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so i'm starting a guard army and want to be cheap about it.  i can pick up plastic lascannons all day on ebay cheap but that's all you get is the cannon.  the tripod is seperate, gun handles, gunner arms etc. so what i wanted to ask all of you is can any of you give me some ideas on how to make use of just the lascannon itself?

i thought about trying to make a tandem team out of guardsmen, something like a guy holding it while another fires it but i dont think that'd come across to well.

any ideas?

Make a cheap sandbag mound out of gs... Im using some CSM weapons for my LatD traitors and what I can find on the CSM sprues.

yeah, lay the cannons on GS sand bags and you should be fine. Plastic card or spare weapon mounts from vehicle sprues would also work.

most hobby shops have a display plasitc & metal , tubing , angle & I beam stock in 18" lenghts for less than a dollar you can make a tripod or some other type of mount out of that.

Or model them as servitors!

Get wire from a radioshack or similar electronics shop, mount the weapons on their arms or shoulders and run wires to represent cybornetics.

our local model shop has packages of plastic sandbags. they are about 100 for $8

Posted By deitpike on 10/17/2006 9:03 PM
our local model shop has packages of plastic sandbags. they are about 100 for $8

who makes them?  at that price it may be cheaper than making my own.

I'll check for ya next time I'm in
I'm pretty sure its tamiya

Posted By Kid_Kyoto on 10/17/2006 3:43 PM
Or model them as servitors!

Get wire from a radioshack or similar electronics shop, mount the weapons on their arms or shoulders and run wires to represent cybornetics.

this is more along the lines of waht i was thinking of... something neat  =)

im really interested in hearing who sells those sandbags though.

im pretty sure my guard is going to be a force fighting for the tau(my other army) so if i can squeeze an aspect of that into the force then that would be cool too.  i was thinking of mounting them under drones but the drones are too small, it looks kinda like a lascannon with a small satelite dish on it  =P

thanks for the ideas so far all!

A few things I do to stretch my HW boxes:

1) make separate large bases with the LC, the AC, and HB. Place rare earth magnets for where the crew is to go. Model the kneeling crewman on his own base, with a metal washer glued underneath. Then you can switch him around to whichever weapon you need. Magnet another spot for the loader too.

2) I cut the gunner arms in half at the 'trigger' - that way each of the two kneeling crewmen gets a firing arm, so you get 6 gunners per box instead of 3. You can use the extra arms on the HW sprue and the single free arm on the Cadian Shock Troop sprue to finish them.
Because of this, I use Vox troopers from the Shock Troop box as my loaders. Vox bits are cheap online.

3) The Missile Launcher goes on a standing Cadian from the Shock Troop box. A standing Cadian gets the Mortar round and acts as a Mortar gunner too.

I'll have to look into those cheap plastic sandbags, those sound great. I've been using the sandbags from the HW sprues, but there aren't enough to complete 6 weapons.

Posted By Kid_Kyoto on 10/17/2006 9:20 PM

Posted By deitpike on 10/17/2006 9:03 PM
our local model shop has packages of plastic sandbags. they are about 100 for $8

who makes them?  at that price it may be cheaper than making my own.

Tamiya does, but they are plastic, and they don't really pile up together realisticly. Plus they are a bit large for 40k. With a good bit of putty, a piece of fine cloth (texture), and some fine sand you can make better looking, more realistc and in scale sandbags than with Tamiya's set.

For the topic of converting the lascannons: Why not make them like WW2 Anti-Tank guns? A gun shield can easily be made with some sheet plastic, small wheels are fairly easy to find cheap (dig around that bitz box or pick up some 1/72 plastic tank kit with individual road wheels), and a couple lengths of plastic tubing and/or L-beam for a split-rail carriage.

NYARLATHOTEP667

Do you think if you heated the Tamiya sand bags up in a bit of boiling water they would get soft enough to stack decently?

ender502

Posted By ender502 on 10/18/2006 4:37 AM

NYARLATHOTEP667

Do you think if you heated the Tamiya sand bags up in a bit of boiling water they would get soft enough to stack decently?

ender502

Hmmmm... I don't know. Probably not as I'd think they'd be kinda hard to handle and there is only one good "side", as the underside are hollowed out, creating stiff edges that won't yeild easily. Could be wrong though.

-I think you just described the classic lascannon .  I have about 45 of these buggers (don't ask me why).

http://store.us.games-workshop.com/storefront/store.us?do=List_Models&code=301321&orignav=301117&GameNav=301115

-It would be easy (and far cheaper to do as noted, buy some cheap wheels and tubing to make the base.  One could even pull  a Pak gun maneuver where they would pull the wheels off to lower the profile.  You can have the wheels layign onthe base for added effect.  Note: this type goes especially well with larger bases with sand bag or other entrenchments-they fit perfectly.

 

Posted By nyarlathotep667 on 10/17/2006 11:51 PM

Tamiya does, but they are plastic, and they don't really pile up together realisticly. Plus they are a bit large for 40k. With a good bit of putty, a piece of fine cloth (texture), and some fine sand you can make better looking, more realistc and in scale sandbags than with Tamiya's set.

Yes I know I can make some but for me time is more  limited than money and there are things I'd rather do than make putty sandbags (though money ain't all that unlimited either).

 

I think I found them

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/tam/tam35025.htm

$4 for 48.

You can easily use the lascannon flat on the ground. Trim away the collar of the gunner and the head will tilt back prone; like so.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m150/Cpl_Saint/Lambs%20World%20XXVII/Eddsguard007.jpg

Quick and dirty, but a nice effect.

These do, however, still need the gunner's arms – but you could easily trim away the lasgun from a standard guardsman and botch it; or just bits order one of the HW sprues – you get lets of goodies on there, including two kneeling sets of legs that are de rigeur this season.

CPL SAint:

Wow the effect is actually pretty good.  I like it.