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I have some OLD ( early 1990's) plastic space marine figs and am contemplating doing some heavy knife/green stuff/plastic card work on them and scratch building a couple rhinos to go along with the set. Are there any standing rules about why scratch built vehicles or slightly modded (ripping off the bolter and adding a melta to one guy per squad) troop choices would be a problem in tournaments? I am REALLY new to the game and am not sure of the "official" stance on such things.

Scratchbuilds are allowed so long as it's clear what they're meant to be. If you're talented and can build a really cool looking Rhino stand-in, then go nuts. If it looks like a malformed cube with a couple rivets on it, you might have a harder time. Modifying your figures, however, is encouraged by GW and tournament organizers. It's an essential part of the hobby really.

The only rules regarding scratch-builds and conversion are that A) It must be clear what each model is and what it is equipped with, and B) With the exception of basic wargear, the equipment on the model must be EXACTLY the equipment that the model has, and the equipment loadout must be legal.

For example, Tactical Marines have the default equipment loadout of a bolter, bolt pistol, frag + krak grenades, and power armour. You do not need to specifically model all of those things onto the marine, just enough of them that they actually look like tac marines (which is most likely a bolter plus power armour). However, if I want to upgrade one marine to carry a special weapon, such as a flamer, it actually has to be carrying something that clearly looks like a flame-thrower. It also can't be carrying a flamer plus another weapon, and it can be the only model carrying a special weapon in the squad (you could give another marine a plasma gun and just decide for that game that it has a bolter instead, it would be too confusing and leave the system open to abuse).

The general rule of thumb is WYSIWYG, or What You See Is What You Get. As long as it is followed, nobody should have any complaints unless you are making massive stretches to justify what something is.

Excellent. Thank you kindly for your information.

-CP