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Hey all, I am getting into Renegades and Heretics and have noticed one problem: the artillery I am running (Purge Detachment) will be incredibly expensive to get the official models for. I came here to see if anyone has any thoughts or previous experience with alternative models for a few artillery pieces. I don't mind WW2 pieces, but i don't know which ones are good quality, proper size, decent construction, etc. Ideally, I wouldn't be paying out the ass.
The models i need are:
4x Wyverns
3x Earthshaker Carriages
3x Medusa Carriages
4x Quad Guns
I saw 1/35 is the best scale for non-official minis, is that true? Also, has anyone used this site before:http://www.squadron.com/1-35-scale-artillery-models-s/2418.htm? Their prices don't seem to bad and the models seem pretty decent. Thanks for your time.

Google, Amazon, and random people with 3d printers are your friends for this.

Name brand wise you're going to want to look For Marx and Tamiya toys / kitz.

Marx is the far more economical option, yielding stuff like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1960s-Marx-Silver-Plastic-Long-barreled-Howitzer-Military-Toy-Weapon-/131779526992?hash=item1eaeac0150:g:MoAAAOSwu1VW4HA0

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Toy-Marx-Lumar-Us-Army-Howitzer-Field-Canon-1950-s-/172155924820?hash=item28154af154:g:HvwAAOSwoBtW5bIB.

Functional and useable, but visibly a toy. Granted with a little bit of time and a few bits you can easily prep (and then pain) them in such a way that it won't be clear they're childrens toys, and given the money you save their generally worth that investment.

If you're looking for something a bit.. Higher profile and don't mind paying a bit more, consider Tamiya. To give you an example of their quality:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tamiya-37022-German-Bundeswehr-Self-Propelled-Howitzer-M109A3G-1-35-scale-kit-/391421851238?hash=item5b228f7666:g:gecAAOSwbwlW~gsl

These are actual model kits, so they will cost more money. However they're still leaps and bounds cheaper than Forgeworld and quite nice. So again with minimal work (worth it due to money saved) they can be 40k-iffied with ease.

For some specific examples of stuff.

Use Nebelwerfer kits for your quad guns.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Italeri-German-Nebelwerfer-Rocket-Launcher-Model-Kit-324-/182090677734?hash=item2a65733de6:g:avwAAOSwq19XDQfp

They're what inspired the quad gun design, look nifty, and are far cheaper.

Just typing what you want into Amazon / ebay will yield you tons of results. I got both of the following by typing "howitzer toy" into Amazon, and they're pretty passable heavy mortar / even Earthshaker / Medusa sub-ins depending on how you feel.

http://www.amazon.com/Military-Combat-Accessories-Single-Howitzer/dp/B01704QZXE/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1460879675&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=marx+howitzer+toy

http://www.amazon.com/Toxso-Model-M102-105mm-Howitzer/dp/B011DXZSYU/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460879675&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=marx+howitzer+toy

Lastly, if you're looking to actually spurge but not go crazy with FW prices, Maximini and Kromlech each offer some fan-fething-tastic Medusa Siege Gun alternatives. Which is really stellar, because from experience I can assure you that the Medusa is far and away the hardest thing to find an alternative for.

Maximini:
http://cdn.bols.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/siegegun_cast.jpg
http://maxmini.eu/siege-gun-heavy
http://maxmini.eu/siege-gun-gunonly-heavy

Kromlech:
http://bitsofwar.com/home/144-imperial-siege-mortar.html

I'm probably going to go with tamiya models, they seem to have a solid balance of quality and price. I was looking at the Maximini siege gun for the Medusa, I think I will pull the trigger on it when I can. Looks really good. Thanks for the ideas!

I actually made my earth shaker with a Basilisk kit.

Turned out like this. Then, I made an alternate chimera out of the bottom half, with a guardsman manning a multilaser stolen from the Sentinel kit.

Worked out to be more cost efficient than any third party model I could find!