanted to see a Fellblade from the Imperial Fists. Now this one I had been planning to hold off for a little bit as my idea for it was rather more complicated than the first. But I bowed to the fans and started work.

Now the Imperial Fists are renowned for their expertise at siege warfare so it would make sense that their Fellblade would reflect this characteristic. This train of thought lead me back a couple of decades to an insane super-heavy GW put out for Epic that was beyond ridiculous in the amount of firepower it carried. We're talking two turrets each armed with heavy cannons and four sponsons loaded with weapons. I am of course talking about the Stormhammer.

First up I needed to make a medium sized turret that would allow me to fit two onto this beast. So as before I build another one out of plasticard that turned out about the same size as the current Baneblade turret. The weapon mount I kept the same as the larger main turret as I needed something wide enough for two battlecannon sized weapons.










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Next up was the cannon. This was made using a number of plastic tubes of different diameter that I shaped on a drill using some chisels. Simple but it worked.



Now it was time to begin assembling the beast called Iron Breaker. In order to fit both turrets onto the chassis I first needed to raise and push back the main turret mount about a half inch. This of course required a lot of hacking and sawing of the top chassis to get it all to work. Then using some of the bits left over from the hack job I pushed the old demolisher mount forward until it was even with the front (don't worry, that demolisher size hole in the front isn't getting a demolisher). I now had enough room to mount the two turrets in a staggered pattern such that one could fire over the other. Now I just have a lot of filling in to do....

Here it is with the finished the top of the new chassis, all it needs is detail now. To help even out the additional height of the rear turret mount I raised up the rear sponsons about a 1/4 of an inch. The engine was quite a bit of work but luckily I had some Shadowsword bits laying around that filled the hole nicely. It too was raised up a bit giving the engine a larger look.









So what do you think, is five twin-linked heavy bolters enough?

Here it is nearly done. I'm planning to redo the headlights as they don't quite look right. As for the rest I'll see if there is any more room for detail then it's off for clean up and priming. Hopefully I can start painting tomorrow.

I have to say this thing looks insane, but in a good way

Thanks Skalk. Hopefully there will be more in the coming days. I hope to have it all finished in the next week or so, but that is going to be a lot of yellow paint....

Thanks everyone, you're comments are very much appreciated

wolfshadow wrote:Please tell me your doing a Space Wolf Superheavy.

Oh yes, they're the fourth one in line at the moment. Dark Angels are up next.

Billinator wrote:Awesome, awesome, awesome!

Oh.... And did i mention, that it's awesome?


How the heck do you make those white copy thingies, from the 4th WIP-picture?


Anyways, it's amazing what you can make with something so simple as plastic sheets! And yet more amazing you just put it all together and form your very own super-tank with it. Truly amazing!

I made a silicone mold of the original piece and then use that to cast multiple copies in resin. I plan to make most of these piece available through my eBay store but there is still some tweaking I have to do with the molds.

There's a company called Smooth-On that supplies all the stuff you need to do it yourself. The mold making material is either OMOO 30 or MoldMax 30, the resin is Smoothcast 305 or 310.

Howard A Treesong wrote:Lovely, I like the touch of using the old style land-raider tracks on it. How many are you making, the one in the WIP is different to that painted.

There will be seven all together, I'm assuming the Raven Guard and White Scars never used them in the first place given that they always had the need for speed. Each one will be unique to the character of the Legion/Chapter.

Xca|iber wrote:These are awe inspiring. Upon looking at that first image, I didn't realize how much of it was custom made.

I was all like "Pfft SM Baneblade with kitbashed sponson guns." Then I was all like "Holy gak, that's amazing!"

This is some of the best custom built stuff I've seen; it blends so well with the existing range - and I mean in an epic way.

Can't wait to see all of these finished.

Thanks, that was precisely the look I was going for I wanted something that was Space Marine-y but still looked old and antiquated while avoiding making it look like just a Baneblade with Space Marine parts glued on. In the end I think everything blended well together.

wolfshadow wrote:I just hope your particular brand of insanity isn't too catching. I dont want to get served with Divorce papers. :-)

What 'theme' are you going for with the SW and Dark Angel models?

The Space Wolf Fellblade is going to be more like a long boat on treads: fast and armed to the teeth with crazed Wolves. The Dark Angels Fellblade will be like a rolling cathedral that can also blast heretics with copious amounts of plasma fire.

Heliodore wrote:Wonderful, I'm glad you're able to showcase everything and get them finished in a proper manner unlike my stuff, which gets built but never painted. Can't wait to see this thread through to all 7 of your planned creations! If you don't mind me asking, what do you have in store for your Iron Hands Fellblade?

1hadhq wrote:Love the first 2 'fellblades' , please do 18 of them....

Wait, missed its actually 7 you say?

May we expect 7 different Main armaments? If so which?

The thought behind this project is that each of these Fellblades (or at least what started as a Fellblade ) were modified from the original pattern to suit the Legions needs. So here are the seven and their defining characteristic:

Blood Angels: Shooty
Imperial Fists: Siege weapons
Dark Angels: Plasma based weapons
Space Wolfs: Transport with lots of shooty weapons
Iron Hands: Energy based weapons and fields
Ultramarines: Next generation Fellblade
Salamanders: Flamers and meltas

As for the exact armaments, that will be a secret for now

Element206 wrote:Quite possibly the BEST WIP post ive ever seen! Your vision and idea for these tanks are simply amazing! I googled 'Fellblade' just recently and was blown away by the blood angels tank which populated (turns out it was yours). It is a masterpiece, and the subsequent tank you have started is nothing short of that as well. These are superlative to the blades of the IG and rightfully so. Fantastic work! Could you tell me where you picked up the wheel spools on the front of the tank?

I cannot wait to see your progress on this project! 10/10 for your work and effort!

Thanks Element206. The drive/idler wheels in the front and rear of the tank are from my store Blood & Skulls Industry (see the link in my signiature). They're called Chancellor Type B wheels, I also have an A and C too


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Element206 wrote:I just read your Liberator pattern treads (which im planning buying!) are for sale on ebay. Since you are casting the turrets and the fuel tanks, do you plan to make these items for sale as well?

I plan to in time, I just need to make the mold production ready. However, if any of you are interested in getting these pieces before hand please send me a PM and I can give you a price list.

OoieGoie wrote:As much as I dislike the marines, the tanks are sweet. Amazing. Dakka needs more posts like this.

Maybe this thread should be in the Dakka P&M Forums?

Thanks OoieGoie. Yeah, I agree. I didn't read the catagories thoroughly enough before I posted. Maybe one of the administrators can move it to where it properly needs to be.

Painting as commenced! It's not pretty yet, just a rough coat of Iyandan Darksun over a black primer. Nevertheless, it's always nice seeing a pieced together model under one color. As always, more to come....

Xca|iber wrote:I'm curious, are you going to write up datasheets for these? In truth I'm really just curious as to which apoc weapons those cannons are (since I don't play apoc too much).

Anyway, the question made me think of datasheets, hence my curiosity.

Yeah, each of these Fellblades will have a unique datasheet for it. I wrote one up for the Blood Angels Fellblade but I don't know if there are any good places to post fan based datasheets at (if there is please let me know). My plan is that each turret will use the same base rules as the cannon on the Medusa except Heavy 2 with a special rule that would allow you to combine fire from both turrets and use the 10 inch pie plate template. Either way that's a lot of carnage

Nuwisha wrote:Ever since I saw your blood angel fellblade I've been pondering ideas for the Dark Angel one (for my Heresey/Fallen army) and the only thing I could think of was plasma..

I'd love to see your thoughts on it, and should we PM you if we want to get our hands on some of your fellblade stuff sooner rather than later?

Yep, my thoughts exactly. It wouldn't be a Dark Angels Fellblade without lots and lots of plasma

And yep, if you're interested in any of these parts feel free to PM me.

Element206 wrote:My god that Iron Breaker is the epitome of a mobile fortress! I challenge you to find another logical spot for a weapon turret? You cant, this is just a beast! Its not even finished yet and im already astonished by the detail and conversions you've made. ---Which chapter will you take on next? May you have the perseverance to finish all these tanks! (so i can see them )

--By the way, I am interested in buying the turret, sub turrets, fuel tanks, and treads to create my own BA fellblade....im maybe about 2 months away from that project though, so no hurry. Do you anticipate having the molds ready by then?

Thanks Element206. Up next is the Dark Angels Fellblade. It won't pack the same firepower as this one but it will be a lot more ornate, sinister, and gothic. Just like it should be

With any luck I'll have the parts up in the next couple of weeks or so. Hopefully about the same time this one goes up for sale.


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Lanceradvanced wrote:

Machinator wrote: Yep, my thoughts exactly. It wouldn't be a Dark Angels Fellblade without lots and lots of plasma

Ohh... original pattern Stormblade, with Sponson Battlecannon and Missleracks...

Well not quite that much firepower My plan is to still keep it a tank, the self propelled cannon may be another project (did you know Space Marines has a Shadowsword equivalent called the Falchion... ). It will have a big plasma main gun but it willl be somewhere in between the Executioner and the plasma blastgun. Oh, and some heavy plasma cannons to boot.

Well for those of you interested here is the link to my datsheet on the Blood Angels Fellblade Sanctimonia Cruois:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/60441313/Blood-Angels-Fellblade-Sanctimonia-Cruoris

Hopefully I can come up with one for the Iron Breaker in the next couple of weeks.

I'll be grouping them together in the proposed rules sections here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/327020.page

More to come....

Maledictus wrote:Those tanks are nothing short of amazing. The "Iron Breaker" makes the vanilla GW baneblade look like a golf cart...

any plans to do some chaos super heavies?

Thanks Maledictus. Oh yes, there are plans to build a Plaguereaper at the very least not to mention the Iron Warriors deserve one too. We'll see if I still consider this fun after I get through the Loyalist

Element206 wrote: Are you planning on selling the Blood Angels Fellblade??? -- If so, let me know when it goes on sale...send me the link

Alas, that one sold a few months ago. However, it was pretty easy to build once I got all the parts and a plan together. If you're interested send me a PM and I can give you the parts list.

Perkustin wrote:Great tanks, many guns, none more guns. Feel silly as the only one with something negative to say but.... Rivets are very much an Imperial guard thing aestheticly, look at the rhino and land raider kits, there are only rivets on the corners. That's the ONLY thing that spoils them SLIGHTLY for me.

Don't worry, I don't see that as a negative comment at all In order to help make it appear Horus Heresy old I gave it the look of a Imperial Guard vehicle with some design cues taken from the Space Marines. Kind of think of it as a Mark I Fellblade. If they ever got around to a MkII or Mk III the design would be a lot cleaner and more Space Marine-like. In fact, my plan for the Ultramarine Fellblade is for it to be a MkII....

TyraelVladinhurst wrote:you wouldn't perhaps be able to give (or sell which ever you prefer) me some of those fellblade parts?

Keep your eyeballs peeled, I hope to have them up for sale on my eBay store by the end of next week.

As I prepare to get these pieces in my eBay store I thought I'd make some cannons to go along with the turrets so that it would be easier to customize your model (or buy them seperately too ). So I give to you....

The Butcher heavy siege cannon:



The Breaker medium siege cannon:



and The Widowmaker main cannon:



Together they are the Butcher, Breaker, and Widowmaker!



Still need to add some rivets to them and finish the details but you get the picture.

Nowlan wrote:After looking at your ebay store, I'm a tad confused.

On some treads it lists how many are needed for LandRaider chassis, while others are listed for Baneblade chassis.

Would it be at all possible to have a number listed for both? I'd feel more comfortable ordering something like this if I knew how much I needed to buy before starting.

Also, is there anything smaller scale in your future? Perhaps something more along the size of LR/Chimera chassis or Rhino chassis sized treads?

Wolfshadow almost got it right

The treads come in three different patterns based on size. The Pattern 1.0 are 1 inch wide and can fit on a Baneblade chassis. The Pattern 0 is 5/8 inches wide and can fit on the Landraider chassis. Finally there is the Pattern 00 which is 3/8 inches wide and can fit on a Chimera or Rhino chassis. Usually, unless noted, it takes two kits to replace the standard treads on a GW tank.

Now you can put Pattern 1.0s and 0s onto a Leman Russ easily enough. You just need to wided the track sections appropriately.

Hopefully your answers your questions.

Well some people have been asking about a gatling style cannon too. So I made one. It should be ready along with the others hopefully sometime next week.





and here it is with the Widowmaker




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em_en_oh_pee wrote:I am with Budgie, who else should we expect to see?

Well here's the lists of who's next:

1.) Blood Angels- Complete
2.) Imperial Fists- Just needs painting
3.) Dark Angels
4.) Space Wolves
5.) Iron Hands
6.) Ultramarines
7.) Salamanders

As for the White Scars and Raven Guard, given that they have always been a speed/stealth based army they probably wouldn't have had them around even during the Heresy. So my plan is not to include them on the list.

And yes, there will probably be a Plaguereaper and an Iron Wariors Fellblade after that. We'll see if I'm still sane at that point

Orinoco wrote:Interestings to see what you will do with the dark angels, maybe a plasma tank?

Yes, lots and lots of plasma

phantommaster wrote:Is the Gatler co-axial so can you use it as well as the widowmaker?

Actually I put it there to show both in terms of scale. The guns will be sold in pairs but they'll be interchangeable so you could have them be either co-axial or twin-linked. You can also get more then one kind and switch them out as you like.

wolfshadow wrote:Any more paint on the big yellow taxi?

It will be finished before Thanksgiving

Be patient, my friends. There will be plenty of updates over the next week....

Almost done. I hope to have it finished and up on eBay with all the fellblade accessories on Sunday.

TyraelVladinhurst wrote:i do have a question, will the heavy bolter turrets be available? minus the heavy bolters of coarse

They'll be up in my store on Sunday along with many of the other pieces.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:By the way, might I suggest you drill out your guns, Machinator? It'd be a great touch to a brilliant piece.

Which guns aren't drilled out? Did I miss one?

wolfshadow wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:

Machinator wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:By the way, might I suggest you drill out your guns, Machinator? It'd be a great touch to a brilliant piece.

Which guns aren't drilled out? Did I miss one?

I'm pretty sure, or atleast it looks like it from the pictures, that the main cannons aren't drilled out.

Thats prob for structural integrity reasons with the resin.

Yeah there are limits to how deep I can make it before I start running into casting issues. Drilling it out now would probably destroy the piece due to the size of the bit. However, it should be less noticable once it's all painted up.

OK guys, the "fellblade" parts are up on my eBay site. Just follow the link in my sig.

TyraelVladinhurst wrote:which turret is for the baneblade chassis? is it the medium or the large one?

The Heavy Turret is what I used on the Blood Angels Fellblade, the Medium Turret is on the Imperial Fists one, the Light Turrets were used on the sponsons.

wolfshadow wrote:Machinator, any news on when the 'Big Yellow Taxi" is going up on Ebay? I have at have a friend whos interested in bidding. He's young, and has more money than brains. I think you'll like him. :-)

It's actually almost done, I'll probably have the final pics up tomorrow. My plan as of now is to have it up there on Thursday so stay tuned!

The Imperial Fist Fellblade: Iron Breaker

The Fellblade is one of the most ancient war machines available to the forces of the Imperium. Much like its other heavily armed brethren the Fellblade bristles with potent weapons capable of laying low the most powerful of foes. However, what makes the Fellblade most dangerous is not its formidable guns or massive treads, it is that this hammer of mankind lies within the hands of the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines.

Once a common site along side the elite of the Emperor during the Great Crusades there are but a scant handful remaining amongst the original Legions. However, in the midst of these few are the Fellblades of Renown, artifacts of war that rise up like gods above the titans. One such as this is the Fellblade of the Imperial Fists known in antiquity as the Iron Breaker.

During the time of the Great Crusade is was common amongst the Astartes to modify and sometimes completely rebuild their Fellblades in the never ending quest to forge the perfect war machine. The Imperial Fists were no exception and it was the Master Techmarine Olivander Stormhammer that created perhaps the most well known of these reinventions.

Constructed during the siege of the fortress world of Stratovaust the Iron Breaker proved invaluable against the untold thousands of bunkers and the kilometer of trenches and barricades that surrounded them. The massive siege cannons turned the ferrocrete defenses into powder while its bolters shredded all those foolish enough to stand before it’s might.

At the conclusion of the Ullanor Crusade the Iron Breaker accompanied the Imperial Fists and the Emperor back to Terra where it was placed in the arsenal assigned with the task of protecting the Imperial Palace. Here it served faithfully during the Horus Heresy being one of the few recorded vehicle to have participated in the Defense of Terra and survived to this day. Soon afterwards the Iron Breaker served again as a mobile stronghold against their traitorous brethren, the Iron Warriors, during the assault on the Eternal Fortress on the world of Sebastus IV, known as The Iron Cage.

Tales are told of whole worlds surrendering at the sight of this enormous war machine as it represents the might the Emperor can unleash against his foes through the Imperial Fists. A veteran of over seven thousand battles the Iron Breaker has the distinction of being the only Fellblade to have remained in active service since the awakening of its machine spirit many millennia ago. So successful was the Iron Breaker that centuries later the Adeptus Mechanicus adopted the design for the Imperial Guard naming it posthumously after its creator, the Stormhammer.

So it's finally finished and will go up for sale on Thursday. I even made up a unofficial set of rules for it found here: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/64193858/Imperial-Fists-Fellblade-Iron-Breaker

But enough of that for now, here are the pics!























Now onto the Dark Angels Fellblade....