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Hello everyone.
I've been lurking on the site for a couple of weeks now, but now I think it's time to ask for some feedback on two tank conversions that I'm working on. Both vehicles will eventually become a part of my mechanised IG army, the Tarentus 209th.




The Hellhound (the one on the left) started out with an idea to make a sort of generic light tank chassis for my regiment. I've always loved the Chimera, but Russes just don't look right to me. The hull is modelled to vaguely resemble a Panzer III tank with some modification to fit inside the track units. The idea with the hull is to work as a base for other light IG tanks as well, like the Salamander. For now, I'll make the Hellhound-specific bits like promethium tanks and turret removable, so that once I design a new turret and rear hull plate I can sue the tank as either Hellhound or Salamander.

Some of the things that I haven't gotten around to doing yet include:
- Armored fuel tanks stacked on top of one another on the back of the hull (the official Hellhound ones), and some hatches and air intakes on top of the back hull.
-Gun mantle for the hvy bolter, still not sure quite what to go for.
- Inferno cannon. I think I'll go with a deceptively concealed version, consisting of a tube with some wires and bits along the bottom of it, the idea beeing to not advertise the fact that the vehicle is a flame tank until it opens fire. This is just an excuse for my lack of inspiration on how to model a flamer with a range similar to an assault rifle. Any help here would be appreciated.
- I was also thinking of moving the engines inside the hull and only attaching simple metal plates on the sides where the track drive sponsons are, to keep the vehicle a bit slimmer and more mobile.
-Also, the whole vehicle needs some greenstuffing along seams as well as riveting, details etc. but that will be done once the basic tank is done.


The Russ is much more of a concept vehicle than the Hellhound, as I never really planned on including any Leman Russ hulls in my army (I have a converted Basilisk design to carry my heavy guns for me that looks like this). on this particular Russ I've tried to alter the two things that annoy me most about the tank, the ridiculously small turret and the disgustingly huge and unwieldy track units. I originally only set out to improve the turret, but while I was glueing the hull together I had a moment of insanity and ended up modifying the tracks as well. I sort of like the way it looks now, except that the tall profile is even more pronounced. I don't know what to do about that though.
The turret is my attempt to make it look like if there's actually room for both crew and cannon inside. It's basically an upscaled standard turret (4mm higher, about 15 mm wider and 20mm longer) and I'm pretty happy about the shape and size of it, it looks so much more like a functioning weapon now.

Some things yet to be done with the Russ:
- The side plates on the turret are cardboard, I needed some idea of what the pieces would need to look like and the cardboard is much easier to cut.
- The gun shield for the cannon is proving trickier than I thought, still working on a solution there.
- The sides of the hull need sloped armor. I'll probably end up adding some track guards as well.
- I've also been thinking of adding some suspension to the road wheels, but I'm still looking for inspiration on that one as well.

Finally, as I'm working on both projects side by side, I noticed something interestesting. I don't know about you, but this combination of big Russ turret and light tank chassis looks very good to me. I might end up doing something like it as well.



That's all, folks. Thank you for reading this far, and please let me know what you think of the work so far.

Personally I prefer the big turret on small tank. I see where you were going with it, and i agree that the standard turret is too small but at the same time it is a fantasy game and hardly anything really looks like it would work in real life. I think an inbetweeny size may be a little better, to bulk it out and give the impression the gun may be able to fit somehow. Do like the tracks and the new chasis

The Hellhound turret is looking good, but I think the Russ turret's too tall. I'd flatten it out a bit.

I think both are nice conversions. The New Russ turret is a bit big.. but that's only because it is so high up on the body of the vehicle. If you could mak eita bit smaller I think it would work better. I especially lik ethe smaller track assembly. Very cool.

The Hellound looks great. The body shap eis nice and the turret is perfectly proportioned for the body. Great stuff. I really like the converted russ turret on there as well.

One last thing about the russ... instead of making the turret larger why not try making the cannon a bit smaller? That should answer the problem of the "small" turret.

ender502

Thanks for the replies.

You're all correct, the turret is a bit too large right now, but like ender502 said it's probably the height of the hull that's the problem. I'll see if I can figure out a way to cut a part of it off and lowering the turret that way. I just need to find some suitable tool for the job...

The previous posters have touched on the key issues with your conversions in progress.

For comparision, this is what I did for my Hellhounds & Demolisher:

Aduro wrote:The Hellhound turret is looking good, but I think the Russ turret's too tall. I'd flatten it out a bit.

I would second that. Look at FW Vanquisher turrents. They are how leman turrents should really look- flatter, longer and lethal. If you don't like the gun in comparison you can reduce the width of the barrel as well.

Like everything else though. Your hellhound has a more germanic WWI feel which goes with its Leman big brother.

The big Russ turret will be fine if itslooks suitably crude, add LOTS of rivets.

For inspriation, look at the old soviet KV2 heavy tank. That had an oversized turret.

Yea but a T-34/85 turrent looks so much better...

Actually this is a good point Glory. Just do a quick internet search of some iconic tanks. Then put or envision their images on top of your tank. This will help you decide what preference you have and whether the current turrent is your thing.

Use a leather punch for rivets I've been told.

I don't know, the turret on the Leman Russ looks way to big to me. True the original models turret is too small, but at least from the pics, the turret is about as long and as wide as the tank itself!

I would note that the original poster pointed out that he disliked the small Russ turrets, so he undoubtedly likes the look of the bigger bulkier turret. I, like many if the other posters, prefer the aesthetics of a lower flatter turret, but I don't think there is anything wrong with yours if that high bulky look is what you are going for. I also happen to like the big Russ turret on the smaller Chimera chassis as well, and could not fault you for going that way at all. However, I really like the look of your basilisk conversion that you linked to, and of the three options (Russ like you have it here, Russ turret on Chimera, and your basilisk conversion) I definitely like it the best for your main line battle tank.

JohnHwangDD: Do you have a thread, or walkthrough on that Hellhound? It looks more like the FW hellhound which I love.

@JohnHwangDD: Those are very cool tanks, thanks for sharing. That Demolisher hull is very close to what I've been doodling in my little notepad, It's just a shame that the Russ hull as it is will be extremely difficult to disassemble, I'm working on a solution to that now.

@jfrazell & Orlanth: Thanks for pointing me at the KV tanks ano other WWII things. I did some searching a while back for inspiration, but never really made it out of the german tank sites. After looking at various pictures and my hull, I've come to two conclusions: 1. I really like the size and shape of my turret and 2. that it's definitely the awkward perch on top of that tall hull that makes the turret look a bit wierd. Once I figure out a way to remove the topmost section of the hull, the one the turret ring sits on I think it'll fit in much better. Rivets it is.

@Makov: The turret isn't much longer than the current turret+ that box thing that attaches behind it. It's wider of course, but no wider than the hull itself.

Now, back to finishing up the rear end of my Hellhound. I'd forgotten how much I hate attaching metal bits to plastic...

Seconded on the rivets. Can't have enough rivets. Looking good!

I got some more work done on my hellhound, but before I go any further I'd like some input on my deceptively camouflaged Inferno cannon.
Too big/small? Or too skinny perhaps?



This is what the turret looks like with the old Inferno cannon
Pictures from other angles

Any comments appreciated.

glory wrote:@JohnHwangDD: Those are very cool tanks, thanks for sharing. That Demolisher hull is very close to what I've been doodling in my little notepad, It's just a shame that the Russ hull as it is will be extremely difficult to disassemble, I'm working on a solution to that now.

FWIW, my Demolisher is pretty much a custom hull, and uses almost none of the original superstructure.

Celestial Lion wrote:JohnHwangDD: Do you have a thread, or walkthrough on that Hellhound? It looks more like the FW hellhound which I love.

Unfortunately, I don't have a walkthrough for it - I did the design work over a couple weekends, then built the models over a following week. I didn't really stop to take pics until they were built.

IMO, the hard part is having the "right" spare bitz handy - 2 Hellhound tanks or 4 fuel barrels; spare Leman Russ turret bitz; spare and heavy flamer bit; turret ring; and lots of plasticard.

Looking spiffy. I'm sure this will turn out well, unless my ninja's get there before your done. Ha ha ha... but really it looks great... *ninja smoke*... *coughing*