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So, as much as I'm trying to resist taking up the new rumored IG tanks like the Punisher and the Eradicator, as I feel like they're fanboy love children, I do see some potential use for the Exeuctioner, particularly as I'd be using it with the same sponsons as a Demolisher. Consequently, all I need to do to use one is to get a new turret for it. I know that FW has got Executioner turrets, in both DKoK and vanilla varieties, as shown here:





And frankly, with today's xe.com conversion rate of $1.40 to the British pound, one of these could be mine for all of $16.45 plus shipping.

But really - the Executioner turret has got to be one of the ugliest turrets that FW has ever made. I mean, the detail and all is nice - but frankly, the only model still produced by GW that looks more phallic is the plasma cannon that comes with the butt-ugly (and long overdue for a design overhaul) Chaos Dreadnought. I mean, 3rd Ed SM Devastators showed us that plasma cannons no longer have to look that way. And I'm pretty happy with that. I like the new style of heavy plasma weaponry we're seeing these days. It's why I've bought enough plastic SM Plasma Cannons to build all the sponsons on my Demolishers with them.

But what I really see as being the spiritual father of the new Executioner is the Stormblade:



To mix my metaphors, this is the granddaddy of the new line in plasma weaponry. My question is - how do I make something like this (particularly the horizontal barrel configuration) scaled down to fit a Russ turret? I'm going to try to dig up some WIP pics from Barpharanges scratchbuilt Warhound titan for ideas. And I remember seeing a scratchbuilt Stormblade out there a while ago, but I can't remember where. Anybody have any ideas on how to do this?

You could buy yourself one of the forge world dreadnought plasma cannon arms. Either the MkIV or standard dread plasma cannons are sufficiently bulky and non-phallic enough to cut off and mount to a turret.
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/acatalog/SPACE_MARINE_DREADNOUGHTS.html

I think to further make it look techy enough to be sporting such a plasma cannon you might add to your tank the Forge World Deathkorp, Leman Russ Engine filter... which I think looks enough like the plasma cell pluggy core things on the plasma gun you could say its part of the advanced energy system.
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/acatalog/IMPERIAL_GUARD_VEHICLE_ACCESSORIES.html

Hm. Both good ideas. The Dreadnought plasma cannon would be sufficiently bulky to do the trick - it's a good-sized chunk of resin. Which is both good and bad - good, in that it will look hefty enough on a Russ turret; bad, in that it's a lot of resin to saw through and cutting resin is pretty unforgiving. The only other problem with the Dreadnought plasma cannon is that if I laid it on it's side as I would mount it on the turret, it'd be pretty asymetrical. Hm. I'll need to think about that more.

The only other problem with this is that it starts costing more - I wouldn't mind trying to keep the cost down below what a FW turret would run me. I think I could probably convert some engine filters to look pretty similar, but the look would be really good.

I need to think about the Dreadnought plasma cannon. It's definitely the right size and scale for what I'm thinking...hmm....

One forgiving aspect of using the dreadnought arm is that unless you have plans for the shoulder section that connects to the dreadnought you can hack through that section all you want. Its not too ridiculous a conversion at $10 for the main weapon. You'll already have the turret, so the weapons all you really need. You end up saving $5 or $6 over the FW executioner turret.

Power cell section, you can easily convert that. You can find different buttons or knobs that are the right size and look, then just jazz them up a bit. I just thought it was a good starting point, particularly if you're a plug and glue converter who doesn't like less than GW parts.

All you really need to do to make that is use some rectangular stock (balsa or styrene) and wrap wire around it very tightly to make the "coil" part. Then it's just shaping some foam or GS for the front end, strip styrene for those supporting flat pieces on the side of the coil, and you're done with the hard parts.

i think the dread arm is a great suggestion, personally.
i'm also not much Of a converter! good luck, and keep
us updated!

three plasma canons would be fitting with the new rules

You also might want to think about cutting off the bottom of 2 plastic space marine plasma cannons and glue the tops togather where you cut them

wilsmire wrote:You also might want to think about cutting off the bottom of 2 plastic space marine plasma cannons and glue the tops togather where you cut them

Mmm...that's an interesting idea. I'll have to assemble a couple and see how large that might be when you put the two parts together. Even if it's not large enough, it might work to do that, but put a spacer of some kind in the middle to make it wider - maybe add a tube the same diameter as the other barrel mouths since it's supposed to be Heavy 3 anyway...I'll need to check that out.

Okay, I cut a SM Devastator Plasma Cannon off sprue today and assembled it to get a sense of the scale and how I would need to cut it if I were to put a couple together for an Executioner turret. I was comparing it to a Russ turret while I did this and concluded that the SM Devastator Plasma Cannon is just too small for this. It will be perfect in the sponsons, but would just wind up looking weedy coming out of a Russ turret, even if I were to assemble it as discussed above - too flat if I position it with side-by-side barrels. It needs something bigger. I think I'm either going to have to scratchbuild or go with the FW Dread PC.

That's a shame. If you scratch build it, I found coil springs work well to make the ventilated power grill. You can also find some interestingly shaped spacers of sorts at hardware stores that could be assembled into the barrel; though without the ventilated cooling holes. The rest is plasticard.

Ah - coil springs - that would be interesting. Although it'll take some bending to get the flattened shape that I'd want. Great ideas, thanks!

My general thought is you either retain the cylindrical shape or you can use two and hide the spacing with plastic card. You won't be able to reshape the springs easily. You'll either need to have a good amount of force beyond the springs yield point or heat it up with a torch, before shaping. Both are likely to distort it unevenly. I recommend trying to get the look you want by using multiple springs. You might be able to find your self a weaker springs than I've tried if that's the case go for it.

I've also seen people wrap the shape they like with solder and gluing that in place. That might work better if you want a more rectangular shape.

Yeah, I was considering solder as it'd be about the right diameter for what I'm thinking of on the coils.

Try copper grounding wire then you don't have to worry about lead and the youngins. You don't have to strip off the cover of the ground wire.