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So, i was screwing around on the forgeworld site, and saw the rhino to vindicator conversion kit. I had a rhino sitting that my nephew screwed up badly, so i figure what the hell, i have some junk lying around, lets see what i can do.

I liked it. It wasn't the BEST as it was rather last minute and i really didn't expect it to come out as good as it did, but lo and behold, not too shabby at all.

 

A lot.

 

So i dump 40 bucks on the "official" vindicator model .... now that it's together, let me just say WHAT A HUNK OF S#!T. i have gaps you can park a truck in that no amount of filing or bending will fix, misaligned parts that will be sure to drive me insane for years to come.

WTF

40 bucks man ... i knew i should have gone the rhino upgrade kit from FW ..... sigh, off to get 100 pounds of green stuff, i'll catch y'all after the rapture when i finally get this hunk of S#!T fixed up.

 

I hate GW ... kings of half-assed models ( at least when i buy them)

Hm.  You pretty much described my experience with that kit.  I don't really feel compelled to buy anymore Forgeworld items.  Very disappointing.

At least the tank has done pretty well on the table taking out enemy vehicles. 

Forgeworld has some truly lovely master sculpts. But, as you have unfortunately found out, their castings are utter gak and barely a step above the wretched stuff one gets from recasters. Then to add insult to injury, they charge a premium for their low quality castings. Sorry ya got burned.

FW seriously needs to invest in pressure chambers for the castings. And actually letting the castings properly cure. These two would really go a long way in rectifying their quality problems. Perhaps some decent quality control would also help in alerting them when the molds go bad. Lastly, perhaps vacuum chambers for when making the actual molds would help too, though I think it's the actual casting process that's mangling thier peices so badly. I don't like the texture/feel of their resin either, but that's a minor complaint compared to the warped, air bubble pock marked pieces with their bizzare seam lines and casting stubs.

I think you guys missed the point. It's the GW vindicator model Thunderkiss is decrying. (And for what it's worth, I agree with him -- the parts just don't fit together properly. Judging from what I've seen my friends put together using the FW kit, it's far superior.)

Aye, it was the GW model that i got .... altho now it appears that i was damned if i did and damned if i didn't .....

Did you get the old metal one that went on the original Rhino chassis? If that's the case, and you're trying to fit it to the new chassis, you are definitely going to have issues. Even if trying to fit it to the old rhino, *ALL* of the metal conversion bitz were a pain in the arse and required one to do some serious modelling. Lots of filing, sanding, miliput/gs seam filling, super glue, etc... Pretty standard for all of those kits, and the Vindicator was king of 'em. However, with that work one could get some great results. I went a little hog wild with one of mine (and shows just what ya can do with the old stuff): "The Repudiator" Vindicator WIP

You can purchase 3 feet of green stuff for $12.50 here: http://web.inetba.com/anyinc/item330642.ctlg
Polymeric Systems manufactures green stuff and GW buys it and repackages it with a GW markup. Anything Mechanical is a distributor and sells green stuff without the GW markup. I've ordered from them before and I haven't had any problems with their service.

And before you ask "Who needs 3 feet of green stuff?" I do. I just bought 6 feet (again) a couple days ago.

Thanks for the tip Furious, I'm running low on the stuff.

It was many metal bits but not a rhino chassis. some kind of symetrical thing that nothing fits quite right on. Grrrrrr.

No rhino chassis and you paid $40?!? From where? Or is GW selling some (way) overpriced metal bitz pack for the Vindi?

Anyhow, metal bits definitely means it was intended to go on the old (original) rhino, not the current one. So little wonder they doen't fit. I have, however, seen conversions fitting the old metal to the current chassis. Looked pretty good, though it will require a bit of work to make it look right.

you got any pics of the pieces- or even a link to where you got it from- just to see if anyone can help out- or to suggest other not to do then same thing?

Yeah i got the the current vindicator model from GW because of the cool retro look. I was preety disiapointed by the gaps in model, lack flush parts on any of the tank. Its the only 2nd edition model in the space marine line- which begs the question why? why not release a new vidicator in plastic, just recut the current rhino sprue add the parts big f'in deal. And a drop pod in plastic would be nice. Then Space marines would have a complete model line, what are they waiting for the yank and just copied molds from forge world w/ the tau, whats the hold up? FW should be a style upgrade not a place to get basic component. Could you imagine the complaints is the tau troop carrier was a forge world only model.

Posted By Thunderkiss on 03/15/2006 7:34 PM
It was many metal bits but not a rhino chassis. some kind of symetrical thing that nothing fits quite right on. Grrrrrr.

Thunderkiss bought the Vindicator box, which has yet to be updated; the 'symmetrical thing' refered to is the old Rhino chassis:

Until a new kit is produced, your best bet is to use the Witchhunters Immolator (also for $40) as the basis for a conversion:

Don't bother using any metal Vindicator parts (except perhaps the barrel); you will get better results with scratchbuilding. Perhaps modify a spare hatch from another Rhino etc. to replace the Immolator's rear hatch.

http://store.us.games-workshop.com/storefront/store.us?WCI=Menu&WCE=Search&Query=vindicator&System=Warhammer+40K

That's the one. Too bad the side pieces (or any of the rest for that matter) don't fit to make it look like what you see on the cover. I'd post pics of what i have but A) i'd be utterly f'n embarrassed, and B) i don't have a digi yet
However, all the pieces you see there are accurate.

Top plate b was bent to hell comparatively to the model, armor plates 1-6 go on the sides, and leave gaps between each other to the extent of a millimeter or more, which can't be fixed by any method i could see besides greenstuff because of how they mount; there are 2 vertical ridges that theoretically COULD be filed down if you had the hands for it, but you'd have to see it; COULD is a stretch, it would SUCK trying to file it down evenly and keep it straight without gouging anything else.

The front plate is thick and wouldn't bend enough to make it look even despite my threats to pull out the pliers (plastic doesn't listen very well).

Convieniently they don't show the plastic sprues that make up the tracks, which, when the front plate is on, leave some big and moreover DEEP gaps i can't get a brush into to cover the white i primed it ....

If i were to do it over now i'd just get a rhino and order the front plate piece and the hydraulic piece and the 3 top pieces and go at it from there.

Or maybe forgeworld conversion. certainly not the full kit; you'd pay 10 more than the upgrade kit and a storebought rhino .... i wanna know who figures out thier priceing and have them do my checkbook .... i'd be a millionaire.

construct did it better while i was typing my book i like that conversion too, more what i may do with this hunk of crap.

Posted By Thunderkiss on 03/15/2006 10:18 PM
Or maybe forgeworld conversion. certainly not the full kit; you'd pay 10 more than the upgrade kit and a storebought rhino .... i wanna know who figures out thier priceing and have them do my checkbook .... i'd be a millionaire.

I don't understand: £30 for the full kit versus £38 (£20+£18) for the upgrade kit and a Rhino would favour the former, no?

Looking at the Forgeworld Vindicator now, I say forget the Immolator and just convert a Rhino with some plasticard and the metal Vindicator cannon ($2). It looks better with the topplate forward and the cannon to the side, and when a plastic Vindicator sprue is finally released it will almost certainly be an exact copy of the Forgeworld design.

Ah, damn, that sucks. $40 for that old chestnut of a kit? Shameless is GW. I've built so many of the old school rhinos (10 now?) that I forget the problems they had, especially at the end when the dies were clearly wearing out. Lots of clamping needed to get them to fit right. The metal stuff, I definitely brought out all of my industrial gear: Dremel tool, jewlers saw, needle-nose pliers, both sets of miniature files (one regular sized, one tiny sized), rifling files, sandpaper, sanding sticks, various x-acto blades, pin vice, two kinds of super glue, milliput and green stuff. Lots of dry fitting back and forth. Sounds like yours is already built though, so too late on that.

If you do build another one, and your army uses all current Rhinos, the cheap way is indeed to purchase just the front gun plate, the gun barrel and the targeting array (just as was done in the conversion shown in Construct's post). Should cost you $7 USD, $9 tops, plus whatever current Rhino kit you use (be it the standard or the Immolator version).

Pert of me would be tempted to wonder how a Demolisher turret would look stuck either on top of a Rhino or a pair of 1/72 moderns.

The demolisher turret would probably, no, it would definitely be too large for 1/72 modern armor kits. 40k, with GW's 28mm über heroic proportions, is a closer fit to 1/48 for vehicles. 1/35 will also work in almost all cases. On the otherhand, you should be able to get away with putting the demo turret a on top of a new rhino chassis with some finagling.

I saw a guy put a sawed-off Basilisk cannon on top of a razorback for a vindicator.  Looked kinda goofy, but at least it fit together.

What about the old demolisher cannon and base mounted to the front?
I considered modifying a russ to be a thunderer seige tank in this fashion.
Should work for the rhino chassis as well.

Sob story alert:

After HOURS of modifiying a new rhino chassis to fit the old vindicator bits- I had it fitting BEAUTIFULLY !!!! (It is possible is one of the morals of the story)

Days later it was thrown away in the garbage by the ex by "mistake".

There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.