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Nice! I'll be keeping my eye on this thread, Heliodore

Awesome, thanks Machinator! I'm sure you noticed I just got your parts, working diligently as we speak!

Ok, here is where I am at on my Stormblade. I have the main turret put together, with a doubled-up nova cannon in order to give the barrel some more length. I've added all the Machinator hull and engine pieces. Next up will probably be the treads, which I don't look forward to, hehe. At first I was thinking of adding some layers to the turret mount in order to have the turret elevated from off the hull further, but after I added all the little bits onto the turret, it seems just fine to me now! From the beginning I liked the idea of a turreted Stormblade, especially a Legion Stormblade, seeing as I initially thought FW was going to make one based off of the Fellblade. Also, in the HH rules, the Legion Stormblade is not listed as having a hull-mounted Plasma Blastgun, while the Solar Auxilia does, not sure sure if that was on purpose.

Oh so cool...

That is a glorious looking machine of war!!

One tiny little thing for me... Is that a laser targeter / viewfinder that is positioned halfway along the barrel of the Mega Nova canon? IMHO it would be better placed back on the turret or maybe the flat gun cover at the front of the turret... only a tiny thing.. but it is looking great!

What tracks are you going to be using?

I am 100% with you on the Blood and Skulls parts... I have only recently bought some tracks from them to fit on my Macharius MK1 I am building... and the parts I received are a really cool addition, add a lot of detail and a really nice effect!

Looking forward to seeing more!

Thanks Gitsplitta!!

@MagosBiff90: Thanks! About the targeter, my initial plan was to put it farther back, but it kind of got cluttered in that area what with the spotlight and heavy bolter, so I placed it where I did in order to cover up the seam between the two nova cannons I stuck together. Looking at it, the picture does make it look more obtrusive than it really is. I am considering swapping out the targeter for a smaller one.
I'm just using Machinator's basic BB sized treads, I want to maintain a HH feel to this guy!
Yeah, been wanting to have an excuse to use his stuff for awhile now!

Sorry Heliodore, I was commenting from my phone which doesn't give me much opportunity to wax effusively on a project. I think the extra detail you've added is really fantastic, but it doesn't overwhelm the fact that it's just a really well designed piece of machinery. You could look up "super-heavy" in the dictionary and there would be a picture of this tank waiting for you. Really beautiful work.

Sounds awesome... cant wait to see it all done!

@Gitsplitta: Hehe, thanks for your kind words, but it's hard for me to take that much credit seeing as the parts that make up this project are 50% GW, 40% Machinator, and 10% me! I hope it's a non-color dictionary so you can't tell whether it's painted or not!
@MagosBiff90: Thanks again! I'm excited to get it done too!

Cool, well I've got the treads on, always my least favorite part, and added some brass etching here and there! It's looking mighty beefy I think! Still much to do though as I plan to add some more details to the turret and its mount, specifically more gear teeth patterns! The side sponsons are built, but I won't be putting them on until I get the heavy bolters I'm using for them, which may take another couple of weeks for them to get to me, but so far so good!

That is gorgeous Heliodore. By the way, your design on pg 19 helped me with a custom random bit box tank today. (Made a random tank to practice plasticard cutting skills with and Mach's badass leds.)

So uh. The big question remains...

When are you going to paint it?

Awesome! those tracks are sweet! Looks like the same ones I have on my Mach! Very 30K!!

Those are Mk-1 Land Raideresque. Beautiful!

@Heliodore--treads look great. did you cast those yourself, or buy them somewhere? like gitz said, they are very mk i land raider-esque...an as i am working on a scratch-build mk i, i am obviously curious about those treads...

 GawdamSumbish wrote:
@Heliodore--treads look great. did you cast those yourself, or buy them somewhere? like gitz said, they are very mk i land raider-esque...an as i am working on a scratch-build mk i, i am obviously curious about those treads...

Hey mate,

Look to the top of this page and you will see the user Machinator ..... the link to "Blood & Skulls Industry" is where you will find a plethora of 40k delights... those tracks are one of his designs... along with a load of other bits and bobs!

Really good stuff & really competitively priced... (even in cases of shipping to the UK) ....

Sorry to jump in, just always nice to push a quality product and top designer IMHO.



heliodore Just wondering about the paintjob on this beast.......a black/dark base with a really strong plasma colour could look amazing!

tanks for pointing that out, Magos...went back two pages, but somehow missed that post...

@Stormwall: Thanks bud! Great, glad I could be of help! Hehe, that is the question! You'd think it would be easy for me to paint everything seeing as I play Iron Hands. I may jump on board and paint this guy, considering with all the detail it almost paints itself!

@MagosBiff90: Yup, I believe these were Machinator's first set of treads he put up for sale, way back before FW released their HH stuff, thus filling a hobby void at that time. If you go back to pg. 1 of my thread you'll see the Fellblade I made pre-Machinator, those treads I had to make myself and had a friend cast up! I'm also glad Machintor decided to eventually cast his treads in multi-linked sections. My brother bought some of these treads back when Machinator had just started and they were all separate single links, hehe. Yeah, that's what I plan for when I get around to painting it, Iron Hands black, a little wear and tear, maybe dust or dirt on the treads, and definitely a nice plasma color for the blastgun, I'm partial to the traditional blue plasma!

Thanks again Gittsplitta! Yeah, I love the old plastic MkI Landraider! That was the inspiration for my old Fellblade back on pg. 1 where I actually did make my own treads. I'm glad I can just get Machinators today!

@GawdamSumbish: Yip, just as MagosBiff90 said, I bought these treads from Blood and Skulls Industry, which is owned and operated by a fellow who goes by "Machinator" online. Totally check out his store on ebay, and thanks for stopping by!

Added some more detail to the hull and turret! Now just waiting for my heavy bolters to come in the mail!

Praise the Omnissiah, a lot has happened since I last stopped by and it's really looking great!

You've definitely created an unique looking vehicle with all the plasticard and bits. I always enjoy seeing the new and interesting ways people use my parts in their creations.

I'd love to post some pics of your project on my FB when you get it done. I'm sure it will inspire a lot of people, and some sales too

That is looking really awesome my friend! Hats Off!!

Love the detail around the turret & those cogs are awesome... just the right amount!
...... I think I want one!!!!

That thing is amazing. I'm speechless.

I love the generators where the fuel barrels usually go, it looks like it can actually power that huge gun properly.
Nice looking turret and gun too: really mean looking esthetic: like just shooting the gun requires the armor, not just for return fire (or what is left of it!).

@Machinator: Thank you, I'm glad you approve! Sure thing, go right ahead, although with regards to finishing it, as in all painted up, I can't make any promises, hehe! But feel free to use any of my WIP pics.

@MagosBiff: It means a lot, thanks for all the support! Hehe, well, Machinator has made it pretty easy to find him on here!

@Cleatus: Thanks, real nice of you to say!

@Talizvar: Yeah, that really sold me on finally committing to making a Machinator super-heavy tank! I was never a fan of GW's big old drum barrels! Thanks, I was hoping my Stormblade would come off as something you wouldn't want to mess with on the battlefield!

Sorry been a while.

That has to be one of the most brilliant tanks I have ever seen. So big and beautiful. Perfectly balanced as well. That enormous gun just sits on it perfectly. Well done.

Thanks Camkierhi, I'm glad you like it, I am rather proud of the extra detail I added to it, and thanks for keeping up with my updates!

Not much to report, still waiting on my heavy bolters. Since awhile go I've been tinkering with the idea of a hollow upraised cupola that I could pop on and off of my tanks so I could have a representation of Iron Hands tank ace Spearhead-Centurion Castrmen Orth from HH2. Generally, I don't like having people sitting on top of my tanks, I prefer the "all hatches closed" look, though I've made exception to this on a couple of occasions, like on my original Fellblade. However, I really like the character of Orth and wanted to be able to use him in my army without gluing him down permanently to any given tank.



I think my solution works out well enough, and the higher profile cupola that sits on top of the actual hatch doesn't look totally obvious.

I like it!

Hey mate, looking sweet! Really love the little details around the cupola and the turret.... really does sit well with the IH theme! I am same as you... I usually prefer hatches closed but as you say... if you have a particular character in mind (and when he sits as nicely as Orth does there).... then it is all good!

Reading more and more of the HH books the IH are actually becoming one of my 3 favourite pre-heresy legions! And you are certainly doing them justice here!

Top job!

Thanks Mythos!

@MagosBiff90: Thanks man, glad you like it! Yeah, I think it's worth it, now I have a ballistic skill 5 Stormblade or Fellblade or Sicaran!
Yeah, Iron Hands have been my chapter of choice since 2nd edition, even before the Index Astartes article that cemented the whole bionics, machine cult aspect of the IHs. My vision for the IHs always revolved around the idea of tanks and other armored vehicles! As such, I was quite happy to see this aspect emphasized in both the HH campaign books and in the 6th edition SM codex!

In memory of Mr. Leonard Nimoy who just passed away. I thought I'd leave this old Rogue Trader pic:

Yeah, those were the times... a half eldar Dark Angel... fascinating!

The point about tank hatches, I completely understand.. It seems so crazy (and unhealthy) to pop open your hatch in combat (wich is supposed to be there so you DON'T have to be exposed to incoming). Equally silly in my opinion, the pintle-mounted storm bolters and multi-meltas on the hatches. In an aera where the vehicles outfitted in this way (Land Raiders I mean) are partially autopiloted by bottled brains, and whole artillery pieces like the Not-Thudd-Gun are remote-controlled... But it looks so manly to have a bare-headed yelling crustacean soldier standing waist-up in his hatch and dakka-ing it out!

To represent my Sgt. Chronos equivalent (Don'tknow if he's in the actual codex, but meh) I went another way. Being old-school, all my squads and vehicles field a pennant of sorts. If Chronos is on board, the vehicle gets a command-marker on the pennant. Your solution is good, though, I had it considered myself, but didn't want to do harm to my mk.I predators. Execution is equally good, very fitting to the theme as well as to the tank.

Out of interest, for I never served (and considering my figure, the only way I would be useful to a tank force would be as a pop-in hatchet seal cork), in RL, when tank crews look out of their hatches while driving, how is it done? Can they lift and lower their seat, do they stand up, do they have a folding extra-seat, are there ladder steps they step onto, or do they just have to lift their head like a very big boy looking out of the sunroof of a Mini Morris?

Beautiful detail work you've added to your tanky death machine.