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Hey all,

After many years of dithering about with about 500ish points of guard I've decided to go whole hog with a full army with the new codex releases. I'm moving towards a more high tech feel for the models so I'm not very happy with most of the vehicle minatures (aside from the Shadowsword which is part of my motivations for putting together and apocalyse contigent of IG). To give you an idea of how my infantry are gonna look these are the heads I am using on the Cadian bodies.

So I'm looking for suggestions of models for bits/conversion/proxy for some of the IG vehicles. My only restriction is I'd much prefer to work in plastic then other mediums (and am very opposed to Resin due to its fragility...I break enough of my more sturdy toy soldiers).

IG models I intend to use essentially as is (for a sense of my aesthetic):
Valkerie
Shadowsword
perhaps the Chimera hulls (depends if I can find something I like better)

It primarily the Leman Russ I am unhappy with so I am mainly looking for an MBT style vehicle model. Either a nice modern/sci-fi tank or soem sort of larger combat robot/mech miniature. I;ve also toyed with a kitbash of a Tau Hammerhead turret on a Razorback/predator hull which looked pretty nice (and is stupid easy to model as the turret slot is the same size)

I've also been thinking about using Tau Battlesuits for sentinels as that is another miniature I am not a fan of, but am still open to ideas. (EDIT for Clarity: I'm not a fan of the sentinel model, I kinda like the Broadside suits though)

So anyone have any kits they're a fan of?

Jack

I can't say that I've got any suggestions for the Leman Russ for you, but one thing that I've seen conversions of that make the Chimera look pretty slick is using the top from the SoB Immolator hull on top, then giving it a SM Predator autocannon turret. Some of these, I've seen folks convert it to look like a multilaser, with others, the folks just call it a multilaser. It looks really sharp, though.

Neat suggestion...I found this fun article on the OZ site after googling your idea.

Just dug out a couple of unbuilt predators I had in the bit closet (excessive I know, look you whippersnappers, play the game on and off for near on 20 years and you'll have a redicuolous ammount of stuff too), and that turret does have lots of potential. Thanks for reminding me of it (my fully assembled and painted preds are all the older models so I kinda forgot how nice the new turret looks).

The Chimera hull w/tank turret might make for a decent MBT substitution in any case, thnks for the pointer.

Jack

Double death post of doom.

Pig Iron makes a nice selection of vehicles that have that "hard sci fi" feel to them. Armorcast as well. Both in resin, however. You might also consider some 1/48th scale "Merkava" tanks with weapon conversions.

Alternate Sentinels: If you don't like the battlesuits, stay away from them. I've built a couple of them and I hate the fragility of the things. Check out the robogear line produced by tehnolog. Most of it looks outright silly, but a few of the pieces are very nice, one in particular looks like a battletech madcat. They run anywhere from 6-10 dollars per model, depending on where you buy them.

Yeah, I love that article on GW Oz's site - I borrowed heavily from it when converting my Hellhound.

You know, come to think of it, I've seen some conversions around of folks using Chimera chassis for their MBT - gives it a lower, sleeker look - if I remember correctly they also significantly widened the turret. Can't remember where I saw those conversions, though...

I am converting a 1/32nd French Char B1 Tank with Bits from a Leman Russ and several other models to create a tank that will maitain the feel of the Imperial Guard. I'll Post some Pics soon when its done.

Peredyne wrote:Pig Iron makes a nice selection of vehicles that have that "hard sci fi" feel to them. Armorcast as well. Both in resin, however. You might also consider some 1/48th scale "Merkava" tanks with weapon conversions.

Alternate Sentinels: If you don't like the battlesuits, stay away from them. I've built a couple of them and I hate the fragility of the things. Check out the robogear line produced by tehnolog. Most of it looks outright silly, but a few of the pieces are very nice, one in particular looks like a battletech madcat. They run anywhere from 6-10 dollars per model, depending on where you buy them.

Yeah, I like the Pig Iron tanks but I'd beat them to hell and I don't doubt that I'd end up with some unintentionally 'multi-part' tanks

Sorry, I edited my OP, I like the battlesuits, its the sentinels I'm not a huge fan of, but maybe the newer armoured sentinels will change my mind (as the old steel legion ones were a nice improvement to me). Particularly if I end up going for some sort of robot/mecha tanks they'd work pretty well as the smaller sentinels robots then. I'll go check out those robogear minis directly though.

Death By Monkeys wrote:Yeah, I love that article on GW Oz's site - I borrowed heavily from it when converting my Hellhound.

You know, come to think of it, I've seen some conversions around of folks using Chimera chassis for their MBT - gives it a lower, sleeker look - if I remember correctly they also significantly widened the turret. Can't remember where I saw those conversions, though...

Yeah I found a few nice ones via google-fu, the chimera hull as basis for lower slung more modern looking tank seems to be a fairly common conversion...wonder how it would look with a Railgun Hammerhead turret on it...

Jack

For a quick sci-fi upgrade, you could skip the tank treads and mod the bottom to have anti-grav style thrusters. Keep the old school aesthetic but upgrade the tech.

The Merkava: http://www.barrule.com/Workshop/sci-fi/products%20sci-fi%2028mm%20vehicles.html

I was actually thinking of the actual merkava:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/acy/acy13005.htm

Convert with Tau bits! That's techy & keeps you in GW tournies!

I always felt IG and 40K as a whole (Tau and Eldar excepted) kind of went with a WWI/WWII/Cold War ascetic.

You could try a UK Chieftan or Challenger. Most Americans aren't familier with them and they are pretty modern looking tanks without being too Sci-fi. The right bits and such and they could be a hit. Of course if you play anyone from across the pond you may get some eyerolls. Also the Japanese Type 90 (I think) but it does seem too M1/Leopard2-ish.

The Merkava is a great call too.

I quite like making a bit more sci-fi IG tanks (not tau-like, but more modern) , and I've made a couple of leman russ turrets from the predator sprue, a hellhound converted to look sleeker and a buggy out of a land speeder. Here are some pictures if you want them

Death By Monkeys wrote:Yeah, I love that article on GW Oz's site - I borrowed heavily from it when converting my Hellhound.

If I'm thinking of the same articles, then I'm pretty sure that they appeared on the us and brit sites first. The oz site just hasn't gotten rid of everything but the shop.

Kaej wrote:For a quick sci-fi upgrade, you could skip the tank treads and mod the bottom to have anti-grav style thrusters. Keep the old school aesthetic but upgrade the tech.

I've considerered this, but it occurred to me that if I want hover tanks GW makes to fairly nice ones I could work from in that case (Hammerhead and Falcon) and neither is quite what I'm looking for although I've been considering the Hammerhead.

Lapsed Pacifist wrote:The Merkava: http://www.barrule.com/Workshop/sci-fi/products%20sci-fi%2028mm%20vehicles.html

Neat model...any idea how much is resin vs metal, I fear the resin modesl as mentioned above...

Peredyne wrote:I was actually thinking of the actual merkava:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/acy/acy13005.htm

Another nice model/tank, not sure I want an out and out real modern day tank myself though, something more future tech is more what I want, although this might make a good base for a kitbash.

kislevgeneral wrote:Convert with Tau bits! That's techy & keeps you in GW tournies!

Yep, I've thought about using Tau turrets on some of the other chassis (not actually worried about the tourney thing all that much, I'd likely kitbash enough GW stuff onto non GW models that no one is likely to call me on it, and my tournament play is infrequent in any case).

GoFenris wrote:I always felt IG and 40K as a whole (Tau and Eldar excepted) kind of went with a WWI/WWII/Cold War ascetic.

You could try a UK Chieftan or Challenger. Most Americans aren't familier with them and they are pretty modern looking tanks without being too Sci-fi. The right bits and such and they could be a hit. Of course if you play anyone from across the pond you may get some eyerolls. Also the Japanese Type 90 (I think) but it does seem too M1/Leopard2-ish.

The Merkava is a great call too.

The IG is very WWI (especially the Russ), but thats actually part of what I'm trying to theme away from I want a more high tech or tech guard style IG model set, just because thats what I like.

Thanks for all the suggestions in any case.

Jack

use rhino kits and predator kits btu give them guard weapon load outs?

Read my excellent article about choosing model kits for SM and IG armies.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Scale_Model_Kits_for_40K

It will give you some ideas to think about.

What about this?

http://www.hlj.com/product/ban957471

Apone wrote:What about this?

http://www.hlj.com/product/ban957471

If that weren't so expensive i would pick 2 of them up in a heartbeat.

Sentinel Stand-ins!
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/wd_1window.htm As you can see, these are like Battlesuits, but better, plus they fit in more with the Aesthetics of IG
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/wd_2window.htm The same basic thing but more dynamic
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/wd_3window.htm Exciting replacement weapons, arms and heads

You know a Tau railgun on a chimera turret might have a nice Tron battle tank look to it.

I honestly think the most interesting way to go would be to make the tanks into skimmers.

The best way to do this might be to start out with a Tau devilfish or something along those lines, and add lots of IG details to it (Kitbash it with your Leman Russ).

Or you could start out with one of these other models and kitbash it to get yourself a skimming tank.

GoFenris wrote:I always felt IG and 40K as a whole (Tau and Eldar excepted) kind of went with a WWI/WWII/Cold War ascetic.

You could try a UK Chieftan or Challenger. Most Americans aren't familier with them and they are pretty modern looking tanks without being too Sci-fi. The right bits and such and they could be a hit. Of course if you play anyone from across the pond you may get some eyerolls. Also the Japanese Type 90 (I think) but it does seem too M1/Leopard2-ish.

The Merkava is a great call too.

You got me interested, so i had to look them up. You are right, the Chieftains and Challengers are rather impressive and you can find models for them here in 1/35 scale: http://www.internethobbies.com/

There are a lot of very cool modern vehicles on this website. I myself am doing a US Army theme based off the 1st Cavalry Division.

I am using the Abrams for the basis of my tanks:


And the M1130 Strykers for my Chimera Transports

Korcheski wrote:

Apone wrote:What about this?

http://www.hlj.com/product/ban957471

If that weren't so expensive i would pick 2 of them up in a heartbeat.

Oh me too. Though my Guard project atm is Red Army style I just love that model.

P4NC4K3 wrote:Sentinel Stand-ins!
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/wd_1window.htm As you can see, these are like Battlesuits, but better, plus they fit in more with the Aesthetics of IG
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/wd_2window.htm The same basic thing but more dynamic
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/wd_3window.htm Exciting replacement weapons, arms and heads

They're nice. I'm looking into getting these to stand in as Ogryns.

http://www.incursiongame.com/blogs/incursion-blog/747852-wave-i-painting-complete

Shop link: http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=188_189

You might want to look at Ainsty's models for the 'Hammer's Slammers' line. Nice modern look.

Kilkrazy wrote:Read my excellent article about choosing model kits for SM and IG armies.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Scale_Model_Kits_for_40K

It will give you some ideas to think about.

Cool, nice article, I was already pretty well aware of scale relationships for 40k, but its interesting to read another's take on it regardless.

Apone wrote:What about this?

http://www.hlj.com/product/ban957471

Nice fun SF tank...now if only someone made a BOLO model in about the right size range. Definitely on the right track for me although probably more then I want to spend for the half dozen or more Tanks I'll likely want.

P4NC4K3 wrote:Sentinel Stand-ins!
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/wd_1window.htm As you can see, these are like Battlesuits, but better, plus they fit in more with the Aesthetics of IG
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/wd_2window.htm The same basic thing but more dynamic
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/wd_3window.htm Exciting replacement weapons, arms and heads

Yeah I love Pig Iron's stuff...do you know if those are metal then, if so I'll grab some as part of my big order of replacement heads

Death By Monkeys wrote:You know a Tau railgun on a chimera turret might have a nice Tron battle tank look to it.

Oh yeah, thats what the railgun made me think of when I mounted it on a Rhino chasis too, now some Tau p[layer just needs to re-do his pirahnas as lightcycles...

odinsgrandson wrote:I honestly think the most interesting way to go would be to make the tanks into skimmers.

The best way to do this might be to start out with a Tau devilfish or something along those lines, and add lots of IG details to it (Kitbash it with your Leman Russ).

Or you could start out with one of these other models and kitbash it to get yourself a skimming tank.

I've been thinking about this, I tihnk I'd rather go with a more down to earth (hah!) sci fi look, so if I go skimmers they'll likely be more hovercraft like ala hammer's slammers then out and out winged flyer types.

Korcheski wrote:
You got me interested, so i had to look them up. You are right, the Chieftains and Challengers are rather impressive and you can find models for them here in 1/35 scale: http://www.internethobbies.com/

There are a lot of very cool modern vehicles on this website. I myself am doing a US Army theme based off the 1st Cavalry Division.

*snip images*

Nice, that will be a fun theme for an modern look IG army

Apone wrote:

Korcheski wrote:

Apone wrote:What about this?

http://www.hlj.com/product/ban957471

If that weren't so expensive i would pick 2 of them up in a heartbeat.

Oh me too. Though my Guard project atm is Red Army style I just love that model.

P4NC4K3 wrote:Sentinel Stand-ins!
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/wd_1window.htm As you can see, these are like Battlesuits, but better, plus they fit in more with the Aesthetics of IG
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/wd_2window.htm The same basic thing but more dynamic
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/wd_3window.htm Exciting replacement weapons, arms and heads

They're nice. I'm looking into getting these to stand in as Ogryns.

http://www.incursiongame.com/blogs/incursion-blog/747852-wave-i-painting-complete

Shop link: http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=188_189

Those are great! Thanks for the pointer, they might make decent sentinels with some more guns too....

Oldgrue wrote:You might want to look at Ainsty's models for the 'Hammer's Slammers' line. Nice modern look.

Yeah I rather like some of those models, its a shame they're of the thrice bedamned resin.

Jack

Jackmojo wrote:It primarily the Leman Russ I am unhappy with so I am mainly looking for an MBT style vehicle model.

Hey Jack!

I disliked the Russ tank, too, and converted my Leman Russes into SPGs.

Click the [WWW] button to see them.

/John

They are metal as they are PI, which do all their stuff in metal

There used to be some pretty good Zoids weapon add on packs..

P4NC4K3 wrote:They are metal as they are PI, which do all their stuff in metal

You'd think so from their name, but they're tanks are actually resin (as otherwise I think I'd use those models)

Pig Iron products page wrote:
Products
Each model is hand cast in resin by experts

But thanks for clearing it up on the wardroids, I'll grab one to look it over in person with my head order.

Jack