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Wehrkind wrote:Even if the ramps when up extended over the shoulder of the tank, would that be a bad thing? I kind of think some inexact ramps would really add to the somewhat ramshackle, "who cares, it works" look that orks generally have.

yes, however they mustn't be so high that the turret cannon hits them when it rotates. (This wouldn't actually occur to the orks at the time they built the ramps, but the ramps would then be accidentally torn off by the cannon the first time the vehicle went into battle... )

lookin great as usual. im curently making a skullahmmer for my ork army as well. mine is gonna be toting around 3 CC carnifexes for a good suprise in the assaut phase. i also have a magnetized baneblade/hellhammer combo for gameplay. im looking forard to seeing progress on this. think your gonna finish it ?

That thing looks great! The lifted height actually makes it look lot more realistic, since 40k imperial tanks all are so low-slung they could never go further off-road than a speed bump. But that's why the genre is called science FICTION, I guess. They doo look cool, though!

It needs a bit more of that ork randomness stuck-on-by-a-crack-addled-welder look to it to truly be orky, but I'm sure that's coming. Your work improvising that deathroller was really great, good stuff.

I think making the ramp longer or lower (ie more realistic) is prob. not the way to go. So long as the orcs have a way in, to my mind, they won't mind what degree the ramp is at, so long as it covers the hole when closed and drags the ground when open. Making the "right length" or the "right height" loses an opportunity to ork it up, structurally. Just my opinion.

I always thought the turret on a baneblade was ridiculously small. The surface for the turret base itself is so large, why not a larger turret? Heck, it's looted, and bigger is better, sure as red ones go fasta!

What Wehrkind and snorkle said. If the ramps are a little taller than the side plates who cares? It will look Orky, especially with some killy grabba hooks or blades on 'em.

Youi will need to draw a line following the return loop of the tracks to ensure they dont interfere with the access hatches you are modelling. Though saying that they didnt do so for the Rhino.
either the tracks return above the door, or belwo resti9ng onther road wheels. If the later the tracks should be modelled, if above you need to be careful for the clearance needed to account for the tracks and the chassis.

"We'll make it nice an' Orky!"

I can't wait to see the finished product

you could also do hinged folding ramps kind of like this (smaller and orkier obviously)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG5Rrl4d-gM

i think that would look spiffy, give you extra length and let you keep your doors the right height and all that good stuff.

Wehrkind wrote:Even if the ramps when up extended over the shoulder of the tank, would that be a bad thing? I kind of think some inexact ramps would really add to the somewhat ramshackle, "who cares, it works" look that orks generally have.

I agree with Wehrkind

Great job man.

For the ramp you could also hinge it in the opposite direction in the middle (make the end as it is now into another hinge point and add a second section that would fold out). that way you would get twice the length when unfolded but still have it the same height when stowed in the up position.

So dudes, give me a hand here.

I've been feeling bad because my Baneblade has been staring at me from it's pile and I haven't been working on it.

I broke out all the old tools and bits and stuff and I have been working on it a little bit. I carved the front end up and built a new, flatter front surface for me to mount whatever I decide to build on there. I also covered the track details in sheet styrene, so I can add orky tread to them later... and I dug up PVC pipe that looks like it'd make a suitably orky main ordnance kannon.





I need help, guys. I don't know where to go with this. I can't really picture a hull design in my head aside from the fact that I sort've want to mount that big kannon upfront and center on the hull. I would love to hear any ideas. >_>

Sentinels.
You need two.

Assemble the "cockpit" area without the piece that attaches to the leg or the "engine."
Put an Ork "gunner" in each one.
On one cockpit, attach a piece of plastic tube to the RIGHT side... Attach one to the LEFT side of the other... In the back corner of each respective piece.
That is your swivel point. The cockpit with the tube on the LEFT side goes on the RIGHT side of the tank and vice versa.

Each cockpit will slide down onto a vertical rod on its' designated side of the tank, then you can "cap it off" by attaching something to the top of the rod to fasten it to the hull of the tank... Kind of like a big hinge.
Whatever sponson guns this thing will have can be mounted onto the front or sides (or both) of each sentinel piece. The gunners in the sentinel cockpits shoot the sponson guns.

It's a little hard to explain without showing you... and you aren't here. LOL
Does that make sense?

I plan on using that idea when I convert out a Land Raider for some orkies... but you're welcome to use it (and would, undoubtedly, do it better).

Eric

Looking good Ill have to show to my Bother in law to see if he wants me to make for him =P...how to make the squished grot?

MagickalMemories wrote:Sentinels.
You need two.

Assemble the "cockpit" area without the piece that attaches to the leg or the "engine."
Put an Ork "gunner" in each one.
On one cockpit, attach a piece of plastic tube to the RIGHT side... Attach one to the LEFT side of the other... In the back corner of each respective piece.
That is your swivel point. The cockpit with the tube on the LEFT side goes on the RIGHT side of the tank and vice versa.

Each cockpit will slide down onto a vertical rod on its' designated side of the tank, then you can "cap it off" by attaching something to the top of the rod to fasten it to the hull of the tank... Kind of like a big hinge.
Whatever sponson guns this thing will have can be mounted onto the front or sides (or both) of each sentinel piece. The gunners in the sentinel cockpits shoot the sponson guns.

It's a little hard to explain without showing you... and you aren't here. LOL
Does that make sense?

I plan on using that idea when I convert out a Land Raider for some orkies... but you're welcome to use it (and would, undoubtedly, do it better).

Eric

It might just be the ork in me, but after the first few sentences my head began to spin.

Eh, so, I figured rather than just sit here and twiddle my thumbs thinking about what I might want to do with it, I'd actually make some progress if I impulsively just started banging stuff together which might keep me working on one thing at a time. A beer or two later and some thick styrene, and I've decided to locate the main gun off to one side of the front, since the asymmetry seems a bit more orky.





I really want to build vertically as I move back, so I can give it that 'rolling, armored bunker' look that Forgeworld Battlewagons have. I'm trying to figure out where the weapons might eventually get placed, as well, but it may be the sort of thing that works itself out as I build some more. I feel like a fool, though, since I gave the sponsons away to a buddy of mine thinking I would never need them, and now I find myself wanting to add them all over again. I suppose I'll have to build some fresh ones if I want any on there!

For some reason I see this thing just crawling with big old round portholes with orks just popping out with choppa in hand, or maybe a stikkbomb to chuck at somebody.

Right now, I'm struggling with the overall layout. I keep doing these drawovers to see if I can pin down a form I'm happy with, and coming up short.







I think I'm not happy with them largely because the hull keeps getting blended into this one big ambiguous armored mass, whereas I should really be taking a 'layered' approach with its design. I may just go ahead and build full-length side sponson emplacements, though, since I seem to keep on adding them to my designs. 'Sides, it gives the orks a place to stand on the top.

The only other thing I am certain of is that I want to replace the headlights with flamethrowers on the fronts of the track guards. A bit of orky illumination.

Maybe it needs a turret on top, in addition to the big hull gun. that would make it less of an armor brick. Plus, more dakka is always a good thing.

I don't know why, but I've been feeling really down about working on this today.

I figured I'd start working on the sides and wait for some ideas, so I added an armored skirting to the vehicle's left side. I also tried to add some armor plating and a door hatch to it, but I am really not digging the results - it sounds stupid when I say it about an ork vehicle, but it looks too crude. I'd peel it off and have another go at it, but I had to dremel the surface of the tank flat to get the plates to sit properly, so it looks like hell underneath them.





I don't know. Adding rivets to them might make me feel a little better about it, but I've actually been entertaining thoughts of scrapping it to ebay for a little while. I'm just not feeling too thrilled about it right now, and having seen the 'Stormlord' from Apocalypse: Reload, I sort've want to get a new BB kit and start from scratch on making an orked-out version of one of those. I considered doing it to this one already, but the manner in which I attached the hull prevents me from actually taking it apart and remaking it in a stormlord's shape. :(

I was noticing the un-orky imperial aquilla (the eagle) on the tread guards.
If you've read the graphic novel Blood and Thunder, you'll have seen the part were the soldier sees the "desecrated" aquilla were the heads of each of the eagles have been replaced with 1 gork and 1 mork head

Are you planning to sand that off, or what are ur ideas?

EDIT: NVM, I was looking at the pics on the other page, disregard this message

Ein, depending on the overall flavor you're going for you might consider a bit more old school styling. My one suggestion would be putting a more rounded turret on the biggest gun (which I really like off-center, btw) and give it a conical tiled roof, like the older epic ork battlefortress. Just a suggestion!

Something akin to these:

I would not replate it too much, orks would appreciate a sturdy Baneblade hull, so long as there are plenty of glyphs and gunports. You dont really need to redo the whole top.

All you really neded to do it build up where the turret was, and improve the engines.
The 'frunt get outy bit' is a large drawbridge with a gangway behind, the drawbridge shoukld be logn enough to reach over the deffrolla.

Orlanth: Not a bad idea, and I do agree with the sponson concept.

Kr00zA over at The-Waaagh.com's forums tossed this little idea my way as to the overall structure of the baneblade's hull, and it meshes pretty well with the 'rolling, armored bunker' look I wanted to give it, so I'm using it as the basis for my design now:



I've started aiming for that general shape.





The base of a sponson is pinned onto the side, there. I'm working on figuring out just how high I want to take the things and where the weapon mounts might be, but before I do any of that I need to go out and grab some more styrene sheets, because I am running low on the thicker stuff. Since I figured I'd be out a while, I went ahead and extended the front end around the main cannon mount, and smoothed some greenstuff down over the seams. Hopefully by the time I am back, it'll be cured enough to sand smooth and hide any seams.

Since this is not a very large step forward in the project, I thought I'd supplement the post a bit with something of a public service announcement.

Are you struggling to make a giant cannon?

I was. I wanted to make a huge bore gun for this thing, and I was having a hell of a time finding the right PVC pipes to do it - many of them were too thick to properly couch inside eachother, and the diameters on PVC pipes leave a lot to be desired. My normal styrene tubing (stuff from Evergreen Scale Models) would usually fit the bill, but they only had tubes up to 1/2" diameter, which was hardly sufficient to create a barrel of proper size.

So! I went on my deffskull lootin' cap and went on a scavenger hunt in my local Lowes hardware store. I didn't really know what I was looking for, as my main goal there was actually to pick up shelving for my new apartment, but I wandered the aisles haphazardly for a while... until suddenly, I found it!

Let me introduce the Watts WaterPEX Reducing Connector.



Inside this innocent looking $4 bag, you will find all the things you need to make a giant cannon quickly and easily.





You'll need a file to remove some of the little details they have molded onto it, such as the words 'PAT. PEND' molded into the exterior of the other side (not pictured). Still, this is by far the easiest way I've found of getting a giant cannon quickly and easily, without fiddling about with all sorts of PVC pipe or metal tubing.

For my own cannon, I actually decided I wanted the end of the barrel to be a little less stubby. What I ended up doing was cutting maybe a 1/2" length of PVC pipe that was the same diameter as the end of the 'barrel'. I glued this onto the end, greenstuffed around the seam, and sanded it down smooth so I had a lengthened barrel, like so:



It's worth mentioning that the Lowes I went to actually had a variety of shapes and sizes of these. There was one size smaller, which looked like it would be ideal for replacing the main gun on a Looted Leman Russ, for example.

In any case, I hope this information is of use to someone.

Wow this is coming along great so far.. but my favorite part is the little squished feller on the roller

Loving this jamsessionein. The longer barrel looks better and when you get the sponson/ bunker done then I think it will look amazing.

Hey ein, what do you use to cut your thicker styrene sheet with, just an x-acto saw?

For straight cuts, it's hard to beat the utility of a mitre box and a handsaw.

The rest of the time (things that won't fit in the mitre box, or long cuts, or cuts that aren't at a 45, 60, or 90 degree angle) I use a sharp knife and a steel ruler. Score the line you want to cut a couple times with the knife and you should be able to just crack the styrene along the line by flexing it.

I'm just humming along on the Baneblade now that I have a plan.









And one for fun:



It's going okay, I guess. I'm basically just following the drawing right now. I haven't built or closed off the sponsons largely because I am considering how to go about arming them - I know I'm probably just going to load them with Big Shootas, because pretty much every variant I could want this tank to be has some sort of guns somewhere on it, but the actual design of how I'm going to mount the weapons is something I have to think about some more. I could try copying the existing baneblade sponson design, or I could make a slit in the wall sort've like a bunker with barrels sticking out, I suppose. Not sure what the best plan of action is there.

I actually have a plan for the lowered area on the top of the tank's right side (where my styrene walls take a half-inch 'step' down) - I want to put a grot bomb launching ramp thereabouts, and at the end of it, below the rails and towards the front, I figure I can fit a turret with a kannon on it.



Could use some ideas.

Voila! Ideers!

Just leave it opened topped and put railings around the "firing platforms". Lotsa Dakka from a sqwad in an opened topped Skullhamma.

I know this might be a little late, but I think it might be good to have the step down on the other side, ie. above the gun. Building up on the other side will give more of a balance to it. I think a honking great turret on the side that is built up would be good, but probably only if the step up is on the other side. I'm pleased you went with krooza's designs, he knows his stuff, and the shape gives a nice profile to this build. To achieve the look you're going for, maybe a series of incrementally smaller different 'blocks' with different guns etc on might be nice to give more of a towering, shambolic style. It's looking really good at the mo though, I'm sure this is going to be a cracker whatever you decide.